"Perchance to Dream"

[Kestra 0]

The medicine Doctor Ty—no, Avery—had given her had kicked in fairly quickly. She had gone back to her quarters and curled up in bed with a mug of hot chocolate and a PADD, only to find herself starting to doze off.

 

Her sleep was filled with dreams, however. Restless waking thoughts merged with unconscious ones.

 

They were in a shuttle. But she didn’t know who “they” was. She looked around but wasn’t able to focus on anything. There were shouts and flashes of light. They were going down, being pulled in by an unknown force. She stood there uselessly, feet frozen in place. The planet’s surface came closer and closer. She wasn’t frightened. It wasn’t scary at all, it was quite pretty, actually. It looked familiar, kind of like those summers she had spent when…

 

She was on Betazed. Jason was with her, meeting her grandmother for the first time. She looked over at him anxiously, worried he would say something wrong. Everything seemed to be going okay. He was calm, but her cheeks were flushed with nervousness. She nervously tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. Why wasn’t she able to speak? Was someone talking to her?

 

“Kessa, do you think you could take a look at this for me?” Her brother Karthik handed her a medical instrument of some sort, looking at her hopefully. Exhausted, she wanted to say “no” but saw a greater weariness in his face. Jack must have kept him and Steph up again.

 

“I think so. What’s the problem exactly?” She turned it over in her hands, looking for access to its interior. It was cold to the touch, and the metal gleamed in her hands as the light above played off of its surface. She looked up towards him, waiting for the answer ...

 

And snowflakes fell onto her eyelashes. Thick delightful snow that was covering the trees around her. Hadn’t someone been here a minute ago? It didn’t matter anymore, she just wanted to get inside to some place warm.

 

Kestra stirred slightly and pulled the covers around her a bit. The PADD fell to the floor but did not wake her. She shifted to her side and fell back into another dream.