Song: https://youtu.be/oc21g2MP2mo

"How much of Astra's history do you know?" He asked, getting closer. I leaned away, feeling a bit scared. In my dream, I'd been wanting to lean even closer, I thought we'd been having a sweet moment. But though the look in his eyes was very familiar, the context gave rise to a different feeling altogether.

"I-I don't know." I shook my head before breaking away from him. I stood from the bed, taking a few steps away. That was too close, and not in a way that I liked.

"Monica, your grandfather could have been a seer as well. Do you know what that means?" He asked as I thought back to the attic.

"It meant it was his door."

"What?"

I turned back to Barrett, but kept my distance from him. "The door I found. The one that led me here. It was my grandfather's. It means that he might have visited Astra, He might have even lived here at one point." I said before pushing my hair out of my face.

I was suddenly feeling rather light headed. This wasn't what I wanted to know. It did explain what the door had been doing up in the attic. But if it had been there since Grandpa's time, had he made the door? Or had my family carried this secret for generations? Why hadn't grandpa told me? Or Mom? Did she know?

Questions were chasing each other like a dog after its own tail, and I was getting dizzy. What was this place? What was Astra?

"Monica."

I shook my head as I saw my dream man stand, starting over to me. "Stop." I shoved my hands out in front of me. He stopped just in front of my outstretched hands, staring at me.

"What is it?" He asked, raising a brow. I stared into those wine like eyes before feeling my own water.

"Just, stop. This is too much for me. I-I need a minute to just...breathe." I told him before trying to keep my breath even. This dream world was connected to mine somehow, possibly had been for a very long time and I had only been seeing a small part of it.

It was crazy. All of this was just crazy to think about. How much history did this world really have? It was all so real, and yet I couldn't seem to grasp it fully. It hurt my head. Memories of my grandfather's stories tickled my mind, but when I tried to focus on them, the old man's voice was muffled. What had he really been trying to show me, tell me? Had he tried to warn me?

"Monica?" I flinched when I felt something touch my cheek. Looking into those red eyes of his brought me back from my thoughts, and he wiped away a tear that had been making its way down my cheek.

"What's the matter?" He frowned. But I didn't know how I could possibly explain what was going on in my mind.

"I..I didn't know..he never told me. Or if he did, I didn't understand. I can't remember his voice." I rambled as my tears started to pick up. Barrett watched me, obviously lost as to what I was talking about, but I just couldn't seem to organize my thoughts. How could I catch him up to speed when I didn't even know where I was going?

Eventually, I just gave up, dropping my head on his shoulder as I started to cry.

"I miss him." I said simply. That was all I could say. After that, I was lost to tears. If he were still here, he could answer my questions. But he wasn't. Why had he left before telling me? Or even telling mom, unless she knew already. Why hadn't she ever told me? What was going on?!

Barrett wrapped his arms around me in a hug. This felt familiar too, but I shut it out, covering my ears as I leaned into his embrace. I didn't want to think about visions, or looking into the future, or the past, what have you. I just wanted the thoughts in my head to leave me alone.

We stood there for as long as Barrett could stand. But eventually, he started feeling pain in his foot from standing for so long and had to sit down. Letting go of me, he walked me over to his bed and sat down with me.

"Do you feel better?" He asked, and I sniffled with a small nod. I wasn't happy, definitely not happy, but I wasn't blubbering anymore. I wiped my face with my hands to rid myself of the tears and Barrett set the coin bag in his satchel. "It's late." He said quietly, and I nodded.

I had work in the morning, and Barrett needed his rest to get better. I stood up again. I finished drying my cheeks before looking back at the raven haired man.

"Thank you Barrett. I'll try to explain when I can." I told him, and he nodded.

"Alright. Good Night."

"Good night, Barrett."

When I shut the door behind me, I swayed, feeling light headed still. Setting a hand on my head, I tried to repress all of the questions that were still lingering on my mind. I wouldn't practice with my visions tonight. I didn't want to deal with any more mysteries. They could wait until I had more energy to deal with them.

I returned to my room before spotting a piece of paper that was set on my pillow. Confused, I picked it up and opened it, looking at the handwriting.

