A Holiday Tale
A Chronicle for Changeling: The Dreaming
Chapter 1, Turn 5 Summary

(In Baker Systems, the central building for OSU's computer departments...)

Glancing up from her writings for a moment, Tess asks the tech, "Psycho?"

He glances over at Tess, startled, "Yeah, one of the grad students dragged me down to her office last night, claimed some giant bird was in her room. But it was empty when I looked."

"Giant Bird?" Tess exclaims, with a chuckle. "Was it yellow and did it have a furry elephant with it?" Tess snickers a bit as she shakes her head. "Must be the stress of all them grad student papers and whatnot. I hear a lot of them take some things to stay awake. Probably got her all screwed up."

He snorts agreement and goes back to playing Doom online.

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

(in/near office 517)

Keighvyn bows to the beautiful blonde woman. "Milady. My name is Keighvyn. This is Chely Rose." Then he takes a deep breath. "We're not going to hurt you, I promise. Please, just listen to us." His expression is gentle, as if asking her to trust him. "I know this may seem very strange..." he trails off, trying to think of what to say next.

"Can you please get that bird out of my office?" the woman asks, her voice barely more than a whisper. "You... you can see it, can't you?"

Standing in the doorway is a tall, wiry young man with two horns protruding from the front of his head. He is fairly attractive, with high cheekbones and short sideburns framing his face. His hair and eyes are dark red-brown, and his skin is a light caramel brown. He has a number of piercings in his left and right ears, and wears an eyebrow ring on the left side of his face. On his chin is a goatee with no moustache. He is wearing a russet colored tunic with a black Greek key pattern tracing the hem. Over this, he wears an earth-brown cloak. At his side hangs an olive green military satchel. The legs that support him are formed nothing like human legs, the knees bending backwards, and covered in fur. Where most people would be wearing shoes or even have feet, he instead wears a pair of cloven goat's hooves. It is quite apparent that he is not completely human.

Sebby moves out of the portico and back into the hallway, just in time to see Jubair.

Jubair staggers out from the stairwell, looking puffed and sheepish. He spots Sebby over by a door and heads over to him. "Hey Sebby," he pants as he slumps against the wall briefly. Jubair stands up again when he hears Keighvyn's' voice inside. "How's everything going in there?" he asks Sebby, not directing the question at anyone inside, but saying it loud enough so that they know he's here.

Quietly, he says "Calm down, and I suppose you can go in. Chely and Keighvyn are in there now. You look presentable, so I suppose you won't hurt the situation any. Just, no sudden moves. She's obviously scared out of her mind."

Jubair nods and regains his breath. "Thanks Sebby. I can understand her being fearful - Chrysalis isn't exactly easy on the mind," Jubair replies just as quietly. He smooths his robes down and walks into the office.

Into the office calmly walks a young man, with dark skin, long jet black hair tied back in a ponytail with a ringlet, wearing dark purple robes that flow around him like another skin and solid sandals on his bare feet. His eyes are sparkling and very green - not a spot of white anywhere. He carries a small satchel which doesn't look too full but some of the contents seem to jingle slightly when it moves. He looks around and is taken aback by the raven on the computer. "What's that bird doing here?" he asks. His voice has an Australian accent and sounds like it should belong in an older body.

"What do you want?" the woman asks. She tries to back up even further as the small office becomes uncomfortably crowded.

"Please do not fear, for I and my companions mean you no harm at all. My name is Jubair, and I have come with Chely, Brighteyes, Keighvyn and the others you have seen to help you understand why you see things that you do not think should be, such as that raven over there." He speaks in a quiet, measured voice. "We do not wish to hurt you or make you suffer - just to explain what is happening to you and to guide you through this obviously difficult time. Rest assured that each of us has been through a similar experience to what you face now and we seek to help you through your own. If you have any questions, we shall endeavour to answer them for you," he finishes, bowing to the radiant young woman before him.

