Prelude:

       Irene shifted in her seat, tossing her blonde hair 
about.  Like most eight year olds, she didn't have much 
patience for school, and her tutor was one of the most 
boring people in the universe.  He was a Nightwalker, 
pitch black with deep yellow eyes that seemed to glow in 
the dark.  She wondered if his clothing was real or 
illusionary; Nightwalkers were noted for their skills 
with illusions.  

        He could be cool sometimes, but only when she 
managed to distract him into going off on an interesting 
tangent.  He was blathering on about etiquette, so she 
asked him the most off-topic question she could think of.  
"Where do Faeries come from?"  she asked.

        Tutor Shin Al'Daro paused in mid-sentence.  "What?"

         "Where.  Do.  Faeries.  Come.  From?"  She spoke 
slowly, in case he hadn't heard her clearly.

        "Usually, they're born of a mother and a father, just 
like mortals like you, little one."  He paused.  "You do 
know where mortals come from, right?"

        "No, no, I mean where did the FIRST faerie come 
from?"  Of course I know where mortals come from, she 
thought.  If you eat too much yeast, you bloat up and get 
pregnant, then you have a child.

         "Ahh.  Well, there are several theories.  I myself 
believe that the first faeries were humans who were 
transformed by living in Arcadia.  Humans who live here 
tend to eventually turn into faeries, but faeries virtually 
never turn into just ordinary humans.  Not permanently.  
Now, how the humans got here...I don't know.  I sometimes 
think the humans created the lands of legends by their 
beliefs, then some of the humans living in them wandered 
out into the mists, creating new realms and forming 
Arcadia."  He sat down.  "Have you ever been to the mists, 
Irene?"

        "Yeah, I'm gonna go there one day and make my own 
realm and be a Queen!"  Irene announced.  "Mommy says I'll 
be good at that one day."

         Shin smiled.  "Yes.  Mortals are good at creating 
realms.  Which is another reason I think they had 
something to do with creating Arcadia."

        "So why are mortals better at it?"

        "We faeries have a hard time concentrating, just 
like small children like yourself.  Now, back to that 
etiquette lesson.  When you meet a Duchess, you must..."

        Irene made a note that her realm would have no 
etiquette in it.
 
*************

The Summer People

Chapter 14:  The Sword in the Chair

By John Biles

***************

Angel said:

        I had just enough time to do the waterbreathing 
spell before I hit the water and passed out.  I tried to do 
it for everyone, but it was quite a while before I found 
out who I had helped and who I hadn't.

        I woke up, dripping wet, on the bottom of a river.  
Okay, I suppose anyone on a river bottom, would be wet.  
It just felt...oh forget it.  Anyway, there was a trout 
circling my head.  When it saw I was awake, it swam 
towards the nearby bank, suddenly turned into a human 
and walked out of the water.  I still haven't reached the 
point where I can be blase about things like that.

        I swam after her (it was a woman) and thanked God 
that my waterbreathing spell had worked.  When I 
emerged from the water, I saw that it was Jennifer who 
had been the fish.  She was sitting on the bank.  "Water 
affinity?"  she asked.

        After shaking myself dryer if not dry, I replied, 
"Yeah.  I take it you have an affinity for fish?"

       "Any kind of animal.  It just has to be natural.  No 
unicorns.  I'm not much good at waterbreathing magic and 
unfortunately, I couldn't think of an animal that could 
pull you out without eating you."  She laughed a bit.  "I 
assumed you'd rather rest."

        I sat down by her and looked around.  We were in a 
sparse birch forest with the castle nowhere to be seen.  
Or our friends.  "Where the h...where are we?"

        "No bodies, in case you're wondering.  That's not 
even the right river."  She looked around.  "The weather 
says this is Seelie land, but beyond that, we could be in 
any of a billion realms."  

         "But how did we get here?"  I stood up again and 
looked around.  "And how do we get back?  And do you 
have ANY idea how everyone is?"

        "Lightning struck us.  We all fell.  I remember the 
water churning and being pulled down.  I had turned into a 
fish just before we hit the water.  We drifted through 
some kind of aquatic realm, then you bobbed to the 
surface.  I'd lost everyone by then.  You then sank to the 
bottom of the river that we were now in.  I'd guess 
there's a portal to some aquatic realm near here."  She 
took a nearby stick and started drawing in the dirt.  
"How's your knowlege of how to travel around Arcadia?"

        I sat back down.  "Pretty bad.  Pretty much I've been 
letting experienced people lead me around and give me 
lectures I don't understand on it."

         Jennifer gave me an odd look.  "I know that feeling.  
Anyway, if you feel up to it, we can go look for the 
portal.  If we can find that, finding our way back to the 
castle's realm wouldn't be too hard.  Or, I can try to teach 
you how to travel to it by correspondences."

        "Let's search for the portal."

        We spent several hours underwater, but we couldn't 
find anything, nothing at all.  It was incredibly 
frustrating.  Once we surfaced, Jennifer said, 
"Unbelievable.  Either someone deliberately sent us here, 
or somehow we drifted miles down this river without me 
noticing."  

          I was starting to get incredibly hungry.  "Ugh.  
Food."

          Jennifer laughed.  "Me Jane.  You food."

          I would have laughed more if I wasn't starving.  "I 
suppose asking you to turn into something I could eat 
would be in bad taste."

         "Yep.  We don't even have any weapons to go hunting.  
I lost my sword and I see you lost yours."

          That seriously displeased me.  Fencing weapons 
don't come cheap.  "I guess we start walking.  So how do 
we travel by correspondences?"

         "Basically, everything of a given kind in Arcadia is 
linked.  You can move through the linkages to travel 
between places.  It's fairly slow if you don't have the 
affinity for it, but it can take you anywhere, as many 
realms either have no roads connected to them, or the 
roads connect by very roundabout ways." She stood up and 
looked around.  "The easy way will be for us to follow the 
river.  Gradually, as we move through realms that 
possess a river, we can eventually reach the right one.  
Since the castle realm has a forest AND a river, that will 
help.  Shouldn't take more than a day or two at most."

        Shaking myself again, I said, "Days?  I'm hungry 
now."

        She frowned.  "Got a better idea?"

        I shook my head.  "No."

         We started walking down the river in silence, 
except for nature's noises.  The air was fresh and clean, 
and the forest was quite pretty, but I had other things on 
my mind.  "Can I ask you a question?"

        Jennifer muttered something to herself.  "Go right 
ahead."

        "I was just wondering...I mean...Why are you helping 
us?  Not that I'm not grateful, but I know the two of us 
haven't exactly gotten along and..."  I should have kept my 
mouth shut, but I was curious and bored, and didn't know 
what else to talk about with someone I barely knew.

         "What would you do if your sisters were 
kidnapped?"  was her reply.  

        I blinked in surprise.  "The Queen of the Unseelie Fae 
kidnapped your sisters?"

         Jennifer blinked and stared at me.  "What...oh, I see.  
No, I'm QUITE certain she didn't kidnap them."  Throwing 
back her head, she laughed for a while.  It was a very healthy 
laugh.  And a pretty loud one.  "But I need help 
to find them.  An oracle told me I had to reconcile with 
old enemies in order to help them.  Harry was there; he 
could tell you about it.  And...I don't like kidnapping.  Even 
if I didn't need your help, I wouldn't have wanted to just 
let people go around kidnapping innocents."  Her voice 
was angry.  "If you don't like someone, you go to THEM and 
stomp on them, you don't strike at their families.  That's 
dishonorable."  

         I nodded.  "Exactly.  If it wasn't suicidal, I'd go 
confront Teleute about this, but...I'm good, but not that 
good.  Not even close."

        "Wise.  She'd crush you like a fly."  Jennifer hopped 
over a huge tree root which I nearly tripped on.  "I 
understand you've had some problems with her daughter, 
Splinter."  Her voice had a sort of forced casualness to it 
that even I, who am not very good at picking up on these 
sorts of things, could recognize.  It works better over a 
phone; in person, your body language gives you away.

         "Yeah, she tried to kill me twice, breaking up a 
revel to do it the second time.  Then she tried to kidnap 
me.  And made me think she was torturing Harry."  I 
growled.  "And I wouldn't be surprised if she had 
something to do with Tanya's Dad kidnapping Harry and 
Tanya, too."

         Jennifer stumbled over a root.  "She kidnapped you?  
When did this happen?"

        "Early October.  We were down in Austin and went to 
a restaurant and she enchanted the food to draw us into 
Arcadia.  Then she kicked out butts and carried me off to 
torture me."  I shuddered at the memory.  "This was 
before I learned any magic or that I'm the Queen's 
daughter."

        Jennifer turned and stared at me in silence, looking 
into my eyes.  It felt weird.  "So how did you get away 
from her?"

        "I had a ring to protect me from faerie magic.  She 
took it off her finger and I heard Harry screaming and...I 
guess my magical abilities kicked in and knocked her 
down and I managed to get away."

        "And where did Splinter hold you prisoner?"  She 
continued to look at me intently.  

        "In a castle in the Mists.  I guess she created it with 
her will."

        Jennifer blinked.  "Quite impressive."  We started 
walking again.  "So what do you plan to...do to Splinter if 
you ever meet her again."

