Dreaming again. What would visit Dorothea this time?

Ocean water swished around her ankles, wrapping them in a bracing chill. Wind whispered on her skin and twirled her hair. The sensations felt real. Lucid dreaming?

“Forget.”

“What?” She spun this way and that, bare feet pressing into buried shells, toes sinking into thick, mushy sand. She watched, stunned, as a gargantuan fish peeked its head above the surface.

“Forget what you think you know. Remember. Learn the truth of centuries past.”

This had never happened before. Her dreams always repeated with very minimal changes; they never progressed like this, especially not with her being so aware.

“You’re the...the same fish as before?” She’d dreamt about this odd creature right before leaving Sirpo, hasn’t she? Seemed more like a portent of doom than anything else in that case.

“Reality is dull within that head of yours. Nothing but fog bouncing in your skull. Remember. Forget. Only then may we continue.”

“What, wait!” Dorothea jolted up and found herself panting. What kind of a dream was that? Why was her consciousness turning toward such ridiculous things when there were so many things to worry about? Or was it just her running away even in her sleep…?

The night before was a blur. She could vaguely remember Hollyhock guiding her and Shark out of the barracks and into the town, rushing by indistinct faces, and being put to bed.

Shark, until then laying on their back snoring away, had been woken by her outburst. “W’ happened?” they groaned, burying their face in the pillow.

“You sure look cozy.” All of the blankets had been snatched away for Shark to be swathed in a cozy bundle up to their throat.

“Just let me avoid life for a little while longer.” They sat up and stretched, yawning, before flopping right back down.

Dorothea shook her head. Hardwood floors cooled her feet when she stood. Her steps patted softly against it as she moved to open the bedroom door and peer into a hallway. That was the moment she came face to face with a burly man whose braided beard reached down to his waist and whose bright emerald eyes seemed to stare straight into the deepest recesses of her soul.

“Eee!” Dorothea yelped and slammed the door shut, and Shark jolted to theirfeet, looking unsure whether to be amused or concerned. Just when she was deciding to risk peering out again, three gentle raps came from the other side.

“Hey there. Didn't mean to scare ya. Just comin’ by to check in.”

“Um.” Dorothea edged back out with Shark slipping into the hallway from behind her. "Hi."

“Hello!” The man laughed and turned to Shark. “And good morning to you, too.”

Shark smiled slightly. “Thank you again. For letting us stay.”

“It’s no problem, not at all. Friend of our child’s a friend of ours.”

Dorothea was still dazed. “Are you Hollyhock's father?” she asked, though it was obvious.

“Sure am. Hock Novak. Nice to meet ya.”

She couldn’t resist making a lame joke. “Is your wife's name Holly, then?”

The man guffawed, pleasantly surprised. “How'd you know?”

“Wait, what?”

“Hmm?” He smiled pleasantly.

“You're serious?”

“Why wouldn't I be?”

“But are you though?” Was this a practical joke?

“I'm very serious. The combination of Holly and Hock is Hollyhock. It's the perfect name. One of my few good ideas, actually. Just like fish and jelly burgers.”

Shark’s nose wrinkled. “What's a…”

“It's exactly what it sounds like.” Hock winked and patted his stomach, making it jiggle slightly. “I see the look on your face. Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.”

Shark attempted to smile. “I’ll…try my best not to.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, dear. You’ve had at least a dozen good ideas in your life.”

“Oh!” Dorothea squeaked when a waif of a woman materialized beside them as if created from a single breath to make the questionably complimentary statement.

“Morning, darlin’.” Hock grinned and bent to kiss the top of the woman’s head—he was just over a foot taller than she.

“Morning, dear.” She patted his cheek while smiling warmly. “Now.” She turned to Dorothea and squinted through thick circular glasses and straight brown bangs. “Hollyhock explained the situation to us last night.” Her lips pressed into a line and pouted out at the same time, creating a pinched, stitched-together effect. “You”—she put a finger to Shark’s chest—“should know there’s no need to talk about repaying us like you did last night. Don’t worry about things like that when you need to be taking care of yourselves right now.” She placed a hand on Dorothea’s cheek, then her forehead. “You’re pale. How do you feel?”

“I’m fine, really. Just…a bit drained.” Dorothea pressed her lips together in regret right after the words came out. It wasn’t her place to burden two strangers with her problems. The woman’s small, concerned palm had just felt so, so motherly that she’d let her guard down instantly. “We’ll be on our way as soon as possible.” She glanced at Shark and saw them nod in agreement.

“Oh, well. I understand a young couple who has things to do and places to go. But you’ll at least stay for breakfast, right?” Hock suggested.

Couple? Dorothea turned to Shark again, and they shrugged. “I’m not hungry, but we should still eat,” they said.

“Alright, fine,” Dorothea agreed, though her reluctance didn’t hide itself. She sounded rude and she knew it, but she didn’t want to be more of an imposition than she’d already been. Even so, after being given time to clean up, she and Shark were insistently seated at two tall chairs before a spotless counter that bordered the kitchen. In minutes, Hock was shimmying his hips in front of the stovetop as he hummed a tune.

“I whipped you somethin’ up!” he declared soon. “I’d never let a guest leave on an empty stomach.”

Dorothea smiled nervously. “Will it be a fish and jelly burger?” Shark made a soft gagging noise next to her.

“Now that you mention it…” Hock bellowed out another laugh. “Kidding. We’ll save that for next time.”

