This story is part of the Wanderer series.
The wind softly swayed the tall stretches of grass, as it always did. The dark sky was cloudy tonight with only a few patches where the stars could shine through. High above the courtyard, the slender figure silently watched the moon from where she perched, sitting on one of the lower cornices of a round tower. Her eyes were lost in thought, as if she were searching the surface of the moon for answers. When it dipped behind the clouds, her gaze did not wander, staying fixed on the dark patch of sky until the moon inevitably reappeared.
After several cycles, finally she spoke aloud.
“The Dream Child.”
The wind calmed a little.
“I made up my mind. I will tell her what little I know about her.”
A distant, feminine voice echoed from deep within, answering her. “Will you tell the child you are not her mother?”
“She will find out one day. What faith would be lost when she discovers I lied to her?”
“Do you believe she will discover the truth?”
“We will live together.” Her voice sighed as she leant deeper against the wall. “We will eat together. And we will study together. Unlike my acquaintances on the surface world, she will have ample opportunities to find out. And perhaps, one day, she will wish to wander the world herself.”
“Do you intend to grant her independence?”
The woman chuckled to herself. “She is a Wanderer. A powerful one, just as I. It is improbable that I could contain her, just as the high elders could not retain me.”
The moon dipped behind the clouds again, darkening the castle grounds.
“It is unusual for you to doubt your own power.”
“I do not,” she asserted. “If I wished, I could retain her. However, what amicability will come out of such a relation?”
The voice did not answer the question.
“I will not follow the footsteps of the high elders I so often shun and feed her ideological lies for her entire life.”
Standing up on the ledge, she looked down across the courtyard, down towards one of the many dark windows on the other side of the castle. Her long hair began to sway across her face as the midnight wind picked up.
“We will live only for ourselves. Not for some higher path that does not exist. I will be sure to teach her so.”
“She will express difficulty understanding this reality,” the voice cautioned.
“So be it. Then it shall be my responsibility to aid her in facing it. There are plenty of story books in my collection. And, perhaps one day, I could teach her by bringing her out to the world.”
“Are you not concerned about the child exposing your existence you have so laboriously concealed from the world?”
“I have a plan for such a contingency,” she assured.
“Will you tell her the truth about your own past?”
“When the time comes…”
Taking a step forward, her robes began to levitate, her hair lightly raising as she floated down from the tower, towards the bridge below.
“Until she has proven herself responsible, I shall be known from here on out as Sen.”
Landing softly on the stone bricks, she raised her eyes back to that darkened window, seemingly staring past it onto the contents of the room.
“I sense a slight delight in your declaration,” the voice echoed.
Sen let her betraying smile widen. “Ah… well…”
A bit of humility emerged on her face from her unusual expression of emotion.
“Perhaps I am joyful to foresee a day I will have someone I do not need to lie to.”