Dear Dave,

Last night I dreamed that me and you had a wizard battle. We didn't look like wizards, but we could do magic. All our oldest friends and family came to watch, because there was a small chance we might die. They all stayed at the Hilton, and we were able to get them a special rate because of this being such a big situation. The location we picked was a smallish canyon (the walls stretched maybe 20 or 30 feet over our heads) and it had a creek of lava running along one side. Workers in charge of setting up for events had rolled out green indoor/outdoor carpeting and set a while pergola on top of that and, underneath, a lot of white chairs. In the evening and just before the battle, (purple sky set against red canyon) we were discussing logistics and I realized I had forgotten how to do magic. This magic was elemental, you said. I had to be touching one of the elements in order to cast a spell. I poured my bottled water on the ground, scooped up some mud, and mashed together a miniature mud golem so I could bring him alive to fight for me, but he wasn't holding together very well. Trying to do magic felt exactly the same as when I had tried as a child. I held my breath and tensed all the muscles in my body. I stared at the mud man so hard and didn't blink. All my blood rushed to my head. The straining was just as terrible as it had always been.