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Entry Two By Ochon’s Weary Wanderings… these dream-jumps are really a trip and a half. The last time it happened, I ended up in a place called Eulmore, at a club called “The Beehive”… let me tell you. I thought no place could put the Quicksand to shame. I was wrong. So very, very wrong. Needless to say, I was exceptionally glad to get pulled back home. This next trip, though, was to yet another unknown place. It was beautiful with flowers everywhere and a gorgeous castle off in the distance. It was as idyllic a place as one could ever hope for. Karaan was there, but none of the others that I’d seen previously were. I wonder if they ended up in different places like I had. I prayed that none of them had to endure the Beehive. Gods, spare them that! We investigated the castle at the heart of the area, but found it shuttered and locked with no visible way in beyond the front doors. There were strangely no guards either, only a bizarre pair of bushes at the base of the stairs that looked like grotesque little men with wooden spears. Unusual topiary, to say the least. As Karaan and I stood outside the castle, we started to hear voices. They wanted to play a game, so they cut us a deal: One of us plays the game, the other is the prize to be won. If we win, we get the prize and the way out of this place. If we lose, we get stuck there, forever, to play with them for all time. No, thank you, I’ll take the challenge any day of the week! We decided that I’d be the Player and Karaan the prize, just in case they decided to send us swimming in the lake. Karaan can’t swim at all, much to my surprise, I offered to teach him after this was all over. It’s a survival skill no one should be without. Sillesti taught me that often enough, along with my parents. You never know where your quarry will choose to hide, so it’s best to be prepared for any terrain or situation. I played their game, which was easy enough. One silly children’s riddle, then I had to do something ‘daring’ but they made no stipulations. I chose to sing a silly pirate shanty and hop on one foot. Not something I’d normally do, but then, they didn’t say it had to be something dangerous. They seemed thoroughly entertained by it, as did Karaan. I just wanted to get us out of there. Imagine my surprise when the voices promised that we’d have safe passage through their kingdom for such marvelous entertainment. That’ll be a blessing in the future, I imagine. I departed with my “prize” and it was well in good time, Karaan started to fade and return to our own world. We said we’d meet up somewhere in reality, I had to teach him to swim, after all. Special Thanks Player of Karaan Nolan and orchestrator of fae-folk fun! Zhan'a Rakhin Mastermind behind Woven.

>>> SPOILER WARNING <<< Entry Two I think the roasted miacid we had for dinner was bad. Like, really bad. I had the weirdest dreams I think I’ve ever had. I saw snippets of Karaan Nolan’s family, on some beach somewhere with a woman and a pair of twins. They looked and seemed happy. They talked about going North somewhere. For these Eorzeans, that could mean just about anywhere, really. Then I saw snippets of some elezen riding a white chocobo and a trick being played on them both during a joust. Then I remember a dream of one of father’s old challenge hunts, where I had til sunset to find him, wherever he’d hidden in the Chocobo Forest. I hadn’t thought about those in ages… The weirdest part was when I ‘woke up’ in some desert somewhere. I didn’t really wake up, I don’t think, but it was the realest-seeming dream I ever remember having. In this strange desert, I remember seeing the stars and how they were unlike the stars I recalled when father taught me how to navigate by them. These were strange, unfamiliar. Not in places I was taught. Stranger still, Karaan was there along with an elezen dragoon that introduced himself as Irridias Velnyx. They went on about magic stuff that went over my head, but it had something to do with ‘shared consciousness’ – why we all had similar dreams – and our aether being confused or something. I don’t know. I never understand half of what mages say and most of the time it seems too far-fetched to really believe. This was no exception. The only way to go was forward, though, so we scouted the area and eventually found a small – very small – settlement nearby. It seemed to be populated with… sick people. Afflicted with some kind of malady that turned their skin a strange shade of white from what I could see. I didn’t get any closer than I had to to investigate. Disease is a hunter’s worst nightmare; it keeps us from food and money; it gives us away to prey and sometimes makes us the prey if a predator feels and smells we’re weak enough. Father never let me go on a hunt, ever, if I had so much as a sniffle. He said it was life or death out there and illness led to death more often than not. And I’m not ready to die. Thankfully, we didn’t linger long in the quarantined area, making quickly for a market town that the dragoon had seen from one of the cliffs over the hamlet. I have never been so glad to move on from a place. The market was a much better place, Mord Souq, the kobold called it when Irridias spoke to one. The place seemed to put Karaan on-edge; he wouldn’t stop patrolling and scrutinizing the citizenry. Me, I took in the local cuisine. It was… interesting, let me tell you. He called it mushloaf and it certainly was that, but the cactus paste inside was filling and even slaked my thirst, so I suppose there are benefits to eating such a thing in the desert. It wasn’t long after that Irridias started feeling strange, he said something about how he was being pulled back and that he’d find us wherever we were in the world – both Karaan and I still being in Tailfeather. Me at home and Karaan over in Priorfaix’s barn. I faded not long after, though I couldn’t help but tell Karaan he had a cute family. I woke up at home, in bed, Sillesti’s snoring audible even from his bedroom. I didn’t feel any worse for wear, though I wasn’t at all hungry, which I usually am in the morning. I resolved that I’d get up and find Karaan, see if he had a dream like mine. He might think me foolish or crazy when he hears, but the dragoon in the dream said we’d shared the experience. I only hoped he was right…