The Land Set Aflame

Chapter 48: The Fireproof Pillow

Perhaps it was the gentle hum of magic in the air that woke Leofric from his sleep, pulling him gently from his dreams into the waking world. Fairy magic: he was sure it was fairy magic. Something about it just stirred the air a little differently, and it was so palpable that he didn't even need his magic sight to feel it.

Leofric wasn't sure why he felt so confident that it was fairy magic — he wasn't an impulsive person, prone to draw quick conclusions like that. But, almost before he knew it, he found himself eagerly opening his eyes, anticipating some spectacular visual display to accompany the intense magical aura.

No sooner had he done so than a flood of memories came back to him: the unexpected blend of magics over the kallaw, the flash of steel, the cold touch of shadows at midday. The brilliant flash of light, right at the end.

As he blinked against the soft light that suffused the area around him, his mind considered the possibility that he was dead, that this soft magical glow was in fact the aura of whatever afterlife awaited the souls of humans who'd met their mortal end. There was a strange, placid detachment in his mind as he considered, and his thoughts turned inward, wondering if he should be disturbed by this level of nonchalance towards the afterlife.

It was several seconds later that his mind finally broke through the distraction to register the fact that he was lying in a strange bed. There was an unearthly softness to it, a remarkable perfectness that made him wonder why anyone ever bothered to make a bed that was less than this.

He glanced over to his left, and jumped in surprise at the sight of orangish-yellow flames flickering on the pillow next to him. He tried to sit up and roll away, but his legs were ensnared by some bedsheets, and he only fell off the bed. He was already reaching for his spell ingredient pouch and mentally thinking up the arcane words for his fire protection spell, before his head hit the ground.

The impact was surprisingly soft and confusingly painless, and some weird dissociation in his head made him wonder if he were in fact still asleep and only dreaming this all up.

The flames on the bed suddenly rose up, and he instantly recognized their shape as the face and flowing hair of Kithana. There was a look of genuine concern on her face as looked down at him.

"Leofric, are you okay?" she asked with a baffling mix of concern and nonchalance, "What happened?"

All of this happened before Leofric realized that he didn't have his spell ingredient pouch with him, so he wouldn't have been able to cast a spell anyway. This only made him more grateful that he didn't need to.

"Nothing!" Leofric said, a bit hastily, as he tried to stand and disentangle himself from a wad of covers and silken sheets, "I was... well, I didn't know where I was, you see. And I— I thought the bed was on fire, but in fact, it was only you. Well, not only you. It was you. I didn't expect to see you in a bed."

Her head cocked to one side, as if that realization were just dawning on her, as well. She looked down at the sheets that were bunched around her and frowned. "And the sheets seem to be fireproof," she commented simply.

Leofric hadn't gotten around to wondering about that yet. "Do you... remember getting into the bed?" he asked, "I don't."

"I was... asleep?" Kithana asked, still looking down at the bed in confusion, "Was I sleeping? Is that what sleeping feels like?"

He frowned in response. "I suppose I don't know," he agreed, "What did it feel like?"

She puzzled on that for a second. "I don't know," she finally said, "I don't remember it."

Leofric chuckled lightly at that. "Yes, I suppose that's what sleep feels like," he said, "Do you feel anything now, upon waking?"

"What should I feel?" she asked.

"I... don't know," he replied, "Perhaps... well, when I awake, there's a sort of dryness in my mouth. No, you wouldn't feel that, I suppose." He thought for another minute. "Sometimes, I have to blink my eyes several times before I can see properly. I suppose you wouldn't feel that, either.

"There's usually a stiffness in my neck, but I don't feel that now. Perhaps that means I should get a new pillow at home."

Throughout all of this, she was watching him curiously, perfectly displaying an expression of bewilderment on the flames that formed her pretty face.

The way she routinely forced him to figure out how to explain the most mundane of life experiences for her was one of the things he found most delightful about her. It was just unfortunate that he was so very bad at it.

He smiled at her fondly. There was something about her now: somehow she looked more... real.

He frowned again and reached out to touch her face. She felt the same as she always had: uncomfortably warm, but somehow solid. Not solid, as in hard; but... maybe "supple" was the word. Her suppleness was comparable to the suppleness of human flesh, even though she was made of flames.

Something about that word sounded somehow... inappropriate. It was a good thing he hadn't said it out loud, then.

She looked down again. "Who put us in the bed?" she asked, "Who puts a fire elemental in a bed made for humans?"

Leofric examined the bed. "Well, I'm not sure this bed is made for humans," he said with a chuckle.

"Then, who's it made for?"

"Fairies, I imagine," he said.

"Why do you think that?"

He gestured out towards the rest of the room, which seemed to disappear into an indistinct haze of soft, diffuse light, such that the walls were unclear. "This is clearly some sort of magical chamber," he said, "I don't see any walls or any furniture, though I suspect, if we simply think of something, it may appear for us." He chuckled a self-satisfied little chuckle as he took a step away from the bed. "Fairy magic is like that, you see? It plays on emotions and imagination and thoughts. Let's have a go, shall we?"

He extended a hand out for her to grasp. She hesitantly reached up and took his hand. "Have a go at what?" she asked.

"Well, let's start easy, shall we?" he said as he helped her to her feet, "Perhaps we need a door to step outside?"

To his delight, there was suddenly a wall beside him, with a door in it. He chuckled, pleased with himself, and turned back to smile proudly at Kithana.

But, he was a little taken aback to see her frowning again. "What about Lady Sablesong?" she asked, "And Mr. Moon? Are they alright?"