Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!chnews!ornews.intel.com!ibeam!hutch From: hutch@ibeam.intel.com (Steve Hutchison) Subject: [AU] Meeting on the Road Message-ID: Organization: Intel Corp., Hillsboro, Oregon References: Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1993 18:46:23 GMT Lines: 195 ADMIN from Steve Hutchison: This is posted for Wolvie and Chris. Formatting, spelling, and minor dialogue fixes as usual. In adjusted timing, it happens the day after "Tiger Beat" ADMIN from Christopher Motherway: This post occurs a morning or two after the "Shepherd Moon & Morning Hymn" post. Edited and posted by Chris Meadows (Thanks for mentioning Blaze in "You Can't Keep an Evil Man Down"). ADMIN from Chris Meadows: You're welcome! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (Background Music: Instrumental version of "The Last Unicorn" by America, from the animated film of the same name.) It was nearing noontime as Sir Lance and Blaze made their way across the plain headed towards Generica. Thunder and Stardust (the horses) slowly trudged on while the riders let their minds wander. The goblins in that town were contained and returned to the forest with a warning never to return. Lance would have gladly sliced them all, but Blaze warned him not to anger them, for their revenge could prove bitter, so not a one was harmed. They stayed the night and started the trip home at sunrise. Lance enjoyed the vast open spaces around him. He had loved such wideness for almost three years now, and he thrives for any chance to live the city to go there. Blaze could not enjoy it, though. Her mind had been occupied for quite some time now. Lance noticed this in the villiage; she had assisted half-heartedly to round up the goblins. He asked, "Beloved, are you all right?" Her train of thought interrupted, Blaze startledly said, "What? Oh ... I am sorry, Lance. Ever since I heard of the Mages' Guild members going out to find Andrea and Sheryl, I ... I have not been able to stop worrying about them." "_That_ I have noticed," Lance replied. "Your amulet has been glowing since we left Generica." It was glowing even now, dimly, almost sadly. "I just pray that they are all right, that is all." "I understand, Blaze. I am worried myself. But they can take good care of themselves; they always had. I am certain that they have a good reason for leaving, and when they return, they ... " Lance stopped in mid-sentence, spotting a small group of people far off to his right. "Well, well," he said. "It seems we are not the only ones travelling today." Blaze looked over to the party for a while. Suddenly, her eyes opened wide. "Lance," she all but yelled, "Look closely! Do you see what I see?" Lance, who would not be an effective knight without keen vision, stared at the group. Two strange creatures; centaur-like perhaps. A few humans, and a small horse. Nothing unusual. Then, the sunlight hit something that made Lance blink ... Something just above the horse's head ... A horn! "Sheryl?" he finally said. Blaze's amulet glowed brightly. "Yes!" she said. "It IS Sheryl!" The couple made their horses break into a gallop and headed toward the group. As they approached, they saw the young unicorn, with a young man walking to her left, and to her right ... "AAANDREAAAA!" called Lance as he got close to the group. Andrea did not recognize the riders at first, but when the horses stopped and the riders dismounted, she knew who they were on the spot and yelled out, "Sir Lance! Blaze!" Lance approached the young thief and said, "Thank goodness you are alive! We have been worried about you!" While Lance talked, Blaze grabbed Andrea's hands and said, with tears in her eyes, "My hands touch with joy! Oh, Andrea! I was afraid those hunters had captured you and Sheryl!" Smiling, Andrea spoke up, saying, "Hey, hey! Calm down, you two. You weren't the only ones who worried, you know. After all, these guys came out to find us." The lovemates then realized that the rest of the party had been eyeing them since their arrival. So they greeted 'Raf (who Lance first thought was 'Raelf, the man who taught him that drinking "chess" game, and apparently was a shapeshifter, because he was a half-lion centaur at that moment), ar'Elya (who had looked different last time he saw her), and Kardia. A whinnying Sheryl introduced the couple to Jay, the young man, with Andrea translating. "Where's Jake Pitzar?" Lance asked, realizing that something was missing. "We came out because of his article in the paper, the descriptions were so like you." "He was called away," Andrea replied. "Some kind of new assignment." Watching Andrea as she made explanation, Blaze stopped and thought for a moment. She then looked closely at Andrea for a while. Her magic mind's eye told the archmage that something was wrong, different. She was not sure what ... until she looked at Sheryl for a second. Then, a look of shock appeared on her face. "Andrea! You ... you have the aura of ... of ... of a unicorn about you! Dimmer than Sheryl's, yes, but it is there! What has happened to you?!?" Andrea smiled and sighed, saying, "It's a loooong story!" Lance smiled and stated, "Well, since it seems we are all headed back to Generica, you all have a loooong time to tell us." