Artifacts of Old (14 Oct 2001) Alice, Agatha and Elinor muse over the strange letters they've found.

Harcourt Manor, Sitting Room
This room was doubtless built in the period when, after dinner, the gentlemen would retire to the smoking parlor for brandy and cigars, and the women would adjourn to the sitting room. It is small enough to be cozy for four women in wickerwork chairs or on the couch about a low round table of a dark mahogany wood, standing on vines-carved legs, and a door opens into the kitchen. Old-style black-and-white photographs hang over the walls, depicting the Harcourt family.

The tea in the cups has long since grown cold, cookies half eaten and forgotten on the table, as the children pour over the old letters. Elinor, finished reading them all -- several more then once -- slumps silent against the back of the couch, her lips half-parted, her eyes gazing sightlessly at the far wall. She seems lost in the swirl of her own thoughts.

Agatha fingers the flute, which she figures must be the one Bram mentions in the letters, and quietly asks Elinor, "What year is it in Mirari now?"

When she speaks, her voice sounds distant, and automatic, as if she were answering without really thinking about it. "It is the Year Fifty-Three of Mirari. In the First Year of Mirari, Lady Angelique of April and Lord Bram of October discovered the land of Mirari, and led the Folk of the twelve Houses unto it."

"But the thirteenth house was not more than a day away from the palace, according to the dates on the letters," Agatha says, then asks, "Was Angelique taken by the dragon, do you know?"

Alice finishes reading the last of the pages, she being a much slower reader than the other two girls, and oft needing help with one word or another. "I wonder what happened to her? Did she lose her mirror on the wand and the dragon took it ... maybe?" she asks, looking up from the final page.

"Thirteenth house?" Elinor blinks a few times, trying to rouse herself from her stupor. "I -- no. I am not sure. This -- you must understand, time in Mirari does not pass as it does in Ainigton. There is no place in Mirari so distant that you cannot reach it by the end of one of our Days. Days are marked -- well, I cannot explain it properly, but not always by the rising and the setting of the sun. Fifty-one Years! You cannot understand. Some folk of Mirari are indeed long lived, e'en by our Years, but -- Fifty-one Years! There are Folk who live their whole lives and ne'er see the beginning nor end of a single Year!"

"Thirteenth house," Agatha repeats. "The House of Year's End. Bram talks about it as a place, having a Lord and minions - the Jruuh - just like all of the other twelve Houses."

"It's not mentioned in the letters, but if Bram lost his flute when he got trapped, then maybe that's why the Jruuh had it," Agatha suggests, looking at the flute and mirror again. "These things don't seem to be as ancient as they should be, according to how long it's supposedly been in Mirari."

Elinor breathes out, a long, slow breath, and nods to Agatha. "Y -- yes." She leans forward to touch one of the letters, reverently. "The Year's End was real. The Destroyer -- they really did do battle with him. Year after Year ... " She shakes her head, black hair falling over her face.

"The angel kind of reminds me of the in the Siege des Anges in front of the school, but that one doesn't have a sword. But I think both the human world and the fairy world said the same things about it, that if the angel draws its sword it would be very bad," Alice says. She looks at the two older girls and then down to her feet, letting them dangle a bit. "But don't the ravens collect the treasures for the cave? So wouldn't that mean the flute was somewhere in the human world, and maybe a raven found it and brought it back? If we knew who owned it maybe he'd know something important?"

"It wasn't in the pile of stuff for the ... anchor was it?" Agatha notes. "It was hidden in a sort of nest near a rock fall."

"I don't remember. I wasn't there when you found it, I don't think," the blonde says.

"The mirror was badly tarnished, before I cleaned it," Elinor muses. "But these -- if they are -- -oh ... " Her voice trails off for a moment, then she shakes her head. "If these are October's flute, and April's mirror, then they are items of legendary power. 'Tis no marvel that the ages have not harmed them."

Alice asks, "Didn't the man say the mirror has some special power?"

"It mentioned a gateway, yeah," Agatha says, looking back through some of the pages.

"Maybe the Lord and Lady were really tiny? I don't think we'd fit." The little girl reaches over for the mirror, turning it against the table for a moment, then looking up and off at one of the pictures.

Alice returns her gaze to the mirror, pushing at it again. "Maybe he never lost the flute? It doesn't say he ever lost the flute does it?"

"Bram talked about a talisman too. Maybe that's hidden around Ainigton somewhere, too," Agatha suggests. "The Jruuh might be here searching for stuff like this."

