I come to with a start, wisps of panic still clinging to me as the vestiges of my dream slip away. As I rise up and blink the sleep out of my eyes, it dawns on me that I really shouldn’t be able to lift my torso up. Or, at the very least, I shouldn’t be able to do so without debilitating pain. A glance downward doesn’t reveal much, nor does a tentative poke at the bandages wrapped around me.

“No need to look so astounded.” Sitting on a felled log to my far right, Tolsti looks me over with her head in her hands, watching me with a bemused expression. “I already told you as much. You’re fine.”

“Right.” I spend a few moments patting myself around the wrapped areas. “I guess – I thought you were being...” I make a few vague motions with my hand. A raised eyebrow from Tolsti pushes me to finish my thought. “Comforting?”

I hurry to clarify my point. “I was in bad shape. I still am, or should be.” I felt like I was doing a poor job of explaining. “Maybe I would have gotten better, maybe not. I wasn’t exactly in a position where you could say I would definitely, assuredly be fine. It helped a lot – you helped a lot – don’t get me wrong. I just assumed you were saying what I needed to hear.” With a shrug I let it be, hoping she understood what I was trying to say.

“Both are true.” With a small smile she continues. “It is what you needed to hear. But that doesn’t mean they were empty words as you should be able to see. Take it slow, but test your body. If your reaction is anything to go by you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Let’s see if we can get you up and walking.”

* * *

“Oh don’t scowl at me you little baby.”

With an effort I wipe my expression clean. Trying to at least put out a neutral, but judging look. “You didn’t have to drop me.”

Deigning not to reply, Tolsti stares back at me with an eyebrow cocked.

“You even said to take it slow. How was that taking it slow? You could have tried to catch me. Or done, I don’t know, something!”

I await a response that doesn’t come and throw up my hands in irritation. “Fine. I’ll drop it.” A smirk from Tolsti at my choice of phrase pushes me to get a few more words in. “But not answering doesn’t make you correct.” Just a bit of a dick, I add in my head.

Tolsti sadly shakes her head and gives a bemoaning look to the sky. “It is ever the burden of a teacher to endure the misplaced ire of her student. For how can a hatchling understand why it is pushed out of the nest, when it has yet to even begin to dream of flying.”

Unsure how to respond, I choose to take a page out of her book and not respond at all. Instead, I settle myself back down to the ground and slowly lean against one of the few logs scattered around the site. Happy to appreciate the small victory of movement. Not to mention the fact that I’m even alive. I was so stupidly close to dying. Whatever that means at this point. And the only reason I’m still here and not feeding the local wildlife...” I sneak a glance over her way.

“Thank you. Again. Really. I…” It’s hard to come up with the words. Sincerity has never been my strong point. Not for lack of trying, but rather because I’ve never been certain how to properly convey it. I know that I’m being sincere, but how to bridge the gap? Too many words and they tend to lose meaning. Too few and it’s like I’m not trying. Feeling stuck, I fall back on the simplest choice.

"Thank you.”

I get a slightly smug, knowing look in response, with a dash of some understanding beneath it. “Well a good start would be your name.”

Covering up my unbalance with an awkward scratch of my neck, I think back. And no, I never gave her my name. Not that I had an excess of lucid moments, but still...” I scoot myself into a more upright position and look Tolsti in her once again brown eyes. “Henry.”

“Well then Henry, I think it’s time to answer some questions.” My heart starts pounding and any remaining tiredness is swept away. Question after question spins around my head, and I’m utterly unsure where to start. But for better or worse the dilemma is taken out of my hands. “Or rather, let’s stick to three. You’re still healing so trust me when I say that while you may be doing much better physically, it’s good practice not to overdo it in here,” she says with a tap of her head.

With a slow ease, Tolsti walks across the camp site and rolls a short piece of log back towards me, stopping a few feet in front of my position. “Let’s call it getting to know each other. Three questions for you. Three questions for me. I’ll start.”

With barely a breath in between, she seats herself on the ground, back against the log and begins. “What do you remember about your last few dreams? Say, since your little scuffle?”

I stop myself from giving her a glare. Getting mauled and nearly eaten alive is hardly a scuffle. She could just be trying to downplay the incident, hesitant to set me off again considering my reaction last time it was brought up. That or just being an ass. It’s hard to tell with her.

“Dream? What does that have to do–”

I’m interrupted by a water sack thrown my way, which I’m just able to catch before it smacks me in the chest. “First, have a bit of water. Second, it’s not your turn yet little Henry. So sad. The young really have no patience at all.”

I pop out the cork and take a few sips while I think back, ignoring Tolsti’s over dramatic musings. I’ve never paid much attention to my dreams, beside the occasional nightmare or odd dream that lingers a bit longer upon waking up. What I remember is… well nothing really. And I tell her as much.

“I don’t. Remember my dreams that is. I’m sure I had them, but even if I knew what they were at some point, they are long gone by now. I do remember flashes of this and that. Of what may have been dreams, but it’s really hard to tell since I was so out of it. At least nothing beyond an overwhelming sense of wrongness and pain. Which I think was, you know, me almost dying. Sorry.

“Oh, and why would you be sorry?”

“For not having a good answer to your–”

I’m interrupted again, this time by something that I don’t catch in time as it rebounds lightly off my head and into my lap.

“Jerky. Eat. And don’t assume so much. Why would you know what I’m looking for in the first place? And no that is not one of my questions. I’m calling it a teacher’s prerogative.”

