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Date:05.27.05
Locale:The Silva Regia Tower
Synopsis:A party for Cervus leaves Saevire tongue...er...tail-tied!



SCREEEEEEAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!!!

Saevire let out a heinous shriek as she hit the floor. The red-furred Thule had just stood up to go help Sajhiri bring the cake and ice cream out of the kitchen and found herself yanked backwards a step from her chair. Her backside WHUMPED against the floor, and amid the sound of giggling from the two babies next to her, she spied the cause of her sudden inability to walk.

Her tail had been tied in a knot around one of the spokes on the back of her chair. She flashed a furious glance at the two children, but her ire focused on one in particular. Naeva was smiling at her in an unnaturally calm manner as Rebecca laughed and clapped. She began to shriek at the adopted child, who continued to look at her calmly.

Sedare moved to her side and began to gracefully and calmly untie the knots in her twin's tail. "Now now, sister, I'm sure she didn't do this on purpose to upset you. She likely saw your tail and just played with it because it was warm and soft."

Saevire glared at her sister. "She knew what she was doing. She's not normal I'm telling you! She's deliberately bad!"

Sedare chuckled. "Oh yes, I'm sure a tiny bad is completely aware that she's doing something to hurt you. Really now Sae. She eats, sleeps, and poops according to mother. That's her whole life at the moment. Stop behaving like she's a criminal mastermind out to get you."

The knots finally came loose under the silvery Thule's coaxing and Saevire rubbed at her sore bottom grumpily. "I suppose you're right, but something still isn't ok about her." She glared once more at Naeva before her sister took her arm and began urging her towards the kitchen.

"Come now, we need to help mother with the dessert."








Sedare is one of the most patient of the Aduthulë. We would be pleased to see just how patient she can be. Shadow and I have decided that it would be a good experience for her to take her try at a Rubix Cube. How exciting if she were to actually figure it out! I never could, anyways...



There is no time limit to this quest. Sedare may certainly take however long she needs with this. We only hope that, whether she succeeds or not, the experience will be worth the while.






Saevire has a short temper, no surprise to anyone. Sable and I wish to present her with a puzzle that we hope she will be able to do, a shape sorter. A wee bit simpler than a Rubix Cube, she'll hopefully not give up too quickly. A task like this can better her personality, and perhaps stick with her as she grows.



As Sedare has no time limit, Saevire doesn't either. We look forward to seeing how the both of them shall react.





06.21.04 - Food poisoning is not a way anyone should have to spend a weekend. Doubly so for anyone tending to the needs of a pair of Adulthulë children. I'm afraid I got a hold of some bad sushi at dinner on Friday, and as a result, when I woke on Saturday morning I was in a world of hurt. I spent much of the day in the bathroom wondering if my shoes were going to come flying out of my mouth. My illness had a dreadful effect on the girls.

Sedare at first seemed to patiently tolerate my retching, as if she realized it would pass and I would be fine in a day or two. She crawled over and patted my leg gently, soothing my spirit if not my stomach. Saevire screamed her head off for a while, terror in her eyes, as if expecting me to keel over and die right then and there. That keening wail of hers unfortunately offset much of Sedare's comforting as it gave me a pounding headache.

I spent much of the day lying in bed, the girls curled up with me, worry streaking both their faces. Sedare continued to pet me gently, and oddly, although my fever made any pressure against my skin hurt, when she touched, it didn't really bother me. I was calmed, and I realized that food poisoning was typically only miserable hell for 24-48 hours. I'd be all right soon enough. With that understanding I had the strength to bear through the unpleasantness.

Saevire, however, leaned her head against her twin's after a time, and I could almost swear something unspoken passed between them. I have no proof, but moments later, sweet little Sedare actually reached out and pushed her sister backwards and away from me with no small force. I reprimanded her immediately for the violent action, and she burst into tears, looking at me as if I had it all wrong and had deeply wounded her. But I didn't have it wrong, did I? How could I? I saw Saevire trying to be close to her sister, then Sedare lashing out at her. Saevire was thankfully unhurt, and in fact she cooed contentedly at me the moment I picked her up to see if she was ok.

I don't understand what is going on between these two. Maybe Shadow or Sable will have some insight. I'm thinking they have some, as they just delivered a pair of puzzle games for my girls. A Rubik's cube for Sedare, and a Shape Sorter for Saevire. I will give them to the girls tonight and see how they do with them.







Date: 06.22.04
Locale: Sajhiri's Suite
Synopsis: Sedare and Saevire investigate their new toys.

Sedare quietly accepted the Rubik's cube from Sajhiri's hand, her two little ones curling around the block of smaller colored squares with a gentle affection. Any gift from Jhiri was treasured by the gentle Aduthulë, and this one was the most curious yet.

The patient child sat crosslegged on the floor on a soft fuzzy blanket, propped against some pillows. She seemed to be in better spirits than she had over the weekend, when her guardian was terribly ill. She set the cube down before her to study with a curious expression lighting her violet eyes.

Fingers, pudgy with babyhood, poked at the toy to determine whether or not it would make noise or light up, or move of it's own accord. It did not. It merely sat there, with its colorful stickers gleaming slickly up at her in their jumbled, random state.

The child crawled across the blanket to retrieve her paper and crayons, and brought them back to the cube. With slow and careful determination she began to replicate blocks of color from the cube onto the paper. Each side was drawn, and although the squares were nowhere near perfect, and the alignment was less than stellar, for a child the act was remarkable in it's limited but relatively accurate precision.

Each side was drawn out, and when she was finished, the crayons were set aside. The girl sprawled out on the floor, propping her chin in her hands, and studied the page with an intense focus, but no seeming rush. Eyes flitted back and forth, from one block of color to the next, as if seeking a pattern in them.

"What are you doing Sedare? Daydreaming like a dolt again?" Saevire sent to her sibling in a snarky tone of thought.

"Not at all. It's this block mother gave me. It is most curious. It seems utterly random, with these color patches, so I'm looking to see if there is any pattern to it..." the silvery twin replied in a calm and peaceful wave of thought.

