Out of the Dream (8 Aug 2002) Alice and Rebecca/Nymuae deal with nightmares.

The Faerie Ball
A beautifully appointed ballroom greets the eye, its mosaic floor cut in elaborate, interlocking circles of alternating gold and black marble. Grecian columns frame stark, abstract designs on the walls, tiled in granite. Floor-length candelabras with long tapers of swirled black and gold illuminate the scene: Lords and Ladies, tall, slim, graceful, dance together in perfect time to an invisible orchestra. They are impeccably attired in rich finery--sweeping ball gowns with trains for the Ladies, doublet and hose for the Lords.

The sounds of laughter and music fill the chamber. Everything seems perfectly in order and in place, flawed only by three things. One is a freckled, baby-faced girl with unruly strawberry blond hair, ridiculously dressed in an engulfing, oversized graduation gown belted about her waist. The second is a small, grotesquely filthy child in a mundane frock that drips with unseemly and foul-smelling goop.

These two oddities are ignored by the civilized and elegant nobility at the ball. They refrain from acknowledging the improperly present children almost as a kind of graciousness, rather than drawing attention to how hopelessly out of place the two young ones are. Similarly, the final flaw passes unattended, as the Lords and Ladies keep their eyes on their partners, the floor, the walls, or anything else--except up.

For above, instead of an arched ceiling, a stormy black void rages, marked by two massive, glowing eyes and a gaping maw that threatens to consume them all.

The freckled redhead stands near a particular dancer, an impossibly lovely raven-tressed Lady whose brow is bound by a golden tiara, set with an emerald stone. The child screams, "Don't you see?" at the woman, making a clumsy grab for her sleeve. Her shrillness barely pierces the shell of music and mirth the nobles wear like a shield. Frustrated, the girl claws at own face, tears of rage and impotence streaming from green eyes.

"Hey Rebecca I found what I wa-" the filthy little blonde girl's call is broken off when she steps forward towards the red head and sees her sobbing. Undaunted by the lovely lords and ladies and how very out of place she looks in her goop-covered outfit she continues on towards her friend. On her way she picks up her call this time offering words of concern, saying, "Oh no! Rebecca? Rebecca what's wro-" Until again her call is broken by a startled scream as her eyes trail up over the other girl's head to the grotesque monstrosity that looms over them all.

Startled, the other girl gasps in a breath as Alice speaks, then dashes to her side at the little girl's scream. "Alice!" she yells. "What are we going to do?"

Alice blinks at the eyes who are so much bigger than her own. She blinks a few more times as her friend races over and asks her question. After a moment she manages to pull her gaze away and focus on Rebecca. "Um. Well this really isn't part of the shop. At least I don't think it is. Sure fits though. Um, well," she glances up again, "I think we should leave -- but did you get everything you came for? I think this is what mother wanted but I don't know why you're here." She holds up the sludge covered camera to Rebecca to show her what she found.

"I don't know eith--eugh, what is that?" Rebecca recoils from the unidentifiable object, then makes a disgusted face as she takes in Alice's own disheveled appearance. "Wow, what happened to you? Your mom's going to be furious."

"The gargoyle didn't want to be nice and give this to me so I had to go through the slime and climb the shelf! And gargoyles are really sharp -- like birds but worse -- and slime was everywhere. I guess maybe it was on sale." The blue-eyed girl wrinkles her nose. A bit of goo drips off the side of her face and splatters on the floor. "I don't like that shop at all. But, um ... Oh! Do you know these people? They're very pretty. But I don't think the roof-monster was invited." She points at it with a slimy left hand. "I think we better help them."

"They don't want our help," Rebecca growls. "They won't even listen to me. Lady Nymuae told me to leave her alone. She says everything is fine and I'm just a -- never mind." She swallows, rubbing at one eye. "Where can we go? There's no way out!"

As the redhead gestures around them, Alice sees the truth of her words -- the door the little blond had opened moments ago is nowhere to be seen, and the column-lined walls are unmarred by archway or opening.

