"This is my child, Weber," Isolt said warmly, her smile brimming with life.
"Mr. Weber," the panther-cat said.
The wizard named Weber gave a small nod.
"Do you know how long you've been able to remain in the Borderland, my dear Green?" Isolt asked, her words carrying a hint of deeper meaning.
"Twenty minutes," the panther-cat answered with a number it had seen recorded before.
"It's twenty-nine minutes," Isolt said with a smile.
"Is that a problem?" the panther-cat asked, instantly sensing something.
"You're about to enter a deeper layer of the dream, child," Isolt replied.
"Thirty minutes?" the panther-cat asked.
"Isn't it obvious?
But what I am looking for, and what you are looking for, are both in the deeper dream.
You must have noticed—your current dreamscape has no wandering ghosts.
They all exist in the deeper dream. They all stay in a far stranger place."
Isolt explained.
"Your time is running out," Weber spoke at last. He seemed to understand the Borderland well.
"There's still a little," the panther-cat said after thinking.
The mist around it hadn't fully risen yet, which meant it had gained more "yarn-balls" recently.
But where were these yarn-balls coming from?
"I've already met Lady Ravenclaw. She has no intention of setting out with me on that great adventure.
So I can point you in one direction—but only once more, dear. This will be the last time.
I'm about to merge into the unknown world. This may be the last time I ever see you—unless… unless you are like Merlin, and our paths might cross again."
Isolt said with a kindly smile.
"Please guide me," the panther-cat said, a trace of reluctance slipping into its voice.
"Forgetting friends is not an easy thing. Not everyone even has friends," Isolt said lightly.
"Then run south, my dear Green—straight south. I wish you all the best."
"Goodbye, dear Madam Isolt," the panther-cat said. Its whiskers no longer trembled, and it lowered its head slightly.
A few bounds later, it vanished.
"Partings are never easy, are they?" Isolt asked Weber at her side.
"Not always, Mother. Sometimes 'goodbye' is a beautiful word.
Before I met you again, it made my happiness grow stronger and stronger—so you would know that three hundred years is not long at all."
Weber said.
…
Elsewhere, once the thirty-minute mark passed, the dreamscape grew even more bizarre and uncanny.
If Sean let his guard down for even a moment, a fog-clump might wrap around him.
At the same time, he could tell he was getting closer, because the sky was growing darker and heavier.
In another six and a half hours, it would be fully night—midnight.
In Dream Stories, midnight came with brilliant stars, the best time to observe the sky and receive revelations.
And six hours after that, the world beyond the Veil would reach the pre-dawn hour, when wandering souls could be seen.
But Sean wasn't following that set of rules.
He was following love.
Love shortened the distance between souls—that was how he had found Isolt.
As for whether he could find Ravenclaw…
It wasn't hard to grasp.
Isolt had once shared a place with Lady Ravenclaw. Now they were separated.
But Sean thought they couldn't be too far apart.
Following the guidance, the panther-cat ran as if the wind itself carried its feet.
As one of the swiftest magical creatures, it tore across countless places at breakneck speed—
places shrouded in mist.
Sometimes a prairie. Sometimes a mountain ravine. Now it was running through a forest.
That reminded him of a passage from Dream Stories:
[He (note: Merlin) dreamed many dreams. At first he was an eagle, hunting rabbits on the plain; sometimes he failed and went hungry. Later he became a rabbit, and then he pitied the rabbits—always frightened, always struggling.
He traveled across plains, ravines, deserts. In the end he found the forest suited him best, because it held the most animals. He was their family, and the forest's firstborn. And so he found he could remain longer and longer.
At first, the dream shattered in seconds. Later, he stayed seven hours. Then night fell, the stars filled the sky, and a priest told him the stars here were the brightest… and from them he learned the art of divining the future…]
Sean thought: everything he had experienced in the Borderland seemed to have echoes in Dream Stories.
So who wrote that book?
As he pondered, the mist surged thicker and thicker.
Sean forced himself not to stop—if he missed this chance, he might never find Lady Ravenclaw again.
Another long trek.
Then a tranquil lakeshore spread out before him. A murmuring stream traced the edge of the lake and flowed off into the distance.
By the stream stood a woman—beautiful, but stern, even faintly imposing.
She wore robes woven of green and blue, and in her hands was an ancient-looking book.
"A stranger druid…" she set the book down.
"I'm an Animagus, Lady Ravenclaw," the panther-cat replied.
Then it saw Ravenclaw smile softly.
"You've come to find me. What is it you want?"
Ravenclaw asked again.
"I came for—" the panther-cat began, standing by a large stone beside the stream, but it was cut off.
Ravenclaw extended a finger. An invisible force tugged the panther-cat closer.
At that short distance, it could see the blue of Ravenclaw's pupils clearly.
"Your soul carries a familiar scent—Hogwarts, Ilvermorny, and…"
Ravenclaw set the book down by the stream and took hold of the panther-cat's paw.
"You can tell that much through a paw?" the panther-cat asked, curious.
"I can't," Ravenclaw said. "I just… haven't held one before."
Then she watched as the panther-cat pulled its paw back.
"I have something to ask, Lady Ravenclaw," the panther-cat said.
"How interesting. You're still alive," Ravenclaw suddenly remarked.
"Didn't you just say you couldn't tell anything?" the panther-cat's confusion looked almost human.
"A straightforward druid," Ravenclaw's lips curved slightly.
"Yes, I'm alive. So I came to ask you—" the panther-cat said, seeing the fog thickening fast, and speeding up.
"The secrets Hogwarts buried… a workshop that grants whatever one wishes… or extraordinary wisdom and creativity?
Countless souls have tried to cling to me here. But you—my heir—are different.
You may ask me many things, but choose the single most important one."
Ravenclaw said evenly.
The panther-cat froze. In an instant it seemed to think of countless things—then it asked:
"Helena Ravenclaw… are you waiting for her?"