Trust

Viree woke up from the smell of food. She looked at me, yawned and grabbed a bowl. I studied the Lexicon as she prepared herself something to eat. "What is this?"

I gave a light shrug, "Just something I threw together from the stuff I kept stored away."

She ate a spoon full and she frowned. "This is terrible..."

She looked back up to me, looked backwards and moved back and forth. I guessed she had something to ask. "What's up? Is the food that bad?"

Viree shook her head, "Nah, I just... I had a really weird dream."

I raised an eyebrow and laughed a little. "How so?"

Viree looked at me like I was stupid, "Well, I kind of can't have dreams."

I blinked, "What?"

She rolled her eyes, "I believe you once said werewolves can't feel rested, right? Well, ever since I became a werewolf. I've never dreamed, so i assumed that's what you meant."

I was about to say something, but that actually made sense. The belt of many effects had a chance of the same effect. When I did sleep with the belt on, it did prevent me from entering the dreamscape. If unrested sleep meant one couldn't dream I suppose it made some sense. Most dreams occur in REM sleep I am pretty sure.

She laughed, "Looks like you reached a conclusion." She pointed her spoon at me, "Point is, the dream. I was completely lucid and could do whatever I want, mostly."

I paused my study of the lexicon and pocketed it. "What do you mean?"

She explained, "I was in this starry space and the stars were formed into pictures. I could understand some of it, like Archery and Heavy armor. Oh, and I saw some magic symbols labeled Destruction and Restoration."

I didn't interrupt her until she looked at me. She was clearly explaining the dreamscape. I thought about what to ask, Viree wasn't a player. I suppose I had my first question, "Was their like a... pop up? Something that blocked your vision perhaps?"

She shook her head, "No, nothing like that. You know what I am talking about though?"

I closed my eyes in thought, this was something unexpected. "Did it show anything like perk points?"

She paused, "Uh... What do you mean?"

I thought for a moment and simplified my question. "Was there words? Like at all?"

She shook her head instantly, "No, nothing like that."

"This is an interesting development." I thought about it more, "How well do you remember the position of the stars? Were certain stars brighter than others?"

She nodded, "Yeah, uh, I think, what do I call..."

I offered an answer, "skills?"

She nodded, "The star pattern for perhaps the two-handed skill had the brightest stars."

I reached a conclusion, I had placed her under dream's gate. Viree being a werewolf though, can't dream. However the spell, derived from a daedric power still effected her. So... instead of making her dream, it placed her into the dreamscape. Viree could see her skills and the stars that made them up. The catch to this was she lacked the log screen. So perk points, pop-ups and even the skill names were removed.

A smile grew on my face, this was an interesting development. Perhaps I had found a better use for dream's gate. I debated on how much I should say and decided some honesty was required. "Okay, last night, when you went to sleep I used magic to put you into a deeper sleep. This was for two reasons, the first I won't tell you. The second..."

She let out a laugh, "I understand, those silver hand hunters right?"

I froze, and shrugged, "Okay, full truth. That was the first reason. The second was more I think you needed the sleep."

She rolled her eyes, "Understandable, but I like to fight. Don't leave me out of them."

I recalled last night, I didn't really want Viree in that fight though. They were an unexpected meeting, but I had hoped I could guide them toward the proper cure for lycanthropy. It was unexpected they were so dead set on what they thought was the cure.

I came back to the matter at hand, "What stars specifically do you remember being brighter?"

She nodded and closed her eyes in thought. "It was almost all of them, but the very top star and three stars on the left side of the greatsword. Several stars were glowing on heavy armor, some kind of snake, and a picture of a wolf.

I blinked, the heavy armor made sense. It was interesting that she had points in sneak and even had points in the werewolf perk tree. I wondered how that worked, normally you would eat hearts and receive werewolf perk points. Maybe as a werewolf you could gain extra perk points that way? I asked the next obvious question. "Was it just those?"

 She shrugged, "Like one or two stars were glowing bright on other patterns. The only other tree that had more than two was a shield."

I smiled, "This is a very interesting development! We need to do some more testing. Next time you go to sleep I will use the magic on you again. I want you to remember the exact locations and degree of brightness of each star. I will draw images of each symbol and you can fill it in. We ca-"

Viree interrupted, "This doesn't answer one of my question! You know about that... uh..."