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - About a half-hour later, the group had relayed the story: Andrea's run in with Raykor, her transformations into a unicorn, ar'Elya's careful modifications of the spell so that she could overcome her unicorn-half's instincts (Andrea even showed such a transformation, leaving Lance and Blaze in awe), even the juncture of Sheryl and Jay (spoken quiety, so as not to get Jay suspicious). She did omit mentioning her panic attack before nearing the city, and the reason for it, because she wasn't entirely comfortable with talking about it just yet. After the story was told, Blaze, still awestruck, said, "Well, at least my theory was correct. I _thought_ that, perhaps you were the second unicorn, and that Raykor had a hand in it." Lance added, "You are lucky that _both_ your horns were not sliced off by those hunters. Hey, wait a minute ... Blaze, remember when your soul-self was captured? Could that have been Raykor?" "The entity that held me _did_ seem to have Raykor's evil and magical qualities. His mind's-face even looked like that of Raoh the Conqueror!" "Sounds like him, all right," said Andrea. "When did this happen?" "In my sleep. I wanted to looked through your house to find traps, when this forces drew me into the house and into his mind. He wanted my life-force energy and my magic to help him fight his "foe". He did not specify _who_ the foe was, though. I was barely able to get away." Kardia noticed something about the amulet that Blaze wore. "May I look at this, please," she asked, and Blaze smiled and handed it to her. She stepped aside, and shifted sight -- there was magic, but of a very unusual kind. She showed it to ar'Elya, who grew blond and dragonet-populated, and they discussed it for a few moments. "Can you tell the difference here," ar'Elya said, and Kardia nodded, "and this goes off to nowhere, I wonder why..." "and this reaches into the archetypes, I'll show you..." "Oh, how lovely! Wait, I want to learn that pattern so I can weave..." "Exactly, it replicates here and here... I've never seen that particular way of doing it," ar'Elya said as they returned to the rest of the group. "But it seems to work." As Blaze and Lance listened, Kardia added, "This is a magic focuser, attuned to magic produced by good and by love." Blaze smiled and said, "Ahhhh, so _that_ is why it glowed whenever I thought of Andrea and Sheryl, or of Lance. They are the ones I care about and love most of all in this world, and that love was focused into the crystal. Funny, I never thought about it but ... it also glowed ... when I thought of my father." A small tear appeared on the young woman's cheek. Lance then said, "Well, Andrea, I ... do not suppose that, now that you need the space that a unicorn needs, you would be interested in ... in clearing that house out ... " Andrea answered, "Oh, no, Sir Lance, the 'Housestorming' party is still on. After all, it _is_ my house, and I _am_ still half-human!" Lance smiled. At least he knew he could help the young thief as he had promised. "Very well, then. Once we return, I will buy a good meal for each of you to celebrate Andrea's and Sheryl's return. Then, whenever you are ready, m'lady, we shall 'debug' that house, so that you can live there in peace!" For most of the rest of the journey, the group spoke of prior events and various subjects, such as unicorns and magic. Lance and Blaze would sleep well that night, knowing that Andrea and Sheryl were all right. Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!spool.mu.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!news.kei.com!ssd.intel.com!chnews!ornews.intel.com!ibeam!hutch From: hutch@ibeam.intel.com (Steve Hutchison) Subject: [AU] Back in Town Message-ID: Organization: Intel Corp., Hillsboro, Oregon References: Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 23:17:50 GMT Lines: 394 [ADMIN] Back to town so we can do some other things... For the next few days, the party travelled downriver by canoe and raft. For Andrea, it was a very fun journey. She really enjoyed canoeing, and Jay, who had started out clumsy, rapidly improved with practice. And when Andrea was running along the shore as a unicorn, as she did once or twice more during their journey, when the shoreline allowed, the feel of the wind in her mane and the ground beneath her hooves was beyond description. It felt GOOD to run, even if she wasn't completely comfortable with the changes just yet. Sometimes Clyde would also run, and they would race along the shore (Andrea usually won because of her magically-enhanced speed, but it was often a closer race than she expected. Centaurs seem to run better than horses.) Travel going back was longer, for some reason. Kardia commented on it, but 'Raf just grunted something about not needing to cheat, and ar'Elya slugged him in the flank. After the first couple of days, Andrea became somewhat more comfortable with what ar'Elya, 'Raf, and 'Raelf were. So they "ate" people. That was a little hard to deal with, at first, especially since "eating" was a rather loaded word that summoned up some rather grotesque images. But once one got past those images and understood what ar'Elya really meant, it was really not a horrible thing at all. Quite the opposite, in fact, as it prolonged the victim's (another loaded word, Andrea thought, but what would be a better choice? Consumee? Entree?) existence instead of shortening it. Perhaps if faced with death, Andrea might make a similar choice herself. At last, they reached a point on the river where 'Raf said it would be simpler to store the boats (and boy, did _that_ look strange) and hike overland to reach Generica. There were rapids ahead or something like that. So Andrea shouldered her pack and they started walking. They passed the rapids -- a series of staggered waterfalls going about 30 feet down, with really dense undergrowth around, they could see them from the old trade path. The river swung sharply northwards, and 'Raf indicated that it went several days out of their way before it joined the Cerupthon. So they walked. As they walked along, Andrea overheard Kardia and Jay conversing about what Generica was like. They'd done that off and on for pretty