Welcome to Gaia! ::

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey..." Ianna's voice softly sang to the dark haired girl in her arms. The small wings of the succubus were arranged so they weren't cramped, and the girl's silver eyes were heavy-lidded with sleep.

Coailiann hadn't taken kindly to having a new sister. Del had been a trial enough - but at least that little thing stayed out of her way. She usually stayed closer to Ianna or Malen, which, while it took attention away from the Sidhe, she preferred.

At least she didn't slobber on her stuff.

So currently Ianna was attempting to make up for Coailiann's horrid treatment of her siblings by singing to her, rocking back and forth in the rocking chair of the room Malen had set up.

It was all so new, so different, to the silver woman.

"Mother...."

Ianna closed her eyes and sighed, "Matty, please tell me another wand hasn't been found? I'm just getting Kishi to sleep and Coailiann..." she looked slightly distressed at the idea of leaving both of them together.

"Malen can watch all three girls. This is important."

Ianna supposed her eldest daughter was right. She trusted Malen to watch the girls - she just didn't want to leave the serene comfort she was feeling at the present moment, "Very well, then...."

The woman stood up, shifting the sleepy succubus in her arms to a position against her shoulder for easier transportation as she made her way out of the nursery and into Malen's room. They'd yet to share one yet.

"You're on baby detail."

"Aren't I always on baby detail?"

Ianna smiled fondly at him. "Only when I say you are." She gently handed Kishi over to his waiting arms and tilted her head. "You look good with babies," she commented before turning and starting out the room. "I'll be back soon. Hopefully in one piece. Coailiann's napping in her room, Del... is, uh... in the fountain, I think." She nodded her head and left without another word.

~

"Where to?"

"It should be fairly easy. The forgotten line between the Realm of Dream and Thought. It's... forgotten, but there ARE some creatures hanging around that haven't forgotten the war and the heartaches from the bloodshed there. You'll want to be careful."

Ianna shuddered. She had read about the war, and how awful it had been. "What's to be found there but old memories and forgotten scars?"

"A gryphon."

Ianna's heart stopped a moment. "It couldn't be the one the BOOKS wrote about... could it?"

There was a silence before Matilda mentally nodded. "Seirket."

"Seirket will be returning to us? On OUR side?"

"So it seems. Pack your bag, mother."

~

It was an hour or so later that Ianna found herself on the invisible line between realms. It was cold all around her; the air that hung low seemed to be thick with the shivering loneliness of ice. But it wasn't from the weather that it was cold. It was from the psychic scars that the battle had left.

It was the battle in history where magic and humans had fought their hardest.

And where the People of Dreams had lost their faith.

It was, as Matilda had put it so long ago, the turning point in the war against magic users and the end of the belief in anything unexplainable. It had, she had said, been what started to make their world fade and the crusade of wiping out their people.

And Ianna could feel every lost soul.

"We must hurry, Matilda," Ianna said softly - for once none of her snarky complaints left her mouth. She had too much respect for this place. For the people lost there. And for once, Matilda agreed with her.

"Time works differently between realms. You must hurry, I agree."

Ianna took a deep breath... and began her long walk down the path.

~

She had lost track of time. It could have been hours, minutes, days, that she had been searching for Seirket's wand. But the moment she had wrapped her cold, stiff fingers around the glinting wand of gold, emerald and diamonds, she had known. It really was Seirket. The two osprey feathers hanging from leather straps only added to the certainty. They were his coloring.

"Let's go home, Matilda. I think this child may actually save us, someday."

She hated shopping. Hated it. Had always hated it, even back when Cilere had still... no. She just hated it, that was all. But Jer'ain grew like a weed, even if Savius seemed content to mantain the same size, and Lithle had no choice but to get her new clothes.

Besides which, children needed things. She hated that about them. There constant need for things, for attention, for her time. Mind, Savius more or less took care of himself. And Jer'ain did her utmost best to keep from making ripples. But they were there, in her house, and it made her twitch sometimes.

At least she'd more or less finished for the day. 'rain would have some sort of food ready, and Savius might feel like playing a game of chess. Yes, they were useful. That didn't mean she LIKED them.

Huh... what was that? The shop caught her eye for no particular reason, certainly it couldn't have anything for her inside. What the hell was a wand shoppe anyway?

A shrug, and she changed directions, figuring she could at least check the place out. Maybe they'd have something to entertain the brats. Pushing open the door, she walked inside, her usual deliberate stride slightly changed by the fact that she really didn't know why she was bothering.

It wasn't like her to follow an impulse.

If Lithle had an ounce of empathy in her... but she didn't. She really didn't. Other than a quick note that the woman really wasn't her type (was anyone, with Cilere gone?) Lithle more or less dismissed her, nodding briefly and scanning the store for... what?

