Unfinished Stories

Lost And Found
Friendshipia
The Black Owls

By: Jeannie Chiasson

   Sunlight filtered through the trees, dappling the pool and rocks with gold patches. The water, a bright blue reflection of the sky, was icy cold in the early April morning as Sianna dove into the pool. When her head emerged, she gasped at the shock of the still Spring-fridged water. After swimming a few strokes, the feeling returned to her limbs. She felt invigorated, alive, more so than she had in a very long time.
   Sianna allowed her body to float on the surface. She stared up at the trees, sun and sky, and simply existed. Breathing deeply, relishing the moment. Finally, she knew she had to get out.
    After toweling off, Sianna walked back to where she had camped the night before, grabbed a granola bar and ate it while she packed up the rest of her stuff. Her bike, leaning against a near-by tree, had to be checked for any problems before Sianna continued on the next leg of her journey.
    She had begun this journey three days ago. One of those ideas that often seems to occur in the minds of people when they feel themselves at the crossroads of their lives. A need to find oneself by treking through the wilderness alone. The fact that so many turn to the great outdoors in order to find themselves must hold some sort of message to urbanized society.
    Sianna had recently dropped out of community college after six months in a culinary arts program. For most of her childhood she had dreamed of becoming a chef. She had focused on that dream entirely, but when she actually began school at the college, she realized that culinary arts were nothing like she had imagined in her dreams. Her entire life had been planned out around this one dream that had just fallen apart. Now, with her plans in ruins, Sianna felt adrift in unknown waters.
    This biking trip had partially been her mother's idea. Seeing Sianna's increasing restlessness over the past few months, her mother had suggested she take up biking. There was one decent bike trail near their house, but after a few weeks of seeing the same things everytime she went out, Sianna felt she needed a greater challenge. And, she needed to get away for a while. Away from everything, her family, her friends, her town, and even herself, or at least, who she used to be.
    With everything packed and ready to go, she started up the slope towards the top of the hill. She had neither a map nor a compass, in an unfamiliar area. Some would say she was being foolish and would certainly get lost. That was exactly what Sianna was hoping for; to lose herself in hopes that she would then be able to find herself.
   She had enough food for three weeks, four if she really skimped. She planned on traveling for a few days, finding a place she liked, staying there for a while, then trying to find her way out as best she could. Foolish? Yes. She was aware of the danger she was needlessly putting herself in, but she didn't really care. All she cared about right now was conquering the slope in front of her.
    It was steep, more so than anything she was used to, and it was taking all of her concentration to just keep going. She was breathing heavily and the sweat was trickling down her back despite the cool, early morning air, but she was determined to get up to the top without walking.
   Up and up she climbed, going only from breath to breath, concentrating solely on the revolutions of the pedals, counting each one to distract herself from the burning pain in her thighs and lungs. It seemed like the top was infinitly farther away each time she looked up, but eventually, after half an hour of struggling, she reached the top.
    The view from the top would have taken her breath away, had she any left, and it nearly made up for the effort and strain her body had been through. As she collapsed in the clearing on the summit of the hill, she could see for miles around. Trees just starting to bud in every direction.
   Sianna sat up from where she had collapsed, groaning while she massaged her aching leg muscles. She grabbed for the water bottle half fallen out of her abandoned bike and squirted some water into her mouth. She had made it. Looking out at the incredibly view of the unbroken countryside, she felt a rush as she realized the enormity of her accomplishment. She was out of breath and her muscles felt like cooked spagetti, but she had made it all the way up without stopping.
    For the first time in a really long time, Sianna felt proud of herself. She had made a goal, stuck to it, and accomplished it, this part of it anyway. If only she could do that in the rest of her life.

    "I don't understand that girl. She seemed so smart, so driven. To just give up like this. I had such high hopes for her," Sianna heard her father say to her mother.
    Sianna had been coming downstairs when she heard her parents arguing in the kitchen.
    "Gerald, don't be so hard on her. She's still young. She just needs to find a new direction in her life. Don't worry," was her mother's reply. She was trying to calm her father down, but Sianna could hear the worry in her mother's voice.
    "Direction? That College of hers cost a lot of money. She always wanted to be a chef before. We helped her pay for her to go in the "direction" she wanted to go. We paid for books and cooking lessons and utensils, aprons, food, gave her a roof over her head and what happens? She walks away from it all with nothing! Says she wants to drop out. All she does all day is mope around this house and talk to those crazy Pigmy friends of hers."
    "Pagan dear. They're Pagans, not Pigmy's."
    "Whatever. They're not good for her. They have no grasp of reality. Going on about magic and Goddesses. And that fool bike of hers..."
    "It gets her out of the house dear. She just needs some fresh air and exercise to clear her head."
    "She needs to get a job, that's what she needs! Have her try flipping burgers for a bit or some other job she can get without a proper education, then she'll have a clearer head!"
    Sianna had heard enough. She went downstairs as loudly as possible without being too obvious and walked into the kitchen. Her parents gave each other guilty looks and then resumed making breakfast as if there was nothing wrong.

