The faintest voice

You're so tired that even as you dream you feel off kilter and slow. This must be what a hangover is like, though you can't have been drinking. You know you're in a dream - stone walls just don't shift and wobble like that. You're in the abbey and everything seems strange even though as you walk the halls you are sure nothing is out of place.

The abbey is as it always is, except that you see a few sisters moving decorations into place for the solstice festival. You walk around, unable to talk with anyone and unable to touch anything. Even though you know it's a dream you decide to head to the chapel. You feel closest to the burning rose there, so either something different will happen when you get there or you'll get to pray in your sleep. That will make for some interesting conversation at breakfast.

You walk around a corner and you're in the chapel. More dream logic, you think as you kneel and try to clear your mind. You get through a short prayer to the Goddess when you hear footsteps. You look up and towering over you is sister Gabrielle. For some strange reason she's heavily pregnant and there's a strange glow about her. Another set of footsteps behind you and you turn to see a similarly gravid War Mother with the same strange glow.

The two more senior sisters haul you to your feet. Up close you feel an intense warmth from them, though their arms feel soft, nearly insubstantial. In unison they begin chanting softly, "Sister Sabine, hear us. All is in danger. Save yourself, save your sisters. We do not reject you, no matter the child growing within."

What a strange dream. There's no way you could be pregnant. The figures, which are slowly changing into luminous human forms, speak more urgently. "The father could be a great help, but bound to you she must be. She can love you as deeply as any mortal - but at once you must contract her! On this your soul, your sister's souls depend."

What a strange dream! The father... her? You close your eyes, trying to concentrate. Some part of your memory insists it can be so and it's important. By now the two golden forms have merged around you and when you open your eyes once more you see that you are now in the arms of the Goddess herself! She looks much like the pictures in manuscripts, yet she is more beautiful.

You feel a bulge pressing against your side and realize that for some strange reason the virgin Goddess is with child! She gives you a warm smile and you see the world of the dream begin to fade. You put your arms around her, trying to hold on to her radiant form a little longer. She stays longer than the rest of the dream and as she finally fades she begins to whisper those same words again.

Blinking the dust from your eyes you feel the aches and pains in every bone. This is no dream, this hurts too much. Somehow the Goddess is still whispering faintly in your ear. You still have warm, soft arms wrapped about your body and your own are similarly still wrapped around a warm, feminine form. Ah yes, you're sharing your bedroll with Anya. The young blonde is murmuring the same words you heard in your dream, and now that you're conscious they make far more sense.

Anya awakens and looks confused. While she tries to clear the cobwebs from her mind you look to the other bedroll. Glenda is awake and she's stroking Xallia's hair. The succubus looks more frail than you remember, as if the dawn light drew away her power. You see her stir and she gently pulls Glenda towards her for a kiss.

The words 'at once you must contract her' jump into your mind. If Xallia is truly free then what will she do with Glenda? Does your deal in the baths still hold meaning for her? You're no sorcerer - how do you even contract a daemon?