I answered for her, "Dreamscape." I paused for a moment and continued, "to explain how I know about is rather complicated, but simple as well."

Viree nodded, "The simple part is obvious, you've been there too!"

I nodded, "The questions I asked you were based on my experiences in the dreamscape."

Viree nodded again, "You have perk points? and I guess that means you can freely place them into your skills?"

I nodded, "There is other stuff, but since the method is different I think we should focus on the basics. Let me draw the patterns for you, I am pretty sure I will have extra ones, but I will draw those too."

She grabbed another bowl of soup while I began scribbling the shapes. Viree spoke aloud, "Thanks for thinking about me, but I am pissed you fought those guys without me. Specially while I was asleep!"

I stopped in my scribbles and sighed, "I didn't want you to to deal with them obsessing over a cure. As I told you, I will tell you the cure if you want. I just don't want you to know the exact method or any false leads until you want the cure yourself. Most things work out if you are patient and accepting." I smiled and teased, "Besides I like having my puppy!"

She punched me in the shoulder for that. "Speaking of, Full moon is in five days. How are we dealing with that?"

I sighed, "I was planning on visiting the Dawn guard within that time. They mostly hunt vampires, you should be safe to visit with me. As long as you keep your sanity during the full moon."

She scoffed, "I can keep my head, specially if I have that ring you are wearing."

I thought about the dreamscape, other non-player characters may have access to the dreamscape. That could be a boon, or it could be a horrifying problem. If another player with a more evil inclined nature created an army of min-maxed or power-leveled soldiers.

Viree saw straight through me, "You are thinking about that Falmer Derkeethus mentioned again. Why is that weighing on your mind? Is it related to the dreamscape?"

Viree... I sighed, Viree was trustworthy. "I am a relatively neutral person. It is simply my playstyle, it gives a greater range of action. You can act cruel and flay your enemies alive, or spare them and offer them a better course of action. Others like me, may hold less neutral inclinations."

Viree nodded and set down her bowl. "You got my attention."

I nodded, "Let's call the people like me... Let's keep it simple and call them players. Those that aren't players are NPCs. Though I doubt those terms truly apply their exact meanings anymore. That Falmer Derkeethus mentioned is likely a player, you withe me so far?"

She nodded, "Which implies I am a npc, right?"

I nodded, "Same as Derkeethus. Truth be told though, I don't think of you as a npc. Evidence implies that term no longer applies. In my current opinion the terms only define who has access to the log screen."

She gave an answer, "The pop-ups you mentioned."

"Right!" I continued, "I have a good guess on where some other players are. Do you remember Stephan?"

Viree nodded, "Is he a player?"

"Yes, while Kyne, the dragonborn would actually be considered something a little more than a npc. His existence defines the area and several events that will eventually happen across skyrim. I suspect those events will start occurring within the month."

I got back on track, "The important thing is Stephan though and the location and actions of other players. For the most part other players don't seem as active as me or at least their actions aren't as widespread. The Thieves guild player is likely the only other player that has traveled as much as me."

Viree gave a slow nod, and asked the question I was leading to. "You know the locations of other players and the actions they will take. As the events they will be involved in are specific to the nature of the players. The reason you are disturbed by the Falmer is because its location and actions are out side of what you know. So the possibility of them being less neutral than you scares you?"

That was not how I would've described it, but it was ultimately the truth. "Yes, the Falmer. If another player creates an army they could create a new crisis for skyrim. Falmer themselves, are wild creatures that have plenty of reason to create chaos. If they are rallied behind a player..."

She reached the conclusion, "They could be taught beyond their means. As other players have similar knowledge?"

I nodded, "Yes, not to mention this new discovery... It isn't strange that others could discover it too. After all we just discovered this on accident, because I wanted to prevent you from knowing the exact details of the werewolf cure. What if other players learn it through experimentation on innocents?"

I sighed, "So, do you get it? I mean it could be just paranoia, bu-"

Viree's expression interrupted me as it changed to something I didn't recognize on her features. I just stopped talking as she gently grabbed my hands, "Thank you... I'm not good with words. So I don't think I can express what I want to say. So I will simplify it, if you think something needs to be kept a secret." She smiled, "You can keep it a secret."

We sat in silence, and it did feel like a weight came off my shoulders. I had to admit I think I was growing more paranoid. I laughed internally as I thought of Viree as my Lydia.