It is afternoon in Lamu, the hottest time of the day. The students who don't have proper shade from the heat, or just would rather avoid the blazing rays altogether have taken refuge in their cabins… one student in particular has been keeping himself occupied while staying belowdeck.

Having made sure that the "Dream Twins", Kiz and Kell, are properly equipped with "shadow parasols", Rory sets to the task of, once again, making his magic circle, going through a long ritual, and conjuring up shadows that dance across the floor and the wall, resembling clouds, though too focused to be natural … and too strangely-shaped, as the spell progresses, with the clouds giving way to floating castles, fluttering creatures, galloping Drokars, and finally a wide range of insects pursued by a happily snapping and dodging shadow-creen.

The ritual completed, Rory stops his chanting and opens his eyes, looking to the shadows and the dancing Creen. "You're back! Thank you so much for showing me all those neat things last time. Do you think you could help me again? And I can make you some REALLY fat and juicy shadow-bugs!"

With an insubstantial *pop* (perhaps it's just what you'd expect the sound to be, so one's imagination places the sound there) the shadow Creen flies from the menagerie on the wall and orbits around the room. This time it perches on Mister Porky.

Rory snickers, covering his mouth, not wanting to offend Mister Porky's sensibilities. "All right, then! Remember that cottage you flew past last time? Well, what I want you to do this time is to go BACK there, and check it out for me. Also, I didn't see it last time, but I dreamt of a castle near that cottage. If you can find a castle near the cottage, I'd like it if you could check it out as well! And if something doesn't let you inside, just fly around it and inspect it the best that you can. And when you come back, I'll work on some more nice juicy shadow-bugs for you!"

The Creen nods it's head up and down and shoots out the window. There's a loud barking outside from one of the natives.

"And, if you see anything new and interesting along the way – especially if it looks like it might be dangerous," Rory adds, "it'd be nice if you could get a peek at that, too, for me. Yipe!"

Rory pouts. Not fast enough.

The barking outside continues for a little bit, and then dies down into the dull rhythm of hammers as the ship repairs continue.

"Oh well!" Rory says, shrugging, and keeping his place in the circle, while looking about the room. "I hope he finds that castle, Silhouette. If so … that means it's YOURS!" He suddenly frowns, as a thought occurs to him. "Hmm. But if it's yours … I wonder if that means it's your home? Would that mean you'd have to stay here?"

"Only if you stay there with me" Silhouette signs, trying to appear mock-indignant.

Rory smiles embarrassedly. "Well … At least we could VISIT it. Funny to think you'd have a castle way out here. Out in the middle of NOWHERE! Why, there's not even a Guild Hall in this part of the world – or else we'd all be staying THERE instead of on this ship."

The shadow unicorn sits down on the floor, looking out the window. "It must be a secret. It seems there's a lot of secrets here in Lamu."

Outside, a soft buzzing noise can be heard – it sounds like a bee or a wasp.

Rory hmms. "Well, I'm best at keeping secrets, not so much at FINDING them. But I like secrets." He furrows his brow. "I wonder why you wouldn't remember? Was it something so secret that you had to keep it a secret from yourself? And what's that noise?"

"That's silly. How can someone keep a secret from themselves?" Silhouette signs, then shrugs her shoulders in an 'I dunno' gesture at Rory's question about the sound. The sound intensifies, and shouts from abovedeck can be heard.

Rory frowns. "Uh oh. That doesn't sound good. Maybe I'd better see if I can call my Creen back. But … I don't know for sure if I can DO that!"

The little unicorn hunches down, pondering, then says, "No … If I wanted that as an option, I should have added a conditional to my chant and … " He mulls over the particulars, debating with himself over whether it would work properly or not.

WHAM Something impacts the deck above, Rory manages to see what looks like a wooden beam fall past his window before it impacts the ground.

Rory's eyes go wide in fright. "S-s-s-silhouette … I-i-i- … th-th-think we'rrrre … in … big t-t-t-trouble!"