much the whole trip. As Kardia talked about the houses on Merchant's Hill, that reminded Andrea of something. "ar'Elya?" she asked. ar'Elya, still travelling as Aree, the red-headed Valkyrie, glanced away from Kardia, who was walking with the white wolf that accompanied Aree from time to time. She turned to Andrea. "Yes?" "Jay's arrival has presented something of a problem," Andrea confessed. "I don't really think the Dragon's Inn is a suitable place to room with a 14-year-old. Not that I don't trust Littlefair, but the kind of people that pass through that place -- " ar'Elya nodded. "So you're wondering if I could suggest a place for you to stay?" "Yes. Just temporarily, until the problems with my house are fixed," Andrea qualified. "I think we could probably arrange something." ar'Elya smiled. "Oh, that would be wonderful. I'd really appreciate it." As evening fell, they sighted the walls and spires of Generica from atop a tall hill. It was perhaps ten miles distant; they would make it in by noon of the next day. So they set up camp for the night. "Our last evening camping," ar'Elya said, somewhat sadly. "I always enjoy camping trips." She joined 'Raf and Kardia where they were starting to prepare dinner -- Clyde had gotten good with the bow, and was sent to acquire a few rabbits or a brace of pheasants. "Good thing," ar'Elya said, digging into her pouch, "that a certain pale complected friend of ours isn't here for this dinner." She winked at Kardia, and pulled out four full heads of garlic, then a crockery jar that proved to be filled with some kind of a sesame seed butter, and then two glass mason jars filled with some kind of large, cooked, seeds. "This is another place where magic would help," 'Raf said, as ar'Elya ran the chick peas through a hand-cranked grinder, along with the garlic. "Get away!" she retorted. "My recipe, you go mess with your own food..." She ran the ground mass through a finer set of teeth, and tested their texture with one finger. She crushed a lemon over it, tossing the hull to the white wolf who had accompanied them, and tasted the result. "Perfect," she pronounced. She proceeded to add about half the jar of sesame seed butter, blending both pastes together and adding some of the water from the jars that had held the chick peas. She laid a cheesecloth across the top of the bowl to protect from flies, and pulled a flat metal pan out of her bottomless travel pouch. "'Raf, did Lex send some dough through with the rest of our dinner things?" she asked, scattering the garlic hulls around the base of a small bush. "Yeah. Catch." 'Raf threw a wax-paper-wrapped ball at her, which she snagged out of the air. "I need some hands," she said, indicating Kardia and Andrea. They were given plates and instructed to make one-inch balls of dough, then flatten them out into thin pancakes by rolling them in their hands. She set the metal pan over the cooking fire. As soon as the pancakes were ready, she started laying them on the bare metal, browning them first on one side, then flipping them to the other. They puffed up in the middle. "That's how you make pocket bread?" Kardia asked, surprised. "Yes, easy, isn't it?" "I thought it required a special kind of a press." "I guess you could do it that way. It's probably faster." After a few minutes, there were stacks of fresh pocket bread, and Sheryl was sniffling curiously in their direction. "You can wait for the rest of us," ar'Elya chided. About this time, Clyde came trotting back into camp, with two pheasants. They were quickly cleaned -- 'Raf burned the feathers away with a spell that made a blue-hot flame come from his fingertip, and for some reason used another spell to save the stench from the burning in a bottle that he put into the travel pouch, and then used his claws as knives to quickly open and gut the birds. He tossed them into a ready pot of boiling water and took it off the heat, covered, so the birds would poach. "Appetizer ready?" he asked, and ar'Elya dished the chick-peas, garlic, and sesame stuff out onto plates, making a big pool, then sprinkling it with fragrant olive oil and bright red paprika. "Tahini hummous," she declared, handing it around. Even Sheryl got some, though she found the garlic made her sneeze. Kardia took one whiff and giggled. "You're right, our pale friend would not like this particular recipe." They spent the evening relaxing. 'Raf and Clyde tried to convince Sir Lance and Blaze that frisbee-throwing was the proper way to rest after a meal, but the mosquitos came out just as a game was getting going. The magically enhanced citronella torches were quickly brought out, but they couldn't really play within the warded area, so 'Raf and ar'Elya dug around and brought out some strange thing they called "The Game of Life" that depicted advancement through the ritual milestones of a very alien and bizarre culture. Later, 'Raf vetoed Trivial Pursuit, and ar'Elya vetoed Pictionary, both based on cultural problems, so 'Raf got out his pipes. Kardia regretted aloud that she didn't have her harp with her, but inside she really missed her instrument back home. 'Raf grinned and reached into ar'Elya's pouch to pull out a polished wooden box, about three feet long, four inches wide, and three inches deep, which he presented to Kardia with a bow. Her breath caught when she unfastened the catch and it opened to reveal a four-octave keyboard. With slots on one end for effects cards, which were in a covered box at the other end next to the volume control knob. "Technomagery," 'Raf semi-gloated. "Universal interface slots there on the end. PCMCIA, Crostik 2, Zendai, whatever sound cards you want to put in, it'll take 'em. I started working on this for Anna but I realized she's got the Air knack herself, she can do sound effects with her tambour staff even in low-mana worlds... Happy birthday," he said, and kissed her on the forehead. She flustered a little but sat back in the camp chair, the keyboard standing on telescoping legs just at the right height. 