         "Kick her ass to the moon," I said, surprising 
myself a bit.  "I'm no easy prey anymore.  I have magic 
and I've gotten a LOT better at fighting.  I'll show her she 
can't mess with Angela Bedos-Rezak, daughter of 
Glorianna, Queen of the Seelie Fae."  It was getting easier 
to think of myself as such.

         "She's a princess too, you know,"  Jennifer said 
quietly.  She sounded a little gloomy.  "So you plan to kill 
her?"

         I shook my head.  "I couldn't kill her even if she 
deserved it.  I couldn't make myself do it.  I've never 
killed anyone and don't want to start.  How Dad could...He 
blew away this ogre just like..."  I shuddered.  I had 
known Dad had been a soldier, but I didn't think he'd ever 
actually shot anyone.  Up to this point, I hadn't really 
been thinking about what had happened.  "Oh God.  Dad 
killed someone.  He was trying to kidnap us, but...and he..."  
I fell to my knees.  I was going to be ill again.

         Jennifer's eyes widened.  "What's wrong?  Are 
you..."  She knelt down by me.

         The bile rose, but I didn't throw up and the spell 
quickly passed.  "I've seen two deaths today.  I'd never 
seen anyone die before today.  Not for real.  And one of 
them was by cold iron."

         Jennifer hesitantly put a hand on my shoulder.  "I 
saw that in a duel once.  The Cold Iron death.  I was ill 
for two hours and couldn't sleep for a month.  I hate to 
tell you this, but...you're going to see more deaths.  Most 
of them won't be permanent, but...especially if you're 
really the Queen's daughter.  Queens have to kill 
sometimes, and send people to be killed.  Whether they 
like it or not."

          "It just...No one should have to die at the hands of 
other humans...or faeries.  I mean, Dad didn't have a 
choice, but he...he just..."  I got back up.  "He didn't even 
seem to be bothered."

         "He's probably waiting until he's alone to cry.  Men 
are like that,"  Jennifer said.  "And since he's mortal and 
what he killed probably didn't look very human to him..."

        "But he's as human or you or me!  Sure, he was an 
ogre, but my best friend is an ogre!"  An image of Dad 
shooting Alex flitted into my head and I nearly threw up.

         Jennifer's eyes were sad, and she was on the verge 
of crying.  "To mortals, many of us faeries seem like 
monsters.  Would you care about him killing an ogre if 
your best friend wasn't one?"

         A few months ago, I would have seen the ogre as 
just a monster.  How many monsters had I pretended to 
kill in my roleplaying career?  Those had just been 
imaginary, though.  "Being a faerie isn't all it's cracked 
up to be,"  I said quietly.

        She nodded.  "It can be a source of great pain, but 
also great joy.  I'm glad I'm a faerie, but sometimes...I 
cry and cry and cry and only O...Mark can help me feel 
better.  So what will you do to Splinter when you catch 
her?"

        I picked up a rock and tossed it in the water to 
watch it ripple.  "I don't know...I just...I need to...I want to 
make sure she doesn't try to kidnap me again.  Lock her up 
with her lover, I guess.  I'm sure he must miss her, 
though I can't understand why he likes her."  The rock 
skipped three times, surprising me.  I can only do that 
when I don't try.

        "Not bad."  She tossed a rock.  It skipped twice and 
she cursed softly.  "I'm sure she has qualities her 
enemies don't see.  The same for you, no doubt."

        "I don't even understand why she hates me.  I 
mean...it wasn't my idea to be mistaken for Aquamarine.  
Or whatever.  She's like this big mystery to me.  I never 
even found out why she was looking for Aquamarine.  
Aquamarine doesn't know either."  I threw another rock.  
This time, it sank right to the bottom immediately.  
"Aargh."

       "We never understand our enemies because we never 
get to see them when they're not being evil to us,"  
Jennifer said quietly, tossing another rock.  It skipped 
five times.  "Hey, alright!"

        I applauded briefly.  "True.  And it's almost 
impossible to REALLY start over. Still, I just...I can guess 
why Teleute wants me, but not why Splinter would.  And 
then she just kinda backed off.  Maybe I scared her off."

         Jennifer snorted.  "A mortal scare off a faerie?  
Not likely.  Perhaps she's been busy with more important 
matters.  Probably off trying to rescue her lover."

        "Well, Mother assured me it would be incredibly 
difficult for an Unseelie to break into the palace and..."

         Jennifer began to laugh hysterically, but wouldn't 
tell me why.

**************

Harry said:

        I woke up naked in a bed with Aquamarine sitting on 
a chair next to the bed, fretting and trying 
unsuccessfully to do some reading in one of the 
textbooks for our Eighteenth Century class, a book with 
the exciting title 'Eighteenth Century Europe'.  About as 
exciting a read as the title.

        Anyway, I spent a few seconds trying to remember 
how I had gotten there.  The last thing I remembered was 
screaming, falling, and getting wet.  "What's going on?"

       Aquamarine fell out of her chair, which was pretty 
fun to watch.  She scrambled to her knees.  "You woke up!"

        "Amazingly, people do that."  I sat up.  "Where did my 
clothing go?  Where's Angel?  And everyone else?"

        Aquamarine frowned.  "They're still looking for her 
and Jennifer.  Alex and Thomas and Helena are down at 
the river.  They didn't find Shalrisa either, but Helena 
saw her turn into a big barracuda who then got swept off 
by the current.  I was down there helping them, but I 
finally wore myself out using too much magic, so I came 
back here to watch over you."  She yawned.  "It's about 2 
am now."  She started.  "Ack!  I must have drowsed 
off...they should be back by now.  And your clothing is 
drying off somewhere.  There's more in the closet."

         I shuddered.  "They didn't FIND HER?"

       Tanya gulped.  "I'm sure she's fine," she said.  "Lady 
Rowanford checked the omens and they assured her that 
Angie is alive.  She's GOT to be alive."  She sounded like 
she was trying to reassure herself.  Standing up, she 
said, "Let's go find them.  I think I've got enough strength 
back to be of help."

       "Can you bring me something to wear?"

       "Afraid to let me see you naked?"  she said, winking.  
"Hmm.  Let's find you some leather pants...better to let 
your chest just go bare..."  

        I blushed.  "Tanya!"

        "Oh, you want MY chest to be bare too?"  She turned 
and winked.  "We'll save that for the post-rescue orgy."

         I heard heavy running feet.  "Hurry.  Someone's 
coming."

         She tossed me some clothing, a blue tunic and pants 
and some underwear, which I quickly put on.  I got 
dressed and stood up just in time for Alex to run into the 
room, slam into me, and knock me down on the bed, nearly 
crushing me.  "We can't find her!  Where is she?  Where is 
she, Harry?  We looked and looked and looked and..."  Her 
voice was distorted by fear and the sobs she kept giving 
out.

        Tanya came over and put a hand on Alex's shoulder.  
"We'll find Angie, Alex."

         I tried hard to breathe.  "Not so...tight."

         She let up, but still clutched me.  "I'm so tired and I 
couldn't find her and the fish claim they haven't seen 
anything and..."  She babbled and I just tried to make 
soothing noises and pat her back.  

         Flamehair came to the door.  "I'm sure she's fine.  
At worst, we may have to go to the Lands of the Fallen to 
find her, but I think she just got swept away.  A naiad 
talked to the fish for us and the fish claimed a lot of 
them vanished around the same time as you all fell in the 
water."  He walked over and put a hand on Aquamarine's 
shoulder.  "Come on, Aquamarine.  You need sleep.  
Wildbriar, there's a room for you and Helena right next to 
this one.  Helena's probably asleep already."  He yawned.  
"I wish I was.  Goodnight, Harry."

         Aquamarine gave Alex's shoulder a squeeze.  "We'll 
find her, Alex.  I swear."  She left with Flamehair, 
pausing in the door to smile at me.  

         Alex frowned after Aquamarine left.  "She was 
more worried about you than about Angel."

         "We've been friends since we were tiny.  If she'd 
fallen from the sky into a river after being hit by 
lightning, I'd be a nervous wreck.  She's my best friend."  
I said quietly.  And I love her and she loves me.  She 
doesn't love Angie.  "And I'm sure she did everything she 
could to find Angie.  Everything.  Because she knows how 
much I love her."

          "We'll go look for her in the morning together.  
Right?"  Her voice was shaking.  "Because we both.."

         "We both love her,"  I said quietly, kissing her 
cheek.  It was an impulsive thing.  My horniness had been 
adequately sated for a while by last night's three-person 
tango, so to speak, but I just...it seemed like the right 
thing to do.  Even though...it insinuated things I wasn't 
sure I felt.

          "She wouldn't...I mean...Do you think...I'm scared, 
Harry," Alex said.  She started to cry.  "Hold me.  
Just...help me."

          I held her tightly, wrapping my arms around her 
more solidly.  "I'm scared too, Alex."  I was scared, 
though not as much as her, probably because I was still 
too tired to be scared.  "I don't know what I'd do if she 
died."

         "If she died, I'd find whoever killed her and feed 
him his arms through his nose,"  Alex said, her voice 
tight.  "Or if they killed you.  You...you'd avenge me, 
wouldn't you?"

        "Of course I would, Alex,"  I said, brushing her tears 
away with my hand.  Eventually, we were going to have to 
talk about...what had happened, but this wasn't the time.  
She needed comfort, not an ethics discussion.  "Now I 
think it's time for Harry and the beautiful woman known 
as Alex to get some sleep before we turn into turnips."  I 
yawned.  "Not that I haven't gotten some sleep, but this 
has been a busy day."