Saevire harumphed and stalked off somewhere else in the room, giving her sister an incredulous look backover her shoulder as if she had never heard of a more ridiculous waste of time. Sedare continued to gaze from side to side on the paper, her eyes pausing on the orange squares in all their disorder. She reached over for a bucket of leggos and pulled out 9 of all one color. One for each of the orange block faces. She then did the same for each of the five other colors of block faces, and her eyes widened as she realized that there were an equal number of every color, and that each color had as many block faces as there were faces on a side of the overall cube. Were all the colors to be confined each to one side of the block, the block could have orderly solid color sides.

Now her curiosity was truly piqued. She picked the block up again, and on a whim tried twisting a row. It moved! Not only could the row move, but the perpendicular rows could move as well, changing what blocks touched what other blocks! This then, was surely a challenge!

She smiled and curled up on the floor for a small nap. It was a challenge with plenty of time to resolve. She would think it through thoroughly before embarking on it.

Saevire stalked away from Sedare and her silly pondering of the Rubik's cube. She made it to the corner between the sofa and the armchair she liked to think of as her own little territory and flopped down on the cushions Sajhiri placed there for her. She blinked as she noticed something new in her space. There was a cube there for her as well, but instead of bearing multicolored blocks within it, it had open holes of varying sizes and shapes. Strewn about it were blocks, of various colors.

What in the world was the thing? She didn't have much of an idea at first, so she picked up each of the blocks first, shaking them, gnawing on them, sniffing them, and even throwing them against the side of the couch to watch them bounce off in their hard plastic state. Thus far they seemed incredibly dull and didn't make any interesting noises or lights or anything. She grunted and pushed them into a small pile before setting the open cube in her lap. She turned it over this way and that, chewing on a corner here and an edge there before wrinkling her nose a bit. It didn't taste very good, and was too hard for her teeth to make a dent in it. She grinned a little though, deciding that it might make a good weapon to bonk someone in the head with and really tick them off.

She tried to shove her pudgy little hand into one of the holes, and got her fingers stuck quite thorougly. She yelped and began to furiously try to tug them back out, twisting and jerking, smacking at the unrelenting toy with her tail.

The sound of a chuckle made her head flash upwards quickly, to spy the Fey King, Cervus, perched on the arm of the chair, laughing at her plight. It seemed the little winged man hadn't forgotten the antler pulling, wing plucking, and near frog feeding she'd subjected him to. She hissed at him and in a flash she smacked him off the chair arm with her long tail.

He squeaked as he hit the floor, unable to get his wings in gear fast enough. Furious, Saevire propped both her feet on the cube and pushed until her hand popped out with a sucking sound. She winced at the pain from it, but her unwounded hand swiped the fallen Fey up off the floor and stuffed HIM into the open cube. Fortunately for him he was small enough to fit. He would be able to get back out unless she found a way to block him in there. She stuffed the leg of her OMG toy into one opening, and a corner of the cushion into another, but then was at a loss. She tried covering the other egresses with hands and tail, but Cervus quickly introduced her finger to his teeth and she yelped. She grabbed for the nearest thing to block the hole who hand had been blocking and snatched up one of the blocks that came with it. She shoved it into the hole.

Or she tried. No matter how she turned the square block, it wouldn't fit into the round hole. She shrieked as she continually tried to jam it in there, wanting nothing more than to trap her miniature nemesis in this new prison. That's when he jabbed his antlers into the fingers of her other hand. She yowled and tried stuffing the block into that hole as she quickly snatched her wounded hand back. The block fit in and bonked Cervus in the head, knocking the Fey King unconscious. She might have been overjoyed if there weren't droplets of blood welling up where his antlers had pierced her finger. She dropped the cube and it's new resident and ran off wailing for Sajhiri.






06.23.04 - If I had a dime for every groan Saevire has caused me, I could retire. Last night she came running into my study screaming and with drops of blood welling from the fingers of one hand. It took me several moments to realize she was bleeding, as the shade was so well matched to her fur. I quickly cleaned and bandaged the tiny cuts, almost like she had pricked herself on rose thorns of some sort. Of course I couldn't really ask her what had caused the injury as neither of the twins seems to be able to speak yet. So I went to investigate where she had come from.

I walked into the living room of the suite to the sound of muffled screams. They were coming from inside of the shape sorter block that Shadow and Sable had given to me for Saevire. The holes of it were all blocked up with socks, the side of a pillow, a stuffed animal leg, a corner of a blanket, oh, and one of the actual blocks for it. They were all doing a bang up job of trapping Cervus inside.

I'm sure there can be few indiginities worse than this that could be forced upon the Fey King. He had a rather large lump on his head, where he told me the block had pushed through the square hole and hit him solidly enough to knock him out for a minute or two. I tried to tell him that I was sure Saevire was only trying to trap him, not hurt him, and probably didn't realize that the block would pass through if she had resorted to plugging the other holes with anything but the blocks which fit into them. He didn't seem to believe that, and after the frog incident I can't say I can truly call him paranoid. He admitted to goring her with his antlers in a mad effort to escape, which had prompted her to use the block rather than her hand to cover the hole.

I reprimanded Saevire solidly for once more making Cervus' life miserable. I was so upset with her that I yelled quite a bit. Although completely wide eyed during my shouting lecture, afterwards she was all smiles, and not even fussy about her bandaged hand. Very, very odd, that one.

Sedare I found curled up asleep on her blanket surrounded by crayons, legos, drawings of colored squares, and her Rubik's cube. She had sorted legos by color into groups of 9.

The drawings seemed to be duplicating the scrambled state of the cube. She is so methodical and patient that it looks like she's actually researching her toy! She never ceases to amaze me. She slept soundly while I picked her up and brought her to her crib, where she opened her eyes, smiled, and gave me my goodnight kiss. She's such a darling. I hope she rubs off on her sister a bit more.

I love Saevire, but the child really tries my patience. I've never had much of a temper, but she's giving me plenty of cause to develop one!






Date: 06.23.04
Locale: Sajhiri's Suite - Aduthule Nursery
Synopsis: Sedare and Saevirestudy their toys further.