    Sianna was startled out of her past by the sustained screech of a circling bald eagle. She looked up, sheltering her eyes from the sun as she watched it circle higher and higher. Thinking of what her friend Kris would have done, she saluted the eagle and asked it's blessing on her journey. Normally, when she tried to do the things her friends did, like thanking spirits or talking to trees, she felt a bit silly. She respected their beliefs and sort of wished she could believe in them too, become a pagan, but at the same time, she was afraid she'd just be going with the crowd and she didn't know if that was really what she believed. She didn't seem to know much about herself anymore.
    This time however, she felt like she was really meaning what she was doing, not just going through the motions to please someone else. She was filled with euphoria from her climb and wanted to share that with the beautiful bird above her.
    With a sigh, Sianna finally stood up, a little shakey, and set about setting up her little campsite at the edge of the clearing. After three days of campsites it was getting much easier, not that she had much to set up, mostly just the tent and hanging her food in a tree.
    Within half an hour, her temporary home was set up, but not quite complete. She wanted to protect it, to do one of the rituals her friends always talked about, her new friends, of course.
    While growing up, with her dreams of being a chef and happy middle-class family life, she had always had the same friends from the same middle-class suburban happy town. The only problem with her friends while Sianna grew up was that she was always the odd one out. Everyone else seemed to be paired up with a best friend except her. It was fine when she was our with them as a group, but unless the person's other half happened to be otherwise occupied, Sianna was never the first to be called when someone got a new boyfriend or someone else lost a job. Not that her friends never called, she just didn't have that special status of "best friend" with anyone.
    Besides that, as Sianna grew up, she started to realize how shallow her friends were. All through High School all they talked about was who was dating whom, who puked at the last big party, how they could get one of the football players to sleep with them, or how much of their parent's money they'd spend on their next shopping spree.
    They were fine as long as Sianna was willing to listen to their petty dramas, but when Sianna started to have doubts about college, they looked at her blankly and told her college was a great place for her to finally find a boy.
    Problem was, Sianna didn't think she wanted a boyfriend. She wasn't even sure if she liked boys. Not that she thought she was a lesbian, she didn't think she'd ever had a crush on a girl any more than on a boy. Sure, she'd seen boys and thought they looked nice or thought a girl was beautiful, but never any of the heart pounding, dry mouth reaction that they talked about in books or on movies. That was probably just made up anyway. None of her friends understood why she didn't date. They often tried to set her up with guys early on in High School, but gave up when it never worked out.
    By their senior year, Sianna had become even more introverted, verging on depression. Her friends, unable to understand what she was going though, could do nothing and eventually drifted away from her.
    The one good thing that had come out of going to college had been that she had found a new group of friends.
    Unlike what her parents thought, they weren't all Pagans, or Pigmys for that matter. Kris, Marion, Ash (short for Ashley but only his family called him that) and Dawn were all Pagan of some sort or another, Joanne was Catholic, but obvioulsy open-minded, Gary was kind of Buddist-ish, and Emily considered herself an athiest though she did enjoy some of the Pagan rituals as much as the rest of her friends.

---- insert something here about ritual maybe? -----

    When the sun set, she wasted no time getting to sleep. It has been a hard day and she fell asleep soon after climbing into her tent.
    Next morning dawned another sunny day, though it had rained a little some time during the night. Sianna had decided to leave all her gear at the site and go exploring a little on foot today. So with a light knapsack of essentials, she set off down the other side of the hill, whistling "The Bear went over the Mountain" to herself.
    She heard it first, long before she saw anything. A rumbling, like distant thunder. Trecking through the foliage in more shades of green than you could find in a paint store, dodging tree branches, following a path that was more likely made by an animal than a human. Sianna was paying so much attention to her footing that the very sudden end of the trees caught her off guard. She gasped in awe at the scene before her.
    Behind, the tree line stopped very abruptly, no gently petering out into fields, just a distinct line between forest and field that almost felt like stepping into a completely different world.
   The soft grassy field slopped gently downwards into the centre of the valley. There lay a lake more blue than any child's drawing, fed by the source of the rumbling Sianna had heard earlier. An enormous waterfall thundering from the top of an impossibly high cliff jutting up against the clear blue sky.
    Laughing, Sianna suddenly took off, running and dancing towards the wayer, feeling lighter than a piece of dandelion fluff. When she reached the lake she stripped quickly and dove into the cold clear water.
    This close, the waterfall was nearly deafening. Sianna splashed and played in the wayer, swimming finally around to the falls.
   Cautiously at first, she stuck her hand then her head under the thundering water. It was freezing cold but felt so refreshing. Sianna ducked her head under the falls to examine the cliffside. Not too far up was the opening of what looked to be a small cave.
    Unable to believe her good luck, Sianna managed to climb her way up the cliff till she reached the entrance to the cave. This was not an opportunity to be missed and it looked like there were some small cracks that could be used as hand and footholds.
    Climbing up the side of the cliff proved to be a lot harder than it looked. The hand and footholds turned out to be a lot further apart than she had thought so each step was a struggle. Sianna's already taxed muscles, from yesterday's battle with the mountain along with today's hike and swim, were complaining bitterly. Sianna nearly gave up when what she had thought to be a secure hand hold turned out to be a not so secure piece of rock that nearly caused her to fall back into the churning water below.
    At last, after much struggling, Sianna managed to get her hands onto the lip of the cave and drag herself up with shaking arms to collapse on the cave floor.
    If she hadn't already been out of breath, seeing the inside of the cave would have taken her breath away. It was now late afternoon and the sun was just at the right angle to shine through the waterfall, making the light dance in rainbow patterns, glinting off the metallic flecks in the rock, turning the cave into a faery disco.
    Sianna wasn't sure if she believed in faeries, but if they did exist, this surely was a place they would hold wild faery parties and late night loud karaoke sessions, drowned out by the sound of the waterfall so as to not disturb the neighbours.
    Sianna laughed out loud at the thought, her voice echoing back over the cave walls. The sound made her realize that the cave was much deeper than she had originally thought. The back wall was not actually a wall at all, but what could be best discribed as a large tunnel that turned sharply, making it appear to be a wall.
   Intrigued, Sianna stepped carefully down the ever rapidly sloping tunnel, worried about tripping over the large rocks scattered around the floor. Sianna couldn't tell if the cave was man made or natural, but as she came around a bend in the increasingly darkening tunnel, it became apparent that she was not the first person to have found this cave.
    Glowing faintly in the dimness of the lower part of the cave was what appeared to be a human skull, staring vacantly at her with its empty eye sockets and toothy grin. Sianna gasped and backed into the wall behind her. Her heart was pounding and scenes from the "Blair Witch Project" kept jumping into her mind. She thought she felt something cold brush past her arm. She screamed and high tailed it back towards the opening.
    Not looking where she was going, she ran straight into one of the rocks, tripped and only just managed to save herself from falling flat on her face by grabbing at a jut in the wall.
    Winded, bruised and battered, she reached the edge of the cave. She didn't know if she could face climbing down the way she came up. Her muscles were still very weak and the adrenaline rush was making her shake, but she really did not want to stay in the cave any longer. Besides the terror of seeing the skull, the light was fading and she did not want to have to attempt to find her way back to her campsite after dark.
    The waterfall was only a few feet from the opening, close enough to touch. Sianna considered how deep the pool was and taking a deep breath, jumped through the icy waterfall and plunged into the pool below.
    Back at her campsite, after shivering into some drier clothes, Sianna sat by her fire and wrote in her journal. The more she thought about the whole thing, the more curious she became. Who had the skull belonged to? Why was there just a skull, not a whole skeleton? Who or what had put it there, and why? It all seemed very strange. But the excitement and exertion of the day overcame her curiosity so she put out the fire and crawled into bed.
   That night, Sianna had a strange dream and she woke with a start, her blankets tossed aside and covered with sweat. All she could remember was standing outside her house with her friend Kris who was crying and trying to tell her something about the hand of the Goddess and then some newspapers and other things spontaneously caught fire and someone said something about it being the beginning of the destruction.
    It was all very confusing and Sianna knew there was more to the dream and that it had been somehow important, but she couldn't remember the rest, and what she did remember she didn't understand.(end of last update)

