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[so_dark_a_road]

[ This is the morning of Day 5 of the month of Domino. Curufin is in his cabin, having just awakened from an extremely vivid dream -- by falling out of his bunk and landing on the floor with a THUNK! Sorry about the racket, roomies! He climbs to his feet, and since he slept in his clothes, getting dressed is simple. He pulls on his boots, throws on his jacket, and goes to the ICP. ]

Good morning, all. Hate to bother you, but I've just had yet another prophetic dream.

I thought I was trapped inside a block of ice. Ice walls, ice floor, ice ceiling. I was freezing, and it was hard to start walking through this frozen passageway, but I did. The ice was so clear and transparent that at times it almost seemed. . . not there at all.

I spotted what I assumed was a gap or an exit up ahead, and I stepped towards it. But suddenly the world shook under my feet and the block shuddered and lurched, and I was thrown off my feet and crashed into the walls. It felt like the structure was tumbling, with me in it! The cold struck through my bones like knives every time I hit the ice.

I don't know what this means, but the dreams I had before the last two missions were true visions. I dreamed of goblins and flying wolves and a burning city, and that's what we found. The next time, I dreamed of a volcanic planet that was self-destructing, and that's exactly where we went.

So, I must believe we're going to a very wintery place this time.

I suggest to everybody, get your cold-weather gear together! [ His shoulders shake briefly with silent laughter. ] And bring a flask of vodka or whisky if you can.

Comments

[sell_tickets]

"I honestly don't have the slightest idea."

[so_dark_a_road]

"I'm still thinking over the implications of what you say. What is Maghre? Are you thinking that the Tangled Web is actually in your world? That in fact, you have never left your own world?"

[sell_tickets]

"My body is there for certain. I suspect the Web touches many worlds, given the people I have met here."

[so_dark_a_road]

"What makes you so sure your body is there? Also, about this Web? You think that it brought us all to your world to take part in an illusory adventure? So that if the Web were to be broken, we'd all find ourselves at your house?" He smiles a little as he speaks these last words. He can't quite resist making a joke. "That would be quite the party. I hope you have food and booze for the lot of us."

He isn't making fun of Khardeen, though, just trying to make him smile.

[sell_tickets]

"That kind of Web cannot transport the body, only the mind. I think we are all where we encountered the Web, physically. Unless we were moved by those who found us. There are shields around my body that will activate if I am hurt. I am reasonably certain I am safe. Besides, I was riding NightHawk, he would have gotten help."

He ran a hand through his curls and gave a weak hint of a smile. "You all show up at the Queen's residence, and we'll make sure there is food and booze enough for everyone."

[so_dark_a_road]

"I see," said Curufin. "So you think it is most likely that the Web extends so far that it can find people in their own universes? And therefore we all must have encountered it in our own worlds? I'm not sure that all of us could have been physically moved, as some of us have powers that could protect us. I'm pretty sure this Web couldn't have taken me from the last world I lived in, or I'd have been aware of it. Nor could it have picked me out of the Void where I was journeying, or again, I'd have known it."

He considered what Kardeen had said, and the few details he had just given. "Those shield around your body that you speak of, could they prevent you from being transported against your will? And who is NightHawk?"

He smiled back when Khardeen gave that small smile. "It's a deal. We'll all appear at the Queen's residence, and you'll provide the party fare."

[sell_tickets]

"I am also protected. But I don't think her shields expected this. Mine certainly didn't." As realization hit him he dropped his head to his hands. "I was shielded, had my ring and Yaslana is STILL going to chew on me for this," he moaned, indulging for just the moment in juvenile whining and self pity.

"I wasn't anchored to him, if that is what you mean, but Nighhawk is a Grey Jeweled stallion, Kindred. Between him and I, no way someone snuck up on me, knocked me out, and took me bodily away. A shield can be used to anchor someone physically in place, but as I was riding at the time, that was hardly a practical choice.

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin looked kindly on his friend. Everybody has the right to feel self-pity. "If this theory about the Web is accurate, I don't think you deserve to be chewed on. You wouldn't have had any choice about ending up where you are." He quirks an eyebrow. "Wherever this is."

"If you were riding NightHawk, then it seems impossible that you could have been physically kidnapped. So, that still leaves a great mystery unsolved. If you are here in this VoidTrecker scenario only in mind, and not in body, then could it be so for the rest of us? I don't know. For some of us, that still leaves the question of how unanswered."

[sell_tickets]

"Oh not that. Lucivar chewed on Surreal and Rainer for ages about not shielding when they entered the Spooky House, even if they thought it was Jaenelle's." He shook his head. "I was on the home ground, I was shielded, but clearly not well enough. Ugh, he's going to use me for target practice." He shook his head. "There was the question of how either way." He sighed. "I'm not sure figuring out how from here will help much, or if it is even possible."

