Nasrin's 6th dream

[[The following is private in-character information. Do not share it unless you feel it would be appropriate in-character to do so. When you do share it, share only as much as you feel your character would, and tell it in your own words.]]

During your rest, you have a peculiar dream that remains quite vivid in your mind when you wake up.

You walk along a narrow plank bridge winding its way over a great lake, connecting small grassy islands rising just above the surface. The lake's surface is dotted by small trees formed entirely of water, rising up in fixed shapes. At the center of the lake, where the bridge you are following leads, one such tree towers far above the rest, rising high into the sky with a trunk that would dwarf the average house. You see fish and even whales swimming up the trunk of this great water-tree, and in its branches are suspended the buildings of an entire town, with a multitude of water wheels turning under the force of the streams pouring down from the ends of the tree's branches.

You feel a presence with you, and turn to see a figure walking alongside you on the narrow plankway, wearing a hooded blue robe and a smiling silver mask. It is the presence you've felt in your previous dreams, that entity which you find at once deeply unsettling and alien, yet comfortably familiar. It turns to you and speaks into your mind with a chorus of voices echoing as one.

"My child, I see you have begun to open your mind to the rich wonders of true reality. Yet still you hesitate; not merely stumbling under the difficulty of shedding your false preconceptions, but unwilling to fully enter in. What is it that troubles you, child?"

You turn your gaze ahead to the great water tree as you ponder your reply. A whale breaches from the trunk, falling back in -- horizontally -- with a splash that sends droplets raining down into the water at the tree's base. "Nasrin worries," you finally reply. "About her tribe, and the well-being of the forest people."

The figure beside you places a gloved hand on your shoulder comfortingly, the brilliant gold of his robe shimmering in the sunlight. The voices echo in your head filled with concern, mirrored by the pensive frown on the figure's ebony mask. "But child, my ways are those of freedom and life! Surely you can trust that all will work for the better in the end?"

You shake your head. "Nasrin cannot trust this. You have hurt people."

The masked figure runs ahead, skipping adroitly across the water, the hem of his white robe remaining dry though it skims the surface. He whirls about and casts an arm over his golden-masked face in a theatrical flourish. "Alas, 'tis true! Despite my best efforts, some have indeed come to harm in their obstinate, self-destructive resistance to the gifts I offer!"

You cross your arms and thrash your tail in irritation. "This is not how it seems to Nasrin."

The figure's crimson robe flashes in the sun as he leaps gracefully back to the bridge in front of you. He clasps your hands in his and gazes imploringly at you with the opalescent eyes of his alabaster mask. "Dear child, I am shocked to hear such distrust!"

The shimmering colors of the mask's eyestones draw you in, and you are seized by a sense of vertigo as you seem to fall into a starry prismatic field. As your consciousness begins to slip away, the voices echo lamentingly:

"My child, I cannot help you if you do not trust."