"What, you think they came here and became the Harcourts?" Agatha asks Alice. "I thought the initials on the back of the mirror meant 'Anastasia Harcourt' even."

"And yet, we found it -- you found it." Elinor still seems stunned. She reaches for the flute, then draws her hand back as if afraid. "The -- they became the Harcourts?" She looks confused.

"Oh, it was just a thought," Agatha says, shrugging. "Harcourt could be short for 'Harvest Court', and October is the month of harvest and all. I'm probably just looking for links where there aren't any, though."

"Well I don't know who they became, but I think maybe the man came here. His flute is here. And he didn't write any more letters. That doesn't mean the Lady wasn't still around ... just that he vanished. Maybe he got sent away," suggests Alice. "The flute really was here though, I think."

"I think the important thing to see here is that we have an actual target now," Agatha says, tapping one of the letters. "Year's End is a place that can be infiltrated, and that acts in subtle ways besides just ... destroying. We need to know if any Houses now are being influenced by it - like House April this time, maybe."

"Maybe we should go talk to House April?" offers the little girl. "I wanted to see Mirari anyway."

The raven-haired girl wraps her arms around her, as if to ward off a chill. "Harvest Court," she repeats softly. "That -- that is the name of the Court of Autumn. The old name for it."

"I doubt they'd admit it if they were in league with the Devil, so to speak," Agatha points out. "This is more up Tom's alley. He wanted to go spying in Mirari anyway."

"Oh." Alice turns to Agatha, and then to the letter she holds. "And, we need to find the King and the source of Renewal. Even if we do find the Year's End, I don't know if we can make him go away without the King and the power of Renewal."

Quickly, Alice adds, "and I don't think Tommy is going to help much for a while. Here." She reaches beside her, picks up the opened letter, and hands it to Elinor.

Agatha hmms. "I can contact the King if we really really need him," Agatha admits, then looks over at Elinor, and asks her, "Are you okay, Elinor?" Then she blinks at the letter Alice was carrying.

Elinor blinks a few times, then brushes back her hair and looks at the new letter. "Oh!" She covers her mouth with the back of her hand, letting the paper flutter into her lap. "He does not -- he does not mean it, does he, Princess?" The faerie looks even paler than usual, gazing with wide eyes at Alice.

"What? What's it say?" Agatha asks, sounding concerned.

With trembling fingers, Elinor plucks up the note and passes it wordlessly to the red-headed girl. It reads:

Her Highness, Princess Angel of Mirari,

It is with heavy heart that I write this letter. The experiences of late have weighed heavily upon me and I have begun to doubt my worthiness of my position within court. Therefore, I am resigning my title of "Lord Explorer" and my position within the Golden Hawks. By the time you read this, I will have returned to the roads. I have included my maps of our last expeditions in case they will be of aid. I will continue to keep my eyes and ears open and should any evidence arise that may assist the court, I will make sure to get the information to you in some form.

I wish all of you well. I am certain with the skills of Knight Redmane, Sir Lefallon, and the ability of Lady Raven to see the future, you will most certainly be successful in defeating the Year's End. Perhaps we will meet again someday in the future.

Your friend and subject,
Thomas, the traveler.

Alice frowns, nose wrinkling a little as she seems to consider the answer. After a moment she shakes her head quickly. "No! I ... I don't think he does anyway. I don't think Tommy would give up on us. He'll come back, Tommy is just being Tommy," answers the Princess.

Upon reading the letter, Agatha's reaction is exactly opposite Elinor's: her face gets redder and her knuckles go white. "Oh, he'll be back alright," she says in a voice that's nearly a growl. "Now that I need him, I'm not letting him go hide in his tree."

The third girl seems less assured of Thomas's return then the others. She appears to withdraw into herself, curling up on the couch and staring at the objects splayed over the table without really focusing on any of them.

Alice watches Elinor for a moment, quietly, before putting down the old letter she holds and easing herself down from her chair. She walks over to Elinor and tilts her head, asking, "Do you want a hug? I don't know if faeries like hugs ... but I think you might need one."

Calming down a bit, Agatha says, "The tea is cold. Let's go outside before we start seeing the Ghosts of Mirari Past coming out of the walls. And as for the King, Alice ... we're going to defeat Year's End once and for all, so there won't be a need for Renewal anymore. Elinor, I want you to be extra alert, because I think there may be an agent of House December in town, and whatever rules your Houses play by back home may not apply here. This new information changes things, and I think when Tom reads it all, he'll come back. No, I'm sure of it."

The faerie looks younger than ever as Alice walks to her, and she tilts her head back to look up at the blonde. Silently, she stands and unfolds her arms, spreading them to embrace the smaller girl.

Agatha crosses her arms across her chest, then realizes how silly she looks standing that way in a dress, and lets them rest at her sides. "We have to give the cookies to Kuon and Destre still too. Maybe a horseback ride will help cheer you up, Elinor?"

The little girl tries to smile hopefully, seemingly an effort made purely to appear reassuring for the older girl's benefit. She raises herself on her toes and gives Elinor a big hug. "Don't worry, Elinor," she tells her, "everything will be okay!"

Elinor lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, hugging Alice back tightly. "Thank you," she tells the blond. To Agatha, she adds, "All right I am sure I could use some fresh air. I apologize -- my head is awhirl with -- all of this. Yes. Let us go outside."

Harcourt Manor
This grand old Victorian house off of Webber Way used to be the favorite 'haunted house' of the children, but a few months ago, an older gentleman moved in -- Richard, who has begun to renovate the place, to their disappointment. Two gables look out from the roof of the two story manor, and vines crawl up the walls, from which plaster has fallen in places to expose brickwork.

After passing out the remaining cookies to Alice to Elinor, Agatha leads them out through the kitchen to the back yard, where she left Kuon and where, hopefully, Destre is keeping near to the stable.

Alice peeks out the back door, then hops out and says, "Kuon! I have cookies!" She bends down and searches for the whereabouts of the friendly dog.

The greyhound bounds forward enthusiastically to meet the children, barking his fool head off. He all but jumps on top of Alice, nosing at her face and hands for cookies, crumbs, sugar, and general Alice-ness, it seems.

"Be careful, Kuon!" Agatha warns the dog. "For once, I'd like to see Alice make it home with a clean dress."

The black horse looks out of his stall toward the visitors and snorts. He presses forward to turn a curious eye on the stranger of the group.

"C'mon, Elinor," Agatha says to the remaining girl. "Let me introduce you to Tall, Dark, and Inscrutable over there."

Alice lowers herself a bit more, wrapping an arm around Kuon's neck in a hug and pulling out a cookie to feed him. She giggles up a storm too, and the sound of her laughter echoes across the yard -- entirely at odds with the sad and troubling revelations spoken of earlier. "Hi, Kuon!"

Holding her cookies in a more conservative fashion, Elinor hides a smile behind her wrist. "He really does like you a great deal, I see." At Destre's approach, she holds out her hand, revealing the smile. "I will be honored to make his acquaintance, Lady Redmane," she says, gravely. She walks with the redheaded girl, holding out a cookie to the horse.

Agatha walks ahead a little, to be next to Destre's head when Elinor reaches him, just in case. "Destre, this is Elinor. Be nice to her, okay?"

Destre, the black stallion, lips the cookie out of Elinor's hand deftly, then sniffs after more. His gaze flickers toward Agatha, and he whuffles almost questioningly.

Elinor curtsies prettily for the animal. "A pleasure to meet you, Sir Destre," she tells him. "I think I have another cookie somewhere." She puts a hand into her bag, feeling around for them.

"I think you two may have a lot in common," Agatha tells the horse while scratching him behind the ears. "And she's my ally and friend."

The black horse snorts, but accepts the attention without complaint.

Kuon confines himself for the moment to a thorough and enthusiastic licking of Alice's hands and face, once she's out of cookies to feed him. After a bit of that, he prances around her like a puppy, jumping up and down and looking exceedingly dog-like.

"I never thought of Destre as a Sir before," Agatha admits to Elinor, "but it would probably explain a lot of his attitude."

"He seems a very serious sort," Elinor agrees, offering Destre another cookie, her palm flat. "What is it you think we have in common?"

Agatha hmms, and says, "Well, let's just say I don't intend to take any photographs of him with my new camera."

The black horse lips up the other cookie, then examines Elinor more carefully, eyes intent. His tail flicks side to side.

Meanwhile Alice, now slobber-coated and rather dirty despite Agatha's warnings, wanders over with Kuon bouncing around her. Besides dirt and dog slobber, she wears a wide and happy smile, and seems quite fit to bounce around herself if she could. She stops a few steps from the others and gives Kuon another big hug, this time holding it and leaning against him ... and of course exposing the right side of her face to more slobbering. "Hello Destre!"

