An Understanding World (Cont.)

"Good dreams are bad?" Val tilted her head in confusion. She wasn't sure if it was a language issue or if Cael really did say that good dreams could be bad.

"Yes. Good dreams are much, much worse." His expression turned pained. "Nightmares end. They always end. You wake up, and they disappear. But good dreams end too. And that hurts much more. When I have a good dream, I want it to be real. But it never is. That hurts more than every nightmare."

"I… I see." Now that he had phrased it that way, she could understand his reasoning. It was hard waking up from a good dream, knowing that it was all just an illusion. "Still, I prefer good dreams over bad ones. Or nightmares."

"Maybe. But nightmares are easier to… heal from?" The last part was phrased slightly weird, but Val could guess from the context that he probably meant something like 'recover'.

"I suppose that makes sense." She paused. "What are your good dreams?"

He was quiet, and Val could swear he briefly blushed before shaking his head.

"Nothing," he said. "Don't worry about it."

"Cael, you should tell me about your good dream too." She propped herself up on an elbow and stared down at him expectantly. "Maybe it will help?"

"It won't. And it's embarrassing. I don't think I should."

"I told you about mine. Please, Cael?"

"…I don't want to talk about some, but I can tell you others."

"Some?" Her curiosity was piqued. "Like what? What good dreams are embarrassing?"

He cleared his throat nervously. "Please, just forget I said anything."

"No, no, I need to know." Her eyes sparkled mischievously. "Please, Cael?"

He shook his head before sighing. "Alright. I'll tell you a good dream, okay?"

"Is it one of the embarrassing ones?"

He ignored her question and started speaking in a soft, hushed tone.

"I dream about my parents sometimes," he admitted. "We're a normal family. A happy, normal family. In the dream I never had a bad life, and everyone is alive. We're together, and no one cares that I'm half. It doesn't matter. Nothing is special… but that's what makes it wonderful."

Val smiled. That sounded nice. She would occasionally have dreams about her parents too.

"But then I wake up," he continued quietly, "and it's not real. It's… hard, after seeing a perfect world in my dream."

Val's heart clenched at his words. "I understand. Waking from a good dream is painful. But we must cherish each one because, even if they can't be true, they are beautiful."

Cael remained silent before offering her a faint smile. "I guess."

"Of course," she replied firmly. "Can I ask you something though?"

"Go ahead."

"You said you're half. What does that mean?"

"…"

"Ah, sorry. If it's a secret, then—"

"No, no. I'll try to explain." He scratched his head. "In my world, there are many places and many people. My father was from my home place, but my mother was from somewhere else. In that place, most people look different from my home place."

"Why is that important? They were both people, right?"

"Yes, but they are different. My home place sees different as bad. So when I was born, my face was half wrong. My hair color was half wrong. My eyes were half wrong. Cael was half wrong."

"What?" Val shot up and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. "No, Cael! You aren't wrong at all!"

"…Thank you, Val." He bashfully returned the hug before pulling away. "But that's how it was. No one liked me. They called me bad names and told me that I was wrong. That's why I had no friends. I'm half a person."

She shook her head fiercely. "You're not half a person. And anyone who says you are is wrong! You're whole, and you're a good person, too!"

"…" His expression softened. "Thank you, but… I'm used to it."

"No, it's not okay! You shouldn't be okay with it! They shouldn't have treated you that way!" Her anger flared at the thought of him being bullied like in those stories she used to read. He didn't deserve any of it!

"…It's okay, Val. It doesn't matter anymore. I'm here, not there."

"It is NOT okay! I don't want you to be sad, Cael!" She clutched his shirt tightly, pulling herself even closer. "I hate them! I hate them so much! How dare they do that to you? How DARE they?!"

"V-Val, calm down. Please. I'm alright. Really. It doesn't matter. It's all in the past."

"…" She took a deep breath, slowly releasing her grip. "If I ever meet anyone who hurt you, I will use my magic on them."

"Uh, please don't do that." He chuckled awkwardly. "I don’t think there’s much chance of that happening anytime soon, anyway."

"Still, I want to make them pay."

He shook his head. "Can we talk about something else? What do you want to talk about?"

As her anger cooled, her curiosity resurfaced.

"You said before that some good dreams are embarrassing. Why? What are those dreams about?"

He froze, his face flushing. "N-no, we can't talk about that."

