Currant Events (21 page)

 “Then how can she be your true
love?”

 “By definition. I am her dream
man.”

 Clio paused to take stock. She was
beginning to understand Drew's qualification. “I fear I am a bit slow
today. She knows you, while you do not know her?”

 “Yes. But I am sure she is a very
nice person, and that I am ideal for her.”

 “Let's hope so. Perhaps we should
start at the beginning. When did she come to know you?”

 “Several months ago. She wished to
have a man, but there were none in her village that were suitable, so she
dreamed up one who would be perfect for her. As it happened, I fit the
description, so her dream governed me. I must be with her! But something happened,
and I was unable to locate her. So now I am looking, for she surely misses
me.” Clio looked at Sherlock. “Can you make sense of this?”
“I think so. It is the habit of lonely folk to dream of ideal companions.
I have done it myself. Usually nothing comes of it. Nothing did for me. But
with the right magic, who knows? This woman must have had a talent for
dreaming, and her dream man became real. I should think that originally he
would have gone to her, but-well, he came to Xanth instead.”

 There was an ugly nuance that she
elected not to explore. “And she did not? That would explain why he can't
find her.”

 “Perhaps. But since there's very
little magic in Mundania, maybe it could happen only in Xanth.” “Only
if she's in Xanth too.” “We have to assume that she is.”

 There was still something obscure about
this. “Well, we need a guide for the dragon. Is there a chance that
Mikhail will do?”

 “Well, it would be easier for the
dragon to travel in the company of a man. The man could ask directions.”
“Men don't ask directions.”

 Sherlock smiled. “Then he needs to
find his woman soon, so she can ask directions.”

 “I am very tired,” Mikhail
said. “I must sleep now.” “Can you wait a moment? There is a
dragon I'd like to introduce you to. We have an understanding; I think you will
be able to sleep safely in its company.”

 “A dragon,” Mikhail repeated
warily. “It is hard for any person to be safe in such company.”

 “Nevertheless, I believe we should
see.” She took him by the hand and led him along the path.

 There was the dragon, curled near the
tree. “That's a Russian dragon!” Mikhail exclaimed. “Why didn't
you say so?”

 “You can get along with it?”

 “Well, I don't know that, but at
least it's familiar. Everything else has been uncomfortably strange.”

 “Introduce them,” Clio told
Drew. “Let them converse a bit. I will go consult with Sherlock.”

 Drew stayed with the man and dragon,
connecting them telepathi-cally. Clio returned to Sherlock. “You said we
should assume that Mikhail's dream woman is also in Xanth. What is your
rationale?”

 “I think he blundered into
Xanth,” Sherlock said. “Yet he still feels her desire for him. So she
must be here too. It may be like the dragon's telepathy. I don't think she
could reach him from Mundania.”

 “This seems like tortured logic to
me. How could-”

 She broke off, for another person was
coming along the path. This was a young woman. She was petite and well formed,
with black hair to her waist. Like the dragon and man, she appeared dazed.

 “Hello,” Clio said. “I
am Clio.”

 “I am Noi. I am lost.”

 “Where is your home?”

 “In Thailand.”

 “Tie Land?” Sherlock asked.
“Where they grow ties, and are fit to be tied?”

 Noi looked at him blankly.

 “I was there once. There's a small
village in the center called Knot-tingham, named after Granny Knott,” he
said. “The favorite dinner there is bowtie pasta.”

 “I am sorry, I do not know of this
place,” the woman said.

 “I think that's Thailand,
Mundania,” Clio said. “How did you come here, Noi?”

 “I was riding a motorcycle, but
something happened. I don't know how I came to this strange land.”

 Things were coming magically together.
“Did you dream of a man?”

 Noi looked sharply at her. “How do
you know this?”

 “As you said, this is a strange
land. Strange things happen. We just met a man who said he was the dream of a
woman.”

 Her eyes grew large. “Is his name
Mikhail?”

 “Yes.”

 “I dreamed he would come from a
romantically far land to take me away. But I never thought he really would. You
say he is here?”

 “Yes. We just talked with him. He
said he was tired, so we introduced him to a dragon-”

 “A dragon!”

 “We have come to know this dragon,
and it knows that this man is not to be eaten. We think they can travel
together, with the man handling the humans they encounter, and the dragon
protecting him from monsters. Such things happen, in Xanth.”

 “This land is Xanth?”

 “Yes. It's a land of magic and
puns, and many nonhuman creatures who may be as smart as humans. You will
surely like it when you get to know it.”

 “Maybe if I could find my dream
man, it would be easier.”

 “Readily done. We'll introduce you
now.” Clio led the way to where the dragon waited.

 “I hope it happens,” Noi
said. Evidently she had suffered disappointments before.

 The dragon was there, but not the man.
Clio suppressed a horrible suspicion. “Where is Mikhail?”

 “He's gone,” Drew said,
flitting to her pocket. He spoke only to her.

 She answered him silently; she had
learned to communicate in mock illusion. “But the dragon was not supposed
to-”

 “It didn't. Mikhail lay down to
sleep, and faded out.”

 “Faded out!”

 “As if he no longer existed. We
have been looking for him, in case he just teleported somewhere else, but then
I should be able to find his mind.”

 “His mind faded too?”

 “Yes. He's completely gone.”

 Clio turned to Noi. “It seems
there is a confusion. Mikhail was here, then he disappeared. The dragon did not
harm him. I don't understand it.”

 “I think I do,” Noi said.
“He is my dream man. He doesn't exist when I'm not dreaming him.”

 Clio took stock. “Let's discuss
this with Sherlock. Perhaps he will have some useful idea how to handle
this.” She was coming to depend more on the Black Wave man, as he was
generally sensible.

