Ashes to Embers

around behind Kaleo. The young avian glared at the enormous creature that followed him, but was eternally grateful for the company and warmth that the chimera provided. It had been mere days since he'd left Tierra Vida, where his aunt and cousins were with the other survivors from the Phoenix Empire. He was already regretting his poor planning skills. It was arrogant pride that kept him from running back home with his proverbial tail stuck between his legs. He never expected travel by Port Circle to be so expensive. Any time he traveled, he just went, no questions asked - because of who he was. He was an amatti, after all. That only worked in Esbeth, however. Anywhere else demanded payment because no one cared about his titles outside of the avian nation; not even his aunt cared. It made him wish he’d learned his father’s trick sooner. His father could teleport anywhere he wanted to. Kaleo could teleport to the nearest tree and back. Sometimes. He had other talents, but none were very useful for traveling. Shifting into the skin of another person did not help if you wanted to go from one continent to the other.

“I’m not hiding,” he finally grumbled to the chimera. “It’s uncomfortable out here.”

Don’t your kind normally stay indoors when traveling?

“I don’t have the money for it, thank you. I grabbed what I had in my room and left. I’ve already used half of it getting here and I still have to eat. Besides, something tells me the inn in Port Town is not really the safest place to be.”

The Skiff is not the safest place to be, little one.

Kaleo sighed, making a face as he settled back against the chimera. There was no direct Port from Esbeth to Damaskha where his father was last seen. While Fionn could simply materialize wherever Kaleo went, the young avian did not have that ability so a different route was needed. The Port Circle just outside of Port Town - that creatively named city - in the Skiff went to Damaskha and almost anywhere else because of its status as a trade city. It could also be because it was the only city on the Skiff. Everything else was blighted jungle or tiny, often violent, tribal villages of naga, duende, or centaurs. The city was no better, overflowing with pirates and thieves, slave traders or cartel lords looking to make a quick coin before moving on to the next port. He’d already been manhandled by two different individuals looking for personal favors and that was just at the Port Circle! Kaleo didn’t want to think about what it would be like in the city.

His stomach growled, making Kaleo shrink further into his audeas. Fionn hardly complained, even going so far as to give Kaleo’s teal hair a lick for good measure. He smiled, looking over at the large beast with appreciation. “I’m going to find him, Fionn.”

I know, little one.

***

When Kaleo took his next breath, the tepid jungles of the Skiff were gone, replaced by a sea of bright red poppies as far as the eye could see. There was no breeze, no sticks poking at his back or strange smells accosting his nose. He was in the Poppy Fields, a gateway of sorts in the dream world that lead to the Sea of Stars where dreams were created. He glanced around hoping to see a familiar face but there was only the empty field. It was not yet time for Kaleo to meet his long-time friend, but Kaleo hoped all the same. Jaysen was a dream walker like Kaleo. They met in the Poppy Fields years ago and continued to meet in the Fields regularly, even now. Thinking of the olven boy with the clawed hands made Kaleo sigh. He could use a friend that did not walk on four legs.

“Stop being such a nebit, Kaleo,” he chided, comparing himself to the trembling rat-creature that always looked as if it was terrified. They were actually rather vicious things when provoked but they did not give off that appearance so were mocked for being cowardly. The admonishment worked, setting his feet in motion. He took several steps through the field before closing his eyes, envisioning a doorway to a wide open sea of deep blue. He did not open his eyes again until he was through the doorway, his body feeling suddenly weightless as he moved from the Poppy Fields to the Sea of Stars. What he saw then was always breathtaking. Millions of tiny pinpoints lit up the blanket of deep blue like glitter on dark marble. Each pinpoint was a dream. Some pinpoints were clustered close together while others were far apart. The clusters were cities where there were higher populations while the ones further apart were the few that braved the wilds of each land. He had a general grasp of where things were in relation to the real world, but it was not always directly linked. Sometimes, if someone dreamt of a certain place, the pinpoint hovered above that place rather than where the dreamer was. Brighter pinpoints denoted more vivid dreams, and some pinpoints had a color tint to them that Kaleo had yet to puzzle out. An arcanist, perhaps, or another dream walker. He would have to remember to ask Jaysen.

“Where are you…” Kaleo said to the pinpoints of light. He started with Esbeth, moving through the Sea with ease. It was not always an easy path from one point to the next. He had to be careful, for each pinpoint created a vortex that could pull him in if it had enough strength. That had happened once before when Fionn came to his rescue. It was not an experience he wanted to revisit.

The pinpoint he hovered over was small but familiar to him. He knew it as intimately as he knew his own; L’nae, his sister. It pulsed gently, the vortex creating a whirlwind of bright images to