The water sloshed from inside the mug, drenching the fur of her hand. Too much haste, not enough caution, it seemed. Kataryna scolded herself, easing the door open with her other hand. Arron's cheeks were rather a distinct shade of red, and Aranaya had averted her eyes and looked as though she were trying not to laugh.
Kataryna wondered if she might have interrupted a moment.
"Sorry," she muttered, not really understanding what she was apologising for, but doing it anyway, "here's your water. Are you okay to drink it?"
Aranaya accepted the mug from her hands. More water was spilt. "Thank you," the Aye-aye said.
"You're welcome. Um, Titus wanted me for something," she lied through her teeth, "how are you feeling Arron, do you want anything?"
She glanced over at the mirror, hastening to hide the view behind her wingspan. It seemed they had some uses. There were some things Aranaya should never see.
"Something to take away the pain," Arron replied, teeth gritted. "The Lemur has quite a swing."
"He was a trained martial artist," Aranaya replied, and Kataryna could hear the pain in her voice. "And sometimes even a stuntman for the magivision. He spent many hours working his body into a fine tuned machine." She shuddered, "he was, is, strong and powerful and very, very dangerous." The sobs overtook her then and she folded into Arron's embrace.
Sensing they needed some privacy, Kataryna beat a hasty retreat.
Outside the birds had ceased singing, but the sky was ablaze with sunlight and foot traffic passed back and forth on the trail beside the tree. Lulled by the gentle stirrings of their voices, Kataryna curled up on the couch and swiftly fell deep into slumber.
Her sleep was at first undisturbed and deep, but then, she found herself back at Tirra-Inle, the school of Magick.
She stood before the mighty arched front doors of the monolithic building. The serpents coiled about the twin pillar-supports watching her with beady black eyes. It was said that they were charmed and would defend the university against those that sought it harm. Between them stood a boy. His fur was black as pitch, save for a pale white mask, from which his red eyes shone with surprising wisdom in one so young. He regarded her solemnly and then the shadows seemed to grow, lengthening towards him.
Kataryna was struck with the need to reach him before they did. She knew not why, except that disaster would be the outcome if she failed.
And thus she began running.
Alas, the ground seemed to be made of treacle and whilst she ran and ran and ran, she did not gain even an inch of ground. The shadows, however, had no such difficulties, but they drew closer and closer and began cresting, like hungry waves.
All though flitted from her mind - instinctively she unfurled her wings and shot forward so swift one of the serpents disengaged its stone head from the pillar and hissed a warning. The boy lifted up his arms to her and she grasped him about the middle. The wind took her in its hands and lofted her into the air, far beyond the reach of the shadows that now broke into what could best be described as winged teeth and came flapping after her.
The boy screamed. "Save me, I'm falling…" And then the flying teeth surrounded her and began chomping away at her wings and she began falling, falling.
The ground swooped dangerously near, rising to meet her - a dark and desolate wasteland of rocks and strange luminescent fungi. The Deadlands.
Kataryna awoke a fleeting instant before impact. Sweat trickled down her brow and her hands were shaking. It may have merely been her mind snapping back to reality, clearing away the clouds of the dream, but for a fleeting second she fancied that above her hovered a pair of almond eyes, shining blue then paling into nothingness.