3

As you blink, the walls of the guest bedroom come into focus. Even as you remember where you are, it takes a few moments to convince yourself you were only in the forest in your dream. It felt so real around you—not that anything like that has ever happened to you while you were awake.

Yawning, giving Arctus a scratch, you sit up in your new bed and take in the bare room. You suppose you'll start to get used to it—but after that dream, it's no wonder you expected to see branches and a wooden roof instead of a white-painted ceiling.

Next

By the time you're up and heading down to the kitchen (briefly stopping to admire the cheery, colorful things you scattered all around the living room), you've mostly forgotten the strange dream—though the feeling of heading deeper and deeper through the forest lingers with you. You try not to dwell on the question of when you'll next see it again for real; instead, sitting at the table with some breakfast while Arctus scarfs hers down near your feet, you think back over everything that happened during your first evening in Silvertree.

As you do, you watch the backyard through the window, enjoying the peace and calm of the early morning. You were so exhausted last night you went to bed with everything still swirling through your head, but now, looking out at a gaggle of small sparrows hopping and diving through the grass, you find it a little easier to process it all.

When you think about living in Silvertree now, you feel: