-Chapter 2-

In Dark and Dreaming Sleep

Faster than she could process, Evelyn was thrown from the blue-green other world into a sunburst of sounds, colors. Emotions. She struggled to decipher the sudden onslaught.

The first thing she was able to register was delight. A boundless garden spread out around her, smells of a thousand flowers mingling delicately in the air. It wasn't overwhelming, simply all-encompassing, and a gentle wind teased the scent through the dark wisps of her hair. Most of the plants here were completely foreign to her, despite the long hours she had spent chasing Max through their own gardens and flowering courtyard archways.

There were clusters of what looked like roses the size of her head, growing from ropey vines that wound around tree trunks and other flower beds. Instead of each blooming a different color they gave the effect of a sunset, shifting from deepest reds and pinks at the center, gradually becoming oranges that gave way to pale yellow. Tiny white flowers, each no bigger than the head of a pin, grew together in great bunches that looked like lace, but when they caught the dipping sun they shone like diamonds. Little prismatic rainbows were cast across her face, dancing whenever the wind tossed their tiny petals.

Reaching out overhead were delicate, curling trees with bark as smooth as skipping stones. When Evelyn drew close to one, she saw that the leaves weren't leaves at all, but moss that grew green and lush on every little branch. She felt a living connection between everything that grew here, somehow knowing that every life here was dependent on every other. They all took care of each other. A heavy blanket of comfort dropped around her shoulders, and she sat down in the soft grass. The sky that stretched out over her was pale pink and purple, a wash of pastels rapidly transitioning to night.

"What is this?" She asked, bewildered, as her wolf padded up next to her. He lay down gingerly a few feet away, tilting his ears toward her when she spoke. She noticed that her voice no longer carried the ringing echo it had before.

a memory

His answer pressed itself into her mind, and she felt the truth if it. This garden was forgotten now, so long forgotten that these incredible flowers no longer even had names. This struck Evelyn as very sad indeed, understanding that she wouldn't be able to visit here again when she awakened. She felt a deep hollow reaching out to this memory from her beast companion, and longed to comfort him. Inching closer, she curled her little body against his side. She lay there a long time, asking questions when they occurred to her. The creature seemed fond of questions, if a little evasive about his answers. This didn't bother her; she felt safer here, by his side, than she knew she would anywhere in Thedas.

There was no clear end to the dream, just a softening around the edges that seemed to purposefully escape her notice. Until she was peering through bleary eyes as Ada tutted about, opening the drapes so that morning light spilled onto her bedspread. After that, she began dreaming of him every night. She would close her eyes and concentrate on pointed ears and soft paws the size of dinner plates, and when she opened them again he was always waiting for her.

He took her to new memories every night; to crystal cities floating in the sky, iridescent platforms connecting a thriving utopia. Elves surrounded her in all directions, and she laughed with delight at the sheer unexpectedness of it. Evelyn's laugh was a light thing, like a bell, and she used it easily. It had a way of gathering in the empty spaces around her, like the fade itself was holding onto it, treasuring the sound.

He took her to high mountain peaks and let her play in blankets of snow, untouched but for the small feet of squirrels and rabbits. She would pick it up in handfuls and throw it into the air, trying to scatter it through his fur. He humored her at first, but quickly grew tired of shaking the slush from his silky coat. He took to dodging out of the way, lightening quick, when she would scamper over to him. Thus began a new game; Evelyn trying to sneakily douse her friend in sopping snowballs, him pretending not to see her until leaping lithely out of the way at the last moment. He would land in a playful bow, his many eyes fixed on her in amusement, tilting his head in an unmistakable taunt.

They stayed in those memories until she started to get too cold, and then he would take her to a cozy room with a fireplace somewhere. She'd lay down against him and they'd just exist. Sometimes she would talk about her day; about Max and how he had stolen a bone from the dog, and run through the dining hall with Torrent yapping after him. About Mother and how she insisted that Evelyn learn to sew; she'd gotten halfway through a simple embroidery of a duck, pricked her finger one too many times, and thrown it down in a huff. Mother had accused her of throwing a tantrum, and confiscated one of her favorite dolls. He listened to her, and let her feel his emotions in response to her silly stories. She began to await sleep anxiously, gleefully looking forward to their next adventure.

She drew him one day, while she and Max were sprawled on the floor of the eastern parlor. Dark pencil lines dragging across the page, sweeping into the curve of his canine back and the crisp points of ears. It was not a good drawing, and her clumsy hands had smeared the charcoal in more than one place, but it was clearly a six eyed wolf. Her brother, two years older than her, with playful dimples and messy black hair that stuck up in the back, shot her a look.

"What is that? It looks... weird." He wrinkled his nose at the picture and turned back to his own, a crude rendering of a warrior doing battle with a dragon.

