It seemed like Mia was again back in that dimension where she was able to talk with Nanako, though it began like a dream. 
She was running in that misty field, looking here and there, wondering, why she was back there and then she heard that voice. 
The voice she had not heard in a while. The only voice that gave her peace, apart from her husband, that is. 
" Mia, my baby. "
There she was. Her mother, the mer-queen, Crystal. 
Mia turned to look at her and then she was stunned. 
She was floating in that mist, as if it was water and she was in front of Mia, in her true form. Mia had never seen her mother like that. It couldn't have been a dream. 
Her hair was flowing in the air around her, as if it was a silvery, molten metal. Her scales were shimmering and shinning, though there was no ligh source present there. They kept changing colour, from blue to emerald to sapphire to lavender. Her eyes were like the witches orb. Mysterious and sparkly. 
Mia hesitated for moment. Was that ethereal being really her mother. 
" Mia come on. I missed you so much... "
Her tears dropped like a whitish liquid before solidifying and turning into pearls. Then they scattered all around and Mia rushed to pick them up. 
But she had to stop. 
She collided with an invisible wall. Just like the one she collided with in the Western Waters. 
" Mia careful. Don't get hurt. "
Her mother yelled and Mia frantically tried to get up and get to her. But she bounced back again because she again collided with that invisible wall. 
" Mamma..... Mamma what's happening? I can't get to you. "
She began whimpering like a little child. 
" Mia. Don't panic. It's just the wall between the dead and the living. It's not your time to cross over yet. You are just travelling. " she said. 
Mia paused at those words? 
" Where am I Mamma? Isn't this the Dream Dimension of Floating Thoughts? I have been here before. I met Nanako, you know the cursed Fox princess, Lin's grand aunt, here. She said I was here because I had experienced an close encounter with death. What happened to me this time around Mamma? "
Crystal smiled. 
" Don't you remember? When you were at the Western Waters what infiltrated your body? "
She asked. 
" Poison.... but I was fine. Boshu sucked it out from me. I came back to my boy. It has been days since it happened"
" Mia... Don't tell me you didn't realise. It was no ordinary poison. It was the poison from the great Serpent who guards the border between the realm of the dead and the living. It doesn't work like your average venom. Once infected, there is hardly anyway out. It will not be able to kill you, since you drained your system and you are an immortal shifter. But it will not leave you till the day you cross over. You will keep seeing things a living eyes wasn't meant to and you will keep doing things that the dead are supposed to"
Because Mia could ask more about the serpent or that border she was talking about, loud nagging of, 
" Mamma. Mamma wake up. Mamma I'm hungry... Mamma. " woke her up. It was Aku. He was sitting right over her chest and softly slapping her cheeks to wake her up. 
*****
It was not only Mia , who was experiencing those weird phenomenons. It had started affecting her confidante, Boshu as well. 
His dream started with cold sweats. 
He found himself running from the wolves, like he had when he was little. And then slowy, that wolf chasing him, turned into his lost, bird family. His mother, father, siblings and cousins. 
They all stood right above him as he lay there on the ground, staring. 
He was still panting with all the adrenaline rushing in his veins. 
" How could you do this to your own people Boshu? "
one asked. 
" You married a wolf? The murderers who killed your entire tribe? "
asked another. 
" How can you sleep, eat and drink which these beings, knowing full well that it was them who caused us to extermination. "
the other glared right over his face. 
Boshu literally shoved him and stood up. 
" It's not true. Not all Wolves are bad. Our kind died out because we were weak and unorganized. We lacked unity and the will to survive. We always knew that we were all victims, since the day we hatched out of our eggs. That's what we have always been told. Snap out of it . Please. We need to see the reality. "
Boshu begged but their demeanor towards him was completely hostile. 
It was Boshu's mother and father who suddenly broke out of the ring and pushed him out . 
" Get out of here Boshu. We don't know why you are even here. It isn't your time yet. Get lost. Do not show us your face. "
Boshu could see the distinct marks of sadness lacing their eyes. But he couldn't understand whether they were genuinely disgusted at his life choices or they simply tried to same him. He knew that those he was watching were all dead but somehow, even in that dreamy haze, they seemed very alive, very real. 
" Boshu? Boshu are you alright? "
Boshu opened his eyes to find Roe hugging him and looking at his face with wide eyes that were very worried . 
Boshu hugged her back and pulled her close. Then he kissed her deep and tight and then he said. 
" I love you. No matter what you are no matter who you are, nothing can change my love for you. Nothing sweetheart... no one. "
And then he looked out of the window, taking a deep breath that was essentially a very long sigh. 
" I love you too my dear husband. I wouldn't take anything in this world in exchange. You are my everything. You are my all. But tell me, did you have a nightmare? You were burning up. You were shaking and sweating. "
" I need to figure something out. I don't know Roe if it was a nightmare or a dream. It felt so real. " he said.