    Sitting in her tent, trying to puzzle out her strange dream, she suddenly realized it wasn't just sweat she was drenched in. It was pouring and her covers had been flung against the sides of the tent and now there were several inches of water on the bottom of the tent.
    "Oh great!" she shouted, trying to peal herself out of the soggy mess of blankets.
    Outside, the rain was so heavy it was like standing in a shower except the wind was blowing so hard the rain was nearly coming at her horizontally.
    Sianna started wishing she had listened to her mother and had brought the extra tarp, but at the time she had thought the fly would be enough. Besides, the tarp would have been one extra piece of baggage to lug around with her. Right now though, the small amount of extra weight didn't seem like much compared to having everything soaked.
    "Why did you have to go and prove her right!" Sianna yelled up towards the clouds"
    The only answer wasa distant rumble of thunder that echoed over the hills.
    Sianna scoffed, "Mothers. Figures you'd stick up for her. Great, now I'm soaked and I'm talking to myself. Perfect."
    She picked up a rock and hurled it as hard as she could to vent a little, then set about checking to see if she could find any dry clothes.
    For the next two days, she ate soggy food and shivered in soaking wet clothes while the rain continued to fall by the bucketful. Part of Sianna deparately wanted to give up on what she now felt was a stupid, pointless waste of time. Another part, the proud part, felt that if she went back now she would have to admit defeat. Not only to her family and friends, but to herself as well. And after the way she had felt when she gave up on college, she really didn't want to give up so easily on this trip.

* * *

    "Mom, I'm not going back to college."
    "What are you talking about. Don't be silly."
    "I'm not being silly, I'm serious. I'm not going back."
    "Sianna, I know school is hard and it's a lot of pressure, but you'll be fine. You're doing what you've always dreamed of! My little girl is going to be a great chef!"
    "Mom, you're not listening! I'm not going back. I'm not going to be a chef. I'm not happy at college. I've already been to the registrar and dropped my courses."
    Sianna's mother had been speechless. Sianna hadn't yelled or gotten upset, just told her mother flat out she was not going to change her mind. Normally when they fought, people in the next town heard the yelling, but Sianna had been planning this conversation for nearly a month with help from all her friends, though, Ash's suggestion that they turn her mom into a frog wasn't exactly helpful. It had made her laugh though, something she had needed more than anything. Telling her mother had been just one step of many in Sianna's plan to make herself happier with her life.
    "Mom, you always said you wanted me to be happy. Chef school is not making me happy."
    "You haven't thought this through. Everyone gets unhappy under pressure, that doesn't mean you should give up on your dream."
    "But it's not my dream. That's the whole point. It was just an idea that you and Dad latched onto and called my dream. And for a while I believed it."
    Her mom looked stunned, "But you never said anything. And you seemed happy."
    "Did I really?"
    She hesitated, "Well, not all the time, no, but you're a teenager still. I thought you were just going through the teenage angst stuff they always go on about," she sighed, "Are you really unhappy at school?"
   "Yes, I am."
   "And do you really think dropping out will make you happier?"
   "No."
   "Then why in the world are you doing it?"
    Sianna took a deep breath, "Dropping out is not something I want to do Mom, believe me. I don't like to quit anything. But I also don't like to be wasting time and money on something I know is wrong for me. Because I've dropped my courses now before half term, they will give a partial refund and I can sell some of my books and things to other students to start paying you back for the rest."
   "You've really thought this through, haven't you?"
   "I have."
   "But what will you do?"
   Sianna hesitated, "That's the one thing I haven't figured out yet. I don't know what I want to do. I've spent so much time trying to do what I thought I should want or what other people wanted that I haven't really thought about what I want."
    Sianna was getting a little teary eyed. Her mother pulled her into a tight hug, something she hadn't done in years.
   "It'll be alright my love. I'll help you in any way I can. I just hope you've figured out how to break this to your father."
   She and her mother sat down and talked for a long time after that, really talked. By the time Sianna's father came home, they were sitting at the table with tea, shortbreads and half a box of used tissues filling the garbage can.
    As expected, her father had been a much tougher jury to convince, but with their united front, he had grudgingly acknowledged he couldn't force Sianna to go to college and retreated to the back porch, scotch in hand. The war was far from over, but Sianna had won an important victory.

* * *

    "If I turn back now, my dad will think I'm just a quitter. I'm not a quitter. I can do this. So I'm going a little stir crazy and talking to myself. So what. And so what if everything is soaked. The rain has to let up eventually."
   Sianna sighed, listening to the steady tattoo of rain on her tent. She took another bite of one of her soogy granola bars.
   "Please let it let up soon. I really want to go back to that waterfall. I wonder how that skull got in there? And why? And was it really a human skull, or did I just think it was. Maybe it wasn't a skull at all?" she paused in her tirade of questions for another bite of wet granola, "Well, I'll just have to wait."