The buzzing sound continues, followed by shouting from abovedecks… "Shoo!" "Get away from that!"

Rory remarks, "W-wha… What can knock apart the ship and they say 'SHOO' to it?" He's downright confused. "Silhouette, maybe you'd better hide under the bed, just in case it breaks in here?"

Just as quickly as it came, the buzzing starts to fade. Several shadows pass over the ship, blocking the sun from Rory;s window for a moment.

Rory whews. "Well, I hope that means they're leaving. I wonder what they are? Giant bugs? Buzzing dragons? Maybe they're a strange cross, caused by freaky acts of nature here in the wild, or else by the experiments of a mad alchemist who hid away in Lamu, who decided to create the ultimate top secret weapon – the DRAGON-FLY!"

The noises abovedeck start to settle, shouts and yelling have turned into growls and complaints. "Great… I hope that timber isn't damaged. You know how hard it was to GET timber out here?" "Hey! One of them swiped a bucket of nails!"

Rory hmms. "A bucket of nails? Maybe it's a race of bugs that builds things. An advanced civilization, related to the Zelaks, long lost on the surface, still able to fly, and thus make even TALLER buildings. Carpenter beetles!"

Silhouette puts a hand to her mouth as though she's stifling a giggle and shakes her head.

"Hey! Someone help that Shigai up, the rest of you go get that wood and see what else those things stole." comes what sounds like the voice of the captain outside. The sound of footsteps (and hoofsteps) clatter above, and a few winged shapes flutter past Rory's window and onto the ground.

"Shiga? A Shiga? What… ?" Rory blinks, trying to make sense of the shouts. "Ohhh! I do wish my Creen would get back soon!"

No sign of the Creen yet.

Rory frowns. "I am curious … but I have to stay here. A good mage does not wander off and ruin his spells because he's curious… Not ever."

There's a light knock at Rory's door followed by a gruff squawk. "Hello? You okay in there?"

Rory looks up, then says, "Yes! I'm still in here. I'm just stuck in my circle. Is everyone okay?"

There's a pause before the voice responds. "Yes. We just got swarmed by strange bugs. They stole a few things and tried to carry off that Shigai… but I guess he was too heavy."

Rory wonders at that term again, then asks, "Is he okay?"

"He's fine." the voice scrawks in reply. "He went funny for a bit, almost ready to leap off the deck and chase after the bugs… but now he's helping with cleanup."

"Oh!" says Rory. "Well, thanks for checking on me. I'm all right. No bugs got in here!"

"Be careful if you go up on the deck, they grabbed some crates and barrels and spilled some nails." The door rattles a bit and heavy footsteps can be heard heading back above the deck.

Rory turns toward Silhouette. "That's really strange! Giant bugs stealing stuff, and big enough to carry off a whole SHIGAI! That must be BIG!"

Silhouette nods. "I think I prefered Babel to this… even if there is a war going on."

Rory hmms. "Perhaps, when our ship landed here by accident, we unknowingly broke a centuries-old treaty with the forces of darkness made by the natives, by introducing signs of civilization that the ancient powers find offensive, and so, in their wrath, they have sent their minions to carry off items that represent our superior technology – such as nails and crates and Shigais – and … "

Rory looks to Silhouette. "Do you really mean that? Would you be happier if we went back to Babel somehow?"

"I don't know. Maybe we could be with Skiree again if we went back to Babel, or maybe we'd end up like the knight in your dream if we went… or maybe we'll end up that way here. I don't know." Silhouette wrings her hands nervously.

Rory shrinks down a bit. "Like the knight. Yeah." His ears droop, and he looks to Silhouette. "That knight in the dream … He had to be a friend of yours. Or maybe family. But you don't remember a thing about him?"

A rope tumbles down past Rory's window. "Tie the beams that aren't broken on there… we'll haul them up. The rest of you try and do something with the broken ones… OW! Dagh, stepped on another nail."