Sedare pulled herself up to stand and look at the tank on the windowseat in her and her sister's bedroom. She watched the frogs for a long while, smiling at them and studying their behaviors as they hopped about and croaked, catching the crickets that Sajhiri had dropped in to feed them. After the last insect had been snatched by sticky amphibian tongues, she cooed something soft sounding at the pair and moved to pick up the Rubik's cube from beside the tank.

She carried it over to her blanket where she had set out the drawings she had done of it the day before. She pushed them aside though as she sat down crosslegged, with the cube in her lap. She tilted it this way and that, trying to peer into the dark cracks between the be-stickered blocks to try and find the mechanism which made it turn. That provided no answers for her though.

Experimentally she grasped the one side of the block with one hand, and used the other to twist the end row of blocks on the opposite side. She grinned as it twisted with a firm pressure to alter the line of blocks by one face. The side she was watching had now altered in that column. She let out a happy giggle as she continued to twist and turn various rows and columns, making the color patterns shift with each new attempt.

After an hour of happily rearranging the sides, she paused and stared at the cube in her hands. On one side, she had somehow managed to line up a row of 3 pink squares! By twisting and turning the rows and columns of the cube, she could put the colored sides in right and proper order! She went to take a nap with the idea boiling away in her mind.

Her sister had become incredibly dull since receiving the brightly colored puzzle cube, so Saevire had to resort to finding things to torment on her own. With the memory of trapping Cervus inside her shape sorter fresh in her mind, she decided to try out the makeshift prison on another living creature, namely her sister's pet frog. Having seen Sajhiri unlatch and lift the lid on the tank several times to feed the pair of hoppers, it took her no time to crawl up on a toy chest with a butterfly net, and snare the hapless frog in the netting.

She brought her captive back to the floor, and on a blanket she deposited net, amphibian, and her sorter and blocks. One of the blocks had plugged the hole last night, and she meant to make that work for her again. The frog was unceremoniously dumped into the cube, and fortunately for it, and likely for her, it seemed to like the cool confines of the plastic and the bright color. It was very content to sit there and croak quietly a few times.

Saevire grabbed the nearest block and shoved it at the square hole. She remembered that that hole was the one big enough for the block to go through. But this time, the block defied her. It's cresent shape wouldn't go into the square hole, no matter how she turned it. She heaved and pushed, and finally took to trying to force it in with a plastic toy hammer. The cacophany filled the nursery, but at the end of it, the now terrified frog had leapt into a clothes hamper across the room, Saevire had a swollen thumb from where she accidentally struck it with the hammer when the block slid aside, and the block and cube sat mocking her with their refusal to cooperate.
With a shriek she kicked the cube and it rolled over onto another side, right on top of the cresent block...which slid without any trouble into the cresent shaped hole on the side which landed over it.

Saevire stared for a few moments, as if fully believing the wretched toy was making fun of her now. But then it clicked. The crescent block could go into the cresent hole! She quickly pulled it back out again and repeated inserting it over and over. Then she tried to put it in all the other holes. Nope, only the cresent one worked.

Frantically she turned the block back to the square hole side. She HAD put a block in there last night, so there HAD to be a block which fit! One at a time, in a flurry and a rush, she tried each of the other blocks. At long last she picked up the square block, and sure enough, it slid inside without any problem. The lightbulb turned on inside her head. The blocks that were shaped like the holes would fit into them! Tomorrow she would try her prison chamber out on another victim!

She headed to bed with a gleefully wicked grin on her face.






Date: 06.24.04
Locale: Sajhiri's Suite - Aduthule Nursery
Synopsis: Sedare and Saevire continue their quests.

The cube was once more in the most patient of Aduthulë's lap. Sedare pulled out a black crayon, and began to mark the faces of the blocks one at a time. She made a different mark on each pink square first. Then made that same set of marks on each white one, until every set of colors had a complete set of marks. If she knew how to write numbers, she'd have marked each set 1-9, but her mind had not yet learned the human tongues, so dots, squiggles, and dashes sufficed in her exploration.

The paper came out again, and with eager marks she drew 9 groups of 6 boxes, each to represent one of the pink-faced blocks and all it's sides. She then began to methodically examine each of the blocks in question on the cube itself, and mark down the fixed colors on the visible sides of each one. She had realized that in order for the cube to be completely arranged, she couldn't just randomly line up colored blocks. Each one had to end up in a specific spot on the cube, and be oriented right.

She was quickly able to cross out the sides of each block which did not have any stickers to worry about. Then she filled out the rest of the information on it with her colored crayons. It was not a quick process at all for the little girl. Many hours passed and Sajhiri came in to put her to bed. She placidly let the woman tuck her in, and gave her a kiss goodnight, but no sooner had the lights been put out and the door shut then Sedare crawled back out of her crib and recovered the booklight she had squirreled away in a toy bin some time back. Her idea and Sajhiri's idea of bedtime simply did not coincide.

She clicked the light on and continued her work long into the night, until every block in the cube was fully mapped out. Only then did she succumb to the lure of sleep.

Saevire set out the shape sorter cube in the middle of the floor. In it's center she set the tiny wooden bow she had stolen from Cervus when he was busy talking with Sajhiri earlier in the day. Surely this was good bait! The Aduthulë child carefully pushed the square block halfway into the square hole, and the round one halfway into the round hole. Next the crescent settled into it's hole, leaving a star, a triangle, and an
oval on the floor near it. The oval hole was on the side against the floor, the star on the top, and the triangle on the baiting open side.

With a grin she retreated to the shadow of the crib in the nursery and waited. Fortunately, she didn't have to wait long. Her victim arrived with a grumble of, "If that insidious furry child has stolen it, I'll have her hide tanned!" Cervus stalked into the nursery, his wings twitching as his dark eyes darted to and fro. Those brown orbs narrowed at the sight of the shape sorter he'd become all too acquainted with recently. Brows drew down into a sharp frown as he noticed the bow he was seeking settled inside the partially closed up cube.