    It was night and the glow of the full moon cast a silver glow on the surrounding plants and trees. A cloud sped in front of the moon in a hurry to be somewhere more important. The clearing was just where she remembered it was.
    The silence as Sianna stepped closer to the pool had the reverance of the inside of an empty church. Her footfalls and even the waterfall seemed hushed, holding its breath, waiting for something to happen.
    Sianna wasn't sure what she was doing there in the middle of the night, but the rain had stopped and it felt safe and right for her to be there.
   Looking up at the falls she caught sight of a shadow partially blocking the moon. It was a stag. Sianna drew in her breath and tried to be as quiet as possible.
   In the pool below, the reflection danced and split with the ripples of the falls. For a moment it looked as though the reflextion was not of a stag, but of a man wearing antlers, but when Sianna looked more closely, it was the stag, not a man at all.
    As quick as he had come, he was gone without a sound. The moon shone alone onto the clearing. Sianna let out the breath she had been holding.
   Without so much as a thought, Sianna stripped off her clothes and dove into the water. It didn't seem as cold as the first time, but still refreshing and cleansing. She swam over to the waterfall and ducked under, needing to return to the cave.
   The climb seemed longer, but the foot and hand holds were much more prominent. In no time, Sianna had reached the mount of the cave where refracted moonbeams danced playfully on the cave walls.
    The wind, the first sound Sianna had noticed since coming into the clearing, had picked up and whistled strangely over the mouth of the cave. Sianna could have sworn she heard words being sighed in the wind as well. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled with fear, but curiosity got the best of her and she started down the passageway.
   It wasn't exactly how she rememberd, the path was clear of rocks. Sianna realized she hadn't brought her torch, yet she had no trouble seeing. It was as if the air itself contained light with no visible source to be seen.
   Still, she continued downwards, listening to the sounds of the whistling wind and the steady beat of the waterfall, or was it the sound of a wind flute and the beat of drums? Sianna wasn't sure. Nothing seemed real anymore.
    The drums, she was sure they were drums now, were getting louder. As she came towards the bottom chamber, the heartbeat of the drums was getting louder and faster, echoing the beating of her own racing heart. She dreaded turning the corner but felt compelled, pulled by some unseen force.
   Abruptly, the drumming stopped and Sianna found herself face to face with the skull. It was floating at eye level as if still attatched to an unseen body. Its eyes glowed the blue of an autumn sky and its teeth gleamed in the eriee, sourceless light.
   "Sianna. You have come here of your own free will. Are you ready to face the challenge lain before you?"
   The mouth of the skull did not move, nor did the voice seem to come from the skull, but rather from everywhere, even herself. Sianna realized the voice had spoken a language that she somehow knew but had never been taught.
    Though the logical side of her didn't even understand the question, Sianna instinctively replied "yes", in the strange language the voice had used.
    She felt as if this was something she'd been preparing for for all her life. She was nervous, but no longer terrified.
   The voice spoke again in the strange language that reverberated throught the cave and spoke to something deep inside that she hadn't been aware of, "As you continue, remember;
   The blowing of the wind
   The current of the river
   The heartbeat of the earth
   All are guides but only guides
   Only "She" choses your path."

    'She' wasn't exactly the right translation for the word the voice had used. It was a word that called up images of Mother Goddess, Spirit, Self, Love and millions of other concepts that were far too broad and all-encompassing to be put into one word.
   The drum beat returned, getting louder and louder. The words echoed over and over in Sianna's mind, said by a chorus of voices in countless languages. Sianna began to feel strange, the room spun dizzyingly. The skull's eyes blazed into her heart and soul. She cried out as she fell and then there was darkness and silence. .....

By: Jeannie Chiasson

Prologue

    "I'm so fed up with the world," I sighed, while my grade 10 English teacher went on about pollution and other world problems.
    "Me too," agreed my best friend Sarah, "I think world leaders all act like immature little children. Sometimes I wish I could just go up to them and tell them they have to learn how to share or they'll get a time out."
    I laughed, but at the same time I agreed. There was so much wrong with the world, and so little at our age we could do about. Even most adults couldn't really do anything about it.
    "If we ran the world, things would be so much better I bet," I said.
    "I know. First thing I'd do if I ever became Prime Minister is cut my own salary in half, if not more. The amount of money they make is disgusting! It's not like they need it anyway."
    "Money in general is stupid. I think if we all just worked together to make the world run smoothly it would all be better. You know, like you take care of my kids, so I give you the vegetables you need."
    "You know, it's kinda funny, Nadine and I were talking about that last night. It was really late and just for fun, we came up with this idea of our own little village type place."
    Sarah bent over and pulled a wrinkled piece of paper out of her bookbag. It was a little map of a small village with several houses around a court type street. Each house had one or two names of our friends on it. Around the court was a place of business coinciding which the desired future profession of our friends.
    "That is so cool!" I exclaimed.
    "Isn't it? It would be so awesome if we could actually do it."
    "Who knows, maybe when we're older we'll have our own little colony on the moon just like this."
    I smiled and studied the diagram.
    "We decided there are no cars here, we don't need them anyway cuz it's so small."
    "And no money?" I asked.
    "Sure, I'm sure we could get along without it. I mean, we're all friends so we'll all help each other."
    "Cool. So this is my dance studio?" I pointed to a small square with what slightly resembled a dance shoe if you squinted.
    "Yup, and this is my daycare, and this is Andrew's music studio."
    "What's this?" I asked, pointing to a square in a circle in the centre of a larger circle with a bunch of stick animals of some sorts.
    "That's Shelly's house on an island with her cats."
    Sarah and I laughed a little too loudly.
    "Do you girls find the overpopulation of China amusing? Would you like to tell the class what's so funny about it?" our teacher said sternly.
    We wiped the smiles off our faces and said no. She gave us a warning look and continued talking.
    "So what are we going to call it?" I whispered.
    "Friendshipia."

����?

