First Dream Lesson Attn Zierna

[WhiteWolf]

Owen had arranged to meet Zierna, a new Wanderer, at his house, an hour before, and was patiently sitting on the balcony of his tree house rewrapping the leather bindings on his sword hilt, when he was hailed from below. Getting up from his chair, Owen leaned over the balcony and shouted down to Zierna to come on up. The climb up to his house was not difficult, but could be unnerving seeing as his house was built in one of the tallest, and largest, trees in the forest. Eventually Zierna reached the balcony and Owen invited her to sit down in the chair opposite him and Owen poured her a mug of tea and refreshed his own, after putting his sword down. “Now before we begin I have to warn you that entering the Dream before you are prepared can be very dangerous. What happens to you there can affect you in the waking world. You can just as easily die there as you could here, and if you die there you die here as well, there is no second chance.”

Glancing at her face, Owen could see that Zierna was slightly confused, but this was to be expected, as this was here first lesson in the Wolf Dream. “It is easier to show you than to explain to you but first you need to know how to enter the Dream Don’t let it bother you if it does not happen at first. It is difficult at best to make yourself fall asleep. The best way is to focus on your breathing. Close your eyes."

 

After a moment’s hesitation Zierna did as he said.

.

"Do not try to force it. Just relax and drift. Feel your muscles relaxing; you’re breathing easing. Focus on this balcony and me." Owen kept his voice soft and quiet, not wanting to disturb Zierna’s concentration. Soon her breathing slowed and her body relaxed, slumping where she sat. Owen waited a moment, making sure she really was asleep, then he closed his eyes and stepped into the dream world.

 

Owen had deliberately selected his home as the place for them to meet in the Dream World, as it was an easy place to memorise. As he sat on his chair, Ice came out from the house and nuzzled his hand. Owen scratched behind her ears, and the two of them talked until Zierna popped into the Dream.

Owen

 

The White Wolf

 

Ranger Leader

[zie]

Zierna was nervous, she was starting her training with Owen in the wolf dream which was strange just by its self since she had never known that it existed. Following the instructions she was given it took her a little while to find Owens home, she would have found it sooner if she had just looked up on a few occasions.

 

She shouted up to him when she finally realised where his home was and almost laughed when his head popped over the side of balcony and told her to come on up. She looked around and finally found how to get up there and climbed up to where he was at and sat down when he motioned her to. She took a sip of the tea he gave her and listened to him intently, there was so much that she still did not know and she did not want to do any thing wrong.

 

“Now before we begin I have to warn you that entering the Dream before you are prepared can be very dangerous. What happens to you there can affect you in the waking world. You can just as easily die there as you could here, and if you die there you die here as well, there is no second chance.”

 

His warning about the wolf dream gave her pause, she could understand why concentration was so important the smallest thing could cause large problems. It was just hard to actually visualise what he meant by it being a danger, his next words confirmed what she was thinking.

 

“It is easier to show you than to explain to you but first you need to know how to enter the Dream Don’t let it bother you if it does not happen at first. It is difficult at best to make yourself fall asleep. The best way is to focus on your breathing. Close your eyes."

 

When it was time for her to try and enter the wolf dream she closed her eyes and relaxed, allowing her breathing to slow. She could still hear Owen talking but it seemed more soothing and helped her to fall in to a sleeping state, what she was not ready for was popping in to the dream on the balcony and seeing Owen sitting there already. Startled she woke up and grumbled, there seemed to be a smile on Owens face that she ignored and tried to fall in to a sleep again. This time it was easier for her to fall asleep and when she popped in to the dream she kinda knew what to expect and seeing Owen sitting there did not brake her concentration.

 

She gave him a small smile and then took the time to really look around, every thing seemed so different. There was light every where but it did not seem to be coming form any real source and that was not some thing that seemed normal. In some cases the colors were more vivid that she had to shield her eyes occasionally at the brightness. It was some thing that had never happened to her, having her eyes be sensitive to colors normally it was just the light that was a problem. Relaxing she was not aware that her clothing seemed to be changing from one color to another while Owen's stayed as they were the whole time.

 

" It would be hard to believe that the wolf dream is real unless you have actually been in side of it and seen what it looks like. It is almost hard to tell the difference accept for the light that seems to be coming form every where and no where at the same time. Is it always like this?"

[WhiteWolf]

Owen watched as Zierna looked around, her reaction was typical of someone who was in the Dream for the first time, and it never failed to amaze Owen at the reaction they showed. It truly was a thing of wonder to enter, and the more you learned here the more wonderment you could find. But as with anything good, there was also danger, and that was enhanced in the Dream more so than in the real world, and the dangers here were much greater for the unprepared.

 

“It can be many things here, but there is always an ethereal quality to the Dream, we have to be careful to not let our curiosity get the better of us here, that can lead us into danger, sometimes that danger is so great it can cause us real harm, before we are aware of what is happening.” Owen stopped talking, allowing what he had said to sink in. Warnings were not always heeded by Wanderers, they had so much to learn in such a short period of time and many of them tried to run before they knew how to walk.

