Soulmates Across Borders

Chapter 11

Solí fell into a restless sleep in her borrowed nohonga. She found herself back in her family's high teneti, so she knew she was dreaming. She sat up in the bed furs and rubbed her arms as she looked around the empty tent. Goosebumps covered her body, though she wasn't cold. Despite it being night, the teneti glowed brightly with a blue light. She knew this wasn't a regular dream. Perhaps Waiata had included her in the mo-ay mo-ayah dream makutu.

She stood up and went for the tent flap. Before she could duck and exit the teneti, a shadow appeared. Solí stepped back in shock to see the beastman looming over her. He had removed his beastly appearance and stood in the moonlight with his odd clothes covering his whole body.

Though he still had the ears and tail of a wolf, the rest of him looked just like any man, and a strong man at that. He had sturdy wide shoulders, strong narrow hips, gray hair and stubble on his face, and a well defined chin. Seeing him again made her heart race. But since she knew this was a dream, she didn't fear him.

She wanted to despise him for what his people had done to her people, but when she saw him, a great sense of calm fell over her. It was hard to describe, but now that she knew he was her soulmate, she felt certain that she'd always lived her life feeling like half of her was somewhere else. And now, here was her other half.

She wanted to tear his throat out for killing Taruta, Ekara, Pai, Irirangi, and Rua. She felt their deaths with such a devastating sadness when she was awake, but here in front of her soulmate, all her rage and anguish melted away. She couldn't hate someone who made her feel so whole and complete.

She stepped aside and beckoned him to come into her teneti, and he followed her inside.

"Why did you come?" she asked him, and because this was a dream, he could understand her.

"I had to see you again," he said in his language, but his meaning became clear to her. His voice was deep and rumbling. His black eyes pierced her very soul. They were as deep as the night sky. She felt her mana awaken within herself. His soul called to her.

Despite wanting to have nothing to do with him in her waking hours, in this enchanted dream she wanted to see him, too. Like she was under some strange sorcery, she reached out to pull him closer. But her hands went right through his. "This is just a dream," she said.

"In my culture, dreams can be real. They're called astral dreams."

"Did you cast some sort of astral dream sorcery?" She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Astrologia magicae." He said with a nod. "Like I said, I had to see you again."

"How did you find me?"

"I can feel our connection. You feel it too, don't you?"

She nodded. "I thought it was sorcery at first. But now I think we must be soulmates."

"What's a soulmate?"

"In my nation, people can bond with animals. Their spirits become entwined. When one dies, the other dies too. They are connected forever. So when they're reborn, the souls remember their past bonds. That must be what we felt."

"In Sylvania we believe that souls are reincarnated, too."

"Reincarnated?"

"It means reborn, like you said." He explained it very simply without condescending her. Unlike the man she was betrothed to marry, who seemed to go out of his way to condescend her every time they talked.

He was different than Tokah in nearly every way she could fathom. Though she had only met him once and now they were only talking in a dream, she felt that she could trust him with her life. She couldn't explain it. She didn't want to feel this way toward a beastman, but their bond made her think all wrong about everything.