Rivers of Reverie

5. Teacher and Novice

"Tell us, Thesyl," Sanya asked. "What would your theory be?"

The priestess rose up, took a tube-like container which was lying somewhere among her things and, after she sat again, she drew out its content in front of the two girls. It was a map of Espyria, similar to Eris's, but integrated with several notes scribbled by its owner.

"Have you ever heard of Mount Esper?" she asked the two girls, who shook their heads.

Thesyl pointed with her finger at a region north-east of Fys Espyr, more or less halfway between the mountain range to the north and the northern end of the Great Barrier. Liryl and Sanya tried to remember if Eris's map signaled the mountain or not, but they could not recall.

"It is the tallest mountain of all Espyria, and it seems that the whole region took its name from this mountain," told the priestess. "However, nobody has been allowed onto the mountain for centuries."

"Why?" asked the two girls, almost in unison.

Thesyl shook her head. "Nobody knows, apparently. Some people rumor that the queen herself is in the dark about it. However, it seems that one of the sigils warding the path to the mountain has been violated, around two months ago."

"Two months ago ... more or less when these dreams started, right?" asked Sanya.

"Yes, but there's more. Three weeks ago, I went to the village of Fys Narhal, which lies pretty much at the base of the mountain. My excuse was that I needed to bring the village news from the capital, but I also took the opportunity to try and find out something more about the incident."

Liryl could not help feeling worried about the direction the story was heading for. "And what did you find out?"

"Unlike other communities – including Fys Espyr – where the problem affected only a small number of people, almost all the nymphs in Fys Narhal experienced the same symptoms, " Thesyl explained. "Nightmares, insomnia ... some of them are so weakened that they have trouble carrying out a normal life in the community."

Liryl and Sanya exchanged a distressed glance. Neither of them had even remotely imagined that the matter was so serious.

"What could we do?" Sanya asked the priestess.

"Tomorrow, at sunrise, we'll go do some further research in a special place, here in Fys Espyr."

"A ... special place?" Liryl repeated, with a puzzled look.

The priestess smiled. "I will explain everything in due time. Now you better go rest, you must be exhausted after the journey you just had."

"Thanks, Thesyl," said the two girls. Part of Liryl wished not to be left hanging like this, but even her impatience could not overcome her feeling of gratitude towards the priestess.

"Ah, Liryl," Thesyl then added, looking at her. "If you can't fall asleep, or if anything happens, please don't hesitate to look for me, okay?"

Liryl smiled and thanked her again. Thesyl was all but what she would expect from a priestess. But it was the first time she met somebody, besides her friend, with whom she got along so easily.

***

When Liryl opened her eyes, it was dark all around her. 

The silvery light of stars and torches filtered from the outside through the tent of their room. Sanya was sleeping quietly in her bed, but Liryl figured from her own acute headache that she did not sleep much, nor nice. She could not remember clearly what she had dreamt of. However, by now, she did not even feel the need to think hard about it. Since she was all but eager to go through another nightmare, the girl decided to get up and walk out of the room. If nothing else, the last weeks taught her to make do with fewer hours of sleep.