Dreaming Spring

"Drink, gentle stranger, and welcome. All of evil will beware."

- brass plate at the spring.

The Dreaming Spring is located in Emerald territory. Home of the Kin during winter, the spring's water has the power to show visions when dreaming and turn drinkers with a wicked heart into trees. The spring itself is a small, round pool surrounded by white stones. An ancient, brass plate is attached to one of these stones with a message engraved on it. This message welcomes "gentle" passersby, but warns "evil" beings to stay away.

The Dreaming Spring is located near the southern border of Emerald territory to the west, close to the road Heavenly Way. According to Doran, the spring cannot be seen from the road and, as a result, its location is not widely known. It is just north of the Lapis Lazuli Territory. The track leading to the spring is just past a tall, pale grey, man-shaped rock that locals refer to as "The Greer", due to its resemblance to Greers.

Secrets of Deltora
Doran visited the stream during his travels around Deltora. He described the effects of the water in his book Secrets of Deltora, then drank some to track down the remaining Emerald dragons. Doran continued to drink water from the spring to find the remaining dragons of Deltora, including the final seven who he convinced to go to sleep until the skies of Deltora were safe again.

Dread Mountain
Lief, Barda, and Jasmine arrived at the Dreaming Spring on their way to Dread Mountain. They drank from the spring and each had a vision: Lief saw his home in ruin, Barda saw Manus and the Ralad people, and Jasmine saw Doom and Glock in the resistance stronghold.

Two Grey Guards later arrived at the spring and captured the baby Kin, Prin, while she was playing with Lief. They drank from the stream and transformed into a pair of trees. Lief later used water from the Dreaming Spring to visit his father being interrogated by Fallow. The companions then filled their water bottles with water from the spring before heading to Dread Mountain. This water was later thrown into the Ooze Toad Gellick's throat, transforming him into a tree.

Return to Del
Lief used water from the Dreaming Spring to spy on a conversation between Fallow and the Shadow Lord to learn about the enemies plans.

Isle of the Dead
Prin revealed to Lief that she had been using water from the Dreaming Spring to watch Lief, Barda, and Jasmine ever since they parted ways at Dread Mountain.

After Lief and Barda were swept away from Bone Point by the Shadow Lord, Jasmine tried using Dreaming Spring water to locate them every day for a week. She eventually found them when they washed up in the Dreaming Dunes.

The Sister of the South
When the companions learned about the Toran Plague, Jasmine gave Lief her last batch of Dreaming Spring water so he could check in on Sharn. Lief instead used the water to observe palace librarian Josef, after receiving an urgent message from him.

Dreaming water
The Dreaming Spring's name comes from the effect its water has on those without wickedness in their hearts. Doran the Dragonlover states that he believes the magical properties of the water forgive ordinary human faults, such as anger and pride, and only punishes truly cold and wicked people. When a good-hearted person drinks the spring water, which Lief describes as tasting very cold and sweet, they will quickly fall into a deep sleep. The drinker will then visit whatever location or person their thoughts were on as they drank in the form of their spirit. The dreamer will be able to see and hear everything as if it were real life, but will be unable to interact with anything in the dream in any way. For example, Lief at one point uses the water to spy on Fallow. Lief is able to see Fallow's chambers and hear his conversation with the Shadow Lord clearly, but Fallow is oblivious to his presence.

In the same dream, the Shadow Lord briefly senses Lief's presence, but does not discover him. Doran notes that the Dreaming Water does not allow the drinker to visit the dead, claiming that he has tried before. Doran used the Dreaming Water to locate the last of Deltora's dragons and convince them to sleep until the events of Dragons of Deltora. In addition, the drinker must have a clear mental image of the individual that they want to dream about. Jasmine attempted to dream of her father, but she could not remember his face because she was so young when he was taken away, and so she did not dream at all.

Trees
The Dreaming Spring is surrounded by strange, pale trees. Every tree is identical to the other, sporting the same smooth trunk and the same three branches that angle upward sharply. The leaves and branches of the trees apparently do not fall off, as the ground around the spring is devoid of them. Jasmine notes that these trees are "silent" and Kree is unnerved by them because of this, to the point that he avoids sleeping in their branches.

In actuality, the trees are the result of wicked people drinking the water from the spring. When someone with a wicked heart consumes the Dreaming Water, they quickly transform into one of these trees. The transformation seems to be extremely painful, as all of the victims seen succumbing to the effects of the water are described as screaming as they change.

The Kin have witnessed several of these transformations and relayed this information to Doran the Dragonlover. In his notes, Doran claims that there are 35 trees in the grove, and 37 when he returns five years later.

Known victims

 * Three commanders of the Shadow Lord's army during Adin's lifetime.
 * The leader of a murdering gang fleeing from Rithmere.
 * Four slave traders taking slaves to the Silver Sea.
 * Two men who robbed a nearby farm and burned it down, presumably killing the unconscious farmer inside.
 * A man and woman intending to capture and sell the Kin at the spring.
 * Two Grey Guards, Carn 4 and Carn 5, who came to the spring in search of Glock and Neridah. They capture Prin while resting at the spring, intending to cook her, but drink the spring water and are turned into two more trees. Their transformation is the first one seen in the series.
 * Gellick is the only known tree that is not located near the spring, instead last being seen in its lair in Dread Mountain. Lief throws a water bottle full of spring water into the toad’s throat, which turns it into a particularly large tree. The Emerald falls from its top, unchanged.

Trivia

 * Only three transformations have been seen in the books, all in Dread Mountain.