Changing the Rules (21 Aug 2001) Tom has an unexpected visit from Elinor.

Baum Woods
Several acres of tall deciduous treesgrow along the north side of Baum Street, out past west of Frost, where the countryside remains largely undeveloped. It's a common haunt for Thomas -- close enough to his house that he can walk to it, and far enough that he can consider himself an explorer in uncharted wilderness.

The day is warm, almost hot even among the trees, and the bright sun overhead shines in a cloudless blue sky. It beats down on the uncharacteristically bare head of oneThomas Winthrope, fearless adventurer, as he climbs one of the taller trees, a few dozen feet from the road. He's just made it to one of the higher, more fragile branches near the top, and as he clings to the slender trunk, high above the ground, it sways. It's this swaying that has knocked loose his beret, which flutters past the branches below him towards the distant forest floor.

"Awww ..," Thomas grumbles, then catches himself and utters, " ... crud." He watches his hat flutter downwards, dismayed. Hope I can find it when I get back down there, he thinks. He remains holding onto the trunk as the tree sways in the wind and looks out over the surrounding landscape, waiting for the movement to die back down.

The tree may be closer to the road than would be ideal for his purposes -- from this high a vantage point, he can still see its narrow gray ribbon through the branches of the shorter trees around him. The tree stops swaying after a minute or so, but not before he sees a dark-haired female figure with her hair tied back by a green ribbon walking down the road. As he spots her, the tree becomes steady enough for him to try climbing to the inch-wide branch just above his head.

Tom starts reaching upward toward the next branch. Just then, it registers that the person walking along the road might be Elinor. He stops and turns his head, straining to look at her again. Well, you need to get your hat, anyway, Thomas reasons, So, if it's her, you might as well say hello at the same time, too. Thomas grins, and starts to climb down the tree. He can always come back and climb back up later, after all.

The intrepid explorer is almost halfway down from the tree by the time he can hear the footfalls of the pedestrian along the road. She calls out, "Thomas?" in accents both familiar and distinctive.

"Hi, Elinor!" Thomas calls back, "I'm up in a tree just off the road a bit. Heading down just now, in fact."

"Oh!" The girl calls back. He hears the rustling of the undergrowth as she parts the branches to draw closer to the sound of his voice. "I'll wait for you down here, then, Thomas," she says. "I'm not much of a climber. Especially not in a skirt."

"How did you know I was out here?" asks Thomas as he continues his descent. He blinks and shakes his head. Mind on climbing, Tom. Don't wanna fall out of the tree, after all, he thinks to himself.

Elinor picks her way to the base of his tree. "Your parentssaid -- ow!" Her speech falters for a moment, then she continues, her words slightly muffled, " -- said you'd be out here."

Thomas, distracted by Elinor's sudden cry of pain, misses the foothold he was aiming for and slips some just above the group. "Yaah!" he calls out! He grabs tightly onto the branch above him, stabilizing himself and avoiding falling. He scrabbles his leg back onto a branch and says, "You okay? Catch a bramble or something?"

"Stuck my finger on a thorn," the young woman answers, sounding sheepish. She comes into view beneath him, looking up with blue-grey eyes at him as he stands on the branch. "I should know better."

Tom climbs further down and says, "Nah, it happens to everyone." He looks around, "Say, you didn't see my hat down here anywhere, did you? It fell off while I was climbing." He then blinks, remembering she came looking for him. "So, you wanted to talk to me? You mentioned my parents said I was out here."

Elinor sucks absently on the tip of her pricked finger, nodding to him. "I suppose that it does." She glances about for on the ground. "No, I haven't seen it," she admits, "and yes, I wanted to talk to you. If you don't mind?"

Tom backpedals, saying, "Nonono, of course I don't mind. I'm just, well, surprised." He smiles and finally reaches the ground. He heads over to her after a short glance around. "You're always welcome to stop by," he says, trying not to blush.

The young woman looks up to smile at him, then glances to the ground again, as if to look for his beret, or perhaps because she's too shy to meet his eyes. "Have you ..." She brushes a lock of her hair that's escaped her ribbon back from her face, and then says, "Oh! There it is." She points to the beret, caught on a bush a few yards away.

"Oh!" Tom exclaims, then he heads over to the beret and swipes it off the bush. He slips it back onto his head and tucks his spiky black hair out of the way. "Thanks for spotting it," he says. He then heads back over to her and asks, "Have I what?"

She blushes and looks down again as he asks the question. "I was going to ask ... have you been playing the game very long? I mean ... the one you and the others were showing me. That we played on Avarre."