    "Hi honey, how was your day?" Andrew asked, kissing my cheek.
    "Pretty good," I replied while I took off my shoes and plopped myself onto the couch.
    "MOMMY!"
    My three year old tore around the corner at top speed, took off and flew directly into my lap, landing with a whoosh of air leaving my lungs.
    "Were you good today?" I asked Fae.
    "Yup. I played with play-dough. And I made you a picture. Daddy put it on the fridge so you can see it," she said at top speed.
    "I'm sure it's a very pretty picture."
    "She drew the flowers you showed her yesterday," said Andrew picking Fae out of my lap and flinging her over his shoulder while she squealed, "And now it's time for Miss. Fae to clean up her room."
    He sent her upstairs and sat down next to me.
    "How was your day Hon?" I asked him.
    "Not bad. There's one student that I think has a lot of potential, but she just doesn't seem to be dedicated enough. I'm not sure how to motivate her."
    "I'm sure you're doing your best darling. Did Sarah say if Fae was getting along better with the other kids?"
    "Yeah she said she's coming out of her shell a little more. Don't worry about it. She's just doing things at her own pace."
    "I know."
    I snuggled into his arm and sighed happily.
    "You know, I was thinking about something today at work. One of the mothers of the my dancers is a Sociologist and we were just talking about all the problems with the world. You know how fed up I am with everything. Well, without even thinking I just sort of said that we wouldn't have that problem in Friendshipia," I laughed, "It took me forever to explain what it was, and she said the oddest thing. She said that a few researchers in her department had been talking about undertaking a huge research project about something just like that."
    "Dear you aren't serious are you?" Andrew groaned, knowing where this story was going.
    "But think about it dear. This is something we've always dreamed of. We could prove to the world that things don't have to be the way they are. They can be so much better with just some effort and cooperation," I said fervently, my eyes glowing, thinking of the possibilities.
    "But how could you possibly accomplish it? I mean, who would fund it? Who would participate in it? People aren't going to just give up their lives, everything they've worked for to help you live out your dream."
    "It's not just my dream. Our friends dreamt of it too. It's not like I would be getting strangers or anything. This is something we've always wanted. I remember a time when you wanted it too," I looked deep into his eyes, pleading for him to stop bursting my bubble.
    He sighed, and smiled fondly at me, "I know better than to try to stop you from doing something you want. But you'll have to do a lot of convincing before I'll agree to go."
    I smiled slyly, "Maybe we can get Sarah to take Fae for a bit tonight. She seems to like Sarah's daughter."
    Andrew laughed and kissed me, "I like that kind of convincing."

����?

    "Hi Sarah, how are you?" I asked into the phone.
    "Pretty good, the kids are being a bit zooey today though. The full moon's tomorrow though, so I guess I have to expect it."
    "Oh man, I nearly forgot about it. And here I thought Andrew had slipped Fae some chocolate after dinner."
    We laughed.
    "I'm having a dinner party next week, and I was wondering if you, Ewan and the kids could attend," I said in my best fakely formal voice.
    "We would be delighted I'm sure," she said in an equally formal voice, then laughed, "I'll have to check with Ewan, but I'm sure he'll be free. He's working days now."
    "That's good. You must be glad to be able to see him more often."
    "Yeah, and the kids are really happy to have him home when they are. Do you want me to bring anything to this little shin dig of yours?"
    "Well, it's not exactly little. I think the count is at about 18 now, plus kids."
    "You're insane!" Sarah exclaimed, "What, do you miss working in a restaurant?"
    I laughed, "No, not really, but this is going to be more of a pot luck type thing. I'm making some food, but I'm mostly relying on everyone to bring a little something. Wanna bring some appetizers?"
    "Sounds good. Want me over early to help you get ready? Just like old times?"
    "That'd be wonderful. Oh, there is one other thing I'd like you to bring, but don't tell anyone else. It's sort of a surprise."
    "My lips are sealed with super glue. What is it? Are you having another baby? You want me to bring..... some sort of pregnancy test? What's going on?"
    I laughed, Sarah hates surprises.
    "It's nothing like that, at least not yet I don't think."
    "So what do you want me to bring? Common!" she yelled, exasperated.
    "Could you bring the map of Friendshipa?"

����?

    "Nineteen people!" Andrew exclaimed.
    "And eight kids. Don't worry honey, Christmas at my Aunt's house was a lot worse. There were up to eighteen adults and twenty-one kids. I can handle this honey. You just get Fae washed and dressed and come down at 5:00." I kissed him and sent him upstairs while I started cleaning the house.
    Sarah was there promptly at 4:10. I wanted her there at 4:00, but I didn't really expect her there on time. She brought appetizers, but Ewan was bringing himself and the kids later. We finished cleaning up the house, set up the table, brought out all the chairs in the entire house, cooked a casserole and brought out the drinks. Everything was ready for people to come over.
    I took the ratty, torn piece of paper that had started everything from Sarah and hid it in one of the cupboards. I felt very nervous about this, but I took a deep breath, and tried to calm myself down.
    "Everything will be fine," said Sarah.
    "I hope so. Oh can you just imagine if we can...."
    "I know. Amazing isn't it?"
    We smiled and I called Andrew and Fae down to help greet people.
    At ten to five Shelly and Jimmy arrived first as usual. They looked as much in love as they had in High School. They had married right after graduating, but hadn't had any kids yet. Just cats, exactly as they had planned, though they didn't live on an island.
    Jeff came next, coming out of hibernation to grace us with his presence. His red hair had a few more white streaks in it since I had seen him last, but he was still the same great guy.
    Jessie-Lynn and her husband Sean showed up directly at five, Jessie asking if she was late and apologizing for having burned her cake which was actually just browned. Their little baby girl looked around amazed at all the new faces and gurgled contentedly.
    Carol, a woman Andrew and I had become friends with at University, showed up next. She was very outgoing and open-minded so she got along really well with the rest of our friends. She and Jeff got along especially well. She was actually able to get him to come out with us occasionally.
    Pat and his twin Greg arrived together with Greg's partner Duncan and their adopted son. Their son went to Sarah's daycare along with Fae and so he went off to play with her in the play room. Pat and Greg both looked great. Duncan looked a little uncomfortable because he didn't grow up with the rest of us, but he and Sean work together, so once he spotted Sean he looked relieved.
    Ewan and Sarah's kids came in just behind Pat, Greg, and Duncan. The kids tore off into the play room. They treat my house like it's theirs, just like their mother.
    Andrea, her husband Daniel and Crista came next. Although they also didn't grow up with the rest of us, Sarah met them at school and they became close friends with the rest of us very quickly. Andrea and Daniel's two boys were shuffled off to the play room, though they looked quite shy.
    At nearly 5:30 Keith and Krista finally showed up with their daughter who ran off to find her friends in the play room. Krista immediately started yelling greetings at everyone and there were hugs for everyone while Keith stood uncomfortably. Sarah took his coat and started asking about their daughter and telling him how wonderful she was at the daycare. He looked a little happier after that.
    Finally, at quarter to six, Amy flew in the door with a lot of deserts, homemade bread, and apologies. I told her it was okay, we hadn't started without her.
......

