The Kestrel's Dreams

August 19, 2014

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So, I didn't remember much of anything while I was on the train home from Utah...

But last night, I had an interesting dream:



I was with my mentor teacher for the fall, and we were getting ready to give a math assessment to the students. It was a weird class, because the students were all varying age groups; two of the 3rd graders I taught over the summer were there, and there were some Kindergarten-aged students, and one 6th grader. I had just finished giving the test to a random student (the tests were all either in a little closet thing or out on a hill in a desert-like place) and was calling one of the students from this summer, T, into the closet. I didn't have all the materials, though, and told him I'd be right back. I went out the door, to my right, and down a hall. There was a door at the end of the hall, and I opened it, going outside. To my immediate right was a chest-height table with some papers and materials on it. I grabbed the stuff from the table (for some reason there was a tree right behind the table, and the branches hung low over it, so I had to brush them away in order to get the papers) and headed back to the room. T finished his test, and I gave him the prize (they all got a present when they finished): a book. It was thick. I told him, "Now, don't you want to challenge yourself with this book?"

Then I got back to the classroom, and my mentor teacher and I talked about whether the other 3rd grader from this summer, J, would hit puberty this year or not. I drew a beard on his face to see what it would look like.





I woke up after this dream; it was only like 3-ish in the morning. I rolled over, and decided to try to WILD again (I've been attempting it for the past few nights).

I closed my eyes, relaxed my body and my breathing, and envisioned walking along a mountain ridge...



Kittens and Platypuses

It wasn't long before I had started dreaming; I wasn't aware of that fact, though. I was simply walking along this beautiful mountain ridge; the Big City was to my left, and the sky was blue with a few wispy clouds. I had the impression that I was supposed to be doing something, and then I saw a man in colorful clothing; I realized it was the Face, and looked down at my hands: I was dreaming!

I walked up to him, remmbering the TOTMs, and asked, "Where's Howl's castle right now?"

He simply grinned, pointed ahead of him (which was to my right, over the mountains), and I grinned right back at him. I jumped off the ridge and started flying in the direction he'd pointed. I passed a few landmarks I recognized from my dream map (an aspen forest and a small hut).

Then I heard the familiar sound of Howl's Castle (that clip starts with the sound) and descended to where I then spotted it. I banged on the door, and yelled, "Sophie, are you home?!"

After a few seconds, the door opened, but it was Zukin inside the castle, not Sophie. Oh well, that worked just fine.

I went inside and looekd around; the room was different than it is in the movie, but I spotted a fireplace to the left, and approached it. "Calcipher?" I asked, and the flame blinked at me.

"Yeah, what's it to you?"
"Is Sophie home?"
"No, she's out learning to fish with Howl. Romantic, isn't it?"
I grinned. "Oh. Well, can you tell me a word in a different language?" I asked, suddenly remembering the other task.
Calcipher flickered a bit and at first didn't say anything. For a moment I thought I might be losing control, because things started to fizzle out a bit, so I touched the hearth, rubbing my hands along it. I thought about putting my hand in the fire, but I figured that would be rude to Calcipher.
He finally answered: "Berzzit."

"Berwhat? Can you spell that?"
"B-E-R-Z-Z-I-T."
"Oh. Berzzit. What does that mean?"
"It means when you wake up and are so groggy that you walk into the doorframe on your way out of your room." Oddly specific, there.
"Huh."

I turned from Calcipher and looked around the room again. The door through which I'd come was closed again, and Zukin had disappeared. I went to the door, and opened it: Still mountains, where I'd entered. I closed it again, and looked at the dial. I knew what everything was supposed to look like because I've seen the movie so many times, and so I knew what to expect. There were five colors though, instead of four, on the dial. It was currently on green. There was also a black, blue, yellow and orange. Naturally I turned it to the orange.

I put my hand on the door handle, closed my eyes, took a breath, not knowing what to expect on the other side. I hoped it was be cool... I opened the door, and opened my eyes.

Boy was it cool. I stepped out into a small clearing in a forest of pines. I turned around to look at where the door was. I was expecting to see a small hut of some sort, but the door just stood on it's own.

I turned back to the clearing, and noticed there were kittens and platypuses all over the place. The Face was also there; he was sitting in the grass, playing with a kitten. "Where are we?" I asked, sitting next to him. He didn't respond, only played with the kitten some more. I picked up the nearest platypus to me, and held it in my lap. I got so distracted with playing with the animals that I lost lucidity and mindlessly frolicked in the clearing with the Face. There may have been other activity beginning with an F, but I can't remember too well.