Nighttime has fallen upon the airship. Lamu, despite its heat during the day has proven to be quite chilly at night time… making a certain young Aeonian very grateful for his thick robes.

Rory hops from hoof to hoof, doing an impromptu "tap-dance number", to keep a little more warm.

There's a light knocking on Rory's cabin door. "He's probably asleep already." one voice outside says. "Oh don't be silly, I heard that Aeonians never sleep." "Where'd you hear that?" "Oh, I dunno… "

Rory dashes over to the door, and opens it immediately. "You're here!" he whisper-exclaims.

Kiz almost falls facefirst onto the floor while Kell looks scoldingly at her twin sister. "That's what you get for trying to eavesdrop." The Siamese Khatta hugs a familiar looking pillow to her chest.

Rory stifles an "eep!" as he backs aside, opening the door wider to let the two dream mages in. "Uhm … Welcome. And thanks again."

Kell dusts her sister off and holds the pillow out to Rory. "Here you go, thanks again for the shades."

"They made really keen parasols for our tea party this morning!" Kiz says, grinning happily.

Rory grins proudly. "Certainly! Any time you want them again … just let me know. I can always use the practice. Maybe I can even think of something more useful sometime."

Kell grabs her sister by the arm and backs away. "Well, we'd better get to bed. Mage Latania would probably give us measles or something if she caught us up. G'nighty!"

Rory smiles and waves, clutching the pillow like a … like a … like Mister Porky. "Good night! Pleasant dreams! As if you needed me to wish that!"

The two Khattas giggle and scamper off. Rory can hear a door open and close quickly down the hallway, then silence.

Rory wastes no time, putting the pillow on his bed, getting ready, dropping to his knees beside the bed and asking for blessings for various persons (including Reece and Skiree and the two dream mages … and EVEN Mage Latania, with a request that somehow Mage Latania might become nicer, by some miracle)…

At last, the unicorn hops into bed. "Good night, Silhouette! I'm going to see if I have any more interesting dreams. I'll tell you all about it, okay?"

A shadowed head pokes down from the upper bunk and nods. "I expect a full report in the morning."

Rory signs an "Okay!" to Silhouette, grinning, then plops backward, landing his head on the pillow with a *FLOOMPH*, and closing his eyes.

Much like last time, the dream fades in quickly. But unlike last time there's no hallway, no path that leads into the room with the three doors – Rory simply finds himself in the room. The appearance has changed quite a bit though. The white 'Beginning' door is gone, and all the white tiles and stones on the wall have become shades of black and gray. The effect is almost… dismal.

The two doors wait patiently for Rory, a gray one marked 'middle' and a black one marked 'end'.

Rory hmms, looking at the doors. He starts to do a random selection, but then shakes his head. "Naw. I ended up picking the Beginning last time. So I might as well do it in order, and take the Middle this time. Hello, Middle!" He pokes at the door.

The gray door opens quietly, revealing patient blackness beyond.

Rory marches right on through, into the blackness, looking about.

For a moment, nothing happens. Then gray mists rise up and begin swirling about, slowly taking form…

Rory leans forward, blinking his eyes rapidly, as if that would somehow help the process in his dream.

The image seems to pick up when the last left off. There's a bright flash of light… then the area around Rory is suddenly populated by hundreds of creatures much like himself, all of them looking about with great confusion. Several dragons appear as well, but quickly scatter to parts unknown.

Rory's excitement at seeing another vision quickly fades as he remembers the pain and fear he witnessed in his vision before. He looks for the one he regards as Silhouette. "Silhouette? Can you hear me? Where are you? I'm here. I'm back."

Silhouette can be seen near the edge of the confusion, she doesn't seem to notice Rory. She listens intently to three other unicorns, all of whom seem to be arguing amongst one another and pointing off in all directions. The language they speak sounds familiar to Rory for some reason, but he can't quite place or understand it.

Rory frowns, and swallows the urge to ask them to talk in a civilized language like Rephidim Standard so he can understand. He walks to stand next to Silhouette. He reaches for her hand, to 'hold' hers, if he can … even though the touch can be no more substantial than when Silhouette tries to 'hold' his.

Just as Rory expected, his hand passes right through hers. Standing so close to her though, Rory notices that she's a great deal taller than he is, as tall as Latania by the look of it. The three other unicorns she listens to, all of whom have white coats, (in fact almost every unicorn seems to have a white coat, with a few exceptions) suddenly break off and storm into the trees. Silhouette watches them, and then throws up her hands and follows behind.

Rory starts. "What? Hey! … " He blinks in confusion, then rushes after Silhouette. "Please, can't you tell me what's happening?"

Rory looks around, curious to see if everyone is taller than he is, or if there are any his age as well.

As Rory follows, the scene fuzzes and changes. Now it seems as though he's flying overhead, directly below him are the three unicorns… or most probably them anyhow. They're dressed in shining armor and riding on the backs of Drokars, each of them carries a sword.

