THE SECOND REALM: ORANGE — Learning to give space

The next day, she decided to move on to other parts of the realm.

She reached a place where laces came after being hurt by their entanglements. Some dragged old knots behind them; others barely retained a shape of their own after bending too much to another’s. Some could not bear to be alone, while others, afraid of suffering again, would let no one come near.

They were welcomed by the ties: laces who had learned to form relationships without losing themselves in one another. They were not a different species. Their shapes had become freer and their colors brighter as they discovered how to draw close, how to sustain a bond, and when to leave room.

There she met Eolin, a healer who immediately reminded her of Evarista. She listened in a way that did not hurry an answer. When Skyblue told her what had happened, Eolin did not seem surprised.

“I wanted to have friends,” the dragon explained.

“And what did you want when you were with them?”

Skyblue opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Eolin waited.

“I stopped asking myself,” she admitted at last.

The healer showed her how two ties could join while leaving space between their bodies. When they moved, neither dragged the other along. They found meeting points, supported each other, and let go again without hurting one another. Together they made shapes neither could have formed alone.

They called that meeting communion.

Skyblue stayed there a long time. She watched them help untangle knots and learned that pulling harder almost never worked. Sometimes a loop had to be loosened; at other times, they had to recognize that two movements were incompatible. Not everyone could stay joined in the same way.

Nor did everyone need help at the same moment. Once, Skyblue stepped forward to separate two struggling laces, but Eolin gently stopped her.

“Ask first.”

The laces wanted to try to find the movement for themselves. The dragon sat nearby, ready to help, and waited. She found that harder than intervening.

She met restless laces who wanted to explore every branch and others who were happy in the same corner. Some spent long hours dreaming; others put their ideas into motion at once. There were serious ones, playful ones, strong ones, fragile ones, some who loved large gatherings, and some who preferred talking with just one other.

Listening helped her understand that they could be drawn together by their differences as much as by their similarities. A flexible lace and a firmer one made beautiful shapes when neither tried to change the other’s nature.

She saw couples who came to know each other better over time. Friendship sustained something between them that their first enchantment could not have sustained on its own. She saw others separate before hurting one another, then rest alone without rushing to find a new partner.

She found that last part particularly strange at first.

“They seem happy,” she remarked.

“They are,” Eolin replied.

Skyblue watched a tie swaying peacefully on a branch, making no attempt to attract anyone. The next day she found that same tie among friends, just as content as the day before.