caught in the afterglow; any

[Kagerus]

K

oh me oh my, i thought it was a dream...

The running river of my life has slowed to a stream-fed lake in the wake of my reunion with Solace. Though a haze still insists on veiling my perception of reality, at least the reality is not altered by my inability to control the magic instilled in me by powers untold that day in the mountain, when I had died. Said pseudo-magic yet evades my mastery. Training reveals the depth of the power - but more importantly, it gives me something to focus on besides the endless internal monologue of fear and doubt which plays on repeat in my mind. When I am not engaging with Solace and our grandson, Clegane, born of our late daughter Warlight, I am honing in on that which, only weeks before, had seemed to be hellbent on destroying me.

Luckily, my older, cruder magic has remembered how to obey me. When I dream, I can take deep breaths again. The assurance that everything will be okay is written on each surface of the sleepy world. There is a place for me here.

Sometimes, though, I still sleepwalk. Not in the traditional way (though sometimes in that way, too); no, how it goes is this: where I fall asleep, I can never trust to be where I wake up. The distances between subconscious teleportations and original bed are growing smaller with each instance, a testament to the gradual recentering of my energies... Solace knows now not to panic when it happens, trusting that I will return to her before day's end each time it happens.

And today, it happens.

What universal forces dictate the laws of coincidence and fate are unknown to us mortals, the subjects of the universe's every whim. When I awaken in a new location again today, something tugs at the strings which feebly hold my character upright. Habit takes over momentarily, sending my hind end pivoting such that I might make my way back to wife and child; but the sound of rigorous stomping distracts me from my route, drawing me intrinsically toward the narrow branch of the river. The foliage underhoof creaks and whines at the weight of me. The trees seem to bend away as I weave my way through them.

From a slightly elevated position, I watch (invisible to the eye, the fibers of my hairs having been manipulated to match my surroundings) as my granddaughter attacks her seemingly nonexistent assailant. A smile ghosts across my lips. Memories of my firstborn daughter come unbidden, images of Warlight playing battle with her brothers, feelings of pride as she came home victorious from challenges. Not my daughter's daughter, though (though if Clegane weren't currently attached to Solace's side some miles away, I might have considered it) - but my son's. My illegitimate child's. My bastard son's.

Abysm's.

The dreamer in me senses her ability immediately, senses the flow of her bloodline which extends eventually back to me. An appraisal of her overo colouring and the obsidian of her horn (mimicking the obsidian of my hooves) only further solidifies my knowledge. I wonder to myself at the birth of this feisty; wonder briefly on the comings and goings of the son I abandoned, severely neglected, and loved. Loved as only a mother can. And I love him still.

But he is not here - so I step forward, shedding my cloak, revealing myself in my full grandeur to the girl.

"I hope for my sake that that is not how you greet every stranger you stumble upon."

A quip, quietly and knowingly delivered. Atop my head, a black horn identical to hers grows, one reminiscent of the one I traded in for my antlers some time ago. When it stills, long and thin and grooved, I nod to the child. Deeply, until our eyes find that they occupy the same level.

"I'm Kagerus. What is your name?"