        She nodded, kicking off her shoes and pulling the 
sheets up over the two of us.  "I wish you'd gone to my 
high school," she said softly.  "The three of us...we could 
have had a lot of fun together."

        "I wish you'd come to my high school,"  I said.  "You 
and Angel.  Then I could have had a harem."  I tickled her 
gently.  "A gaming harem."

        She laughed.  "I was such a mess in high school.  But 
now, I'm just so...so happy with you and Angel.  I'm loved 
by two wonderful people who really care about me.  
Nobody ever really loved me but Linda, and she...she didn't 
love the real me when she found out.  But neither of you 
care.  You've seen me at my worst, but you love me 
anyway."  As she spoke, she gradually snuggled her way 
into a good sleeping position.  "I don't feel like I deserve 
it...like this happened because I don't have the right to be 
happy.  Like somehow it...it..."

        Now I sounded fierce for once.  "This isn't your 
fault.  You deserve happiness, Alex.  It was just a storm 
and an accident.  And Angel's gonna be fine.  She's with 
Jennifer, and Jennifer is a pretty competent faerie.  And 
she's a good person too.  She saved me from the Wild 
Hunt."  I kissed her cheek again.  "Now sleep before I have 
to noogie you unconscious."

        Alex laughed and nearly noogied ME unconscious 
instead.

*************

Tanya said:

        I couldn't sleep.  Some of it was that I felt guilty I 
hadn't stayed outside longer, even though I'd kept 
wandering around under the river until I was so 
waterlogged I didn't know which way was up.  Some of it 
was just plain paranoia.  "She's gonna try and seduce 
him,"  I announced to Thomas.

        Thomas muttered and woke all the way up.  "Him 
what who?  And why do I care?"  Thomas doesn't like 
being interrupted while he's trying to fall asleep.  I don't 
blame him, but I NEEDED to talk to someone.

         "Alex, of course!  Who else would be trying to 
seduce Harry?"  I said.  Geez, are you blind, I thought.

         He blinked, then began to laugh.  "Alex seduce 
Harry?  I suppose Saddam Hussein will seduce the 
President next."  I could feel his body shake next to mine.

         I rolled over on one side to face him.  "Didn't you 
see how she was acting?"

        "Her best friend fell in the river and is missing!  
People do get kinda hysterical when that happens, you 
know."  Thomas rolled his eyes at me.  "Besides, Harry 
and Alex get along about as well as Angie and Splinter. 
Heck, I think Splinter would be MORE likely to try to 
seduce Angie than Alex to seduce Harry."

         I should have shut up.  I couldn't stop myself.  
"She's trying to seduce him."  Even I could tell I sounded 
petty.  "The old comfort me routine.  Right when he's 
most vulnerable!"

          Thomas rolled over and frowned at me.  "Give the 
woman some credit.  I've never liked her much, but she's 
not manipulative like that.  Alex is very much a 
straightforward person.  She doesn't trick people or lie 
to them.  Abuse them, yes.  And you REALLY think she'd do 
that when Angie is missing?  You know how much she 
likes Angie.  They're like you and Harry."  

          He wasn't aware how much like Harry and I they 
are.  At least Irene hadn't told the entire universe.  This 
time.  "I just..."

        He frowned deeper.  "You didn't see how badly she 
was crying once it became apparent we weren't getting 
anywhere, and you probably couldn't hear how she kept 
screaming out Angie's name every five seconds while you 
were underwater.  She's hurting, and she's desperate, and 
I'd have mad passionate sex with her myself if I thought 
it would help.  I've never seen someone so desperate."  He 
sighed.  "You'd think she was in love with her or 
something.  I don't think she's going to seduce anyone.  I 
think she's going to cry so much she might drown, if 
anything."

          "I'm surprised you're not more worried."  I said 
quietly.

         "I'm scared out of my mind, but I'm too exhausted to 
be emotional.  This whole day has just chewed me up 
with all the running around I've done, Tanya."  

        "I guess she's worried about her parents too."  I said 
quietly.  "If they'd gotten Mom, I'd be having a heart 
attack.  I'll have to thank Irene later."

        "So would I.  Now stop being jealous and go to sleep, 
dear. If you keep me up much longer, I may die."  He 
closed his eyes.

        "I'm not jealous."

       "Got any more oceanfront property for me?  I hear 
the beaches in Arizona are huge," he mumbled.  "You're 
just jealous because you wish YOU were in bed with him."

        "Thomas!"

         He sighed and rolled over on his back.  "Don't play 
games with me, Tanya.  I know how you feel about Harry.  
We all know.  Probably the entire universe knows.  Heck, 
even Laura Beedles figured it out and she's only known 
you a few weeks.  Admit it.  You love Harry."

        "I...I...I love YOU, Thomas,"  I said.  I really am being 
petty, I thought.  He's right.  I shouldn't be jealous; she 
needs comforting.  "I need you."

        More sighs.  "Look, I love you, Tanya.  But part of me 
also loves Angel.  And I know part of you loves Harry.  
We're both idiots.  If some guy was with Angel, I'd 
probably be a spaz too.  Now just fess up and go to sleep.  
We can argue about this later."

         "I am an idiot,"  I said quietly.  "Why can't I...I want 
to be faithful to you, but I...just hope...the four of us...I 
mean..."  I was tense now, and scared, but not entirely 
sure why.

        "Sleep.  Sleeeeeeeeep.  We can froth in the morning, 
dear."

        I finally fell asleep.  Eventually, the arrival of Mr. 
Sunshine woke me up.  Apparently no one invented 
shutters in this realm.  Stupid sunlight.  I hate windows; 
they always make me wake up when I wanna sleep.

        Thomas doesn't need abject darkness to sleep, 
which I find disgusting.  I laid and drowsed and waited 
for him to wake.  He finally did.  Harry and I are both 
light sleepers.  He and Angie sleep like rocks.  It's 
annoying.  "Good morning."

         "Morning, anyway."  He sat up.  He sleeps naked like 
I usually do when there's no one around it will bother.  

         "What's the plan for today?"  I asked.

         "I have no clue.  Look for Angie, try to rescue Alex's 
parents if it isn't too late.  Which it probably is."

         I was pretty sure she wasn't going to be happy, 
whatever we did.

****************

Angel said:

        We'd been walking for hours.  We'd finally stopped 
and caught some fish with our powers.  Cooking them 
with no pot was the hardest part.  The Japanese may like 
raw fish; I find it disgusting.  The sun sat and I resigned 
myself to sleeping on cold ground.  Bleah.  "So where did 
you get that magic mirror?"

         Jennifer blinked and nearly screamed, then realized 
it was hanging from her belt.  Giving a sigh of relief, she 
said, "From Ariel.  She gave it to me to help me on my 
quest.  It's called the Mirror of the King of the Fall.  I 
have to find the Queen of the Fall's scythe, too."

        "How'd the king lose his mirror?"

        "He's just an old legend about when there were 
supposedly four courts.  Then somehow the Seelie and 
Unseelie destroyed the two of them.  I don't buy it; Seelie 
and Unseelie rarely cooperate, especially not that well."  

         "So how does it work?"

         "You hold it and command it to show you something.  
And it shows the true form of whatever it depicts."  She 
frowned slightly.  "I think.  Sometimes it gets weird."

         "Cool.  Can it show us the best route to take?"

        "I think it only handles really concrete requests 
well," she said.  "Although we could try.  It can sorta do 
other requests, I think."  She tried, but it didn't work.  
"Sorry about that. " 

         I finished off my fish.  "So you're good at riddles?"

        She nodded.  "It's a knack.  I really like riddles.  I 
hear you game master?"

        "It's a knack."  I laughed.  "Although all this faerie 
stuff keeps getting in the way."

         Jennifer laid down on her back and looked up at the 
stars.  "I can appreciate that."  She muttered, "Stupid 
ground.  I wish I had an Earth affinity."

         "Alex does.  I wish she was here.  I hope she's okay."

        "I'm sure she is.  Shall I stand watch first or do you 
want to?"

         "You think we need to?"

         Jennifer laughed a little.  "Better not to risk the 
cosmic game master scoring positive on the wandering 
monster table, eh?"

          I laughed so hard I nearly died.

*************

Harry said:

        We had a long debate over what to do during 
breakfast.  We finally decided to go find Angel and 
Jennifer first, simply because we had no way to find the 
people who had Alex's parents without them.  

        Not that we had a good way to find Angel and 
Jennifer.  Aquamarine and the local naiads started 
searching underwater, while the rest of us rode up and 
downstream mindlessly.  Irene joined our search and 
spent a lot of time trying to comfort Alex and calm her 
down.  So did I.  

        I had lunch with Mom and Tanya's Mom.  Mrs. 
Cromwell seemed pretty calm.  Mom was twitchy as all 
get out, and wearing her clothing inside out AGAIN.  
"Mom, um, I hate to tell you this, but..."

        "Faeries can't enchant you if you turn your clothing 
inside out, Harry," she said.  

         Mrs. Cromwell nodded.  "So I've heard."  She turned 
to Tanya, who was there too.  So were the rest of us.  
"Did someone get Charles to safety?"

        "Dad's fine," she said quietly.  

