After a hearty breakfast and a rather interesting meeting with a foxtaur and a creature who calls himself a 'Niton'; Rory and Silhouette return to their room. Outside the ship, preparations are being made to celebrate the Day of the First Ones. Skiree has decided to spend the rest of the day on the deck just in case the first ones show up… they might bring candy afterall.

Silhouette glides into the cabin quietly. "An Aeonian… " she signs the word phonetically. "I guess that's what we are… or what we look like."

Rory nods, several thoughts running through his head. He has his hands behind his back, so he goes ahead and talks out loud. "I think I've heard of that name somewhere before. Some sort of legend. But … that's all make believe. Does that mean we're not real?"

"I am certainly real."" Silhouette signs. "Even if it seems like you're the only person that believes so. I wonder if the dragons have the same problem." The shadow flows across the room and pauses at a window. "I hope we get to Himar soon… "

Rory sits down on his bed, then says, "Don't worry. It won't be much longer. This won't be as long as the trip from Babel." He pauses, then looks to Silhouette. "You know, you've been my best friend for so long … but I've never asked you many questions. I know you said you didn't remember very well … but I have a mother and father? Do you remember anything of them at all?"

Silhouette shakes her head. "I don't remember much. Not even enough to put into words… " Her gaze shifts to look towards the cabin door. "That strange thing that looked like a Naga with legs… he seemed familiar. From a dream I think."

Rory blinks at this, squinting, trying to figure out if this should be familiar to him, too. "I'm sorry. I don't think I've seen anything like him before. Have I?"

The shadow moves to the center of the room and twirls around, dancing. She holds her hands above her head as she slowly spins. "Oh… it was probably just a silly dream of mine. I get them sometimes."

Rory slumps back against the wall. "Yes, I do too. But mine aren't so silly. You're lucky, Silhouette. You get to go anywhere you want, you never get bothered by anybody … "

Silhouette pauses in her dance. "Are you sad?" She walks over and sits next to the unicorn. "It won't always be like this, one day you'll be a great mage… and make me real."

The airship creaks softly. Outside one of the airshipmen can be heard wailing some strange folksong about the First Ones.

Rory nods. "Already, I'm a lot better. I've been practicing extra hard. I just … don't have all that fancy stuff to do the big rituals yet. But you just wait and see."

The little unicorn crosses his arms. "Does it make any sense to you, Silhouette?"

"Does what make any sense to me?" the shadow signs.

Rory says, "I didn't even think that I had a mother or father … or that you did … and now that you mention it … suddenly I … I think I miss them. Does that make any sense at all?"

Silhouette smiles. "Of course we had parents. Everyonehas parents, even if that silly foxtaur says that Aeonians can't be parents. We just… can't remember ours."

Rory hmphs. "I wish Skiree were a full-fledged wizard. She's a Wizard of Light … or, Scrying. She could probably find out about who our parents were … ARE. Are. I mean, they might still be around, right?"

The shadow rubs her chin, then reaches out and hugs Rory. (Sure… she's not physically real yet, but the unicorn's imagination makes up for it.) "That's a wonderful idea. You're so smart!"

Rory blinks. "I am? Well, if you say so… " He grins, glad for the praise.

The unicorn says, "Of course, it's better to do rituals on the surface, you know, where the magic is stronger." He ponders, looking upward. "What would happen if the First Ones came back tonight? Do you think THEY would know where our parents went? Would they even care?"

Sil rises up and looks back out the window. "for some reason… I don't think they would care. They probably wouldn't be able to see me either."

Rory frowns. "I'll make them see you." He stands up and walks to the window as well. "Everybody will see you, and they'll know what a great dancer you are!" He smiles at this last bit. He had to return the praise somehow. He executes a short bow. "May I have this dance, madame?"

The shadow smiles. "I wonder if Reece's dragon would know who out parents are… dragons are supposed to know everything." She smiles at Rory's compliment and curtsies. "It would me my pleasure, kind sir."

Rory takes Silhouette's hand gently (He has to, since she's a shadow), and begins to dance to unheard music, though he provides a rhythm with a quiet chanting as he steps, turns and leads.

Silhouette inhales softly and smiles. Her shadow hair trails behind her like the tail of a comet as she moves. The perfect counterpart for Rory's lead.

