Sweet Dreams, Harmony! [1768 RWH], by Jordan Bouray
When Harmony woke for the third time that evening the daystar still hovered over the horizon and the harsh light of day tore into her eyes as she lifted the curtains in her den. Somewhat disturbed by the series of dreams she had had, with such strange characters as trolls, humans, and, this last one, a four-eights-of-trees tall squirrel, she decided to walk it off.
'Maybe a change of scenery might help,' the elf maid thought.
Sending to Current, she told her old friend, **Current, I can't sleep. I'm going to go down to the river to see if I can rest there. Want to come?**
Current, somewhat upset at being woken from a deep, restful sleep, responded, **Still day. Sleep time. Come later.**
**Okay, I'll be down at the river, like I said. You know where to meet me.** With that, Harmony wandered off, somewhat groggily, towards the waters.
As she reached the sands at the edge of the water, she saw the clays and sands that she sculpted so well, and said to herself, 'This area always calms me. Maybe I can get some rest here.' But just as she was drifting off to sleep, smiling to herself, she heard the annoying chattering of two high-pitched voices arguing.
"You give it back! That belongs to me, not you!"
"Glimmer find, belong to Glimmer!"
"No, it belongs to me! You 'found' it in my den!"
"So? Still find! Mine now!"
"You give back! Capnut much vexed at Glimmer!"
As the argument droned on, and on, and on, Harmony found herself thinking, 'High ones! Don't they EVER get tired of arguing? How am I going to sleep through this?'
But just as that thought crossed her mind, the preservers flittered off, still chattering to each other in their annoying, unceasing manner. Still, they had left her alone, and that's all that mattered to her at the moment.
Smiling at her beautiful surroundings, Harmony drifted off to sleep, thinking, 'I am so glad I'm not a preserver!'
She awoke screaming, in a cold sweat.
'AHHH! AHHHHH! AHHHHH! AHHH! AAHHhhh.... Whew! Just a dream! Terrifying, but for some reason I can't remember it. Thank the High Ones! Given how I reacted, I don't think I want to remember it!'
Still a little shaken, Harmony headed back towards the holt, but as she began to walk, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Turning her attention to the clays of her sleeping spot, she noticed a tiny, perfectly formed clay statue of a preserver.