"You've both got impressive black manes too," Agatha tells Elinor and Destre before turning a grin on Alice and Kuon ... which quickly fades when she sees how dirty Alice has gotten already.

Destre whuffles pleasantly, distracted momentarily from his scrutiny to give the little girl a curious look.

The faerie girl returns the stallion's examination of her, and she nods. "I believe I do understand you." She glances to Alice for a moment. "Though I wonder that you do not wish confirmation."

Agatha throws an arm around Destre's thick neck and gives him a hug. "Because, it's a matter of trust ... and I wouldn't want to have my heart broken if he showed up as some little man with pointed shoes."

The black horse shifts a bit but seems pleasantly surprised by Agatha's attention, as he snuffles her hair. His hide is warm from the summer heat.

Alice smiles at Destre. And a moment later, when Agatha suggests Destre might be a little man with pointed shoes she turns her head and gives Kuon a curious look. "You're not a little man with chewed up shoes are you?" she asks, then squeezes him in another hug anyway.

"Oh ... I think you would be safe on that count," Elinor says to Agatha, offhand. She watches as Kuon sits on the ground beside Alice, panting in canine joy at the hug. He rubs one foreleg against Alice's side, in a kind of return hug.

"Although, I'm tempted to make both Destre and Kuon learn to write," Agatha says after a moment's thought.

Alice lowers herself to balance on her toes, using the dog for support and loosening the hug a bit. "Aren't they great? And I guess even if they do have pointy shoes there's nothing wrong with faerie-hugging!" She looks up at Destre, then Elinor, then back to Kuon. "Is Mr. Kuning really an old faerie lord guy?" she inquires.

Elinor smiles. "Mirari Folk can all speak, though not necessarily a tongue you understand with your ears, if you understand my meaning. If you study them closely, you can often get the sense of what they mean -- better still if you speak their language."

Destre snorts, as if to suggest that he is not a "performing tricks" sort of horse.

"I'm not about to start barking and whinnying," Agatha says, and shrugs to Alice. "Maybe, maybe not. Either way, he's a nice old man who isn't around to be asked, and he wouldn't tell you anyway."

Elinor laughs at Destre. "Oh, you need not bark or whinny. Just because you have a difficult time understanding them does not mean they do not understand us. Did you catch what he just said?"

Agatha nods. "Yeah ... I got the same message from Souhait, actually."

"Okay." The little girl watches Kuon for a moment, then glances at Elinor. "When Kuon pawed me, he was giving me a hug too. And he said he was happy to see me, and wanted a cookie too."

"Well, I think all dogs want a cookie when they know you have some -- that's a given!" Agatha laughs.

Destre nose-bumps Agatha, then gives her a short, sharp whinny.

"Heyyy, you're way better than that shiny Knightsteed, Destre!" Agatha assures the black horse. "And Elinor already met him, too."

Elinor nods to Agatha. "Exactly." She smiles at the horse. "Here, Destre, I will turn about so you may converse privately." She politely turns her back on the pair.

Alice sticks her tongue out at Agatha. "Lots of people wave, too! Common things are still words," she says. Then she turns and head-bumps Kuon's side, watching Agatha and Destre converse. "Should I turn around, too?"

The black horse appears somewhat mollified by this, then flicks his tail as he leans back a bit from the hug, as if to suggest wondering what brings them by the stables.

"You'll still hear what I say anyway," Agatha notes, not sure how to project meaning like the animals do. To Destre, she whispers, "Elinor is really Rachel of October, come to see if we can really defeat Year's End. We just found a bunch of letters from way back in Year Two from Bram of October to Angelique of April that talk about Year's End. Useful info. On the other hand, I don't trust that wolf, and think maybe he was meeting someone here in town, if Kuon hasn't told you that already."

"We came out because I wanted you to meet her," Agatha whispers to the steed, and adds, "and because I promised Kuon you'd get to share the leftover cookies."

The horse actually appears to be taking this in, instead of dismissing it with a snort. Destre flicks his ears forward, then snuffles about Agatha as if looking for the letters.

Kuon gives a startled yelp and glances at Elinor, then he lowers his head, as if to whisper, "Really?"

"Umm, I left them inside," Agatha tells the horse. "I'll read them to you both later, okay? And do you know if Harcourt Manor was really Harvest Court Manor, maybe?"

Beside the canine, Alice pats the dog with a hugging hand, nodding to his unspoken question. "Yep! It's just like Agatha says," she explains to him.