The fey King was not a stupid man, but he did not believe the children to be able to think on the same level as he. With a quick glance around to ensure Saevire wasn't there, missing her huddled under the crib due to her dark fur, he walked to the toy. With a small sigh he climbed in to retrieve his weapon.

With a swift skittering, Saevire crawled the few feet to the cube and JAMMED the triangle block into it's hole, pushing Cervus fully inside. She snatched up the star block to push it into the top, realizing he could fly out. She pushed it down, but the arms of the star were differing sizes, and she did not have them aligned. She didn't understand! It was the right shape, it should fit! With a shriek of fury she continually pounded on the star shaped-block, making the whole toy quake and shudder and throwing Cervus off his feet as he shouted for Sajhiri to help.

The pounding jiggled the round block out of it's hole, and before Saevire even noticed, Cervus flew out with his bow, and into the next room to get the Aduthulë's guardian. Realizing her captive had escaped, the angry child calmed to a low seething rage, and she eyes the block and the whole. Something wasn't fitting right, and she wanted to know why. But not tonight. Tonight she kicked the toy clear across the room with her foot, and waited for Sajhiri's fury and anger to revitalize her.






Date: 06.25.04
Locale: Sajhiri's Suite - Aduthule Nursery
Synopsis: The Quests near completion.

Sedare stared at her numerous sheets of crayon colored paper. Every block of the Rubik's cube was painstakingly mapped out. New paper was in front of her now, with uncolored 6 open squares in blocks of 9 spread out to represent the 6 sides of the cube.

One at a time, Sedare tracked down the designated blocks of orange which were corner blocks. She colored them into one facing side, so that the stickers on their other side kept same colors in the same rows as well. She then filled in the inner blocks easily. This would give her one solid colored side with the top row of the 4 connecting faces solid in color as well.

Setting the crayons aside, she picked the actual cube up, and after many long minutes of studying it, began to twist and turn the rows and columns in an effort to get one of the orange corner cubes to the same side as the immobile center orange block. It was white on it's facing side. She then carefully brought the other orange corner with a white facing side into position, and so on. It took an hour for the silvery child, but at the end of that hour, she had a solid orange face on the cube, with the top row of each touching face a solid color: white, green, yellow, and blue respectively.

Satisfied with her progress, Sedare set the block aside and toddled off to spend some time with her sister.

The red and black Aduthulë sat and stared at the star-shaped block that had ruined her attempts at capturing the Silva Regia Sun King the day before. She set it atop the shape sorter cube and turned it this way and that, until, at long last, the arms of the star lined up and the block slid inside. With a grunt of sarcastic satisfaction at this late victory, she pulled the rest of the blocks towards her. She would practice until she could get all the shapes into the sorter quicker than that wretched winged man could escape.

It wasn't that she had a good reason to dislike Cervus, other than he took some of Sajhiri's attention from her and her twin. Unlike her sister, she wasn't patient enough to tolerate their foster mother spending more time with the fey of Tir Nan Og than them. In her foggy childish judgement, to restore her guardian's attention all she should have to do is remove the impediment.

Of course there was a secondary complication now, with that catwoman who showed up at the beach as well. The Sphinx as Sajhiri had called her. She was much too big to trap in the shape sorter though, so she would have to figure out another way to deal with that one in the future. For now, she wanted to handle Cervus.

Little hands clutched at block after block, stuffing shapes into the sorter with quicker and quicker results. The star was the most ornery of the items, so she decided for the next trap she would put that opening against the floor. Square into square...triangle into triangle...the motions became more and more comfortable to the Aduthulë. Soon she would be ready...tomorrow perhaps.

But how in the world would she trick the creature back into the block? There was no way he would willingly enter the prison again, not after being trapped in it twice. She would have to catch him another way and stuff him in there herself. She sucked a moment on the finger his antlers had punctured. This time, there would be no mistakes.

She glanced up and put the block aside as her twin approached with a desire to play.






Date: 06.27.04
Locale: Sajhiri's Suite - Aduthule Nursery
Synopsis: The Quests reach their end.

Tiny grunts and panting breaths signified the effort Sedare was putting into twisting the multicolored Rubik's cube in her lap. The child's eyes never left the surface of the puzzle as her little fingers twisted and turned the columns and rows in an attempt to line them up correctly without upsetting the other solid sides and rows.

Sajhiri drifted in and out of her awareness from time to time, spoon feeding her meals which she mechanically consumed without stopping. She didn't even let the cube go while being dressed and carted about to the museum, Tir Nan Og, the pet shop, or Jhiri's office.

Saevire groused and grumped at her for not playing with her, and her twin even beaned her with one of the blocks she was given for her shape sorter toy. But it only illicited a bit of startled blinking and a small frown before the quiet twin resumed her conquest of the cube.

Hour after hour was devoured by the puzzle, Sedare's entire attention and focus on finishing the project she had patiently and thoroughly researched. She wasn't in the least impatient in doing it, she was just simply more patient that she'd have plenty of time to play when it was finished.

Sajhiri was trying to pry the cube from her hands to put her to bed when with a small squeal of joy, the final twist set the last mismatched blocks into proper place. The cube was complete! Sajhiri stared at it, amazed, and she set aside a time for the next day to bring it in to the Aduthulë research offices to show Shadow and Sable.

Sedare looked completely content as she handed the finished cube to her guardian, and curled up to sleep.

Saevire laid in wait in the shadow of the couch in the living area of the suite. In her hands was a child's butterfly net from an outdoor toykit Sajhiri had given the girls. She knew Cervus was coming, she had heard the buzzing of his insectoid wings several times. The shape sorter sat beside her with its blocks, covered with a blanket. On the floor a few feet from her hiding place she had strewn some of the papers from Sajhiri's desk. Surely those would draw his attention.

And so they did. The antlered fey entered the room and called out for the guardian, but did not get an answer. She was out in the saloon's kitchen, getting dinner ready for all of them. Saevire crouched, ready to move quickly, or as quickly as a baby Aduthulë could.

Cervus spotted the papers, and he drifted down to alight on them. Worried eyes scanned over the words, as if wondering how they got there, and if something had happened to Sajhiri.