Rory CRINGES at that, and reflexively grabs his own hoof in sympathetic pain. "Owwwww!"

The shadow puts her hands to her head. "I wish I did. Dragons and knights and castles… I don't know why I can;t remember any of it. Maybe that's why you remember it all for me, because I can't."

Rory frowns, letting go of his hoof, his muzzle dropping a bit. "Silhouette … If something happens to me … Will you forget about ME?"

Silhouette stands straight as a rail. "Nothing will happen to you. I won't let it."

Another shout from above. "Reece! Stop making a mess and help clean up the one we already have! I think that bug dropped you a little too hard."

Rory looks up at Silhouette for a long moment … then just nods. "Okay. I believe you. And, don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you, either. And I won't forget you." He blinks. "Reece?"

Rory turns around a bit, facing the window, but still in his circle, and shouts more loudly, "REECE! Is that you?"

"Here here here." comes a frantic voice that SOUNDS like Reece, but lacks the slowness and the lack of emotion. He sounds almost frantic. "Busy… have to find it… "

Rory shakes his head. "No, that can't be Reece. Reece is slow and bored of everything."

A few nails tumble down past Rory's window, prompting angry scrawks and barks from the crew below. "REECE!" the captain yells. "What are you doing? Put them back in the barrel and stop trying to bury under them." An irritated sounding hiss answers the Captain.

Rory hmms. "I guess it must be Reece, only faster. I wonder what he's doing? Ah well." He sighs, and twiddles his thumbs, sitting in his circle and sing-songing about Carpenter Beetles of Doom.

Rory sing-songs, "Beetles o' Doom! Beetles o' Doom! Better make rooooooom! … For the Carpenter Beetles of Dooooom!" He bobs his head back and forth, and pauses a bit to make up the next verse.

Rory sing-songs, "Zoop-e-doop-doop! Baba-la-boom! Hide all your nails from the Beetles o' Doom! Zip-kala-fraz-shoop! Rapa-lapa-ding-koom! Grab up the pails from the Beetles o' Doom… "

Rory pauses after a few more verses, then turns toward Silhouette, gauging her reaction. He frowns, then says, "I AM a mage, you know! I'm ALLOWED to make up new words for my songs!" He crosses his arms, then nods solemnly … and goes into the NEXT verse. "Bada-bada-zing-zords! Hapa-whoo-whoo-whoom! Better hide your boards from the Beetles o' Doom! Kizi-kizi-ting-gords! Chappa-chappa-toom-noom! Better put up some wards 'gainst the Beetles o' Doom!" His head bobs up and down, as he really gets into this, but he stays in the circle…

Eventually, time passes… much more quickly with Rory entertaining himself. He almost doesn't notice the arrival of his shadow-creen, who flutters in and perches on the bedpost.

Rory has long ago run out of REAL words to his song, and has changed the rhythm enough times that it might as well be a new song, except that the chorus is still "Beetles o' Doom!" … blah blah blah … "Carpenter Beetles of Doom!" He'll likely be very disappointed if the bugs already have some OTHER name.

The unicorn at last looks up at the Creen, and remarks, "Boy, you sure missed some BIG bugs! But they weren't the shadow type. Except that they probably cast really big shadows. But don't worry. I can probably imagine what they looked like, and make a BIG lunch for you! … So … What did you find?"

Strangely, the Creen just sits there for a few moments before reacting to Rory's words, it seems almost… tired. It does muster enough strength to fly up again and into the wall, exploding into a dim shadowplay showing the grasses passing by.

Rory blinks at the Creen, but keeps his worries to himself, as he diligently watches the Creen's "report".

This time the Creen follows a road… tall grasses grow on either side. Several villages appear, all of them inhabited by the canine shapechangers. When the road ends, the Creen follows a river instead, and then begins angling its flight upward as it moves in the direction of the cottage.

