Questions for Nymuae (3 Nov 2001) Alice has questions for Rebecca/Nymuae.

Harcourt Manor, Upstairs Bedroom
This is one of the six bedrooms in the Harcourt Manor -- one presumes that besides the master bedroom and the three for the children, two were reserved as guest bedrooms. The room smells recently aired, and though some ancient dirt and dust clings to the corners, most of the surfaces have been cleaned fairly well. The curtains hanging from brass rod fittings and the elegant four-poster bed are still lovely despite their age. An amateurish painting of a river and forest scene hangs next to a mirror in an elaborate brass frame, and there is a massive wardrobe next to a walk-in closet.

After they left the cave on One-Eye Hill, Tom parted company with the girls to track down Simon and Elinor. Agatha, Nymuae, and Alice returned to Harcourt Manor. Nymuae has spent some time examining the stuffed bear, sitting on the bed and gazing at its button eyes with an air of quiet concentration. After a while, as it became clear no answers -- or other conversation -- was immediately forthcoming, Agatha decided to go outside to check on Destre, leaving Alice alone with the sorceress.

During the long silence of the sorceress and the bear, Alice had taken to combing her hair out with her newfound accessorie. With Rebecca's permission, and her own belief that the previous owner wouldn't mind, Alice has found quiet entertainment in the ancient fey combs to pass the time. But as she can only comb her hair so long before curiosity of her much-changed friend urges her to impatience, she suddenly and quietly asks, "Rebec-- Um, Lady Sorceress Nymuae?"

For several moments, Nymuae doesn't respond, and Alice wonders if she didn't hear her. Then, the dark-haired woman looks away from the toy at last. "Yes, Angel?"

"I'm sorry to interrupt your staring contest with Sir Teddy Bear but, um, can I ask you some questions? About what you said, and about magic?" asks the little girl as she lays her comb down.

The sorceress frowns at Alice disapprovingly, setting her jaw. She says nothing at first, only looking at the little girl, then she shakes her head and sets the bear to one side on the bed, her expression clearing to a neutral one. "What did thou wish to ask of me?"

"Well," the girl lets the comb lay in her lap, and folds her hands there beside it as she looks up to the sorceress. "I don't understand what you said in the cave, Rebec- Lady Sorceress Nymuae. You said I have to make a choice, like corn or peas? But it was important ... and I don't even know what I can pick. You sure seem to know even more now, R- ... Rebecca."

"Ah." The sorceress nods her head. One hand rests on the stuffed bear, stroking its old, worn fur lightly. "Tell me then, Alice -- how much dost thou wish to know? I can only tell thee that to which thou art ready to listen."

The question confuses the little girl, as she wrinkles her nose and gives Nymuae the same sort of bewildered look she would give Rebecca in the face of complicated explanations. "Well ... I want to know all of everything! Even more so if it will help us. I think we need to know lots to save the faerie world," she answers after a moment.

A smile flits over Nymuae's lips, then is gone. She shifts over on the bed. "Dost thou, indeed? T'would take a long time to tell thee all of everything, my princess. But I will strive to tell thee, if not everything, at least more than thou already know. Come, and sit beside me." She pats the empty space beside her. "Tell me what thou wouldst learn first."

"Okay, Rebecca." Alice puts the comb reverently back in the mirror, sets the mirror aside, then sits beside her now-adult friend. Very conscious of the change in Rebecca, she looks up, feeling smaller than usual. "Let's see. Hmm. I think first you said something about heri-... heri-tage."

The sorceress nods again, closing her eyes for a moment. Her face looks so different from Rebecca's -- clear, pale skin, a straight nose, high cheek bones and an almost pointed chin. She reminds Alice more of Elinor than Rebecca. When she speaks, however, her voice has the same authoritative, certain ring that the blond girl was so used to from Rebecca. "Alice, long before the King of Mirari disappeared, his wife bore him a daughter. The babe, so goes the tale, died at birth. But the parents christened her, and made a small tomb to lay her in. Her name was Princess Angel of Umbrecht. As the folk of her race measure time, had she lived, she would have been thy age -- Alice."

"Oh," says the little girl in whispered considering tones. Her nose wrinkles briefly as she seems to try and comprehend the weight of what Nymuae told her, and then she nods slowly. "Tommy was saying the same thing. He kept asking about my past and where I came from and about Lord Mel and ... and ... am I Princess Angel?" Her nose wrinkles more, but her tongue sticks out too, and the look becomes one of distaste -- then wide eyed fear. "Am I dead, Rebecca?"

The lady sorceress blinks, then laughs aloud, like a ringing bell. "No! Alice, thou'rt very much alive," she reassures the girl. "And if thou art truly Princess Angel, than it is because she ne'er died, not because thou'rt a ghost. I believe the old King may have deliberately misled his people when he reported his princess dead -- that he wished to protect thee -- her," she amends quickly. On a more sober note, she continues, "His firstborn, a boy, was slain shortly before the birth of Princess Angel."