'Raf pulled out a lute that looked identical to the one Listener played for Blaze a few weeks ago, and handed it to her. "Teaching instrument. Harmonize with it on the dream level but please, don't push too much power through it or it'll go up in sparks and pretty lights. It knows the fingerings and the strum patterns, but not much music theory. Lets you play along, though." He handed a similar instrument to Jay and a flat-bottomed, triangular box instrument to Andrea, identifying them as also being teaching instruments. "You don't need one of these," 'Raf said, looking steadily at Lance. Lance smiled and pulled a mandolin case out of his travelling pack. "You're right. I have a good instrument here." He began to tune the mandolin, improvising a loose harmony around the noises the others were making. The smoke from the citronella torches began to writhe expectantly. ar'Elya let one eyebrow shoot up, then shrugged and (since she was in her amazon role at the moment) pulled a simple looking flute from her travel pouch. 'Raf also pulled out a triple-drum and tossed it to Clyde, and a simple tom-tom for Sheryl. "Yes, you get to play too," he said to her questioning look. Fortunately "row your boat" and "Frere Jaques" are fairly common tunes across the universes, and they did manage to find some other things they all knew. It was almost midnight before they finally quit. The next morning, they started walking before sunrise. As they came closer and closer to Generica, Andrea became conscious of a feeling of extreme nervousness, that began to grow until it was verging on panic. But the strange thing was, it wasn't HER nervousness. It was like -- Andrea struggled to come up with a good comparison -- was like loud conversation heard through a wall. It wasn't as if SHE was feeling it -- it was as if someone else very close was feeling it. Did unicorns have empathic abilities? Andrea assumed they did, to a certain extent, but if any of the rest of the party was nervous or scared, they certainly were not showing it. If anything, they seemed excited and glad to be nearly home. Andrea continued to wonder what the source of this strange feeling was. As they crested another hill and saw Generica closer before them, something inside Andrea broke, and her vision swam. And then Jay cried out and Sheryl nickered in astonishment as Andrea suddenly lapsed into the shape of a unicorn, wheeled, and galloped back toward the forest! Clyde and 'Raf gave startled shouts, then turned and galloped after her. Clyde soon slowed to a stop when it became apparent that he couldn't hope to keep up, but 'Raf was moving much faster, the blur around him showing his use of magic to speed himself. Sheryl looked worriedly in the direction they had run off, then back at Jay, then back after Andrea again. Jay solved the little 'corn's dilemma by saying, "Go on, go after your sister. I'll still be here when you get back." Sheryl tossed her head, whinnied, and was off like a shot. Jay looked after her. "I wish I'd had a sister like that..." he muttered. Someone rested a hand on his shoulder. Jay looked up. It was ar'Elya. "You do now," she said simply. "What happened to Andrea?" It was Kardia, looking out after them. Clyde came trotting back to them as the dust began to settle. ar'Elya sighed. "It's another side-effect of Raykor's curse," she said. "We didn't tell her about it because it could have interfered with her recovery." "What is it?" Kardia asked. ar'Elya began to explain. The human mind is a strange and wonderful thing for many reasons. One of which is its ability to adapt to strange new experiences by using familiar imagery to represent unfamiliar aspects of them. The dreams we have at night are one example of this, and what was happening to Andrea at the moment was another. Andrea found herself in human form, in a dark room. In the center of this room was a dais, a raised pedestal upon which a brilliant white unicorn was standing, a full-sized mare who was perhaps Andrea's equal in maturity, and looked somewhat similar to Andrea's own equine form. Light streamed down on this pedestal from above, and on the platform, the unicorn was galloping at a breakneck pace. All around, if Andrea stared hard enough, she could see dim images, scenery flashing by at a high speed. And to the rear was a blurry form that had to be 'Raf. It was all very dream-like, and Andrea realized within moments that she WAS dreaming -- but it was a waking dream. She was inside her own mind! "What's going on?" Andrea wondered out loud. "Obviously, from these images, I'm not in control of my own body. That unicorn is. But who is she?" Andrea stepped up to the pedestal. "Whoa, girl, take it easy..." The unicorn saw Andrea and shied away, the whites of her eyes showing. The scenery veered crazily, then righted itself. "That didn't work," Andrea said. "I wonder...can I use my unicorn abilities?" She called them up, felt the powers flowing through her. What to do? She decided to try projecting calm, soothing thoughts as she approached the pedestal once more. This time, it worked. The unicorn began to slow from a gallop to a canter, then to a trot, and finally to a walk and a halt. 'Raf came running up, his voice echoing as if from far away. "Andrea...are you all right?" Andrea placed her hands on the unicorn's neck, gazed into electric blue eyes -- and then looked out from her own once more. She shifted back into her human form and fell to a sitting position on the ground. "Yes -- I'm okay. Hold on a minute, let me catch my breath." -Where am I?