         "What about Angela's parents?"

        "The Queen has them,"  Tanya said.  "We're batting 
.850.  The Unseelie were pretty thorough, but pretty 
clumsy too."  She fell silent, quietly eating her sausage 
and salad.  She was more subdued than usual.

         Alex sighed.  "Dad was gonna get out of prison soon, 
finally.  We didn't expect it to be like this."

        "We'll get your parents back,"  Thomas said.  "If I 
have to paint Harry blue to do it."

        "Where is she?"  Alex asked.  We didn't have to ask 
who she meant.

       "She'll show up,"  I said.  "Jennifer knows her way 
around Arcadia.  She'll get her back here."

       Helena patted Alex on the arm.  "We'll find Angela.  
Don't worry.  I'm sure Mom and Dad will help find her 
when I get ahold of them."

       "They can't even ever find the salt shaker,"  Alex 
said.  "And then he gets frustrated and sets the house on 
fire.  I don't think Lady Rowanford would like that."

         Lady Rowanford laughed.  "You'd be right.  Don't 
worry, Wildbriar.  She won't stay lost for long."  

         "But what about...George?"  Mom asked.  "Do any of 
you have any idea where my husband is?"

        "Dad's in Kaltenburg.  Maybe we can trade Opal for 
him," I said.  

        "What about MY parents?"  Alex bellowed, looking 
irritated.

        "Umm...There must be some other prisoners..."  I had 
gotten used to Alex not being mad at me; Alex mad was 
as scary as she had ever been.

        "The Unseelie will not easily give up their 
leverage,"  Lady Rowanford said.  "But they likely won't 
treat them too poorly.  I hope."

        Mom wanted more than hope.  I could tell she was 
about to cry again.  "We'll get him back, Mom."

        "I hope you're right."

************

Tanya said:  

        We searched some more, mostly to relieve tension 
while Duke Ironwood's scryer searched for Angie, which 
was the method I expected would actually work.  It was 
pretty clear that somehow they'd been sent to another 
realm.  I was getting pretty certain that that had been 
the entire point of setting up what I was sure was an 
attack on Angie and Harry.  

         I was impressed.  Queen Teleute was going all out.  
Well, maybe not all out, but she'd put a lot of effort into 
this.  If Jennifer hadn't warned us, all our families would 
probably be rotting in Kaltenburg and likely some of us as 
well.  Considering she didn't really get along well with 
Angie or Tom, we were damn lucky her conscience had 
been stronger than her pride.  I dunno if I would have...in 
fact, I almost certainly wouldn't have tried very hard if 
the situation had been reversed.  I'd like to think I'm 
perfect, but I know I'm not.

        I looked downstream and saw Harry and Alex talking 
to each other and felt a surge of jealousy.  It was 
ridiculous, but faeries are often ridiculous.  I knew Harry 
wouldn't betray me and An...wouldn't betray Angie like 
that.  Part of me keeps wanting to tote Harry up as my 
other boyfriend, but it's not like that.  Yet.  I knew Alex 
was after him and Angie, but I was pretty sure she hadn't 
gotten anywhere.  

         I hoped she hadn't.  Not before I could.  I suppressed 
the thoughts clumsily and tried to focus on the search.  
But I couldn't.  My mind kept going round in circles, 
ending with Alex seducing Harry every time.  That's the 
problem with being a faerie.  It's hard to focus on 
anything unless you get obsessed with it.  Which usually 
is counterproductive.  Every fantasy I'd ever had about 
Harry, and I'd had quite a few, were busy replaying 
themselves, but with Alex cast in MY role.  

          It would have helped if there was ANY realistic 
chance of finding Angie.  If she hadn't drowned, then she 
wasn't here.  I wasn't sure why Alex made me so much 
more jealous than Angie.  Perhaps simply because I'd 
come to terms with that.  Harry loved her; I loved 
Thomas.  I also loved Harry and Angie also loved Thomas.  
It all worked out quite neatly.  

          One might wonder how I could love two quite 
different guys.  I wonder that myself, sometimes.  I think 
the key thing is that I want stability AND adventure, and 
they can each give me one of those things.  Pretty silly of 
me, I know.  Sometimes, I want nothing more than the 
wild excitement and romance that Thomas can give me.  
And sometimes I need someone who is steady and 
dependable, like Harry.   I think it's the conflict between 
my mortal and faerie instincts.  Or something.  I know 
part of it is that I grew up with Harry.  I've always loved 
Harry.  It's hardwired into my soul.  

        When I look back on my relationship with Harry, I 
have to say that I was an idiot.  Oh, I had good reasons 
for some of it, and there was no way for me to KNOW he 
was a faerie.  But still...I should have been braver and 
simply taken my chances.  No I shouldn't.  Yes, I 
should...oh forget it.  I just...I should have been dating 
Harry in High School.  But after what happened to my 
mentor's lover...he was turned into a statue by an 
Unseelie, who then hacked off one leg and one arm.  If we 
turned him back to normal, he would die.  Otherwise, he 
would have to stay a statue.  If something like that 
happened to Harry...I would have gone stark raving mad.  
Faerie games get played for keeps sometimes.

          I wanted to protect him.  It was one of the few 
responsible things I've ever done.  But at the same time, I 
couldn't stay away from him.  I tried, but not very hard.  
It was all I could do to keep from breaking down and 
confessing.  So I dated most of the rest of the universe 
to try and find someone else who could win my heart.  
But none of them did, until Thomas.

        Okay, that's a lie.  I had major crushes on some of 
them.  They weren't all bad.  Some of them liked me too, 
but I think they could all tell, deep down, that I liked 
Harry better.  So it always turned into a disaster, sooner 
or later.  

         The worst one was the one where I used love magic 
on myself.  I was that desperate to try and FORCE myself 
into it.  So of course, I pick a guy who would treat me like 
crap.  If I ever meet Jimmy Ford again...Anyway, I made a 
lot of mistakes and wasted a lot of time that will never 
come again.  

         I think that maybe, in the long term, I'll be better 
off this way.  I learned a lot about how NOT to handle 
relationships from all my love affairs.  It's helped a lot 
in dating Thomas, and I'm glad I've gotten to date Thomas.  
He's just so...I love him very much.  Mom doesn't like him, 
but then her Mom didn't like my father very much either.  
I suppose my children will find boyfriends and 
girlfriends I won't like.  And I know if I had dated Harry 
in High School, his mom would have made my life as hard 
as she could.  She doesn't like me, although I don't know 
why.  I guess it's because of her and Mom's stupid feud.

         Angie and I had better not end up like that.  
Especially not if we're going to...well, I can't be sure 
things will work out like I want.  But I hope so.  I 
just...maybe Thomas is right.  Maybe I am a fool.  I just...I 
love him.  I love Harry.  We all just...If four people could 
ever...I'm babbling.  I should be content, but I just...I love 
two men and Angie loves both of them two and they each 
love both of us and ...It just seems Heaven-sent, to me.  

         Maybe I'm missing something.  The others just...I 
can't see why it doesn't seem so natural to them.  Well, I 
can sort of see it.  I wouldn't want this with anyone else, 
but...I trust them.  I don't have many close female friends.  
I spend too much time outside Arcadia to make a lot of 
faerie friends and most of my mortal friends, I 
just...Angie's the first one I've been able to tell about 
being a faerie.  Although she's not actually a mortal.

         I know I can trust Angie.  Heck, in some things I can 
probably trust her more than Thomas; he tends to forget 
things and she's a methodical planner who never forgets 
anything.  She's been a great roommate, which is why 
we've roomed together continuously since we were 
freshmen.  

          Alex, on the other hand...I can't see how Angie and 
her get along so well.  Or how she could...She's just so 
violent.  And so...She scares me, and I don't scare easy.  If 
I kissed Harry, she'd probably rip my arms off.  And 
watching her hit on him...oooh, it grinds my gears.  She's 
just...She...Maybe I'm being petty.  She has every right to 
like whoever she wants.  And I don't REALLY think she 
could seduce Harry, but...he is just so vulnerable right 
now, during his adjustment to being a faerie.  And I 
wanted to be the first one to seduce him if anyone was 
going to.

          I'd better shut up before I sound like even more of 
an idiot than I'm starting to sound like to myself.

**********

Angel said:

       More fish for breakfast.  Nothing had eaten us during 
the night, luckily.  I brushed the dirt off myself.  "Ugh.  
Know any good spells for conjuring clean clothing and a 
shower?"

        "Well, we could bathe in the river, and yes, I could 
conjure some clothing,"  Jennifer said.  "I take it you 
haven't learned that yet?"

        "I tend to not get what I want,"  I said.  "You really 
know a lot, Jennifer.  About Faerie stuff."

        "Well, I've known since I was about five or so.  Lots 
of training."  She sat still for a few minutes and conjured 
up two nice hiking outfits, then started stripping.  
"Unfortunately, I still need to learn to conjure soap, so 
getting wet will have to do."

        It was enough, since we hadn't gotten too sweaty 
the previous day.  I kept expecting mermen to show up or 
something else embarrassing to happen, but it didn't.  I 
did learn that Jennifer has a disgustingly nice figure, 
rather like mine if I was a Boris Vallejo painting.  
Similar body types, but hers is a better example.  
Although my body is looking better these days than it 
ever had.  A side effect of my gaining access to my faerie 
self, I guess.  "Ever met a naiad named Euphonia?"