In a flash, the netting of Saevire's weapon dropped down over him, and he was scooped off his feet in the tangle. She twisted the opening closed and stepped on it to hold him there while she uncovered the cube.

Cervus let out a shout the moment he saw it, the bane of his existence. Saevire quickly put the triangle, circle, oval, and crescent blocks into the sides, leaving the square one open at the top, and the star blocked by the floor on the bottom.

With a sadistic grin, the child reached into the net and hauled Cervus out by his feet. She stuffed him through the square hole in the cube, and slammed the square block into place behind him, pinning him between all the blocks. He let out a yelp.

Quickly she turned the cube over and sealed the star hole with the star cube. She had done it! He was imprisoned and couldn't get out! Even his cries were muffled. She let out a gleeful giggle of triumph and fed off the waves of fury emanating from the trapped fey.

A swish...swish...sound caught her attention then. As well as a tap tapping. She looked over her shoulder to see the leonine form of the Sphinx watching her through half-lidded eyes, and the figure of her guardian standing behind the riddle-crafting being who had led her there.

"Saevire! What have you done!??! How many times have I told you not to hurt King Cervus! He's a living being with feelings just like you! Lets see how you feel about being imprisoned for a day! You're grounded and your not allowed to leave your room!" With that, Sajhiri plucked the cube away from the Aduthulë and freed the rattled and furious fey king.

"I'm going back to Tir Nan Og, Revered Daughter Sajhiri. Else I might decide your child is more animal than being and put some arrows into her." With a disgruntled huffing, Cervus departed, and Sajhiri swept Saevire up to bring her back to her room in punishment.







07.2.04 - I know it's been a few days since I've written in my journal, but something amazing happened, and I just haven't had any time to write! A few nights ago, I woke up to screaming and shouting from the girls' room. In an absolute panic I barreled down the hall and flung open the door...to see the pair of them tangled and crunched in their cribs. "Tangled and Crunched?" you ask. yes, tangled and crunched. The cribs were tiny, designed for foot high Aduthulë babies, and they were suddenly containing 2 foot tall Aduthulë kids!

The most shocking thing for me was that it took me until I got in there to realize that Saevire had been screaming my NAME. They could talk! As I helped them out of the cribs and pulled out the sofa bed I had in the room for late night feedings, I marvelled at the changes in them. Sedare was willowy and femine, her long silver hair which had gold bands prior was now silver at the roots amid those bands and gold at the ends, which fell all the way to her knees in glorious waves! Her tiny wings had begun to fill out, white and fluffy, and her tail grew longer and less bushy. I draped her in a nightshirt until I could sew up a proper garment for her.

Her sister, Saevire, wasn't interested in covering up anything, and in fact almost bit me when I tried to put a tshirt on her. She did snatch a leather armband from me though and put that on to satisfy my request she wear something. She is rather lanky now, and less feminine in appearance than her twin. She seems to be having a hard time adjusting to her new height, and she's become somewhat clumsy. I think perhaps she has to learn to use her longer tail and wider wings for balance, but she hasn't grasped it yet. Sedare, who is ever more patient, has taken it slow, and grown gracefully into her new form.

I'm setting aside blocks of pages in this journal so the girls can put their own thoughts down. Right now I'm exhausted from running amok the last few days, trying to get a hold of Sable and Shadow to show them the growth spurt, and making Sedare's little dress. So I'll close for now so I can rest a bit.

Date: 07.06.04

((Scrawled in semi-neat purple crayon))

This is my first journal entry. I am sorry if it does not make sense. I am still getting used to writing. And Gaian. It takes lots longer to write than talk, or how Saevire and I used to think to each other. I have been reading lots about how to write, and I think I am doing good at it. Saevire does not like it. I do not think she wants to learn, just to make problems for mother.

I know Sajhiri is not our real mother. But sheis good to us and is so kind that I want to call her that. She makes mistakes sometimes, like when she thinks Saevire is good when she is being bad. King Cervus knows she's bad. Saevire is a bad, bad girl most of the time to King Cervus. But she is my sister and I love her and I am sure she will be good in time.

I am teaching her to read and write like me, but she is not very patient and does not like to be taught. I am not mad though. She will learn in time. She seems to get very angry with me for not being mad. I think she wants me to be mad at her, but she is my sister and I love her, so it is hard for me to be mad. I can be sad about her, but made is not something I feel lots.

I think my sister likes to make people mad. I think it makes her feel good when they feel mad. I like it better when people are happy and calm and not rushing or mad. That makes me feel good. Saevire is the one who gets mad when I calm someone down. But I find anyone is calmer if you pat them. It is hard to be mad when that happens.

I am happy we are going to see a moo vee with mother soon. She is taking us to see something about a man-spider. She gave me some picture books about him. She called them "Comic books". The pictures were pretty and Peter Parker seems very brave and nice. It should be fun to see him moving on a big screen like other people do on the television.

I'm going to go find Saevire now and play.

Date: 07.06.04

(Scrawled in messy red crayon)

stoopid sister i hate riting. she makes me rite and i want to play. i want to kech that silly winged man hes like a flying bug and i wanna squish him! i like lezard he listend to me and will make his dad mad. he will be a gud frend. gunna go play now and make sedare mad.

09.10.04 - Busy busy busy. The girls have had to accompany me to do a great deal of things in Gaia and I haven't had time to settle down and write. I have been busy doing my fey researches in the tower, and managing the small tavern for the Feien in the old groundskeeper's cottage here, and checking in with Tir Nan Og often as so many things have been happening there. The offices of Aduthule research have been mostly vacant in the last few weeks, and the girls miss their friends a great deal.

To cheer them up I've decided to let them have a slumber party for all their Aduthule brethren. We'll put up some notices in the offices and see if we can get a sign up sheet going for it. I'm hoping to do this next weekend at some point.







10.06.04 - Ah what a busy busy season it has been for me and the girls. I've been dealing with some rather unpleasant memory lapses, and because of it, the Sphinx has been instrumental in caring for the twins. They are both a bit upset with me...well mostly Saevire...Sedare never seems to truly get upset, she seemed more disappointed.