- The thought came from inside Andrea's head, but it hadn't been her who had originated it. -You're inside my mind,- Andrea replied. -I'm Andrea, a human. Who are you?- -The Breed do not use names as you humans do,- the voice inside Andrea's mind said, -but I believe that if I had a human name, it would be N'graytha. It means "with the speed of the wind that blows through the desert from the north."- A brief image came to Andrea of a unicorn racing across the desert, throwing up plumes of sand behind it. -I see. You are the unicorn, then. Why are you inside my head?- Andrea struggled to catch her breath in the physical world while listening for the voice's response. -I...do not know. The last thing I remember was...- A brief flash of memory. Being tied down to a stone slab. A hooded, darkly-robed figure bearing a black dagger. Lightning rolling, thunder crashing. A downstroke of the knife. The face under the hood . Pain. Pain. Blackness. Andrea winced, gasped, and nearly passed out with the shock and pain from the memory. -Raykor!- she thought, and said it aloud at the same time. Then understanding came. She had heard in her magical studies about necromantic magicians -- those who specialized in gaining power through the deaths of others and the manipulations of corpses. She had never thought that Raykor might be one, but then, she had never thought much about it until now. -I understand now,- Andrea said. -You were sacrificed by an evil magician, and your soul was used in his curse on me. It must have stayed with me when his curse was deflected away.- A few miles away, ar'Elya was explaining much the same thing to Kardia. "Raykor, it would seem, uses the spirits of others to fuel his magic. We saw it in Andrea, hidden away behind the unicorn body-image. The spirit of a unicorn was there in her body alongside her own, but dormant. I believe that Raykor was able to hunt one down somehow, and sacrificed it as part of his curse. If it had worked as he intended, this spirit and Andrea's would have destroyed each other leaving her with no memories of who or what she was at all. And not even removing the curse's magical patterns could remedy that." Kardia shuddered. "But when the curse was interrupted..." she prompted. "The magics in that ring ... it's 'Raelf's handiwork, by the way, but 'Raf doesn't know which timefork made it, we think it was the part of him that we haven't found yet. Anyway, it destroyed the destructive confrontation part of the curse, so both Andrea and the unicorn spirit could coexist in the same body. But the unicorn was asleep, until the ring had finished integrating itself into Andrea's biomagical fields. If we'd told her before she might have tried to fight the spell, and hurt herself or the unicorn." "Did you think it would be better for her to work this out for herself?" Kardia asked. ar'Elya nodded. "She has to come to terms with her unicorn side. The unicorn spirit will teach Andrea her heritage as one of the Breed." "Look!" Jay said. "Here they come!" Andrea, in unicorn form, was trotting back, with Sheryl to her left and 'Raf to her right. They approached the rest of the party, and Andrea became human again. "Hello, everyone," she said. "I've just found out that I have a guest up here in my head. Her name is N'graytha, and she is an actual unicorn -- " Her face darkened. " -- who was murdered by Raykor to fuel his curse against me. Just one more reason why I have to find him and make sure he'll never kill again." "Are you okay with this, Andrea?" ar'Elya asked. "Oh, yes, perfectly," Andrea replied. "We've worked out a deal. She won't interfere with me when I'm in the city if I'll let her run free when we're in the country." "It's not uncomfortable?" Kardia prodded. Andrea cocked her head, thought about it. "Maybe a little," she said. "But N'graytha's so nice that I really don't mind sharing." Besides, she thought to herself but didn't add, now I have someone to talk to, even when there's no one around. "That's the ... spirit," 'Raf said, and dodged as Andrea threw a wild punch his way. "Spirited lass," Kardia replied quickly, and Andrea gave her an evil-looking stare, one eye half-closed. "I'll `spirit' you," Andrea threatened. "Away in the night, I will." "Not a ghost of a chance," ar'Elya chided with a wide grin. They continued punning Andrea until the city gates came in view. "Time to contact Lex," 'Raf said, "unless we wanna walk through the whole city. Probably a little easier on N'graytha right now, Andrea." "All right. I suppose," the thief shrugged. "Great. Door's open. Sir Lance, milady Blaze, would you like to visit our home, have a cup of tea?" They walked under the arch of the North Gate, but they didn't come out the other side ... On the southwest side of town, a garden was suddenly much more crowded. Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!chnews!ornews.intel.com!percy!agora!penny From: penny@agora.rain.com (Penny Hutchison) Subject: [AU] [Lighthouse] Distilled waters run Deep Message-ID: Organization: Open Communications Forum Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1993 07:42:42 GMT Lines: 138 [ADMIN] We're taking advantage of Chris Meadows being off the Net by only briefly using his characters Andrea, Sheryl, and Jay. Blaze and Lance courtesy of Wolvie. Kardia by cool permission of Liralen Li. Little Rat courtesy of The Dreamer. Steve _has_ to let me use his characters! [You bribed me!] [Did not!] ....on the southwest side of town, a garden was suddenly much more crowded... "We're back!", ar'Elya cried out. She directed the sizable and assorted crowd to stay on the cobblestone path leading from the Gate to the arch leading into the Lighthouse. 