The Dream Map; Ch 4-- Visits

Orin maneuvered himself to Aertis' cottage and into Kylion's room. Aertis was doing his best to keep the boy still but Kylion's voice rang in the air like a siren, enough to make Aertis lose grip from time to time. Kylion had bitten his father several times by the time Orin arrived, and had drawn blood twice.

"Kylion," Orin scolded. Kylion climbed back on the cot.  He stopped screaming but continued to whimper like an injured dog as he rocked back and forth holding his leg.

"Too much power," Kylion managed. "So, sorry, Orin.  Stop it. Please."

Aertis did not say a word or move from the far corner of the room as Orin crossed over and placed Kylion on his lap. Orin held his hand over the mark on Kylion's leg and Aertis watched his son's expression melt from a look of anguish to a smile.

"Where's your mother?" Orin asked Kylion.

"Father and Cora had her taken to the Asylum. I read her dream. I tried to make it pleasant, but it turned horrible all over again."

"Your gifts are not developed." Orin told him.

"I know," Kylion said.

"You attempted to manipulate more than your mother's dreams, didn't you?"

Kylion looked at the floor and nodded. "Yes," he admitted.

"You realize that is what made the map burn. Pychar and Krytia imbedded the dream map in you as a gift of the two moons. It is a great honor to be chosen by the god and goddess. You must not abuse your power. It will grow in you as time passes, as sure as your arms or legs or the hair on your head.  But in it's own time. Pychar and Krytia do not approve of being undermined."

Aertis had been standing on the sidelines, watching as Orin discussed the plans of the god and goddess with his son, and he was annoyed. If Pychar and Krytia were giving Kylion a gift somewhere along the line there was going to be a cost. Nothing was free in Sendozor. Aertis had lived long enough to learn that.

"What is this, "dream map" you are telling my son about?" Aertis interjected. "What does it have to do with Pychar and Krytia?"

"Kylion was conceived under...unusual circumstances...was he not?" Orin asked.

"I suppose," Aertis said.

 "Do you recall if there were two moons?" Orin hesitated.

 Aertis thought hard. He had never considered much the legend of two moons, and the story was vague to him.

 "I remember something about seeing two moons, but I was injured, and I thought my vision had doubled.  It didn't seem right. I blinked and shook my head, and suddenly I could not see one moon, much less two.

 What I did see was the light from Jaielle's lantern. Jaielle both healed and enraptured me that night. I don't recall considering the god and goddess -- until it became obvious that Jaielle was with child. We had both waited so long; we praised Pychar and Krytia tirelessly."

 "You might have died that night if Jaielle had not ventured out to find you," Orin observed.

 "It is quite likely," Aertis admitted.

 "Yet you have sent her to the Asylum."

 "It was the only way to claim my son. Jaielle was dominating every aspect of his life. She was obsessive, and of course, a new babe relies on his mother. I could not do much while he was very young. But Kylion is older now, and needs to learn his path in life."

 "I quite agree, Aertis. It is your turn. Teach him well."

 Orin turned away from Aertis and back to Kylion.

 "Do not use your power for vengeance, my boy. It will only cause you pain. Do what you can to ease your mother's suffering in the Asylum, but aside from that save your skill for your father's trade. When the time comes Pychar and Krytia will reveal your destiny. Circumstances arise for many reasons. It is not for you to alter or question their purpose. "

With that Orin left the cottage, and scurried like wind into the forest, leaving Aertis alone with his son.

***

Cora had passed by the cottage while Orin was talking to Kylion and Aertis, and she decided not to enter. Her dreams had frightened her, as did Kylion's behavior that morning, and she was not sure if she would ever return.

 Cora felt a sudden urge to see Jaielle - or at least speak to someone who could access her. She knew the thought was insane, and those who wanted to visit the place were thought of as just that. But Cora was desperate for answers, and with the possible exception of Kylion, Jaielle seemed to be the only one who might have them,

 Before Laiya had taken her in, Cora lived for a short time on the streets on Sendozor.  She had known people who had gone to visit the Asylum, and they had not returned. Most of the people who took the risk to visit their sisters, daughters, brothers and husbands were women. Women rarely had anything to do with someone's admittance into the Asylum - unless it was a case like Cora's, where there was a mistress involved.  The Asylum was a handy place to keep the first wife out of the way.  For a mistress, such as Cora to risk her own freedom by visiting her beloved's wife was unheard of, and all but suicidal.