It appears one of my memory lapses occured on the day they were supposed to have their slumber party. The Sphinx said I was nowhere to be found, so she had to call the other Aduthulë guardians and cancel the party. Saevire apparently threw quite the temper tantrum. Sedare cried for a while, then tried to cheer up her sister, telling her that surely I would reschedule and that all would be well.

The Sphinx was very distressed about my frequent unremembered absences. She said she'll try to keep an eye on me, and that maybe I'd started to sleepwalk or some such. I hope the girls can forgive me. Once I discover the cause of these memory lapses, I'll throw them the slumber party they deserve.






10.27.04 - The girls have been in the care of the Sphinx for the last while as my duties as Sangariel, Keeper of the Portals to Heaven, were escalated. I was so happy to be back with my girls though as I missed them horribly.

It appears that the offices of Aduthulë research at the museum are closed for a while. I wonder if I can get in contact with some of the other guardians so the girls can socialize more.






01.03.05 - Goodness, where does the time go? I've been dreadfully lax in updating my diary, but you know how the holiday season goes. Never enough time to get everything done, and my writings were the sacrifice to find the time to get all my tasks completed.

Needless to say, I have a lot of catching up to do. The girls are doing well, although they miss all of their friends, and their personalities are continuing to become more disparate. I am hopeful that the Museum's Aduthulë Research offices will once more reopen so I can ask if this is normal or unusual.

Thanksgiving with the Menagerie was pleasant. I made a huge dinner and rented some movies. We had turkey with all the trimmings, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, twice baked potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and date pudding. The girls were especially happy that I rented Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, as they had wanted to see it badly.

Saevire and Maleficent, my Cait Siobhan, have been spending a good deal of time together. I'm glad of this, as Sae's often overzealous manner tended to make the rest of the Menagerie avoid her like the plague. I'm a bit concerned about her obsession with pirates though. If I have to watch Johnny Depp swagger and stumble across the screen one more time...well I guess I don't mind that very much, but getting whacked in the thigh with a plastic cutlass a few dozen times tends to irritate after a while.

She's taken to wearing an eye patch and adding "YARRRRRR!" to every sentence of late. I'm trying to play along and encourage the imaginativeness, but people are beginning to think I'm some sort of awful parent raising my child in the spirit of "plundering and pillaging". Even in my infinite patience I'm sick to death of repeated renditions of "Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum" being belted at the top of her lungs.

I didn't lose my patience until I found her trying to make her sister "Walk the plank" out over the tower moat where she'd set a wooden board held down by a boulder. Mind you I've no idea how she got the boulder on the board, but I'm afraid to ask. I gave her the first spanking she's ever gotten due to the danger she put poor Sedare in. She cried, but she seemed oddly pleased about being punished. I grounded her for a week.

Sedare has been patiently putting up with her sister's piratical behaviors, and has taken to painting quietly in her room most of the days. She's also spent hours talking to Escalus, the ghostly teenager I am fostering. I think maybe she finds his company so appealing because unlike her twin, he is unable to touch her. I'm continually running out of books for her to read and buying her more. I plan to get her the Lemony Snicket series soon.

My sweet girl gave me a lovely Christmas gift. She painted a portrait of the whole Menagerie together around the Christmas tree. Mind you, it took me a few tries to figure out who some of the subjects were, as her skills are not quite master level yet, and fingerpaints aren't terribly conducive to discernible features, but it was very lovely and heartfelt.

Saevire gave me a rabbit's foot. I didn't really want to know that she and Maleficent got it off a real rabbit they'd hunted down and Maleficent ate, but at least they had it properly dried and treated so it wouldn't go bad. They say it's a lucky charm, I say the rabbit really wasn't very lucky. But it was heartfelt as well and for that I'm grateful.

The girls spent hours opening all their presents, from barbies to legos to care bears. I got Sedare an art easel and box of her first real watercolor paints as her special gift. I got Saevire a Ship Captain's coat and hat with embroidered trim and lace cuffs and gold buttons. Now she can be a fancy pirate! And maybe I can steer her more towards the lawful side of nautical history!

New Years eve was another quiet night, though I let the girls stay up until midnight to celebrate with pizza and chicken wings. It was fun and they seemed fascinated by the tradition.

I'm hoping to find a means to reach the rest of the Aduthulë researchers so I can see if we can coordinate a slumber party for all the twins. The girls need more socialization with others like them I think. Most of the Menagerie is a bad influence on them. That and most of the Menagerie needs a break from Saevire.

I'll close this for now and write more later.







Date: 01.30.05
Locale: Twins' Room in the Tower.
Synopsis: Sajhiri tells the girl's she's expecting.

Sajhiri opened the door to the girls' room with a broad and warm smile on her face. Even the fact that Saevire was currently cutting her bedsheets into pirate ship sails and hanging then off the four bedposts couldn't dull her good mood more than a few notches.

Immediately finding that suspect, Saevire tucked the scissors away under her mattress and flung a balled up scrap of yarn, what she'd been using to fasten the sheets to the bedposts with, at her sister.

Sedare jolted alert from where she'd been completely absorbed by the art book in her lap, and gave her sister a gentle look of disapproval before turning her placid gaze towards the door. "You look happy, Momma! Do you have some good news for us?" she asked cheerfully, closing her book and setting it aside.

"Or maybe some presents? Like that real live cannon I asked for?" Saevire quipped eagerly, moving to settled on Sedare's bed behind her more scholarly twin, and flipping her pirate eyepatch up so she could see better. She grinned excitedly.

Sajhiri chuckled and she moved to settle on the bed, pulling Sedare up into her lap and settling an arm around Saevire's shoulders. "I have some good news yes, though it's not about presents or anything like that. It turns out, I'm going to be not just your mother, but mother to another baby. I'm expecting a child." The joy on her face was more than evident, even if the pregnancy was nowhere near evident yet.