'Raf put his hands to his mouth to make a funnel. "YO! Lex, Little Rat, Kev! Headzup!" As soon as the echoes of his call stopped ringing around the garden, a tall, well-built man appeared with a small girl holding on to one of his hands, and an even smaller boy holding on to the other. The boy let go and, with a whoop, ran up to ar'Elya and threw himself into her open arms. "Reelya! Reelya! You're back!", muffled his voice through her hair. She stood up and still holding the boy, swung him around in a circle, laughing. The girl looked as if she wanted to do the same thing, but looked with wide eyes at the five people and two unicorns, and shrunk back against the man. He leaned down and whispered to her, and nodding, she ran back inside. Straightening, he waved and sprinted over to 'Raf. "Bro!", he grinned and hugged 'Raf hard. "Bro-dude!", 'Raf responded, showing most of his teeth in a fierce smile and thumped the man hard on the back. "Okay, introductions, everybody," said ar'Elya as she put Kev down. Just as his feet touched the ground he dashed up to 'Raf and, climbing onto the satrylion's back, hugged him from behind. "That's Lex. He's another of 'Raelf's brothers. The girl that you saw is Little Rat. I'm sorry, but she's very shy around strangers, but she may come out later. And that's Kev, who's not at all shy!" "Lex, Kev, you'll remember some of these folks. Kardia, Blaze, Andrea, Sheryl, Lance and Jay. Blaze and Lance, Kev will show you to our guest room, where you can freshen up for tea. The rest of you, your rooms are still here. Yes, Sheryl, Jay can stay with you. We'll meet all of you in the kitchen in a while, OK?" Reluctantly, Kev slid off of 'Raf's back and led the troupe into the Lighthouse, leaving the three 'kan in the garden. Lex and 'Raf smiled as one and each held out a welcoming arm to ar'Elya. She returned their smiles and joined them in a three-way hug. The air around them glowed briefly. <> <> <> As they broke gently apart from each other, ar'Elya tilted her head inquiringly at Lex. "What's this I hear about you and Erik trying to set Ale House on fire?" Lex leered evilly at her in response. "Might've been worse if your bouncer hadn't dumped ice water on us!" "Where's 'Raelf," 'Raf asked. "I can feel him near but not really." "Nireen finally got here to pick up Dariel, so he's off at the other side of time at the Other Lighthouse," Lex replied. "Which means we get to have a reunion party tonight," 'Raf grinned. "And I have a surprise for the both of you, no peeking, Lex," ar'Elya smiled. "We have a few moments before the others start coming back." "Tea and crumpets and toast will be ready when they get there," Lex said, "And we better hurry or I'll start snooping." ar'Elya led them to the door on the north side of the main room, the one marked "No Entry". "We have to go into the basement." "We have a basement?" 'Raf said, puzzled. Lex shrugged. They went past 'Raelf's really grungy mobile home, ar'Elya dancing up and down with each step. On the other side of the docking bay was a new archway, next to the variable reality generator. The archway led down a spiral ramp to a huge room. The south wall of the room was covered by racks of barrels, each clearly labelled in the self-interpreting 'kan writing: "Elvenwine" "Golden Pale" "Cat. Porter, Emergency Use Only" ... 'Raf whistled slowly, a hungry look coming into his eyes. "Do you like it?" ar'Elya jumped up and down. "Oh yeah," Lex grinned. "Rowan is going to thank you for this. How did you ... Oh." "Yeah, Ilya's been hiding down here while he gets rejuvenated." She grabbed hold of 'Raf and danced around in a circle. "We've got a surprise for you too, then." "What?" <> Lex called. A tallish young man, dark-skinned and with curly black hair, walked out from behind one of the barrels. He was an athletic nineteen, moving with 'Raelf's easy grace. "Cool," he said, looking around. "Can't wait til I'm old enough to drink. Hi, Reelya," he said, grinning harder. "Oh, Kev." ar'Elya breathed, her eyes wide and shining. "You've finally figured it out! Look at you, you're beautiful!" Kev blushed. "Yeah, Erik helped a little, once Lex told him what was happening. I get to be older for a few minutes a day." He hugged her, hard, and kissed her on the neck. She returned his actions enthusiastically. "Chill, dudes," 'Raf advised. "Keep level libido." A bearded, white-blond man came out from behind the last keg on the end. "You'd best get upstairs, your guests are about to reach the kitchen." Kev and ar'Elya disentangled, reluctantly, while Lex and 'Raf sprinted for the archway leading up. [ADMIN] The characters appearing in this article are copyright Stephen and Penny Hutchison, with the exception of Little Rat who is copyright The Dreamer, Andrea, Sheryl, and Jay, who are copyright Chris Meadows, and Blaze and Sir Lance, who are copyright Chris (Wolvie) Motherway. Permission is granted for distribution on standard Usenet channels and for archival purposes only; all other uses are by expressed permission of authors only. Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:6132 alt.pub.havens-rest:778 Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn,alt.pub.havens-rest Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!uunet!mnemosyne.cs.du.edu!nyx!cmeadows From: cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows) Subject: [AU] [Constellation] [Real Life] Please Read This Message-ID: <1993Aug25.154527.13989@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> Sender: usenet@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu (netnews admin account) Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept. Date: Wed, 25 Aug 93 15:45:27 GMT Lines: 73 The scene is some sort of modernistic talk show studio, with two chairs and a big TV screen between them. In the chair on the left sits Andrea, the dark-haired thief and companion to unicorns from alt.pub.dragons-inn; on the right is Sir Blake Piercy, the dashing, young, adventure-seeking cyberknight from alt.pub.havens-rest who sounds a bit like Dr. Bashir from DEEP SPACE NINE. "Greetings," Andrea says. "Undoubtedly you know us already, or at least one of us, depending on what group or groups you choose to read." Sir Blake nods. "We're both characters here, in the various story threads that go on through these groups." "We're here to talk about a very serious subject, however, and one that is certainly NOT fictional," Andrea says. "If this annoys you, well, you're free to press 'n' and go on to the next fantasy or SF story message. However, we feel that what we have to say is very important." "Recently, in Generica," Sir Blake begins, as the screen between them lights up, "there was a great storm." Pictures of the horrific hurricane from the dragons-inn [Storm] thread appear on the screen. This changes to scenes of volunteers stacking sand-bags, waves washing over, some people being dragged under by the sea's fury. "This storm brought with it a great deal of flooding," Andrea continues, as images of the devastation wrought on the Low City by the storm flash across the screen. "However, thankfully, most of the inhabitants survived, thanks to intervention by some of Generica's most powerful mages and clerics..." The weaving of the magical barrier over the temple street now appears. "...and were able to rebuild, thanks to, er, anonymous donations." Now the inhabitants of the Low City are shown, hard at work rebuilding their houses, and then Andrea handing a bag of gold coins to Delmara, who helped to pay for the lumber for the reconstruction. "However, in real life, these stories don't necessarily have happy endings," Sir Blake Piercy said. "This summer, the Mississipi-Missouri river flooeded over its banks due to unprecedented rainfall." Andrea continued. "Thousands of people have lost their homes. Many are without the simple necessities that you or I take for granted." "There is help for these people," Sir Blake Piercy says, as pictures of uniformed workers piling sandbags, handing out water, and otherwise helping people appear on the screen. "The Red Cross is doing a great deal to get help to flood-stricken areas. But it needs YOUR help." He points at the camera for emphasis. Andrea nods. "Disaster relief isn't free. The Red Cross is doing what it can to help, but it needs donations." Sir Blake Piercy says, "If you're well enough off to afford to go to a college with computers, or afford a computer service that gives you access to NetNews, or work at a company that gives you computer access, won't you please write a check? Five dollars, ten dollars...every little bit helps." An address appears on screen in large letters, and Andrea says, "Send any donations to:" The American Red Cross 1211 S. Glenstone Springfield, MO 65804 "Tell them it's to go to flood relief." Sir Blake nods. "We now return you to your regular fantasy or SF programming." The picture fades to static, and is gone. -- Chris Meadows | Robotech/RIFTS/Palladium fanfic author/editor CHM173S@SMSVMA | They Might Be Giants about Star Trek aliens: CHM173S@VMA.SMSU.EDU | "Everybody wants prosthetic foreheads CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU | on their real heads!" Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!uunet!mnemosyne.cs.du.edu!nyx!cmeadows From: cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows) Subject: [AU] [Kron Park] A Walk In The Park Message-ID: <1993Sep16.020948.27517@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> Sender: usenet@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu (netnews admin account) Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept. Date: Thu, 16 Sep 93 02:09:48 GMT Lines: 159 ADMIN: It's been too long since I've put anything out on the Inn; I apologize to the other authors whom I've kept waiting. I've got to get back into the swing of things, and these two posts should help. BTW, the old man is NOT Joshua; this was written before I even *saw* any of the posts with Joshua in them. He is Vitor, the gardener for Generica's public gardens; check the Tourist Guide if you don't believe me. Okay, on with the show... ----- Andrea sat at a small table in the Dragon's Inn, alone with her thoughts (though with N'graytha in her head, that expression took on the quality of an oxymoron). Sheryl and Jay were with ar'Elya, who had seen Andrea's need to be alone and so had volunteered to show Jay around the city, with Sheryl accompanying, of course. -You are troubled,- that voice echoed from the recesses of her mind. "Darn right I'm troubled," Andrea said, sipping at her dark ale and receiving curious glances from those at nearby tables who observed her talking to herself. -Why?- (Curiosity) Andrea chuckled. "Why SHOULD I be troubled. My life has only been turned upside down in the last several days; why should *I* be troubled?" She took a sip at her dark, bitter ale. (Confusion) Andrea sighed. "Oh, I'm sorry, N'graytha. It's not your fault. I guess I'm just a touch depressed." -Why are you in here, then?- "BECAUSE I'm depressed. Andrea scowled, and took another pull at the mug. -It does you no good to consume alcohol in this condition.- "And who are you, my mother?" -I am the other inhabitant of your body, closer to you than any sibling, parent, or lover could ever be. Does that not give me a right to be concerned?- Andrea sighed. "I suppose it does at that." She put the mug down. "So, what would YOU recommend?" -Why not go for a walk and see where it takes us?