The Meeting of Two Strangers

[ysonesse]

Dream World: Cloud City and The Wilds

She was standing in a forest. Guenfers and iilis towered all around, their leaves glowing with the deep red and gold of woods in late autumn. A varakai called sweetly as it flew overhead in the bright afternoon sky. From somewhere nearby, there was the sound of flowing water.

This was a peaceful setting. But not one that was familiar. It was not a dreamscape of her creation. It meant something to him.

She felt a calling. There was something pulling her towards the water-sound.
   
She took one step, then another, and walked down a long path that was surrounded by an ascending canopy of leaves. They twisted and intertwined together, forming a dome against the sky. Brief glimpses of sunlight came through the leaves, and shone her way.

The path stopped at a river.

She stood at the edge. What next?

The calling came again. She stood up, and walked through the water across to the other side. There was another path to follow...long, and curving upwards around a bend.

It ended at a clearing surrounded by a towering grey stone wall that encircled the space.

A man was in the middle of the wall. His face was contorted into an expression of desperate pain, and his hands thrust upwards from the stone as if he were an animal trying to claw out of a trap.

It was Solo.

Nalieza felt cold. The sensation wasn't coming from outside, but rather from within herself.

She drew out a long breath, then approached the figure in the wall.

Seeing the pain in his face up close was an intense reminder of feeling frozen in the dream. But now wasn't the time to focus on that horrible memory. There was something of urgent importance that needed to be done.

She reached out a hand and traced her fingers across one of the outstretched stone hands. Cold and still. Not a surprise...what was she hoping to find?

Life. Any kind of proof that within this entombed body there might be some measure of a living presence.

A thought floated across her mind...yes, why not try it?

She reached out her hand again, but this time she pressed her fingers against his right wrist.

Something subtle throbbed within the stone. It could barely be felt. Yet it was still there, flowing and persistent. A pulse.

The forest around her dissolved into itself, the stone wall and the clearing seemed to fold inward and disappear. And she was folded right into them. Slowly, at first, then with a quickness that was puzzling. Yet, not frightening.
   
As the scenery around her dissipated, Nalieza saw a rising black curtain take its place. And even as it was forming, it was also melting into another background; a completely different setting from the forest. As it gradually took shape, she began to recognize this new set of surroundings.

It was the carbon freezing chamber.

She lowered her hand, and began to walk about.

The chamber was dimly lit in midnight blue and smoky orange. Underneath her feet was a circular metallic floor, upon which her shoes lightly tapped as she moved about. Drifting tendrils of steam floated in the chamber, as if a freezing had recently occurred.

A freezing...oh, no...

Something made her look up to the ceiling. There was a large claw suspended above the platform. A claw that would be used to remove a frozen item out of the pit.

The pit. She had to find the pit. But why?

"Who's there?" A man's voice.

Nalieza stopped. That was him.

She made a quick study of the room. He sounded very close by, but there was no one that she could see standing within the vicinity.

"Who's there?" Solo asked again.

She felt nervous. How much more insane could this situation become? How could she find the disembodied voice and its owner?

Wait...that sudden feeling of needing to find the pit...could he be in there?

"Where are you?" she called out.

"Down here. In this hole."

Hole? So it was the pit.

"Keep talking so I can find you." She started walking again, looking down at the floor as she moved.

"It's the big hole in the middle of the floor. Can't miss it."

When she raised her head, the wide circular hole right in the center was plain to see.

No turning back...she took one step, then another, and a few more until she was at the hole. She kneeled by the edge, and peered down into the pit.

There he was, standing there, staring up at her, looking confused.

Nalieza bit her lip. Okay, what to do now? Right, say something. "Why are you just standing down there?"

"Hell if I know. I guess the carbon freezing didn't work." Then he took a quick glimpse around the walls of the freezing pit. "But what am I still doing in here? Vader would've dragged me out by now if the process hadn't finished."

She sat back on her heels. This was becoming even more difficult. If there was a way to stop it all now by waking up, then let it happen. For his sake, and hers. Because he would realize that this setting was simply an invention of his mind. And he would once again have to face the reality of being trapped in an icy prison. What would knowing that do to him?

Fortunately, there was another more pressing matter to consider before revealing anything. "Shouldn't you get out of the hole?"

"Does it look like I can do that?"

"Well, I could try to help."

"How?"

Nalieza glanced around the immediate area for something that could help in getting him out. But there was nothing to be found. Except for her.

"Let me try to boost you out."

"You can't do that."

She held out her hand. "Don't assume."

He was still clearly doubtful of this idea, but she could also tell he was going to follow along with her plan.

He reached up and took her hand. She began pulling backwards, falling seated onto the floor.

At first, no amount of tugging could bring him to the surface. So she concentrated, then gave one mighty pull...

...and he flew out of the pit in a rapid ascent. She fell on her back from the effort, while he wound up landing next to her on his side.

They spent a few moments staring at each other.

"Thanks," he finally said.

"My pleasure," she responded.

He pushed himself up off the floor with his right arm. "Well, I'm out of there now. What happens next?"

She rolled over onto her stomach. "I suppose introductions might be the next logical step."

