A valley rested between two great mountain ranges, holding a golden lake. The lake’s water shimmered in the mid-day sun, and its waves crested rich and bright. All sides stretched into ivory sand, then to swaying grass, before ending at the trunks of tall, deep green pine trees. Their branches swayed in the gentle wind.

A white horse stampeded towards the valley. It charged on wild hooves towards a gap in the mountains where the cradle began. Blue eyes gleamed in the sunlight as a white mane thrashed wildly in the wind, and a thousand black horses thundered behind. In a wave of shadow led by white, the horses stormed the valley and rushed the fields, charging at the golden lake. Their hooves shook the earth, cracked the soil, made the water tremble and quake. They charged unceasing towards a single, massive gate: a golden door. It seemed they would crash over it like a tidal wave.

The vision blurred. A breath of wind swept over grassy fields, brushing a sleeping cheek. The warmth of the sun touched down on bare skin, and a voice hovered on the breeze. The horses disappeared. The world shifted up, over the treetops and the snowy peaks, into the brilliant blue sky. The thunderous charge became a dull rumble far below, distant and unseen. The sky brightened. The dream turned white.

Then Xeno Alistel woke up.

A tiny rock cracked him in the head.

“Ah!” he hissed, jerking up in the branches. He lost his balance, snatched one, and held on for dear life.

“Rhiley, you monkey,” he snapped, looking upside down from the tree and remaining unaware of what the word ‘irony’ meant. “What the heck is wrong with you? Do you want me to fall?”

“Maybe,” a girl’s voice came.

Xeno glared. He shifted in the tree, wrapped his legs around the bark, and pulled himself back up onto the branch. Then he took a deep breath and steadied himself. It didn’t take long to relax. He closed his eyes and stretched his arms as sunlight flickered through the glittering leaves. Whatever traces of the dream remained fluttered off into distant memory. But he decided that he rather liked the idea of trying to find it again instead of listening to his companion nag, and so leaned back into the cradle of bark and fell asleep.

Another stone ricocheted off the branch.

Xeno lurched up.

“Alright, fine, skies!” he snapped, shaking his head awake.

“That’s what I thought,” the girl’s voice replied.

“You’re gonna’ give me a concussion, you know that?”

“Only if my aim gets better.”

He frowned and rubbed one eye, letting his blurry vision steady. The leaves, and the cliff side, and the sea came into view. Finally, he looked down.

At the base of a tree stood a glaring girl with her hands set on cocked, annoyed hips. Tangled strands of blonde hair trailed over narrowed brown eyes and a row of freckles beneath them. Not old enough to fit her baggy, hand-me-down tunic, yet probably too old to be throwing rocks, she scowled up into the tree and tried to look menacing.

Which didn’t work, because he thought it made her look cute.

He smirked.

“Hey, Rhy,” he called.

“Don’t you ‘hey, Rhy’ me,” she called back, crossing her arms. “I knew I’d find you up here sleeping when there’s work to be done. If you were any lazier, you’d be in a coma.”

“I might be soon anyway if you keep lobbing rocks at me.”

“I’ll feel better about having to do all your chores if it’s me that causes it.”

Xeno yawned. He shifted in the tree, swung his legs over the branches and leaned down to face her.

“That’s not a very funny joke,” he smiled. “You’re really bad at jokes, Rhiley.”

She glared. “The only joke is that I actually expected you to come back and help me.”

Xeno laughed. “See, but that joke is hilarious.”

The tree rustled slightly as the girl swung her foot into it. A few dark green leaves fell from the branches.

“See this tree?” she hissed. “That’s you. I’m going to kick you, Xeno. Come down so I can kick you. Then hobble home with me after to corroborate whatever lie I had to make up to keep you out of trouble, which I’ve totally forgotten by the way so good luck with that, just so you could come up here and sleep.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Xeno cut in, leaning back on the branch. “That is a wild defamation of my character. I’m not just sleeping, Rhiley, I’m enjoying nature. I’m fully taking in the very essence of being alive.”

“I’m gonna’ fully enjoy taking in mom’s face when you try and pitch that line to her with two dozen sweaty Hunters in the background, all annoyed they don’t have their food and drink yet.”

Xeno lurched forward on the branch.

“There are monster hunters at the inn today?” he asked, beaming.

The girl sighed.

“Of course not, Xeno. There’s never any Hunters all the way out here. And if there were, they wouldn’t stay with us.”

Xeno tried to frown, but was incapable. It turned into a grin.

“You’re mean,” he smirked. “You’re so mean, Rhiley.”

“Says the one who left me to wash dishes alone while you went to sleep in a tree!” she hissed. “I’m never covering for you again. You and your—your…”

She fumbled, searching for an appropriate word. All she managed was a frustrated ‘ugh!’

