Demi was having a very unusual dream.
She determined that it was a dream fairly early on. More often than not she could do this with her dreams.
This dream had turned out to be quite interesting, so she had resolved to sit back and enjoy it.
She had come to a strange land after a brief interview with herself (a self that was not her self, in the way that things in dreams were often not-really-things). At first it had been a little disappointing, but then it had become much better. She had made friends with charming animal people, met dryads, grown flowers, and cared for chickens.
And then she had rescued a very handsome old man who had conveniently decided to promptly move in with her. She particularly appreciated this aspect of dreams.
But then one day he had decided to go away. She did not like that. She had had the terrible feeling that if she let him out of her sight, she would never see him again.
She did not want that to happen. She did not want anything bad to happen to him, not beyond what had already happened.
So she chased after him when he turned to leave, and she just caught the edge of his cloak.
And it was then that she woke up.
She came fully awake almost at once, somewhat disoriented. She was not exactly sure where she was because it was dark. She could feel that she was in a bed.
Her mind rapidly filled in the details that she couldn’t see.
She was in her bedroom. There was a wall six feet to her left and another ten feet to her right. There were shelves against that wall which held an assortment of scale figures and model horses. Game consoles were stacked neatly on a shelf beside the television. The door to her personal library was on the wall behind her. Her bathroom was through the door nearest the far outer corner of the room, and her dressing room through the door adjacent. Past the thick drapes and the wide window was the Deep Wood, slumbering quietly.
She must have woken up in the middle of the night.
But then she heard soft words and was bathed in low light.
She blinked, because even though the light was dim, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust.
And it was then that her surroundings changed utterly.
She was not in the familiar bedroom of her childhood.
She was in a different bedroom, a new bedroom. This was her bedroom. She was in her bedroom, in her bed, in the farmhouse at Rosewood Farm, and one of her arms was stretched out toward a chair that had been pulled up close to the bedside.
She was holding tightly on to the cloak of Aelfric Farrant, who was sitting in a chair at her bedside. He had called up a light spell, and it hovered near the bedside lamp.
She was so astonished that she could not think of a single thing to say.
Apart from, “Good morning.”
“Good morning,” he answered quietly, then paused as if considering. At last, he added, “It’s actually the middle of the night. Around three a.m.”
“Well, that’s still the morning,” she pointed out sensibly.
He made a nonverbal noise which she decided to take as a full agreement with her statement.
After one last squeeze to reassure herself that it was real and material, and that he was going nowhere, Demi let go of his cloak and sat up in bed. As she did, he gradually turned up the light so they could see one another better.
“You seem to have fully recovered,” he said, and the relief in his voice was plain.
“Oh right!” she said, brightening. “I think I had just finished remaking that nasty place, but then my memories get a little fuzzy. It’s like everything just grayed out.”
“You lost consciousness,” he agreed. “I can only assume due to the massive amount of power that you handled. You’ve been asleep for four days.” He closed his eyes briefly. “At first I thought you had killed yourself doing it,” he said quietly, “but then I detected your heartbeat and breathing. They were very slow, but you were alive. I’ve been monitoring you since then. Fortunately, you have been very stable.”
“You’ve been sitting with me all of this time?” Demi asked, wide-eyed. “For four days?!”
“Someone needed to monitor you in case your condition changed abruptly,” he pointed out. “No one else lives in this house besides you, the chicken, and the slime.” He bowed his head and closed his eyes briefly. “I must apologize for taking the liberty of managing the house while you were incapacitated.”
“You don’t have anything to apologize for,” Demi answered, feeling embarrassed that he had bowed his head to her. “I have to thank you for looking after me—”
Aelfric cut her off before she could let loose a disorganized flood of apologies and gratitude.
“I took on the responsibility myself, of my own volition. You should not feel that you owe me anything.” He exhaled quietly. “Besides, you spent much more time caring for me after you found me in the forest.”
Oh, I suppose that’s true, she realized.
“But,” Demi began hesitantly. “Weren’t you leaving?”
He had seemed very anxious to be on his way after having determined his location.
And now she had delayed his departure again.
He exhaled through his nose, and the sound was short and faint.
He laughed? Demi realized.
“Let’s just say that circumstances have resolved themselves and I no longer have urgent business requiring my immediate attention,” he explained.
“Ahh,” Demi said, feeling relieved. “I’m glad.” She breathed in slowly and let it out again. “I do appreciate you taking the time to care for me,” she said shyly, ducking her head slightly.
“Well, I am a doctor,” Aelfric pointed out.
“I suppose you are,” Demi realized. The system had alerted her to this fact some time ago. As she was thinking this over, Aelfric leaned forward, bracing his elbows against his knees.
“I am relieved that you survived the encounter unscathed.” He paused weightily before delivering the final blow. “Goddess.”
Well, there’s no hiding it at this point, she reflected. Not after he saw me put on that light show.
“Ehee hee~ I guess you figured it out,” Demi admitted cutely, putting one hand behind her head.
“Yes,” he answered dryly. “It certainly was a spine-tingling mystery.”
The sarcasm positively dripped from him, pooling in the floor underneath his chair. If it kept up at this rate, soon they would both be ankle deep in it.
And yet, apparently unsatisfied, he moved in for the kill.
“What else could you be, other than a perfectly ordinary farm girl?” he asked flatly.
Demi flushed and rapidly waggled her arms in distress.