 They returned to Sherlock. “Noi's
dream man does not seem to exist when she isn't asleep. What can we do?”

 “This is new to me. We had better
discuss this with the dragons. Four minds are better than two.”

 Clio introduced the little dragons to
Noi, and explained about their telepathy. The dragons made contact with her
mind, reassuring her. Then they settled down to a serious discussion.

 “So you dreamed Mikhail, and he
came to exist,” Sherlock said. “He knows he is your dream man, and
wants to be with you. But it seems this is possible only when you are
asleep.”

 “That is my understanding,”
Noi agreed. “I had not realized that he existed at all, outside my
mind.”

 “He does now,” Clio said.

 “Maybe we should talk to Mikhail
again,” Sherlock said. “If Noi sleeps, will he reappear?”

 “I should think so,” Clio
said.

 “With magic, many things are
possible. We just have to find something.”

 Clio doubted that this would be easy to
do, but had no better idea. “Do you think you could sleep now?” she
asked Noi.

 “I don't know how to will myself
to sleep.”

 “I believe I saw a clothing tree
nearby,” Clio said. “It may have shirts.”

 Noi looked at her blankly, but Sherlock
understood. “It does; I saw it. I'll fetch one.” He walked back along
the path.

 “We have an entire realm of
dreams,” Clio said. “It can be entered via a gourd with a peephole.
It might be possible for you to meet him there, in the gourd.”

 “But I want to meet him in
life,” Noi protested. “I have lived so long without my dream man, I
don't want to be without him any longer.”

 “Life does get lonely, without a
man,” Clio agreed.

 Sherlock returned, carrying a shirt.
“Try this on,” he told Noi. “It's a sleep-shirt.”

 The woman shrugged and pulled the shirt
on over her head and clothing. It came all the way down to her knees.
“It's a good shirt, but I don't see how-”

 Sherlock caught her as she fell asleep
on her feet. He laid her down carefully on a mossy bank.

 “She doesn't understand about the
way magic works here,” Clio said. “She assumed that the shirt was
merely to wear when sleeping, not that made a person sleep.”

 “Mikhail is back,” Drew said.
“He thinks he merely slept for a while.”

 “Tell him to come here,” Clio
said. “Maybe if he actually sees her, it will be all right.”

 Soon Mikhail appeared. “Your
little dragon said-” He paused. “Who is she?”

 “Do you like her?” Clio
asked.

 “She's a sleeping beauty. I find
her strangely attractive, though I've never seen her before.”

 “She is the woman who dreamed
you.”

 Mikhail stared. “She's the one? I
have found her at last? This is wonderful!”

 “But there's a complication.”

 “I must wake her and tell her I am
here.”

 “I'm not sure that is
feasible.”

 Mikhail got down on his knees, leaned
forward, and kissed Noi on the lips. She continued sleeping.

 “She's in a sleep-shirt,”
Sherlock said.

 “She won't readily wake.”

 “Then she must remove it,”
Mikhail said.

 “We can do that,” Sherlock
said.

 “I don't think-” Clio said.

 Sherlock lifted Noi up, and Mikhail
gently worked the shirt off her. Then Sherlock laid her down again, and Mikhail
kissed her again.

 She woke immediately-and Mikhail faded
out. “I was afraid of that,” Clio said.

 “What happened?” Noi asked.
“Did I sleep? I apologize for-”

 “The sleep shirt put you to
sleep,” Clio explained.

 Noi looked down at herself. “But I
don't seem to be wearing it.”

 “We took it off you,”
Sherlock said. “So you could wake. But-” He looked somewhat
helplessly at Clio.

 “Mikhail was here,” Clio
said. “He said you were a sleeping beauty. I tried to caution him, but he
did not listen.”

 “He is like that,” Noi
agreed. “Impetuous in love.”

 “He kissed you. But when you woke,
he faded. We had hoped for better.”

 Noi nodded. “That is the way it
would be.” A tear trickled from the corner of one eye.

 “There may be a way,”
Sherlock said. “But it is risky.”

 “A way for me to be with him? I
will take the risk.”

 “I have what we call reverse wood.
It reverses things. If I gave him a chip, it would reverse him. But not
necessarily in the way we wish. It might make him real instead of dream-or it
might abolish him even as a dream. We can't be sure.”

 Noi considered. “I don't want to
destroy him. I don't want to risk hurting him. Better to let him go to some
other woman. Perhaps she will treat him well.” Another tear trickled.

 “I think we should let him decide
that,” Clio said. “Will you let him do that?”

 “I would not go against his wish.
But oh, if he should perish because of me-I would rather perish instead.”

 “He may feel the same. It's a
gamble, but perhaps the only way to resolve the dilemma. I think we should
explain it to him.”

 Noi considered again, then nodded.
“Let it be as he wills it.”

 Sherlock gave her the sleep-shirt, and
she donned it again. In less than a moment she was asleep. Clio had to agree
with Mikhail: she was very pretty in repose, with her black hair spread out to
frame her face.

 Mikhail reappeared. “I seem to
have gotten confused. I was about to wake my love, but I'm not sure I
did.”

 “You kissed her,” Sherlock
said. “She woke-and you faded out. You are her dream man; she has to be
asleep to dream you. Now you have a grave decision to make.”

 “I will gladly kiss her
again!”

 Noi was right: he was romantically
impulsive. That was a nice trait in a man.

 Sherlock smiled. “Not that,
exactly. The problem is that you are out of phase with her; you are here only
when she sleeps. If we could reverse that, you could be with her when she is
awake. We may be able to do that. But there is a risk.”

 “I'll take any risk, to be with
her.”

 “The risk is that the reversal
might destroy you. We can't be sure.”