L and S: Autumn Dream

An exchange between S and I about a strange dream, for the better or worse.

"S, have you heard of the Autumn Witch?"

S raised her head wearily from her half of the desk and asked, "What about her?"

"Ah, so she does exist."

I set down my private coffee mug over the messy desk we shared, round and wooden and covered with a tablecloth of five-staff composing sheets and freshly-written essays, all awaiting for edit and recording/typing into our computers.

Across the mess, S propped her head upon her right fist and yawned, "If you're looking for her, you'll have to wait for another six months. When the weather is nice and cool-"

"-and not so wet." I looked to the rain outside "Yes, a bit of Autumn air would be nice."

S's sleepy eyes sharpened at this, "Please don't tell me you're interested in her."

"I'm interested in her, but it's not romance." I waved her stare off. "Just this weird dream I had yesterday."

"Oh? Pray tell."

I sat back down into my chair and picked up my coffee; S rubbed the drowsiness out of her eyes and straightened her back.

"Do you remember the Maple Tree back in Warm Springs where we first met?"

S's face flushed, "I can't believe you still remember!"

"Yeah, well, I dreamt about that Maple Tree last night." I took a small sip of coffee and smiled "That majestic Maple Tree. Burning orange-red like bright torch."

"Do you remember where we carved our initials?" S's violet eyes shone with enthusiasm.

"Of course. In the hollow just above the first branch."

If there was anything that I could do to make S's day, it would be to talk to her about our past like this. The girl across the desk beamed with happiness.

"We were so small back then…little wolf cubs with soft teeth." She said dreamily "Teaching you karate during recess breaks……"

"And I taught you mixed martial arts." I grinned at the memory. "You used to protect me back then when Justin bullied me."

"Did I?" S tilted her head in thought.

"You did. That was how you caught my attention in the beginning." I smiled "A fierce third-grader girl beating up a sixth-grader bully. Such the heroine."

"Thank you." S lowered her head in a mocking bow "So, what about that Maple Tree?"

"I remember seeing the Autumn Witch standing beneath it. There was a reddish-brown wolf there as well."

"Well, there's a good reason why Warm Spring Elementary's school mascot is a wolf." S said, her pen scribbling a wolf sketch over a blank composition sheet "The land used to be wolf territory before the pioneers came and built the city. It's their land, not ours."

I cleared my throat to continue, "I remember the wolf saying something to the Autumn Witch, something that shocked her and made her look my way."

S bit her lip in thought, "Did you get to hear what they said?"

I shook my head. S frowned in disappointment.

"The first step of interpreting dreams if for the subject to remember the entire dream clearly and describe it to the interpreter." S sighed.

"No, the entire dream was muted. Like a silent film."

"I see. Then there was nothing you could've done about it. Carry on."

I stared to the ceiling in recall, "I remember seeing the Autumn Witch snap off a branch from the Maple Tree and give it to the wolf. He then carried it across a river to a faraway land and stood it up, then the branch grew into another tree."

S looked up from her last sketch, "Like this?"

On her page was drawn a lean wolf dangling a short wooden twig within its jaws like a dog fetching stick as it dog-paddled through water. Despite never taking art lessons, S's drawing was never off mark, as she had just recreated the scene within seconds.

"Exactly like that." I snapped my fingers.

"Hmmm……"

S looked at her drawing thoughtfully.

"Perhaps if we think of the Autumn Witch as time and the Maple Tree as our past and the branch broken off as us, then the wolf would be Fate carrying us on, just like when you moved to Taiwan."

"That makes sense."

"But a wolf is a two edged blade, L." S frowned "If it is the wolf of harvest or fate, that is a good sign, but if it means the Norse wolf Fenrir……"

"You mean the Fenrir that devoured the world?" I asked.

S nodded. "L, you and I are the sole pillars of this world, just like everyone else. If something there is anything capable of causing our downfall, I would say that Fenrir would be a likely culprit."

"But why would he plant us on the new land?"

"Perhaps it was intended." S said "Or, perhaps that the stick grew too heavy and powerful for him to clench within his jaws and we broke free."

I grinned, "I like that interpretation."

"So do I." S nodded. "So do I."

Author's Note

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