Valetni woke with a curse. He peeled the sweat soaked sheets from his body, untangling them where his legs had become bound as he thrashed about during the night. He swung both legs over the side of the bed, and leaned forward, head in his hands and elbows on his knees. The dreams were growing worse. Always the same variation, drowning, asphyxiation. Something wrapping around him, pulling him ever downward, his clothes becoming waterlogged, impeding him as he desperately clawed for the surface, for the air that he so desperately needed. If not that, it was being trapped underground, slowly suffocation as he used up his air supply, his attempts to prolong his life only hastening his death as his frantic attempts to get to air only consumed it faster. Tonight's had been particularly creative. A large snake slowly coiling around him, constricting him, immobilizing him. He shuddered, shaking his head to dispel the last vestiges of the dream.<br/><br/>Slowly, his heart began to slow, and his breath came more naturally, it was only then that he stood, wobbling for a moment until his hand found the cane by his bed. The dreams weren't real, they didn't mean anything. He ran his free hand through his hair, noting how several strands came away as he did so. He stared at his outstretched palm, noting not only the hair, but how the skin had become tight, constricting, like he needed to burst out of it. He shook his head once more, catching a glimpse of the golden eyeball on the night stand as he did. If Valetni was the superstitious type, and not a man of science, he would have said that the eye followed him as he made his way to make his morning ablutions.<br/><br/>Valetni felt much better after he emerged from the bathroom, and a rumble in his stomach told him he would feel even better once he put some food in that. With that in mind, clothed and with his usual accoutrements, he stumped his way downstairs to the common room.