- Andrea shrugged. "Okay, why not? Beats sitting around staring at the wall." She left a few coins and the unfinished mug on the table, waved to Serene and Mista, and walked on out. "So where shall we go?" Andrea wondered. (Indifference) -That way.- Andrea felt a gentle tug to the right. "All right. Now you're SURE about this..." Andrea said, grinning. (Confusion) "Never mind..." Andrea said, still smiling. "Let's see what's around that corner." A few minutes later, they found themselves standing outside what appeared to be a patch of dense jungle, in the middle of the city. "Where did this come from?" Andrea wondered. "I don't think it was here when I left. And wasn't there some sort of arena or something here before?" -It does seem somewhat recent,- N'graytha agreed. Then, -Look at that man.- Andrea looked. A man, clad in the colorful clothes of a gypsy, was standing there harranguing a bewildered-looking cityguard. He was speaking rapidly in his own language, using frenetic hand gestures, and looked quite red in the face. "I wonder what he's saying..." Andrea murmured. -You do have the power to understand him,- N'graytha reminded her. "That's right, I do, don't I? Unicorns can understand almost all spoken languages." -All you must do is concentrate.- "Concentrate. Right." Andrea's hazel eyes shaded to electric blue, and the man's words became intelligible. He was giving the guard a thorough reaming-out, using some language that Andrea hadn't heard in ages and some that she'd never even dreamed of before. She stored some of it away for future reference. She could feel N'graytha's mortification at some of the terms that the gypsy was using to describe the guard, the jungle, and the entire Generican government. "And where the hell are we supposed to sell our goods now that the Arena collapsed all over our carts out ?!" he was yelling. "How am I supposed to support my wife and little children? Our free market is GONE, wiped out when that blasted building fell all over it! You go back to your city planning council, to whoever's bright idea it was to put this--this--" he waved his arm wildly at the jungle, temporarily unable to find the term he wanted "--this PARK in here and tell him how angry I am!!! I should--" And on, and on. Andrea let her unicorn part subside and shook her head. "Whew," Andrea said. "How long do you think he can keep that up?" -Undoubtedly a long, long time.- (Amusement, intermingled with consternation and some disgust) Andrea looked at the dense jungle. It looked cool, and somehow felt...inviting. "Shall we enter?" -Why not?- "Why not indeed." Hitching up her breeches, Andrea stepped onto a small stone path into the jungle that wound among the trees until it reached a small area of open stone cobbling, with stone benches all around. Left over from the "arena," no doubt. A small stream babbled merrily nearby. Sitting in one of the benches was an older man, clad in robes, with a kindly set to his face. He gripped a wooden staff in his left hand, but did not appear hostile. "Greetings, my friends," he said, noticing Andrea's approach. "Please be seated." Andrea took a seat on a nearby bench. Wait a minute--had he said "friends," plural? Must have been her imagination, right? "Hello," Andrea said. "Who are you?" "Oh, just an old gardener," he said, with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Look at all this." He waved his arm to encompass a great deal of the jungle. "Smell that air. Feel that cool breeze." Andrea did as instructed. "Wow..." The air was gloriously fresh, with just a hint of aromatic fragrances. The breeze was cool and slightly moist. It strongly appealed to Andrea's more peaceful side. "This is amazing. How did it just spring up like this overnight?" "It's alive, you know," the man continued. "Alive? Aren't all jungles?" Andrea asked, puzzled. "To some extent, yes. But this jungle is ALIVE, sentient." Andrea gasped. "You mean, it thinks? And it's watching us right now?" "Oh, have no fear," the man said. "It means no harm; it just wants to survive, and to be of service to its fellow creatures. But it will tolerate no violence within its boundaries, nor will it allow anyone to come to harm." His voice lowered to a half-whisper. "It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen." He stood, leaned on his staff. "Now, much as I regret having to leave such a wonderful place, my own plants need my attendance. I must return to my garden." He started walking up the trail, then turned, said with a kindly smile, "But you, you are free to stay here for as long as you like. I would take advantage of that, were I you. You look like you could use a little peace. Both of you." He waved, turned again, and soon disappeared among the leafy fronds. Andrea just stared after him. "How...?" -That man was a Druid,- N'graytha said mentally. -A very powerful one.- "That explains how he knew, then," Andrea said. "Well." She breathed deeply of the fresh, cool air. "I have to bring Jay and Sheryl here; they'd love it." Andrea sat for a while, then N'graytha said, -This jungle. Do you think it would object to...?- Andrea stood from the cool stone bench. "No, I don't think it would mind..." She smiled. "You have my permission, as well. Go right ahead." -Thank you.- (Happiness) Visitors to Kron Park over the next few hours, had they looked close enough, might have barely made out the dim form of a unicorn peacefully grazing in the jungle, perhaps twenty or so yards away from the cobbled clearing. -- Chris Meadows | Robotech/RIFTS/Palladium fanfic author/editor CHM173S@SMSVMA | They Might Be Giants about Star Trek aliens: CHM173S@VMA.SMSU.EDU | "Everybody wants prosthetic foreheads CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU | on their real heads!"