Rory mouths an "ooooo!" For some reason now, he keeps quiet, even though he didn't exercise such restraint earlier. Maybe flying does that. He watches, trying to peer at the armor, looking for any designs or patterns, whether he recognizes them or not.

The three knights are dressed in metal armor, much like the metal swords carried at their sides. The design or style of the armor is unfamiliar… but it looks fairly 'knightly''. The three riders approach a cave and shout something at it. For a few moments nothing happens, and then something emerges… a dragon!

Rory mouths a "wow" at the armor … then recoils at the sight of the dragon!

The next thing Rory sees looks almost like someone flipping pictures in his face. He sees scenes of the three knights fighting the dragon, and eventually defeating it… at the cost of one of their number. The two survivors bury their friend and continue on. Scenes of them riding through forests and jungles, flying on airships and riding through the sea flash before him. They meet new friends, fight more dragons, and then move on. Strangely, many of the people who follow the two unicorns seem to age from picture to picture, and eventually vanish from sight – while the two unicorns remain the same age.

Rory frowns, rubbing his eyes. "This is so WEIRD," he whispers to himself. "Oh! If only I knew some Mind magic, so I could be sure I'm not just making up this part. And … Hey! Where did Silhouette go?"

Eventually another unicorn dies in battle, leaving only one. His followers leave him, and the lone warrior rides off. The scene changes again, from flipping pictures to moving images. The unicorn stands at the mouth of another cave, a plume of smoke can be seen in the distance while strange lizards mill about, completely ignoring the unicorn.

The lone knight screams something into the mouth of the cave… but nothing happens. Nothing comes out.

Rory frowns as he sees the second unicorn die, but continues to watch.

Rory blinks, trying to figure out if this is familiar. "Hey! HEY! You down there! STOP! This is where Reece came from! Don't hurt them!"

Eventually the knight tires of waiting and storms into the cave, oblivious of Rory's words. The scene melts into blackness.

Rory slumps. "No! Wait!" he cries out, though tempered by his acceptance that nobody is going to answer, let alone heed his pleas.

The scene reforms, showing the knight – battered, bruised, but still alive, lying in the grass. A castle can be seen off in the distance, and leaning against a tree, frowning down at the knight is Silhouette.

The knight pulls himself up to his feet and begins patting himself, as though he feels something is wrong. He casts a glance at Silhouette, who simply shrugs and wiggles her fingers in an arcane manner.

With a growl, the knight picks his sword up from the ground and begins storming toward the plume of smoke again. Silhouette puts a hand to her mouth in an 'oh my' gesture and runs after him.

Rory puts his hands to his head. "AUGH! Silhouette, stop him! He's going to get himself killed! Or everybody else! Or both!"

The scene fades again, and reforms to show Silhouette dragging the knight back toward the castle. Again he looks battered and bruised, and Silhouette is beginning to look increasingly impatient. She drags the knight to the foot of the open drawbridge on the castle, and then leaves him there as she walks inside.

As Silhouette disappears from view, Rory examines the castle more, trying to get an idea of its surroundings, and what banners it might fly.

The castle is rather small, built of graying stone with an emerald green moat around it. The pennants on the towers show images of a stylized tree.

Rory tries to roll around to get a look at the horizon and the sky, to see where he might be in this dream.

Grunting, the knight pulls himself up into a sitting position. Silhouette reappears and places a tray of something near the knight, and then angrily storms back into her castle.

The landmarks of Lamu are unmistakable. It appears that Rory is on the other side of the mountain range in the distance, and slightly near the Niton valley.

Rory squints, trying for a better look at the knight. "What's your NAME, anyway? It'd be a lot easier if you wore it on your shoulderpad or something like that. And what happened to this castle? I never saw any castles… "

The knight eats, then takes up his sword and AGAIN goes rushing toward the valley, passing right through Rory. Silhouette puts a hand to her forehead and slowly shakes her head back and forth, and then quietly follows after the night. This happens several more times, the knight goes to attack the creature in the cave, and Silhouette drags him back every time and takes care of him until he's healed enough to make another go at the cave.

Rory smiles to himself. "Just wait until I tell Silhouette that I saw she had her own CASTLE! And her own knights … uhm … knight." He frowns again. "I wonder if she's royalty?"

Rory sighs at the stubborn knight's antics. "I hope he survives."

As time goes by, the knight slows, and finally stops his attacks on the cave altogether. He removes his armor, and instead begins to tend the gardens around Silhouette's castle. He brings flowers to her in the morning, arranges blossoms, and turns the castle into an explosion of color with his plants.

Rory furrows his brow. "Well … at least he's not attacking the dragon … but … boy, that looks boring!"

