Alptraum has made it back to Blackshire Village, leaving the cheetah ("Autumn-Storm", he has learned her name to be) in the care of the physician/shaman – though from what he has heard, her likely fate is to eventually go to a dungeon cell underneath Blackshire Keep, once she's well enough to be moved there. (The stolen pendant was not found on her person, but under questioning, she admitted to having stolen it, with a promise of being paid by some mysterious stranger who required it. Instead, all she got paid was a dagger to the gut – and she didn't even get to keep the dagger.) For now, it looks as if Alptraum has been cleared of all implications in the crime, despite all of Sheriff Darken's obvious suspicions of gypsies.

One thing heavy on Alptraum's mind, though, was the matter of that dream, and what it might mean. Toward that end, the most obvious source of arcane information at the moment would seem to be a certain fortune teller…

The Eeee's claw tips click as they tap against the tabletop nervously. His eyes dart around the room again, doubts surfacing as to asking this rather strange Korv for more information. He pushes aside those thoughts and thinks back to the dreams. Did I really touch the souls of two people? If so, how? Why? Why me of all people? Does it have something to do with the pendant I wear? Something about where I'm from? And who was that beautiful Eeee? He sighs softly, hoping to find some answers here.

Alptraum is left to continue with his thoughts for a while, occasionally hearing some shuffling and banging noises on the other side of that beaded curtain, in the other part of the wagon, and the occasional caw or mutter. Only at last does the bead curtain part, a beak poking through. "KAW! Ah! Zhu come to zee Madame Xanadu again!" This, as if Alptraum hadn't already announced himself earlier. "Zeet down! Zeet down!" caws the crow – as if Alptraum weren't seated already. She waddles through the curtain, big chitin hoop earrings dangling from her headband (so far as Alptraum knows, Korvs do not have ears) as she sits down on her own perch on the opposite side. "Vat eez eet zhu vish to know now, leetle boy?"

"Well, I do have some questions about a dream I had recently," Alptraum replies, then digs under his shirt collar and produces his pendant. "And about this," he then adds, removing it and setting it on the table. "Do you know what it means?"

"Hmmmmm," Madame Xanadu murmurs, pondering. "Maybe Madame Xanadu eez knowing such things, but eez hard to be sure. Perhaps if zhu vere to geev Madame Xanadu a nice zhiny zhekel, eet vould inspire her to theenk harder?"

Alptraum winces, realizing that takes twenty percent of the meager earnings from last night. For a moment, he ponders if the town inn would like to employ a musician while the tribe remains in town. He digs into the pocket on the inside of his tattered jacket and produces a single shekel and sets it on the table. With a flick of his claw, he slides it over to the Korv.

The edges around the Korv's beak turn up in a grin, as she turns her head first one way, then the other, each time focusing one beady black eye on the coin, as if admiring the coin more so for its shininess than the fact that it's a shekel. She swipes it up with one wing-claw, and it disappears into a fold of her garment. "KAW! Zhanku. Now zhen … zhu haf a pendant?" She does the same turning of her head, back and forth, as she regards the pendant on the table. At once, her feathers bristle. "KAW! Bad karma! Bad karma! KAW KAW!" She flutters her wings, and for a moment, it almost seems as if she'll go airborne within the small confines of the wagon in her alarm.

Alptraum momentarily looks irritated. "What is so bad about this pendant?" he asks. "The Sheriff also didn't like it. He said something about a corpse symbol, but why would that in itself be bad?"

The Korv at last settles down, preening her feathers back into place, though still evidently perturbed. "KAW! Eet eez zeembol of ze Corpse, ya! Eet eez zeembol of ZUNALA!"

At the mention of that name, even as mangled as it is by the Korv's curious pronunciation, Alptraum feels a chill run up his spine. That's the word. That's what he heard the ghost say. That's what he heard spirits in the Sea of Soul saying. That's a word from that song…

Alptraum shudders, then blinks. Why does that name bother me? Sure, it's part of that song, but, that song always comforted me before. "What," he asks hesitatingly, "or who, is Sunala?"

The Korv looks to and fro. Maybe it wasn't the word itself. Maybe it's just the way this Korv is acting when she says certain things, that adds this feeling of creepiness. "Zunala eez ze fallen anzhel of Death!"

"And how does this relate to me? For as long as I can remember, I've known a song that has that name in it. I always thought it was something my birth mother probably sung to me. But… " He swallows, then continues, "Last night I heard it again, from a ghost. Then that dream I wanted to ask about… I was flying over something called the Sea of Souls. They were calling out that name. It was more real than just a dream. It was… " He trails off.

"KAW! Eet eez an omen! Madame Xanadu eez zhur of eet! Zhu must tell Madame Xanadu of zees dream," the Korv caws.

Alptraum picks up his pendant and replaces it around his neck. It drops out of sight a few moments later. "Well, it started with me flying in the most beautiful place I've ever seen. There were other Eeee there," says, thinking back, "but there was this one, white, the most beautiful Eeee I've ever seen. As I was flying toward the castle in the distance, she flew up and stopped me. She told me I did not belong there, that I belonged someplace else." He hits his hand on the table and growls, "I should have asked her, her name, but … all I could think of was where else would I belong."

"Vat deed zhu zee een zees place? Deed zhu learn eetz name?" the Korv asks, looking very intrigued now.

Alptraum shakes his head. "I learned I was in Paradise, but it was not a place I belonged." He looks down at the table and his voice drops. "I know often people have been afraid of me, because of how I look, but … I'm not a bad person. Why wouldn't I belong there?" He sighs. "No, I never got her name. I wish I had. Do you have any ideas on who she might have been?"

"Aha!" the Korv caws. "Eef eet vaz een Paradise, zhen eet must haf been an anzhel. Maybe eet vaz Inala. Ze legends zay zhe eez ze most beautiful of ze anzhels. But many of ze anzhels are beautiful, too, zo Madame Xanadu cannot be zhur vithout knowing more, ya?"

"Avralie," Alptraum concedes. "She looked sad to have to tell me that. I begged to stay, but, this force pulled at me. Paradise began to fade away, to be replaced by a grim world, one of darkness and clouds. Thunder and lightning roared around me. I… " Alptraum pauses and shudders, the memory fresh in his mind. "I fought against it, with all my strength. But in the end, I gave up and simply collapsed my wings and fell. I landed in an endless sea of what appeared to be … people."

"A zea of people? KAW! Eet must be ze Undervorld," the fortune teller suggests. "A very very bad place eet eez."

"I heard it called the Sea of Souls. I could fly out of it, and over it … but I couldn't leave the world," Alptraum explains. "It went on, endlessly. I could hear the souls crying out – some begging directly to me, some just begging. As I was flying, something hit me and I reached out, thinking of the ghost I met in the forest. Then, her hand came up from the Sea and our fingertips touched." The Eeee pauses and looks up at the fortune teller.

The Korv shifts her head from one side to the other, training her opposite eye on the bat for a time. "Ya?" she crows at the pause.

"Suddenly," he replies, "I was standing in a home. A battle was going on somewhere in the distance. The ghost wasn't a ghost any longer; she was lying in bed. The moment I saw her, I knew she was dying. She cried out for someone she loved, but no one came. I went over to her bed and kneeled beside her and tried to comfort her. She heard me. She asked me to deliver a message to the one she loved. I promised I would do so, and told her to rest and save her strength. Shortly later … the spark of her life faded and she was gone; only a soft smile on her face remained. I then returned to the Sea." He shrugs. "It's like I was supposed to be there. Like somehow, I was supposed to witness the end of her life and in some way help her. Once I returned to the Sea, I found I could now fly up and away from it. The force holding me there was gone."

The Korv's head lowers, and she rubs the side of her beak with a wing-claw. "Eez curiouz, ya."

"It gets stranger," Alptraum says, continuing the tale. "As I flew up, I saw another soul falling. It was the thief, the one that took the pendant. She was impossibly far away, yet somehow I was able to fly out and contact her. Again, the surroundings changed."

