I rolled my eyes. “Just glad you aren’t hiding from me any longer.”
He growled and flicked his tail against the back of my knees, tickling me before addressing the crowd.
“Welcome to the Dreamdome. This is what I built for Selena to enjoy for the last nine years.”
“It is the same,” Z’fir said, drawing out the words.
“Unbelievable,” Chyox murmured, lowering his tentacles.
“Is this what you experience every night?” Odelm asked, looking directly at me.
I nodded. “Whenever Zirene and I were together, it was here in this dreamscape world. It’s harder for me to grasp it when I am alone. Sometimes I can, but it depends on how tired I am and how long I sleep.”
“This next part will feel different. The laws of physics don’t exist in the dreamscape world. We try to put our real-life expectations on how things work, but in here, everythingdepends on how the one in charge of the dreamscape sees it. This is the most updated mapping of Selena’s moon,Destima. We’ll travel around it and test out builds until we settle on the right one before moving on. Don’t panic. Anything that happens in here doesn’t affect you in real life.”
Suddenly, we were flying, overlooking three medium-size islands. A chorus of gasps and shouts filled my ears from the males surrounding me. It was an amazing experience. He’d never used this ability with me when we were together in the last nine years.
“He warned you.”
“Just because he warned us, doesn’t mean it isn’t surprising,” Xylo exclaimed.
Laughter escaping, I shook my head at their expressions. It wasn’t a hard concept. You just had to use your imagination and trust Zirene to guide you through the dreamscape world. I figured Odelm would understand because he was an artist, but it seemed he was bewildered too.
“These three islands are the only habitable land on this moon. The rest of the moon is either ocean or active volcanoes on tiny uninhabitable islands throughout the surface. The slightly curved island with the mountain ridge is where the gem mines and the military academy are located. We have a defense shield that prevents others from entering or exiting without permission, along with blocking any device from looking in. The largest island with the atoll surrounding it is where the civilians live. The porch we appeared on rests on top of the second-highest point of the island. That is where Selena’s property is located. Just above it on the highest point of the island, Agent Kaede and his Fab Five crew’s base resides. They supervise the security of the whole moon, along with other things.
“The smallest island with the large lagoon is currently unoccupied.” Zirene’s tail wrapped around my left leg, itsbushy end tickling me. I looked up at him as he glanced at me before tilting his head toward the unoccupied island. “I left it like that so you can have whatever you want built there. Feel free to use the Dreamdome on your property to test plans out. All you have to do is tell Vagren when you complete something, and he will give it to the dream-engineers to build it for you.”
Zirene had everything planned out this whole time.
Why did I deserve any of this?
I went from having nothing to owning a moon.
Words failed me.
He flew us around the islands and explained how to use our imagination and hands to build things. It took a while for everyone to get used to our crash course on how to shape the dreamscape. We kept forgetting details needed or how unrealistic our plans were. I stated perhaps we needed some designers to come with us next time to try to figure out what we were trying to build and map it out for us.
It turned out I was a natural. Zirene explained it was because I was his Nova, and we had shared the dreamscape world for a long time.
He took us to the civilian’s housing district first, which resided along the more substantial part of the atoll. I was shocked to see that he used my ideas by having the families housed in a square-shaped apartment. It had a completely enclosed park-like setting with plenty of shade, an open field, and a decent size pond in the middle. The center allowed families to have their children play in a community setting with the building acting as a fence. Each family had both an inner and outer view from their two-story apartment.
There were a few shops and restaurants along the western side of the civilian housing district. A few docks with a variety of boat sizes shared the same space. The eastern side of the civilian housing district led to the second largest partof the atoll, which housed the spaceport. Along the way were a small hospital and some warehouses. Zirene explained large spaceships could not land onDestima. Ships the size of theDestinywere close to the limit of being able to land and take off. Any larger and they wouldn’t be able to lift off from the surface. There were scheduled shuttles to Lunkai twice daily for those who wanted to go planet-side to purchase things.
Folks rarely left the moon, but he didn’t go into detail on why that was.
After much discussion, the Circuli agreed the best location to settle would be on the main island in the bigger of the two lagoons. It was the opposite lagoon from the civilian housing district. I didn’t like that the two communities wouldn’t be in the same general location on the island.
We would have a meeting withDestiny’s crew before we planned how housing would work.
There was a heated discussion about having private hatchery for each house or just one large community one. I stated they should stop using offspring as a way to connect clans and have one large community hatchery. Their species didn’t nurture their offspring anyhow, and this would allow a steadier growth in the housing once the younglings started the academy, matured, and started their clans once they graduated. If all the offspring were together, there would be no outside pressures of what to study or who to add to their clan.
Once that was settled, they planned where to put the large community hatchery and any other buildings needed. Zirene explained we had a lot of time to add anything else.
As I listened, I thought about Odelm. He didn’t have a place to play his music. I wondered what I could make to allow him to give public performances. It was something I would have to ask Zirene or someone who had traveled the galaxy. Music was everything to him, and it would make mefeel guilty if he had to sacrifice giving performances so he could follow me wherever I settle. Perhaps I could make Odelm his own music hall while giving Xylo his own study hall attached to the hospital.
I still needed to come up with a plan for the inhabited island. The main focus was the necessities needed forDestiny’s crew to settle without any issues. There would need to be a lot of planning to make sure everything went smoothly. I knew that would be a headache in itself. Maybe I should ask the princes and my nestmates to direct everything since having them settle onDestimawas my gift for everything they did for me. I knew nothing about managing, which is why Zirene hired Vagren. I would need to make sure I thanked him for his thoughtfulness later. I just hoped Vagren was as easygoing as his brothers. I knew Royak and Zirene could be dominant and full of authority, but they weren’t assholes.
“I believe that is it for now,” Zirene said, breaking me from my thoughts. “Selena, is there anything else you can think of?”