Next time. As if she could enter their inner circle, maybe even become precious to them. But she didn’t even know what to do next. If she went back to a time where she had never even met them, she would be the only one to remember this moment.

She forced a smile. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Breakfast was an entirely un-heinous platter of pancakes loaded with blackberries, sprinkled with powdered sugar and drizzled with copious amounts of buttery syrup. After five perfectly round flats (how had Hock even achieved it?) and a pronounced loss of will to move, Dorothea sat up straight with a groan. “Okay, okay… I have to stop.”

Shark was still shovelling away. “We don’t eat this kind of stuff in Sirpo,” they said through stuffed cheeks.

“And you said you weren’t hungry,” Dorothea teased lightly.

Hock paused midway through slipping three more onto her cleaned plate. “Are you sure you’re done, little missy?”

“I’ll explode.”

He laughed. “You should see my Hollyhock eat. He can put down ten and get hungry again within the hour. Got my wife’s ability to eat everything in sight and never gain weight. It’s a special kind of magic, I tell ya.”

Dorothea nodded. “It’s enviable, for sure…” She watched Shark guzzle until no more guzzling could be done, and they both stood with a mutual unspoken urge to go back to sleep for a few weeks.

Hock clapped his hands. “That’s my job done. Breakfast is the most important meal. Don’t worry about the cleanup, by the way. I’ll be here for a while doing dinner prep while the wifey goes to her den for work. She’ll be in there sewing for hours. Won’t see her pop out for a long while yet.”

So Holly was a seamstress. “I see. Thank you very much, then.” Dorothea dipped her head while Shark gave genuine thanks as well, then looked around when she fancied she heard some squealing coming from behind two closed doors offset in the living room.

“Hey!” Holly’s thick socks slipped and slid on the floor as she came hurtling towards Dorothea. She skidded to a halt only once Dorothea seized her arms in an attempt to stop their collision. “Don’t leave without this.” A small drawstring pouch dangled from her fingers; it jangled when she pushed it into Dorothea’s hands.

Dorothea’s eyes got huge. “I can’t take your money.”

“You can pay us back later if you’re so inclined. For now, just think of it as us helping you get on your feet.” Holly winked before flying away back to the recess she had emerged from.

Dorothea shut her gaping mouth. “She’s…quite the woman.”

“I know, right? This guy married up,” Hock laughed.

Marriage. She didn’t dare dream of it, but it was awfully lovely to watch. “Again, thank you so much. For everything.” Dorothea bowed her head once more, then stopped herself. Right. What Iree had told her. She held up a fist, and Hock grinned as he bumped his wrist to hers.

“Take care, both of you. Come back anytime, yeah? Don’t be strangers.”

“We’ll keep it in mind,” Shark said.

Dorothea swallowed past a lump in her throat. It didn’t matter, all this kindness and good will, the potential of connections with these people. It didn’t matter, and yet her chest felt so warm.

She almost gasped for breath when they stepped out of the Novak house. The heat was unlike anything she had felt before, oppressive and seeping. It seemed to cut beneath her skin and rest there, denying reprieve.

“Has it been like this the whole time?” she groaned. “Or was I just dreaming?”

“That’s summer in Sacer for you,” Shark sighed. “Also, I don’t know about you, but I need to walk that meal off.” They smiled as Dorothea nodded agreement, rubbing her stomach. “And we need to decide what to do.”

“Right…” She had never made a choice before that felt like so much hinged on it. Alright. She needed to start with the facts. “With their actions, the Ghurians have proven that neutrality doesn’t mean anything anymore.”

Shark walked like they knew exactly where they were going, so Dorothea followed their lead. They avoided the bustling market streets in favor of side branches, far less bustling but still filled with chatting groups and glowing life. “I’ve still got to wonder why they attacked in the first place. Why destroy Sirpo…?” Shark murmured.

How to get into the heads of people so foreign and detestable? “Maybe they knew that we’d try to ally with Sacer and they wanted to avoid that? With Sirpo gone, we can’t lend Sacer any resources.”

“Makes sense. I can see why they’d think it was a good tactical choice,” Shark evaluated.

Dorothea flinched. Was that all the lives lost meant? A good tactical choice? Not that she had much of a right to criticize Shark on lack of pity. “The first option is to go back to a point when Sirpo wasn’t destroyed and get help earlier. Or we could just go back right now, reverse the damage and resume life as normal.”

“The second one’s better, right? Your lifespan notwithstanding. We don’t have to reestablish ties with the Sacerians, and you’ve already done them the favor of helping out Cerid’s group, so they still kinda owe you. Maybe it’s better to keep it that way.”

“We wouldn’t have to worry about that battle at the border anymore either.” Knowing what would happen to Cerid’s group, she couldn’t let that go unrectified. It was easier to stay in the present where all was already well.

Shark halted before the shade of an oak tree and fanned at Dorothea’s face. “So it’s a matter of how we want to use our current sorta alliance with Sacer to help us. Iree seemed pretty willing to go along with whatever we decided.”

“How much do you know about her?” As in, could she be trusted to keep their best interests at heart?

“Well… That’s a big question, actually.”

“Now’s a good time to think about the big questions,” Dorothea pressed.

“Point.” Shark frowned. “Iree, huh…”

Quiet seeded and grew vines between them, and she lost Shark to more of their unknown memories.