Re: The Pool of Dreams - 3 (temporarily a closed RP)

Not sure about mental communication, Levantine only knows that it was Ceera speaking to him, but unsure about projecting thoughts Levantine speaks aloud in his dream, though the physical body is still.

"I've not seen these eyes before."

Grasping several times for the thread of light, Levantine grabs a hold of the light and is drawn onward. The meerkat's feet feel like they are touching firm ground, but he cannot see anything, only hear two voices.

"--Now tell me, what do you see?"

"My eyes are closed."

"It doesn't matter, tell me instead, what do you sense?"

It wasn't really dark, just predawn, and as Levantine's eyes adjusted to the dim light he sees a pair of meerkats sitting under a tree beside a stream. One clearly past the prime of his life, but still with a certain vitality. The other rather young, preteen at least. Beside the older meerkat sat a cloth wrapped bundle with a flute resting on top. Beside the younger was an empty cup, still warm from a hot brew that it contained just a few moments ago. There was an expectant chill in the air.

"I hear a stream nearby."

"And what does this stream sound like?"

"It is like a sort of music?"

"You hear music, in the stream?"

"Yes."

"Is there music elsewhere?"

The young meerkat listened for a few moments in silence. "In the tree, above us, there is another kind of music. Quieter, less, less, persistent. Peaceful."

"Peaceful. There is music in the tree. What is making the music?"

"There are two birds singing. Leaves are rustling in the wind. There is something else I hear, from the top extending into the earth below."

"And all these sounds are music?"

"Yes."

"The last song you mentioned, 'from the top extending to the earth below', how far does it go?"

"Um . . . a long way."

"Follow the music. Where does it come from?"

"East. I feel something to the east."

"You don't hear the music?"

"Yes, I hear, no it's not hearing. I feel the music. In the ground."

"Can music be felt but not heard?"

"I feel it."

"You feel music?"

"Yes."

"In the earth?"

"Yes."

"From the east."

"Yes."

Despite the repetition, there was still a growing excitement in the young meerkat's voice as if he was eager to hear something else. The older meerkat however held his voice and bearing in perfect calm.

"Now, see if you can feel something farther away, farther to the east than what you feel now. Sense the song of the earth. Is it different?"

"I feel sadness, concern. Worry."

"Keep going, farther to the east."

"I feel voices, I hear them now too. They're singing the same four notes over and over again."

"And what are they singing?"

"Ha-no-san-te . . . What does it mean Daromo?"

"Don't trouble yourself, just listen, and drink this."

The older meerkat reached back and picked up the empty cup beside the younger. It was now mysteriously filled with a steaming beverage, which the young meerkat drank without opening his eyes as soon as it was handed over to him. Now even Levantine, watching the scene began to hear the voices, exactly as he had reproduced them in the cavern before. A chorus, rising and falling in unison, and now there was another level. A flute was accompanying the singers in perfect melody, the older meerkat had picked up the instrument from on top of the wrapped bundle and was followed the voices of the east as though he heard them too. As the sun threw its first rays over the horizon on the two figures, the chorus of voices from the east grew louder, almost deafening. The young meerkat swooned, and a diamond appeared in the field of Levantine's vision in the dream. Three more came to complete the star pattern again and there was a sudden silence. As the older meerkat bent down to pick up the young child who was now quite unconscious, he spoke something, but Levantine could not hear. The diamond shapes floating in Levantine's vision grew brighter again, washing out the scene until there was darkness again and they faded away.

"What did he say?" Levantine asked the void sure Ceera was beside him.