(Think of these like visual love letters!)

It had been a month since she had last seen her dearest. It was driving her insane. Without Lewis’s knowledge, she began to try and connect with him at night when he slept. It was just like dream diving. She asked Xeik for the math on it asking if it was possible several times. He would sleep in safe places at night and she took a moment.

Tonight she plunged herself in. Centering herself she pushed her resonance out. Come on… work for me.

Lewis’s dreams warped into Auclair Castle. Back when it was pristine. He might have just thought he was thinking of Simone but in reality, it was their dreams connecting. She took a breath and opened her eyes as she appeared in front of him. “IT WORKED!”

She ran up to him and kissed him. Apples, she tasted apples. It was a weird thing perhaps something that Lewis thought of often. “I did it…” She started to cry as she cradled his face. “I haven’t seen you in a month. I’ve missed you so much…”

She was panicking as she kissed him again and again. “I’m here in your dreams. Well, our dream. I thought… I could project the resonance into our dreams since they leak together. It’s taken a whole month to get the magic right but now we can see each other at night!”

She hugged herself to him but the warmth was different. It wasn’t the same but at least this was something.

It had been a strange dream to start. Being on the run for so long had warped his once peaceful sleep into a half awake, constant vigilance. Still, Lewis was only able to resist a deep sleep for so long, and he slipped in and out of a dream world. It was always a mix of reality and insanity, always being hunted…

Tonight was no different. He on the island, hiding in the brush. There were shapeless assassins searching for him, but before anything could reach him, the world shifted into that of Auclair. At least, he thought it was Auclair. It was nothing like the current one, and more like the ones he had seen from Simone’s dreams and memories. At once, he felt a little more lucid, standing up straight.

“What…” He looked down the hall, and his eyes grew wide as Simone came bounding his way. Lewis caught her as she practically leapt into his arms. Her kiss tasted like apples like it always did, and he spun her around, feeling a strange sense of relief. “This is a wonderful dream,” he said, nuzzling her.

As she started to explain, though, he looked at her curiously. “Is this…not a dream?” It was hard to really understand it. It was a dream, but it was one where she was truly here, interacting with him. A controlled dream, almost like a dream dive, but without the tonic to induce it. “But you’re here, then…” He embraced her again. It didn’t feel like the times they had dream dived, but it was no mistake that it was her. Now that he was focused on it, the resonance was in full bloom.

“I’m impressed you figured it out. I would have never thought of this,” Lewis said with a smile. “I can’t promise I can stay very long…but as long as you are willing to visit me, I can do this…I can keep doing this…”

The small woman let out a shocked noise as he spun her but ultimately started to laugh. Simone smiled up at him, “It is a dream. I promise I’ll explain the science of it all when we get a chance.” Simone snuggled close to him and nodded. “I’ve been working on it for a whole month and I finally got it to work.”

She shrugged, “Llywellyn said something dumb like ‘You can connect everything else why not that?’ and now here I am.”

She put her hands to his face and kissed him, “I can keep doing this if it means keeping you. I worry so much about you. This way I can also give you some of my energy too. I’m just chasing the kids around Lewis.” Her voice was so soft as she nuzzled him. “I’ll do this whenever you want just tell me. The kids would understand.”

She checked him over and made a face, “This is the dream world so I can’t actually check you over but I am so worried about you.” She touched his face once more. “Are you eating enough? Obviously not. Probably back to doing what you were doing when we were apart.”

That made her stop, “The twins… rolled onto their backs today.” She morphed the area so he could see Janus and Lila flailing a bit before they rolled. Then they rolled against onto their tummies laughing. “They are going to be active soon… and Glyn he comes home in four months. I tell him all about you.”

It was all a lot to take in, but the fact that Simone was here in front of him was all that mattered. Sure, it wasn’t her physical form, but it was close enough to the real thing that it was setting his mind at east. He had no doubt that Simone would perfect the magic at some point, and make everything feel even more like reality than it was now.

“Just make sure you don’t push yourself too far,” Lewis warned. “You have the twins to worry about. Just…promise me you won’t exhaust yourself?” He smiled at her, putting his forehead to hers. He missed being able to hold her like this. It was almost all he needed to feel inspired to survive and protect the children.

At the mention of eating enough, Lewis couldn’t help but look away. “Food isn’t exactly easy to come by. And even when it is, it’s hard to get anything substantial. I’ll be fine, but…” He couldn’t lie to her. “I miss Silva’s cooking, to be honest.” The assassin sighed. Simone showed him a vision of the twins, and he couldn’t help but smile.

“I’m missing a lot,” he said with a sorrowful look. It was rare for him to show his emotions so much, but with Simone, it was too easy to do. “The other day, I was surrounded…I barely made it out. I took a few hard hits…” He held up his arm, which was shredded in the real world. “I won’t be able to use it without healing…I managed to block the pain from reaching you, though. I couldn’t risk it…if you had been holding Janus or Lila, you might have dropped them…” It was hard, telling her about the things that were happening. He wanted to keep her in the loop, but he knew she would worry and that caused him more pain than the actual wounds he was receiving.

“How are the other kids? And Xeik?” He paused. “And I guess Lly…”

She kissed his lips once they had their foreheads together, “I won’t. If I can see you it sets me at ease Lewis… They all see me panicked all the time and it makes them panic. The kids do nothing but cry when they see that look on my face.” There was a blush on her face.

There was a nod from her, “As long as you get something to eat that’s all that matters. Maybe I can have someone scoot into town and leave something warm from Silva for you… Or the next time you meet Xeik.” She was honestly worried but food was the last of her concern.

Simone shook her head and kissed down his arm now, “Just tell me when you need my magic for healing Lew… Please. I can take the pain. I can put the twins down. I can do anything. The pain is nothing to me and you, you are everything.”

Putting her forehead back to his she sighed. “Xeik is tearing his hair out trying to figure out ways to help you. Roma is worried but is trying to keep the kids content. Alshaya and Everett go in between happy and crying for you. They ask for you all the time. Even the older kids have worry on their faces. Llywellyn is doing the best he can. Mostly seeing if someone somewhere owes him something that he can get the bounty canceled with. He is teaching Lucas ancient Elvish though. Ezili is learning from some of the dancers there too.”

She kissed his forehead again. “Just promise me that you’ll be as safe as possible for me.”