The Dreamfarer

21

Mae was the first to break away, but not because she wanted to. She suddenly got such intense chills that her entire body shuddered, and she jerked away from Folco. Her hands were trembling out of her control, and though her lips should have felt very warm by this point, they felt like ice. Even as she leaned against the edge of the basket for support, her arms began to spasm, and she nearly lost her grip.

"Mae, what's wrong?" Folco demanded. He reached out to grab her shaking hands, cursing violently the instant he touched them. Mae recoiled, but didn't answer; her teeth had just begun to chatter.

"Mae, tell me where you are. Right now. I'm sending someone to get you," he said. 

Mae tried to manipulate their place, hoping that she could at least make her dream-self feel warm, but it was to no avail. Her body was generating no warmth on its own, and she had been lying in the snow for who-knows-how-long. 

"We n-n-need a n-name for this pl-place," she stammered, gazing around. She did not want to keep calling it 'their place;' there must be something better that they could come up with. It was more important to her than ever now that the place had become one of significance. This was where he first returned her feelings. This was where their connection was made more evident. This was the spot of their first kiss, and they were the only two people who would ever see it.

"Damn it, Mae, tell me where you are, right now."

"Not until you g-give me a n-n-name."

Folco scowled at her. "I've already thought about this. Galatea. I like the name Galatea for this place."

"W-why?" she wondered. It was a pretty name, but she did not know how he came upon it.

"It's a myth, Mae. I just feel like it fits. We can talk about this later." His scowl deepened. "Now tell me where you are."

"I don't know where I am," she told him. "I just k-k-kept moving. I'm in woods somewh-where, and there's sn-snow..."

"Create it here. Quickly, Mae, before you run out of energy. Show me where you are," Folco insisted urgently.

Mae looked around with jerky movements. She had not noticed that the balloon was back on the ground. She left the basket with difficulty and collapsed on the grass a few feet away. Her entire body shaking with heavy tremors, she began building the scene that she remembered from before she fell asleep. Snow-laden trees burst up all around her, and she even paid attention to the little details; her footsteps in the snow from the way she had come, even the position of the moon in the sky. She did not know how this would help Folco much, but she was glad to have a tree trunk back behind her so that she could lean her head against it for support.

Folco strode around her little creation, peering at tree trunks and picking up handfuls of snow to analyze. She stared at him even as she felt her lips cracking from cold. He paid particularly close attention to the direction her footsteps had come from, and the placement of the moon. He held his hands up in front of him a few times, as if he was framing something with his fingers. Mae could not make sense of his techniques, but soon enough, he whipped around and squatted down next to her.

"I'm coming myself. I will be there in five minutes," he promised. He wrapped both of his hands around hers, twisting their fingers together as he leaned in and gave her a single light, doting kiss.

Then he vanished from Galatea, and Mae was left alone, both in her body and in her mind.

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