He's sent Tylendel away to safety--no, wait, Tylendel is DEAD. He's going to die here, fighting this fight, and he's resigned to it, he knows there's no other way for things to go, everything else has been tried and now they're here and he's going to spend his life on stopping the black-clad mage and it will have been worth it. He lifts his hand for a Final Strike--

and wakes up in the ekele.

He can't quite manage to go back to sleep that night, but the dream gives Pointless Sadness some competition for his thoughts. In the morning he goes looking for Yfandes.

She's not hard to find. :Chosen! Are you all right?: She slips deeper into mind-rapport with him as she draws closer; it always feels a bit like pulling open the curtains and letting in brilliant sunlight. :You seem... I don't know. What's wrong?: 

:I've been having weird dreams.: Oh gods, now that he says it it sounds like the most ridiculous complaint imaginable. : Actually the same weird dream over and over. I'm somewhere in the North, and there's a mage at the head of an army, and in the dream I'm convinced I have to fight him and probably die doing it.:

:Oh: And Yfandes goes very quiet. 

:Is that "oh" like you thought there was something to worry about but actually I'm being ridiculous, or is that "oh" like you actually are worried?:

:I don't know that 'worried' is the word I would choose: 

She nudges at him. :Let's go sit down here, Chosen: It's a nice mossy hollow between two gigantic trees, just long enough for her to settle down in, body slightly curled around him. :All right. I'm not worried, exactly, but...I'm glad you came to me. Can you tell me about this dream?: Pause. :Does it feel different from your other dreams in any way, aside from the repeating part?:

He relaxes a bit once he's leaning on Yfandes. :Yeah. It's not lucid in the sense of knowing I'm dreaming, but my thoughts are a lot clearer than they usually are in dreams. And nothing moves around or changes unexpectedly; it's a coherent sequence of events. Except . . . :

:...Except what?: she presses gently. 

He answers in the mindvoice equivalent of a halting whisper. :In the dream, Tylendel's alive. He's not there, in the dream, but I end up simultaneously convinced he's alive and dead. Which is normal dream logic except I'm aware of it not making sense before I wake up.: And now he's thinking about 'Lendel being DEAD again. Abras pulls his legs up to his chest, wraps his arms around his shins and puts his head on his knees. Maybe if he doesn't speak out loud or show his face it won't be obvious how hard he's trying not to cry.

It's...kind of a losing battle, hiding this from Yfandes when she's in his mind. She doesn't move at first, though, or say anything, or even push affection or reassurance at him. 

:I'm sorry: she sends finally. :I know it's hard. It's awful and unfair and wrong, that he's gone, and it makes sense to be sad about it. Please, Chosen, it's all right to cry around me of all people: She curls a little closer around him. :I love you. I know it doesn't actually fix it, that I'm here, but...I am here: 

:Thanks. And, it does matter that you're here. It's really good, that you're here. I just . . . : He doesn't actually have a coherent thought lined up there, does he. Instead he's going to lean on Yfandes in a way that won't get tears on her fur and cry for a minute before getting himself back under control.

Yfandes doesn't actually mind at all if he gets tears on her fur, but she's going to be there cuddling him and offering as much love and just presence as he wants in his mind, as long as he wants that. 

Eventually he manages to drag this thoughts off the track of DEAD DEAD DEAD and onto the much nicer track of soft warm kind friend who loves me and I love her too, and thence back to the original topic.

:So, do you think this is just a regular dream I'm having for no reason, or could it be something else? Savil said I have Foresight, but that usually has some form other than recurring dreams and I haven't actually foreseen anything that then went on to happen.:

:Hmm: 

Long, careful pause, which is probably not going to do anything for Abras' anxiety. 

:...I'm no expert on Foresight: she sends finally, :but I do know there are different kinds. Short-range Foresight is the sort that's useful on a battlefield; comes in brief flashes, see where the enemies ambush you five minutes from now, whatever. Long-range is different. And I think it might often come in the form of recurring dreams: 

:But it's changeable, right? You can see where you're going to get ambushed and then go somewhere else, or ambush them back or something.:

:Yes. Of course. Or...often, at least. That's the usual reason Foresight is useful: Another cagey pause. :I would have to read more about long-range, to know how often it happens versus is averted. I think sometimes the visions aren't recognized as such until later, even after the fact, which makes it trickier: 

She cuddles closer to him, guessing or sensing that it isn't the most comforting of topics. :Does this dream give you any cues for when it's happening?: 

:Pretty far in the future, I think. My hair is mostly white. More like Moondance's than like someone older, though.:

:Hmm. If you continue using node-energy, your hair will go white while you're still young. Probably not as fast as Moondance's, though; being in the Vale makes it go faster and you won't stay forever. I'd guess...at least a decade. Maybe more: She pauses again. :If you want, I can go into your mind and look at the memory of the dream. I may be able to tell something that way: 

:Yeah, good idea, you might be able to pick up on something I missed.:

He feels Yfandes slip fully into his head, then an odd sort of movement, memories of the dream flickering in and out. 

:I don’t think it’s a normal dream: she sends finally. :I think...something that wasn’t your mind made it: A heavy, strained pause. :Chosen, we should tell Savil:

:Okay. If you think it's something she'd want to know.:

:I think so: 

Savil, when they eventually find her, is lounging in a different pool from the one outside Starwind and Moondance's ekele, with a Tayledras man at least twenty years her junior who Abras doesn't recognize. "...Yes, ke'chara? What is it?" Savil is...considerably smilier than usual, Abras will notice. 

Good for her (he mustn't think about the last time he was that smiley). "I hope I'm not interrupting anything. Um, I've been having a recurring dream and Yfandes and I think it might be Foresight."