Kirin’s mind was immediately swallowed up in darkness, quickly replaced by a vivid scene all around her.  She was walking down a gloomy chapel, a pillar of light shining in the distance.  Set in the center of the pillar of light was an altar, behind which stood a wild-haired woman.  Was this the Nassé’s dream?  It did kind of feel like a dream, but unlike Kirin’s own dreams, she felt fully awake and able to think clearly about what she was seeing.  But it still felt odd to sense her body in two places at once.  She knew she was still kneeling on Xinthi’s bed, but she also felt herself walking deliberately toward this altar that she knew wasn’t real.

When her dream self finally reached the end of the chapel to stand in front of the altar, she saw that it was a table made out of stone.  The purple cloth partially covering it was embroidered with glyphs that she recognized but couldn’t read.

The faceless woman with wild hair moved slightly behind the altar.  She stood just outside of the pillar of light, and most of her body was beyond the light’s reach.  On top of her silver curls sat a wreath made of fine, white jewels, which shone like stars.  In her hand, she clutched a gold knife.

Kirin was suddenly made to look down.  A young woman was now lying across the altar, with hands and feet bound together like a naru prepared for slaughter.  She was just as unknown to Kirin as the wild-haired woman, but instead of a wreath, she wore a simple band of silver with celestial engravings across her forehead.  The young woman was smiling eerily, like a child being led off to a terrible place by a kind-looking stranger.

Kirin felt sad for the woman on the altar, but quickly felt herself being tugged away by unseen hands.  She saw a man watching beyond the edge of the light.  He was shrouded in shadow, but even half-hidden, Kirin could see he was strikingly handsome, with fine features and black eyes.  Kirin drew closer to him, mesmerized, but stopped short when the shadows surrounding him intensified threateningly.

She turned back to the altar and saw to her surprise that the wild-haired woman was gone and the altar was empty.  Confused, Kirin again looked to the shadowy man and saw that the bound woman wearing the diadem was no longer bound, but standing hand in hand with him.  She was too far away for Kirin to make out her face, but both she and the man slowly turned and began walking away.  As they headed further into the shadows, the woman’s body began to glow, and strange black lines began to stretch across her skin.  And then both the man and woman were gone.

A small cry drew Kirin’s attention to the altar, which was now more dimly lit.  There was a small girl lying peacefully on the altar as a hooded priest in strange-looking robes stood above her with arms raised high, a glinting knife clenched in his hands.  He was going to stab the girl!  Kirin reached out to stop him, but it was too late.  The knife plunged down, piercing the girl’s heart in a single stroke.

Kirin gasped as she watched the girl’s blood pour freely from her chest, immediately staining the entirety of her simple white dress with an unnatural, ruby-colored glow.

But the priest wasn’t yet done.  He raised the knife again over the now-spasming body of the girl and drove it down again into her chest, creating a new source of blood, which began pooling on the ground.  Once more he raised his arms, and the resulting strike finally took the life out of the girl, who finally fell limp on the altar.  Slowly, and yet not unsettlingly, the priest, altar, and girl’s body faded from view.

Then there was a cracking noise.  Kirin looked up to see the arch of the night sky appear overhead.  The moon and stars all shone sweetly at first, but then each winked out as the sky suddenly burst, splintering like glass.  Kirin moved to shield her eyes with her hands, but as she did, she saw that they were not her hands but rather the palms of the Nassé’s thin, white hands, cut up and bleeding from all the glass.

Kirin lurched backwards, both in the dream and physically, and the image flashed white, replaced by a vision of reality.  She had forcibly unraveled the braid of their thoughts and slipped completely out of any degree of focus.  She found herself leaning backwards on the bed, her hands braced behind her to keep herself propped up.  She stared wide-eyed at the Nassé, who was glaring at her.

“Why did you do that?” Xinthi demanded.  “If I hadn’t foreseen your sudden movement and loosened the braid, we both could have ended up insane or worse!  Don’t you know how dangerous it is to break your concentration while performing an elucidation?”

Kirin choked, gripping the sharp pain at her temples.  “I didn’t know!”