The Korv only head-bobs at this, not even having a caw in response.

"I was with her, where she lay dying in the rain. She was bleeding really badly in some ruins not too far from here. I went to her and kneeled down. Again, I tried to comfort her. It appeared as if her journey in this world was over. She looked up at me, almost like she was looking through me," Traum says. "Then … something else happened. She started to sign at me. I don't know there language and yet, in that world … I understood. She was begging me to not let her die. She offered me anything just if I would somehow spare her." He shakes his head. "I told her I didn't think I had that power, but I would try to save her. I woke up moments later. I rushed out of the town, in the storm, and flew – flew to where I remembered in the dream. I found her there. She was still alive, but barely."

The Korv is now leaning forward, transfixed as Alptraum tells his strange tale.

"I bound her wound and picked her up. Then I hurried back towards the town that was nearby. Light was still in the inn, so I went there and pounded on the door. Someone answered, then it's all sorta hazy. They fetched a doctor and I sat near the fire, trying to warm up. All the Savanites tried to question me, but, I couldn't understand them anymore. When morning came, the girl was still alive. I think I found her just in time." He shrugs. "Though she may regret that. She's bound for prison now, when she gets well enough. I feel sorry for her."

"Ah, but zhe eez alive, ya? Eez better alive in ze preezon, then dead een zees Zea of Zouls!" the Korv caws. "Zo, zat eez zhur ztory?"

The Eeee nods. "Yes, that's it. I don't understand what happened."

"Eet has not happened before, ya? Hmm. Vell, zees happened on ze Reckoning Eve, after zhu ran eento ze ghosts, ya? And zhu ran into ze leetle thief, who took ze pendant from ze Duchess, ya? Vell, zat pendant, Madame Xanadu eez hearing zat eet ees mageek," the Korv caws. "Eet ees having powers over ze dreams."

"And maybe although zhu deed not get ze pendant, zo many vierd zhings eez happening, zat zhu get ze ztrange dreams zhat night, ya?" the Korv adds.

"Avralie," Alptraum says, sounding unconvinced. "It was more real than just a dream. That … Sea … is it Sunala's realm?"

"Zat eez ze zpeereet realm for ze restless zpeereets," the Korv caws. "Ze vuns zhu find as ze ghosts een ze vorld. Ya, zat eez ze place of Zunala. Zhe eez ze Death Anzhel."

"Why would that place be the place for me?" he asks with a shudder. "I wasn't dead."

Madame Xanadu bobs her head. "Ah, but zhu vere only dreaming, ya? Zhu deed not ztay! But zat eez ze good qveszhun. Madame Xanadu eez veeshing for ze qvick anzher, but vat ve need to know eez, does zees happen more Zahn vonce? Zhu haf not dreamed zees zort of dream before, ya?"

The bat shakes his head. "Never," he replies, then hmmms. He repeats a bit of the song he remembers slowly, even though he doesn't know the language. "But, that song … the one I've always remembered … I was playing it just before I found myself in Paradise."

"Ah!" the Korv caws. "Zhu are zaying ze Zunala name, ya. I do not know zees ztrange language, but I am zeenking zhu zaid ze names of ze Zrinala and ze Rinala. Eet eez more anzhels! Ze Rinala, zhe eez ze Anzhel of Life. And ze Zrinala, zhe eez ze Anzhel Messenger of ze Dead."

Silver eyes blink shut momentarily. "I remember it as a song in a faded memory," he says. "It's all I have of my past, well, except for the pendant. Those names, until now, were meaningless to me." He looks directly at the Korv. "What were these angels supposed to look like? Maybe I saw some of them in Paradise."

"Hmm. Zhu vait here," the Korv says, and then she hops off of her perch, and waddles back through the bead curtain. Immediately, there is much commotion on the other side, including the sound of a stack of something (books?) coming crashing down, and some loud caws, then more rummaging that seems to suggest that despite the trouble, she's still up and about.