Alice looks up towards Agatha and asks, "Shouldn't we keep the mirror and the flute and all the letters with us? The Jruuh may try and get them," she asks.

Agatha blinks. "I hadn't thought of that, Alice. I didn't think they'd come here. Maybe you should take Kuon and go get them."

The black horse tilts his head to the side. It appears that there's no recognition in him of the terms other than that he knows of Harcourt Manor. Then he snorts, turning toward Kuon at the mention of Jruuh.

Kuon jumps to his feet, barking, and bounds to the door. He whines at it, scratching as he waits for Alice to let him in.

"Okay! C'mon, Kuon." The little girl rises after the dog, walking quickly over to the door and pulling it open to let him in first, then follows in after him.

During all these exchanges, Agatha begins to wonder about something. "You know, Elinor," she says to the fey girl's back, "Tom said he didn't have any trouble understanding the wolf he ran into. Did he tell you about that?"

The black horse shifts and returns to gazing out at the garden with its repainted gazebo, his tail flicking idly. Perhaps it gets boring being kept in a stall most of the day.

Without really thinking about it, Agatha unlatches the door to Destre's stall and swings it open. Then blinks once she does think about it, and grins.

Elinor turns back around as the others go into the house, Kuon barking the whole way. She bites her lip, and she nods. "Yes ... yes. I think he did mention it. Something else distracted me -- I don't think I got a chance to explain it to him. But I think -- " She looks at Destre, then gives a little shrug. "Wolves aren't just the creatures of December. The Lord of December himself is a shape shifter; he may wear the shape of a great wolf, when he chooses. And shifters, unlike changers -- their 'speech' is much clearer. They lose little to the shape, especially potent ones like the Lord of December."

"Ah, so regular people like you don't have the ability to project like that?" Agatha asks.

Destre trots out of the stall, looking pleased, if curious what Agatha has in mind.

"No, it's not that. I'm not a changer. Let me explain. There are three ways the fey can change their appearance. There is a glamour -- any fey may use that, but it only changes the way you look, not what you are. Glamour is not very convincing, either. Then there are shape changers. A shape changer becomes what he changes into. They can usually only change into a limited range of beings -- like changing into any kind of small animal, say, or any kind of bird. When they change to that form, they begin to act like it -- they really do start to think like whatever they appear as. The longer they remain changed, the harder it is to remember what they were like before, in their original shapes. Do you follow me so far?

Agatha nods, "And these shifters just change between two forms, right, like ... werewolves? Sir Bruin is a werebear, isn't he?"

The black horse takes the opportunity of his release to go and crop some of the tasty-looking flowers in the garden, since apparently he's not being called upon for anything at the moment.

Agatha winces at Destre's choice of snack ... but they are just wildflowers at the moment.

Elinor nods. "Yes, he is a shape shifter. Shape shifters change between two specific shapes, and both are their 'natural' shapes. When Sir Bruin wears his bear-shape, he is still Sir Bruin. When he wears his man-shape, he is still Sir Bruin. The shape a shifter wears affects his personality a little, but not to anything like the degree it affects a changer. So shifters speak clearest in the unspoken tongues. The most potent ones can make their words clear, even to those who know nothing of the unspoken languages."

Agatha grins now, and asks, "Okay. What about symbolic shape shifting though?"

After a moment, Elinor adds, "There are tales of shifters with more than two shapes, but I know of none in current times. What do you mean by 'symbolic'?"

Alice returns from the manor with her purse under her arm, and Kuon following right along beside her. "I wrapped all the papers up as best I could and put them back in the mirror, and I put the mirror safely in my bag. The flute, too!" she informs the others as she walks over to join them again.

The faerie smiles to Alice, relieved. "And everything was yet there? I am glad to hear it."

"Well, I mean you, sort of, and us," Agatha says, and waves to Alice. "We pretend to be other people, but we're still ourselves. Like I can shift between being Agatha and Lady Redmane, and Alice can turn into Princess Angel. Does that have any odd magic to it?"

"Yep! I got it all. Washed my hands too so i wouldn't get the Lady's letters dirty," answers Alice. She holds up her hands and shows the fey girl.

Elinor blinks several times. "I ... I do not know. No, wait. It must. I know that it must, for I have felt it myself. But -- it is not a magic I have ever heard of before. I should ask the rest of my House, and see if they know more of it than I."

"Ah, then maybe Tom was right, sort of," Agatha says with another grin. "The way you two became infatuated with each other so quick, maybe you were projecting some message that Tom picked up on and reacted to, just like I reacted unconsciously to Destre's wanting to be let out of his stall just now."