The blonde woman slowly begins to seem less frightened and more confused and irritated. She's pressed back into the corner of her small office by the three other people now inside. "I don't understand just what it is y'all want," she says, her voice sounding more normal and less of a high-pitched, terrified squeak. With the return to her normal speaking voice, a significant drawl appears. "Y'all aren't from Avalon, so why're y'all in my office?" Her eyes dart quickly to the telephone, then back to the three strangers.

Keighvyn breathes an audible sigh of relief as Jubair finishes his speech. "Thanks," he says quietly to the eshu. "That sums up things pretty well."

Jubair sighs. "We came here to find you and to help you understand what is happening to you. We knew that you were going to go through this at some point in the near future, and we have been sent by Fate to find you and help you. I myself have traveled from the Isle of Wandering Dream - what you would know as Australia - to share the prophecy that related to your coming with the others of our kind here." As he speaks, Jubair's hands (currently behind his back) motion to Keighvyn - first they point at the phone, then he makes a short 'pulling' action with them, as if pulling something apart with his hands.

The woman is clearly confused. "Fate?" she asks, then shakes her head. "And just what is it you think is happening to me, other than being squashed her in my own office? And what are y'all," she continues, taking in their clothing, "some weird evangelical SCA sect or something?"

Jubair laughs at this suggestion. "No, my lady. We have much to explain to you about your new... situation, but this office is not exactly the place to explain such delicate mysteries as these. For now, this explanation must suffice: you are becoming a Changeling - a faerie. I am a Changeling, as is Chely, Brighteyes, Keighvyn and the others." He says this very quietly, so that anyone outside the office can't really hear it. "I must humbly request that you come with us to a safer and more hospitable location, that we may further explain your new situation, what it entails for you and why exactly there is a raven on your monitor that you think is an illusion." Jubair smiles and bows again.

Keighvyn follows the eshu's lead and attempts to stealthily disconnect the phone.

"So you're... fairies? Interesting fashion statement. I'm not interested in joining your... 'changeling' club, so--" The woman notices the man messing with her phone. "Hey! What in hell do you think you're doing!" She stands up a bit straighter, looking truly angry. In a low, dangerous voice she says, "Get the hell out of my office, now."

Brighteyes stamps her foot and starts trying to push Jubair and Keighvyn out of the office. "You two are scaring her! Stop it!"

As she pushes at the much bigger men she looks at Christine and says, "I'm sorry, lady. They're just dumb guys. I'm Brighteyes, and that's my roommate Chely. We read your book. What's are your name, lady? Chely, talk to her while I get them out."

Quoth the raven, "Nevermore! Nevermore!"

"You read my book," the blonde woman says, her expression a cross between irritation and confusion, "but you don't know my name?" Back to irritation. "Is that what this is about? If you read it, then you know my name is Kelia--" She pauses for a moment, looking lost. "No, Kelly's a character in the book." Her brow furrows in concentration. "My name," she says deliberately, "is Chris. Christine Elizabeth Logan."

"The book just says CE," Brighteyes answers, "We didn't even know you were a girl."

Jubair looked sheepish when Brighteyes admonished him and Keighvyn, but he perks up a bit at her confusion. "Kelia is also your name, just as much as Christine is. Many of us have two names, both fae and human. Myself, for example - as far as my fellow Fae are concerned, I am called Jubair the Traveler, but amongst those that do not know my true nature, I am called Jake Temperson. We all have two names, just as you do. You'll get used to it after a while, believe me. Even our descriptions and jobs can be radically different. I am a drifter, storyweaver and fortune-teller, while Keighvyn here is a knight among our kind. You, I suspect, are to be a lady of the nobility." Jubair moves past Chely and Brighteyes to occupy the doorway, giving the others room.

"That doesn't make a damned bit of sense," Christine/Kelia says, somewhat indignant. "And will one of you please get that damned bird the hell out of my office?" she adds, a pleading note in her voice. She grimaces and rubs her temples. "I must have the flu or something." She glances at the odd-looking people, sort of, in her office and doorway. "A really, really nasty strain."