Alptraum stifles a laugh, a momentary image of a huge stack of books falling on the Korv's head flashing through his mind.

The Korv waddles back through the bead curtain with a large tome ornamented with what looks like holy symbols on the cover. She sets it on the table, then hops back onto her perch, and leans over, picking at the clasp with a pin, until it finally pops open, and she begins sorting through the book. Many of the pages are illuminated, which makes this book a very rare thing indeed. Perhaps Madame Xanadu was once wealthier than she is now – or perhaps this book was obtained by less than scrupulous means. "Aha!" the Korv crows, flipping to a section that has a number of stylized-looking bats, almost exclusively female, shown in stylized-looking settings (usually amongst clouds with castles on them and such things).

Alptraum cranes his neck and tries to peer at the pictures.

"Zees eez Inala," the Korv caws, rotating the book around so that the images are right-side-up from Alptraum's perspective. With a wing-talon, she points out an image of a winged Eeee, who might be beautiful, though the quality of the art really isn't enough to do anyone justice. She is white-furred, with blue markings in her fur, where it is visible, but one thing very noticeable is that she is far more conservatively dressed than the one that Alptraum saw in his dream. In fact, the same can be said of all the bats portrayed here.

The Eeee squints. "That might be the Eeee from Paradise. Hard to say," he says. "She's, um, more dressed in that picture than she was in the 'dream'."

"And zees eez Rinala," the Korv caws, pointing to another Eeee, represented by another white-furred bat, though this one has jet black hair, and no patterns visible on her fur. She is crowned with flowers.

Alptraum nods as the Korv points out Rinala.

The Korv flips through a few pages, as the angelic beings give way to far more sinister-looking creatures. "Ah!" caws the Korv, as she finds the page she's looking for. "Zees eez Zunala," she caws, and points to the image of "Sunala", a black bat with empty white eyes, white hair, and tattered wings. There is another picture labeled as "Srinala", but the image is almost identical – just like a little sister of the previous fallen angel.

Alptraum peers in closely at the pictures. "Wow," he mutters. "Creepy looking for angels, but then I expect anyone who deals with the dead would be." He tilts his head, as something strikes him. Slowly, he reaches up and pulls his braid of hair in front of one of his eyes and looks at it. White. His eye shifts to his hand: black fur. A shudder ripples through the Eeee.

The Korv also hmms to herself while looking at the image … and looking back up to Alptraum. She then looks back down to the book, and taps at a symbol next to the picture of Sunala. "Zees eez ze Corpse," she caws. It doesn't look much like one: a vertical bar with two curving lines bisecting it. If the lines had been straight instead of curved, it might even pass for one of the holy symbols he'd seen occasionally on wandering monks – the "Double-Star", it had been called.

Alptraum withdraws his pendant again and looks at it. Slowly, he turns it over and over in his palm.

No creepy chills, no sense of impending doom. It seems a very simple pendant, made of some dark material that feels heavy, like metal, but could pass for chitin at a casual glance – no doubt, one reason why he was able to keep it all this time without any real danger of it being stolen, but nonetheless felt obliged to keep it concealed for the most part anyway, just in case.

"Eef zhu are vanting," the Korv caws, as she closes the tome, "Madame Xanadu can zell zhu a talisman for zhree zhekels, to drive off ze bad dreams."

The Eeee tucks the pendant back away. He then shakes his head and says, "No. I think the dreams link to my past somehow. I don't want them to go away. I want to understand them." He then laughs softly. "Maybe the spirits thought I was some sort of servant of Sunala. I mean, look at me."

The Korv doesn't match Alptraum's laugh. "Hmm." Whatever it is she's pondering, though, she doesn't share. Instead, she just locks the tome back up, and, with some effort, lifts it and slides it somewhere under the table. "I am vanting for zhu to be paying good attenzhun to zhur dreams. Can zhu read and write? Zhu zhould write down ze dreams before zhu are forgetting them. Zhey may be important."

"Arvalie," Alptraum replies, "I can." He studies the Korv for a moment, then asks, "What were you just thinking?"