"Just one embarrassing good dream. It'll help me feel better."

Cael let out an exasperated sigh and covered his eyes with his free arm. "Are you serious? Can I just tell you a different good one instead?"

"Come on," she coaxed, poking him. "I'll make a special breakfast. Just one embarrassing dream. Please?"

"Why are you so stubborn?" he grumbled to himself. "Alright, fine. But just one, okay? And you can't ask again after this. Promise?"

"I promise I won’t ask again today!" She beamed. "Now, hurry up, Cael."

He groaned at her choice of words but seemed resigned to his fate. After taking a deep breath, he spoke slowly.

"I dreamed that I was… intimate with a girl."

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "Intimate… how?"

"Um, like hugging. But… we weren't clothed. And we were in a bed. A very big, soft bed."

"That's it?"

He fidgeted nervously, averting his gaze. "Yes. I don't know what else to tell you."

"Was the girl pretty? Who was it? What did it mean?"

His face turned a deeper shade of red, and he shook his head frantically. "I'm not telling you that!"

"Why not? Do you not like her?"

"It doesn't matter! I told you a dream. Now stop asking!"

"But I need to know more! That sounds like a great dream, not an embarrassing one! Being intimate isn’t embarrassing!"

Cael stared at her in disbelief before burying his face into the pillow, mumbling something unintelligible.

"Cael?"

He lifted his head just enough to glare at the ceiling. "Val, being intimate like in my dream is embarrassing. That’s why. Okay?"

"But how is it embarrassing? We're intimate, aren't we?" She gestured at their current position, confusion written all over her face.

"Val, I… I can’t explain it. It’s different, alright?"

She pouted. She didn’t understand. He had likened intimacy to the bond her parents shared, so surely it wasn’t something to be ashamed of—especially if it was with someone as wonderful as him.

"Cael." She leaned closer, staring into his eyes. "Are you embarrassed being intimate with me?"

His face turned an even deeper shade of scarlet, and he quickly looked away. "…I shared my dream. I'm done. No more questions," he muttered before rolling onto his side, his back now facing her.

"Okay, okay," she relented with a sigh. She leaned forward, wrapping her arms around him and nuzzling against the back of his neck affectionately.

"Val, please…" He tensed for a moment but eventually relaxed.

They stayed like that for several minutes, neither speaking nor moving. Val enjoyed his warmth and the steady rise and fall of his chest.

"You’re very interesting, Cael," she murmured, breaking the silence. "Thank you for sharing your dream with me. It helped me feel better."

"…" He didn’t respond, but he awkwardly patted her knee.

She giggled and curled up even closer at the affectionate gesture before inhaling his scent deeply. He smelled nice.

"…I need to use the bathroom," he suddenly announced. Before she could react, he was already slipping off the bed and heading for the door.

"Cael?" she called after him, but he didn’t look back.

"I'll be… quick. Just stay there." And with that, he stepped outside and closed the door behind him.

She sat on the mattress, feeling slightly disappointed. Maybe she shouldn't have prodded him so much.

But he was so interesting! She wanted to know more, more about his world and what it was like, and more about him. She couldn't help herself, even if it did make him uncomfortable sometimes.

With a sigh, she flopped backwards onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She decided that she would apologize to him later, when he returned. Meanwhile, she would just have to wait.

After several minutes of tossing and turning though, Val grew bored, and she occupied herself by examining her pendant again.

The stone glowed faintly in the dim light as she traced the intricate patterns on its surface with her finger. She had been so focused on Cael lately that she hadn’t had much time to reflect on why her summoning ritual had failed so strangely.

Had she misread something? Used a bad reagent? No, that couldn’t be it. She was certain she had followed the instructions perfectly. The book had been explicit too: if performed correctly, the spell should have worked exactly as intended.

So what had gone wrong?

She sighed and set the pendant down. The only explanation that made sense was that her mother simply wasn’t a valid target for the spell. But that was ridiculous. A summoning spell wouldn’t fail just because its target was in another world. Nothing could stop it once the conditions were met, unless…

Her thoughts halted.

There were only two things that could prevent the spell from succeeding: a lack of magical power or the death of the target. And it was NOT the latter. As long as the pendant glowed, her mother was still out there, waiting to be found.

Which meant… she hadn’t been strong enough. She needed to get stronger.

But that could wait. For now, she needed to think about what to make Cael for breakfast.