 

“In the Dream control is everything, and that is what you are going to learn first. Your first lesson will be to control your clothing, at the moment your emotions are interfering with your control. That is why you clothing flickers like it does. Now you need to hold an image of your self, and how you want to look, in your mind. Once you learn to do this then this will not be possible.” To illustrate what he meant,Owen concentrated for a moment, and suddenly Zierna’s clothing solidified into something that he was sure she would not normally wear, not even in her wildest dreams.

 

“Check your clothes now, Zierna, I think you might be a little bit over dressed for this occasion.” Owen had changed her clothes, and appearance, into something a Domani woman would have been shocked to wear in public, so shear was it. Owen did his best to suppress a smile at her reaction, but he did not try very hard. “This is your first lesson Zierna, and for now I want you to try and change your clothes and your appearance back to how you want. Concentrate on how you want to appear here, your clothes and your hair. Picture yourself in your mind and fix that image there. It will take you some time to be able to do this without conscious thought, but we have plenty of time for you to practice.”

 

Owen

 

The White Wolf

 

Ranger Leader

[zie]

“In the Dream control is everything, and that is what you are going to learn first. Your first lesson will be to control your clothing, at the moment your emotions are interfering with your control. That is why you clothing flickers like it does. Now you need to hold an image of your self, and how you want to look, in your mind. Once you learn to do this then this will not be possible.”

 

There was something about what he said that caused her to pause, what couldn't happen? She knew that her clothing was changing, flickering between color and style of clothing regularly. While Owens clothes were constant and never changed unless he wanted them to change. Every time he talked about the dangers he spoke of control and staying in control of your emotions and thoughts.

 

“Check your clothes now, Zierna, I think you might be a little bit over dressed for this occasion.”

 

She looked at herself and blushed bright red, in all her years she had never thought that what she was wearing would ever be warn by any one. The only thought that made her blush even more was that Anton might like it, suddenly she understood his warnings, in the dream the smallest lack of control could cause major problems or even embarrassment. In this case it left her red in the cheeks and Owen not even bothering to hide his amusement.

 

“This is your first lesson Zierna, and for now I want you to try and change your clothes and your appearance back to how you want. Concentrate on how you want to appear here, your clothes and your hair. Picture yourself in your mind and fix that image there. It will take you some time to be able to do this without conscious thought, but we have plenty of time for you to practice.”

 

Zierna sat there for a moment and built the picture in her mind of what she looked like and how her clothes were normally. Once the picture was there she concentrated to try and change what she was wearing, at first nothing happened. Realizing that Owen had more practice she knew that it was going to take a few tries to undo what he had done to her. Closing her eyes she tried again, the picture came to her easier this time but she only managed to change just her pants. Sighing she tried again, the picture was easy and she worked harder on keeping the image and changing every thing back at the same time.

 

Again she managed to get half of her self changed back to normal but she was not going to give up, there had to be away to get all of herself in the right clothes. With each try she as getting better, more of her would change back to the original version. It took only about three more tries and she was able to get all of her to match the picture in her head, once she did it she practiced a few more times with changing color before stopping and looking over at Owen.

 

" It's harder that it looks to keep your clothes set to where you want them but I think I have the hang of it. Practice seems to make it easier but some things seem harder than others, especially when some one else changes it."

 

She started practicing again changing small things and then larger things about herself and her clothes. After a while it was fun to see what all she could do and the combinations that she could come up with, some made her laugh while others made her blush. Soon her clothes changed again back to her original set of clothes and stayed that way, she still had to work at it some to keep it that way but it was getting easier.

[WhiteWolf]

Owen watched Zierna intently as she tried to change her clothes to the ones she wanted. It took a while, with many false starts, until she was absolutely satisfied with her appearance. But just as Owen was about to compliment Zierna on her performance her clothing changed, suddenly she was clad in armour, from head to toe. Owen waited until she had noticed this and Zierna had changed her clothes back to what she wanted. “What caused that Zierna?”

 

Looking slightly abashed Zierna said it had been a stray memory from her past that had caused the sudden change.” Actually that is a good example of what I have been saying. Concentration is everything here, if we allow ourselves to be distracted, even momentarily, we can be taken by surprise. Of all the lessons you will learn with us, the lessons you learn here could be the most important, please bear that in mind.”

 

Zierna looked crestfallen at Owen’s admonition of her, but she realised he was not being spiteful; merely helping her to understand this new environment she was in. Owen stood up, after Zierna had assured him she would try harder in future, Owen indicated that she should walk with him. “The next part of this lesson is slightly more difficult, but again at its core is control.” Owen showed Zierna a rock he had picked up. “Now what I want you to do is try and change this rock to something else, what it is, is up to you.”