I nibble on the small chunk of dried meat, what I belatedly realize is my first meal in who knows how long, while Tolsti snacks on her own. Our impromptu meal gives me a little time to mull over what my question will be. I don’t want to be too caught up in her own pace, but I really want to know why she wants to know about my dreams. It’s not the first time she’s mentioned them. It’s all hazy and a bit delirious, but I remember her saying something about it. It’s all too jumbled to make out what though. It’s fairly obvious that it’s important in some way. Why else would it be her first question? Not to mention she didn’t even pause before asking it. Maybe asking why she asked will get her talking. But I can just as easily see her answer with a ‘because I wanted to know’ or something equally flippant.

“Okay.” I put the half eaten jerky aside and get her attention. “I–”

“Water.”

With a sigh I toss the water skin her way and continue. “I want to know what my answer means. The significance of it.” I gesture towards her and back towards myself. “What does it mean to you? What does it mean for me?”

“Technically three questions,” she responds. “But I’ll let it go this once and call it a student’s prerogative.” A devilish smile breaks out on her face. “Unfortunately, I can already tell that you won’t enjoy the answer. Not because it’s necessarily bad for you. It just won’t be the answer you'll want to hear.”

“Oh, then–” I start.

“Hold up.” Searching to her left and right, Tolsti bends over and grabs a small rock only to look back up at me and toss it to the ground. She picks up an old pinecone, content in her choice, and tosses it at my head.

I snag the pinecone and stare at it in confusion before giving her a question look.

“It seemed like the thing to do and I wasn't done with the water yet.” With a slight shrug she continues. “You need to stop interrupting me.”

“You don’t have to throw something at me if you want me to stop talking. You already did that with words,” I reply in exasperation. And in a pleading voice I ask, “can we please not make this a thing?”

“You’re not ready.”

I stop my myself from interjecting again. I’d rather she leave that rock where it is. I wait for more, but I get nothing of the sort. Only the sound of her chewing on a bit of the meat. I decide to wait her out and see if she gives me anything. After finishing her snack, Tolsti drinks a bit of water and stretches out against her log.

“That’s it. I told you that you wouldn’t like the answer.”

“Not ready for what,” I blurt out before I catch myself.

Holding her index and middle fingers up in the air, Tolsti leans back and gives a tired yawn. “Thats two. You’re not ready to make use of your awakening.”

I force myself to take a few large breaths before running my hands through my hair. She’s doing this on purpose. She has to be. I refuse to believe someone can be this annoying by accident. She wants me to ask ‘what awakening’ for my last question. Why else would she give me such infuriatingly simple answers. Well, I’m not going to let her lead me where she wants. I already know what my last–

“Where did you get your dagger?”

I blink out of my thoughts, so wrapped up in my head that I didn’t catch what she said. “Sorry. I didn’t quite–”

A golden flash and a twitch of her finger sends my dagger twirling into the air from behind me. Before I even process that it’s in the air, the blade lands solidly into the dirt between us.

“The dagger. Where did you get it?”

I look away and try to hide the shiver that travels down my spine. “It was a gift,” I reply with a weak laugh. Only, Tolsti has no smile on her face. Her arms are crossed and for the first time, she looks truly serious.

“Sorry. Sorry. That was a bad joke. It’s what was said to me when I got it.” Another shiver pours down my spine and my back clenches in response. “A gift.” I reach over to my shoulder, the wound lost in the fold among many others. “I don’t know who she was. Or why she did it. She was just… there.” For a second I’m lost in memories. Memories that seem faded somehow. Older. Less fresh than they have any right to be. “I thought she was going to kill me, so I ran.”

With a start I lock onto Tolsti. “She called me little dreamer. Does that – is there a connection–”

Holding a hand up, she stops my sudden outburst. “No. The name holds no importance. But…”

“But?” I repeat, trying to goad out her thoughts on the matter.

“Keep good care of it. It is very much a gift. And a good one at that. But that's all you'll get. It is a topic for a later time and holds no relevance to the now. You aren’t ready. Think on your last question instead. I'll give you a pass on that one.” Arms still crossed, she gives me a look that booked no argument.

I close my eyes and try to sort my thoughts into some kind of order. However the loss of stimuli merely makes the maelstrom of competing thoughts, questions and worries all the more overwhelming. Opening them again in defeat, I feel truly tired for the first time today. As if my brain were making so many connections and computations behind the scenes that I was in danger of short circuiting. Decidedly less enthused by the prospect of more information to suss through, I go with the first straightforward question that I think of.

“What happened to all the lizards – Ash Gila?”

I’m given a snort in return. “Now that’s a silly question, my dear Henry.” Her eyes flick downward and I follow them to the piece of meat in my hand. “Why I killed them all.”

My breath catches in my throat and I spit out the piece I had been chewing on.

“You really are a baby,” she says with a roll of her eyes.

I let the remark go. Not because I’m suddenly scared of her or anything of the sort. I mean, she absolutely deserves it. Being able to take down those hell spawn certainly paints her in a new and horrifying light. But I don’t feel scared of her. She’s really annoying at times, but if anything her strength is comforting. She may be a monster, but one that's on my side.

“As for my last question. Let’s see.” With a final stretch, Tolsti gets up and pulls out a hatchet stuck into a nearby tree stump. “Grab your dagger, let’s see how you are with it.”

I hesitate to grab the handle, fearing it would officially start something I would rather avoid. Instead, I try to stall. “That’s not a question.”

“Hmm. You’re right.” Tolsti gives the hatchet a few tosses into the air while she thinks it over. She finally turns back to me with the most sadistic smile I’ve seen on her yet.

“How’s your pain tolerance?”

I take it back. I think I really should be scared.