Why am I lying in the dirt? Let's get up real fast.
Oops, the ground is slippery! I hope nobody saw me scrambling to my feet right now.
At least I didn't hurt myself again.
Wait--my leg doesn't hurt! Even holding it up in the air hurt like hell a moment ago, and now I'm putting my full weight on it, and it doesn't hurt at all. Let me look at it. It's not bent at an odd angle any more, either.
But where am I? And where are my people? They were right next to me, petting me and feeding me treats just a minute ago.
There not here. I'm not in my paddock anymore, and I don't see my friend Skarpur, either. But there are some horses over there. I'll just canter over and meet them.
"Neigh! Hello there! Who are you guys?" Wait, I know one of them! "Soerli! It's great to see you again. What are you doing here? You haven't been around in ages!"
"Oh, you've been here all along? Where's here? And where are our people?"
"Yes, yes, I know I broke my leg. It hurt!"
"Oh, that is why they sent me here--so it wouldn't hurt anymore?"
"Oh."
"So I can't see them anymore? But...!"
"I can canter through their dreams whenever I want? Yes, I'll definitely do that. You've been doing it too, from time to time? That's good. So let's go together, next time!"
"Who's your friend? Oh, hello Morgunn, nice to meet you. Sorry for ignoring you just now. So you're the one she loved before me? She told me a lot about you."
"One of the things she told me was that you kept kicking other horses. You're not going to kick me, are you? I've been kicked quite enough, lately."
"You don't do that anymore? Because everybody's nice to each other up here? That's good to know. I think I like it here already. The grass is so very green, too!"
"Hey look, there's a ball over there! Let's go push that ball around for a bit. She taught me to do that. It's fun!"
"Oh, it's not a ball, it's a cloud? That's fine, let's push the cloud around. See, it bounces! Yes, that's right, push it back to me, Morgunn. You too, Soerli!"
"Hey, it's gone all of a sudden. Where did it go? What do you mean, we made it rain and now it's empty?"
"Oops, there are our humans down there, and they're soaking wet!"
"Look, there's another cloud. Let's go push that one for a bit!"
"Huff. Huff, huff. That was ... huff ... fun. Huff. Wasn't it? Huff. Especially that last one, that we chased all across the place. I haven't run like this in ages."
"So what do we do now? Oh, there's a waterfall over there. Let's take a shower!"
"Oh, this is nice. I'm cool again, what about you?"
"Okay, Soerli, you're right, it's time to rest and graze for a while. Yes, that patch of grass over there looks delicious. We can go eat, and when we're done we'll go visit our people's dreams, shall we?"
Munch, munch. Munch. Munch!
"Hmm, this is delicious. Yes, I think I like this place."
Tandri's further adventures on the infinite meadows will appear here.