#fenixtj

Ellie tosses in her sleep, another vision, she's picking up litter, a paper trail, pieces of litter with words like 'Nothing' 'oblivion' 'Rejection' 'Torment' 'Helplessness' fluttering over each other obscuring some letters on each. She bends down, to pick them up like cards with one hand, then another four pieces thwap against. She gathers them with her other hand 'Emptiness' 'Apathy' 'Sorrow' 'Tragedy' and again they flutter over each other so only the first letter of each can be seen.

The little sidhe frets and tosses in her sleep, speaking incoherently as she fumbles with reading aloud in her dream.

And yet, in her dream..the words may blur a bit, swish, but the first letters of each word stay constant

"N-o-r-t-h..."

"E-A-S-T..."

And she wakes

She sits up, panting, wide-eyed.

"Salma?" A whisper.

But the pooka is asleep. So is Ariel.

And so, quietly, she takes her favorite dolly (the rag one, given by Tonto) and slips out from her bed. Bare feet pad along the stone floors, finding their way to Dame Ash's room.

And to Dame Ash's room she goes, and she peeks in.

The Beaumayn woman is stirring in her bed, a touch fitfully, but asleep

Ellie listens, hugging the doll tight.

"mm no... the light is going out.. how do I keep it..." Mmmph grunt

No help here. She slips away, not sure where to go next in the quiet halls.

Soft music playing down the hall

She follows the music, curious.

A cerain selkie troubadour is playing softly in her room, a harpsichord

Ellie enters the room and claims a corner of the bed - without interrupting, of course! Though the musician might get a bit of a surprise the next time she pauses...

Neema plays beautifully, it's soft, melodic, and peaceful.

then she pauses, turns and her large eyes blink in surprise indeed "Ellie?"

"Hello Senorita Neema."

"What song was that? It's pretty."

"It's a moonlight sonata... and thank you" She says "But what are you doing up, young blood?" A chuckle

"I couldn't sleep. Loud dreams."

She pats the side of her bed "Bad loud?"

Ellie leans against the selkie. "Scary loud."

"I'm sorry, my dear." this gets a hair stroke and a squeeze "how can I help?"

"What's to the northeast?"

"A lot" She says "Let me get a map" she kisses the girl on the head and then goes to get an atlas and local map

"Gracias." She pipes after her.

"De nada" the woman says gently

The maps brought back are near and far, and Neema shows various locales, towns and more 'North East' of them. It's.. quite a lot if you don't know where to stop

"But what's closest?"

"I guess it depends on 'what' what is?" She says "There's a street here in this citty north east of us. the nearest town outside the city is.. here, northeast. And there's a mountain here. So.. "

"Maybe you need more clues to narrow things down?"

She bites on her lip. "A school, maybe?"

"A boarding school, I think."

"that helps. It may take time. Mind if I research?"

She nods!

"Now, do you htink you'll be able to go back to sleep?"

"I think that helps."

"Would you like to sleep here? I can play softly before I go to bed"

She shakes her head. "I want Salma. She's alseep. But I think I can sleep now."

"Okay. Want me walk you there and sing soft lullabys?"

She bites on her lips and nods - holding out a hand for Neema's.

Neema takes the girl's hand and walks along quietly "When i was your age I had this horrible nightmare about sharks"

"Sharks are scary! The teeth!"

"I know right? In my dream I was a seal and it got me.. brr"

And she leads the girl to her room, and nestles her down, then sings softly