Hi, welcome to Chilli's

Can I offer you all a nice rock in this trying time?

inspired by this tag on this post because it made me laugh out loud

This is from the prologue of the first book. Remember that this is from Alastairr's POV. If Verity was just another faceless historical figure to him, he wouldn't sound so *spiteful* when talking about how she was exploited by the mages. He ironicaly refers to her as the "mages' champion" and "a girl upon who they had pinned all their hopes." He feels angry about her even in this critical moment when he's climbing the ice to get to his wife and son. And you think "meh, fine, just a coincidence" But NO! Because Alastairr yet again mentions Verity to Callum again at the end of the book when he wakes up. And not only that, VERITY IS MENTIONED RIGHT AWAY. The whole thing with Call protecting Aaron reminds Alastair of Verity and how the assembly and the army couldn't protect her. He is UPSET about it and he is reminded of it in this VERY moment.

But it doesn't stop here folks, the strongest evidence is in the next book. At the very end of their adventures, our 4 heroes receive a Tanzanite stone on their wristband, the sign of ultimate bravery. But you know who else did? Verity Torres. As we can see yet again Call's heroic actions IMMEDIATELY remind Alastair of Verity, she is mentioned right away to Callum and how he is reminiscent of her.

But the phrasing here is very important. Alastair says "The only other person I ever knew who bore the tanzanite was Verity Torres"

But anyway, this does have a downside; vivid, elaborate dreams make for vivid, elaborate nightmares. I can usually tell when it’s one of those nights, since he grinds his teeth pretty badly.

I was never quite sure what to do when I knew he was having a bad time of it, though the grinding alone was enough to worry me and push me towards intervening. I used to just shake him gently, hope to rouse him just enough to reset the dream or something, but it wasn’t too effective and anyway waking him up all the time isn’t good for rest.

I’m rather proud of the strategy I eventually settled on: gently, so as not to wake him up, I’d lay one arm across his hands, wrapping his fingers around me so that he was holding on. Nightmares being nightmares, I can usually count on a pretty tight grip when this happens.

It may seem a little odd, but consider that holding on to something with both hands is typically a very agentic frame of mind. We hold on to things that give us power, in one way or another, and possessing objects often makes us feel powerful in some respects. That has consequences, even for a dreaming mind.

I knew it was working when he woke up rather mystified from one such dream, and told me that he’d been running through the caverns of some dungeon or cave system, pursued by monsters, but then all of a sudden he was holding a giant anime sword and fought them off instead. So I got to be a sword for him that night, I was delighted.

I don’t usually get to know exactly what happened, since even for a very vivid dreamer like Ritter, nine tenths of these things get forgotten. But I know I’ve been things like door handles, steering wheels, stuff like that. And even when I don’t know what I am to him, he doesn’t grind his teeth nearly as much- the sleep is deeper and more peaceful, so I get plenty of feedback that it’s working.

It’s such a perfect encapsulation of love in microcosm, isn’t it? No matter how much you mean to them, and how much they mean to you, the gap between two conscious lives is fundamentally separating you. But fundamental does not mean insurmountable. There’s this whole world in him, full of dreams and perspectives that I’ll never truly experience. But I will be a part of those worlds all the same, finding little ways here and there to make sure that the dreams of me make him a better, stronger, and happier person.