She didn't know.

For her part, she looked as she usually did. More male than female really, with her short hair, generally lacking figure and baggy button up boy's top. Oh, there was some hint of femininity to her face, but she got called 'sir' as often or not. Not that she got called much of anything, there was a threat to her gaze, subdued but definate. Her eyes were cold.


"What does this place sell anyway? Wands?" She asked, her voice devoid of any emotion outside mild irritation, and very remote. She moved closer to Ianna automatically, never letting the woman completely leave her range of vision. Everyone was a possible threat.

Lithle eyed the woman with open distrust, but decided it was easier to just do what she asked. Without any further hesitation, she did as asked, brushing her fingers rather dismissively over the cover of the book.

The sudden reaction, the book flying open, the pages turning, well... the jumpy young woman certainly didn't take it well. She took a few steps back, hands going to her half button shirted to reach for her gun. Except, nothing else happened.

It was unadvisable, she'd learned, to pull out a weapon unless you planned to use it. And the only use she believed guns had was killing. Killing to maim or frighten didn't even occur to her.

Since she didn't plan to kill the woman (yet) she let her hands fall to her sides again, though she still stood it what could only be described as a battle stance, ready to mover or react in whatever way necissary.

"What the ******** are you talking about?" A snarl. No apathetic irritation here, no, this was full on anger. She did not like being confused.

She'd seen the picture of course, and how it matched the wand on the desk. But she was hardly going to take any real meaning from some freaky self opening book.

Lithle knew about wars. But the wars she knew happened on the street, over money, drugs, territory. She knew about the victims, the ones who got caught in the crossfire for no reason but naivety or bad luck.

She knew Tred, she knew what it meant to fight an enemy by becoming it. To hate death enough to kill.

She didn't however, have a clue what the crazy woman was babbling about. And she didn't like the use of her name. She was at a disadvantage. She lacked the knowledge the woman had.

She didn't know what was going on. She stood still, fists shaking with the effort of holding still. The instinc in her pure fight or flight was strong, and it was possible that the war between the two was the only thing holding her in place.

"I don't have a clue. History isn't exactly my subject." She spat the words. "Stay out of my head."

The last added because she couldn't think of any other way her name might have been known. This was gaia, after all.

Damn telepaths.

Tea? Was the woman serious? She could use a beer. Or something stronger. She found herself wanting Savius, her sharp tongued, independant Kestrel. It seemed like whenever things got too ******** up, and she was slipping away or in danger of exploding, he was there. To pick a fight when she was depressed, or pour her a drink when she was near killing.

She didn't like that either. She didn't need anyone. Certainly not bird boy.

Still, the thought of him, with his irritating 'Dad' tattoo was enough to pull her off the brink and stop her shaking.

"What little boy?" She snapped, but without quite so much edge, taking a seat despite herself. "I really don't have the ******** time."

Lithle wasn't a good person. In the judgement of many she'd even be a bad person. But her moral code was carved in stone, and even if she hated them, she protected children.

Protect those who can't protect themselves. Loyalty to the pack. Make prey of the preditor.

Tred.

"Fine, talk." She snarled, ignoring the fact that Ianna was already talking. "But don't waste my time. I've got the damned brats waiting for me."

Lithle gritted her teeth at the woman's words, but forced herself to sit anyway. Life, death. They mattered to her still. In some ways. And she wouldn't cause the death of a seeming innocent. She couldn't.

She let the woman's words wash over her, not really sinking in but being heard. She'd remember them later. She just didn't care. It was the sort of thing that'd interest Kyle, to some extent. He wasn't a natural gaian. Magic and wars... it was all exciting for him.

To her, magic was a weapon, meaning magic users were always armed. Besides, the only thing magic had ever done to her was ******** her over. Except for the bit that allowed her the friendship of canines, and that barely counted.

The final statement broke her out of her rather introspective haze, gray eyes turning from clouds to walls of granite.

She didn't need another ******** kid!

Savius, shedding feathers to pester her. Jer'ain with her high, soft voice.

Her expression was utterly blank. Her words were razors.

"I take the wand, or it dies?"

She didn't know much about better lives. She lived because... she lived because... well, she lived. Maybe that was enough. There really wasn't another choice. Not in the world as she saw it.

"Fine." She snapped, reaching out and snatching the wand. The brief pulse of warmth and life was unmistakable. Metal just didn't feel that way. She wasn't overly surprised. Very little had managed to shock her since Savius had left behind his kestrel form. And there was the simple fact that Ianna simple didn't give off the right type of vibes to be crazy.

And if she wasn't crazy, then she had to be telling the truth.

Thoughtfully, she turned it over, examining the dangling feathers, the quill etched into the sun. Strange, really.

"Does it come with instructions?" She asked, dryly.