Trust dreams. Trust your heart, and trust your story.

[smallestopener]

Ingress had a brilliant birthday. She’s eleven. Eleven is nearly grown up! It’s also the year when children in the stories she’s read come into their own. Adventures begin, schooling starts, worlds are saved… she can hardly wait to see what will happen next

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There once was a little girl who came to Milliways

[smallestopener]

Ingress is in Milliways, but it’s not quite Milliways. It’s also the family room in their wing of the House of Arch with stacks of books and comfortable couches. There are board games scattered around the floor - chess, Exploding Snap cards, Snakes and Ladders (which she doesn’t even play anymore), and old toys. She laughs when she sees her dress up trunk by the fireplace. She runs to it and pulls out the tutu she always loved to wear best.

She hasn’t played dress up with tutus in a while. She shimmies into it, and it fits again! Her blue shoes glitter on her feet, and there are shiny beads around her neck. Her sword, however, remains in its scabbard attached to her belt. Some things don’t change.

Re: There once was a little girl who came to Milliways

[creator_raven]

The flutter of eyelashes against her cheek might catch her attention.

That and the huge, slightly misshapen, brightly colored butterflies that are fluttering out of the fireplace and swirling around her.

Dancing.

Then they explode, soundless and bright, in a shower of glitter.

And soot.

Raven picks himself up out of the mess, nose wrinkling as he sneezes.

His coat is white.

"It is, I think, almost old home week, yes?"

He reaches forward, cupping Ingress' chin in one hand.

"Try not to forget."

Some things really don't change.

Except when they do.

Re: There once was a little girl who came to Milliways

[smallestopener]

Ingress twirls in delight as the glitter showers down.

The butterflies have curly eyelashes, and they wink at her. Ingress winks back as she chases after them.

When she sees Raven, she squeals in glee. Once he speaks, she throws her arms around him in a big big big hug.

"I shall never forget, silly."

She drapes one of her necklaces over his head. It has purple and blue beads with tiny prisms in between. It is one of her very favorites. It can be his now.

Re: There once was a little girl who came to Milliways

[creator_raven]

Raven wrinkles his nose, leaning down to ruffle her hair.

"That, I think, is what I said, too."

And then he's gone.

So is the necklace.

The glitter, however, remains.

That stuff gets everywhere.

Fortify yourself with contentment, for this is an impregnable fortress.

[smallestopener]

Ingress plops down onto a bale of hay in a stable. Sun shines upon her, warming her and making her sleepy. She could be in Valdemar or Ambergeldar or at Milliways. It doesn’t matter. This place stands for all places that smell of comforting horse flesh and tickly hay.

She does wonder where the horses are, but for right now, she is content to wait in this place of comfort and reassurance.

Re: Fortify yourself with contentment, for this is an impregnable fortress.

[aj_crawley]

In dreams, things don't have to make sense.

Here in the stable, with the good warm sun glowing in the hay, and the lazy dust motes glowing in the good warm sun, everything seems peaceful. It isn't silent, but it's quiet; no sound at all save for the soft whickering of the horses and the rustle of hay. The animals seem at peace.

But up in the loft, against the bright halo of the window, something else is moving.

Shadows.

Re: Fortify yourself with contentment, for this is an impregnable fortress.

[smallestopener]

Ingress looks up. Shadows happen in barns. She isn't frightened of them. Not when everything is so warm and nice and lovely.

She stands, and then rises up on her tiptoes to better see.

Re: Fortify yourself with contentment, for this is an impregnable fortress.

[a_fell]

And now indistinct voices float down to her, though it isn't as though they're making any effort to conceal themselves. The sound is clearly the simple rise and fall of conversation, punctuated by the occasional soft clink of glassware.

On her toes, she can see that there are two figures silhouetted against the golden light seeping through the cracks between boards.

Not all is as it seems

[smallestopener]

Out by the lake, Ingress scans the water for Mr. Julia. It’s hard to see because it’s dark. She hasn’t been out by the lake at dark before, so Tom must be close by. Or Door. Neither are. It’s quiet out here. Ominously so. She only hears the lap of water against the rocks. It’s not a good quiet, and she remembers the warnings she’s heard over the years - don’t talk to strangers, be careful, come home straight away, there are things in the dark that will take you away, take your mother, your father, your brother…

She is frightened, but Ingress, Lady of the House of Arch and soon-to-be Herald, does not let fear stop her. She lifts her head high, hefts her sword, and begins to walk towards the far-off lights in the distance, skirting the shore.

It seems a very far way to the safety of those lights.

Re: Not all is as it seems

[it_has_teeth]

The wind stirs eddies in the water, whorls and ripples that grow deeper with time. Deeper and --

Brighter.

A fin the size of a sail breaks through the surface, sudden and swift and arrowing straight toward the shore.

Toward Ingress.

And a voice rises from the water too, cool and dry and dull as death.

(It has teeth in it.)

"Well met, little Opener, little Herald-to-be. Shall you choose, at last, to venture out for a swim?"

Re: Not all is as it seems

[smallestopener]

Ingress never met the Master Shark, but she knew of him from shivery stories told to her.

At least that's what she seems to remember.

She only knows that no, she shall not swim with him for a long time.

"No thank you," she says, polite and quiet, and how are her toes that close to the water line?

"Not yet."

Re: Not all is as it seems

[it_has_teeth]

"A pity."

The vast fin that heralds the presence of ed'Rashtekaresket turns slowly away from the shoreline, beginning to circle.

"My bite would have been swift."

No ripples mark his passing.

Not this time.

Green grow the rushes, oh

[smallestopener]

Ingress runs through a forest. The trees stretch high above her head, and golden sunlight filters down through the green leaves. It’s lovely here. Lovely and cool, and she’s not frightened any longer.

She’s never been in a forest quite like this before, but she knows the path to take, threading though the pine needles and crushed leaves, her hands reaching out to touch the rough bark of trunks as she passes.

Re: Green grow the rushes, oh

[ofthatantet]

There's another girl moving through the woods; a few years older. Not a lot. She looks tired, but less scared than she was once; almost hopeful. Her hair is long and straight and dishevelled, and her face is tracked with tears. She's barefoot, legs scratched, wearing a t-shirt like a dress. There's a rip across the back, and she's bled.

She's got something tight in her fist, as she stumbles through a sort of doorway made by two silver trees.

Re: Green grow the rushes, oh

[smallestopener]

Ingress glances up at the trees.

Temple and Arch

"Hey, are you okay?" she calls to the girl. She looks hurt. Badly hurt.

She must have been through a battle.

"You should go to the Infirmary. Or the leechwife. She's near Down Street. Hunter could take you."

Re: Green grow the rushes, oh

[ofthatantet]

"I'm okay," she says. She smiles, quick and nervous.

She has familiar eyes. "I just gotta find my mom. He--" She points back behind her, through the (doorway) trees, with the fisted hand. "--said she's in a bar?"

"I'm

(really Rosie)

Rose."

[smallestopener]

Her eyes open.

It's morning, and sun is streaming in through her bedroom window.

Ingress, Lady of the House of Arch, Opener, and future Herald, is awake. She stays still a moment, wisps and snippets of her dream whirling in her head. She'll never remember all of it, but she'll remember a surprising amount - enough to know that she is loved and she is strong, and she can do anything with a little help and a lot of bravery.

She hurtles out of bed, her feet hitting the cool wooden floor of her room.

::Megwyn! You won't believe the dream I had!:: she mindsends as she runs out the door to the stable.

It will be quite the story for an eleven-year-old to tell.