Rory continues the dance, and to weave the makings of a spell just for himself and his friend – a combination of magic, dance, memory, and imagination. To anyone observing the room, it would seem to dim just slightly, and get slightly more hazy – Though, anyone who wanted to could, with just a bit of willpower, snap through the effect easily, dispersing it like a strong wind against mists rising from a lake in the morning. But for Rory, it serves to make the reality of the cabin, the ship, of the world … just a bit more distant … distant enough that he can fill it in with his own imagined surrounding of a grand ballroom in some exotic palace, that he and Silhouette are among kings and queens and all manner of nobility, moving to the strains of a chorus played by a grand symphony.

Oddly enough, as the room changes… Silhouette seems to change as well. Growing more real… but in a hazy dreamy way. Her features seem to come more into focus. Her coat is as black as midnight, her hair is a shining chestnut brown… and her eyes… her eyes are the deepest blue. Like the sky just before the sun rises. She dances along with the unicorn, matching him step for step.

Rory is taken slightly aback at how his … imagination … seems to have taken such a life of its own, and at this high altitude, even, where magic is supposed to be weaker. He dares not look at anything too closely, for that is just the sort of thing that makes dreams fade, and shadows lose their substance. He knows that sort of thing all too well, given his Sphere of expertise. But nonetheless, he finds himself looking at Silhouette in a new light, trying to delve any detail he can about her, or of anything of their surroundings which might bear any significance. Is this memory?

Silhouette dances on, oblivious to it all. She raises one hand to brush away a few strands of brown hair that has fallen down into her eyes, then clasps Rory's hand again. As the dance continues, Silhouette looks at Rory's face. She stumbles.

Rory gasps and reaches out to Silhouette to catch her and support her, so she doesn't fall.

The Aeonian manages to catch his tumbling dance partner… but his spell is broken in the process. Silhouette is a silhouette again, and the other shadows of the room slowly move back into their proper places.

Tears well in Rory's eyes, reminding him that he is still but a child. "I'm sorry … You were real! I saw it! You were … real."

Silhouette looks at her hands and then back at Rory. "Real? But I am real. Oh… you scared me! You looked like something was wrong… "

The shadow reaches up to brush the tears away. Her hand tingles as it touches his cheek, but does nothing more.

Rory sighs. "I'm sorry. I mean … of COURSE you're real. Otherwise, you couldn't talk to me. But … I could see you. I could see you better… " He describes to her the color of her eyes, her hair, all the colors he could remember that, even now, he hasn't the vaguest hint of from her shadowy – silhouetted – form. "I saw."

Silhouette just sits there, staring. "But… this is how I look. This is how I've always looked. If I looked like that I would have remembered… I think." She wrings her hands nervously.

Rory frowns. "I'm sorry. I thought maybe I was seeing you better … " He sighs. "Anyway, thank you for the dance. I loved every second of it." He manages a weak smile, then he looks up. "Hmm. I don't suppose we should miss the celebrations. When do they begin?"

The shadow looks upwards. "I'm not sure. I guess they start when the First Ones show up." She smirks.

Rory laughs! "Then I think we'll have plenty of time." He looks back to Silhouette. "I wish you could have seen what I saw." He smiles, and gives her an ever-so-careful hug. "Wherever it was, I hope it still exists. I want to go there someday. We'll dance there, and everybody will watch!"

Silhouette smiles and hugs the unicorn back. Music begins to play again… but this time it seems to be emanating from above the deck.

Rory smiles. "I wonder … "

"Yes?" the shadow signs.

Rory clips across the floor, "Oh … shadows. They aren't just light and dark. They're the mind, and imagination. You have to put a shape to the shadow. I was just thinking of stories about – you know – the ones where the spirits dance with the living on a special night when reality is just a little more thin. Of course, we're both alive and everything, but I was wondering … People don't believe in you, but maybe on a special holiday, when magic is strong in the air, when people want so much to believe in something special happening, that they might just believe a little more easily."

"Maybe we could go up there and enjoy the music and dance, and nobody would pay us a second notice." Rory grins. "The deck's much bigger for dancing, after all. And we don't have to make-believe our own music."

Silhouette curtsies. "We can always try." She starts to move toward the closed cabin door.

