Keighvyn inclines his head gracefully towards the troll. "Certainly, milady. Perhaps together, we might turn up something that can help our two brave compatriots here." He nods to Jubair and Sebastian. "This way, we attack the problem from both fronts, so to speak, no?" His voice drops a level. "Could we make a quick stop at my apartment, though? Ari's probably wondering where I am." He smiles slightly, perhaps more to himself than to Tess. "She /does/ get lonely when I don't show up at the usual time."

Jubair starts to walk off but then he meets the gaze of the elder Satyr. He stops for a moment, apparently thinking. "Come to think of it, now that I have said that I don't think rushing in tonight would be an overly good idea. Indeed, if the description of the content of the book rings true, she is very apprehensive toward our kind as it is - a spying or kidnap attempt will make things worse." Jubair turns to the others. "Perhaps if we pool our skills, knowledges and powers, we shall get more information on whom we seek and how best to go about retrieving them."

Sebastian agrees to wait until morning, but plans to return to Hecataeus' magic shop. The old goat seems annoyed at this.

Curtseying to Countess Miriam and her advisors, Tess says, "By your leave M' Lady?"

The Countess smiles, "Go, and with my blessing."

Everyone files from the room and departs.

Dr. Rowan walks up to Tess as she and the girls are leaving, "Well done, well done. I'll make certain your courses are covered, give them no thought."

Tess smiles her thanks to the Dr. Rowan. "I was just going to ask. Could you let the girls teachers know they will be with me as well? Don't want them getting into trouble." Tess seems to think for a moment, then continues, "You won't mind if I let some of the others into the Institute tonight? We'll keep the noise down," she finishes with a grin.

"Fine, just fine." He smiles and heads off to gather the other Institute wards attending court.

"Come girls, lets go solve a puzzle. Do you need a hand Chely?" Tess says as she turns to Chely and Brighteyes. As she ushers the two teens out she calls back to Keighvyn, "Why don't you go take care of things back at your place, then come over to the Institute. I'll have Brighteyes meet you at the front lobby. Chely and I will see if we can find the book."

Brighteyes blinks out of her daze... "Huh? Who? Wha?"

As Tess exits the conservatory, she automatically pulls a pack of Camel Lights from her satchel. Glancing at Chely, she says, "Why don't you girls go get in the car, I'll be right there."

As the girls walk away, the piskie turns to Chely. "What ‘d I miss? What happened?" She scowls. "And why does Tess hafta smoke? It's not good for her."

Chely heads to the car with Brighteyes and upon getting in looks for something. Pocketing her find, she smiles conspiratorially to Brighteyes and waits patiently for Tess to finish her cigarette and get to the car to take them back to the institute.

"What‘d you find, Chely?" Brighteyes asks.

Smiling a little, Chely replies "Something that should make our search a little easier and later we can have some fun!!"

After Chely shows her what it is, Brighteyes giggles gleefully. "Yup, that'll be A LOT of fun."

Back at the exit, Tess lights her cigarette and inhales deeply. As she blows the smoke out contentedly, Daisy shuffles over to stand beside her. Looking into the petaled face of her oldest friend, Tess says, "Well, looks like we've been drug back in again Daisy. I just wish this one was a childling. They're easier to reason with." Taking another long drag on her cigarette, Tess drops the half gone stick to the ground, and crushes it with her shoe. Exhaling, she makes her way to the car. Looking at the two girls, she says, "Shall we?" The girls drive back to the Institute.

Time: 10:00 pm Tuesday, 25 August 1998 Current Weather: Partly Cloudy Expected Weather: Sunny

*******************

Later that evening, as Sebastian practices his words of power and the gestures he had learned to focus his talent, he speaks to his master. Without pausing to speak, he moves into a Gypsy dance and inquires "I understand patience, but in this situation, would it not be wiser to attempt to retrieve information on the subject? A Chrysalizing Sidhe is dangerous to the himself, not to mention the escheat and the dreaming itself. You yourself told me of the Chrysalid who became Dauntain after a bad experience with the Dreaming. Isn't that also a danger?"

"No more dangerous then completely ignoring your mentor's advice." the old goat says testily. Hecataeus sighs, "You are correct, Sebastian, but you do not take all into account. What good a warning if it is too late to avert it? Her Chrysalis will begin soon, possibly she is even within the first stages. You will not find her by wandering about Ohio State aimlessly, you have many clues, there are steps you may take now to find her. That is the wise course."