By: Jeannie Chiasson

    Two hooded figures slunk along the cold, dirty cobblestones, sticking to the shadows as much as possible to avoid the notice of the three Kalors on patrol, their heavy black boots echoing ominously through the otherwise deserted streets. One of the Kalors, the tallest, caught sight of the two figures. He made a rude comment to his companions about gutter rats and clacked the stones of his saraf together menacingly. The other two Kalors laughed cruelly, but merely sneered and spit in the direction of the hooded shadows before continuing to patrol the dimly lit streets of the Pelarian district of Filagh.
    Filagh was the capital city of the once great Pelaria. Since the Great Invasion, it had become only a small part of the Rajak Empire. Nestled between the Black Mountains and the Grantiel Sea, Filagh was in a very strategic location for the Rajaks to have their capital, with natural protection on two sides. The city itself was divided into two parts, the largest being the Inner City, which held the Emperor's castle, and the dwellings of the Rajaks. The Inner City was surrounded by high thick walls with only two gates for people to pass through. At one time, before Emperor Sedrick XIV had come to power, there had been as many as six gates. But the new Emperor was a paranoid man, and had closed all but two of the gates, with men guarding the gates day and night. Few got into the Inner City, saving those who lived there, and those who had legitimate business being there.
    The Outer City, also known as the Rat Trap by many of the Rajaks, was where the Pelarians lived. Smaller than the Inner City, it contained over three times the population, most of the labourers and none of the wealth. Continuously patrolled by the Kalors, the lowest rank in the Emperor's great army, the Pelarians lived in constant fear of their lives, and for the lives of their loved ones. Kalors tended to be younger, looking for a way to be promoted. The clearest way to promotion was by punishing any Pelarian who stepped out of line. This could be anything from stealing, to looking at a Rajak the wrong way. The Kalors were cruel, heartless, and, like all Rajaks, they hated the Pelarians.
    When the three Kalors turned a corner, the two hooded figures looked around warily, checking to see if they were being watched, before scuttling down a narrow alleyway between two crumbling stone buildings, the shorter figure limping slightly. They stopped before a low wooden doorway, nearly hidden by the rubble. The taller of the two made a low growling noise and spit, grumbling about the Kalors. The other put a hand on the taller one's shoulder, then knocked in an intricate pattern on the door and made a noise like the hoot of a city grey owl. From inside the door, there came a noise of an inner door being opened and closed, a slow shuffling of feet, and then finally the door opened a crack. Two dark eyes peered wearily around the door, before ushering the two quickly inside.
    "What took you two so long?" asked the small man once they were all safely inside, "You're nearly an hour late. I thought the Kalors had caught you. We were about to..."
    One of the two cut him off, "We thought we were being followed so we had to take a round about route to lose them," said the taller figure in a low pitched, female voice.
    She pushed back her hood to reveal a tall Pelarian woman with dark auburn hair, tied back with a dirty leather cord, and startlingly green eyes. She looked like she could be in her thirties or forties by the dark circles under her hard eyes, and the look of tiredness about her that she was determined to hide. She was definitely a woman who had been through rough days, and hardened to face further difficulties in her future
    "Did you start the meeting without us, Haril?" she asked the small man.
    "No," Haril replied, "When you two didn't show up, we were worried and afraid and... besides, we can't start a meeting without you, Kith"
    The look on his dark face was both nervous and relieved. He kept glancing between Kith and the door and the other figure who was also taking off her hood to uncover a young, pretty, albeit dirty, Pelarian woman with brown hair and a crooked nose.
    "And not even a hello for your wife Haril?" asked the younger woman, snidely.
    "Oh we wouldn't start without you either, Parene," he said quickly, while motioning for them to follow him through the inner doorway.
    Through the doorway was a dimly lit set of stairs leading down. The stairs did not have a railing, and they looked less than safe. It tilted slightly to the left, and some boards looked much worse for wear, but they got to the bottom safely. After a short passageway, they went through another door into a larger room.
    Three men and a woman stood inside the room, looking nervously at the door, then relieved when Kith, Parene and Haril entered. The room had once been a wine cellar of sorts as evidenced by the many barrels and barrel remnants lining the walls of the room. A smell musty of sour alcohol and mould permeated the air. It was lit by two torches placed in brackets on the walls, which gave little light and made the room look more like a dungeon than a cellar. Kith shivered, not liking the feel of this windowless, tumbledown place, but she knew they would not be meeting here long.
    Kith paused in the door, studying the room and the people within it. Her older brother, Bwane, stood near the door next to Arrin, Haril's brother. Both tall and muscular, Bwane and Arrin served as guards of sorts for the group. Though the law forbade them to carry weapons, they were both strong enough to overpower a man, especially if caught by surprise. Arrin was slower than Bwane, with the mind of a Blacksmith to go with the shoulders. Bwane, despite his size, was quick and agile on his feet. They worked well as a pair.
    The other two members, Featha and Mannan, were both older than the rest of the group. Mannan was the oldest, in his sixties, but with the inclinations of a child. He was often running off on one of his "adventures" in the city. Kith worried that he would go too far one day and get himself killed, or worse, endanger the whole group. Featha was a renowned healer in the district, though renowned only to Pelarians. Because of the law against learning for all Pelarians, Featha could be killed for both learning and teaching the knowledge of the Old Ways of healing. The group in this room were the few people Kith trusted, though some more than others. She had placed her lives in their hands by meeting with them each week, and theirs in hers. If anyone ever found out about this group, they would all be killed, or worse.
    "Yes," she thought to herself, studying her companions, "What they would do to us would be far worse than death."
    She imagined the morbid possibilities, the public torture that would go on for days, being blinded or maimed, having their few possessions taken away, being sent to the Emperor's treacherous jewel mines, or, and Kith shuddered at the thought, to become the property of the Emperor or some other high ranking official.
    "Kith, are you all right?" asked Haril.
    "I'm fine, just... just a bit tired. We should get on with the meeting."