[so_dark_a_road]

"Surreal and Rainer didn't seem to have been aware that the Spooky House wasn't Jaenelle's, and therefore wasn't a safe place to be. It's understandable that they didn't think to shield themselves. And as for you, if you are right about this current situation, I don't know how you could shield yourself well enough. Lucivar had better not use you for target practice! Or he'll have me to deal with." He grinned, and there was much affection and quite a lot of protectiveness in his eyes. Never mind that Khardeen was a warlord and had powers of his own; he did seem to be rather worried about what this Lucivar would think or do.

"I don't know what else we can do from here, other than try to figure it out. But if the Web is somehow broken and we end up in your world, we'll at least have the concrete evidence that your theory is right."

[sell_tickets]

"Even so. You should see how he chewed into the youth who brings the mail. Lucivar doesn't like people getting hurt because they're being stupid." He shrugged a bit. Then he sighed and pulled on his curls a bit. "He didn't used to be this manic about it. Not before Mortan died, anyway," he said quietly, missing his friend.

He nodded faintly to the other comment. He didn't like being upset, he tried to do it as little as possible. But there was too much upset now to shove behind smirks and mischief.

[so_dark_a_road]

"Then perhaps Lucivar should not chew on people who have gotten hurt, whether out of stupidity or not. He'll only hurt them further. But who is Mortan? And was Lucivar upset because of Mortan's death? Sometimes people become cruel as an inadvertent response to a death they feel they should have been able to prevent." He didn't know if that was Lucivar's problem, but it was a guess.

"But you're worried and upset yourself, Khardeen. Is there anything I can do?" Because he considered Khardeen a friend and wanted to do what he could.

[sell_tickets]

"He's not cruel, he's just.... protective. Very. Mortan.... he was a friend. A very good one. He was investigating in his own village. The older Priestess at the Dark Alter had said she'd been hearing noises at night and supplies seemed to be missing. The younger Priestess claimed the elder was just getting mixed up and welcomed him to come look whenever he wished, to set the older woman's mind at ease. It was a village in his territory. It should have been safe. He was swinging by to check on the report on his way home for dinner. He was shot before he even realized there was danger. He got his shields up, but it was too late." He banged a hand against the table, remembering the horror of hearing the news. Of seeing the High Lord's face after. He swallowed hard. "The arrows were tipped in poison. Karla could have healed him if she had been there, if she had gotten to him in time. But the trap was too neat. Too well timed. If Mortan had been free.... he could have helped Karla. Had she been free she could have gotten to him. But Karla was under attack at the same exact moment. One of the few poisons she couldn't identify by taste. One she had no immunity to." Tears were in his eyes. "She killed thew ***** who had poisoned her. She knew enough healing craft to keep herself alive long enough for Daemon to find her. She survived, barely," he said, bitterly. "Motan didn't. The whole village... there was one survivor. A little girl. Everyone else was slaughtered. Butchered."

[so_dark_a_road]

"I am very sorry your friend is dead. And sorry that he and Karla could not save the village." Curufin slid out of his own seat in the booth and came around the table to sit beside Khardeen. He laid a gentle hand on his friend's shoulder.

[sell_tickets]

He sighed a bit and shook his head. "Fifty thousand years, on the same war. And it wasn't until the last twenty or so that it even touched Kaleer." HE closed his eyes, took a breath and calmed himself. "It's over now though, and all the realms are starting to heal."

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin gave a bit of a whistle. "A fifty-thousand year war! That sounds a bit like my world. I'm glad for your sake that the war is over, and for the sake of those you care for. So, how did it end?"

[sell_tickets]

"Witch," he said softly, but with a hint of pride and sadness. "She found a way to separate those with the taint from the rest of us and sent all her glorious dark power into the spell. Every person with the taint, gone. She finished the kill, millions of minds, not even a whisper in the Darkness...." A savage satisfaction in his suddenly fierce blue eyes. "She cleansed all the realms. Even ****. All that was left to the rest of us was to rebuild and repair."

[so_dark_a_road]

"You were fortunate that this witch was available, then. And that she was willing to use her dark powers for good."

He sees the sudden savagery in Khardeen's expression. This is a look he has not seen before on his friend's face, but he cannot blame him in the least. The terrible losses that a war brings, especially one that continues for years, are enough to bring out the bloodlust in almost anyone. Curufin can certainly identify with that.

[sell_tickets]

"We are fortunate to serve her for other reasons as well." Then amusement took over his expression. "Even when she insists we no longer do."

[so_dark_a_road]

"Oh yes? What were the other reasons? And why does she insist you stop?"

[sell_tickets]

"Because she's her. She's one of my best friends. She's an honorary cousin or sibling to most of us. She's wonderful. Fun and mischief and healing and comfort and love all rolled into one. She's midnight velvet and music and friendship and love. And she's never wanted to rule. She did it to save us all. She somehow thinks that we've stopped serving."