Alice clutches the camera to her chest reflexively and turns to glance back where the door had been. "There isn't?" She looks around behind her and then this way and that before turning back having found nothing that resembles an exit. "There isn't!" she exclaims. "Maybe we could ask the monster to go away? I was told you should always try and talk things out." She glances up at the eyes and waves a little, calling, "Mr. Monster? Would you go away please? And not eat everyone? It would be very nice if you did!"

The gaping jaws of the void above widen. Rows of sharp teeth line either edge of an unbounded mouth. If anything, it and the eyes seem to get larger, as if growing closer still. Rebecca swallows again, crouching reflexively. "I don't think that's going to work."

The little blonde girl bites her lip and shakes her head. "N-no, I don't think so either. But, but ... oh, yes! Lady Nymuae knows magic! But-" she frowns at Rebecca, "Aren't you Lady Nymuae?"

"Me?" The freckled girl looks down at herself, at the scuffed edge of her far-too-long gown, the clumsy gathering around her waist, the candle stuck through its peeling silvered belt. "No. I'm nothing. Just a stupid little girl. She's the Lady Sorceress." She points to the raven-haired Lady, garbed in a form-fitting gown of pearl-white scales and emerald-green trim. She dances, elegant and unconcerned, with a charming Lord, the picture of serene self-confidence.

Alice stares at Rebecca a moment with a mix of concern and deep thought. The little girl's brow creases and she bites her lip again as she turns her gaze away and sweeps it across the ballroom. After a moment of silent contemplation the little girl says, "That's not true Rebecca! You wrote the magic book and then I protected it for a while. But those were your spells I used! And it was your prophecy that helped start all this! She, that is Lady Nymuae," she gestures at the grand sorceress, "and you are the same person, 'tis so, like Lord Thomas and Tommy. And I believe in you! So don't say you're nothing, because that's a lie, and you shouldn't lie Rebecca. It's not like you to savage the truth so."

Rebecca blinks at the younger girl's vehemence. "It's--it's not a lie," she says, sullen. "Look at her! Look at me! I'm not really a sorceress! That was all just make-believe! They're the real ones--and they're not afraid of anything!" As she speaks, the void above looms lower. It makes a noise, or rather, and absence of noise, a silent roar that briefly drowns out the music and laughter. Then its jaws close around the top of the far wall. It bites it off neatly, leaving an empty blackness where the top part of the high wall had been. Rebecca shudders, huddling in on herself.

"Well I'm not a sorcerer! I'm not a Lord Explorer or a great Knight either," explains Alice as she watches the monster take a chunk off the roof. "I'm a princess -- but I'm really not so different than when I didn't know. But I can help. And so can you! And you have! It's because of your book that I could use magic before I knew I shouldn't. I wouldn't have known how at all. But please Rebecca! We have to hurry. And these people need us. A sorcerer isn't all about appearances and a princess isn't all about looking pretty -- it's doing and helping." Alice reaches over and tugs Rebecca's arm. "And we have to help them now."

Rebecca screws up her eyes, clenching her hands on her arms. "I tried, but they won't listen! What are we going to do?" The redhead opens her eyes just enough to look at Alice, as if for guidance.

"Verily I am the princess so maybe I can call the people to heed us? And if that doesn't work we can go talk to Lady Nymuae again. Yes. Could you tell Lady Nymuae the princess is here and that she desires her audience immediately? Grown ups always want things done like that. You know. Official," offers Alice. She nods once to the other girl and gives her a hopeful smile before turning to the dances and raising drawing herself up in an attempt to look as regal and commanding as a little girl can do covered in slime. "By the crown of Mirari, as heir to the throne and princess of the kingdom I require your attention!"

The gracious lords and ladies ignore the mud-flecked and filthy child. One nearby Lord comment pointedly to his partner, "Ah, there is nothing like a well-behaved child, presentably attired, seen and not heard."

Alice frowns at this. More severe a frown she rarely shows. But for this she quite sure it's deserved. Here she's trying to help these poor people who are in danger of being eaten by a big roof-monster and they won't even pay attention. It's very rude she thinks. And she just doesn't have time to plead with them all -- it'd be too late by the time she did. So she gets it in her mind to try something she hasn't tried before a real audience. A glamour. She gathers herself up again and tries to recall all the majesty and grace of her Queen-mother. All that she's so far learned of from her of ruling, leading, and appearing unshakeable. This she puts to mind and focuses her will on being its incarnate. Princess of Mirari.