Sedare's violet eyes widened in surprise and then she laughed merrily. "A sister or brother for us then! How wonderful!" She hugged Sajhiri around the middle and pressed her cheek against the woman's still flat stomach. "Welcome to our family, my sibling! I can't wait to meet you!"

Saevire blinked a few times, not quite processing as quickly as her twin. Then she frowned. "How is THAT supposed to be good news? Are you gonna get rid of us now that you have a baby that will be like YOU?!" The eye patch was flipped back down with a slapping sound and the red and black Thule's tail twitched in aggravation.

Sajhiri looked flummoxed. "Of course not Saevire! You are my children every bit as much as this baby, and you are equally special because I chose you just as I chose to have this child. I love you both and I want you to love and care about your sister or brother as well. Just think of the fun you can all have playing together?"

Sedare reached out a hand to stroke her sister's tail and calm her with that strange ability she seemed to possess in regards to her twin.The soothing effect set in and Saevire's tail twitches grew less violent.

She began to think of all the ways she could make a child angry...at least one that wasn't her seemingly unangerable sister. A slow smile spread across her face. "Well, yeah, I guess that's true. It should be lots of fun."

Sajhiri's face smoothed in relief and she ruffled the girls' hair with her hands. "I'm glad you're happy about this. I've waited a long time, and my love for the two of you has shown me I'm ready for another baby. I'm going to go start dinner, I'll call you when it's ready."

Jhiri left the room and a pair of gleeful Aduthule went back to their hobbies, each with a very different idea of what they could be gleeful about.

Date: 02.10.05

((Scrawled in semi-neat purple crayon))

The last month has been happy and sad and scary. Momma gathered Sae and I together to tell us that she was going to have a baby! I'm so happy! A little brother or sister will be so much fun to play with, specially since Sae only seems to want to play pirates any more and I'm bored of that. She doesn't even know anything about pirates other than Captain Jack Sparrow from that Kareybein movie and some silly picture books.

The Sphinx has been taking care of us a lot lately, because she says Momma is sick. She says she is going be ok, but we can't be near her much for a while. I overheard the Sphinx talking with King Cervus, and they said Momma is under some kind of bad spell from a bad fairy lady and that it makes her a bad person when she doesn't want to be a bad person. I'm very worried for her. I hope they stop the bad magics soon. I miss her reading me stories before bed and painting with me. And Saevire has been really mean to me lately. I know it's because she misses Momma too, but instead of being sad, she gets mad about it, and wants me to be made with her.

The Sphinx said the museum offices are opening again, and that Sae and I will get to see our other Aduthule friends again! I can't wait. Momma promised we could have a slumber party, and the Sphinx said we will have one even if momma can't be there! I'm going to make pretty invitations for everyone!

Date: 02.10.045

hate sajhiri. she won't play with us anymore. stupid cat lady said she's sick, but i think she just doesn't care. sedare says i'm making things up and i just miss her. i pulled her hair for that but she still didn't get mad. stoopid. slammed the door on the cat lady's tail. she was really mad. heeeee! have to do that again. stoopid winged deer fairy guy still not caught. need a better trap.







Date: 02.14.05
Locale: Kitchen of the Tower.
Synopsis: The Menagerie celebrates Valentine's Day!

The long wooden kitchen table in the Silva Regia tower was currently a very crowded place. Strewn atop it was a variety of construction paper in reds, whites, and pinks, white glue, multi colored glitters, ribbons, cinnamon candy hearts, larger sugary hearts with love messages on them, safety scissors, crayons, markers, paints, and stencils in various heart, flower, and cherub shapes. One end of it was also filled with heart shaped sugar cookies on racks, and bowls of white, pink, and red icing, more candies of rosy hues, and colored sugar.

Sitting around the table was the majority of the Menagerie, with the exception of the water-dwelling members who would find the kitchen an most unhospitable environment. A few of the present members looked less than thrilled to be there, but the rest seemed merry.

The Aduthule twins, Saevire and Sedare, were carefully cutting out construction paper heart shapes folded over to make Valentine's cards for the other Aduthule for the part scheduled for later that day. Sedare's pale pink heart cards were cut cleanly and in a well made heart shape, and were trimmed along the edges with decorative paper lace. The folded edges were holepunched and had white and red ribbon threaded through them, tied to the ends of which were red and white Life Savers candies. On the fronts she had painted pretty angel stencils and scribed the words "Happy Valentine's Day" in red marker. Inside each one was addressed in friendship to a different Aduthule with happy sentiments.

Saevire's valentines were the shape of a heart with crossbones made of white paper. She colored the heart in the center in with red crayon and put skull-like eyes, nostrils, and teeth jotted in with a black marker. After a moment or two of pondering it one might gather it was her version of a Valentines Day Jolly Roger. Inside each card was address to an Aduthule child and was inscribed with a warped pirate saying like "You Shiver Me Timbers" or "Yarr, Be my Matey!".

Averno, the Feien Fairy, was looking perturbed and as if she was there decidedly against her will. However under Sajhiri's watchful eye she continued her arduous task of dragging an icing-loaded toothpick across pink, white, or red iced sugar cookies to spell out phrases most often seen on candy hearts. "Love" and "Kiss Me" slowly took shape in the reluctant fairies shaky script. Sajhiri was grinning as she boxed each one after it was finished in a pretty basket labeled "For the Feien Shop".

Maleficent, the Cait Siobhan, was dipping a paw daintily into red fingerpaints and disdainfully placing a paw print squarely on the front of a white ceramic heart. Beside her Caelestis, the celestial Talaye, did the same with white paint on red hearts, only with much more enthusiasm and enjoyment. Beside him a tiny little Talaye named Tantillus added his tiny paw prin beside the larger Talaye's.

Escalus, the ghostly boy, peered over shoulders, unable to touch anything on the table. He looked deeply sad, but as was his wont he didn't voice any of his sorrow. Sajhiri moved to hug him gently several times, to remind him he wasn't alone and she, at least, could physically contact him.

The young Alphapet, Telenna, was stringing red, white, and pink beads onto friendship bracelets, spelling out the names of the rest of the menagerie. Her deft fingers wove the ribbons being threaded with ease, and she seemed calm and in a pleasant mood. She sat beside Sajhiri and kept a watchful eye on her guardian.

