Muddy River — The Shape of Dreams

The look of absolute in Caedwyn's eyes stilled Enya's racing thoughts. It hushed the murmurings. 'She will devour your soul.' they whispered to her. 'You are failing her' they tried to coax. They failed as Caedwyn's voice boomed within her mind. His tone was firm, harsh. She kept her gaze locked onto his, feeling through it the disappointment Caedwyn had in her speaking in such a manner about herself. He was right. She was not soft, or even weak of Will. She was a follower of Tsillah, and this was but another trial for her to overcome. She could lick her wounds, both physically and metaphorically, but she couldn't give up on the fight.  Enya sunk down from her sit back into a lay. She wished her legs would stop shaking already. Geeze. "You're right" she muttered as he lowered his muzzle to gently touch her chin. She leaned into the gentle touch for a moment before she pulled away to yawn once again. "I'm going to have to figure something out. If physically restraining him won't work, and he refuses to abide by my Will, then I must figure out another way." The idea of him freezing up again in her grasp, or him flinging himself off of a cliff to elude her repeated in her mind, yet this time the thoughts were not so strongly accompanied by fear. Instead, she was trying to reanalyze the situation and explore a different outcome. "I don't think he will fall for a trap. You doubt if deer have Will, but I can tell you with certainty that they do. Have I ever told you the story of my reawakening?" She was fairly certain that she had not.  Nor did she wait for him to answer. "When I died, I saw a black void before me. It felt like it was swallowing me into nothingness. I tried to fight it. I couldn't. No matter how hard I willed my body to cooperate, it did not budge. I was immobilized by the void. I wondered to myself if the Void was Tsillah, so large and all encompassing that I could not bear witness to the ultimate reality that is our holy She. Perhaps it was. Perhaps it wasn't. I don't know if I ever will know, or eve if I want to know. If it was her, then she was both beautiful, admirable, and absolutely frightening. I always wondered what it would be like to be paralyzed in place, not of an element, but of just one's sheer existence.  Anyways, I digress. I was trapped, until suddenly one moment I was not, and around me suddenly was swirling lights of an immeasurable amount of colors. It suddenly struck me that I felt the sensation of falling. It was the oddest thing, going from feeling nothing to feeling something. It was overwhelming. Then, suddenly, there was a flash and there I was, laying in a field with deer corpses scattered about me. Three, to be exact, and there was Buck, standing there staring at me with a fury and hatred I have never seen before in a prey's eyes. It was during our battle for my second life that our Wills clashed and became intertwined. I saw it, visibly, with my own two eyes. You are correct. There is mysterious magic enchanting this world. Mysterious does not always have to remain as such, however."  With her story told, she readjusted her position only to groan in discomfort. "Caed, can we go find a place to settle down for some rest? I'm not sure how much longer I can keep pushing my body for in this condition, let alone how hard you've been pushing yourself in yours."  "Speech."