        "Nope," she said.  "Why do you ask?"

        "The last time I met her, she kept trying to get me 
to swim naked.  I half expect her to show up and crow in 
triumph."

        Jennifer laughed so hard she slipped and fell under 
the surface.  A few seconds later, she reemerged, 
spouting water into the air.  "Naiads are like that.  No 
dignity and they expect everyone else to be just like 
them.  They're good at cheering people up, though.  The ice 
naiads who can go naked in below freezing water...now 
they scare me a little."

        "Eegle."  I thought a moment and said, "Can you 
conjure towels?"

        Jennifer blinked, then slapped her forehead.  "Oh 
great.  Didn't think of that.  I guess I'll have to conjure 
more clothing and use that as towels.  Bleah."

        As we dried off after we got out of the water, I 
said, "I never would have expected my life to get this 
weird six months ago."

        "It'll probably get stranger than this.  I've never had 
a really normal life, so I can't judge.  Once you start your 
duties as the Queen's daughter, it'll get stranger yet.  
Court life is...bizarre.  Or so I hear."

       "Do you go to the court much?"  I asked.  I 
remembered Mother telling me I would need to build up a 
group of allies.  I could use as many as I could get.  

        Jennifer fell down while trying to get her shirt on, 
then laid on the ground and laughed.  "That's where I met 
Harry.  At the last costume party.  For Samhain."

        A thought struck me.  "What happened to Bluey?  
Your dragon?"

        "She's probably with the others,"  Jennifer said.  "If 
we survived, she should have."  

        We kept walking, and the terrain shifted in odd fits 
and starts.  Forest to desert to hills and back to forest.  
Usually forest.  Slowly, the river grew larger, and 
sometimes other rivers flowed into it.  

       "Are we following the same river through multiple 
realms or do we keep changing rivers?"

        "Yes."  Jennifer answered.

       "Huh?"

        "Like I said.  Arcadian geography is bizarre.  It is 
the same river, but you could also follow it much farther 
without actually crossing any realm boundaries.  I think.  
Some realms are huge, and some rivers flow between 
them, while others are just convenient highways inside 
them."

        I decided to stop while my head hurt only a little.  
Maybe Harry understands this.  We rounded a bend and the 
forest changed from hardwood to tall pines and 
redwoods.  The river became very bendy with long lakes 
near it that clearly were old loops of the river cut off by 
changes of course.  The ground was an annoying red clay 
that stuck to my shoes.  

        When we crested a hill, we came upon a ruins 
nestled in a valley bordered by another loop of the river.  
It was a huge oval palace of Greco-Roman design.  
Jennifer stared.  "Another ruins?  What's holding these 
things together?"

       "What?"

       "Faerie cities don't crumble to ruins.  If everyone 
abandons a town, it collapses back into the mists, 
usually."  She turned and stared at me.  "I found one when 
Harry and I got lost too..."  

        "Why would being with Harry or I cause ruins to 
appear?"  

        She shrugged.  "I don't know."  Starting down the 
slope, she said, "I want to check it out.  This is making 
me curious."

        I nodded and followed her.  

*************

Harry said:

        Duke Ironwood's scryer, a one-armed Sidhe with a 
bronze replacement arm, named Nuada, said, "Princess 
Titania and her friend are in some sort of odd ruins by a 
river.  I believe you could reach this realm in half a day 
or less from here, if you had someone reasonably 
competent at travel magic."

       "Let's go!"  Alex said, getting up.

        "Hold your horses," I said.  "Can we get some boats?"

         Father nodded.  "Certainly."

        Soon, we got our stuff together and we were on our 
way up the river.  The boat was a nice sailing vessel, 
about the size of a yacht, commanded by a crew of three 
and a captain, who was a merman.  Captain Hallito wore 
more clothing than most mermen, either as a sign of rank 
or just to not embarrass us.  The naiad, the sylph, and the 
other merman in the crew wore barely any clothing.  The 
sylph made wind for the ship, the merman steered the 
boat and the naiad watched the waters for trouble.  I 
never did quite learn their names.  

        "How much longer?"  Alex asked Captain Hallito for 
the hundredth time.  For a moment, I thought he was 
going to pick her up and throw her over the side.  

       With a deep breath, he said, "Hours.  We can only go 
so fast upstream, and we don't know for sure how far it 
will be."  He went off to talk to Tanya and Thomas.

        Helena came over and hugged Alex.  "She'll be okay."

        "I just...I..."  Alex sighed.  "We know she's okay.  I 
shouldn't still be freaking out, but..."

        "Harry's mellow.  You should be too.  She's gonna be 
okay.  She's got a good fairy watching over her."  Helena's 
eyes twinkled in a way that Alex was rarely capable of.  

        Alex stared at Helena, then smiled.  "I guess so.  
What are we gonna do about my parents, Harry?"

       "I have no clue.  Maybe we can trade Opal for my dad 
and your parents.  I don't think Teleute will hurt them, 
though."  I hope.  "She could have just killed them if that 
was the plan."

        "We should just break in and rescue them,"  Helena 
said.  

        "Into Kaltenburg?  The Queen of the Unseelie's 
personal castle?  Even I'm not that crazy,"  Alex said.  
"We'd need inside help to have even a chance."

       "You can't just give up!"

        Alex's voice was rising.  "Don't tell me what to do!"  
She started to transform into her faerie form.  I wonder 
if she does this at school and how she explains it if she 
does.  "Damnit, Helena, if I screw up, they'll DIE!"

        "How is NOT DOING ANYTHING GOING TO HELP?"  
Watching them argue was surreal; if I ever met my 
mortal counterpart, I'm sure I'd freak out.  

         "Calm down," I said, putting a hand on one shoulder 
of each of them.  Alex glared at me, and then her rage 
melted.  Her transformation ceased and she simply 
stepped over to me and hugged me tightly, resting her 
head on my shoulder.  

        "I'm sorry, Harry.  I'm just worried about Angel and 
my parents and everything."

         "I know, Alex.  I know."

************

Tanya said:

        Alex was doing the 'Comfort me' routine again.  
Having done that myself, I could recognize it for what it 
was; another effort to seduce Harry.  No one could really 
freak out that much.  Not when we knew Angie was safe.  

        I fumed and tried to ignore it, discussing plans with 
Thomas.  "Do you think we can get some Fetches to help 
us get into Kaltenburg?"

        "Well, Harry said they had one with them, but she 
seems to be missing too with Bluey the dragon."  He 
laughed.  "What a name for a dragon."  

        "Yeah.  Anyway, my idea is...we get the Fetches to 
imitate some Unseelie soldiers bringing in prisoners, 
then they take us down to the prison level, we break our 
fake bonds and bust everyone out."  I was pretty proud of 
my idea.

      "Been watching Star Wars again?"  Thomas said, and 
my pride deflated a bit.  "It's a good idea, though.  The 
problem is that we wouldn't know where to find it, and 
neither would our 'soldier' friends.  But if they could 
bluff their way down...yeah, that could work.  Gives a 
good reason to go there.  We'll need a diversion; 
otherwise Teleute might just close the borders and lock 
us in her realm."  It's hard to get out of a realm if a 
realm's creator is around to focus their will on 
specifically stopping you; storms and rampaging 
wildebeasts tend to show up and harrass you.

       We rode on for several hours.  It was boring as all 
get out, although Thomas and I refined our plans some 
more.  I was missing class, and just this once, regretting 
it.  Normally I'm not so responsible, but this whole 
thing....probably the whole week was going to be shot.  
We'd have to glamour our professors again.  Sigh.  I don't 
like doing that.  

        We stopped for dinner along the way, and I got a 
chance to talk to Harry.  "Got a minute?"

        "Sure, Tanya.  What's up?"

        I sat down by him, telling myself not to sit in his 
lap or do anything else that might cause Alex to rip off 
my head.  She was off having another fight with Helena, 
so she wasn't too likely to notice, but why take chances?

         "Thomas and I have been trying to come up with a 
plan to get your father back."

        "Getting into Kaltenburg isn't gonna be easy."  Harry 
said, then sighed.  "And I don't know how I'm gonna keep 
my parents safe after this.  Especially since most Seelie 
faeries can't enter the mortal world until Spring.  Just us 
changelings."

         I  nodded.  "Now you know why I tried to keep you 
away from my faerie life for so long."  It had been the 
wise decision, even though I was increasingly regretting 
it.  I sidled a little closer to Harry.  He looked so sad, and 
I wanted to comfort him.  The temptation to do any of a 
variety of crazy things was growing in me.  "How...are you 
and Alex getting along?"

       A pang of guilt hit his face and I frowned.  They'd 
done something.  I could smell it.  "Great.  Really well 
lately.  Really, really well."  He was staring at a tree 
root and idly rotating his high school ring, which he 
usually does when he has something to hide.

       "So what did you two do?"  Better to be blunt, I 
thought.  Or maybe I just had a fit of jealousy.  "Did she 
kiss you or something?"

       His eyes widened.  Bingo, I thought.  "Nothing Angel 
doesn't know about."  He blushed and whispered, 
"She...Umm..."  He looked up at me, looking scared, then his 
face shifted.  A striking impulse; the fruit of his 
transition.  It was a look of desire.  He blushed brighter 
and stared at his hands.  "Tell me this stops eventually."