Rory says, "Aha! He REMEMBERED! That's good… "

Eventually the cottage comes into view and the Creen powerdives towards it. It circles around cottage once, showing some overgrown gardens and a field that looks too orderly to be natural… but too overgrown to be tended by anyone.

Rory squints his eyes, trying to imagine some color to match the shadows, comparing them to the gardens in his dreams.

The gardens aren't as extravagant as the ones in Rory's dream… in fact they look rather simple. Just some vegetables, and a few flowers here and there.

Rory looks at the flowers, trying to memorize the shadows. It occurs to him that maybe Silhouette would like some shadow-flowers sometime … but where would she put them?

Out loud, Rory says, "You're doing wonderfully, little Creen!" He smiles as he watches the scene.

The Creen focuses on a wall and flies inside the cottage. The furnishings look very sparse, not to mention dilapidated. It doesn't look like anyone's been here in several years.

Rory watches the furniture, comparing them to what he remembers of the furniture of the locals – or anything else, for that matter. "Wow. Looks like a mess."

A bedroom flies by, the bed tattered and worn out; then a study with an easel and a broken chair lying at its base appears. The furniture looks a bit simplistic… like something someone might craft with their own hands, although the style of it doesn't resemble anything remotely close to what's been seen in Lamu. It looks almost like furniture from the hotel in Himar.

Rory's eyes follow the easel as it whips by. "I wonder what sort of paintings … " he says, trailing off, not completing that thought.

If there are any paintings on the easel, they don;t show in the shadowplay… just a black silhouette of an easel with a canvas or something similar nestled in it.

Rory sighs resignedly. This IS, after all, a shadowplay, so he's not surprised, if a bit disappointed.

The view changes back to outside and the Creen flies around the area… searching for a castle. There doesn't appear to be one in sight… but SOMETHING can be seen rising up from the plume of smoke in the distance…

Rory leans forward a bit from his seat within the circle, as if that would somehow improve the view or get him closer.

Unsure of what to do, the Creen continues circling… but no castle can be found. Meanwhile the approaching speck in the distance gets bigger. It looks like it's something just a little bit bigger than the Creen… a bug!

Rory says, "Uh oh! It's … the Carpenter Beetle o' Doom!" He immediately launches into the chorus of "Carpenter Beetles o' Doom", swaying side to side.

The bug flies straight towards the Creen and *whams* into it… amazingly enough, the Creen goes tumbling back!

Rory YIPES! "Ow!" He frowns, feeling bad for the poor Creen, even if it IS just a shadow.

The bug… or shadow bug it seems… just hovers in the air. The Creen tries to find a way around it, and each time gets knocked back by the bug.

Rory says, "HEY! Who's doing that? No fair!"

Rory makes a raspberry at the offending bug, and makes a "neener-neener" face at it.

The motions of the bug don't seem to be 'aggressive', although it seems to be acting like another ward. A ward what surely wasn't there before. The Creen doggedly continues to try to pass, and each time is shoved back. The shadows flicker and waver, indicating that the Creen is weakening.

Rory frowns, his ears drooping again. "Awww … I should have told the Creen to just head back as soon as it saw a giant shadow-bug that might start bumping into it. It's just getting hurt for no good reason!"

Finally, the Creen gives up and turns around. Scenes of the river appear again, but it goes by much too quickly to make out any details. Then the road comes into view, and finally the airship. Several Vartans and picking up spilled lumber that was being used to repair the ship, and the rest are trying to clean up the deck. A silhouette that looks like Reece is wildly scrabbling around, digging through barrels and crawling around on the ground at a frantic pace.

Rory says, "Oh! Poor Reece! He probably needs help!"

After that, the shadowplay just fades out, the Creen doesn't reemerge.

Rory blinks. "Little Creen? Are you okay?"

No response. Just a blank wall.

Rory sits there a bit longer, his lower lip quivering.