"Certainly, my lady." He bows. "Keighvyn, pass me that raven over there, would you please?" Jubair asks.

Visibly relieved, Keighvyn abandons the telephone (without touching it) and walks over to the raven. He extends a hand to it, palm down, so it can perch there while he passes it to the eshu. "Please be calm," he says to the bird in an undertone. "I won't hurt you."

The raven hops backwards, squawks again, then says, "Nevermore! The Dark! Nevermore!" In a flurry of feathers it rises into the air, flying straight for Keighvyn's head, just barely missing him it swoops down the hallway and disappears from view.

Just as suddenly, Rajabal, the large chimerical owl comes flying through the window, he lands with a flourish on the spot the raven just vacated, his beak clacks and he says, "The Dark is coming! I can sense it..."

He stops when he sees Kelia and he takes a deep, courtly bow, his wings half out. "Milady ap Eiluned, I am Rajabal the Wise, Companion to Heroes. I welcome you most heartily to thy birthright, the Dreaming world."

Chris/Kelia blinks several times at the owl, her expression one of befuddlement. "Ohmigod," she mutters as she moves shakily to sit in her chair. "Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod..." She looks around, clearly confused and disoriented.

"Don't stress, please my lady. We are duty bound to assist you in escaping and ensuring your well-being." Under his breath Jubair mutters "She's an Eiluned. Great."

Chely steps forward towards Christine with her hands out. Gently taking Christine's in hers (hopefully) she says "I know it's a lot to take in right now but I promise you that if you just open your mind and let us explain things, it will make a kind of sense" turning to her compatriots she says, "Could you give us five minutes please"

"Certainly," Jubair replies politely. He bows to both her and Kelia ap Eiluned and heads out of the office.

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

Jubair leans against the wall, "Chely will probably explain it better," he says to Rajabal. "Her mind is more flexible, after all. Now, what was this 'dark' you told us was coming? How long do we have before it gets here?"

Keighvyn follows Jubair out with a bow of his own to the two ladies. He leans against the wall outside the office and absently rubs at his chin, seemingly lost in thought.

"My Uncle Ciaran told me about something he called "The Dark" once or twice," he says softly, "before I went through my Chrysalis."

Sebastian is still leaning against the door jamb outside the office.

Rajabal clacks his beak, "I know not how long. But I can sense the approach of the Dark. Dread precedes it. As for what the Dark is, Dark is the opposite of Light, Jubair, surely you know that?"

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

Back inside the office...

"Did that other bird... talk?" Chris/Kelia asks, hardly seeming to notice Chely taking her hand. "One stamp, one time," she mutters. "That, or I'm going insane." She continues to appear distressed and agitated.

"Christine, look at me for a minute..... you are not going insane. In fact, you are privileged to see the world as many people cannot. Just as you believe in atoms and silicon chips though you cannot see them working, the "dreaming" is a real world beyond the senses of most of the world. Many catch a glimpse of it while they sleep but we revel in it daily. I know this is really hard. I went through the same thing only a couple years ago and I had my grandma to guide me through it. If you'd like, I could be your friend and help you to understand all this better."

Chris/Kelia listens to Chely, her expression a cross between confusion and fear. "I... I think I'd best go home," she stammers. She laughs softly, humorlessly. "It's not like I'm going to get any work done here today."

"Yeah, my dad says never do today what you can put off until tomorrow." Chely breathes a sigh of relief and continues "If you'd like, I could accompany you home to talk .... or I could have someone drop me off later.. or we could meet somewhere tonight to sort this out. What would you like to do?"

Chris/Kelia laughs again, a touch of hysteria in her voice. "I'm not sure that'd be safe. I don't really trust my eyes right now. I saw," she confides in a low voice, "giant bugs and..." she blinks a few times, bewildered, "Anthony Hopkins."

