Weaving Hope

 "Enough!" She recoiled violently as sunlight flooded her senses at last.

"Longer than last time, Sage," the man announced, withdrawing his hand from hers and placing the echo fragment in his lap.

They sat cross-legged facing each other, wind creating gentle verdant waves in the surrounding grass. She looked at him, teary-eyed, searching his calm demeanor expectantly.

"You search for hope. You create so much of it but leave none for yourself," he sympathized.

The meld took its toll on her psyche, allowing doubt and fear to creep in unwelcomed. "I... can't stay long there, it's so desolate and sad and heavy. It just..." she stopped herself. Her mentor knew all this already.

He placed a hand on her knee, "You have seen, witnessed what their Earth is. Life and hope, chaos and despair, all intertwine. We can not sit idly while they suffer."

He gestured to the grass, "Now weave".

Sage wiped her eyes and closed them, breathing deep and exhaling her worries. She concentrated, then took the plunge into her subconscious. She used to fall into a deep sleep but now maintained herself as worlds, creatures, mysteries, all manifested before her in a shifting complex puzzle. She focused on nothing, but allowed her mind to recreate the grassy knoll, her mentor, the wind. Sage began weaving, hands dancing melodically, infusing energy into the dream fibers around her. Everything she'd been taught, all her emotions, her hopes and dreams, she poured into her surroundings.

When the vibrations began, she stopped and awoke. Her mentor had a loving smile on his face. He nudged his head, telling her to look. Around them and now covering the valley were magnificent flowers, freshly bloomed from the weave.

Sage laughed excitedly, "So many this time!".

"You did it," he chuckled.

Leaning forward he plucked a lily from her creation and fastened it in her black curls saying, "Your beauty brings light where there is none."

He kissed her on the forehead and settled back with a sigh. "It's time for you to meld again."

She looked at him with hesitation, but gathered her nerves.

With fragment in hand, he reached out and clasped her palm. Closing her eyes once more, she readied for the pull.

"I"ll be here for you," he ushered as a goodbye.

With a deep exhale she thought I'm ready, and was cast into shadow and light interweaving, yanking her to the other dimension.

She appeared in a chaotic waste. A single dead tree stood forlorn in the town square. Its withered branches pointed accusingly at the town full of despair. A child sat hunched by the tree sobbing, clearly starving. Sage walked up to him and took the lily from her hair and nestled it behind his ear. She smiled warmly and cupped his cheek saying, "Have hope".

Stepping back, she placed her hand on the tree. "And I'll be here for them," she promised, and slipped into her subconscious.