Rory takes a deep breath, a bit surprised that Silhouette didn't shoo away the notion. He dips his head, then says, "Yes. Let's." He opens the door for Silhouette like any gentleunicorn should.

Silhouette glides through the door and heads above the decks with Rory. Up above… it seems that preparations are not quite complete for the day's celebration. The musicians are playing small snatches of tunes, but seem to be more warming up than actually playing. The airshipmen crowd around the deck, drinking ale (and spilling almost as much as they swallow), shouting songs about the first ones, and generally acting chummy. Off to the back of the ship is the familiar form of Reece, the Niton. He doesn't join in the celebration, and instead just sits and stares intently out at the open air.

Rory looks to the lizard, then whispers to Silhouette, "Do you think we should check with him? What if you're right? What if the dragons DO know everything? And maybe he can see you." Even as he talks, without thinking consciously about it, he's working his way toward the big lizard.

Silhouette nods, her hands wring nervously again. It's a strange habit she has whenever she's nervous or excited.

"Greetings, sir," says Rory, in as formal a voice as he can manage. Yes, the lizard did not claim to be a dragon, but to Rory, he still can't shake the temptation to call this lizard just that. "Ah … how are you enjoying the trip?"

The lizard's eyes blink. Well, it can be called a blink… but it happened so quickly, and did it look like his eyelids closed vertically? It all happened so fact. "I am watching the land." he says. The crest on his head, a flap of skin held up by a fleshy projection from the back of his head lowers a bit.

Rory frowns. That wasn't exactly an answer. Could this creature be like the Zelaks? The creature seems rather blunt and not for small-talk, so Rory shrugs and gets straight to the point. "Do you know what an Aeonian is? Have you seen one?"

"What does an Aeonian look like?" Reece asks, his crest rises again.

Rory hmms. "I … I don't know. I was hoping you'd know. That old man said I was an Aeonian, and so was my friend Silhouette." He gestures to her, though his gaze keeps on the lizard's face. "So I suppose they might look like we do … though I guess some of them would be grown up."

The Niton looks out into the air again, he rubs his pendant. "I have not seen a one-horn. Memories don't work as well as they once did. For Niton, we are born with knowledge of everything. but when Mother helped me leave, I forget a lot."

"That's … that's … well … My memory isn't very good either. Same with Silhouette. I mean, I AM little, yet, but … " He scuffs a hoof across the planks of the deck, then says, "Anyway, I guess there aren't any Aeonians there, then. Sorry to bother you. And thanks."

"Mother would know… " Reece mumbles to himself.

Rory's ears perk. "Mother? But where's Mother? Back in … the Green?"

"In the green," the lizard answers. "In mother's cave."

"And that's really far away, right?" Rory continues, looking disappointed.

Reece puffs up his chest a bit, probably the first bit of emotion Rory has seen from the lizard. "Mother knows everything." His crest flattens against his head as he ponders the distance. "In Lamu… where mother makes everything burn brightly." He signs. "Now that mother has allowed me to leave, I can never go back. I miss mother… "

Rory frowns. "If you miss her, and you can't ever go back … why did you leave in the first place?"

"I did not want to die." Reece answers.

"Die? Why would you die?" Rory asks incredulously.

The lizard's crest rises a little. "Everything dies. But here… they die slower."

Rory frowns. "Oh. That doesn't sound like a very nice place to live. What about your mother? Is she safe there?"

Rory says, "Why doesn't your mother come too?"

"It is a nice place. You eat all the time, listen to songs, watch mother's fires at night. When that life is all you know, it is a wonderful life." Reece hisses softly, almost wistfully. "Mother is safe, the guardian is always safe. She never leaves her cave… just waits for those who want to leave to come to her."

Rory asks, "What made you decide it wasn't enough? What made you think things die slower outside?"

Reece shrugs. "I heard about legend of mother's cave. Everyone tell me that nobody who go to see mother in her cave ever return. One day, me and others went to visit mother… not sure why."

"How long do A-own-nan live?" Reece asks.

Rory shrugs. "I don't know. I guess as long as anybody does. I don't know how old I am. Maybe seven years. Maybe twelve."

The lizard's tail twitches. "I am seven months old."

Rory blinks exaggeratedly. "Are not!"

"Am." Reece hisses, his crest flattens against his head again.

Rory looks to Silhouette. "What do YOU think? There's no WAY he's seven months old."