"KAW! Zhu are ze nosy vun! Madame Xanadu vas just zhinking of ze legends of ze Nephilim," the Korv caws.

"Dancing with spirits all night will do that," Traum replies. "The legends of what?"

"Ze Nephilim," the Korv repeats. "Een ze legends, long long ago, ze zky islands, zhey vere not up zo high as zhey are now. Ze vorld vas a vicked place, for ze fallen anzhels came down from ze Procession, and zhey had ze hanky-panky vith ze mortals. Zheir children, zhey vere of many powers, and zhey did many vicked zhings on ze vorld. Zo, ze Ztar, it be varning ze peoples, to ztop vith ze hanky-panky and ze nasty zhings, but zhey vere not good, so ze Ztar put ze good people on ze Rephidim, and ze Ztar flood ze vorld, and wipe out ze bad, and ze Rephidim and little chunky pieces, zhey get pushed up to ze zky. And ze Nephilim – zhey be ze zons and daughters of ze fallen anzhels and ze mortals – zhey vere viped out."

"But vas zheenking of ze ozher legends," the Korv continues, "of ze Nephilim vhat deedn't drown, because zhey had ze wings, or zhey could breathe ze vater. Zo zhey have ze children, and go on zhrough ze generations, but zhey marry ze mortals, so zheir blood eez thinned out, zo only now and every zhen, zome dezendent of ze Nephilim, he gets ze zpecial powers of ze anzezhors."

Alptraum nods. "Oh, I see. Well, that sounds like something the people on the sky islands would tell to make themselves feel superior." He then blinks and a thought hits him. "Wait a moment, are you saying that because you think I might be… ," he says, voice trailing off.

"Madame Xanadu eez zaying nozhing!" the Korv caws. "Eef zhu vere Nephilim, zhu vould have ze vitch hunters coming to keel zhu. And zhu are too nice leetle boy for zhat, even eef zhur fortune zays zhu might be used for ze bad zhings in ze future maybe."

Alptraum leans forward, resting his head on his hands. "But," he says slowly, "maybe that's what happened … to my real parents. I was found on the road, in tatters of clothing and this pendant. I always thought something bad must've happened."

The Korv frowns. "Zhen zhu zhould hide ze pendant. Do not zhow it to anyvun! Eef zhu hear of ze vitch hunter being een town, zhen zhu go to ze next town right avay! Madame Xanadu eez having trouble enough vith ze vitch hunters. Zhey zeenk Madame Xanadu eez ze little vitch, and zhey do nasty zhings to ze Madame Xanadu, except ze Bruno bonk zhem on ze noggins and ve run avay. But zhu do not have ze Bruno."

The Eeee sighs. "But, those are just stories, right? Probably no real truth to them I don't have any powers! I'm just a musician and a flyer," Alptraum says, trying to convince himself. "I'm a just a gypsy, right? But just in case … how would I recognize a witch hunter?"

"Ze vitch hunters, zhey are ze Gallees, who go on zheir qvest to keel ze vitches and ze vampires, too. Zometimes, zhey keel ze real monsters, vich is good, but zhey trouble Madame Xanadu, too! Zhey especially trouble gypsies, for zhey zeenk ve are ze pagans who do not follow ze First Vuns ze right vay. Zhu know – all ze Zaints, zhey call zhem ze First Vuns," the Korv continues. "Zhey dress very big, vith ze bodyguards, and zhey make ze big fuss vhen zhey come eento town. Zhey hate ze gypsies most, because eef zhu are living een ze village, zhu vill not vant to run avay, because zhu leave everyzhing. But ze gypsies, ve move and move and move, and eet makes leetle difference, ezhepting if zhu are een ze meedle of ze hard cold vinter, and zhu have no food to take vith zhu. Zo zhey keep special eye on us, for zhey zhink ve are ze best place for ze vitches and ze vampires to hide."

"Madame Xanadu, you know, don't you? About me?" Alptraum asks haltingly. "I mean, the rest of the tribe does."

