Chapter 40

I am in the realm of dream, where fantasy feels like reality. Where being a princess without a prince is possible. Where summoning a storm without being wrecked by it is within a reach of the hand.

I am dreaming. I am sure of it.

Or am I not?

I look around, let my senses see and hear and touch and taste and smell everything.

I can feel the heat of the sun, taste the cool wind around me, and hear the rustling of the leaves in the Misty Forest. I can see the bright green leaves, the wide grass field beckoning me to feel its natural softness. I can smell the fragrance of after-rain, of petrichor and—

“Someone’s cooking,” I turn to my heel and search for the origin of the scent. The smell is from roasted pork belly, seasoned with what smells like pepper and salt and rosemary. And butter.

I can see a tiny house in the distance, smoke coming out in its chimney. Is that a farmhouse? A cattle, the sound of chickens a