Xeno took a deep breath, pulling in the air and the last fading days of summer. He savored the scent of dry earth, the hint of the distant sea, and the heat on the wind as it left for different places. Then he sat up from the branch. With a quick turn he wrapped his legs over the bough, flipped upside down, grabbed the next branch with both arms, let go with his legs, and swung all the way down to the shaded grass.

He locked gazes with a brown-eyed scowl.

“Rhiley,” he said. “My dear, sweet, precious friend Rhiley.”

She rolled her eyes.

“How long did it take for you to leave the house, walk through the farm fields, hike all the way up the western rise, come around the cliff side, and find me here in this tree?” he asked.

“An hour and a half,” she stated, eyes narrowed to slits.

“And how long,” Xeno continued. “Is it going to take us to walk all the way back around the cliffside, zig-zag down the western rise, make our way through the farm fields, and get back to the inn?”

“Xeno, I swear—”

“How long,” he interrupted, placing his hand on her shoulder. “Do you suppose that’s going to take?”

She groaned.

“The distance between two points doesn’t change going one way or the other,” Rhiley said.

“So I would surmise, then, that it will take us an hour and a half to partake of the aforementioned jaunt through the countryside?”

“Ugh… yes,” she hissed.

“And then, once we arrive, you’re telling me that I’m going to have to put on my work boots, put my nose to the grindstone, and start running back and forth between the kitchen and a tavern full of irritated patrons who haven’t gotten their food because you were trying to find me instead of serving them—”

“Oh, if you try to pin this on me I will kick you for real—”

“—and you’re saying I’ll have to continue to run myself ragged for the next…” he looked up towards the sun. “…five hours?”

“Xeno, for the love of—can we just—”

Xeno sat down. Square where he was, leaning back against the tree, he stretched his arms, smiled brightly, and pat the dirt beside him.

“Sit,” he said.

She looked at him like he’d asked her to jump in the garbage.

“We have to go—” she started.

“Sit,” he said again.

“Xeno, I swear to the blue sky above, if you don’t—”

Xeno reached over and pulled her down. With a small thud she landed beside him, and he put an arm around her. He pointed over the cliff side to the distant, shimmering sea.

“See that?” he asked.

Rhiley heaved a sigh.

“That’s the most important thing,” he smiled. “All that other stuff? That can wait. But this? This is right now. Who knows how many more days we’ll have to just enjoy something like this, Rhiley? Looking out over the ocean, and the hills, and the clouds. Some day we’ll be all garbled up and focused on dumb stuff like next year, or tomorrow, or five minutes from now. ‘Cause there are like, monsters out there, ya’ know? All of this could come crashing down any second, and some day, that might be something we have to deal with: especially with the trouble we get into.”

He nudged her shoulder.

Rhiley sighed. For the first time, her scowl broke into something resembling a smile.

“We just don’t know how long it’s going to last,” Xeno continued. “We don’t know, and that’s why we need to enjoy it. For all we know, this could be the last time you and I—”

“Don’t be dumb,” she turned with a glare. “That’s dumb. Stop being dumb.”

“All I’m saying is that we shouldn’t take it for granted,” he said. “With any luck, we’ll never see a rainy day. But just in case times get hard, just in case there’s a point in the future where I don’t remember if things were ever any good to begin with, I want to remember sitting like this; looking over the ocean without a care in the world. Because I might need memories like this someday, Rhy. There might come a time when this, right here, gives me the strength to push forward just a little bit further.”

Rhiley shook her head.

“You’re so weird,” she said, but despite herself she settled back against the tree. “Just what kind of trouble are you planning on getting us into?”

“Nothing we can’t handle,” Xeno said, reaching over and ruffling her hair. For some reason, she allowed this to happen. 

“But just in case, come on,” he continued. “For like, fifteen minutes—just sit here with me?”

The breeze picked up over the cliff side, brushing over the two and making the air the perfect temperature. It swayed the oak branches, rustling the leaves and causing the grass below to dance.

The girl moved closer, letting one leg sprawl out across the dirt while the other came up to her chest. She heaved a sigh and shifted against the bark, letting her head fall gently against his shoulder.

“You get five,” she said. Then, unseen by anyone, she smiled.

Xeno closed his eyes, straightening his legs and gazing once more out over the cliffs and calm waves. The sky was nearly cloudless, and the few puffs of white that were sailed along peaceful and calm. The breeze, the sky, the warm air—it was all just…

“Perfect,” Xeno said.

High above the city of Andorhol, under a tall oak tree with branches perfect for napping, in the grassy fields far up above the farms, and their busy tavern, and the Wall—the toiling people and grumpy elves—with the sun shining above and with the wind blowing steadily and softly over the hills…

…Xeno Alistel and Rhiley Uran drifted to sleep, dreaming of adventures to come.