       I reached over and took his right hand, squeezing it.  
"It gets better, but it never entirely stops.  For example, 
when I look at you, sometimes, I want to rip off your 
clothing and..."

        He shook slightly and continued to stare, now at my 
hand.  "Don't tempt me."  He was on the verge of crying, or 
maybe screaming.  

        "I have to wait until Angie's here so we can trade 
fairly,"  I teased.  "She'd get jealous."  

        "She's not the only one,"  he muttered.  

        "What, you don't burn with desire for Thomas as well?"  
I teased.  "He's going to be jealous."

        Harry paled.  "That could happen..."

        "What?"

         Harry was shaking more now.  "Oh great, now I've 
got the thought in my head."  He hunched over and buried 
his face in his knees.  "Dammit."

        "Harry?"  I was a little worried now.  

        "Would it help if I jumped in the river?"  he asked 
through his legs, which made it hard to understand.

         I glanced over at Alex.  I knew one thing that would 
help him, but two things stopped me.  One was that Alex 
would kill me.  The second was that I didn't want to take 
advantage of him.  One day we'd make love, but not like 
this.  Probably I would have done it anyway if we were in 
private.  Instead, I just leaned over and whispered, "Once 
we get Angie back, the four of us can go off and do 
whatever we want or need to, okay?"

         He stared at me with a mix of desire and fear, then 
nodded quietly.  Soon after that, we piled into the boat to 
try and get a little further towards our destination 
before it got dark.

************

Angel said:

       Jennifer and I weren't quite sure WHAT we were 
looking for.  I suppose this is the same sort of impulse 
that causes my players in my RPG campaign to open 
EVERY door, even the ones that are clearly labelled 'Evil 
Demon Lord Imprisoned Within.  He will eat you if you 
open this door'. 

        None of the doors actually said that, but a sense of 
foreboding was growing as we passed through the palace.  
It was crumbling, but there was no way to tell why it had 
been abandoned.  There was still furniture everywhere, 
though it was crumbling, and a few enchanted light 
globes still hung from the ceiling of some of the rooms, 
covered with dust.  Our every step sent dust swirling 
into the air, except in rooms where the ceiling had 
collapsed.  

         Finally, we came to the heart of the palace, a great 
throne room with a high vaulted ceiling that was starting 
to collapse.  Vines had grown in through the hole and 
were spreading down the walls.  Light filtered down onto 
the twin thrones, both carved of mahogany and studded 
with enough gems and gold to pay my tuition forever, 
even at Thornton (Which claims to be the Harvard of the 
South, and certainly charges as much as the real thing).  
One throne was carved with wooden vines and looked 
almost like a giant shaped bush like you find in gardens; 
if bushes were made of mahogany, anyway.  The other 
was decorated with carven weapons, from swords to 
bows to even a battering ram.  Some very martial king, I 
thought.  

       The throne of weapons had an actual weapon thrust 
into it, in fact.  A very nicely made sabre with a hilt that 
looked like it might actually be real silver was thrust 
into the seat almost up to the hilt.  It would likely have 
gone all the way in except for the fact that a crown of 
silver and gold and way too many gems was being pinned 
to the seat under the hilt; the sword was thrust through 
the round open space of the crown's interior, of course.  
At the point where the blade met the hilt, there was a 
huge ruby, the biggest I'd ever seen; it glowed and when I 
stepped closer, I could see that there was a tiny fire 
dancing inside the gem.

        Jennifer and I both stared at it in silence for a few 
minutes, then Jennifer said, "I guess Merlin couldn't find 
an anvil."

        That broke the mood and we both laughed.  I looked 
around a bit.  The walls were marble, while the floor was 
some kind of grey stone tiles that had once been painted, 
but the paint had worn away in many places.  Tall simple 
pillars held the ceiling up, and the remnant of a red 
carpet lead from the doors to the thrones.  The walls 
were painted with faded and cracked forest scenes.  

       The sword drew us in again; there was something 
about it that was almost hypnotic to me.  Maybe it was 
the little dancing fire in the hilt gem.  Maybe it was the 
crown, which was both gaudy and beautiful.  The 
workmanship was amazing; when I got closer I could see 
the whole thing was made up of interwoven weapons, 
dozens of little swords, daggers, spears, axes, arrows, 
knives, darts, and other weapons, all made of precious 
metals.  The gems, on the other hand, were mostly 
afterthoughts, looking like someone had come along and 
said, 'It needs more gems' and had gone wild with a glue 
gun and some crystals.  

        Jennifer stood near it, muttering quietly and waving 
her hands about.  "What are you doing?"

        "Looking for wards."  Another thing I needed to 
learn, I decided.

       "Does it have any?"

       "Just one.  It's very powerful, but not very dangerous.  
Fairly classic use of wards.  Only the person the ward is 
keyed to can draw the sword.  It requires a lot of skill to 
make one of those, but they're really useful for 
preventing theft.  I can do simple wards, but I'm not good 
enough to do one of those myself."  She paused and rubbed 
her cheek idly with one hand.  "This thing must be a 
Pillar."

        "A what?"

        Jennifer paused, looked at the other throne, then sat 
down on it.  "Every Arcadian realm is sustained by the 
will of one or more people.  Most are sustained by a 
single person, but some are sustained by more than one; 
most of those are lands of legend.  If the creator of a 
realm leaves it, the realm begins to decay back into the 
mist.  Most people who create a realm then create what 
is called a Pillar.  It's an item which embodies the Realm 
and can sustain the realm in your absence, even if you 
take it with you, and while carrying the Pillar, you can 
always return to your Realm with a single step.  The 
problem with Pillars, though, is that if someone steals 
it, they can bond with it and take control of the Realm 
from you.  Also, you have to actually have your Pillar 
with you in order to control the realm.  So whoever made 
that Pillar is probably dead."

       "Maybe someone stole it."

       "And left it stuck into a chair?  I suppose they might 
have warded it so they could come back for it, but..."  
Jennifer suddenly cocked her head, narrowed her eyes and 
stared at it.  "The Queen of the Spring.  Maybe it's her 
sword, left behind after whatever happened to her.  She 
might have stuck it in the chair and warded it so no one 
else could take it until she was reborn or something."

       I laughed.  "Whosoever shall pull forth this sword 
from this chair shall be Queen of the Spring?"

       Jennifer frowned at me.  "I'm serious.  There must be 
some kinda truth to those legends, since I've got the 
mirror of one of them, but...maybe she had foresight or 
something.  Maybe Merlin DID put it there.  I've met at 
least three Merlins.  Sometimes they get out of the lands 
of legends.  Heck, we might have wandered in somehow."

        Stepping forward I grasped the hilt of the sword.  "I 
hereby declare myself Queen of the Spring and Empress 
of Plano!"  Usually Harry is more the one to do something 
silly like this, but I just...She was getting too serious.  
Or something.  I dunno.

        I yanked on it, expecting it to not come loose; it 
slipped out of the chair like a knife out of butter and I 
fell backwards, landing hard and painfully on my 
posterior.  With a great 'Oof', I slammed into the ground 
and lost my grip on the sword which flew across the 
room, hit the ground at an angle, skidded, then smacked 
into a pillar.  

        Jennifer stared at me in shock.  "How in hell did you 
break the ward?  I would have had to spend days picking 
that thing apart."

        "Huh?  I just grabbed it."  I got up, rubbing my butt; 
an instinctive but pointless act.  The next thing was to 
retrieve the sword.  I nearly dropped it again when the 
blade ignited.  Flames erupted out of it, about an inch 
high.  My eyes widened and the flames went out.  I nearly 
dropped it a second time when the ground shook.  

       It was an earthquake, I think.  We don't have them in 
Texas; I've only seen them on movies.  The ground stilled, 
then shook again, and two of the pillars snapped.  Half 
the roof collapsed and Jennifer jumped off the throne 
like it bit her.  She paused to grab the crown.  "RUN!"

         I ran as fast as I could while carrying a naked 
sword blade.  "How are we having an earthquake with no 
tectonic plates?"  I asked.  At least I think that's what 
causes them.

         The ground stopped shaking.

         Jennifer blinked and dodged some falling ceiling 
chunks.  "Ahh, that's it!"

         Once again, I was clueless.  "What?"

        "The sword is the Pillar of this realm.  When it 
burst into flame, I bet it bonded with you.  Now you can 
reshape this realm."  She frowned.  "Although I always 
thought it was harder to bond with a Pillar."  She leaned 
against the wall, which collapsed.  Jennifer ended up on 
top of a pile of rubble.  Then the ground shook again.

        I stared at it.  "So how does one bond with a Pillar?"

        "You have to sit and meditate.  Which can come 
AFTER we get out of this crumbling deathtrap."

        About five minutes of running finally got us out the 
door.  The ground was riven with cracks and far off in the 
distance, I could see a wall of white fog slowly 
advancing.  Jennifer's eyes widened.  "Shit."

       "What, what?"  Then I recognized the fog.  The mists 
of creation.

        "The whole realm is coming apart.  The owner must 
have set this up when she stabbed it into the chair.  The 
mists won't kill us, but..."  Jennifer shivered.  "They can 
be dangerous.  And who knows where we'll end up.  Trying 
to get back out is hard."

        The mists had advanced several dozen feet while we 
were talking.  I stared at the sword.  Talk to me, I 
thought.  Do something.  Stop this.