"Actually, your eyes are telling you the truth, its just that up til now your brain refused to acknowledge the existence of those things you saw out of the corner of your eye. The world is filled with many wondrous things and many horrific things." Seeing that Christine is still hysterical "Feel my hands, they are real... aren't they. Look at my face, you see me both as the world sees me and as I dream I am. You saw the same thing with my friends. The other things you saw are just as real to you now as my hands or your desk in front of you" Taking a deep breath...." Christine, look deep within yourself to the place you dare not look, the place where your book came from, that is real, the Dreaming is real and all I want is to help you understand it and yourself. Please, let me help you. I will not leave you to face anything alone, I promise."

Brighteyes says, "Ummm... but Anthony Hopkins isn't a part of the Dreaming, as far as I know. How did you see him?"

"When I got on the elevator," Chris/Kelia replies, still looking confused. "He talked to me in his Hannibal Lector voice and called me Clarice. It was weird."

"Very weird." Brighteyes agrees. She's kinda staring at Chely, "You seem like you're a twenty-something med student all of a sudden." she says.

Chris/Kelia looks sick. "But I made all that weird stuff up," she protests in a whisper. "It's just a damned book." She shivers. "I think I'd better go on home now." She stands and retrieves a flowing grey silk wrap from the back of her chair.

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

After sitting for a few minutes, Tess sighs, and puts her pen back into her satchel. Closing her book, she looks over to the lab assistant. "Hey!" she calls over. "There a vending machine around here?"

The assistant looks up in annoyance, he gives her directions, and goes back to his computer.

Tess grabs her book, and steps into the hallway, and makes her way toward the coke machines. Once she arrives, she digs through her purse and pulls out a couple coins.

As Tess glances out a window she sees, far below, several dark, furry shapes move swiftly across the sidewalk and enter the lower floors of the building. There are no more the three, and they stood on two legs like men. yet they did not move like men, nor did they seem to have clothing, only dark fur. And they existed only within the Dreaming...

"Oh shit! What the fuck were those?" Tess says, as she lets goes the coins, and grips her fathers old pen. Drawing it out of the satchel, Tess shouts, "KEIGHVYN!!!" In the Dreaming, Tess's chimerical blade gleams brightly in her hand as she pelts through the hallway toward the questors.

As she turns the corner, and sees Keighvyn, Jubair and Sebastian standing in the hall, she calls out, "I think we got a problem!" Tess stops at the closest window to the small office of Chris and looks out it, apparently trying to see something.

Turning to Sebastian, she asks, "Do you have any way of getting us down to the ground from here?" Before Sebastian can answer, she turns to Jubair. "Where are the girls, and Logan? Get them. Keighvyn, get that blade ready. She's drawing something, I saw it coming into the building."

Keighvyn draws his own sword, the slender blade gleaming like ice in the light, and hurries over to where Tess is peering out the window. He sees nothing but a few students walking about appear below.

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

Jubair bursts into the office. "Hey guys, we have to save the rest of this for later - we've got company. Keighvyn, Sebby and Tess are armed and preparing themselves, but we have to organize your escape. Come on, we have to get out of here!"

Christ/Kelia grabs a leather shoulder satchel as Jubair bursts in. "Wha--"

"Christine!" Chely thunders, her green eyes flashing with a wisdom far beyond her apparent age. "I implore you to join us in our escape, for if you do not, you may die,..... or worse! Suddenly she erupts into a fit of coughing, as though the outburst drained her of all energy.

Chris/Kelia shakes her head. "I'm gettin' the hell outta here. If this shit isn't all some weird flashback, then I damned well need a drink. Y'all get on outta my office now." She withdraws a set of keys from the satchel and jingles them suggestively.

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

Sebby is still standing near the doorway, but now alert. "I can't promise anything. I can try to get one, maybe two of us to the ground. I've never really tried jumping *down* before. What exactly are we dealing with? And how many?" The satyr's body is noticeably more tense than before, his shoulders slightly hunched.

