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T.K. turned as two faeries entered the clearing before she had gotton a reply. she looked to them, her hands still on her bow and arrow, hopeing that they weren't the sort of faeries that would judge her for her sister dryads decisions. she coolly tied her long green hair back in a leather thong, and turned to face them, legs crossed and bow and arrow in her lap. "okay, so who are you now?" she asked, slightly annoyed at the fact that so many people seemed to be joining them here. "are you more of the earthlings who have come here in their sleep?"

((actually, the thing with kat only took about a second in 'dream-time', and she stayed completely normal. i know i probably didn't make that clear in my post, but please could you edit that?
ill delete this post tomorrow.))

Aidan frowned. This was getting a little too weird so his mind went to the one thing he could make some sense of. "Wait," he said, looking at Rowan and Willow. "Fae? As in faeries? What are you doing in my dream?"

Aidan listened intently to the winged girl's explanation, shrugging off her sarcasm.

"That's...interesting...and explains quite a lot. I've never considered that we could actually go to another world while we dream. But...what happens to our bodies in the...well, the real world, I suppose for lack of a better name? My brother shares a room with me, so he'll be really freaked out if I vanish from my bed when I sleep."

"I don't think you quite grasp the word 'dream.'" Francis stated, complete with quotation fingers. "You're still in bed at home. The body you have here, I'll take a swing, is your mind, probably your inner self, or what you want yourself to look like and be."

"Didn't know you were such a philosopher." Willow muttered into her shoulder, glancing at the human behind Rowan's back.

"I get a couple good ones here and there." Francis replied bluntly.

"Alright," Rowan began, "I understand that assisting creatures who, in yours minds, don't exist seems like a waste of time, and useless, and 'why should you care anyway?' But, I assure you that if I were in your world in my sleep and your world was in crisis, I would do everything in my power to help you." Here he paused for a second to allow his words to sink in.

Francis believed him. He barely knew Rowan, but did believe he'd sacrifice himself. Willow drew designs in the dirt with her foot; she didn't want to listen but, though she didn't show it, hung on every word.

"Before you refuse anything," Rowan began again before there could be any rebuttal, "Think of everyone native here. Think of mothers too scared to send their children out to play. Think of all the Faye who can't eat, can't sleep, can't do anything because they're so scared they won't see tomorrow." Willow looked up at his back. "To you, we may not seem like we matter or that we even exist, and to tell the truth," He sighed softly, "We thought the same of you. But regardless, we do exist, at least here, we are alive, and we can very much die just as well. Can you live with something like that, know that you let a whole world die when you could have done something?" Rowan bowed his head. "Thank you."

Francis stared at the ground about twenty feet away. His lips were slightly parted. This place was real, whether it seemed so to him or not, maybe it wasn't so terrible if he stayed here. Then the feeling came, he'd felt it before, the sensation that he was dissolving, disappearing. He was waking up.

*~*

"Oh thank God you're alive." Francis could hear his mother's voice. He was suddenly aware that his head felt like it was split. Slowly opening his eyes, the glow of halogen sterile hospital lights surrounded him. His mother's face, wrinkled with worry and blotched with tears, smiled down at him. He could see his sister and father stood beside her, marginally less blotchy and wrinkled, but still glad to see him alive.

Normally Francis would be happy to be back with his family and finally awake, but why at this moment was he only worried for a world filled with creatures of folklore?

"He didn't say they'd be doing this on their own." Willow growled. There was a small tremor under the earth as she stepped forward with intent to let loose a strip of fire. "The fact that anyone could think Rowan would suggest that is simply-"

Rowan put an arm out in front of her. "We agreed." He whispered over his shoulder to her. He turned back to Doragon, "I understand your concern and the suggestion is wise, but," He glanced to Willow.

"Titanya has taken all the Faye into hiding except for us and a few other scouts on a separate squad." She finished Rowan's sentence, but knew it would bring trouble.

"We haven't heard from the other scouts in day," Rowan let his arm down, "I wouldn't be surprised if they were dead."

Aria nodded. "Ditto. I have no idea how to use these," she said, jerking her finger over her shoulder, indicating her wings, "And whatever I did before with the..." she trailed off, trying to find the right words to describe what had happened with the black snake. She shrugged helplessly at Rowan, unconsciously drawing the reassurance to continue from his presence. After all, he'd seen. He'd know what she was talking about, even if she wasn't completely coherent. "The thing with the snake suddenly being ash. I have no idea how that happened; next time I could blow one of you up, or even hurt myself. It seems that we're a bit of a liability. With the obvious exception of the Arch Sage," she added, glancing apologetically at him, "And TK, I suppose. They know what they're doing."