 Cora considered both Aertis' cottage and the Asylum in her mind, at least for the time being, one place looked as frightening as the other.  at least The Asylum seemed to hold some possibility of gaining some insight and understanding -- if she could talk to Jaielle.  Therefore, Cora kept walking toward the other end of Sendozor where the madness gathered, and finally the white buildings were in sight.

 Cora stared at the buildings where the sunlight shone and it formed a cloud in her mind.  The white rows seemed endless and one person impossible to find.  She was about to convince herself it had been a mistake to come when a dove swooped down from nowhere and bit Cora in the finger.

 "Ouch!" Cora cried. She tried to muffle the word as she looked at the sky and saw the bird still circling around her. Cora held out her hand, palm side up, as she watched the blood flow from her finger. The dove dropped a lock of auburn hair in her palm, and Cora knew it was Jaielle's.  Cora tied a knot in the hair leaving her own blood woven in the strands.

 "It's all right, little dove," the wind whispered.

 Where is she?" Cora asked, and the dove flew again.  This time Cora followed.  Whenever the dove flew quickly, Cora stayed silent watching in circles around her, watching for wardens who may confuse her for an inmate - or decide to make her one.

 Suddenly the dove moved slower, and Cora got the feeling they were close to Jaielle's cell.

The Asylum cells were seven feet square and built of white brick and mortar. A narrow wooden doorway was bolted tight from the outside. The only window in each cell was crafted by the absence of two bricks. It was not one building, but rather two sections of thirty small cells, one for the women, the other for the men. No more than three feet of space stood between the buildings, and the whole place huddled on the edge of Sendozor like a forbidden labyrinth.

"Jaielle! Jaielle!" Cora cooed in the dove's whisper.  The dove continued to navigate, until at last Jaielle whispered an answer into the air.  The Asylum walls were far above Cora's field of vision. She listened and looked around to find which window Jaielle's voice had come from, but by the time she finally determined it, the dove was gone.

"Cora?" Jaielle's voice came raspy from behind the white wall. "You are vindictive.  Risking your life and freedom to come here and gloat about stealing my husband."

"I didn't steal Aertis, Jaielle.  You surrendered him."

"How convenient for you," Jaielle stated.

"I didn't come here to talk about Aertis," Cora told her. "Besides, he hasn't had any time for me since you left.  He's been consumed with the boy."

"Since I left," Jaielle laughed.  "That's an odd way of putting it."

"Jaielle, you were possessive.  You were obsessive. We had no choice...."

"What are you doing here?"

"I need to find out about Kylion's gifts."

"So, you believe me now?"

"There is definitely something, unusual about the boy, yes."

"Get me out of this hole," Jaielle said.

"I can't do that, Jaielle."

"What is it about the women in your family, Cora, always stealing the men in mine?  First it was your mother, now you."

"You've become so hard, Jaielle, so mean.  Even before you were brought here.  You used to have such kindness in you. We were friends as girls." Cora reminded.

"We aren't girls anymore," Jaielle said, "and don't be naïve - we weren't "friends"-we were sisters.  You really don't think I would've paid so much attention to the maid's swab, do you?"

Cora shook her head.  "It doesn't matter," she said. "I can't go back there.  The boy frightens me."

"How can you say that?  Kylion is kin to you.  You have to go back."

"He has his father - and Orin.  Orin is there with them now."

"I know," Jaielle said.  Her voice softened, and she began to sound like the Jaielle Cora had known years ago.  "But you were compelled to come here for answers.  I do not have them here.  They lie with Kylion. Besides, even with all his power he is a little boy - he will need you, and so will Aertis."

Jaielle and Cora heard a crow call out in the distance, and Cora looked up and saw the white sky above the Asylum sprinkled with black birds.

"I have to go," Cora said.

"You'll go back," Jaielle pleaded.

"I don't know, Jaielle," she said.  "I'll see." 

Cora turned the corner, the dove appeared again, and she followed it.  The dove stood out in the sky like a grain of rice in a pepper mill. Cora herself looked ridiculous, still in her night gown, following this bird aimlessly. She had no choice but to trust it, and  no idea what she was going to do once she was out of the vicinity of the Asylum.

Cora caught a glimpse of the warden as she rounded one of the many corners.

"Ho There!" she heard him shout. She kept going, pretending not to hear him.  She wondered if Jaielle could have somehow sent him after her. He ran for just a bit, and Cora ran herself. She had quite a head start, and before she knew it, she had found her way into relative safety.

Yet even with the immediate threat tucked within the Asylum grounds, Cora was faced with Jaielle's lingering request. She was faced with her own lingering question of what this was to mean for Sendozor, and for all of them.