Chapter 36
Gloria was hiding something from Midshore. She knew that Gloria didn’t like it when she read her dreams, but it was so easy when it was all that she was thinking about while meditating. Being a dream, she couldn’t read the boy Gloria had dreamt of, and that was one thing that she didn’t like. She didn’t like not knowing.
Who was he? Gloria hadn’t dreamed of him since she was a small child, and he had aged along with her, unlike most characters in dreams. Something she could tell was that the dream wasn’t a natural dream. It was too strong for that. It wasn't unheard of for spellcasters to have dreams with the power that gives them their power; Midshore had a few every year, but they also didn’t age, and they were never humanoid.
What knawed at Midshore is that no one knew what fed Gloria’s power. She didn’t have the spirits to influence her, she didn’t pray to a being like the Kraken, and she didn’t take any herbs to enhance her powers. It seemed purely natural, and that was nearly unheard of.
Why was she having power fueled dreams and seeing this boy? What importance is he?
She wanted to dig deeper, see what the rest of the dream was. What could she assume from the boy’s demeanor and character? How he carried himself? She itched to open Gloria’s dreams and explore, but she restrained herself. She had promised to not go looking without permission.
Gloria walked back down the path to her little house and Midshore walked down to the herbal room where she was trying to practice her potion making.
Everstar could tell there was something on her mind. “What’s wrong?” she asked directly.
“Gloria. It’s been eating at me all night. She had a dreamscape recently, but said nothing about it. The image I got from it was brief, but- She dreamt of the same boy she did as a child, only he’s grown up now.”
“Dream characters don’t age.” Everstar said bluntly.
“That’s what I thought too.” she paused. “This is truly a development, but I’m not sure what to make of it.”
“Then don’t worry about it. It hasn’t affected anything yet, perhaps it was a fiction of the mind.” Everstar assured.
“No, there was definitely something unusual about it.” she looked back to Everstar. “As for the boy that she chooses to fancy, there’s something about him I can’t pin down. He’s from the mainland-”
“-Most refugees are-”
“But he feels… off. Not quite whole. As if he’s hiding something from everyone, even us.” Midshore finished.
“Refugees often don’t feel whole and try to submerge the past. That’s not different.” Everstar countered.
“Perhaps, but I’m going to keep an eye on it. Gloria is too good a girl to fall in love with someone who doesn’t want what’s right for her.”
“We have no control over her life, we should let her make her own choices. She’s young, let her make mistakes and live. You’re so tense, relax.” Everstar rubbed her wife’s back.
~*~
“-And he was so pushy that I could hardly enjoy the scenery!” Gloria gushed to her friends about her dream. “I was relieved when he finally went away, I couldn’t stand to be around him much longer.”
“Maybe he likes you.” Mara pondered while looking at her nails. “That seems to be a trend lately, boys falling in love with you without having a reason why.”
“Blake doesn’t- he hasn’t said he loves me.” Gloria blushed a deep red, something that Mable noticed.
“What, what happened on your swimming lesson? Did it go well? Did the two of you announce your undying love for eachother?” she pestered.
“He said he was like Frido in a strange land and I was anchoring him to it and he could learn to be happy here with me.” Gloria could hardly get the words out from the tension in her chest from her giddiness.
“What?!” they screeched in unison.
“Oh, Creator, that’s the sweetest thing I’ve heard in a long while!” Mable swooned.
“More like cliche!” Mara said a bit sour, but she was smiling. “Did he kiss you?”
“What? No! No, I- I ruined the moment.” Gloria stated.
“How did you ruin the moment? It’s hard to mess up that moment, especially when it sounds like he laid it out so easily.”
“I lit a sparkler before he could kiss me.”
~*~
A small group had gathered at the celebration, awaiting the event. The sun beat down making everyone's skin sweat in the heat.
Blake stood before the group dressed in white, reminding Gloria of her dream briefly before she sensed Blake’s feelings again. He was nervous, like moth wings in his lungs.
Gloria smiled as he glanced her way, trying to give him encouragement. She hadn’t been to a rebirth ceremony in a long while, not since she was a child, but everyone learned about them in school from the head councilwoman. She comes in once every two years or so to tell the small kids about it and to give the older ones a bit of a refresher.
The council woman joined Blake at the front dressed in traditional Island clothes made of grasses and rough cotton. “Blake, just like many refugees before you, you have chosen to shed your past life and denounce the actions you committed before you came to our lands. We are proud to call you brother here, and we will take you in with open arms.”
She extended her arms and gave Blake a ceremonious hug. “From this moment forward, you are no longer Blake, but are instead Aubade, meaning ‘song at dawn’. Welcome, Aubade!”
The small crowd all repeated in unison “Welcome, Aubade!”, applauding. There were flower petals thrown, a flower necklace was put over Aubade’s head. Gloria could already tell it was going to be hard to get used to calling him by a different name, but it was who he was now, and she would honor that. Blake was behind him, Aubade was his future.
The group broke to eat food and converse, and Aubade made his way over to Gloria, pulling her aside while thanking everyone for the congratulations. It took a while but they finally made their way through the crowd to the railing.
He took her hand in his. “Gloria, if there was ever a good time to tell you how I feel, now is a good time. I feel like I’m able to see who I’m meant to be, who I’m meant to be with, and where I’m supposed to be. You are my heart, Gloria, and I know that it’s too early to be saying any of this, but I feel it.” he craned his neck and kissed her, surprising her.
“Oh. Oh that’s… nice. Thank you.” she said, not knowing how to respond.
Mabel and Mara gave Gloria thumbs up from behind Aubade.
I finally got this chapter out! Finally! For some reason, I just had no motivation to take pictures of this chapter. And then with all of the buggyness of the game lately with what I want it to do and the eyes changing, it's quite an adjustment. But the more I get through these chapters the sooner I can get to the plot I actually want to write lol.
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