Merrium awoke slowly in exhaustion, her body covered in a cold sweat. Someone was wiping her forehead, humming a soothing tune. She pushed eyes open as her memories began to return, recalling what had just transpired before she passed out.

Prince Arstel was knelt next to her in the cold afternoon light, and had been tending to her unconscious body. She sat up immediately with a cry of surprise, and immediately fell with dizziness.

“Whoa!” He caught her quickly and laid her back down. “Easy now, you still need time to recover.”

She stared at him, and then closed her eyes with a groan. His eyes were still red, and his hair sky blue.

“If you’re conscious enough, what happened?” he asked gently, glancing at her mixing kit. “What did you drink?”

“Something that failed,” she groaned again. “It was a complete failure…”

“What did it fail at?”

She covered her face, finding herself unable to hide this information from him but unable to stand to see expression. “The visions. It failed to stop my visions.”

“Visions?”

She nodded from behind her arm, her voice beginning to tremble. “I’ve had them for as long as I remember. Every now and then a spell will overtake me and I will see things that aren't there, or see reality altered strangely.”

“What...what kind of things?” he asked; his voice sounded strange. Merrium felt more fear fill her chest, but was still unable to hide her answer from him.

“Creatures that can’t exist, like a rabbit with wings, or strange colors in people’s eyes.”

“Merrium…” She felt his hands touch her arms as they gently pulled them away from her face. “What do you see right now?”

His expression was not what she expected to see. His eyes were wide with concern, and curiosity. He wasn’t just humoring her; it looked like he may even have the answer, the truth of why she sees these things. It put her at ease, but only by a little.

“I see your hair as blue as the sky, and your eyes are like rubies that they almost glow,” she said.

His eyes widened even more in surprise, and then darted around in thought. He looked behind himself. “I’m hiding it right?”

It was then Merrium noticed the other soldier in the clearing, who nodded, looking just as surprised. Arstel looked back at her, his face still in contemplation. And then his eyes became concentrated, and his hair faded back into a soft, dark brown, and his eyes returned to grey.

“It returned!” she said in surprise. He blinked at her, and gave a strange, hesitant smile.

“Merrium, I don’t think you need to cure your visions,” he said.

“What do you mean?” she asked, the pieces slowly coming into place.

“...where I’m from-”

“Prince Arstel,” the soldier interrupted in warning.

“I know, I know. Where I’m from...we believe some people are born with the sight, the ability to see the other side, if you catch my drift.”

“So I’m seeing spirits?”

“Sort of...it’s a little more complicated than that.”

“But...but then...you somehow just manipulated...then...what…? Why…?”

He struggled. “I’m not sure...how much I can tell you, or how much I should just yet.” He avoided her stare of shock. “I’m sorry for the cryptic answer, I know you must feel very confused right now. But please understand, my world has secrets that we keep secrets for a reason.”

“I don’t want to see these things,” she said, slowly sitting up. “Everyone will think me a lunatic, they’d lock me away if they knew.”

He looked back at her, his brow raised.

“I won’t tell a soul, lord Arstel. As long as you won’t say anything either.”

He smiled patiently. “There are still some things I must consider before I can give you any more information. You’ll have to be patient.”

The soldier became appalled. “Lord Arstel! We can’t just- procedures here call for a memory-!”

“I trust her,” he said firmly. “Besides, we can handle information leaks much bigger than what she would be capable of.”

The soldier glared, and then spoke in a very strange, almost growling language. Arstel spoke back in the same language, his face firm and authoritative. She caught the name of his father, or at least something that sounded like that. Something about it felt ethereal, almost as if they were speaking in spells.

At last the soldier sighed. “Your father will not approve of this.”

“My father doesn’t need to know about this.” Arstel looked back at Merrium, his expression gentle once again. “Okay?”

She nodded, and he helped her to her feet. “Can you walk? Will you be able to make it back home?”

“I think so. You should get back to the hunt, or they’ll wonder what we both were up to.”

He nodded, and helped her to gather her ingredients and bottles to put away. She could see the look of curiosity on his face again as she did, especially when he saw her bow staff.

“I’ll tell you about my things here,” she smiled coyly, “whenever you’re able to tell me more about my visions.”

“Seems fair,” he said in similar tone.

He saw her to the edge of the clearing before turning back into the woods. Merrium had a lot to think about now on her walk back home.