Once Alice thinks she's as focused as she'll ever be she turns to address the whole ball room once again. "My people of Mirari! Do not ignore the words of those that protect you -- heed me!" utters the princess in a tone meant to carry across the whole chamber.

The princess's words resound, cutting over the symphony. The dancers pause in their movements, and in a moment, the focus of dozen of powerful Lords and Ladies is upon Alice. The little girl seems larger now, and the slime coating her appears banished. In its place is garb fit for a princess, and her blond hair shines in a golden halo around her head. Even Rebecca looks twice at her, startled.

Now that she has got everyone's attention the little girl, or rather shining princess, continues. "Verily we are in danger! Look above and you shall see what threatens us all!" While she leaves the lords and ladies to witness what promises to devour them all she turns and speaks to the sorceresses. "Rebecca and Lady Nymuae. One in the same. We need your powers now. We call upon your aid to deliver us!"

As one, the Lords and Ladies raise their eyes above the level of their heads. They look at the gaping void, the glowing eyes. The void claims another section of the far wall, and part of the floor, as well.

As one, the assembled nobles fall into panic. Some scream, others faint, the rest run in blind fear toward the doorless, windowless walls. Only the Lady Sorceress keeps her composure. "This," she says, coolly, standing alone at the center of the room, "Is nothing to be alarmed about, little ... princess." She locks her eyes on Alice, who suddenly feels very young and small again.

The princess's expression wavers and for a moment she seems smaller and very much daunted by the Lady Sorceress. But the expression passes and she returns the sorceress's gaze with a firm resolve. "'Nay. It is. And you who shun part of yourself and ignore this danger that you might continue in your pleasure have no right to speak as such to me." The princess eyes the other consideringly as her fingers tap lightly against the camera in her hand. "Or is she truly a piece of you at all? Lady Nymuae would not ignore a danger. Nor would she insult me. If yours is an illusion it is a poor one."

"I?" The Lady looms, arrogant, daring. "I an illusion? I am the Lady Sorceress Nymuae, who met the leaders of Houses before they had Houses, who have known the land of Mirari before any other. No one doubts my power!"

"Your boasting ill suits you Lady Nymuae. And that you would claim such to me, that you would say such to your friend, is all the more in poorly done. I never doubted your power or your wisdom. But I do now doubt your intentions in this place. It is unlike you," responds the princess, her tone remaining firm even as the sorceress's own seems to falter in its wrath and splendor. "Is it your power you love so? Your appearances? Will you not help these fay and yourself?"

"If I am not afraid, it is because there is nothing here to fear." The sorceress proclaims. "The heart of Mirari is perfectly safe." Behind her, the void eats through the floor by the far while. The nobility scrabble away from it, looking for a way out.

"And what do you claim to call that above which threatens to eat us all? It is surely a product of Lord Eoin's spellwork. And it looms ever closer. There is no need to frighten these fay needlessly if we might arrange departure from here." The princess turns her head to face Rebecca and gives her a gentle smile before turning a sharp glance back at Nymuae. "And it would seem to me you are very much afraid. As well you should be! Do not ignore the council of that which is a part of you!"

Nymuae advances on Alice. "And if there is something amiss ... what could you do about it? Or her? Little mortal girls like you should stay safe at home, and leave important matters to us." Rebecca gives a little whimper, crouched on the floor with her knees around her chest, as the void above devours the tops of the nearer walls.

"I am the princess of Mirari. And as such it is my charge to help my people. Mortal, fay, or whatever I might be. Perhaps I lack the magic, and I am surely no knight, but I have done my upmost to aid Mirari and I have made progress. I have stood before Lord Eoin and discovered him in the halls. There is much one can do even if one is not "great" as you would claim to be." The princess speaks without taking her gaze off Rebecca. She offers her hand to her cowering girl. "Rebecca has taught me much. Her view is unclouded by Years. It is she alone who knew to put us on this path. And she is you. And you, she, have helped Mirari greatly. Yet you hate yourself so. You always have. But it is time to put that loathing aside."

