THE APPLE OF SNAKES

xlv. softer dreams

When Nerluce managed to peel his eyes open again, he still felt tired.

He rubbed them, drowsily and rolled over, placing a hand over his head, blocking out the light. It seemed too bright out. Yet, the sun didn't stop shining, playful rays nipping at his skin as spirits danced around the garden. Nerluce groaned as he pushed himself off of his makeshift napping spot and looked around for a new one - preferably in the shade.

The garden he was in was quite lovely but he couldn't remember exactly where it was. It had all of his favorite flowers from his mother's gardens and a couple of the statues from his Lord Father's but... there was also the sound of streams like in Ethera's innermost courtyard and the smell of apple blossoms like the fields that Nerluce so often escaped to. This was no garden of his parents. 

He yawned and stretched. A spirit nuzzled him and he let out a laugh, grabbing for it and pulling it to his chest. It felt warm. Nerluce wondered if it was a fire spirit. Maybe a sun spirit. He'd never seen a sun spirit before but he'd heard they were real. They clustered in spots that the sun hit the ground the most.

"Nerluce!" a voice called.

Nerluce didn't recognize it but... at the same time he did. He knew who it belonged to despite the person not sounding like that in the slightest. It was the same way he knew who these gardens belonged to despite not remembering exactly where they were. He blamed the sleep. It was making him forgetful.

"Nerluce!" the voice said again. It was louder. Closer.

"'M here," Nerluce said.

The world shifted slightly as the person stepped into focus. He wore thin robes befitting the weather and had his hair long and tied in a braid. It hung messily to the side of his head. Yet, even like that, there was nothing short of divinity in this domesticity that an older Aristide apparently dwelled within.

"I've been looking for you," Aristide said.

"Oh?" Nerluce said with a lazy smile. "I guess I didn't hear you." He yawned. "I was sleeping."

Aristide smiled back and tapped the tip of his nose. "Li is waiting for us. She's going to be grouchy if you keep her waiting."

"Can't have that," Nerluce said.

He let Aristide help him to his feet as he looked around the garden. It truly was beautiful and went on for as far as the eye could see. The sun was warm but not too warm and a breeze carried Nerluce's hair and cooled his face. It felt like a perfect day, the type of day he longed for in both winter and summer months as a child. And it was the perfect day to take a nap outside. A shame Aristide had woken him from it.

Though he supposed he didn't want to spend all of today sleeping...

He followed Aristide through the garden. His feet were familiar with the path, even though his mind was not. It led them to a small cottage on the edge of the garden. It was the type that peasants lived in. It was no place suitable for divinity or nobility or a prophecized hero of light and yet... that was where all three dwelled nonetheless.

Nerluce opened the door, finding comfort in how worn it seemed. It was a well-loved door. Well used, too. It would never know perfection like palace or temple doors would but... Nerluce liked this door much better than any other he'd ever used.

Sitting at a small table in the cottage was a young girl. Nerluce wasn't good with children or their ages but she seemed to be in that odd stage where she was too old to be a child but not yet a teenager. Nerluce ruffled her dark hair as he passed. "Aristide said you were getting hungry."

"Yeah," Kierli grumbled. "If you don't hurry, I'm gonna eat you."

"He mentioned grumpy as well," Nerluce said, plopping himself down in the chair next to her. She made a face at him. "Right there!"