Esther_925 has a minion!

Spirit the Gallowing

It is said that people dream every night. So how come some days your dreams cannot be recalled? It is because that dream is no longer yours. Why? Because we have taken them to power our realm. Who are we? We are the Dream Catchers of the Unseelie Court.

As dream catchers, it is our job to travel from home to home harvesting the purest of energies; dreams. When a Dream Catcher collects a dream, it fills our entire being and we experience the emotions contained in it; dreams to nightmares, hopes to fears; we have seen and lived them all.

After a few decades or so, a Dream Catcher becomes almost immune to emotion; the majority of us wouldn't be able to handle the job if we weren't. It is because of this reason that the Fae are known to be cold, indifferent and only affected by the strongest of emotions -which are few and far between. I myself can only remember one, just one time that I was emotionally compromised. This incident, mere seconds in the hundreds of years gone by in my immortal life will haunt me for the rest of eternity...

~June 26, 1825~

Esther was perched on the windowsill of yet another house; her 831st this night. She felt an unfamiliar sense of foreboding about this residence even though the building and its occupants were nothing out of the ordinary. The owners were an elderly couple and as far as she could tell, they had no children. Esther took a deep breath and told herself that it was just her last nightmare harvest lingering.

Since fairies were forbidden to enter human dwellings without permission, Esther -like all Dream Catchers- was gifted with an ability to retrieve the precious energy. Esther closed her eyes and relaxed, allowing her body to relinquish its hold on her spirit. Directed by her thoughts the shapeless essence took the shape of a waif-like bird and slipped in through the window. Without causing even the slightest stir in the still air, the insubstantial form drifted over the sleeping figures. Within a few seconds, Esther had gathered the dream of the male -it was nothing out of the ordinary- and moved onto the female. What she found in the mind of the elderly woman shocked her so much it jolted her back into her body.

Esther's eyes snapped open. The dream contained so much sadness it brought burning tears to her eyes. The dream was a memory of the past; she could tell because it was faded around the edges and the woman was much younger, perhaps nineteen or so. In the young lady's arms was a laughing child with eyes of aquamarine blue and a head of copper curls. That's me Esther thought uncomprehendingly.

There was no denying it, the resemblance was too uncanny to be ignored and there was no other logical explanation. I'm... a Takeling... Esther's mind whirled as she frantically searched it for her childhood memories. There were none; Takelings had their memories magically erased so that they would settle easily into their new life.

I can't take this away from her she realized. She did not have the heart to take away the memory that was so obviously treasured by the woman. Still shaken, Esther turned her back to what must have been her childhood home and prepared to leave it behind once more.

The tattooed wings on her back shimmered and grew. In moments, her elfin frame was replaced with that of an iridescent bird nearly identical to the shape her spirit had taken just half a minute before. Spreading her wings, Esther flew into the setting moon and for the briefest moment, the shadow her exquisite form was outlined with its golden light before she departed from the sleeping realm.

~*~



Art of Esther