"I'm sorry," the little unicorn whispers, making a long, shuddering sigh. "But I'll keep my promise. A promise is a promise." He closes his eyes and chants.

Silhouette sits solemnly on the floor, watching quietly.

Rory chants, shaping the shadows in the room, conjuring them into little shadow-bugs that don't invade real space, but only exist on the fringe of vision, in the imagination of a young unicorn and anyone else willing to make believe. Big and small, of as many exotic and common varieties as Rory has ever seen, and many more out of his own fruitful imagination, with unlikely shapes and combinations of wings and tails and legs. He wills them to buzz and dart about, wiggling in a way that Rory imagines should be enticing to any hungry Creen, and, so he would claim, juicy and just the sort of thing a shadow-creen would want to eat.

At last, the little unicorn finishes his spell, and sends all the bugs away into his imaginary land of shadows, off to where a shadow-creen would have a veritable feast … if he were still there.

More footsteps can be heard as Rory completes his spell, followed by what almost sounds like someone jogging in the hallway outside.

Rory sighs and lets the shadows fade. He hides his face from Silhouette as he sets about the task of cleaning up everything.

Rory gets up once he's finished, and walks to the door. He opens it and looks out into the hall.

The jogging, thumping, and scraping noises continue outside, intermingled with irritated sounding hisses.

Rory heads out, then peeks back into the room. "I'm going to go find Reece, okay, Silhouette?" He sniffles, then wipes at his face. "I'll be back in a bit."

Sil nods. "I'm sure he's alright." Whether she speaks of the Creen or Reece, who's to tell?

Rory nods, and carefully closes the door behind him as he heads out into the hall. He tries to seek out the source of the sounds, wondering if that's Reece's voice. Just to make sure, he calls out in a half-hushed voice, "Reece? Are you there?"

A familiar lizard's head pokes around the corner. "Have you seen it anywhere?" he asks, almost pleadingly.

"Reece?" Rory asks, louder, then clip-clops quickly closer. "Seen what? Are you okay? I'm sorry I didn't check on you sooner! I was in the middle of a spell, and it's bad to stop in the middle… " He looks the lizard over to make sure he's in one piece.

The Niton looks all right, but he seems thinner, and fidgets. One thing does seem to be missing though: his necklace.

Rory, not one for subtlety or privacy, pipes up, "What happened to your necklace? Did the Carpenter Beetles o' Doom steal it?" He refrains from singing the chorus again, since that probably wouldn't make Reece feel any better.

"No… not okay." Reece hisses, dropping to the ground and looking around. "Stingers stole it, stole mother's gift. Mother say I die without it."

Rory gasps, then looks sad … then looks angry! "Those … Those … lousy no good awful awful… "

Rory's lip quivers again, and he throws himself against Reece! "It's not FAIR! You're my friend! I just lost my little Creen! I don't want to lose you, too!"

The lizard stands there, unsure of how to respond to Rory's affection. "Only one thing I can do… go back to mother and get another one."

Rory looks up at Reece. "Then you'll be all right? Will you need help to get back to your mother?"

Reece nods, looking a little frightened. "If I go back to the green… I will forget myself and never leave, go back to what I was before I left. Will need someone, a friend, to remind me of who I am."

Rory pipes up, "I'll do it! I'll protect you! … I don't want you to forget! It's awful when you forget your friends!" He frowns, thinking of his dreams … of the dead unicorn knights … of his friend, Silhouette, who doesn't remember a thing. "It's … It's not FAIR!"

Rory says, "I'll ask Mage Latania. She HAS to give permission. I mean, she can't let you DIE!"

Rory tugs at Reece's hand, already in motion, trying to drag the poor Niton after him. "Let's find her RIGHT NOW!"

The lizard nervously follows behind Rory. "What you do if she not let you go?"

Rory bites his lip, not happy at tough questions like that. "I don't know," he admits. "She HAS to let me go."

