Amurehna

I might be secretly obsessed with Liam and Saja, why else would they show up so often?

Fragment: Mall and Liam Echo
I'm walking into a mall, following my boyfriend. He leaves to check a store out but my left foot hurts so I just stand in the courtyard. There's a bench next to a raised tile planter filled with soil, a wooden sign, and mounted on top of the sign is a pane of glass. I limp over to the planter thing (I have no idea what it's actually called), pain shoots from my toes to my ankle. I notice that an old man staring at me, concerned, I ignore him. As I'm sitting down I see a man through the glass that immediately reminds me of Liam. I pause and stare at him. He looks tired, in a lightly rumpled gray suit, a tiny little girl I take to be his daughter grabs his hand and leads him a few running steps. He smiles faintly and shakes the hair from his eyes with a slight movement of his head. In this dream his hair is a dark red brown.

I force myself to stop, thinking that I can't just keep gawking strangers. I sit down and take my shoe off to rub my foot. I wonder if I should go to the emergency care place they have in the mall...

Saja: The Runewall, the Gate, and the Return
The mansion feels like it is both inside and outside. There's an entry hall, in the foyer is a double stair case with a deep red-brown bannister and black/white checker pattern tile on the stairs, running up to the second floor. Most of the tile in the room at the foot of the stairs is gone. Across from the bottom landing is another doorway, the door itself is gone and it opens up into a ruined section of the house. Jutting out of the dirt next to the door is a two foot tall polished dark grey stone wall () On the inside curve are three lines of runes.
The Liam echo from the dream fragment kneels next to a woman who is dressed in all white and grey shimmering cloth.
"You really did find it then.." He says. Her expression becomes mildly bemused, eyes far away, she nods. "Do you know what it says?" he asks.
"What do you mean? The stone is blank."
Liam rises and walks around to stand on the inside curve of the runewall. He touches the top of it and a faint vibration rises from the surface. The woman stands up and looks at the stone in shock and further bemusement.
"So it is the runewall." She doesn't necessarily sound happy, just tired.
"Can you read the runes now?"
"They are...difficult to read. They all run together."
He points, "What about this part?" There's a vertical line of English letters on the outer edge preceding the first line of runes.
X
E
B
They talk about what it means that he can read those letters, even pronounce it like it's a word. Zheb. She gives him the gist of what the runes say, he joins her on the other side of the wall. She says something about trials and sending messages. She uses a formal tone the one I associate with speaking a prophecy. The wall is a sign that the gate will soon reopen.
"You were destined to reveal the wall, just as I was destined to craft the basin."
She says there are artifacts that have to be found to open the gate and that in the final location, the middle of a hollow plateau, she will create the basin in the clay. I see a rough rock formation. The basin will show them where the key to the gate can be found.
As she speaks she pushes her hands down into the wet sand like she is kneading dough. The walls of the crafted crater rise up, she runs furrows into the sand floor with her fingers.
"The plateau could be anywhere, they are all over the place." Liam says, frowning slightly.
"Don't worry. Believe me, when the time comes, we will know exactly how to find it. Do you know how to send the message?"
"Yes."
She gives him a small, troubled smile. The task ahead will not be easy.

Then I am Saja. I meet a tall dark haired main in a ruined mansion, it's nearly identical to the mansion where Liam revealed the writing on the runewall. Something isn't right, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I wonder where his family is, they were supposed to come here to see him off. Once the others arrived, we would be going home.
"Where is the gate?" He asks. He looks tense and unhappy.
"There's a balcony on the second floor that leads out into a garden then to a field. The gate is there." I turn my back on him and skip lightly up the stairs. I see myself from the back, the long shining black curls. A cream colored dress with a light green-yellow bodice. My hair bounces as I mount the stairs. I twist around and find he is staring at me with undue intensity. I smile and, beckoning him to follow, run up the rest of the stairs.

I know the man has traveled a long way. Liam's message feels like it comes from across the sea. Far away, certainly, but not too far to reach. He reluctantly climbs the stairs. I can see how he's looking at me even though my back is turned and I finally understand why he is here alone.
He was forced to make a deal, in exchange for his family's safety he would get me from opening the gate and going home.

There's a lapse. We're outside. There's a stone arch standing alone in the middle of a garden. As we get closer heavy wooden doors shimmer into existence. I turn and confront him on his motives, but I don't remember what the outcome is.