"I am not her." Nymuae and Rebecca say this in unison, Nymuae with vindictive loathing, Rebecca with quiet, subdued longing, a pale echo. "I was never her." Nymuae continues alone, "You have no idea what you are talking about. Get out!" The void advances, the floor crunching in its wake, as it devours a large part of one of the interlocking circles that comprise it.

"Very well," says the princess. Her voice has lost its hard edge and has dwindled to a soft resignation. "Show us the exit and we shall leave. But I tell you once more: you are in danger but you do not see it. Remember the prophecy you spoke."

The sorceress lifts her chin, sniffing. She claps her hands. The music resumes, despite the crumbling floor. The panic in the Lords and Ladies seems to dwindle ... but the void is still advancing. "Can't you at least send us home?" Rebecca says, quietly. "If we don't belong?"

As before, Nymuae pays no heed to the freckled girl.

"Yes. Send us. And send these people. Do not drag them to your fate," agrees Angel.

"She's ignoring us again. It's like we're not even real to her," Rebecca says, glum and resentful. "Like nothing is." She sounds angry.

The princess nods a little to this. She bites her lip in an unprincessly fashion and walks towards Rebecca. "Can you send us Rebecca? If you think you can you must try," she bids her friend.

Rebecca makes a face at her tall, sleek counterpart. "I ... I don't know how. I don't even know where we are," she admits, painfully.

Angel casts a worried glance towards the ever-approaching maw above them and her. The princess is clearly looking worried now. She certainly is feeling worried. For the others and herself. She had never imagined Lady Nymuae would be stubborn enough for this. "This is a creation of Lord Eoin's magic. I am sure of it. I do not know where it is but it feels much like a dream," she explains.

Rebecca makes another face, standing, unkinking her arms. She tries pinching herself. Nothing happens. "If this is a dream, then that," she points to the maw, "would be the Destroyer. And this," she gestures to the room, "would be Mirari. But what is she? And what am I? Is this your dream, or mine?" She shakes out her red hair, confused. A pair of dancers circles into the area where the maw has passed, and they vanish into oblivion. A little more of the floor dissolves, creeping slowly toward the center where three of the tiled circles in the floor intersect.

The princess nods. She watches as the dancers disappear and a pained look washes over her face. "I remember ..." She thinks on it a moment and nods again, this time slowly, "that you and I were in the palace I think. We had something important. The ... Optikon. Yes. Which gave us proof we needed. We were ambushed by servants and a vial was tossed at us. You, as Lady Nymuae, warded. Then this. Perhaps it is my dream and yours." The princess reaches to pinch herself as well.

As the princess looks at her arm she blinks as her gaze happens to pass across the tiled circles. "Wait, is that-" She points at the circles. "Is it a siege? Perhaps we can cross!"

"That--that's what you've got? The Optikon?" Rebecca looks at her friend. "Then all we need is to get out."

The princess nods once again and reaches a hand to take Rebecca's. Cradled in her other arm rests the Optikon. "And we may have it!" She tugs her friend's arm to urge her to run across the floor towards the circles.

The other girl hesitates only an instant before she takes Alice's hand, then runs in her wake, letting the younger girl lead.

Angel races across the ballroom floor. As she runs, her feet slip and slide from the slime that clings to her shoes but she manages to recover well enough each time to keep going. As she moves to enter the circle she slows to a walk and lowers her eyes to stare thoughtfully at the rings. "Rebecca, are you able to open a siege?" she asks in a hurried voice. She tries to recall if she, too, can open a siege.

"Nymuae knows how -- I don't!" Rebecca says, sounding frightened and lost again. "But -- they say the royal line are usually Siege-Walkers ... "

"T'would seem it is my turn to try then," says the princess. She thinks back to the time when Lady Nymuae drew her and Agatha across the siege and how that went. That was a lot of fun she remembers -- not anywhere so frightening and hurried as this. She tries to recall the words used. Tries to remember the way of sieges and remember someone telling her you will know if you are able. So she tries to open it and see if it comes to her. The princess walks to the center of the circle while still holding Rebecca's hand and concentrates.

As they enter the intersection of the circles, Angel feels a familiar wind pick up, echoing through the chamber. It scythes along the lines of the circles, recreating the parts partially consumed by void. Like walls, they rise around the pair, and then, Angel feels as though she is falling.