"Nothing wrong with asking that," he says. "Well, I've known Rebecca for some time and she introduced me to Alice. Don't think Alice likes me too much. Rebecca always liked fantasy type things and I thought it would be fun to join in. Simon, we met recently, as well as Agatha," he explains. He then says, "You've taken to it quite quickly. It must be really strange to be here, so far from home."

"It is," she admits. Elinor leans against the thick trunk of the tree Tom had been climbing. "Strange to be so far from home. But I like it here," she adds quickly. "I like your game, too. I've never done anything like it."

Tom nods slightly. "Yeah, it can be quite fun," he says, "But, sometimes I worry Alice gets too involved in it. It's still just a game, to have fun." He shrugs and smiles. "I could be just worrying too much, though. I'm glad you're enjoying it; I was kinda worried you'd feel lost." He then adds, "-- or think we're all crazy."

"No, I like it. Except ... well." She looks at the ground, scuffing one black shoe against a rock. "Perhaps I am too caught up in it, too," she continues, softer. "It was very ... engaging."

Tom reaches up and rubs his neck softly. "Hm, too caught up in it? How so?" he asks.

"Well ... that prophecy you heard me say? When you asked about the king." She studies her finger, though the bleeding on it has stopped. "I still don't remember saying it."

Tom blinks. "Whoa, wait a moment. You don't remember saying it? Seriously? What do you remember?" he inquires further, moving a bit closer to Elinor.

"I remember saying that I was an oracle, and that I could answer one question from each of you. And it had to be ... well ... a real question." She speaks steadily. "An important one. Not just a 'what is your favorite color?' sort of question. You said you were not going to ask one, and the others were talking about what they should ask. Then you said something like, 'Very well, I will ask -- where is the king?'

"And I ... was going to answer." She blinks a few times. "Then ... I am not sure. I knew that I had answered it. But I could not remember with what."

Tom nods slowly, eyes locked on the girl. "That's right. I did ask that. Mainly to kinda push the others to ask something. It was getting kinda late," he says slowly. "But, you don't remember how you answered it? It was kinda creepy."

Elinor shakes her head. "I do not. I really do not. Alice repeated it to me in the boat. It all rhymed. I cannot remember it exactly now ... but I do not understand it. How could I make a rhyming answer up and then not even remember doing it?"

Tom shrugs. "You've got me," he replies, then admits, "A lot of really weird things have been going on. Perhaps you were just tired from the long day?"

The girl doesn't look reassured. "I liked playing the game," she says. "Really, I did. But it worried me. Maybe ... maybe we shouldn't look for the king any more."

Tom nods thoughtfully. One of his hands settles on the tree trunk and he leans, thinking. "Well," he begins slowly, "That's up to you. If you don't want to, you're more than welcome to still come around and do things. But, maybe if you continue, you'd find out what happened on the isle? You'd like to know, right?"

"No, no, it is not that," Elinor says, quickly. "I do want to continue. Just ... perhaps ... in another direction? In the answer I gave, I said that the king does not want to be found. Maybe we should not keep looking for him, if he wants to be hidden?"

Tom shakes his head, face reddening. "Now I understand. You're thinking about the rhyme. Well, that's probably a good idea, but what then should we look for? I suppose our game could shift to maybe hunting out the growl-- .. er, jruuh or something," he says.

The girl smiles. "Yes! Exactly. Or ... what else was it the oracle said? That you could ... change rules. But I guess that would be obvious, would it not? If it is your game, than of course you can change the rules." She has an odd look on her face, contemplative.

Tom grins. "Well, I never knew we had rules. I just went with the flow of it all." He then hmms softly, thinking, "Well, there was the jruuh lair up in the hills in the hidden cave. Might want to check that for clues again. It's also where we met Ryland, the talking bird. We weren't even really playing then." He swiftly covers his mouth, realizing if she's worried about going to far into the game, mentioning him is a bad idea.

"Ryland?" Elinor asks. She tilts his head to watch him, looking curious.

"Um, er, um," Thomas stammers, unsure how to answer. "Well, he was this black raven we met up in the cave. He talked, and told us a couple things. That's how we know they're called the jruuh." He then quickly adds, "I'm sure he was someone's lost pet. Most of the time he just squawked."

"He told you of the jruuh?" The Ruritanian girl seems intrigued. "What else did he tell you?"

Tom continues, "Well ... that we were in the place where all lost things go. In fact, each of us found something we lost there. It was kinda strange. Want to see the place sometime? I could take you."

She looks pleased at the idea. "I would love to go. I have lost many things I would like to find again." She smiles. "And I like crows, too."

"Want to hear something really weird? You've seen the town center, right? The cave had streams in it, that made the same pattern as the sidewalks in the park. It was really cool," adds Thomas.

"There was some animal living down there, though. We scared it off with a flashlight. The others seem to think it was a jruuh," says Tom. "It should be safe as long as more than one person goes."

