18.

dreams

The apprentice rushed through the halls, toes gripping the thick red carpet as she ran. Her slight form was almost lost amid the heavy robes she wore, embroidered and dyed richly.

The alcoves along the side, hollowed out from the stone slabs and inlaid with bright glass lanterns, they spilled pillows into the walkways. It was difficult to navigate. A dreamer for every petty dream, there were hundreds in the complex. A thing Pane hoped to achieve one day. She was on a special mission to one of The Dreamers. Love, in fact, with her own gilded halls and beautiful people on beautiful cushions, often in pairs.

The Dreamers were always rare, and there were only five of them. They could dream while awake and still run their own halls, having their own sects to make up for impure, muddied dreams. Half formed or underlying currents.

Pane was apprenticing under a subsection of Revenge. They figured she was a shoe in, her parents having been murdered and all. She didn't have the heart to tell them that she hadn't loved her parents anyway and if she met their killer, would probably just shrug and walk the other direction. The halls of Revenge were cold and dank, with moldy pillows and thin blankets. Nobody there was ever in a good mood, and Pane was going to try her hardest to transfer somewhere better.

To Love, she carried a special package. She carried it close to her heart and tried her hardest not to think about it. Some of the dreamers could pick up on stray thoughts and they could broadcast it to everyone in the complex.

The more she thought about it, the harder she ran. Some dreams just couldn't wait.