A Holiday Tale
A Chronicle for Changeling: The Dreaming
Chapter 1, Turn 18 Summary

Turning back to Sebastian and Sylvana, "Do you know," Tess begins, hesitation on her face, "Do you know if the compass is going to destroy the dross? Or is it going to merely align it to the towns? It would be easier to 'borrow' these things if we could promise to return it. It would probably be easier on my conscience as well."

Hecataeus enters the workshop, "The dross will be destroyed, so we should search for dross which is not currently owned." The old goat gives Tethran a smile just the polite side of a leer, "I'd suggest asking the Dreaming itself to find your dross. A properly cast omen should tell you where to seek for each piece, and should provide 'appropriate' dross as well."

"A wonderful idea Master Hecataeus," says Tess with a grin. I might know a cantrip that would help." Glancing about the workshop, she asks, "You wouldn't happen to have a set of Tarot cards would you? I prefer the Witch's Tarot, but I'm comfortable with a Waite deck also."

"Of course." Hecataeus answers with a grin. "This is an occult shop, after all." He gets her the deck.

Taking the deck delicately, Tethran smiles. "These should do just fine." Making her way over to the counter, she begins clearing a few things away, to make room. Any time she finds something odd, she glances at Hecataeus and Sylvana to be sure it can be moved.

Hecataeus says to Sylvana, "How is your design coming? For construction you'll have to use the forges at the Greymarye Institute, I'm afraid. I don't have the tools of a nocker workshop here."

Sylvana looks up from ratcheting to the satyr. She calmly nods and says "Once I get some of these muggerin' pieces hooked together, it'll be easier to move them over to the Institute. I'd like to get everything put together before we start using the forges. We can move everything later today." She turns to face Tess and the children. "Whatever you happen to find later today, bring by the school. We'll be in the basement."

Once a small area is cleared, Tethran begins to take the cards out, and examine them. She is slow and meticulous, her large hands caressing each card, and occasionally tracing one of the symbols on the face.

After about 15 minutes, she has gone through the deck, and lays the entire deck down for moment. Smiling at Brighteyes, Tess says, "Now for the hard part hmm?"

Tethran picks up the deck of 54 cards, her hands cradling them gently. Her hands suddenly blur into action, mixing the cards deftly as she seems to go into a trance. After a minute or two of shuffling, her hands begin laying down the cards into a pattern.

Brighteyes watches as if mesmerized by Tess' movements. She stares at the cards, not once lifting her eyes for anything else, and remains silent.

Bugge, sits off to the side, arms folded across his chest. He has a look of pure boredom on his face.

As Tethran lays the cards a trance slowly comes over and her features go blank. A deep, male voice speaks through her lips, echoing through the room and bringing instant silence to the conversations of others.

"Four are the treasures you must find
Complete the set to capture time
Each among soiled dreams is found
Deep within is childhood bound

The first is in an attic dark
Above the street of Meadowlark
A child's mask once worn for fear
of ghost and goblins creeping near

The second in the House of God
Amongst the ivy the Faithful nod
Behind an altar lost it lies
That was glory for children's eyes

The third covered now in dust
lies amongst the heaps of rust
Along the banks of river shallow
resting in a man-made hollow

The last once floated on a Lake
where bathers the sun did take
It hangs there now long forgotten
Amongst the rags now all rotten"

Tess slowly comes back out of her trance.

Mianderr watches the whole tarot reading and the ensuing trance with a slack jaw, his sunglasses nearly slipping from his nose. When all is complete, he just mutters, "Wow, cool."

Shaking her head slightly, Tess once again examines the cards laid out. "How come it never works that well at parties?" she says, somewhat bemusedly. She then turns to look to the kids. "So guys, any thoughts?"

"Think practically," Hecataeus says. "These riddles are designed to be broken easily. Remember, you only have to get close. Your kenning will guide you to the item itself."

"Sorry to say, I wasn't raised here, so I don't remember where the kids used to hang out. Looking to Hecataeus, she smiles. "How long have you lived here in Columbus?"

"All my life." Hecataeus answers with a smile.

"Do you happen to know where all the old swimming holes are? Maybe someplace on the lake that the kids used to like to hang out at, tire on a rope, that kinda thing?" asks Tess.

"Good Lord, lady, it's 1998! What do you think this is, a lemonade commercial?" Hecataeus smiles to take the sting from his words, "I suspect the meaning is Wyandot Lake, it's a waterpark up by the Zoo. Been there a long time, kinda old-fashioned but it's the only place like it close by. At least it was old-fashioned. Every year they add something new to modernize it. You've seen the adds on TV."

Blushing, Tess mutters, "I'm not much for television." Glancing at her watch, Tess nods and says, "Well, it might be early enough in the day to go check out the park, then we wouldn't have to deal with security guards to much."

"How about anywhere that was a traditional place for families to do Easter picnics? Somewhere that they would have either hidden eggs, or some of that kinda stuff," Tess asks again.