    The others in the room grabbed barrels from around the room to use as seats, placing them in a rough circle. They all looked at Kith expectantly. She was still new in her leadership position, and it felt uncomfortable to have so many people relying on her for guidance.
    "All right, first, Parene and I were late tonight because we think we were being followed. Not by Kalors, by someone else. We're worried that someone might be suspicious. Suspicion is something we have to avoid at all costs."
    Kith looked around the room, making sure the whole group understood the gravity of the situation. From the looks of fear on their faces, they understood it all too well. The danger of being found out was one that was on all their minds. What they were doing here in this room was breaking so many laws, immediate death would be a fortunate, but unlikely sentence.
    "Now I suggest that we change three things. One, people come to meetings in groups of two, no more. Two, we change our meeting spot and day more frequently. Three, we cut down on the number of newcomers to the group."
    There was a small murmur of protest to the last two suggestions.
    "How can we do that Kith? We don't have that many more places we can meet, and if we don't let people join, then we won't be fulfilling the purpose of the group," Bwane said.
    "As it is, we're one of the smallest groups in the whole Empire," said Haril, "I know you're scared, we all are, but our whole purpose is to..."
    Kith cut him off, "I know what our purpose is Haril, and I'm not suggesting we stop letting people join, I just think we should be more careful about who we invite. Anyone out there could be a spy for Usirl, and if one of them gets in here, learns our names, what we do, we're worse than dead."
    Usirl Granberanda II, the Minister of Control, and one of the Rajaks most feared by Pelarians and Rajaks alike. Kith remembered the first time she had seen him. She had thought he was the most beautiful man she had ever seen, and moreover, she had thought he was her salvation.
    It had been nearly two years after she had been taken from her home to the castle; to help pay off her parents death, she had been told. She had been only twelve when she was brought there, terrified out of her mind, and with good reason. Emperor Sedrick XIV, then having only been Emperor for five years, was already renowned for his taste in young girls; the younger the better. She had survived somehow in the Emperor's harem, wishing she could escape, but thinking the only escape would come on her twentieth birthday when she became too old for the Emperor and would be killed.
    She had been something of a favourite of the Emperor. Whether that was because of her looks or because she had "spirit" as he often told her, she did not know. All she knew was she had been tortured long enough, and she was desparate to get away. And that was when she met Usirl. A beautiful, tall man, with raven black hair, and eyes like two obsidians. He seemed to take an interest in Kith. He was kind to her, brought her sweet things to eat, something forbidden to girls in the Emperor's harem. All he asked of her in return, was that she talk to him, tell him everything she did, talk about the Emperor, especially what the Emperor told her. She grew to trust Usirl, and eventually, told him of her plan to escape. Usirl, not wanting to loose his little spy, thwarted her plans of escape, earning Kith even more special "attention" from the Emperor. Luckily, when she next attempted to escape, over a year later, she had not told Usirl how she was going to do it, or when, and she managed to escape to freedom.
    "Freedom," thought Kith, "Is this freedom?"
    The others in the room were looking at her expectantly.
    "Did you hear what I said Kith?" asked Parene.
    "No, sorry, I was... thinking about something else"
    Parene sighed, "I said how are we supposed to decide who is trustworthy and who isn't?"
    Kith raised her hands in a gesture of unknowing. The rest of the group tried to think of an answer.
    "What if we only invite people to the group that we've known for a long time, "suggested Arrin slowly after a long pause, "Or people that are friends of people we've known for a long time."
    The rest of the group murmured in approval. Arrin's ideas, though generally slow in forming, were often well thought out and made logical sense.
    "That's probably a good idea," said Kith, "And be weary of anyone who approaches you about the group. Now that that's settled, who's turn is it to teach tonight?"
    Featha spoke up, "I think it's my turn tonight."
    Everyone looked pleased at this. Featha was a wonderfully engaging teacher, and she often had very interesting things to talk about. The group moved their barrels so they had a better view of Featha. She talked about an herb called mugwart that night, describing it in detail and what each part of the plant did. She got Kith to write the name on the wall with some charcoal. The lesson went on for quite some time, with people asking questions, and making jokes, and eventually everyone relaxed a little.
    It was after one large fit of uproarious laughter about something Mannan had said when they first heard it. Everyone was instantly quiet, listening to hear the noise again. Kith was unsure at first what the sound was, or where it had come from.
    After about five minutes of silence, Parene whispered, "Maybe it was just the house settling."
    The others looked like they wanted to believe her, but they were also very much afraid that she was wrong. They slowly moved about the room, replacing the barrels as quietly as possible, taking the torches from their brackets, and erasing all trace of drawing and writing from the wall. Regardless of whether it had just been the house, or if there was someone upstairs, they no longer felt safe where they were, and that meant they had to move.
    In the back corner of the room, hidden from view by a few broken barrels, was a second door that Kith had not noticed when she first entered the room. She motioned everyone to follow her and she took one of the torches over to the door. It was smaller than a normal door with a simple latch on it. She lifted the latch carefully and inched the door open.
    When it was nearly open enough for them to get through, they heard another noise, closer this time, and now it definitely sounded like footsteps, and they were coming down the stairs. Kith swung the door open the rest of the way and motioned for the others to go through. They started to, but were dismayed to find that this was not a back exit, but a storage closet. Kith wanted to scream in frustration. The footsteps were now coming down the passageway. She put out the torches, shoved everyone she could into the closet and motioned to everyone else to hide. She had just ducked behind some barrels when the door to the room banged open.
    Behind the barrel, Kith had stopped breathing. She listened as the footsteps entered the room, praying to any deity who would listen that she and the others hadn't been seen. The footsteps, a solitary set, slowly entered the room, then stopped. Kith could tell by the sound that these were not the heavy boots of the Kalors, but that did not eliminate the danger of the situation. A smallish person by Kith's best guess, probably male. She could hear him breathing; short nervous breaths, like an animal that believes it has stepped into a trap. Not the sound of the hunter, but of the hunted.