         The fire in the gem caught my eye, growing to 
encompass my vision.  Fire hung before me, beautiful and 
terrifying.  It surrounded me, burning without fuel in a 
void, a world full of fire.  I should have been baking alive, 
but it was only comfortably warm.  It burned in great 
sheets and in smaller clumps, forming figures and 
dispersing.  For a moment, I saw Flamehair before me and 
then an Efreet who looked somewhat like Alex; if Alex 
was forty feet tall and male.  Harry's mom and sister and 
even Laura Beedles formed from the flames for a few 
seconds, but not Harry himself, although just about every 
other red haired person I knew put in an appearance.  
There were animals as well, a lion, and two ravens, and a 
cow of all things, as well as...a carrot?  It was surreal.  

        A woman clad in fire was striding towards me; she 
was garbed as a great queen, wearing a copy of the crown 
I had seen upon the throne, which Jennifer was now 
carrying.  She smiled at me, and I instinctively fell to my 
knees.  "Your highness," I stammered out.

       "It is you who are the Queen, while I am but a 
fragment of she who made this blade and placed her 
essence within it.  I am but a memory of what once was.  
Rise, for I am your servant, not you mine."  Her hands, 
warm, but not hot, took my shoulders and tugged me to 
my feet.

       "Is this the..."  I began to ask.

        "This is the Sword of Flame, once borne by the 
Queen of the Spring and made by her into a Pillar for her 
realm, though it was older than her or her land.  And as 
that land becomes dust, it will endure."

        "I don't understand.  Why is the land crumbling?"

        "Even a Pillar cannot support a land forever by 
itself.  Slowly, my power has drained away as I have 
supported this land, waiting for my next bearer.  Ariadne 
has been dead for over three hundred years, I think.  
Maybe more; I have lost track of time.  It is too late to 
save this realm; not with both Ariadne and her husband 
fallen."  She sighed.  "I cannot even remember his name.  
It would have been different if I had been able to bond 
with someone earlier.  My strength is fading."

         "Are you...going to die?"

         "I am not truly alive.  I am a shadow of Ariadne.  If 
you make this weapon your Pillar one day, then there will 
be a shadow of you within it.  I am also a shadow of this 
realm, and as it dies, I fade.  Do not mourn me; I accept 
my fate.  If I truly live, I will pass on to my reward.  If 
not, I will find rest.  I am weary.  I ask only that you tell 
me your name."

        "I'm Angela Bedos-Rezak.  Also, um...Titania, 
daughter of Glorianna."

        Her eyes narrowed and she looked confused for a 
moment, then nodded.  "So the Seelie realms survived..."  
She frowned.  "...whatever exactly happened."  I could see 
she was fading.  "I have little time left.  I will pass on to 
you the secret to make this blade your Pillar one day.  
You will need it."  She stepped forward and traced a sign 
upon my brow.  "When you desire to use this knowledge, 
simply concentrate and it will awaken in your mind."

       "What about the realm I'm in?  It's crumbling...how do 
I get out of the mists?"

        "Command the mists to open a road to where you 
wish to go.  Indeed, I think you have the strength to forge 
an entire realm out of the mists if you so desired.  You 
will be a strong one one day.  I can see why Ariadne left 
her blade and crown to you."  Her voice was growing 
fainter now, and I could barely make her out.

       "Who was Ariadne?"

       "Four Kings and Four Queens to rule the Four 
Kingdoms," Ariadne said, her voice a sing-song tone.  
"Four Knights to Champion them and Four Pillars to 
support their realms.  Four Corners has the world, and 
Fourfold are the Angels who support it.  Four are the 
seasons, one for each Kingdom, now and until the end of 
all things."

        "But...there's only two kingdoms!  Seelie and 
Unseelie!"

        The last I saw of her face was a look of horror and 
the last words she spoke were, "But...that's not right."  
And then she was gone.

          The flames roared up and then faded from my sight.  
The mists had engulfed us, and Jennifer was standing 
next to me, muttering "Don't think about the future," over 
and over.  She looked terrified, which surprised me.  The 
mists are more annoying than scary.  

        "Mists, make me a road to my friends,"  I said.  The 
ground shaped itself into a nice roman road.  

         Jennifer, still tense, opened her eyes.  "Nice.  I'm 
surprised it isn't a yellow brick road."  The bricks turned 
golden.  We both laughed and started to...well...follow the 
yellow brick road.

************

Harry said:

       Captain Hallito cursed loudly as we approached a fog 
bank.  "Curse it all!"  he finished by shouting.

       "What's wrong?"  I asked.

        The sylph who had been filling our sails said, "We've 
hit the mists of creation.  Some realm along our route 
must have been obliterated."

       Alex shouted, "WHAT?"  She stormed over.  "The 
place we're going to has been destroyed?"

       Hallito sighed.  "Not necessarily the realm that the 
Princess is in.  Just one along the way."  He frowned.  
"Navigating along this will be tricky, though."

        Two figures emerged from the fog bank, one of them 
holding a large flaming sabre.  It was Jennifer and Angel, 
who had the sabre.  Thomas said, "Oooh, nice sword.  I 
wish I got one every time I got lost."

       Tanya said, "Take the boat to shore, Captain."

        Jennifer and Angel ran over to the bank.  "Harry!"  
Angel shouted.

       "Angel!"  I shouted.  So did Alex, who leaned so far 
over the side towards her, I thought she was going to fall 
in.  

       Soon, we were all reunited, and I think we all nearly 
crushed Angel to death, hugging her so hard.  

*********

Tanya said:

       We got back to the castle just in time for bed, 
although I had to use my power over water to help make 
the boat go faster to pull this off.  Angie helped too, and 
so we were both completely zonked by the time we got 
home.  Harry and Alex carried Angie off to bed; I just had 
Thomas, but I was too tired to be jealous or envious.  
Sleep worked wonders, although I woke up starving.  I 
wandered off by myself after breakfast.  I felt the need 
to think, although I wasn't sure what exactly I was 
thinking about.  Everyone else was running around getting 
ready to go to the Palace of the Stars, round up all our 
folks together, and try to work out a plan to get Alex's 
parents and Harry's dad.  

         I should have been with Mom, but she had Lady 
Rowanford with her and Harry's mom.  I just needed to be 
alone.  Or something.  I honestly have no idea what I was 
doing, just wandering around the gardens.  Angie found 
me; she'd dug up a scabbard for that sword somewhere, 
and was wearing it.  "Got a minute?" she asked 
hesitantly.

        "As long as you don't try to seduce me,"  I joked, and 
her eyes widened.  

       "I wouldn't...I mean...umm..."  Her voice began 
vehemently, then faded into mumbling.  "Oh great, now 
I've got this image in my head and..."  I resolved to not 
make any more jokes until both of them were past the 
worst of this. 

        That was how I had ended up having my 
one...well...fling with a woman when I went through my 
adjustment.  I don't normally have any sexual or romantic 
interest in other women, but someone had made a joke 
about how me and...this other faerie I knew...would make 
a good couple, and the image had begun to haunt me in my 
every waking moment until I acted on it.  She had 
welcomed it, which had surprised me; that was why my 
friend had made the joke.  

        "I'm sorry, Angie.  I bet if you and Harry have mad 
passionate sex, it would get rid of it."  That was a safe 
image to put in her head.  I hoped.

        "These...urges...I mean, are they completely random 
or is it just...a loss of control?  I mean, can they MAKE 
you do something?"  She leaned against a tree, wincing 
for no reason.

       "They can't MAKE you do anything, but they can make 
it a lot more likely you'd do something not normally in 
your nature.  You'll probably get sloshed out of your mind 
at least once, for example.  Every mind is full of 
impulses that don't REALLY reflect your true self and 
normally you just ignore them.  Like the time I went to 
the Grand Canyon, and just for a second, I had the urge to 
jump in to see what it would be like.  Kinda like...brain 
bugs or something."  I sat down, leaning against another 
tree.  "But during your adjustment, all your defenses that 
normally screen out these thoughts are dangerously low.  
And they'll never be quite so strong as they were before 
when they come back up.  Faeries ARE more impulsive 
than mortals.  It's our nature."

        Angie came and sat down near me.  "It's just that...I 
mean I...Me and...Harry...and...Alex...we..."

        It was hard to control my own impulses.  "Had mad 
passionate sex?"

         She nodded quietly.  "Yeah.  And I don't know why."  
She began poking the dirt with a handy stick.  "I mean...it 
just seemed like the thing to do but...I just...I dunno what 
I want or how I really feel or...When we were coming 
back, I had several fantasies about that merman and..."

         I laughed.  "He was kinda hunky.  And knew how to 
show it off too."

         Angie turned beet red.  "You're not helping."

        "It doesn't necessarily mean you're gay, if that's 
what's bugging you.  On the other hand, it does mean 
there's a good chance you'll shag several more people you 
normally wouldn't before this is over."

         Angie's eyes widened.  

         "The key thing is that you can't fight off the 
impulses forever, but you can try to vent steam in ways 
that don't cause long-term trouble.  I'd drag you and Harry 
off to a fast-time realm if we had time, but we need to 
get his Dad and Alex's folks out of hock first.  Then you 
could burn off your impulses and get through this before 
much mortal world time passes."  I sighed.  "So was Alex 
good?"

