(( OOC: Yes, my other posts won't be as long. XD I kind of got lost trying to portray Sabriel's confusion, and the process he went through to find Khaat. Done, finally!! ))
Sabriel felt hard earth pressing into his back. Blades of grass stroked his face, and the telltale sounds of nightingales tore through the air and burrowed into his sleep-hazed mind. Cold, crisp air soared inside and escaped his lungs. An overall sense of openness also brought forth an overwhelming sense of exposure, and Sabriel found himself awakening swiftly. Gray-blue eyes snapped open. They gazed up at a starry sky. Automatically he drew himself upright. He was still befuddled. Something was very wrong. Although Sabriel couldn't quite place his finger on it, he was sure he was not dreaming.
His subconscious was already processing information a mile a minute. His poor outer-conscious was slowly going insane from lack of comprehension, however. Sabriel stood and looked around, eyes widening with each detail, both minute and significant.
The Garden of Eden sprawled before him, somehow luminous even in the throes of twilight. He realized that he woke beside a tree. It flowered even in the midst of autumn. Delicate blossoms peppered the deep green, reminding him of how the raspberry bushes in his backyard blossomed just before summer. A path cut through the forestry in front of him, spectacularly lit somehow. Sabriel assumed the light to be magical in nature, for he caught no sight of torches or even fireflies.
All the trees were the same. There could have been thousands of them, all bearing flowers or different kinds and colors. He could see them as clearly as if it were day, and he found his neck craning higher and higher until he was capable of counting the multitude of stars in the night sky. There were never as many stars in London.
Sabriel began to follow the trail. He did not know if he was going east, north, south or west. His hair was still in its ponytail, forelocks and bangs unsecured, however. He still wore his nightrob--wait!
Sabriel stopped dead in his tracks. He understood now! That overwhelming feel of wrongness. He did not belong here, in this beautiful garden. He belonged in the Ravenclaw dormitories, snuggled under a quilt and dreaming.
Perhaps he was. The unease that crept inside him started to dissipate, and Sabriel let it; if he were dreaming, it did not make sense, but he had to believe it.
He walked until a clearing came into view. Torches lit the perimeter, and it was here the feel of wrongness disappeared and instead there came a sensation of complete and utter serenity. The silence only comforted him. He had no idea how he had gotten here, but he found that he enjoyed it so. Smiling softly, now, he continued onward, exploring the clearing with his eyes and moving little. Finally, his gaze fell unexpectedly upon a woman. She was sitting on a white stone bench, and she was quite beautiful.
Sabriel paused. This woman wore stiletto heels, and cradled a mug of a hot, steaming something. He slunk back a little, feeling very out of place in his flimsy nightrobes and unkempt hair. The presence of this woman was so very unexpected, he had to regain his bearings for a moment. How would she react to him? Would she be able to offer some kind of explanation as to why he was there?
Sabriel took a deep breath and stepped from the shadows.