“Well, what’s done is done,” Xinthi growled.  “You’re lucky that your thought matter didn’t snap back into your skull.”

“I’m sorry!”

“Never mind.”  The Nassé waved her hand dismissively.  “Now, I trust you had enough time to view my nightmare?”

“I-I suppose I did.”

The Nassé nodded slowly, her eyes squinting to piercing slits.  “If you truly are as gifted as they say, tell me what you saw.”

Kirin drew in a long breath, trying to piece together her fragmented thoughts.  “I saw lots of things.  There was this wild-haired woman—or at least I think she was a woman.  And then this priest killed a child and then I—er—you got all cut up by the glass and there was this—”

“Slow down!” Xinthi exclaimed.  “You need to calm yourself and recount the dream for me in the exact order you saw it.  No detail is too small.”

Kirin gulped and nodded slowly.

“Begin again.”

“Well, at first there was a shaft of white light.  And there was an altar with a woman standing behind it.  There was another woman lying on the altar, all tied up.”

“Can you describe their faces?” Xinthi asked.

“No, I can’t.  It was too dark to be sure.  I know the first woman was wearing a wreath of jewels.  The second woman was smiling, I think, although I couldn’t make out the rest of her face.  I don’t think she knew she was going to die.  Oh!  And she was wearing a diadem!”

Xinthi flinched slightly, her expression unchanged.  “A diadem?  That is a detail I do not recall.”  She looked away from Kirin for a moment.

“Yes, it was made out of silver and had all sorts of engravings on it.  There were suns, moons, and stars across it in a pattern.”

The Nassé’s lips twitched.

“There was a man in the shadows, watching,” Kirin continued, pursing her lips.  “He tried to stay hidden, but I still saw him.  He had the blackest eyes.  And it was like he brought shadow with him.  He was surrounded by it, even though the light was shining near him.”

“Surrounded by shadow?”  Xinthi arched an eyebrow.

“I don’t really know what it was.  I got distracted by the woman on the altar, but then she wasn’t there anymore, and instead ended up with the man.  I only got to see them for a few seconds before they disappeared, along with the shadows.”

“Yes, yes, the woman with the black veins.”

Kirin frowned.  “I don’t know that they were veins, actually.  They were glowing like they should be white, but they kind of spread in more of like a pattern or—”

“What of the priest?” Xinthi interrupted.  “The one who slew the child on the altar?  Did you see his face?”

“No, he was wearing a hood.  But I got a good look at his robes.  They looked a little like priest robes but were very colorful.  Sort of purple and golden,” Kirin said.

“And the girl?”

“She looked almost more like a doll.  Well, a doll that bled when it was stabbed. He stabbed her three times, and her blood seemed to be glowing.”

“You claim her blood was glowing?”

Kirin nodded.  “It was this strange red, not like real blood, but it was glowing as it came out of her and still glowing when it dripped onto the floor.  It was very vivid and bright!”

“Interesting.  Go on.”

“Well, then I heard a crack, and I looked up and I wasn’t in a chapel anymore.  I was looking up at the stars and the moon, only they vanished and the sky just broke and rained glass all over me.  And then I saw that I was bleeding, only I was looking down at your hands, not mine.”  She held out her hands, confirming that her palms were still brown and broader than Xinthi’s.

“And then?  Was there more?”

“No.  I mean, I guess that’s when I panicked and broke the connection.”

“I see.  So, you saw nothing more.”

“I’m sorry.  I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more.”  Kirin felt her eyes prick with tears.

“I would have you elucidate again, but not now.  You are drained and would risk us both with your lack of control.  No, you will go now and I will ponder what I have learned.  Speak of this to no one.”

Kirin blinked, surprised at the abrupt dismissal.  She opened the curtains and scooted off the mattress, turning to look at the prophetess, who still huddled in the shadows, enveloped by sheets and pillows.  She watched as the pupils of the Nassé’s eyes gradually shrank into thin slivers as they stared off into the darkness.  Completely unsure of what to make of this experience, Kirin closed the curtains and quietly exited the Chamber of Dreaming.