Gradually at first, then all at once, the darkness around her solidified into...an oasis? Not just an oasis, the one where Cole had captured her...
And there he was. She looked up at him with wide eyes, lips slightly parted as the drow materialized in her dream. "Cole...?" She got slowly to her feet, head tilted just slightly as he started to speak.
It- it didn't make any sense. Why on earth would she dream about this? Was her unconscious mind trying to justify the small twinges of sympathy she'd started to feel toward the elf? Was she just projecting what she wanted to hear from him- well, not exactly what she wanted to hear.
Confused, Zahra took a cautious step toward him. "Cole," she tried again, reaching out to him. Well, if her dreams were going to be so strange, she may as well try to work through them. "You're not weak," were the first proper words she seems to be able to form. "Cole, don't you see? Being this way...feeling the way you do makes you stronger than the rest of them could ever be."
In the waking world Zahra would never have been so bold, never felt so comfortable around him. But this was just a dream, right? She'd always had good control over her dreams, able to stop them short when they took turns she didn't like. So she reached up to take his hands in hers, starting to run little circles with her thumbs, unconsciously mirroring what he'd been doing earlier.
"You're not like them. I can't- I can't forgive everything you've done, but I know....you were just trying to survive." She sighed, trying to sort through her own mess of emotions. "I wish you hadn't hurt the other girls. I wish you could have left me free. I wish your father wasn't a monster, I wish your mother had loved you the way she should have...."
So may wishes, so many "if only"s. She looked up at him again and tried for a very small smile. "I wish a lot of things, Cole. And- and if you were real I'd never tell you this, but I wish we could have met differently. I think I might actually have liked you." Another breath. "If I were awake right now I don't think I'd say this, but...thank you. I don't- I don't want to have to be grateful for not being...well. What happens to the others. I shouldn't have to be grateful for that. But I am."
A small sigh and she shook her head. "I wish I could leave and take you with me," she murmured. "You don't deserve this life any more than the rest of us." Unconsciously she'd come to associate Cole with the other slaves, the people who had no choice.