 

Just then the rock in Owen’s hand changed into a lifelike image of a woman, complete with golden eyes. “Now obviously your first attempt will not be like this one, so I suggest you try something simple for now and see how you get on.” Owen handed the now normal looking rock to Zierna. “Now just picture an every day object, or an object that is very important to you, hold that focus as intently as you can, and aim it at the rock. This is not an easy task for someone who is inexperienced in the levels of concentration needed, but it is a task that helps one to learn the concentration needed to survive here.

 

Owen

 

The White Wolf

 

Ranger Leader

[zie]

She was still thinking over her slip when Owen started talking about her next lesson, realising that what she had done was a challenge this next one was even more so. To be able to keep her clothes the same was just a matter of concentration and know what you wanted to look like, this was changing some thing in the dream world so that it was what you wanted it to be. Before even trying she thought about the different ways to aim and send your thoughts at some thing out side your mind which was not an easy thing since she had never thought about it. How was she going to get it done, it was probably some thing simple but required a lot of concentration.

 

Looking at the rock she tried to get it to change in to some thing simple at first, her favorite flower, but nothing happened to it while she stood there. Chewing on her lip a little she tried harder picturing the flower with great detail in her mind again, this time she felt a small tug and it wavered slightly before staying a rock. The more she tried the more it would shift but not stay how she wanted it to, rethinking the way that she was trying to get it to stay she came up with an idea. It could almost be though of as hunting, make your thoughts in to an arrow shoot them in to the object in order to change it. Wondering if it would work and stay that way she tried again to get the rock to change, this time it stayed changed in to a flower. The only thing that was off was the color and when she tried to adjust it went back to being a rock.

 

It was a lot harder than it looked but now she was starting to see what she had to do and the concentration to took to be in the dream world and make changes to it or keep your own clothing from changing. She was proud of herself when it came to her clothing, that at least had not change from what she had set it to be before they started the next lesson. Going back to the task at hand she continued to practice making the rock change in to her flower, after a short time it was easier but on occasion she still had to start over. Slowly she started to expand the image by adding to it, the leaves were harder to get to come in as she wanted them. The shadowing on them never seemed to be just right when it was a completed image in her mind. Working on it at a steady pace she was able to get the leaves and the flower to come in perfectly, not realizing that it was several hours later.

 

" Every thing that you learn here is some thing that you have to practice, once you get the general idea of how it has to be perfecting it and adding more detail comes with time. How long can you stay in the wolf dream? Is there any thing bad that can happen if you are in here to long?"

[WhiteWolf]

Zierna’s first attempt only lasted a few seconds and it was a flickering image not a solid one, this was to be expected, Owen was trying to get Zierna to master one of the more difficult and important skills the Wolfkin had to learn. Controlling now only your appearance, but the environment around you was essential in the Dream, and the more practice you had the more chance there was that you would survive in the Dream. Owen allowed Zierna to continue trying and she made small improvements with each effort, until finally she was able to make a flower appear. As this changed back to the rock she turned to Owen: “Every thing that you learn here is some thing that you have to practice, once you get the general idea of how it has to be perfecting it and adding more detail comes with time. How long can you stay in the wolf dream? Is there any thing bad that can happen if you are in here to long?"

 

“It is not a good idea to remain here too long, our bodies do not get as much rest when we are here, as they would do were we not here. This can creep up on someone and sooner rather than later, they will start exhibiting the effects of fatigue. Although the dream is a wonderful place, it has its price and there is no avoiding that I am afraid.” Owen stopped talking, considering her the other part of her question, there was a lot that could go wrong if you stayed in here too long, but he did not want to scare her away with any horror stories. “As well as the fatigue issue, the longer we are in here the more energy we expend, that means we need to eat more to help replenish that energy, if we are to be able to function properly in the waking world. I was once told that for every hour we spend in here, we lose two hours of proper sleep. It is something for you to consider when entering the dream.”

 

Owen had Zierna practice for a while longer then announced that the lesson was over for the night and that they would resume the next night. “Meet me here an hour after sundown and we will continue then, good night Zierna.” With that Owen sent her back to her own body and then went about his own business in the Dream world.

 

On their last night in the dream, Owen and Zierna were walking along a tree covered path, the branches of the trees forming a canopy above their heads and the light around them had a green tinge to it because of this. As they walked further along the path, Ice disappeared without Zierna noticing and quickly the female wolf made her way through the trees, knowing exactly what White Fang wanted her to do. Eventually she found a spot that would allow their plan to work, and made her way into the lower branches of the tree, laying full length along a branch and watching the trail. Eventually, Owen and Zierna came into view, the trail here had narrowed and Ice waited for Owen to pass before pouncing on Zierna as she passed under the branch Ice was on.

The weight of the wolf bore Zierna to the ground, and as Ice stood on her chest, her long red tongue came out and started to lick at Zierna’s face. All the time this was happening Owen stood off to one side, a smile on his face, although he and Ice played this trick many times, it never failed to make him smile as he observed the reactions from the one who had been pounced upon.

 

Owen

 

The White Wolf

 

Ranger Leader