Completing the dance, he reaches into his pouch, intones a Greek phrase, and throws up a handful of confetti. Looking around the room at the brightly colored paper everywhere, he retrieves a broom from the closet and begins sweeping.

Once finished, Sebastian takes the colored paper and throws it out. He stands in position for another focusing dance, and reaches into his pouch to retrieve two streamers of cloth. Fumbling, his hand closes on a small brass lighter, which he pulls out and looks at for a moment. Spinning the rough switch on the side, sparks fly and the alcohol-soaked wick lights. Staring at the flame for a moment, he suddenly looks up at his teacher. He flips the lighter closed and replaces it to his pouch in a single motion. Turning towards the door, he states, "I've just gotten an idea. I think I can find the Chrysalid, but I'll need help. Everyone seemed to be going to the Gremayre Institute, so I'll find them there."

Hecataeus shrugs as he smokes his pipe and reads a thick, black leather-bound book. "I advised you to remain with them before. I suppose late is better then never."

As he leaves, Sebby grabs a flask of alcohol and another sandwich bag full of confetti, and places them both in his satchel.

-------------------

Having finished attending to business at home, Keighvyn arrives at the Institute. A spiral notebook is tucked under his arm. A pencil protrudes, eraser end first, from the top of the rings.

His formerly pristine outfit now has short strands of odd gray and black hair scattered over the sleeves and chest, and an astute observer, or one with a keen nose, may notice a faint odor of...fish on his fingers.

Searching the book reveals nothing about the author or book beyond the review. Oddly, there is no 'about the author' bit, just a short note explaining this is a first novel.

Sighing in frustration, Tess tosses the book down on the chair next to her. "Great, well, that's annoying. What was this person thinking?"

"Strange," Keighvyn says, half to himself and half to the others. "Usually, there's some sort of blurb about the author on these things. Even if it's a pseudonym for two or more people, the publishers put /something/ there." He taps his pencil against the notebook, seemingly lost in thought.

Jubair looks confused as well. "Indeed strange," he says. He reaches into his bag and gets out a set of sticks and some coins, then starts to lay the sticks on the ground seemingly randomly. "It makes me wonder why - could it be that they didn't want to give a name just in case more of our kind try to track her down?" he says as he lines up coins next to the sticks and then reaches into his bag to consult a small book.

Tess glances over Jubair's shoulder, at the assorted objects in front of him. "See anything Jubair?" Tess asks after examining the patterns.

He doesn't answer, lost in the patterns.

Tess sits for a moment, apparently lost in thought. After a moment she brightens. "Well, Brighteyes. I have a thought. Would you and Chely mind going and doing a little research for me?"

"Okay." She says under her breath, "But I wish I knew what was going on..."

"Great, always nice to have volunteers. Okay, could you two head down to the library and see if you can figure anything out from the newspapers. Anything, even a real first name? The reviews from the literary segments should have a sex or something, look for pronouns. Maybe you should check with any college papers we have. If the person is from OSU, then there could be an article about local artists or something."

As she talks, Tess looks to Keighvyn. "You have a cell phone? If you do, mind givin the number to the girls, in case. My line is going to be busy for a while."

Keighvyn shakes his head. "Regretfully, no. Can't really afford something like that on a rookie cop's salary." He grins ruefully. "Well, not and keep Ari in cat food, too."

The two girls head down to the wood paneled library.

Brighteyes looks to Chely. "This's gonna be an adventure, isn't it?"

"I sure hope so, this town seems awful boring most of the time" Pausing for effect, Chely twirls about and shouts "Onward fair comrade, for no quest was solved in a parking lot! Let no thing, fae or mortal stay us from reaching our noble goal." Whispering to Brighteyes again "Now I feel like I'm at court." Chely begins to giggle until suddenly a gleam enters her eye.

Brighteyes waves her magical baton in the air, twirling it in several neat patterns. "For love! For justice! For... oh, yeah, now I remember what's going on." She stops twirling and looks at Chely. "We should help that person before we start looking for cool stuff. By the way," she frowns deeply, "are you okay? You started coughing and everyone crowded around you.. I was kinda... thinking at the time..." The piskie looks downcast. "Sorry.."

Back upstairs, Tess pulls out a new looking lap top, and takes it over to a small desk in the corner. Plugging it into a phone line, as well as the wall plug, she boots it up. "I'm gonna see if we can find anything over the net. Maybe see about school records?"