Meet me at the public house after you've finished with your field work tomorrow.
-Elwen

I let out a soft sigh before setting the letter down on the desk near my bed. What more could he want to talk with me about? Was he upset that our conversation had been interrupted? I didn't have the mental strength to handle this right now. Lightly scolding myself, I climbed into bed, tossing my hair up on the pillow. He was just trying to be nice, I should humor him.

As I thought this however, Barrett's words echoed in my head. No one cares about you. I bit my lip at the thought, thinking about how he had hugged me while I was sobbing about my long dead grandpa. Was he right? Or was he a liar? He kinda was a liar. He hadn't told me about being a thief, and he even lied about the arrow that I'd gotten shot with, saving his neck!

Barrett's words dropped from my mind as I settled down to sleep, but as I drifted off, my unanswered questions and dreams all seemed to spin in my mind.

All I could see was red. Red hair, Red blood, sorrow and grief filled my chest but I didn't know why. A rose spun in my vision as I tried to catch my breath, but I only seemed to cough up petals, which fell on the sharp gold of a broken crown.

Green eyes turned almost black in front of me and I heard myself scream.

I woke up in a cold sweat, staring at the ceiling with even more questions than I had last night. I'd been dreaming about something. But I couldn't put together what it meant, not in the slightest.

The sky was dark with night outside, but I didn't care. I wasn't going to get any more sleep anyway, so I decided just to get up and head out. Perhaps if I had a walk, it would clear my mind. Walking down the stairs to the kitchen, I looked around. It was quiet and dark, all the candles in the house had gone out.

When I walked out the front door, the outside pricked at my hot skin with cool night air, it made me shiver. Even though it wasn't too terribly cold, I wondered if I should grab my cloak. But I didn't want to go back inside. So I simply stood there, looking around at the streets around me.

There was a main road that rode straight through the village, starting in the direction Barrett and I had come from and ending far enough that I could barely see the sign wishing travelers a warm welcome to the town.

I rubbed my arms softly as I thought in silence, trying to get a hold of my thoughts from yesterday evening. My grandfather had been a seer before me. Perhaps. I didn't have any proof, but it made the most sense. The door, and his stories. My start of dreaming about Astra after he had died. It felt like too much to be coincidence. But then why hadn't my mother told me? Had grandfather told her, and if so, did she believe him? I tried to decide for myself, but there really wasn't a way for me to know unless I talked to her again.

But how on earth would I get home? I couldn't find the door if I tried and I wasn't sure it didn't move around. How did that tree work? How had grandfather visited if the door moved? Did he get trapped here? Or did he create the door to escape? Had he been trapped here like I had? If so, how had he left? Why did he leave?

I rubbed the side of my head as I tried to put the pieces together, but the fact was, I simply didn't know enough. I would only hurt my head the more I tried to uncover it on my own. So finally, I decided to set it off to the side. I didn't want to, but there was simply nothing I could do at the moment.

I looked up at the sky with a sigh before noticing a light coming from the side, up on the second floor of the house. Turning towards the candlelight, I noticed it coming from Barrett's window. He was standing next to the window, leaned against the seal while staring out into the night. His eyes were sharp in the dark, practically glowing their red hue.

My fingers gently covered my mouth as I stared at him quietly. He was wearing a simple white shirt, and his hair was its classy messed up look. He looked just like he had in my dreams. Calm, handsome, and...perfect.

I hated how much I wanted to kiss him right then, and as soon as I had the thought, I looked away. We were strangers, or atleast, that's how he saw us, except now he knew I'd seen him as a child. If anything he was probably severely creeped out by me now. Not to mention I'd rambled like a lunatic last night and he hadn't understood anything I'd been saying.

The next conversation we had, I was beginning to dread. What would he ask? How could I explain myself to him when I didn't even know half the answers he would most likely want to know? He'd be as frustrated with me as he was with my visions. Neither of us made any sense to him and rarely did what he wanted.

Would it be worth it to keep traveling with Barrett? I only seemed to get in the way. Then again, if it weren't for me, he would have died, on multiple occasions. But I'd been able to protect him. Did that mean I possibly had a chance to save that nobleman as well? That thought helped me stand a little straighter. I was useful, and even if Barrett never reciprocated my feelings, I would still be able to protect him from harm. Possibly anyone else I could see with my visions as well. But for how long?

So many questions, so little answers. Do you have any ideas? What could possibly be going on?

Have a safe Evening,
G'Night Stars.