Melenia listened. She heard crickets playing their nighttime orchestra. She heard an owl and a frog, singing in low tones. She heard the growing rustle of every breeze and the liquid movements of the river. She couldn't sleep.
"Aiken?" she whispered, hoping he was still awake. He was laying with Caleb curled up beside him. Caleb was a cat tonight, black with white spots. Aiken rolled over slowly, away from Caleb.
"Hm?"
"I can't sleep," Melenia said, sitting up and leaning against a tree.
"Why?" Aiken asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes.
"It's really loud."
"It's always loud!" Aiken said. "It's never bothered you before. You're used to these sounds."
"Not tonight. They stand out tonight."
Aiken propped himself up on his elbow. "Something else is bothering you. Go ahead and tell me so we can sleep."
Melenia pulled her knees close. "That dream I had the other night... it was too real. I've never even met a river elf before. They all had blue eyes and they didn't blink - they just lay there - bloody and vacant - "
Aiken touched Melenia's arm.
"It was a dream. We'll be at their village in a couple of days and you'll see that they're fine."
"But - "
"It was a nightmare. Do you believe me? There's no way the Dark Queen could send an attack like that without the river elves finding out about it. They would have been better prepared. They couldn't have been massacred like that."
Melenia sighed. "When you say it, it makes sense - but I still don't feel right about that dream."
Aiken thought for a minute.
"Go look at the stars," he said, finally. "Violet taught you how to read the sky, right? See if there's any ill omen."
Melenia stood up. She stepped onto her shadow, materializing it beneath her and allowing it to lift her slowly above the treetops. She looked up at the sky. She couldn't see any stars, nor the moon. The sky was a black mass. Her heart tightened and she descended.
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