Reece looks downcast. "Thank you… "

Rory jogs along to the end of the hall, lizard in tow. Once he reaches the door, he raps on it, still holding Niton's hand in his not-quite-so-formidable grip with the other hand. "Mage Latania? Mage Latania? Please open up! It's an EMERGENCY!"

"Then come in and stop denting my door!" the Cervani's voice replies. The door doesn't appear to be latched.

Rory opens the door and charges in, rattling off, "Reece is in trouble! The wicked Carpenter Beetles of Doom came and stole our nails and a magical artifact of great power from Reece that is his only way of surviving, and in order to live, he has to go on a journey to find his mother so he can get another one, but if he goes there, he'll get forgetful and not remember to come back, and forget all his friends, including me, and I can't let that happen, so I have to go along to help him on his quest and remind him of the world outside and the greater things in life and to make sure nothing eats him, and you've GOT to let me go with him, please please please please please, I'll be good, you just HAVE to let me go, because they killed my shadow-creen, and I won't let them take Reece, too!"

Rory takes a deep breath … and just stands there, trying to make his lower lip as stiff as he can manage, keeping his chin up as he looks at Mage Latania with watery eyes.

Latania, who was sitting on her bed, looks perplexedly at Rory… she turns to the Niton. "Is this correct… will you die without his help?"

Reece nods. "In week's time, maybe less."

Rory continues to catch his breath, watching the exchange, sniffling only once.

Rory says in a weak voice, "I'll be good. I promise!"

The Cervani rises from her seat on the bed and looks out a window. She says nothing, simply folding her hands behind her back as she considers.

Rory tries to suck in his breath, being as quiet as he can. He squeezes Reece's hand just a little bit.

Latania turns back around, looking to Reece again. "How far is this place?"

"Two days walk, maybe three. Less if we take river." the lizard replies.

Rory ventures another breath, but still keeps his mouth shut.

Latania nods. "I am very much against this… and would like to see if there is anything I may do for the Shiga before we send anyone anywhere. But, I am a life mage… and if someone dies because I did not act, then I am going against everything I stand for."

Rory looks hopefully to Latania. "Then you'll help him? Really?"

Rory says, "I'm not extremely afraid. I'm willing to help however I can!"

"This ship and its crew have been immensely helpful to us. If this is one way we can return the favor, then so be it." The Cervani quickly turns to glare at Rory. "BUT… I refuse to send you there alone. I'm sure we can hire some of the natives to accompany you and keep you out of harm's way. You still owe the College tuition money afterall."

Rory shrinks down a bit. "I'm sorry, Mage Latania. As soon as I get a chance to make myself useful, I'll make it up to the College, I mean it!"

Rory ponders a thought. "I'll even pay back whatever it costs to hire the natives," he offers.

"But anyway," Rory says, "I won't be alone. I'll have Reece with me, and Silhouette, too! She would never let me go without her. And I could hide us all from any monsters or cannibals or wicked spirits or other forces of evil from the deepest recesses of the universe."

"Of course you will." the life mage responds. She makes a dismissive gesture to Rory. "I might as well make my preparations now. Come back in the morning, if I have not healed your friend… then you shall have much to do."

Latania points to Reece. "YOU… stay here."

Rory bows his head … then rushes forward, drops to his knees and hugs Latania's legs, burying his face against her knee. "Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! You're the most wonderful life mage in the whole WORLD! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

"URGHK!" Latania grunts, bumping her back against the window.

Rory urks? He looks up, and his ears blush visibly. "Uhm … er … thank you, Mage Latania." He gets up … then dashes off at full tilt for the door!

Rory's hooves skid as he skips out into the hall, and he only belatedly remembers something … and dashes back to close the door behind him. Then, he clip-clops at a frantic pace down the hall, looking for someone. "Kiz and Kelllllll! I need to get another pillow!" This may be his last chance, after all, to find out more about that cottage and castle … before he might have to actually VISIT the land beyond the wall of grass…