"Not sure exactly," Tess says in response to Sebastian's question. "Three? Maybe four." Looking down again, Tess turns to Sebastian and Keighvyn. "Take Logan down if you can. Kicking and screaming if you have to," she says, a jabbing a finger toward Sebastian. "Take Keighvyn to if you have to. Between the two of you, you should be able to handle it if you have to. Get her to the Herbium Castellum quickly. The Countess should be able to help."Her eyes glisten as she looks back down the hallway for a moment. "The girls and Jubair and I will try to distract whatever those things were while you get her away."

"Screw that!" Keighvyn shoots back. "We all get out, or none!" He grips his chimerical blade tighter, his eyes narrowing.

Chris/Kelia hustles everyone out of her office, then steps out herself, locking it behind her. She turns around and sees the man with the goat legs and the stone walls and caves and blanched. "Holy God," she whispered, drawing out the words so it sounds like 'Hoo-lee Gawd.' She looks around at the others, eyes growing ever wider. "I really think," she whispers, "I'd like to wake up now. Or at least go home." Her expression is stunned, almost pleading.

Brighteyes asks in a quiet voice, "Why wouldn't we get out? Can't we just leave?"

Jubair bustles out of the office and heads over in time to hear his name mentioned. "Hang on a sec. I can't fight! I couldn't even lift a sword, let alone use it! How am I supposed to 'keep them busy'?" He sounds worried.

Keighvyn shifts his weight to the balls of his feet, his body coiled to spring. "You're not, my friend. That's a warrior's privilege. You can take our new friend; I'll catch up."

Looking at the two, Tess smiles grimly. "I've no intention of us fighting these things." Looking more directly at Keighvyn she continues, "I'm sending you in case our distraction here doesn't work. She will need protection, and that is what we were sent here for."

Looking to Jubair Tess says, "I think the best chance we have of distracting them is if we infuse the area with Glamour. That's why I need you and the girls Jubair. We are gonna flood the area, then get the hell out of here. No fighting unless necessary. Understand?" she says, looking at both in turn.

"Sounds fine to me. Where should we start?" Jubair asks. He looks a little less worried but not much.

Rajabal clacks his beak, "No where! The creatures of the Dark do not seek glamour, they seek to extinguish the light. Fight or Flee! Fight or Flee!"

Glancing at the bird riding Jubair's shoulder, Tess smiles grimly. "We flee bird." Looking aback to Jubair, she says, "Well, if those things aren't after Glamour, then we all jet now."

"Let's get to the elevator quickly. Those things were completely Dream, so they probably won't be able to use them, we'll be safe there for the time being. After we hit the ground, make a mad dash for the cars. Keighvyn and I will run last, in case those things manage to catch wind of us. Now lets get moving," Tess says, her voice strong and intent.

"Yep, I'm all for buggering off at this juncture" Jubair adds as he heads to the lift.

Keighvyn takes a deep breath. "Okay. Call it a strategic withdrawal." He grins mirthlessly. "Though if it comes to a fight, I may not be able to stop myself."

Tess gives him a hearty slap to the back, almost making him stumble. "Call it whatever you like Keighvyn."

Sebastian shifts his weight from one hoof to another, tensing the muscles in his legs. He lowers his voice even further "If it comes down to a fight, I don't have any weapons but hooves and horns. You wouldn't happen to have a dagger I could borrow, would you?"

Tess shoves the others toward the elevators. When Christine gets a look at Tess, she sees a tall, solidly built woman. Her over six feet of height is overshadowed by the pale blue tinge of her skin. Brown hair falls to her midback, and from her forehead, two small ivory horns emerge. The tall figure is dressed in a loose fitting robe that looks as though it is straight out of a medieval monastery. A large satchel hangs from her shoulder, and a beautiful golden locket hangs around her neck. She is carrying a drawn broadsword as she orders people about.

Looking to Christine, Tess says, "Good Morning, Miss Logan." Resheathing her broadsword, Tess stretches out an large hand in an attempt to shake. "My name is Lisa, but my friends here all call me Tess. You can call me either."