Destre whuffles, looking up from where he's been pruning back the garden's overgrowth to Agatha.

"Alice, isn't that sort of what Mr. Kuning told you?" Agatha asks the younger girl. "That when we pretend, we have a sort of power to affect things, or something?"

Elinor covers her mouth with her wrist, looking thoughtful, and perhaps a little dubious. Kuon looks between the various parties, then rubs his nose against Alice's side.

Alice looks down and rubs Kuon's head with a hand. "He said we have the power to make things real with our imagination, and we didn't have to play this game if we didn't want to. I don't think he liked our game very much," she answers.

"It should be easy to test," Agatha says, thinking. "I mean, did you want Tom to notice you, Elinor ... or rather, as Rachel did you want him to notice you?"

Elinor's cheeks flush. "Whatever the case there, I am not certain that would qualify as magic." She looks curiously at Alice. "But that is true -- that we -- or at least, you -- can make things real by imagining them. I am sure of it. Not that you could make anything real. But some things ... I do not know the extent of it."

Destre lifts his head and looks curiously toward Agatha. He snorts, perhaps as a warning to be careful at what one chooses to try.

The fey girl smiles at Destre. "Exactly."

"Things that maybe are already real in Mirari, at least," Agatha suggests, then nods to Elinor. "Okay, I guess it was just one of those things that happens to boys then, and doesn't need any mystical explanation."

"Boy's are weird. Especially Tommy," agrees Alice. She then beams at Kuon. "Except you! And Destre, of course!"

This brings about horse-like laughter, a nickering from Destre.

The greyhound licks Alice's hand and barks once. Elinor's face gets more flushed, but she nods to Agatha. "I think that would be the whole of it, yes."

"Still, I just wonder if it isn't like a glamour in some ways," Agatha says. "If we do go to Mirari, I think it'll be important to stay in character the whole time. If I'd become just Agatha when Tristan brought me there ... I don't think I could have handled it."

"Um ... " Alice leans in to Kuon again, wrapping an arm around him for support. "Can I meet Lord Mel when we go to the faerie world? I'd really like to meet him!"

"Rebecca said Lord Mel was going to stand with us against the Year's End," Agatha reminds Alice.

"Oh. I guess so!" The little girl looks relieved. "Hey, did you want to read the letters too, Sir Destre? I brought them out and packed them up, but I can take them out again."

"The Lord Protector has not been seen since shortly after the King left, Alice, so I cannot promise you him. But when he returns, I think he would be glad to meet you," Elinor offers.

Kuon's ears prick up as Elinor answers, and he whines, pawing at the ground, suggesting the news is worrisome.

The black horse gives Agatha a look that suggests the news -- or lack of news -- of the Lord Protector is worrying to him as well.

"I bet he's just busy. 'Lord Protector' sounds like a very busy job." Alice gives Kuon a reassuring snug, then settles down beside him again. "I hope ... oh no." She bites her lip.

Elinor looks between the two animals, and shakes her head. "So you have not heard from him, either? Surely his search cannot have been so fruitless as this ... " She tightens her mouth in concern.

"April controls the Siege of the Forest, and that was one of Lord Mel's gateways before," Agatha says, then looks at Elinor and asks, "What is Lord Mel searching for?"

"I hope he didn't get all soggy and puffy when my mom put Lord Mel in the washing machine!" Alice looks aghast, reaching up and covering her mouth in a expression that seems to copy Elinor's startled reactions of previous.

"Lord Melchizedek cannot be trapped in Ainigton. The Queen controls the Siege des Anges, and she would not bar him from it," Elinor says, though there's an undercurrent of uncertainty in her voice. "Let us ... share the letters with Destre and Kuon," she urges.

Agatha nods, leaning against the wall of the stable (apparently forgetting she's wearing a dress once more), and wonders to herself if a unicorn's horn could be used to dial a telephone.

Destre turns his gaze upon Alice and the letters she carries in her purse.

Alice nods a little, still looking worried. She unwraps her arm from Kuon and begins digging through her purse....

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This site serves as a chronicle of sessions in an online roleplaying campaign moderated by Conrad "Lynx" Wong and May "Rowan" Wasserman. The contents of this site are (c) 2001, 2002 by Conrad Wong and May Wasserman except where stated otherwise. Despite the "children's fantasy" theme of this campaign, this site is not intended for young readership, due to mild language and violence.