บท 695: Not a Dream
Aurora felt soft grass beneath her cheek. She inhaled deeply. The air was sweet.
Sweeter and more refreshing than even the gardens at the palace.
'What kind of plant is this? My Gardner needs to know about it!'
A low chuckle rumbled through the air, startling the Empress. She sat up quickly to discern the location. But there was no one there to greet her.
Wait! She could see something in the rolling grass a short way off. Standing, Aurora ran toward it in a panic.
Her deep blue dress billowed out behind her.
"Mairwen! Are you alright?!" Aurora helped the other woman roll onto her back.
She was relieved when the princess took a deep breath.
"Mother?" the girl asked groggily. "What are you doing in my dream?"
"Dream?" The Empress's eyes opened wide. The blue in them shimmered like stardust. Her hair, too, seemed to possess an otherworldly beauty.
Aurora breathed deeply once more, pulling as much of the fresh scent into her lungs as she could before exhaling with a smile. "We aren't dreaming. Are we?"
The question was directed upwards into the clear blue sky.
Mairwen looked up for anything noteworthy and then all around the verdant field. Who was her mother talking to?
"Indeed, you are not dreaming. You are not where any dream can reach unless I let it. I do not think your gardeners will ever be able to find plants like these." The deep voice chuckled again.
Aurora blushed, "I suppose not. I am glad you are here. Or that we are here. I'm not exactly sure how this works."
"Nor do you need to, my Beloved Ones. Your bodies are both still asleep in the Mystic Spires, but you are also here with me." The soothing voice filled them with untold peace when he called them beloved.
"You are the Maker," the princess smiled.
"I am," the voice responded.
"Then the Seed worked! We have restored the waterfall!" Mairwen felt giddy with joy.
"The Seed is exactly as you left it for now. Nothing has changed." The Maker's words startled both the women.
"You mean we...failed? We brought the Seed as fast as we could!" Aurora suddenly felt angry. "What more could we have done?" She asked desperately.
"Wait," the Maker answered. "There is a time for everything."
"Wait for what?" Mairwen tried to remain calm. Unlike the Empress, she had never been in the presence of the mighty being. She was full of joy, fear, and awe.
"I brought you here on another matter," the wind blew around them in response to the shift in subject.
The censure in the Maker's voice gave Aurora pause. Her heart clenched. "What matter is that?"
"You both know your bodies are broken." He let the words hang in the air.
The two women looked at one another. Right now they looked perfect, but back in the real world, neither of them was whole.
"Dearest Princess, I think you know you how bad your injury is. You act like you are doing better, but your head is getting worse. You already know what I am about to say..." The Maker paused.
"I'm dying." Mairwen's eyes filled with tears.
"Your head is slowly filling with fluid and putting pressure where there should not be any. You should not wake up from your slumber in the tower." The Maker's voice was gentle.
Aurora grabbed her daughter's hand. "No! This cannot be!"
"And you, Sweet Empress. Always so quick to come to other's aid. Placing yourself in the back of the caravan was a selfless act and you nearly plummeted into a serpent's mouth because of it. You will have to keep that brace forever. Your leg is too weak to sustain you anymore. If you take even one step without something to hold you up, the bone inside will shatter again and you will not recover." With the words of the Maker, the vision of a slow and sickly death flashed into Aurora's mind.
"Surely there is something that can be done for her!" Mairwen begged.
"And for Mairwen as well!" Aurora pleaded.
"There is. You both can remain with me. Leave your bodies behind and live here in peace. No one would blame you for wishing to avoid the end."
The Empress and Princess looked around at the world. It was peaceful and wonderful and they were with the one who made them. Everything was perfect. It was an irresistible offer. And yet...
"I cannot," Aurora answered. "Not until the work is complete."
"Send me back as well. Even if I only have a moment. I want to help make things right." Mairwen wiped the water from her face and took a deep breath.
"You would suffer pain and death?" The Maker asked.
"For those we love? In a heartbeat." Aurora straightened her back.
"There is no greater sacrifice." The deep voice carried on the wind.
The Empress took a deep breath. " We want to go. Will you send us back?"
"Tell me, what does something need to grow?" The question was abrupt and did not answer Aurora's query.
She shouldn't have been surprised. The Empress had been told by him before that she had asked the wrong question. Obviously, it was the same case this time.
"Nutrients, a place to live, water...." Mairwen held out a finger for each thing as she thought.
"Yes, all of those are necessary, Princess. Your schooling taught you well. Does the Seed have those things?" The Maker's question was confusing on the surface.
Sure they called the glowing diamond a seed, but it wasn't exactly alive in the sense that plants and animals were, was it? But if the magic could die, then there must be something that kept it alive.
"It does not have any soil, but I think the love and care of my flower are feeding it in some way," Aurora answered slowly.
"And the stone floor closed around the stem, so it has a definite place to live." The princess remembered how the bottom of the pool had accepted the Seed easily.
"If the waterfall were flowing again, it would have water." The Empress blushed, afraid she might have spoken out of turn.
But the Maker laughed softly, putting her at ease. "Indeed, having the Falls flow once more would solve many problems. And I can make that happen. However, there is one more thing that makes life where you live possible. You see it every day, but you probably ignore it."
'Every day? What do I see every single day no matter where I am? Day!'
"Light!" both Aurora and Mairwen said in unison.
Aurora bit her lip. "So we just have to wait for the sun to come up for the magic to be restored?"
"The sun lights the whole land. Using it fully on the Seed would plunge the rest of the world into darkness." The Maker did not explain further.
"But the Seed glows on its own. That is a kind of light..." The princess tried to reason.
"That is the light that needs to be fostered. It is merely a fragment of the Source. To let it mature naturally would take a hundred years." His voice words were irrefutable. Who would know better the limitations of the Magic than the one who made it?
"We don't have a hundred years!" The Empress saw the world crumbling around the Seed before it could ever bloom. "Isn't there anything we can do?!"
"The Seed needs light. If you want to help, be that light." The Maker's words sunk deep into the two ladies' souls.
Aurora felt a sense of hope from the declaration. "So you are letting us return?"
"Yes, but not as you were," the Maker answered. "You will be the light. Do you accept?"
Aurora and Mairwen looked at one another. If this is what was needed. They would do it. "We accept."
Both ladies felt a hand come onto their shoulders from behind. They were filled with intense, overwhelming warmth from the inside out. They felt filled with light.
"Good. You are ready. Now, my Beloved Ones. Go... and shine!"
At his words, the world went white.
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