Alice absorbs the information with rapt attention, her expression fading from fear to a simple wide-eyed fascination. "Ohhhh." She looks down at the hands in her lap and bites her lip. "But how can the King be my daddy? I have a daddy, and a mommy, too -- and Gabriel, too."

"Yes, thou dost," Nymuae answers. She pauses for a moment, as if in thought, then says, "As do I, for I was raised Rebecca, daughter of Miriam and Jacob Travison. And yet, I am also the Lady Sorceress Nymuae of the Lake, born of the Waters in the Ancient Days, before the coming of the Houses, and I have no ancestors. To be both is impossible: and yet, both are true."

Alice's face reforms to an expression of confusion, and her words state asmuch: "That's very confusing, Rebecca."

"I am sorry for that, Alice. But the truth is seldom as simple as one would like. As I told Thomas, I do not -- yet -- know all aspects of the story. I believe that 'Rebecca' was a sham forced upon me, but it does not make the time I spent in Ainigton illusory -- only the means by which I was placed here. The same may be true of thee," Nymuae says.

Alice nods again, just a little, before looking back up to the sorceress. "Tommy is a faerie like Elinor, he said. Does that mean Tommy can be ... " She pauses to search for an appropriate word. "... glamorous? Like Elinor is glamorous and could be a big deer lady. She said all faeries can do that, so can Tommy and I do it too?"

Nymuae considers that for a moment, then nods. "Indeed, thou mayst, and so might Thomas, though I do not believe the Lord Explorer ever cared much for that talent. A skillful glamour takes time and practice to learn to weave, and training may help to bring out the skill, so thou mayst not be able to conjure exactly the image thou desirest, upon first wishing. And yet -- I am sure thou hast the talent for it."

"Can you show me how, Rebecca?" asks the little girl. "I think a ... glamour ... would be very helpful and if I knew, I could show Tommy and Agatha how, too."

"That, Alice, I cannot do. For I though I am from the land of Mirari, I am of the Ancient Days, before the Houses and e'en the Faerie came. I am not a faerie, and I do not have the faerie talents -- though, as I am sure thou knowst, I have pow'rs of mine own," the sorceress replies, and as she speaks, her presence fills the room with the weight of years, despite the youth of her face and figure.

"Wow, Rebecca, you're not a faerie? Are you made of, um ... water? Like clouds?" Alice inquires in wonder. And before the ancient woman can respond, the little blonde girl continues, "I like clouds and water, so I don't mind if you're like water and clouds." She nods agreeably. "Is that why you can use magic without books or pretend?"

Lady Nymuae chuckles again, looking genuinely amused. "How I have missed thee, Alice. I am no more made of water than thou art, but the manner of my existence is -- well, more difficult to explain than all I have said so far together, and of less import to matters at hand. I may use magic without books or pretend, as thou sayst, because I have great skill in the arts, and with that skill comes less reliance on such props -- though I still have great use for them, else I would not have come for my book."

Alice smiles brightly at having been missed. She reaches over and hugs Nymuae, wrapping her smaller arms around the woman's waist and resting her head against her side. She remembers that she couldn't hug Rebecca, because Rebecca would get mad. "You said I could be a sorceress too, Rebecca, but I can't also be a princess or a healer too, or I can't be ... me? ... if I'm one of those, or if I'm me, I can't be the princess? Like I can't be the princess and the dragon or the knight when we play pretend?" she inquires once comfortable.

The Lady Sorceress strokes Alice's hair, considering the question. "It is -- yes, very like that, angel. If thou pursuest the study of sorcery, thou mayst not become a healer, for the two arts cannot be contained in a single person. If thou art Princess Angel, no course of study may change that fact of your birth -- but yet, the Houses would ne'er allow thee to ascend the throne if thou wert a student of sorcery. No sorceress may reign in Mirari; it is forbidden by ancient law."

"I bet you'd make a great queen though, Rebecca," says Alice. She shifts reflexively, making herself more comfortable and leaning a little more -- and she finds Nymuae reminds her more and more of the adults around her. The thought makes her sad, and she frowns a little, but she continues to ask questions nonetheless. "Can I be healer and be a princess and me? I like mag- ... sorcery, but I'm not as good at it as you are, Rebecca. I just learned how because Tommy and Agatha and Elinor and Simon needed help, that's all. I think I'd rather be a healer so I can help people."

"I would not be a good choice for Queen," Nymuae replies, soberly. "There have been healer-Queens before, Alice. It is a good talent for a ruler, to understand the ways of mending. I think thou might be both princess and healer, and none would disapprove of thee for it."

