II
Firelight illuminated the cramped inside of the cave in red. After finishing a late dinner, there was nothing much else to do. Olivia sat hugging her knees and staring up at the cave roof until Blood pulled his coat toward him.
“Aren’t you cold?” he said.
“Nope. Actually, I like it. It firms me up.”
“Sure wish it was like that for me. I’ve got a special hatred for the cold. If I could, I’d curl up like a turtle and sleep until spring.”
Olivia imagined Blood hiding himself away inside a turtle shell and allowed herself a tiny smile. Blood tilted his head in a way that could have meant anything, then tossed another of the dead branches the guards had gathered on the fire. There was a popping and crackling, and the flames shivered. Sparks danced through the air then vanished, quick as blinking.
“You know, I can’t believe you agreed to come to the capital,” he said at length. “You seemed dead against it at the start.”
“I’m still not wild about it. But I couldn’t not go after one of my best friends asked me to.”
When Blood had told her about the audience, she’d turned him down flat, saying she’d had enough of the hassle. But in the end, she couldn’t hold out against Sara’s desperate pleas. Now here she was.
Blood regarded Olivia. “‘Best friend,’ huh? Never thought I’d see the day when those words came out of your mouth, Liv,” he said softly. “I’ll tell you now—when we first met, it honestly felt a bit like talking to a really well-made doll. You’ve gotten a good sight more human since then.”
“Huh? I was always human.”
“There’s the old Liv still coming out,” Blood said with a small smile. As Olivia watched him, she remembered that Z had said something similar when they were reunited. But it was only a memory—she didn’t understand what Z had meant then any more than she understood Blood now.
Maybe if I asked what they meant instead of leaving things vague... After thinking about it, Olivia decided that rather than ask for the answer, she would come up with it herself. For some reason, it felt like that was what she ought to do.
Her and Blood’s conversation naturally died away. For a while, she let the wavering light of the fire wash over her. The cave rang with the calls of achlys birds as they gloried in the night.
Not long after, the new captain of Olivia’s personal guard who had taken over for Gile came up to her.
“My guards will take watch duty. General Blood, General Olivia, I would suggest you get some rest.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” Blood lay down there on the ground, then neatly wrapped himself in his coat and pulled his knees into his chest to stave off the cold before falling asleep.
“Lady Olivia, you ought to sleep too.”
“Will do. Keep an eye on things, ’kay?”
“Ser.”
Olivia leaned up against the cave wall, propping up the ebony blade beside her. Then she put her face on her knees and drifted off to sleep...
—Where am I?
There were no sounds, no smells, no light. Olivia stood alone in a darkness that was not of night.
—Seriously, what is this place?
She walked and kept walking. But no matter how far she went, the view around her didn’t change. Then, just when she had lost all sense of direction and couldn’t see the point in walking any further, it appeared.
—What’s this?
A single, softly glowing bubble was floating through the air. She reached out without thinking. When her fingers brushed the bubble, it burst. A strong wind buffeted her, and the world around her transformed.
—Oh, wow...
Limpid, shimmering blue and orange melted together at random, always in flux. It was too beautiful to describe in words. Motes of light came down in a ceaseless shower, making the scene feel all the more fantastic.
Olivia collected herself, then looked around. There were so many bubbles floating around her it was a wonder she hadn’t noticed them before.
—Oh.
She felt herself strongly drawn to one of the bubbles. Without knowing why, she found herself running toward it, passing through the drifting bubbles before coming to a stop.
—Weird. I feel all warm just looking at it.
She reached out both hands as though to scoop the bubble up, but it flew away, evading her.
—Hey, wait.
The harder she tried to grab it, the further away it got, until at last it flew far away, up into the sky.
—Why... Ngh?!
There was a sudden, clenching pain in her chest. Olivia crumpled to the ground. At almost the same moment, a strong gust of wind rushed past her and the darkness from before filled her vision, the fantastic scenery disappearing as though it had never been...
Olivia opened her eyes. She saw Blood, his face unshaven.
“Morning,” she said blearily.
“You were dead to the world.” Warm sunlight filtered into the cave. The guards were moving about in a flurry of activity.
Hrmmm. I feel like I had a really weird dream... When she tried to remember, she felt a prickling in her chest. She looked down, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.
“Not feeling so good?” Blood asked.
“No, I’m fine.” Olivia stood up, stretched, then smiled.
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