To Wake
a Munto fanfiction by Tripleguess
Genre: Fantasy/Drama
Rated PG-13+ for subject matter
March 10-April 2, 2009
Summary: The longest way round is the shortest way home. Sequel to King of Dreams.

They all knew that she stared at the sky. Two of them knew exactly why.

Many of them had seen the reason, but they didn't connect it with her. No, nobody knew her sky like she did.

But that wasn't all. After dark, when dinner was over and her homework was done, she often slipped out. Her neighborhood was safe enough. Her mom thought she was going for a walk in the cool night air.

And she was. But always in the same direction, a spot where the housing development ended and opened out into fields. A spot where a bridge had once stood, been demolished, then rebuilt at a slightly different angle to accommodate the new lay of the land.

A great hill stood where none had before – a massive, circular, abrupt chunk of land. When the moon was high, it cast a shadow over her house.

And emanating from its center…

Other joggers or pedestrians, glancing as they passed by, thought she was looking at the hill. No one else saw the whorl of light reaching up to the sky.

And not just any light. Akuto, living energy, flowed from her world to another, dissipating high above the clouds in another whorl mirror to this one. The great path was stable now, and she never tired of looking at it.

Someday, she wanted to go there and put her hands in the flow, wade into it up to her knees. Maybe it would carry her, lift her into the sky and the lands she longed to see again.

And maybe it would catch her thoughts and throw them up to the clouds. It'd been so long. Was anyone still listening?

She stood there and wondered. Eventually, she always went home.

X X X

"The raids into Shainan have increased since last month, and Holgooze is suspect. But nobody can prove it."

Munto ran a hand through his wild mop of hair. "Guridori never learns."

"Let's just say he has a talent for piracy." Rui touched the map in one spot after another. "Here, here, and here. No morph soldiers, a mix of technology, but too much of it to be the work of an independent band."

"I suppose the Elders have plenty to say about that."

"Oh, certainly. It's not their fault, no one listens to them, and somebody should do something about it."

"Somebody meaning me," Munto growled. "You know, I remember when I was the problem…"

Rui grinned. "You still are. That's why nobody listens to them."

Munto cracked a reluctant smile. "That and their own failure to keep Holgooze under control before…"

He pushed away from the desk and went to the nearest window. It was a cool night, but he threw the shutters open anyway.

It was still there. A little hard to see over the room lights, but there.

Sometimes he thought it whispered. And that he recognized the voice.

"There's something else, sir."

Munto didn't turn around. "Gunther."

Rui nodded. "No one's seen him in months."

Munto looked out at the night a long time. "See if you can find Gus," he said at last. "He may know where Gunther is."

Rui inclined his head in assent. "I'll ask Leica."

"Mm."

Munto turned back to the window. His gazed roved over the land he protected, possibilities and scenarios playing out in his head like a giant chess game.

Of course, some things were impossible to predict. Especially if you didn't know the player's motivation. He sighed and returned to the map, with a glance back at the glowing whorl off the edge of his island.

"How long is too long?" he asked it.

Gunther worried him. With Akuto restored, the United Army commander had no official reason to go after its source again. Still… perhaps the situation warranted a checkup.

And maybe he was letting his own interests get the better of his judgment. She wasn't the only person for whom he was responsible. Technically, she wasn't even a citizen of the kingdom.

He smiled briefly; the other citizens would probably contest that argument. If she hadn't earned honorary status at the talks, she'd certainly won it by restoring the flow at his side.

He shook his head. This indecision wasn't like him. It was true that he'd been busy, but when was he not? Raids and border squabbles weren't going to stop just because his personal life was getting complicated.

Sooner or later, he had to know. The thought that she might've changed her mind made him cold, but not knowing was worse. She'd been young; she might, on returning home, prefer to blend with her peers and forget that she was different.

He shook his head again. He was remembering a different Yumemi, a frightened child who could barely look him in the eye.

And whether she'd changed or not, the fact was that she might be in danger. Whatever she thought of him now, he owed her protection.

He rolled the map and snapped the band in place, his mind made up. Sometime by the end of this month, he would go get his answers.