THE FIFTH REALM: TURQUOISE — The characters within

“Remember your childhood,” her guide continued. “Imagine you’re back in one of those situations that caused you so much pain. Would you respond the way you did then?”

Skyblue closed her eyes. She saw herself at school, surrounded by dragons. She felt the old shame, but she also felt the space she could now open up around it.

“No. I’ve learned a great deal.”

“It’s not just what you’ve learned, Skyblue. It’s who you’ve become. Before, you believed you were only the dragon who had to defend herself. Now you can recognize that voice without always letting it speak for you.”

Skyblue thought of her inner crowd: the one who was afraid, the one who was angry, the one who always wanted to be right.

“Listen to them as you would the characters in a play,” said Helio. “You don’t have to obey their orders or argue with them all. The performance would never end.”

The dragon smiled despite her sadness.

“Some of them are very persistent.”

“You’ve listened to them for a long time. They can learn to leave some room.”

They walked on. Skyblue held what she had seen in her memory without repeating the accusations that tried to break through. She wanted to return to those places with greater care, understand how far her actions reached, and help repair the damage.

When they reached the cherry tree, Helio suggested she rest. The dragon hugged the trunk, greeted Ernesto, and took her supper out of the satchel. She gave thanks for the food and went to bed.

Her mind began listing everything she had done wrong.

Skyblue listened for a moment, then, with a tenderness that surprised even her, she said:

“Get some rest. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

And she fell asleep.