"It's a silly thing to lie about." Silhouette pipes up. Usually she's quiet around strangers.

Rory nods. "See? She agrees with me."

The Niton looks around Rory, trying to locate the 'she'.

Rory frowns. "She's right HERE. If you were REALLY seven months old, I'll bet you could see her. Skiree can, and she's older than that."

The lizard frowns. "Where I from, nobody lives to be a year old."

Rory gulps! "That's … that's awful."

"Not when you don't notice." Reece hisses. "Bugs live short lives. They don't complain."

Rory says, "But YOU noticed, huh?"

The lizard looks downward at the land below. "Almost regret going to mother. Life here is so different. My people, they would pity me. But I did not want to die… and the old one said that mother would keep us from dying."

Rory frowns, as he looks at the lizard. He fidgets with his hands, unsure of what to do. "Well … I hope you live a really long time. And I hope you're happy for most of it."

The lizard looks at the Aeonian, his large yellow eyes blink again. "Why did you want to know if I had seen a one-horn?"

Rory says, "Well … I don't know my mother or father. In fact, I hadn't really thought at all about having any, until that old man started asking me about them."

Rory says, "Silhouette thought that dragons know just about everything, so maybe you'd know about my mother and father. And you said maybe your mother would know … but she sounds kind of scary."

"Mother would know. Mother knows all." Reece hisses. "Her power scares many… but she protects us. Even changes Niton so that they may leave her if they wish. It must sadden her when children leave."

Rory shudders. "Is she dangerous? I mean, if I asked her a question like that, would she get angry?"

"Mother protects!" the Niton says… his tone of voice actually rises. "When we are done in Himar… the ship will fly to Outpost in Lamu. If we fly over mother's lands, I show them to you."

Rory says, "Oh my! But … you don't suppose our field trip is going all the way to Lamu, do you?"

"Field Trip?" Reece asks.

Rory nods. "Yes. We're on a field trip from the College Esoterica. We're going to study rocks and other boring things in Himar. But at least we get to travel!"

Reece hisses, "I know that we plan to go to Himar, then outpost in Lamu, then back to Rephidim… I was not told about a field trip. Are there fields in Himar?"

Silhouette puts her hands over her mouth and pantomimes giggling.

Rory frowns. "Well … yes … there are fields. But … 'the field'. You know … it means 'the field'. Kind of like 'the green'. You're not talking about a piece of chalk, after all."

The lizard's head quirks to one side. "Do you like to travel?"

Rory hmms. "I'm not sure. I guess so."

Rory looks to Silhouette. "Do YOU like to travel?"

Silhouette grins. "I like to travel a lot! Maybe if we go to enough places, we'll find one that we remember from the times we forgot."

Rory nods enthusiastically, then turns back toward the lizard. "Yes, we both like to travel very much."

Reece looks back at the cloudbanks. "I like to travel. The world is so big. So much bigger than the green."

Behind Rory, the sounds of the musicians starting to play can be heard. This time it's actual playing. Many of the airshipmen sing along loudly.

Rory smiles. "Well … I don't know how long of a trip this is, but maybe if we're lucky, we'll go along. Maybe we can see where your mother lives. And … maybe we could go visit!"

The unicorn looks toward the musicians. "And in the meantime … maybe we could dance." He grins.

"I do not know how to dance." Reece says softly.

Rory hmms. "Hey, Silhouette, do you think we could teach him?"

"I don't know… he moves so slowly. But maybe we canteach him some of the slower steps." the shadow signs.

Rory nods. "Well, we can try. Come on!" He reaches for Reece's hand. "Silhouette's a great dancer. She'll have you going in no time."

The lizard peers around, still looking for Rory's invisible friend. He allows himself to be led away towards the musicians and the dancing airshipmen.

Although the lizard may not be able to fully benefit from Silhouette's contributions, except as they are translated by Rory, he is given the best dancing lessons he has probably ever received. (Perhaps this is not saying much, but the attempts are certainly enthusiastic.) Amidst the music and celebration of First Ones' Day, Rory skips and hops about, twirling about with his invisible partner for a bit, then the big untrained lizard the next. And, above it all, as the day gives way to night, the celestial bodies of the Procession and beyond take part in a slow dance of their own, endless and timeless, to music that never ends.