"Fine. You go first."

"Okay. You're Han Solo. I'm Nalieza Fejier." She reached out a hand. "Pleased to meet you."

He hesitated, then sat up and shook her hand. "I guess my reputation precedes me."

"Of course. You're one of those nasty Rebels. We get exposed to your pics every so often on the justice shows."

"Are you a loyal citizen that's going to arrest me?"

"Why should I?"

"Because I'm a nasty Rebel?"

She smiled. "Actually, I'd call you a nasty inspiration to rebellious people."

Nalieza saw the confusion on his face at this statement. But he decided not to address it. "So you aren't here to haul me away. What are you doing here?"

She realized that the truth could not be avoided much longer. "It's not a matter so much of what I'm doing here. It's really more about why you happen to be here."

"Why I'm here? Because I was frozen so I could get dropped off at Jabba the Hutt's place." He stood up. "Doesn't look like it worked, though."

She swallowed hard. "Actually, it did work." She waved her hand around to indicate the dream version of the carbon freezing chamber. "Nothing in here is real."

"What are you talking about? This is real," and stomped his boot on the floor as if to prove it.

"It's not, it's a dream. You didn't..." her throat felt tight. She did not know how to phrase any of this... "This place...this freezing chamber...it isn't the real one. It's a reconstruction. Your mind's playing it back. It's just a memory. That's all."

He did not believe her. She could feel it just as plainly as his expression showed it.

"I'm not lying."

"No, you're just making stuff up."

"Think for a minute. How could you have survived it?"

"It didn't work. Doesn't really matter how I got out."

"You don't remember any of it? Being frozen, seeing her standing there...?"

He refused to let the truth enter into his thoughts. When he turned around and started walking away, she was not surprised.

She followed after him, not saying a word.

As they walked, she started to notice that the scenery was changing again. Flickering, dissolving, melting away. The carbon freezing chamber was fading into nothingness, reverting back to the forest.
"Stop!" she called out to him.

He kept on walking.

"Solo, stop walking for one damned minute! Look around! Watch what's happening!" She ran ahead and caught up with him. Grabbing his arm, she said, "Everything's changing."

He did not look at the surroundings. Instead, he gave her a fierce stare. "I don't know what you're doing, but I want you to stop it."

"I'm not the one in control here. You are." She noticed they were standing in the clearing. "I found you here." That didn't sound quite right. "Actually, it was a representation of some kind." She stepped away from him, and began to walk about in the circle. "There was a stone wall here. And you were trapped in it."

"What's that supposed to mean? I was trapped in a wall, and you got me out?"

"It's symbolic. That's what dreams do; turn things from real life into different kinds of objects."

"Fine. So what's the meaning of me being trapped in a stone wall?"

"You know."

His expression slowly changed. Disbelief gave way to understanding.

Nalieza had another feeling come to her, like the one that had pulled her along to this clearing.

"Follow me," she told him, moving away from the clearing and heading down the pathway.

She walked quickly, focused on reaching her destination, even while another part of her mind wondered what exactly she was doing. And she did not stop once to see if he was indeed coming up behind her.

But when she stopped at the river and turned around, she knew that he would be there.

"Try to go across," she said, pointing to the other side.

He could have protested, or called her crazy. Or done anything else but what he did. Which was to go to the edge of the river and try to cross it.

He moved forward, gradually, until he reached a large, flat rock that stood out from the flowing water. It was the last place to stand in the middle of the river before reaching the stretch of land that stood before him. After some hesitation, he stepped down off the rock, stretched forward, then tried to plant his foot upon the other shore. But his foot did not make landfall. Instead, something invisible and solid pushed him backwards onto the shore.

He could not go across.

Solo looked up at Nalieza in shock.

"Now do you believe me?" She frowned. "You're trapped here."

"Where is here, exactly?"

That was a good question. She couldn't tell precisely where here was. "I don't know. Somewhere between life and death." No, that didn't sound right. Although it was partially true, but... "Or maybe you can say that you're trapped in the land of the unconscious." She pointed across the river. "That's the side of the conscious world. I can come in, and I can go out."

"But I can't." He stood up and approached the river's edge slowly. He reached out a hand. "It feels like some kind of wall."

A barrier that neither one of them could see, preventing him from returning to a state of mind where he would be aware of his imprisonment.

"It's there to protect you," she told him, moving over to stand beside him.

"How can it do that and keep me stuck in this place?"

She couldn't possibly try to explain the logic behind this situation. But she had no explanation for why she was the one that was being put into this experience, and what should be done next.

"I'm sorry. I have nothing to tell you that can help."

"So what happens to me now?"

Nalieza stared across to the opposite shore. "I think waiting's the only option you've got available at the present time."

He pressed both of his palms against the invisible wall. Then he curled his right hand into a fist, and punched the empty air in front of them. His knuckles bounced off the surface of the unseen obstruction, causing his arm to fly back.

He stared at the blank space before him, then cast his eyes downward to his hand. There was no damage.

"No choice, huh?" he asked in a low and somber tone.

She sighed. If there could be a better answer to give..."None at all."