"He's my friend." Evelyn answered, simply.

"Friend?" Max scoffed, "How can a monster be your friend?"

She was indignant.

"He's not a monster!" She huffed, clutching the drawing to her chest so that it wrinkled and smeared further. The next part she spoke a little quieter. "He takes me to see things when I dream. Old places, that are gone now."

To her surprise, Max didn't seem to like that. He went silent for a long moment, looking at his little coaldust warrior, brow rumpled in concern. Finally, he spoke again,

"You shouldn't say stuff like that, Evie."

"What? Why not?"

"Because," He took in a breath and blew it all out at once. "Because someone might think that was magic. They'd take you away. Just, don't, alright?"

And with that, he gathered up his drawing and walked off towards the courtyard, leaving his sister perplexed in his wake.

Take her away? What did that mean? Something in his tone told her that he didn't mean to the chantry. Surely no one would ever be able to take her from her family, Mother and Father wouldn't allow it. She tried to still the thought in her mind, not liking the powerless feeling it caused, but it continued rolling itself around for the better part of the next day. Evelyn decided not to tell anyone else about her dreams.

As the weeks turned to months, she became more at ease traveling between memories as she slept. One particular night her lupine companion brought her to a vast forest of ancient evergreens. It was nighttime here, the warm air heavy with mist not yet settled as morning dew. She felt a slowness in this place; all green and soft and filtered starlight. It wanted to be explored, uncovered with care. Fireflies flickered between branches and winked up at her from blades of grass... or Evelyn had thought they were fireflies, until she realized they were sparking in every color of the rainbow. And the trees themselves were like nothing she'd ever seen.

The trunk of a single one stretched so wide that her arms at their full length couldn't reach close to halfway around, and so high that it disappeared from sight entirely. Hundreds of thousands like it spread out in every direction, and she had the distinct understanding that she was very, very small. Her jaw hung open as she wandered, one hand wrapped securely into wolfish fur, taking in everything she could. And then, quite suddenly, she stopped.

There was something- someone? - flickering in the distance, underneath the hulking silhouette of another massive tree. There was no true substance about the being, just a coalescing of electric blue energy drawn to one spot, shaping the general outline of a young boy. From the corner of her eye it appeared solid enough, but the lines of its form blurred and jumped when focused on. Evie stood, breath caught in her throat, and watched as the form waved. An airy laugh echoed across to them, and she knew it wanted to speak to her.

She found herself rooted there, hesitant. It was clear this being was a spirit. Even as a small child, Evelyn had heard what people had to say about spirits. She knew she should not speak to it, and made to draw back. Gently but firmly, the great wolf by her side slunk around her and prevented her from retreating. He fixed her with a meaningful gaze, all six white eyes blazing into her, and nudged her forward with his giant muzzle. She gulped, swallowing her apprehension, and shakily made her way across cracking pine needles to the giggling outline of the spirit.

She gradually drew even with it, looking right through its translucent shimmer as she opened her mouth in an attempt to say... anything. Suddenly, with a puff of blue smoke that smelled like raspberries, the thing vanished from its place in front of her. Evie's gasp rang out, ricocheting sharply through the clearing, only to be immediately met by another as it reappeared directly behind her.

"You!" It shouted, in a voice that sounded like the trill of a child mixed with a piping underwater whistle. "What are you? I know you're not from here, cause you're not even really here at all."

It giggled conspiratorially, pinching a curly lock of her dark hair between its iridescent fingers and bringing it very close to its face, before vanishing again.

Irritated, she huffed to the empty space around her,

"I'm Evelyn! And if you want me to answer your questions you really ought to hold still while I do," She crossed her tiny arms in front of her body. "It's not polite, popping all about like that while having a conversation."

She heard from behind her what sounded like a kind of amused wolfy snort, and then there was another gust of blue smoke, and the being was in front of her again. It wore a grin now, arms akimbo, and stared at her with empty glowing eyes that she found unnerving.

"What is an Evelyn?"

That threw her.

"Well," She stuttered, trying to wrap her mind around an answer. "I'm an Evelyn. I'm not really any thing I suppose. What are you?"

"I am Curiosity." The thing stuck out a glimmering blue hand, as if for her to shake. "You wanna follow me?"

This time she didn't bother to look back at the wolf behind her, when the fear rose up she shoved it back down. She thrust her hand out to meet the spirit's, and clasped it.

Surprised at the feeling, she almost snatched her hand back right away. It almost felt solid, but she knew it wasn't, she could pass her hand right through if she tried. When she touched it, she felt a gentle tingling wrapping around her fingertips, turning a light on somewhere in her brain. Magic? The thought came to her unbidden, and she suppressed a shudder of anxiety.

Instead of shaking her hand, the spirit held it in its own. Then it turned and ran, giving Evie little choice but to follow.