The blonde girl comes to herself, blinking and disoriented. She finds herself curled against a hard stone floor, her body wrapped protectively around the Optikon. As she becomes further aware of her real surroundings, she can hear the sounds of a struggle taking place near her in the darkened passageway. As she lifts her head in the direction of the noise, she sees two creatures dressed in the uniforms of the Queen's Guard menacing a tall, auburn-haired girl. The girl is keeping them at bay as best she can with a silver rapier, even though her opponents appear to be much more physically powerful than herself. Yet as out-matched as she is, the girl does not back away from the fight, but faces her attackers bravely.

Near Alice, Nymuae groans, slumped likewise on the floor.

"Ow," mumbles the princess to herself in a near whisper. She draws herself up off the floor and reaches to help Lady Nymuae up as well. When her eyes adjust to the darkness and she begins to gain her bearings she notices the sounds of combat that play out nearby. Hearing them she tugs on the Lady Sorceress's arm more vehemently, whispering, "Someone's in trouble -- we have to help them!"

"Right," Nymuae mumbles. She peers blearily forward. "Ah. You mean someone other than me." She braces her back against the wall, and pushes herself to her feet. Her lips move in the incantation of a spell, the fingers of her right hand flicking into motion.

One of the false guards, the ear of his dog's head peeled back to reveal blue-white skin and misshapen features beneath, tries to get past the auburn-haired defender's guard to advance on Alice. His hunched-back counterpart endeavors to distract the defender.

The girl snarls at the advance of the dog-headed creature, then slashes at his face, encouraging him to keep his distance. As her blade travels upward, she spares a glance to his fellow, swinging her elbow at his own chin.

The slash to the face cuts loose half of the mask, which flops, rubbery, onto the floor beside him. The tall goblin-like creature recoils in panic. The elbow jab strikes the other in the face, stunning him long enough for the young woman to regain her equilibrium.

As the girl has more time to recover from her return, she draws herself up as she had to make herself appear more regal and more intimidating -- a gesture further urged on by the attempted approach of the false guard. Her voice, too, changes. It sounds more confident and resolved and less like the dazed little girl she had sounded like a moment before. "T'would seem that we, too, are in danger. Perhaps a bit of magic is in order?" speaks the girl to the sorceress beside her.

Nymuae raises her right hand over her head, fingers still twisting. "Luminus!" She finishes, and a white glow radiates out from her hand. "Fools! I am the Lady Sorceress Nymuae, the most potent spell-weaver in all Mirari! You have used your last trick, and neither your Master nor your pitiful weapons will help you now. Flee, or feel my wrath!" The glow burns brighter, a white fire around her limb, and she gestures menacingly at them with it.

The eyes of the false guards are caught by the bright light. After being stymied physically by the rapier-wielding defender, the two exchange glances, then, as one, they pivot and run.

The auburn-haired girl holds her defensive position until the two creatures are well and truly out of sight. When she is assured that they are not coming back, she lowers her guard and turns to the two others, shielding her eyes from Nymuae's light with one hand. "Thank you, Lady Sorceress - and well met, I might add," she says, smiling lightly.

The girl beside the sorceress calls out after the goblins, "We will not bullied! Mirari shall not fall -- tell Lord Eoin that!" She releases Lady Nymuae's arm and reaches to her chest as she releases a most relieved exhale. The regal pose of the princess vanishes and she fully releases her hold on her glamour and half hunches over as she recovers her breath. Again she seems but a small blonde haired girl clutching a strange device tightly under her arm.

"Well met, indeed," The sorceress responds, lowering her hand and exhaling. "I believe that it is I who have you to thank," she continues, glancing at her glowing fingers. "I am glad that worked, however. Unleashing the wrath of my reading light would have been ... anticlimactic."

"Truly I wasn't certain how long I may have done that," says the blonde girl. What is certain though is that the child's voice has certainly changed. She sounds happy and more than a little relieved but certainly not as regal as she had a moment before. When she manages to draw herself up from her half-slump from catching her breath she walks towards Hannah. "I was worried! Are you quite well?" She beams a smile at the other girl. "I'm Alice. 'Tis a pleasure to meet you to be sure."

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