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[futures_of_ash]

Rachel's in a tree, sprawled more like a child of ten than any woman of centuries. Long legs dangling back along teh trunk, hair equally gravity pulled amongs green, green leaves...

She's watching clouds.

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[mouse_shadow]

"You may want to consider resting somewhere else, the trees here seem to have bad attitudes."

A walk outside after a morning spent drinking. Not staggering a bit, no!

[mouse_shadow]

Scotland sounds like something he should know, but history gets rearranged so much after millennia. Gentler dreams...

"Not in themselves. When I dream of those I used to know, I wake expecting to see them. And, of course, there are those I've killed. But dreaming can be attractive."

[futures_of_ash]

For a strange moment there's an almost drowning feeling of blood. A metallic taste upon the tongue, and shadows deep enough to drown even her flame in her eyes...

...but it passes in a heartbeat.

"I am glad yours can be kind"

[mouse_shadow]

"They are only dreams. When I was young, I dreamed of-" the future, was what he was about to say. He, catches himself, recalling how many he's already revealed this to. Then he looks up at Rachel and pulls himself back on track.

"It's not my dreams that motivate me. I have spoken to many here, but few have struck me as trustworthy; yet here I am with you, again almost naked. Who are you, Rachel? Why do you have this effect on me?"

[futures_of_ash]

When she was young...she did not dream as any human would.

Her smile now holds no mirth, only, perhaps, a gentle, weary sadness. "What name would you like to hear? What tale of my past? I don't hide anything if you want to know...but who and what I am is a long story."

"I would like to think you may trust me...because you need someone to trust, and I have never harmed one who trust me...but I can't be cetrain"

[mouse_shadow]

Far be it from Muad'dib to expect a straight answer from a woman, but he's had his fill of verbal battles. Unless she's a suntler creature than the Aes Sedai, he feels no subterfuge.

"For another time, then. A grain of mystery to add to the dune. I should be content just to have a moment of peace I didn't have to earn through hours of concentration."

[futures_of_ash]

No, she doesn't lie. She is one of very few, perhaps, that has no need, and very rarely ever has.

"I almost look forward to the questioning..." she chuckled "As long as it's gentle."

And slowly, she stretched back out on the branches, gaze once more trailing to the sky "Hold peace when you can, a lesson I learned long...long ago. The moments keep you sane sometimes..."

"What do you see?" she asked softly, nodding to the sky.

[mouse_shadow]

"Today? Only the blue sky through spring leaves. But I know that if I were to build a tall enough tower, I would pierce the illusion and see exploding stars. That is what I saw the first night I swam here."

"Peace this may give us, but it is false, nevertheless."

[futures_of_ash]

She chuckled, reaching out to tug on his shirt gently, inviting him to stretch out on the branches as well "I can see the stars now, Paul...and yet still the sky. It's no less real because you know both are there"

"Take it from a girl who has known years of...peace, or something close to it, for the years you an count on one hand...and torture and pain for centuries beyond that. Peace, even if you know some part of it is illusion...is worth holding."

[mouse_shadow]

He does stretch out, after a fashion. Normally, his dexterity is superlative. Today it's, well, normal. Ish.

And letting her get so close is seductive in itself.

"For my adult life I lived on a world without a single native tree. The only leaves on Arrakis were from plants grown in gardens, an affectation worth more than many lives. I found peace there, in the relative cool of the sietch, on the backs of the great Worms, in the silence of the Great Erg. And embraced it.

"I can do the same here, but not for long. Soon, I must find a way out of the cage, or I will go insane."

[futures_of_ash]

She does watch him from the corner of her eye, to make sure he doesn't look like he's slipping. She won't let him fall...but she doesn't have to say such.

"I raised my brother in a world much like that, blasted and wasted...but the memories aren't mine anymore. I remember peace though" Askani "...the feeling at least. And sand. There was alot to see in the sand" she shook her head gently, hair slipping and falling to tangle in the leaves once more.

"This isn't a place to stay" she agreed "Not even if you love it. I think I'm close to healed enough...that the realities will catch up with me. Hopefully...Bar will let me back..." and like the taste of rain on the tongue, there's a deep sadness at even the thought of such loss.

[mouse_shadow]

Healing? The scars. Another weary soldier. A waystation formed to heal warwounds? No, there are too many schemes working here, too many plans being formed.

"I am also healing, in a way. The Spice that saturated Arrakis is addictive, and I lost that coming here." It should have killed him, but that would be twice dead.

"The Bar... do you mean the being that is at the heart of the Tavern? I saw that one when in the deep trance, too. It is ancient, but I couldn't follow its Path beyond the moment. I saw here many mortals with Paths and have met some that are Pathless, but the Bar is unique. It's as if it is formed of our Paths. Does this make sense to you?"

[futures_of_ash]

Yes, the scars, the physicals ones being the least of them.

And, strange as it may seem to him, Rachel has always been a physical creature. She offers comfort through gentle touch, perhaps more akin to a wolf in a pack than a human...but she can be allowed her oddities perhaps. What she offers now is gentle fingers along his cheek, a soft petting, an apology for the pain addiction brings...

...and for what he's lost through shaking it...

"It exists because it needs to. Because potential and power always meet in strange ways. I'm rather relieved it's created a haven about itself rather than sought to devour what it can reach"

[mouse_shadow]

He feels the need for a touch, and on some level knows it's more than that, but it's not so hard to accept this time. Easier not to question motivations when the boon itself wasn't asked for.

At her touch, however, his mind inevitably covers the blue sky with the sun-kissed face of Chani, and for a second time, he draws inward.

"I'm sorry. You make me feel... clearer. But I think we each need to heal ourselves. I think I can trust you, though I don't know why, but there are still parts of me that do not wish to be healed."

"Wait until we are both as whole as can be, then I might ask for your touch."

[futures_of_ash]

She sees that, and winces, drawing her hand away almost as if burned. She'd been foolish...offering as if he was family, as if he already knew and accepted who and what she was...

Foolish

Something she had always been, too much heart, not enough head at times.

"Forgive me" those two, simple words are empty. Carefully restrained, wondering what else may be unwelcome.

The reaction of a girl far too used to anger following such words, or following upon her actions.

[mouse_shadow]

Frown. Guilt.

"That's not what I meant. You're welcome, I just can't enjoy that kind of comfort without remembering..."

Breath. Beat.

"Chani. She touched me this way. She died long before I came here, but she follows me and I see her when you touch me."