"Hmm?" Madame Xanadu blinks a few times. "Vhat eez Madame Xanadu to be knowing about zhu?"

"Well," Alptraum says haltingly, "you'd find out eventually, but… " He shifts uncomfortably in his chair. He lowers his head and mumbles something.

"KAW! Madame Xanadu eez not veeth ze big ears, and cannot hear zhu! Madame Xanadu can read ze cards, and can look in ze crystal ball, but Madame Xanadu eez not ze eavesdropping on ze whispers, ya?" the Korv says in a near-sulk.

"I'm… ," he replies, and swallows, "I'm a blood-drinker. I can't eat anything else. I've tried. I've so wanted to be like my parents here, but … last time I tried, I was sick for a week. I'm not a vampire; I've never fed from a person." He sighs softly. "I hunt far from the tribe in the forest, because some are uncomfortable with it." He looks at her pleadingly. "The tribe knows, but it's never mentioned outside the tribe. Since you're part of us now, please, please, do not tell anyone outside of the tribe."

"KAW! Zhu are ze … " And then the crow claps her wings over her beak and settles down. Hunching over, she whispers, "Zhu are ze vampire? Eef ze vitch hunter ever learn of zhu, and zeenk zhu are both ze vitch and ze vampire, zhu be doubly hunted down! Bad karma! KAW!"

Alptraum smiles weakly, revealing his fangs. "Arvalie," he says. "I'm not like all the stories talk about: stalking people and so on. I just can't eat solid food. Have you ever had a horrible stomach illness? That's what happens whenever I've tried. I just hunt small animals in the forest when I have to. I'm no danger to anyone."

"I'm not the only one around," Traum then adds. "I think I've met another. Won't say who."

"Zhat eez not ze point!" the Korv caws. "Ze Gallee vitch hunters, zhey do not vait for zhu to tell zhem zat zhu are not ze danger. Eef zhey zheenk zhu are a vitch, eet does not matter zhat all zhu do eez to make ze love potions for ze girls. A vitch eez a vitch, and zhey vant zhu to burn for eet. And eef zhu are ze vampire, zhen even eef zhu only eat ze leetle bunnies, zhey still try to put ze stake zhrough zhur heart. KAW! Zhu leesten to Madame Xanadu! Zhey are bad, bad, BAD!"

Alptraum holds up a hand. "I believe you, I do!" he says quickly. "I don't intend for anyone outside our tribe to know. I don't want them to know." He looks down at his black furred hands, then at the white lock of hair. "I think," he says slowly, "if any Gallee comes around, I'd just better hide."

The Korv bobs her head. "Ah! Zhu are very vise! Zhe Gallee, zhey are trouble eef zhu see zhem anyvay. Zhey come here, and zhey zeenk zhey own ze land, and ze people, and zhey zeenk ve are all 'peasants' and zhey are all 'lords'. Zhey zeenk ze peasants zhould be ztaying and tilling ze vun field, zo zhey do not like ze gypsies, who move all around ze place. KAW! But … ve are talking about ze dreams. Zhu get Madame Xanadu ztarted on ze Gallee, and zhu be spending all morning and all night listening to Madame Xanadu tell zhu ze ztories, 'til zhur ears wilt, ya?"

The Eeee smiles and says, "Arvalie. But I have run out of my dream to tell you. If I have more, should I come see you?" Alptraum sits back again, wings flicking slightly. "In fact, I should probably be going. Daia's probably worried, and I need to find some way to make some money while we're here."

The Korv head-bobs again. "Ya. Zhu be careful, leetle boy. And zhu remember vhat Madame Xanadu has varned you, ya?"

The Eeee stands and nods. "I don't think I could forget it, even if I tried," he replies. With a short bow, Alptraum starts to back toward the door. "Thank you again, Madame Xanadu, for both listening and your advice. May the road always be kind to you." With that, the Eeee opens the door and slips back outside. A multitude of thoughts race through the Eeee's mind as he steps away from the wagon. Could I be one of those … Nephrim? That's impossible, right? It's just a story.