Jupiter Dreams Chapter 2
Arthur slapped his tail fin in frustration as turned another corner and discovered that his missing charge was apparently nowhere within the castle grounds. Which meant he would be in only one other place; somewhere he shouldn’t be as a Merdon and shouldn’t even consider being as the Prince of all of Merdom.
Arthur slipped out from the walls into the castle gardens where he picked up an air root. He bit into it and took in several quick short breaths, filling his lungs with the bubbling gas released from the root. As soon as the lightheaded feeling of the air root gas hit him, he knew he was ready. With strong powerful strokes he headed up towards the surface, aiming for a certain spot in particular.
He broke through from the dense metallic liquid he was used to into the lighter version of the liquid element a few minutes later. He shook loose the feather spines from their sheaths on his arms and shoulders. As they fluffed and filled out, he could feel the change in his core density pushing him upward. With a kick and a flap he was off, flying toward the tangled mass of fibrous matter that made up the floating islands in the liquid sky. He was aiming for one in particular that showed a familiar tale hanging over the one edge.
Alfred jumped when Arthur landed on the island next to him and disturbed the group of Lucent Plovers that were resting nearby. The little creatures dashed off in flurry of pips and squeaks. Their translucent bodies casting rainbow light over the duo as they flew away.
Alfred continued to follow their flight path as he waited for the impending chastisement from Arthur.
Arthur didn’t disappoint. The other Merdon raised himself up on one arm, leaning over Alfred where he lounged.
“Just what do you think you are doing coming here? It’s highly dangerous. Oh, and let’s not forget highly FORBIDDEN.”
Alfred lay there quietly listening to the rhythmic thump of Arthur’s tale as he tapped it against the island ground. Alfred could always tell how irritated Arthur was by how fast and hard that tale thumped. Today he was only mildly irritated.
“I needed time to think.”
Alfred rolled onto his back staring at the sky. A hydro-spider woven bottle sat on his chest. Dream dust, as they called it, played tricks on his mind casting dreams and memories along the bottle’s wall that only he could see. The visions were different for everyone that looked at it. It was also rare and hard to come by. Arthur sat transfixed a moment before he shook his mind free of the dust’s effect. Alfred knew that Arthur would be wondering what he was doing with the stuff. But to Arthur’s credit he didn’t ask, just liked Alfred didn’t ask him what he saw in it. He just watched it warily as the dust sparkled and gleamed floating in its precious air-filled compartment. The faceted edges of the bottle caught and refracted the dim rays of the distant sun and four of Jupiter’s neighboring seven moons in the late morning. There was just one more moon to rise before high moon and he knew Arthur wanted to be beneath the waves before then. High moon always brought the gravity storms and rough tides. It was not wise to be out on a floating bier in the sky during that time.
The dust also had another power. You could imprint a memory or dream on it. The next person to touch the bottle would experience that imprinted vision. But Arthur didn’t need to touch the bottle to know what vision was imprinted there. He’d grown up with Alfred and knew him better than anyone else did.
Arthur was scanning the sky in the distant looking for the warning signs of an incoming storm. Seeing nothing, he finally broke the silence though he didn’t turn back to face Alfred.
“It’s the memory of her. The one from your dreams isn’t it?”
Alfred let his hand play across the bottle’s edge watching the dust collect and cluster at the point where his finger touched the bottle. He traced the edge of the bottle watching the attracted dust follow his finger like a rainbow colored bristle star. He made one circuit of the bottle before answering.
“Yeah, I just keeping thinking that she’s out there and looking for me.” He waved at the sky, “my true love. The one I’m meant to be with and not some woman that …that…”
“That the king picked out.” Arthur finished for him.
Alfred’s heart died a little every time he thought about his forthcoming arranged marriage. Perhaps a more practical individual would be content with every aspect of their life already arranged and planned, but he balked at the confines of a predestined life. It was the curse of his gift which gave him the ability to traverse and experience other worlds in his dreams, a genetic trait that only developed in some of those born within the royal bloodline, but Royals were also the ones with the least amount of freedom to act on those dreams though they carried the most power. ‘A dreamer,’ his father liked to say, ‘never makes a good leader.’
Alfred ran a webbed finger across his lips thoughtfully, pausing halfway, letting it linger, to hang off the lower lip as he spoke his thoughts. “Do you think that if one with the Gift found his true love. . . that there would be magic in that first kiss of binding?”
He looked over at Arthur expectantly.
Arthur shrugged and laid a hand on the young man’s shoulder. “I don’t know about that Al, but I do know that it’s inane to continue to contemplate it. It’ll only bring you to grief.”
Arthur looked toward the swirl of clouds growing in the distance. He frowned concerned. His thick eyebrows puckered in concentration as he fanned the feathers on one arm testing the wind. He pulled them in again and rapped Alfred lightly on the shoulder.
“Time to go Prince, the high moon storms are moving in.”
Alfred nodded his understanding and sat up. He looked longingly at the bottle, stroking it a moment before holding it to his lips. He placed all of his heart’s desire into that kiss and let the dream dust absorb it in. Then with all his strength he tossed it the Jovian sea sky and let the swirling winds pull it into the storm.
