Thalias smiled. “That part’s from your bath.”

“What?”

“Your bath,” Thalias repeated. “The soothement bubbles. Your brain picked up on that memory and slapped it into your dream.”

“Really? Brains do things like that?”

“All the time,” Thalias said. “Yours took the soothement bubbles, added in your fears of getting lost, sprinkled on some of the feeling you get on the bridge that none of the grown-ups are paying any attention to you, then baked all of it inside a dream. Pop it from the oven, and there’s your nightmare.”

“Oh.” Che’ri pondered that a moment. “Doesn’t sound so scary that way.”

“Nope,” Thalias agreed. “Almost silly, in fact, once the lights are back on. Doesn’t mean it’s not terrifying when you’re in the middle of it, but it helps make it better when you can figure out the pieces afterward. It’s just your brain and your fears messing with you.”

“Okay.” Che’ri hugged the pillow a little tighter. “Thalias…did you ever get lost?”

Thalias hesitated. How should she answer that? “Not when I was your age,” she said. “I’ll bet you never got lost, either.”

“But you got lost later?”

“I sort of got lost once or twice,” Thalias admitted. “But that was when they already knew my Third Sight was fading, and they were running me through tests inside the Ascendancy. They do that on purpose, because they know that if the sky-walker loses the track it won’t be dangerous to the ship.”

“And then you were done,” Che’ri murmured.

“And I thought my life was over.” Thalias smiled. “But as you see, it wasn’t. Yours won’t be, either.”

“But if I get us lost…?”

“You won’t,” Thalias said firmly.

“What if I do?”

“You won’t,” Thalias said. “Trust me. And trust yourself.”

“I don’t think I can.”

“You have to,” Thalias said. “Uncertainty can be the most difficult and frightening of mental states. If you’re always wondering which way to go, you might freeze up and not go anywhere. If you’re afraid you can’t do something, you might not even try.”

Che’ri shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“Well, you don’t have to know anything tonight,” Thalias said. “All you have to do is lie down and try to get back to sleep. You sure I can’t get you something to eat?”

“No, that’s okay,” Che’ri said. She looked down at the pillow in her arms, then shifted it around behind her. “Maybe I’ll draw for a while,” she added, settling herself against the pillow and snagging her questis from the bedside table.

“Sounds good,” Thalias said. “Do you want me to sit with you?”

“No, that’s okay,” Che’ri said. “Thanks.”