Keighvyn nods. "We also have the author's name. Do you have a phone book here? He or she may be listed under 'Logan' maybe we can get an address."

There are 3 CE Logans listed in the Columbus phonebook. One is in the Clintonville district of Columbus (just north of campus, old houses, big trees, middle income, older neighborhood. Lots of OSU employees live there). One is in Dublin, a rich suburb of NW of Columbus known for the Muirfield Gold Tournament and horrible traffic (it also happens to fall under the Sciota Barony's territory), and another in the Whitehall district, a poorer section of town east of downtown and pretty close to the Conservatory.

Keighvyn jots down the numbers and addresses in his notebook and shows them to Tess. "We have three possibilities here. Any one of them a match?"

Tess glances down at Keighvyn's notebook, and then checks the printout. With a grin she replies, "Looks like a winner." She points at the Chris Logan she had just pointed out.

Jubair looks up from whatever it was he was doing. "Any of those addresses have the number 517 somewhere?"

Keighvyn shakes his head no.

Sebby arrives and is buzzed up by Tess. He calmly walks into the room and states, "I think I've found a way to find our young Sidhe. Who's up to following a glowing Sphere?"

Keighvyn looks up from his notes. "Come again?"

Jubair looks up at Sebby. "Oh there you are. I was wondering where you'd got to." He stands up. "A game of Follow The Leader, the leader being a glowing sphere? Sounds fun to me. Anyone else?"

Tess smiles at Sebastian a moment. "Maybe. I think I've got a lead also." Turning her screen so that the others can get a better look, she points to a line. "This could be our man. Chris Logan. Computer Science Graduate. He's the only C Logan in the school's records." She taps a few keys, and the printer on the far side of the desk begins to print out a piece of paper. "Got his physical address. It's in the Clintonville district. Think that will help?"

As she talks, Tess turns back to the computer, and pulls up her email program, and types in a few lines. _Are you by any chance the CE Logan that wrote that cool book, 'My Soul Within Me Burning'? I happen to be a teacher in the Columbus area. Some of my kids are doing book reports on the book, and we I stumbled across your name, I though maybe you were he._ After a moment, she hits the send key, then she turns away from the computer again.

"I just emailed the guy, if we're lucky, he'll be online, and reply to us," Tess says as she looks at the other addresses. "Any chance this guy might have a record? Maybe you can use some of that rookie cop pull you have, and see if there is anything there?"

Keighvyn looks thoughtful. "If he or she /does/ have a police record, it should be in the database. I can probably figure out a reason to check in Records, but if our person's clean, then we're back to square one."

"Lets see if that gets us anything.. So, what was your idea with the ball?" Tess says, looking to Sebastian.

Before he can answer, Tess's computer beeps, and she smiles as she returns to it. "Got a reply." She skims through the message. _Yes, I wrote 'My Soul Within Me Burning'. If you'll send me your name and your school's name, address and phone number, I'd be happy to come by and speak with your students. If you could give me a few dates and times, I'll confirm with you._ The signature reads, "C. E. Logan"

With a smile of pure joy, Tess turns back to the other."Got him. This is the guy, says he wrote the book, and would be willing to meet with my class sometime." Tess chuckles for a second. "I'll see if I can get an appointment with him tomorrow sometime.

"Sweet!" Jubair says.

Tess sits back down, and starts tapping into her computer. _That would be wonderful, I'm sure the kids would really get a kick out of it. My name is Lisa McKane; I teach at the Gremarye Institute. As for dates and times, I'll have to talk to the head master about when it would be acceptable to have a guest. I've got two girls who in particular liked your book. If you wouldn't mind, I'd love to have them meet you. They have tomorrow off from classes, so maybe if you're not busy at some point? I could talk to Dr. Rowan early, and maybe we could talk about when would be good for you?_

The bottom of the email has a signature: Lisa McKane, English Department, Greymare Institute, Phone: 555-1234, Email: [email protected]

After sending her reply, Tess sits back and stretches, and folds the screen down. Looking across the room, she frowns. "Its getting kinda late. Maybe we should get some rest. We've got a good lead here, so I'll stay up and see what I can do." Tess stands up and moves toward the door, but seems to think better of it, and grabs a pencil. "How bout you guys give me your numbers, so we can keep in touch if something comes up? We can get back together in the morning, say eightish?"