"No," Hecataeus says, "Think of the clues. Where does one find lots of rust?"

With a shrug Tess says, "Not sure, I come from a desert, we don't have much rust. Best guess would be by the docks. Lots of boats, and metal. Maybe an old mill or something?"

"But there are _some_ laces in the desert with lots of metal that turns to rust, aren't there?" Hecataeus sighs, "Look, Columbus is a medium sized inland city with only two nearby rivers, both shallow. The Olentangy and the Sciota. The Olentangy is definitely the shallower of the two, and it flows through the city."

Turning her attention to the kids, Tess asks, "Meadowlark. Sound familiar guys? Any creepy old abandoned houses that you guys are aware of." Her eyes stick to Andy and Bugge mostly, though she does include Brighteyes as well.

"Well..." Thinks Bugge aloud. "I'm not too comfortable going to the Mid-Ohio Historical Doll and Toy Museum, or the Ohio State University Insect Collection, but I think that palatial estate that sits high on the banks of the Sciota River is about the most frightening thing I know of. Or, wait the Degenhart Paperweight Museum. Now _that's_ creepy! But it's few miles away. Uh, Meadowlark's a kind of Chicken right?"

Hecataeus says. "Meadowlark is a street, and one quite close to the Institute. It's small, but pretty with old trees and a stream along one side. It has about ten old Victorian houses on it. The first treasure is likely there." Hecataeus pauses, "What you need is a couple of stealthy, adventurous types to sneak into the attics of those houses tonight and search them. But they would have to keep the inhabitants from knowing."

"I can do it!" yells Bugge. "I sneak into houses all the time, and no one _ever_ catches me! Just point me in the right direction!"

"The other kinda seems problematic. There are any number of churches in this town," says Tess. Looking back to Hecataeus she adds, "Are there any old churches? I'm not very religious, so I didn't make a study of the local places. Perhaps Catholic? Most of the protestant religions don't use altars."

"Or Orthodox. We have a thriving Greek community here." He glances at Sebastian, "If not everyone attends services regularly. But again, break down the clues. The church is covered in what?"

"Ivy?" says Tess. "I bet we could narrow down the search a bit if we were to call the churches in town and see if they are covered in ivy." Looking at the others, she adds, "Unless of course some of you know of a church in town that might fit the bill?"

Hecataeus shakes his head, "I can think of several. Most old churches are covered in Ivy. But someone with a car, a phonebook, and a map could easily cover all the churches likely to be covered in ivy in a day. Remember, if you get close enough, you should be able to sense the glamour of the dross."

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Nutiket shows up at Jubair's house as planned, wearing the same exact clothes as the day before, torn shirt and all. "OK, I'm ready, but if you don't mind could we possibly stop at a department store or K-Mart or something? I am afraid that this is the only set of... shall we say, 'normal' clothes that I have."

"No problem at all," Jubair replies. "We've got a few places to go - I need to pop into Tobias's bookshop to see if I can borrow the scroll again, and then we need to head to a video store. Since these 'Holiday Towns' are based on the dreams of children, and children may well have been influenced by some of the 'Holiday specials' on TV, it might help if we borrowed a few of them to have a look at. They just may prove useful."

"Sounds good to me." replies the Rock Giant. As they get started on the trip over to the bookshop, after borrowing Jubair's Uncle's car, he asks "Are there any clothing stores nearby? I haven't come into Columbus very much."

"I remember seeing one on the same street as Tobias' shop," Jubair replies. "I don't think it was very far." Once they get to the street, Jubair spots both shops and points it out to Nutiket as they get off. "Shall I meet you in there?" Jubair asks. "I don't think I'll be too long with getting the scroll again."

"Sounds good to me." replies Nutiket as he walks into the clothing store. He wastes no time, buying three extra white t-shirts and a half dozen pair of socks. Since this took next to no time at all, he takes the bag outside and waits for Jubair there.

Jubair doesn't take much time in re-borrowing the scroll, and he promises Tobias that he'll return it before they go sailing. He then heads over to where Nutiket is waiting.

"Well, we're done - now for the video shop. I've got uncle Iain's membership card," Jubair says. They then start to head over to the video shop.

"That works. Did we get anything besides that scroll?" asked Nutiket as they drove to the video store.

Jubair shakes his head. "Not much else I'm afraid, that's why we're off to the video store. The scroll is relevant to the prophecy in some way - I'd love to know how."

Once they get to the video shop Jubair borrows 'Santa Claus is Coming To Town,' 'The Nightmare Before Christmas,' and 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.

Nutiket taps A Midsummer Night's Dream and says "That's quality."

"Well, that's the other reason why I'm renting it," Jubair replies with a smile. "We need at least a vague idea on the Summer Town, especially Puck, and this will help us."

"Well then, lets get back and watch them, ASAP!" said Nutiket.

Jubair and Nutiket head back to Iain's house. They then sit down in front of the TV, play the videos and enjoy the show, Jubair taking notes occasionally.

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