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Nuri lay back against her pillow so thankful that she was alone again.  Untouched.  For the next few hours anyway.  The horror over with for tonight.

She had found an impossible dream to dream.  His name was Hobi.  And he was beautiful.  Inside.  And out.

How many times had she relived their rendezvous in the garden?  She’d felt like she’d spent hours twirling around on his feet.  And only seconds also.  For too soon the real world had come crashing down on them.  And they had both had to return to their separate sides of the palace.  But Nuri had not forgotten him.  She would never forget Hobi.  He was the one person who had been the kindest to her in her whole life.

But, of course, she could never have him.  For she was a slave.  And he was a free man.  So the dream she’d found to dream was pitifully sad.  It could never have a happy ending.  

But for tonight at least, she would let her encounter with him in the garden three days ago be enough.  She replayed it in her head yet again as she closed her eyes to sleep.  But her memories were so alive and so wondrous that they prevented slumber from overtaking her soul.

She was gliding along on Hobi’s feet, feeling freer than she had ever felt.  He was smiling down at her.  So sweetly.  She had recognized it at one point when she’d opened her eyes briefly.  That smile had stolen her soul.  She had known, then and there, that she would never love another man as she loved Hobi.  He seemed to be pure sunshine slipping into her heart.  Goodness and rainbows.  Kindness and compassion.  A truly noble and sweet soul.  

Nuri had never believed she would find such a man.  Yet here he had been spinning her around a garden.  Trying to lend her his legs and his motion.  Her eyes filled with tears and spilled over to pour down her face towards her pillow.  She felt like Hobi’s smile had become part of her breath.  She would never be able to escape him now.  

When she was enduring the most horrifying moments of her life now, she thought of only Hobi.  She blocked out every sound but the lovely melody of his voice.  She stopped up every scent but the fragrance of the blooming garden that had surrounded them that afternoon.  She closed off every sight but the glow in his eyes that day.  And the sunlight that had crowned him with its glory, striking a beautiful sheen off his dark locks.  

She cut off every feeling but that of his comforting arms holding her close to his lithe frame.  And the breeze that had slid over her face as he’d swept her around that clearing with his graceful strength.  And the warmth of that cheerful sun that had beamed down upon them with such approval.  Her only regret was that she had not tasted his kiss, so she had nothing to concentrate that sense upon.

Still, her senses were overwhelmed with the goodness he had poured into her soul that day.  And the beauty that had flowed along her limbs as she had moved with him.  Through a waking dream.  How her heart longed for him now!  To see his sweet face smiling down at her.  To hear that comforting voice speaking in his cheerful tone.  To feel his strong arms around her like a promise that nothing bad would ever befall her again.

She knew it wasn’t so.  She had suffered several bad things since that day in the garden.  But in her dreams, she was secure in both Hobi’s affections and his arms.  In that corner of her imagination, she was safe.  Untouchable.  Except by the one her soul adored.

As she stumbled down the hallways carrying trays laden with food for other people, she solaced herself with memories of riding upon his feet.  As she filled vases with flowers for the royal ladies, she comforted herself with recollections of the floral fragrances that had surrounded her in their garden that day.  As she endured the kitchen-master’s verbal rebukes, and the abuse that the servants dealt her, she recalled the gentle timbre of Hobi’s voice as he spoke tenderly to her.  As her eyes took in the horror of watching her owner beat another slave who had displeased him, Nuri stood trembling simply being a bystander, and she closed her eyes to fill her mind with visions of sunshine and Hobi’s face-splitting grin.  In those terrifying moments, the smile in his eyes rescued her.  

Oh!  That it could all be more than just a pleasant dream!  If only a future with Hobi could be real!  Not just a mere figment of her imagination…

Her tears slid down her face as she slipped off into another troubled sleep.  All she could hope for was that Hobi would meet her in her dreams and comfort her heart with his patient presence.