The Fox Princess And Her White Dog

15: You're in My Dream

"What am I doing here?" Snow said, looking back at the forest whence she came, and at the purple flowers in the grass that looked unusually saturated in the moonlight.

"This is a dream, isn't it?" she said to Chow Chow. Behind him, she saw snow-capped mountains and a wide, glimmering river in the valley below. The whole scene looked otherworldly, like the person standing before her. "You're in my dream," she said.

A coy smile played on his lips as the wind tousled his white hair, which seemed a few inches longer than she last remembered. "Oh, Princess, I could say the same, though I'd say that you're in my dream." He chuckled at the befuddled expression on her face and turned to admire the landscape beyond the edge of the cliff.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

She came to stand closer to him. His clothes look a little different, she thought, as she studied the silvery edges of his collar that shimmered like mother of pearl against white silk. The cloud-shaped lavender jade pendant hanging from his sash belt, caught her eye.

What am I wearing? she wondered. She looked down and realized that she was wearing the same blue robes, leather belt, white trousers, and flat black boots that she had worn during the imperial hunt about two years ago. Throughout the months that she hid from the Empress at the dwarves' cottage, she had practically lived and slept in this ensemble.

Why couldn't I have dreamt up a better outfit? she thought grumpily as she looked up at him. Oh, he's taller than I expected. Why didn't I notice that earlier?

He wasn't as tall as Erden, who towered over most people, but he stood a good head and a half taller than Snow. Ah, I know, the first time we met, he was sitting down, she thought, recalling their first meeting on the boat in the Heavenly realm.

He turned to her, still smiling coyly, his eyes soft beneath thick dark lashes. "We're in the Hidden Realm. This is another plane, or another dimension, one that only animal spirits like us can enter. Think of it like an invisible layer interwoven with the Earthly Realm," he explained.

"Oh, so this is not a dream? We're actually somewhere together? Like our souls have left our bodies to come here?" she asked, looking around.

Ever since Snow was a young girl, she had always been told to never sleep facing a mirror, or else when her soul leaves her body for the astral plane at night, it might get startled by its own reflection and never return. She'd never believe in such superstition as told to her by her nanny, but many a night she'd wished she could leave her body and the Palace behind to travel the world.

Chow Chow took a step towards her, and she caught a whiff of his rose-tinged scent. "If this is a dream, can you feel this?" he purred.

She felt his fingers touch the back of her head, and trail down her braid, causing her to inhale sharply. "And this?" He tugged at the end of her braid.

"Hey! No pulling!" she cried, yanking her hair out of his grasp.

Chuckling, he said, "I was about to go on a run to scope out the area. Care to join me? Bet you can't catch me." He slowly loped towards the forest, all the while grinning cheekily over his shoulder at her.

She snorted at his challenge. "I've caught you many times before! I'll catch you again!"

"Wa!" he cried when her hand nearly grabbed the back of his robes and he took off at speed with her in hot pursuit. They ran through the forest, laughing breathlessly as he dodged behind tree trunks to escape her. Whenever she closed him on him, he would pivot away so that he was always just out of her reach.

I've ran through a forest like this before, she thought. Yes, I've dreamt of something similar! In that lucid dream she had many months ago, she had run tirelessly with a surefootedness she never had in real life; now, she was doing the same, running over tree roots effortlessly with an agility she'd never thought possible.