Dreams: Seeking the Unseelie Court

Over a vast area, there is a maze of white walls, pillars, and open doorways. No area is closed off from any other, but in many areas there are no direct routes. In some areas, there are floors of stone, in others, areas of grass. All areas are open to the clear blue sky, even the areas that serve as corridors. The light is natural, as if from the sun, and appears to be directionless.

The rooms vary in size, from small courtyards to larger yards suitable for great gatherings, with the wind flattening the grass. The walls also vary, from strictly regimented, evenly spaced areas, to more haphazard, wandering paths and uneven rooms. The walls in the more strictly regimented areas appear to be less structurally sound and newer; the uneven areas are older, made in the more distant past.

I do not know where the entrances are to this vast area, nor did it feel important to know.

The many people there wear a variety of clothing, mostly on a theme of reënactors of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Many wear knives and swords. Capes and robes are common. The clothing is worn comfortably, as regular, everyday clothing, not as if it was a costume. They go about their business, cooking, eating, talking with each other. Some areas are open to all; others are more private, with people standing at the paths to those areas to make sure that no one wanders in uninvited. Everyone seems to be at best friendly, at worst preoccupied with their own activities. Some voices are raised in excitement and happiness, some to call from one place to another; no voices are raised in anger.

I know this place. I have been here before. But this place is not my goal; it is an area that I must pass through on the way to my goal.

I am traveling by invitation to another place, and have joined a small group of six or seven others being guided to the entrance that will lead to that place. The entrance to the path that will lead there is hidden somewhere within this maze of walls and pillars, rooms and corridors. Somewhere, I know, there is one wall that you can pass through as if it were not there, if you press your hands against the wall in the right fashion, with the right frame of mind. I have been through that entrance before, some time ago.

The path that we seek the entrance to will lead us to the Unseelie Court. My own path leads to the Shadow Court. In my mind, the two Courts are the same. I am expected, have been invited, but I must find my way there by my own means, with no direct assistance from anyone of the Court.

As we walk single file through this white area of corridors, rooms, and courtyards, the first part of our group moves ahead, away from us. The tail end of the group is falling behind, and I am caught between my desire to keep up with the first group and remain behind to help the laggards, a woman and a young girl. In the end, I lose sight of both parts of the group, and must find my own way.

I know what the wall that conceals the path looks like, feels like, but this area is vast, and it will take me some time to find it. I know that once I find that entrance, I will be able to follow the path to my destination; the hardest part is finding that entrance. I don't recall any details of the concealed path itself (though I know that I have followed it in the past) save one: In the last open area of the concealed path before reaching the Court, I must pass through the Earth gate, which in that area is in the east, rather than its expected location in the north. It is an important detail that needs to be remembered about following the concealed path.

With assistance of some people in the area, I go back to find the woman and girl, and do find them, but they seem to be distracted now, and may no longer be seeking the concealed path to the Unseelie Court.

The first part of the group is long gone, and now I am traveling alone.

It is difficult to ask for directions, because I know that many of the people here will not understand. If they believe in the Unseelie Court at all, they will not understand why I would be seeking it. They will not stop me, but they will not help me, either.

I finally find an old friend that I have not seen in some time, a tall knight with long dark hair, beard and mustache. I know that he can and will help me, that he will not question why I am going where I am going. Whether or not he has been there himself, I don't know, but I do know that he knows the way.

He helps me by giving me the following advice: When seeking the Court, sometimes it is easier to build your understanding of the path by working backwards from your destination, and knowing that somewhere the path leading away will join the path leading towards. He mentions that the path leading away from the Unseelie Court starts by leading west through the gateway of Earth, which matches my recollection that at the end of the path leading to the Court must lead east through that gateway.

With that advice, I set out again, feeling more confident that I will find that entrance to the path that will lead to my destination. I don't know how long it will take me, or how far that I must travel, or who or what I will meet along the way, but I will reach my destination, and learn why I have been called to go there.