"The same as the sidewalks in the square? Only in streams? How peculiar! I will be sure not to go there alone, then," she adds after his caution. She looks thoughtful. "I think I remember the pattern. At the Siege des Anges. Have you -- have you seen it anywhere else?"

Tom shakes his head. "Nope, only there," he responds. "If you ever want to see the surrounding area, the forests, hills, or wherever, let me know. I've seen most of it and would gladly show it to you," he volunteers. He grins, "That's why I chose to be the 'explorer'. I like finding new places."

"I like finding new places, too," Elinor says, smiling shyly again. "That's why I chose to come here."

Tom nods. "Nothing like seeing a new place for the first time, is there? So much to see. So much to learn about," he says wistfully. "I bet your home is really neat. I heard you even have castles."

"We do," she admits. "It is a beautiful country, though now is not the best time to see it." Elinor gazes off through the trees, a sad look in her eyes. "It has seen better days."

Tom reaches out and lightly touches Elinor's shoulder. "What happened?" he asks quietly. His hand quickly lowers and he looks away, embarrassed.

"Time passes," the girl answers, looking lost in her thoughts. "It is..." She stops, as if reconsidering what she was about to say, then continues, "It is ... like a cycle. Some times are good, and some bad. Now is the bad time."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Thomas says softly, looking back at her. "I hope your time here is enjoyable, then, and that the bad times pass quickly there." He smiles, "Maybe solving the mystery of your rhyme could help them too? Ah, if that were possible."

"You never know," Elinor says, and there is a look of gratitude in her eyes as she glances at him. "I am so tired of the cycle. I want to be at the good times forever, and never more see the winters ... or the false springs. Maybe there is a way to change the rules."

Tom smiles and shrugs lightly. "Why not? People make the rules, people can change them. Sometimes it just takes a bit of nudging. I guess the trick is knowing what rule to change, huh?" Thomas slowly pushes away from the tree and stretches. "I'd like to get see your home in the good times. Someday, maybe."

"I think you will," Elinor says. She taps her fingers on the bark of the tree. "Someday. You ... you do not mind, do you? That I do not think we should look for the king?"

Tom shakes his head and smiles. "Of course not. I can have fun with it," he says, looking away and saying more softly, "I want you to have fun with the game, too. I'm glad you joined in."

"Me too. I just ... do not want you to think I am being too ... pushy. It is your game, not mine," Elinor says. "It is very kind of you -- of all of you -- to let me join."

Tom waves a hand. "It's your game now too, Lady Raven, Oracle of Mysteries. You've made it yours and have just as much say in what happens as we do." He looks at her and asks uncertainly, "I'm not too rough on Alice, am I? She's young and I worry she believes too much. I worry she might get hurt. Even I admit something odd is going on, but I don't want her to get too caught up. If that makes any sense."

"I ... I understand. A little, I think." Elinor pulls her dark green skirt close to the backs of her thighs as she bends to sit on a log, then brushes the front modestly down to cover her calves. "I do not know. I think ... well, perhaps it would be kinder if you did not deny her so much. It is a very hard thing, to have seen something special, and then not to be believed."

Tom nods softly. "I..," he starts, mulling over what tosay, "I'm just not sure how to tell her to look at it with a doubtful eye, I guess. She's so sure there's magic. Magic doesn't exist, right? I'm sure we can find an explanation for everything."

"Are you, Thomas?" Elinor looks at him squarely. "How do you know that magic does not exist?" She asks the question seriously, as if expecting an answer.

Tom fidgets, put on the spot. "Well, um..," he stammers, looking around, unable to look her in the eyes. "I think it does not exist. I do not know," he finally admits.

"So Alice could be right. That's one ... possibility, is it not?" Elinor says. "And, perhaps, if she should look at things with more skeptical eyes, to consider all the possibilities ... then so should you?"

Tom opens his mouth, then closes it. "You have a point," he admits.

Elinor smiles again, watching him with a look of relief on her face. She runs one hand through her long hair, then unties the ribbon in it, and gathers the loose dark strands back together again to fasten them. "I am glad," she says at last, softly.

Tom grins sheepishly, "I'm glad you're glad." He pauses, then laughs. "Boy, that sounded silly." He smiles. "So, want to head back to my folks? I'm sure they'd like to talk to you. My dad's traveled some; he was once in the military. Plus, we could grab some lunch; I'm hungry." He shrugs, "After that, if there's any place you want to see in or around town, I'll willingly show you. Or, we could plan our jruuh hunt or something."

"That would be lovely," the Ruritanian says. She stands once more, brushing out her skirt. "Especially planning a jruuh hunt. I have certainly had enough of them hunting me!"

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