I felt the world spin away, Endre’s agile tongue creating the cyclone that drove me. It was only a dream, but damn, what a dream! I’ve had sex before, I was married, but he’d never even tried to do this to me. With him it had all been about submission, and being his good little wife, things I’d slowly come to realize I was never going to be. Especially when he started to follow me, and track my every move.

I wasn’t thinking about any of that now, though, not when my Dream Man was causing things to happen, things I’d only ever been able to achieve by myself, in very private moments. I dismissed the thought about it being a very lucid dream, afraid I’d start the process that would wake me up. I needed this; after all of these years of dreaming about him, I needed this. It was the only time I really found any kind of fulfilment. Sure, this was more real than it normally was, but life had been weird lately.

Something began to intrude into my delicious world of pleasure, a steady thumping that was annoying. It needed to go away. I clenched at the furs on the bed as Endre moved from me, my thighs damp with my own juices that cooled in the frosty air. That fire was doing a good job, but not good enough. Now his eyes, his eyes that looked at me with so much desire could set the whole world on fire and keep it warm.

Endre went to the door, and I watched, understanding dawning. There’d been someone at the door. For a naughty moment I wondered if someone was joining my fantasy world, but I wasn’t normally that kinky. I waited, though, breath held, as he spoke with the person on the other side. What exactly was my brain dreaming up now.

“I need to leave you for a bit, Thyra. I’m needed outside. You’ll be brought clothes if you’d like to come outside and join me.” His eyes promised me this would continue later, and I felt a shiver of awareness pierce my spine, low, around my tailbone. Oh yes, this would continue later. If I didn’t wake up.

“Of course.” Or maybe I was in a coma, I wondered as I pulled the fur over my body. This was different from my normal dreams, and it seemed to be continuous.

There was no way this was real, even if I did feel the cold, and the urge to relieve my bladder was suddenly almost unbearable. That was weird. Oh damn, if I peed in my dream, would I wet myself in my bed? That would suck on a boat, especially out in the ocean where fresh water was a limited resource. Damnit.

I got up and paced, hoping it would relieve the problem, but it didn’t go away. A knock came at the door and interrupted my pacing.

“Hello? Thyra? I am Ingrid, I have brought you clothes.” A lovely young woman came in from behind the door, a bundle of clothes in her hands.

“You said my name properly.” I observed, noting she had the same kind of accent as Endre, something similar to my father’s Norwegian accent but slightly different.

“Teer-ah? Why? How else would it be pronounced?” She gave me a sunny but confused smile and I brushed it away.

“You wouldn’t believe how many people call me Thy-rah. Nevermind, it’s not important. What have you brought me?” The girl was dressed in a gray sweater and a long almond colored dress, a thick beige shawl around her shoulders that looked almost like grass woven together caught my attention.

I walked up to her; the fur wrapped around me, and inspected her clothes. They were rather old fashioned and simple looking, but she didn’t seem to be affected by the cold so they must be warm.

“What is this made from?” The grass looked wooly, almost like a yarn, but I couldn’t place it.

“Just a sea grass we’ve adapted to take the place of flax. This yarn has been adapted to make a thick thread, for shawls such as this. My dress and sweater are made of the same, it’s just a different yarn style, you see, look here at my top.” She paused as I inspected the material to see that it was indeed the same, only far finer than the yarn of her shawl. “Now, I’ve brought you a pair of pants, some socks, boots, and a sweater. If you’re going out, I’ll have to find you a coat.”

She was quite pretty, with ice blue eyes, and a wide smile. Her eyes were curious as she watched me dress, but she didn’t say anything more. As it was only a dream, I didn’t turn away, just dressed in a hurry and stood up, pounding my feet into the boots as I did so. They were made of more of the odd leather and fur, with a thick sole designed to keep me from slipping. I’d inspected the soles, also made from leather, and wondered at just how well they were made.

This is one awesome and creative; dream I decided as I followed her out of the room.

I think that’s the part where my jaw just dropped and stayed open, gaping like a kid plunked down in Christmas land. Women, men, and children crowded into a small kitchen and great room, laughing, talking, repairing broken items, doing inventory from the looks of it, and generally making noise. The walls and furniture were made from rough wood, plugged with some kind of mud, and ran parallel with no side rooms.

I could see a large fireplace in the kitchen and at the other end of the hall, for lack of a better word, and utilitarian furniture that appeared to be handmade. There were thick blankets in some parts of the walls and I wondered if there were windows in those places. I walked out into the midst of noise and bustle and stared rather openly at all of the people speaking in a language that seemed familiar, but was strangely spoken. I realized it was similar to my own father’s language and tried to catch more of it as I passed by people.

“We need to get those last tents up....” One man was saying to another. “Keep the children under control. Endre has been alone for centuries, we’re probably driving him mad already,” a woman in her 40s said to a teenaged girl with fear in her eyes.

The woman soothed the teenager with a soft hand against her cheek and a smile. “Don’t be frightened, my love, he’ll get used to it and all men growl. It will be alright.”

The girl smiled a wobbly smile and I moved on, understanding now that these people had only just arrived to Endre’s land. What an odd thing to dream.

I moved around the room, looking for Endre, but heard someone mention he was outside so found my way to the door. That’s when my wonder turned to something else, an itchy feeling in the back of my neck that crawled up and down my spine. Ice cold air blasted me as I opened the door, but then settled down to something that wasn’t so face-freezing. I stepped out into a world in a bubble.

High overhead there was something that looked like a huge bubble instead of a sky. It was bright, like the sky, and light filtered through, but there was something odd about it. It looked like, I squinted as I paused to figure it out, it looked like ice that was very thin. It couldn’t be though, could it?

I stepped out to look behind the house on a hill, and saw that the bubble spread far behind us, for miles perhaps. I turned back to the front and saw that a green field was covered in tents, cooking fires, and even more people. I didn’t see Endre, so I took a step out into this very strange world. Where was I exactly?

I heard the sound of pebbles beneath my feet and looked down to see that black pebbles peeked through the green moss that seemed to grow on everything. Only a few moments before I’d been safe, in a cave of darkness where the world could not intrude. Now, I was in a very real world, and I felt the idea that this was all part of a dream start to crumble.

Those pebbles were too real, Endre’s lips on mine were too real, the smell of cold and what I could only assume was smoke and the natural scent of the moss was too real. It was all too real. I felt my knees start to give way and found a larger pile of rocks to plunk down on. This was real. All of it.

I stared around me, my wonder turning to panic. Where was I and how was I going to get back home?