He nodded at Arthur and with a flip of their tales they shoved off from the island, diving towards their familiar metallic sea.
Arthur slipped out from the walls into the castle gardens where he picked up an air root. He bit into it and took in several quick short breaths, filling his lungs with the bubbling gas released from the root. As soon as the lightheaded feeling of the air root gas hit him, he knew he was ready. With strong powerful strokes he headed up towards the surface, aiming for a certain spot in particular.
He broke through from the dense metallic liquid he was used to into the lighter version of the liquid element a few minutes later. He shook loose the feather spines from their sheaths on his arms and shoulders. As they fluffed and filled out, he could feel the change in his core density pushing him upward. With a kick and a flap he was off, flying toward the tangled mass of fibrous matter that made up the floating islands in the liquid sky. He was aiming for one in particular that showed a familiar tale hanging over the one edge.
Alfred jumped when Arthur landed on the island next to him and disturbed the group of Lucent Plovers that were resting nearby. The little creatures dashed off in flurry of pips and squeaks. Their translucent bodies casting rainbow light over the duo as they flew away.
Alfred continued to follow their flight path as he waited for the impending chastisement from Arthur.
Arthur didn’t disappoint. The other Merdon raised himself up on one arm, leaning over Alfred where he lounged.
“Just what do you think you are doing coming here? It’s highly dangerous. Oh, and let’s not forget highly FORBIDDEN.”
Alfred lay there quietly listening to the rhythmic thump of Arthur’s tale as he tapped it against the island ground. Alfred could always tell how irritated Arthur was by how fast and hard that tale thumped. Today he was only mildly irritated.
“I needed time to think.”
Alfred rolled onto his back staring at the sky. A hydro-spider woven bottle sat on his chest. Dream dust, as they called it, played tricks on his mind casting dreams and memories along the bottle’s wall that only he could see. The visions were different for everyone that looked at it. It was also rare and hard to come by. Arthur sat transfixed a moment before he shook his mind free of the dust’s effect. Alfred knew that Arthur would be wondering what he was doing with the stuff. But to Arthur’s credit he didn’t ask, just liked Alfred didn’t ask him what he saw in it. He just watched it warily as the dust sparkled and gleamed floating in its precious air-filled compartment. The faceted edges of the bottle caught and refracted the dim rays of the distant sun and four of Jupiter’s neighboring seven moons in the late morning. There was just one more moon to rise before high moon and he knew Arthur wanted to be beneath the waves before then. High moon always brought the gravity storms and rough tides. It was not wise to be out on a floating bier in the sky during that time.
The dust also had another power. You could imprint a memory or dream on it. The next person to touch the bottle would experience that imprinted vision. But Arthur didn’t need to touch the bottle to know what vision was imprinted there. He’d grown up with Alfred and knew him better than anyone else did.
Arthur was scanning the sky in the distant looking for the warning signs of an incoming storm. Seeing nothing, he finally broke the silence though he didn’t turn back to face Alfred.
“It’s the memory of her. The one from your dreams isn’t it?”
Alfred let his hand play across the bottle’s edge watching the dust collect and cluster at the point where his finger touched the bottle. He traced the edge of the bottle watching the attracted dust follow his finger like a rainbow colored bristle star. He made one circuit of the bottle before answering.
“Yeah, I just keeping thinking that she’s out there and looking for me.” He waved at the sky, “my true love. The one I’m meant to be with and not some woman that …that…”
“That the king picked out.” Arthur finished for him.
Alfred’s heart died a little every time he thought about his forthcoming arranged marriage. Perhaps a more practical individual would be content with every aspect of their life already arranged and planned, but he balked at the confines of a predestined life. It was the curse of his gift which gave him the ability to traverse and experience other worlds in his dreams, a genetic trait that only developed in some of those born within the royal bloodline, but Royals were also the ones with the least amount of freedom to act on those dreams though they carried the most power. ‘A dreamer,’ his father liked to say, ‘never makes a good leader.’
Alfred ran a webbed finger across his lips thoughtfully, pausing halfway, letting it linger, to hang off the lower lip as he spoke his thoughts. “Do you think that if one with the Gift found his true love. . . that there would be magic in that first kiss of binding?”
He looked over at Arthur expectantly.
Arthur shrugged and laid a hand on the young man’s shoulder. “I don’t know about that Al, but I do know that it’s inane to continue to contemplate it. It’ll only bring you to grief.”
Arthur looked toward the swirl of clouds growing in the distance. He frowned concerned. His thick eyebrows puckered in concentration as he fanned the feathers on one arm testing the wind. He pulled them in again and rapped Alfred lightly on the shoulder.
“Time to go Prince, the high moon storms are moving in.”
Alfred nodded his understanding and sat up. He looked longingly at the bottle, stroking it a moment before holding it to his lips. He placed all of his heart’s desire into that kiss and let the dream dust absorb it in. Then with all his strength he tossed it the Jovian sea sky and let the swirling winds pull it into the storm.
He nodded at Arthur and with a flip of their tales they shoved off from the island, diving towards their familiar metallic sea.