Shadewalker || ONC 2024

Chapter 11: Afternoon Light

It wasn't as if Iris had never been kissed. She had been, once, a long time ago. It was a quick, sloppy kiss done on a dare. Of course, that wasn't quite what she had expected from Talan. Quick, yes. Sloppy, no.

But this wasn't a quick kiss. His lips were soft and warm and gentle. He cradled the back of her neck in his free hand. A pleasant, tingling warmth unfurled in her stomach. Iris tangled her fingers in his shirt and deepened the kiss. His was a grounding and secure presence, and she needed him closer. Their teeth clacked against each other's.

Iris's eyes fluttered. She blinked – it was suddenly quite bright – and Talan pulled back.

Iris blinked again, now disoriented. No longer was she in the dream. Instead, she was lying flat on her back on a hard cot in a quiet little room. Golden afternoon light slanted across her face. She squinted. It was too bright to see clearly, but she got the sense that Talan's own face hovered just a few inches above hers.

With a start, Iris realized that her fingers were still clutching his shirt, holding him far too close. She released him, and he leaned back, but only by a little.

"Oh dear, I am so sorry! That was rather inappropriate," she blurted out. "I – I had a dream and you were there. Was – was any of that real?"

"Yes," he answered. It was a very short reply, but Iris thought that she heard a smile hidden in his voice.

The light from the window shifted so that it was just out of her eyes. Briefly, Iris wondered if that was Talan's doing. She watched as he lifted their still-bound hands and undid the dreamseeker. It no longer looked like a cord of moonlight. Instead, she now saw that it was made of horsehair and owl feathers. The horsehair was beginning to unravel, however, and a few feathers came loose. Talan bundled it up in his fist.

Iris looked back up. She could make out Talan's rumpled white shirt and tousled hair now. A thick wad of gauze covered the place where his left eye should be, and it was bound in place with a white bandage.

"Oh, Talan! Your eye!" she gasped. "Couldn't it be saved?" With magic, she meant. No normal human medicine could have fit his eye back in place so that it functioned once more. She made as if to reach for his face, and then stopped herself. Hadn't she just been apologizing for inappropriate touching? They weren't a couple, and he had just been betrayed by Eliana.

Talan gave her a wry grimace and chuckled, raking his hand through his hair. "Um, about that," he began. "Things got a bit chaotic when my dad got there. My eye kind of got knocked to the floor and...trampled."

"Oh."

There wasn't much else that Iris could bring herself to say. She suddenly felt quite dizzy and a bit nauseous. Fortunately, or unfortunately, there was nothing left in her stomach. Talan frowned and touched her wrist.

"Hey, are you ok?" he asked. Worry laced his voice. "You just got really pale."

Iris nodded, very aware of his hand on her wrist. "I – yes. Yes, I'm just feeling a bit faint."

"Well, I can't say I blame you. It's been a few days since you've had anything solid to eat. The nurses have been giving you a bit of broth, but that's it. Hang on."

He stood up and crossed the room, stopping at the doorway to speak to someone just outside in the hallway. Iris turned her head to follow his movements. She caught sight him handing the dreamseeker back to a woman in a nurse's crisp, white uniform. It crumbled to pieces in her palm, and the nurse looked up, shock written all over her wide face.

"But...I don't understand," she said. "The spell was supposed to be good for ten more uses!"

"The curse wasn't a dreamless sleep," replied Talan. There was an apologetic note in his voice. "It took more magic than I'd expected to enter Miss McClaine's dream. I'll replace the dreamseeker."