Again Alice nods, taking her head away from Rebecca's side and looking up at the green-eyed sorceress. "I don't think I'd be a very good queen, either. Tommy can find things and Agatha is brave, and Simon is funny and Elinor is brave and she knows all about Mirari. But I do want to be a healer! My mommy showed me how, and she thinks I could be a nurse and be maybe even a doctor."

"I believe thou might be all that and more, Angel, an thou set thy mind to it," the sorceress answers, her tone serious. She pats the blond girl's back, then stands, looking to the door with a frown. "I am surprised that Redmane has not yet returned," she remarks.

Alice smiles at the sorceress's assessment, then sits up again, watching her. "Agatha likes to go play with Destre. I think they're very good friends, and Agatha wants to be a knight, and Destre is a big horse, so they can play the same games."

"That may be the whole of it," Nymuae concedes. "Yet, still..." She takes up the stuffed bear from the bed. "Is there aught else thou wished to ask me now, Angel?"

The girl thinks on it, and answers, "Oh yes. I'm sorry, it's just been so long since I saw you, Rebecca and you're so different, I forgot. I wanted to ask about Sir Teddy Bear, and if he's a faerie, too, and he was like you but he became a bear and you didn't become a bear and I wanted to ask if I could visit House April, and ..." Her nose wrinkles. "... the tomb you talked about, and if I could see the Palace."

"To answer your questions in reverse order," Nymuae begins, "I am sure a visit to the Palace of All Seasons and the royal tombs might be arranged. A visit to House April might be ... of questionable wisdom, at this time. As for Sir Teddy Bear -- he is attuned to the land of Mirari, and has a fey resonance to him. We would do well to keep him near to one of us -- there may be some significance to him not yet plain."

Alice reaches over and digs in to her purse, drawing out the knight medallion of House April, and she reaches to take the teddy bear. "I bet Lord Mel wouldn't mind a friend. And I think Sir Teddy Bear should have his medal back. It's his, and I'm really sorry for taking it without asking. I didn't know," she tells the sorceress -- and the bear.

Nymuae smiles. "I think he would like that," she replies, giving the old toy to Alice.

As she takes up the old toy, Alice replaces the medallion around his neck, then works to shorten the slack with a small bow before sitting him down on her purse next to the black and red unicorn. Once she's done, she returns her attention to Nymuae, asking, "Is House April mad at us?"

For a long moment, Nymuae doesn't answer. She directs her gaze at the floor, but her eyes seem unfocused, as if she were staring into some unseen gulf. "Yes," she says at last. "I believe that they are. The Lord of April is the King's duly-named heir, and if the old King had not fled, Lord April would be ruler now. His House is angered by the delay, and by the continuing of Winter past their time. They think it the duty of all to find the King and return him. If they know that we have deliberately chosen not to do so -- well. They would be angry with us. And -- I think they suspect as much."

Alice nods with uncustomary seriousness, looking over to Lord Mel and Sir Teddy as if for confirmation, before turning again to Nymuae and asking, "Do you think they would be ... um ... more mad at me if I am the princess? Because then wouldn't Lord April not be the king?"

"That ... is a matter of law, and I am not certain of the answer to it. There has never been a circumstance quite like this before, and I do not know if the mere fact that thou art Princess Angel would, alone, displace Lord April as heir. But that question would exist -- and I do not think April wishes to hear that question asked," Lady Nymuae answers.

"Oh," says Alice, and the unease resonates in her quiet word. She looks back to her stuffed animals again, then scoots over next to them so she can hug them both. "But shouldn't I give them back their mirror? Doesn't it belong to them?"

"That, too, is an interesting question," Nymuae reflects, tapping her fingers against her cheek. "To whom does the mirror rightfully belong?" Her green eyes seem distant, but she says nothing else.

"I don't know. And House April would be mad if I tried to bring it back, right? So I can't give it back anyway," says Alice, as she rests the dolls in her lap, with her arms loosely around them. She lets this statement hang in silence for a long moment as she watches the woman, but at last she asks, "Rebecca ... because you grew up, does that mean we can't play together anymore? Gabriel won't let me play with him and he's only a few years older. You're older than Mommy and Daddy."

Nymuae smiles. "Your mommy and daddy still play with you, do they not, Alice?"

"Well ... " The girl suddenly smiles and nods pleasantly. "Yes they do, Rebecca."

"Then so shall I." Nymuae offers Alice her hand. "Come. Let us find Agatha."

"Okay!" Alice quickly puts her things away, stowing Sir Teddy Bear in her purse as well, and keeping Lord Mel tucked under her arm. She settles the purse strap onto her shoulder and hops off the bed to follow after Lady Nymuae. "We can play sorceress and assistant and you can really be the sorceress! And we can play house, and ... well we can play sorceress games too but I don't know a lot of sorceress games. But I'll learn how."

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