        "TANYA!"  Angel shouted.  

        I giggled.  I just can't help myself sometimes.  
"Seriously, I have to say that was a really bad idea, but 
I'm sure you couldn't help it.  If you chose to do a 
threesome when you're all sane, that would be fine, but 
not like this.  Not when you might wake up in a few 
months and never want to do it again."  I tried to pull 
myself together and be as serious as possible.  "And don't 
wrestle with anyone you don't want to take to bed.  In 
your state, any physical contact could turn into burning 
passion.  I promise I won't attack Harry any time soon."

        She blinked at me, then smiled a little.  "I suppose I 
shouldn't go around tackling Thomas, then?"

       "Only if I get to tackle Harry,"  I said.  Laugh, I 
thought.  Please laugh.

        "I think Alex would kill you."  She sighed.  "I don't 
know what to do, Tanya.  The next time she wants 
to...how I feel...I don't trust myself.  On that.  My brain 
keeps flip-flopping and..."  She sighed some more.  "It was 
a lot easier when I was lost.  No temptation."

        Smirking, I said, "So Jennifer doesn't turn you on?"

        "Not yet."  Angie shuddered.  "I'm probably gonna end 
up in bed with Splinter before this is all over."

         I laughed so hard I banged my head on the tree.  
"Take photos okay?  I'd want to see THAT in my photo 
album."

        "I sure don't," she said, finally laughing.  

        Lady Rowanford came into sight with a look on her 
face that clearly showed she was looking for someone, 
probably Angie.  I said, "We're over here!"

        She swatted a few vines out of her way and walked 
over.  "We have figured out what happened.  An elaborate, 
well made magical trap.  The lightning effectively tagged 
you and Jennifer with a magical signature which was the 
key to open a portal inside the river.  Only those properly 
keyed could pass through it."  She frowned.  "But why only 
you two...that we don't know."

        "And how could they know we were coming?"  Angie 
asked.  "And what about Bluey and Shalrisa?"

        "They just got here."  Lady Rowanford said.  
"Shalrisa's shapechanging instincts got scrambled by the 
bolt and she thought she was a fish for a while.  Bluey 
had the same problem.  It's common among 
shapechangers.  But we have no clue how the person 
knew, or who did it.  Is your whole group accounted for?"

        "Umm...wait, that Tacitus guy!  The short elf 
dude...um...Is he around?"  Angie asked.

         "No,"  Lady Rowanford said.  "Perhaps he was 
responsible."

         "It would be a rather nice trick for him to have cast 
a spell that elaborate while riding on dragonback,"  I 
said.  I knew I couldn't have; of course, I couldn't make 
keyed gates either.  That's a rare and powerful affinity.  I 
couldn't even think of anyone who knew how, although 
I've seen a handful in my life.  Of keyed gates, that is.

        "I suppose we should go join the planning session,"  
I said to Angie.

         "Yeah."  She sighed.  "I wish I had any good ideas to 
contribute to it."

         "We'll think of something.  Just think of this as an 
applied exercise of your D&D skills."

         Angie laughed.  "I'm used to being the omnipotent 
Dungeonmaster."

        "Then wiggle your fingers and turn Teleute into a 
Turnip for us, okay?"

         That got the laugh I was looking for, too.

************

Epilogue:

         Tacitus had not planned to be hung upside down in 
Martius' basement.  Then again, he hadn't planned to fall 
off the back of a dragon into a keyed gateway into said 
basement.  Making keyed gateways and reading minds 
were Martius' affinities.  That was how he had gotten 
into the Seelie Palace so long ago, he and his wife.  
Tacitus had only suspected that was the case in the past, 
now he knew for sure.  With such a power, not only could 
Martius go virtually anywhere in seconds, he could trap 
others with ease if he had enough time to set up the gate.  
It was not an instantaneous power, although it didn't 
take too much time.  While scrying was not an affinity of 
Martius, he had studied it and was better at it than many 
people who had made it their affinity.

        Tacitus checked his chains again; yep, he was still 
trapped.  Good thing I called in sick to work, he thought.  
Not that he would likely need to maintain that cover too 
much longer.  The birds in his care were learning to fly 
and to protect themselves.  I pray you shall fly more 
wisely than I did, he thought.

       "That wouldn't be hard,"  Martius said.  He hadn't been 
there before, or maybe he had.  Another of his knacks was 
for making people not notice him if he didn't want to be 
seen.  He had quite a few spells at which he was skilled, 
as benefited a fae of great age, skill, and determination.    
"I've been looking for you for a long time.  You've gotten 
much better at defending yourself against scrying."

      "Is this the part where you explain all your plans, 
then lock me in a deathtrap?"  Tacitus knew that 
sneering was pointless, but he wanted to get in one last 
jab before he died.  "Actually, I'd settle for knowing how 
you knew to put the trap where you did."

       "That foolish girl my ex-wife is conning never 
thought of the fact that powerful magical artifacts make 
one easy to trace if one doesn't think to ward them 
versus scrying.  Especially if the item causes scrying.  
I've been checking in periodically; I saw where you all 
were going and laid a trap."  Martius sat down in a chair.  
"I see you've improved your deep mental defenses.  This 
may take a while."

        "So why did you just want me?"

        "I can kill the others any time I want if they get in 
the way, but you...chances to kill you are rare.  You hide 
well, and you're actually competent.  More importantly, 
you have valuable information, once I pry it out of your 
head."  His eyebrows furrowed slightly.  "Although you 
seem to have guarded it well."

        "If you're trying to pry the Ritual of Enlightenment 
out of my mind...it's a trap, you know.  You know what 
happened the last time it was used."

         Martius grinned feraly.  "I saw it all.  I don't need to 
pry it out of your mind.  You have other useful 
information.  I'm sure Bialla and Titania remember it 
quite well as well.  I wish there was some way to force 
her to watch helplessly a second time this time as well, 
but I'd rather not chance her breaking free and botching it 
like we did when you two idiots tried to use it the first 
time."  He shook his head.  "But it would be so poetic."

        "What, you want to die again?"

         He grinned again.  "I didn't say that I was going to 
perform it."

        "But then..."  Oberon's eyes widened.  "But it takes 
two...a man and a woman to do it properly.  Of the 
bloodline of the realm's lord or lady.  And since she is..."

         "I'm saving her to destroy Titania.  As for Bialla's 
line...The only difference between them and Splinter is 
that she at least was DELIBERATELY raised to be stupid."  

          It took a little while for Tacitus to finally grasp 
Martius' meaning.  "But how can you be sure they'll do it?"

        "Unlike you, they have poor mental defenses for the 
most part.  I can play them like a flute."  He frowned.  
"Damnation.  I'm starting to wonder if you have anything 
in your memories BUT defenses."

        Tacitus smiled faintly.  "I'm not the only one to 
learn some new tricks.  Wake me when it's time for the 
deathtrap."

         "When I learn what I want, I will kill you."

         "Well, I've learned what I want.  As much as I can 
risk, anyway.  I never thought I'd use this next trick, 
but...I suppose learning to die on command can be useful."  
He couldn't risk any longer.  Martius was on the verge of 
battering through his defenses, and he knew Martius.  He 
would kill Tacitus as soon as he had no use for him and 
almost certainly use Cold Iron.  This death would mean 
only a brief sleep and an awakening in the Lands of the 
Fallen.  He sent forth the mental command, and then he 
died, dissolving away into sparkles of light which rose 
up through the ceiling and vanished.  

           "Damn you, Oberon.  Damn you."  Martius said.

        "You have neither the authority nor the right to do 
so.  You can only damn yourself, which you have done an 
excellent job of doing,"  a female voice said from nearby.  
It was Ariel.  

        "Begone.  You know you may not meddle here."

         She smiled.  "Where my champion goes, I may go.  If 
only to thank you.  I was wondering how I would ever get 
something necessary done, and then you provided me such 
a useful tool."  She bowed, then turned to depart.  "Tit for 
tat, you know.  Well, now I'm off to give Teleute a 
warning she won't listen to either."  Shrugging, Ariel 
walked towards the door.

        He frowned.  "What are you talking about?  Who else 
did you give a warning to that they wouldn't listen to?"

        "I suppose Caligoro told you that the spell he taught 
you would prevent anyone teleporting out of this place."

        "It will.  One of Teleute's children tried, and he has 
an affinity.  If he can't get out, no one can.  OR are you 
planning to die as well?"  I didn't think of that, he 
thought.  Although I don't think anyone knows a way to 
prevent a soul passing to the Land of the Fallen, except 
to have a mortal present or use Cold Iron.  

        "One of the few qualities that Caligoro and I still 
have in common is that neither of us can be bound, though 
for different reasons.  The spell is not made that can 
hold either of us for long, or bar us from entry."  She 
began to fade from sight.  "Keep that in mind in your 
dealings with him.  He will devour you as he did the 
others in the end."

         "The last time I listened to one of your warnings, 
my entire kingdom was destroyed and my wife turned 
against me.  I don't know what your game is, but I refuse 
to be your pawn."

         Her voice took longer to fade than her image.  "Like 
you, I serve a higher master.  Unlike you, I am fully aware 
of my status and chose it freely instead of being tricked.  
You remind me of the fish who tried to escape being 
cooked by jumping out of the pot."  Her voice faded before 
she got to the punchline, as far as Martius could tell.