Plot work Arc 2: Mercy in Dreams

I woke to the sound of Ghet talking in his sleep again, that same old nightmare. The dim light in the caves left only his shilloette visable on his bed. The Dwarves had done wonders putting in all the arc lamps, but as with everything lately, there had been issues. Circuits gone bad, wires corroding in the humid ocean air, warped connections. It didn't seem to matter, there was always a new challenge to fix.   "No, not again. I can't lose them" His breath was haggard, huffing from exhaustion even in his sleep. "No no no, not her." I propped myself up on my side, reaching for the lantern next to my bunk. A withered hand reaching for it instead, gently yet firm and swift.   She was in my bed again, that corpse woman. I suppressed a shudder as I felt the vertebrae in her tail uncoil around my waist, despite her ghastly appearance she was never threatening to me. The few times we had spoken, she was kind. Though she still looked like a starving skeleton walking, she seemed healthier the longer she stayed with me. Her frame slowly, very slowly filling out. At least the rot had got away... the family often found it odd, not a single one of them except for Gjorn could see her.   She moved without noise, she never did. Crawling over me, using her tail as a third leg, she wandered over to where Ghet slept. Her skin had darkened, strange patterns of lights slowly moving over her arms as she brush Ghet's thinning hair away from his face. The swirling constellations on her skin changing as she thought about what Ghet was saying in his sleep. She spoke a very different language than me, yet every time she spoke, my mind understood it.   The last time I had spoke to her, she was entirely different. Hale, looking as if she were a distant relative to the Family, bright metallic flower blooming in her hair. Bright, prismatic, an impossible to tell how long tail ending in a void dark tuft of fur. Her voice was like nothing I had ever experienced, like become whole. The sound of music wafting through the windows of loving homes. Though hoarse with disuse, she hummed a soft song to Ghet who quieted immediately.   Watching from my bed, she side-eyed me with those disturbingly intelligent eyes. I could almost recognize the words, hazy and distant. Since Gjorn had been teaching me and the rest of the clan Elder Fae properly, I understood that was the language she spoke in. Similar to ours, our real root to the thoughts we spoke. Still, listening to her hum to Ghet was like coming home after a long journey.   She reached a boney hand out to me, as if asking for something. Whispering to her, I knew the vast majority of the clan thought I was mad every time I brought her up. None of them could see her, "What do you need?"   She motioned for me to join her, waggling her finger at me. "Do you want me to sing with you?" She smiled at me, though her face was more of a grimace without any fat to speak of, her eyes shone a little brighter. Focusing, centering in my mind the way Gjorn was teaching me, I channeled power into my voice. Copying the tune with her, trying to keep my voice quiet to match hers.   My eyes swam as Ghet's memory filled my mind, fire. The sound of gunshots, the whoosh of flames through the trees. The smell of blood filled my nose, smoke and sweat. The sound of flesh being torn apart, it was too much. The clearing in front of my eyes, lit with the glow of burning bodies, stood Ghet motionless. I tried to break my connection to my own voice trying to leave his memory, I couldn't do this. I can't.   "Shush, It's alright." A woman's voice, sweet as I felt the fear leave my legs. "The memories of the past cannot change, they can hurt you if you let them. Grow from it, he cannot yet." The corpse woman wrapped her tail around me again, that oddly comforting feeling as always. Her voice powerful here, I only now heard her song echoing in the dark. Soft, somber, lementful.   "I cannot help him, I'm... not ready. My power far beyond helping anyone but myself right now." She whispered to me, brushing the stray hairs from my face.   "But, I don't" I started.   "Know how. It's alright, Ghet just needs a voice to listen to, to soothe the fires in his mind..." The weight of her tail vanished as she too vanished. Leaving only me and Ghet to stare at the bodies around us.   "Calm down, Calm down this is only a memory." Repeating it like a mantra, reaching out to touch Ghet's shoulder. When my fingers touched him, he whipped around, terror in his eyes as he slashed his daggers at me. Many long hours of sparing with him took over as I recognized that slash. Underhand parry, pushing inward, grab the other wrist.   I threw him over my shoulder, still holding onto him as his daggers went flying off into the distance. He screamed, the world around us warping and cracking with his voice. "Ghet, Ghet! Listen to me. Me Illy!" Something in his eyes changed, but his voice continued on. I didn't want to silence his voice, Gjorn had always told me dreams were real, silencing him here might just do harm to him back in the waking world.   Something echoed in the back of my mind as Ghet struggled to free himself, something I had nearly forgotten about. I said a name to Gjorn, shocked was an understatement. A name I said in my own sleep. Vilorlith. The Sorcerer's lessons swam through my mind, he had said something hadn't he? "Can't even realize she is a Children. Child of that damnable Song."   That corpse woman almost always hummed or sang something when she made anything happen, like Ghet just now. Singing to him, the way she would to me when I felt her soothe my own nightmares. "Ghet, It's alright. You. Are. Safe." The fires around us died down, he relaxed a bit in my grasp. But, his eyes were still filled with that terror like a spooked horse. "Ghet, there's nothing here. I'm here with you. It's alright."   The smell of smoke dimmed, the stench of blood gone. "It wasn't your fault." I whispered, knowing damn well this was about his raiders dying under his command. His guilt at his hand in the creation of The Orphans, the sorrow in his eyes when he looked at us. His swam with the self-hatred he refused to show anyone. He gave up resisting me, dying there old and broken.   "You were there for us when we needed you. We don't blame you for what happened Uncle Ghet. I don't blame you for what happened. So let me help you, let me help you when you need it most." Though I spoke, the echoing of my words sang back, beating back the darkness around us. Stars slowly appearing where smoke had been.   "How can you forgive me?" His face broke, cracking like a cliff face ready to give way.   "I just do, I can barely remember them. When I think of my Father, my Mother I think of so many. I miss them, but I care about you even more. You are still here." I said softly, sitting him back up.   "That doesn't help" He barked bitterly, not quite a laugh, a sound that tore the throat.   "No, maybe not. But, it should show you that you are worth more than reliving something over and over again that you can't change. You are worth more than the suffering you cause yourself." I said, wrapping my arms around him.   The dawn had broke as he returned the gesture. My song ringing out in my own mind as I woke next to Ghet in his bedroll, stars danced in my eyes as a few of the Family had come over to try and help. Whatever I had done, caused some amount of noise and disturbance, looking back down to the old man, Ghet had a smile on his face, sound asleep.