Chapter 7: Nightmares and the Warmth

Lianna awoke with the sound of a sudden scream from the guest room. It was the middle of the night and no known creatures would be invading a building this high up. She got up to get a candle to investigate. She wouldn’t get that far, however, as Samuel entered her room before she could get a candle.

“Lianna…” he said.

She went to his side to ask what happened. What she found was him visibly quaking.

“What happened?” she asked.

She knelt down to match eye level.

“...nightmare,”

His face was visibly pale, even in spite of the dark lighting. She signalled for him to sit on the bed.

With the two sitting next to each other, Lianna tried to think of her first question. Philas appeared next to Lianna only to fly out the room.

“What was it about?” she asked.

Samuel was still shaking. He didn’t answer, which was something Lianna realised she should have expected.

“...are you okay?” she asked.

Still no response. Samuel continued to look downward. Lianna wasn’t sure what to do. Samuel however started to lean on Lianna.

“Hey…” he began.

Lianna looked at the trembling boy as he turned to look at her face.

“Can… I call you big sis?” he asked.

Lianna processed the question for a moment. In a different context, she would have found her sister to complain. However, this context made her choose differently. Somewhere in her mind, the point Elenora made was starting to make sense.

“...Okay,” she said.

She gave Samuel a hug from the side. He was still trembling - and now that she was actively trying to comfort him, it finally dawned on her just how much. She felt bad for him, even if she didn’t quite understand what had happened.

“Can you tell me what it was about, now?” she asked.

Samuel took a moment to gather his thoughts enough to give some semblance of an answer. When he found it within himself, he said:

“...it was a memory from when the caravan was attacked,”

Lianna knew enough that asking for more details wouldn’t help either of them in this situation. Rather, she instead tightened her hug.

“It’s okay, I’m here,”

Her tone was softening by the moment. She didn’t want to ask any more questions, she just wanted him to stop shaking.

Eventually, his lean eventually caused him to fall over sideways into her lap. She didn’t dare move him. Lianna spotted Philas peeking through the door, with a second spirit behind him. She simply gave a look to signal she knew they were there. The two elected to wait.

Eventually, Samuel spoke up.

“Hey… can I tell you something, big sis?”

Lianna looked down, and gave a smile.

“What is it?” she asked.

Lianna began running her hand through Samuel’s hair while he began talking.

“The leader of the caravan, he would always push the same tasks that the adults get on me, and I wasn’t good at them,” he began.

“I was never good at them. Before Thomas was promoted to the spot, the previous captains wouldn’t have me do those things, but he demanded I do them. It was stupid, and then he would get angry that I was bad at things I can’t do well,”

In Lianna’s mind, why this boy had run away was starting to become clearer.

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“I’m sure you can guess what happened. Eventually, I got so angry about it that I ran. I figure that was stupid, but…”

“I don’t think so,” Lianna said. “Dangerous, sure, but I’m not going to get mad at your choice. No one here will.”

She paused, while Samuel looked up at Lianna. He stopped shaking.

“Thank you for telling big sis, Samuel. Can you sit up for me?”

Samuel sat up, while she signalled for Philas and the other spirit to enter. He didn’t quite realise it at the time, but his actions had won Freyja a wager. In the moment, however, they won him something else.

Lianna went and gave Samuel a bear hug. Samuel didn’t protest, and simply accepted Lianna’s embrace.

“You’re warm, big sis.” he said.

Samuel was not in a position to refuse Lianna’s hug, nor was he in the mood to.

“Are you feeling better?” she asked.

“A little. Thanks,”

Lianna released him from her hug, and ruffled his hair. She was treating him as an adoptive sibling now.

“If you need support, don’t be afraid to ask.” she said.

The two spirits by this point had joined them. Samuel recognized the two. Philas had rejoined Lianna's side, and the other one was Mai.

“Are you okay, Samuel?” Mai asked.

“Do you know each other?” asked Lianna.

Lianna looked at Samuel and Mai. He nodded in response to Lianna’s question.

“We met the other day, while you were playing the snowball game. I’m doing a little better, thanks.” he said.

“Are you good to go back to bed?”

Before Samuel could answer, Mai answered instead.

“I can join him if he needs some support.”

Samuel looked at Mai, wordlessly accepting the offer. Philas by this point had disappeared back with Lianna.. Lianna wasn’t sure if she really wanted to have him sleep with her for the night, so she was grateful Mai offered.

“I don’t have any complaints about it,” Lianna said.

“I would appreciate it,” added Samuel.

Lianna helped Samuel up, and he slowly walked back to the guest room. Mai followed behind him, making sure he didn’t run into any obstacles along the way.

“I see you’ve finally warmed up to Samuel,” Philas said.

“I feel bad for him, what do you want me to do?” Lianna chided back.

“Exactly what you did,”

Lianna started going back into bed. While she was doing this, Lianna heard Philas chuckle.

“What’s so funny, Philas?” she asked.

“I’m sorry, I think that kid may really have ran all the way here just to get a hug,”

Lianna climbed back under the covers. She had stuff to do tomorrow.

“That’d be funnier if it wasn’t so sad.”

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