Chris/Kelia stares at the sword with undisguised terror. "Ohmigod..." She starts to bring her hand up automatically for the offered handshake, then pulls it back with a start. "Ohmigod..."

Attempting to smile reassuringly, she continues. "I know things seem pretty strange right now, but I'm afraid that around here, they are going to be getting stranger. Is there any chance you might allow us," she says as she waves her arm to encompass everyone, "to have a talk with you? Someplace other than here would be best. You've got to work here, and people might give you some strange looks if they saw you talking with goat people and blue giants. How about a park? Or maybe the Conservatory. That way there will be lots of people, so you know we won't be trying funny stuff, but enough privacy so that we can be frank." As she speaks, she ushers the obviously distraught woman toward the elevators.

Chris/Kelia moves along at Tess' urging, looking too stunned to resist. She looks around at the strange-seeming walls. She nodded, glassy-eyed, at Tess' request. As they arrive at the elevator, she says in a near-whisper, "Anthony Hopkins won't be in there again, will he?" She looks at Tess again. "Oh, God. You're... blue."

With a grim smile she says, "Yeah, my mom always liked to give me ice baths. Ah, here we are." Tess presses the button to the elevator, her eyes sweeping the hallways constantly.

Chris/Kelia blinks a couple of times, then laughs once, soundlessly, before her expression returns to one of bewilderment.

With a wry smile, Sebby jibes "I can assure you that we don't travel with actors. We prefer the real deal." Sebby leans against the wall, and pushes the elevator call button. "I'm Sebastian, by the way." He offers an olive-skinned hand for her to shake.

Chris/Kelia stares at the offered hand then takes a step back in response to the renewed press of people. Such as they were. Her bewildered expression takes on a terrified tinge.

Sebastian retracts his hand, and he steps back from Tess, Christine, and the elevator doors. "Gotta be the horns..." He mutters, nearly incoherently.

"Christine," Chely pipes in, "these are my friends. And Miss Tess there," indicating the big blue woman with a wave of her hand "is my teacher at school. She tends to have lots of answers, usually to questions you haven't even asked yourself yet." Chely smiles with the beatific smile of the innocent. She then stands on her tip toes to Keighvyn and asks in a VERY QUIET whisper "What things are we talking about and can I see one, I mean, if you are there, it would be safe....right?"

"Dunno, kiddo," Keighvyn whispers back just as quietly, sneaking a glance at Christine out of the corner of his eye. "Lady Tess saw them, I didn't. And I wouldn't be too sure if it'd be safe, the way Jubair's owl carried on." He offers a hand to Christine, then, and says out loud, following Tess's lead, "Hello, ma'am. My name's Keighvyn." He gives her a friendly smile. "And I'm sorry about your phone," he says in an undertone.

"Uhm, howdy?" Chris/Kelia says hesitantly. She just looks at Keighvyn's hand and shrinks back a bit. Her eyes move rapidly from person to person, suspicious and frightened.

Keighvyn nods in a friendly manner and backs off a little, giving her some space.

Jubair is waiting by the lift door, a barn owl on his shoulder. He bows slightly and offers his dark-skinned hand. "I am Jubair the Traveler, and the owl you see here is Rajabal. I'm sorry if I confused you or stressed you out unnecessarily - it is simply my way to be verbose."

When the doors open, Tess motions Kelia in. "Why don't you go ahead. Me and Sebby will come down the next elevator." She motions Keighvyn, Chely, Brighteyes and Christine into the car. "It's kinda crowded for me." She give Christine a conspiratorial wink.

Chris/Kelia hesitates, then walks quickly into the elevator, pushing the "1" button, then positions herself in front of the control panel, hand resting near the alarm button.

Jubair waves at Christine/Kelia politely. "See you all downstairs!" he says as the doors close.

Just then a trio of dark, furry shapes rush into the hallway, visible for just a moment to those within the elevator as the doors close...

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