Outside of his armor now, Rory gets a better look at the unicorn knight. He's solid white from his coat to his mane, his horn looks silvery, like his armor, and his eyes are deep blue. He continues to tend the gardens quietly… the angry creases on his face slowly begin to fade away, and he no longer looks to the plume of smoke in the distance.

Rory struggles, trying to reach the ground. He's tired of this flying-around bit. "So," he whispers, "are you still around? Are you still tending flowers even now? I wish you were real. I'd have SO many questions for you!"

The passage of time is somehow perceived in the dream… years go by. Perhaps hundreds of them, and every day the knight is tending the gardens. Rory's viewpoint is suddenly wrenched to the ground, right next to the knight. All around him the plants shake and move, as if something is circling in… something predatory.

The knight turned gardener stands bolt upright and holds his shovel like a sword. He waves it about, trying to scare off whatever is sneaking up in the grasses.

Rory oofs. "At least I'm on the ground now and – HEY! HEY! NO FAIR!" He clenches his fists and bites his lip as he watches what he knows he can't affect.

All at once the shapes burst forth, trailing darkness behind them. In an instant they overtake the Unicorn and cover him, and Rory, in blackness. For a moment there's nothing more… it seems almost as if the dream has ended, then one sound softly emerges from the blackness. The sound of a woman crying.

Rory can't make any sound … His lip trembles. He's afraid to see what comes next. "I'm sorry. I wish I could have helped," he whispers.

The crying becomes more ordered, and begins to sound not like crying as much as CHANTING now. A light begins to form in the center of the dream and begins to expand outwards… becoming brighter and brighter until it's blinding.

As Rory's eyes adjust he suddenly realizes that he's lying on the ground, looking up at the sun. Things seem hazy somehow, and… different. Silhouette is nowhere to be seen, nor is the gardener.

Rory blinks a few times, then tries to right himself for a look around.

From out of nowhere, one of the Lacinus appears, puts his arms around Rory's waist and picks him up. There's another rustle in the grass and the canine snarls and runs off like a shot. The scenery blurs as he runs and slowly fades off into nothingness.

Rory calls out, "Silhouette? Are you there?"

A shadowy hand cover's Rory's, not so much felt as just Rory senses it's there, like how it always is with Silhouette. She's nowhere to be seen, but that might have something to do with the fact that its difficult to see someone with your eyes closed.

Rory reluctantly opens his eyes. He whispers, "Silhouette? It was awful." He wipes at his eyes with one hand. "I saw these unicorn knights, and you were with them, but they kept getting killed off one by one… " He goes into a narrative of the dream … and though the thought had occurred to him to brag to her about how she had a castle in the dream, that doesn't seem quite so important now, seeing how the dream ended.

"How horrible, no wonder you were tossing and turning so much last night!" Silhouette signs, then reaches out her arms to Rory. "Are you sure these are memories? Although it might explain why we've never seen anyone like ourselves before… "

Rory frowns, pausing to ponder. "Memories? But that's just it! I didn't appear in any of the dreams. Why am I dreaming about this? Maybe these are YOUR memories … but what about mine?"

Silhouette purses her lips. "You're the one using the pillow, it shouldn't be about me unless my memories are in your head somehow. Could… could the two Khattas be playing a joke on us?"

Rory ponders that some more, then mumbles, "Maybe I'm not real? Maybe I'm just a figment of your imagination, a fictitious friend, and … " He crosses his eyes, and decides not to head down that path any further.

Rory says, "I hope they're not playing a joke on us. That would be … No, I just can't imagine them doing that. They dream about tea parties and flying fish and silly girl stuff. Not people dying and monsters and stuff. At least … that really wouldn't be very nice."

"Especially after all the work you put into those shades. Maybe you should talk to them again?" Silhouette signs.

The black unicorn nods and gets out of the bed. "Perhaps. But I don't want to insult them. There's at least one thing we can check on." He gets up and goes to the window, looking out. "I saw a castle in that dream. Over the mountains. I don't think my little Creen flew that far. If there's really a castle out there … YOUR castle … then it's not just a dream. But there's also another way." He gulps. "Reece's mother. I think that's who the knight was attacking. I don't think she'd be happy to see me, and I don't have any armor to protect me, but if this was real … she'd know, right?"

Silhouette doesn't 'say' anything for a few moments, and then finally just nods her head.

Rory nods. "I'll have to call up the Creen again … and send him out this time to see if he can find that castle, and fly back … Oh yeah, and check out that cottage, too – the one that it flew past last time." He looks to Silhouette. "Then we'll know. Maybe that's it. You were a princess, with your own castle, and your own knights, but … " He furrows his brow, trying to remember those hand movements. He shakes his head, since hand-wiggling is how little kids think how magic works. Hand wiggles don't do anything. "Well, maybe you were affected by a magical spell, and … " He puts a finger to his temple, trying to come up with something, but his overactive imagination seems to be taxed for the moment.