Jubair gives Tess the home number of Iain, his uncle. "I live with him, and I'm obviously too poor to get a mobile for myself." Jubair smiles.

After getting the phone numbers, and making copies for everyone, Tess yawns. "Well, I'm gonna go get the girls to bed, not that they'll sleep, but at least I'll have tried. If anyone is interested, how bout one of you drive by the address and see if you can get a glimpse of Chris?"

Keighvyn nods. "Works for me." He quickly scribbles a number on a clean page in his notebook, then tears it out and hands it to Tess. "That's my number... if that doesn't work, the one underneath is my parents'." He grins a little. "Don't worry, my family knows about me... or, what I am, to be more precise." He bows to the others. "By your leave, I'm for home... and bed."

"Well, if anyone is going, I'll go with them. If not, I'll be heading back home." Jubair stifles a yawn.

"Well, I guess there's no need for magic if we've got other resources." Sebby looks slightly unhappy at the prospect of not being able to use his skills, but shrugs it off. "I might as well drive by there. I'm still wide awake and I could go for a few hours. If anyone wants to come, you're more than welcome." The satyr starts towards the door, and then turns around. "Nearly forgot. My number and address." He leans over onto the desk, grabs a pen and scribbles down 5 copies and hands them to everyone. He again walks towards the door.

"Wait for me," Jubair calls. He strides over to Sebby. "I'll go with you, if that's OK. By the way, would it be possible for a life back to my uncle's house as well please? If it isn't too much trouble."

Sebastian answers, "None whatsoever. Let's see if we can get a bead on Chris Logan. Since he's not Chrysalizing yet, he probably won't be able to see us. Where's your uncle's place, by the way?"

"Um . . . he lives about fifteen minutes from here." Jubair stops for a moment. "Hey, do we want to take a camera with us? If we can get a photo, it will make things easier."

"Point. Let's grab one. Anyone know where they are?" Sebastian asks.

Tess provides them with a cheap camera after a short hunt through her shelves. After grabbing the camera, Sebby leads Jubair out to his jeep, and heads off towards the address given for Chris Logan.

After everyone leaves, Tess makes her way down to the library and tells Brighteyes and Chely what they've found. Chely and Brighteyes seem to have been using Chely's satphone/laptop combo to no avail. After getting the results of their research, Tess leads them off to bed.

Brighteyes pouts but follows Tess anyway.

As she hustles them off to bed, Chely states, "Oh, by the way, I've almost finished the book, can I stay up just a bit longer to finish it? Please, and if the author is coming, what should I wear?"

"Sure, as long as your not up all night," Tess agrees pleasantly. "Since tomorrow's a day off from school, you girls can wear whatever you like." Looking at her two young charges, Tess grimaces a moment, "Though I think I'd prefer you don't wear anything to much like what that Britany wore in that last video."

As she turns to go, Tess stops for a moment, then laughs, "Great, I'm starting to sound like my parents." She sends them off to bed, and returns to her room and checks her email.

Once Tess is out of the room, she yawns to Chely "This's been a pretty busy day, hasn't it... I can't wa..." Her voice trails off and her soft snoring can be heard.

Chely looks over at her friend and smiles, then returns to the book. Some time later, her computer beeps with the results of her search. The results are pretty much the same as what Tess and Keighvyn discovered earlier. Disappointed, and exhausted, Chely falls asleep with her laptop still on her lap.

In her room, Tess checks her email one last time before going to sleep. There's a message waiting, _Tomorrow would be difficult; I have a meeting scheduled. If you'll get with your principal and send me some dates, I'll confirm with you. My schedule is usually fairly flexible, so I'm sure we can work something out fairly quickly. —C. E. Logan_

-------------------

Sebastian and Jubair have no trouble finding CE Logan's house in Clintonville, it's an older house, a nice brick building, in a neighborhood with a lot of old trees. When they get there the lights all seem to be out and the house is quiet. They wait for about an hour, but nothing changes and they decide to go home and get some sleep.

*******************

The sky is grey in the morning, with a desultory drizzle that is very out of place in August. Thunder rolls in the distance and the weather brings hot chocolate and yellowing leaves to mind, though summer has yet to release her grip.

At the Gremarye Institute the questers have gathered again in Tess' room.

Time: 8:00 am Wednesday, 26 August 1998
Current Weather: Partly Cloudy. Expected Weather: Sunny

Original summary by Paul Westermeyer; converted to HTML by Midori Hirtzel-Church