Part III, Chapter Nine: Maru Chases the Far Thing

Part III: Zhian

"Only when we wake may dreams become reality." --Zhi poet, c. 420 AE

April 23, 1112 AE
Shiromori Castle, Ayumora, Shiromori

Sleep had become a fragile thing for Maru. There had once been a time when she could have closed her eyes as her head touched her pillow, and that had been it. She would sleep for hours, no bell nor beast nor ballad capable of waking her. She'd woken only when refreshed.

But such a time was no more. Sleep had become evasive; every time she thought it was in her grasp, it slipped through her fingers, just out of reach and yet so far away.

Whenever she'd struggled to sleep as a small child, her mother had always known just what she needed. Lullabies. Warm milk. A story, perhaps. Her mother would not have let her spend the night tossing and turning; she would have done everything in her power to get Maru to sleep, and as always, she would have succeeded.

But Maru's mother was in Zhian now.

Sleep. Her mother. Aurius. Must everything in her life be so far away? How was it fair that all she wanted--all she needed--was so unattainable, while only the harmful, painful things remained? Above all things, she was tired; tired of Shiromori, tired of her miserable excuse for a father, tired of her horrid betrothal, and of course, just plain tired.

Before she'd lost Aurius, Maru had never been one to waste her life on the state between wakefulness and slumber. When she was tired, she slept--there was no sense in being awake if one was not fully conscious. She supposed that now, there was no sense in being awake at all. There was nothing worth waking for--not here, at any rate.

Falling asleep was a losing battle, and Maru knew when to retreat. She did not care to waste any more time chasing such an impossible end. Nothing she sought could be found--not here, at any rate.

She'd had enough of this horrid purgatory. She was going to Zhian.

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