    "Hel.. hello?" The silence was broken by his nervous whisper, "Is... is there anyone here? I'm... I'm a.... friend. I mean you no harm. I just... I need your help. Please." There was more silence as the man waited to hear a reply. Kith hoped that none of the others would answer. She was afraid that this could be a new tactic of Usirl's.
    "I... I know you don't trust me," the man continued, taking another step into the room, "You have no reason to, but... I need your help."
    The voice sounded vaguely familiar to Kith. She connected it somehow to the Palace, and that connection alone was enough to make her blood run cold. Kith tried to match the voice with a face from her past, an image, an impression, anything.
    "Please... " the voice pleaded, "You know I put myself in danger just by coming to this district. You have no reason to trust me, I know that. But I once saved one of your lives. You may not remember, you may not have known, but I did."
    Something sparked in Kith's mind. A memory of being terrified, thrown in a dark, cold room after she had first tried to escape. She had waited in the dark for hours, not knowing what they would do to her. Heavy footsteps came down the hall towards the door. She heard a deep cruel laugh that she knew belonged to Traik Galeric, the Minister of Defence, the most feared of all the men in the palace. The Emperor was not kind to his conquests, but at least the girls mostly came out alive from an encounter with him. When they were chosen by Traik, very few lived to tell the tale, and even then, they often died within weeks, unable to keep their desire to live. Kith considered bashing her head against the walls, preferring to take her life rather than face the horrors of this man, but just as she started towards the wall, a second voice joined the first.
    "Galeric, might I be able to interest you in some fine Grantiel Rye that I just purchased this evening?" said the second voice.
    It had definitely been male, higher pitched than Traik's, but to Kith it sounded like pure golden music.
    "Grantiel Rye? Well, my oh my. I was on my way to have a tasty little titbit, but Grantiel Rye..." Traik paused a moment considering. Kith held her breath.
    "I've just opened it and you know it doesn't keep long once it's opened. Powerful stuff. Nearly eighty proof."
    "My oh my. Well," there was a long pause, during which Kith did not dare to even breath. She prayed to whatever spirits there may be that Traik would go with this man. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, he answered, "there will be other young morsels I'm sure."
    The voices faded away down the corridor, and Kith finally breathed a deep sigh of relief. Later, when the Emperor was giving her some "extra attention", she did not feel quite so grateful, but she was alive. That man had saved her life. And somehow, was aware that he had done this. And aware of the fact that she was in the room.
    Kith's mind started reeling with the possibilities. Perhaps she had been meant to overhear that conversation in order to gain this man's trust. Maybe she had even been allowed to escape just so that he could find her and root out this group. It seemed a far fetched conspiracy theory, buy Kith did not want to risk it.
    The man spoke again "Please, I need your help. It's my daughter, she's... she's very sick, and I can't lose her." There was a long pause, "Listen, I need your help, and you need mine too. Usirl knows about this group, he knows who you are, and he knows what you do. He's got spies everywhere. He's trying to trap you. I can help. Just.... let me see you, please so we can speak face to face."
    Kith heard some of the others shifting their weight uncertainly. She didn't know what to do. He sounded so sincere. And if he knew a way to help them avoid Usirl's grasp...
    "Are you armed," asked Arrin from his hiding spot behind a barrel to Kith's right.
    There was a sound of metal dropping to the floor.
    "Not anymore."
    Kith watched as Arrin moved from his spot behind a barrel to her right. She held her breath for a moment, and then decided she really had nothing to lose. If it was a trap, cringing behind a barrel was not going to save her. She stood up slowly and looked into the nervous eyes of Hamle Dreat, the Minister of Agriculture.
    With brown eyes and hair, average height and build, a more unremarkable man would be hard to find. Hamle could easily blend into a crowd of commoners without even being looked at twice. To the well trained eye, the only thing that set him apart from the others in the room was that his clothes, though ripped and patched, were of a fine material not found in the Pelarian outer city. In fact, due to his high cheekbones, and the shape of his nose, many people did believe he was at least partially Pelarian. Mixing between the two races was obviously very uncommon, but certain things were known to happen from time to time.
    Hamle looked at Kith with pleading eyes, "Thank you. It's good to see you again. I'm glad you escaped. I didn't know if you would recognize me. I've been trying to find you for weeks. I hoped..."
    He realized he was babbling and stopped at the stony look on Kith's face. The others cautiously came out of their hiding places to stare uncertainly at this man who had somehow found them out.
    "What do you want from us?" asked Kith in a very flat tone.
    "I... I need help... for my daughter... she's very sick."
    "What's wrong with her," Featha asked with some concern.
    "Why can't the doctors at the Palace help her," Kith asked with obvious distrust, "A man of your stature? Surely they must have doctors that can help the daughter of the Minister of Agriculture far better than some poor Pelarians."
    The others gasped and pulled back in shock and suspicion at this piece of information. The Minister of Agriculture, while being the lowest of all of the five Ministers, was still a powerful man by being in the Emperor's circle of advisors. He was not only a Rajak, but one closer to the top than all but five men in the entire Empire.
    "It's not that simple. If it were a normal disease, yes, but... she's got something... different. Something she shouldn't have," he looked down at his feet, seemingly embarrassed, "She's got Pelarian flu."
    They all looked at him and each other in disbelief. There was no way that a Rajak could catch the Pelarian flu. They were immune to it. Almost all Pelarian children contract this disease, almost as a rite of childhood. Some died, especially in places where there wasn't enough water. The identifying symptoms were fairly distinct, a red, itchy rash on the feet and hands, blue circles around the eyes, and a dry, hacking cough. No pure Rajak had ever contacted the disease up until this point. If they did, it was always discovered that there had been some mixing of some sort in the person's past.
    "Yes, it's true what you're thinking. She's not a pure Rajak. Neither am I. Which is why I can't bring her to the Palace physicians. They would know right away, and then... well... you can imagine what would happen then."

.....

Any comments on these partial stories? Please e-mail me. [email protected]

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