King Cervus moved from project to project lending a hand. He'd long finished his pleasant cards with pressed flowers glued beneath a top sheet of thin parchment the flowers could be seen through. The Fey's antlered head ducked and bobbed occasionally to avoid the paper scraps chucked at him by Saevire.

The Sphinx wasn't participating much in the festivities. Valentines were decidedly not an Egyptian thing, and she had a bigger project to be concerned with. She was handcuffed to Sajhiri to be able to protect the rest in case Majestrix Nox's spell took over her friend again. Instead of making cards or cookies, the felinid woman was knitting what looked like baby booties with an occasional grin at Sajhiri's expanding belly.

Sajhiri stepped back to look at her family with a warm and gentle smile. She placed a hand on her growing belly and looked down at it. "Feel the love in the room little one? Soon you'll be a part of it, and we feel so fortunate to have you coming into our lives." As if in response, she had a sudden urge to devour one of the sugar cookies, and did so without hesitation.

Averno shot her a dirty look. "I just spent 20 minutes trying to spell out "Be Mine" on that piece of confectionary nightmare, you could have at least eaten one I hadn't already decorated, Sajhiri."

The Seraph shrugged and grinned. "What baby wants, baby gets, Averno..." she quipped. She moved to pass out cups of cocoa with marshmallows to the menagerie as the Valentine construction continued long into the afternoon.

Youko's ears pricked up as he heard a shrill cry, and he sighed before walking towards the noise.

Nuria's hands clapped over her mouth a moment later, but she hadn't been able to help the scream she'd let out at seeing that... that... THING! And she'd heard the music before, when Youko and Envy were watching a movie and she and Danica had snuck out of bed to watch from the hall. Danica had told her that the shark lived under the bathtub and that if you were still in the tub when the water was gone, it would jump up from the drain and eat you. Whimpering softly, she was shaking as she looked at the Megalodon, scooting closer to Saevire.

Danica was wilting, her brows lifted slightly as she tried to make sense of this. Why hadn't the girl just done what she was told?? Did she WANT to bring misery onto them both? There was that foreshadowing thing again... and Danica was now convinced that all heroines were either stupid or flighty.

Sedare reached out to gently pat the other Thule's wrapped hand, as if to reassure her all hope was not lost. The silvery girl seemed to have the very essence of calm about her.

She wept and lamented, but all in vain, for go he must. Then she asked him if she could not go with him. But no, that could not be. "Can you tell me the way then, and I will seek you -- that I may surely be allowed to do!"

"Yes, you may do that," said he; "but there is no way thither. It lies east of the sun and west of the moon, and never would you find your way there."

When she awoke in the morning both the Prince and the castle were gone, and she was lying on a small green patch in the midst of a dark, thick wood. By her side lay the self-same bundle of rags which she had brought with her from her own home. So when she had rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and wept till she was weary, she set out on her way, and thus she walked for many and many a long day, until at last she came to a great mountain. Outside it an aged woman was sitting, playing with a golden apple. The girl asked her if she knew the way to the Prince who lived with his stepmother in the castle which lay east of the sun and west of the moon, and who was to marry a princess with a nose which was three ells long. "How do you happen to know about him?" inquired the old woman; "maybe you are she who ought to have had him." "Yes, indeed, I am," she said. "So it is you, then?" said the old woman; "I know nothing about him but that he dwells in a castle which is east of the sun and west of the moon. You will be a long time in getting to it, if ever you get to it at all; but you shall have the loan of my horse, and then you can ride on it to an old woman who is a neighbor of mine: perhaps she can tell you about him. When you have got there you must just strike the horse beneath the left ear and bid it go home again; but you may take the golden apple with you."

So the girl seated herself on the horse, and rode for a long, long way, and at last she came to the mountain, where an aged woman was sitting outside with a gold carding-comb. The girl asked her if she knew the way to the castle which lay east of the sun and west of the moon; but she said what the first old woman had said: "I know nothing about it, but that it is east of the sun and west of the moon, and that you will be a long time in getting to it, if ever you get there at all; but you shall have the loan of my horse to an old woman who lives the nearest to me: perhaps she may know where the castle is, and when you have got to her you may just strike the horse beneath the left ear and bid it go home again." Then she gave her the gold carding-comb, for it might, perhaps, be of use to her, she said.

So the girl seated herself on the horse, and rode a wearisome long way onward again, and after a very long time she came to a great mountain, where an aged woman was sitting, spinning at a golden spinning-wheel. Of this woman, too, she inquired if she knew the way to the Prince, and where to find the castle which lay east of the sun and west of the moon. But it was only the same thing once again. "Maybe it was you who should have had the Prince," said the old woman. "Yes, indeed, I should have been the one," said the girl. But this old crone knew the way no better than the others -- it was east of the sun and west of the moon, she knew that, "and you will be a long time in getting to it, if ever you get to it at all," she said; "but you may have the loan of my horse, and I think you had better ride to the East Wind, and ask him: perhaps he may know where the castle is, and will blow you thither. But when you have got to him you must just strike the horse beneath the left ear, and he will come home again." And then she gave her the golden spinning-wheel, saying: "Perhaps you may find that you have a use for it."

Saevire seemed to feed off the fear of Nuria and she gestured up at the gaping mouthful of saw-edged teeth, each half as long as the smaller Thule was tall. "But legend says if you have one of their teeth on your ship, they'll never harm it or you. So if you want to be a pirate, I challenge you to get up there and pull out a tooth and bring it back to me, so the Black Pearl can be forever protected from evil sharks!"

East of the Sun... West of the Moon. Danica tried to figure that out in her head, but came up with a headache when she tried. Instead, she brought her attention back to the story, nodding vigorously when the mention of the East Wind was made. Of couse HE would know the way. He was the EAST wind!

Nuria clung to Saevire's hand for a moment, gulping as she looked up at the shark. She was supposed to get up THERE... near all those TEETH?!? Whimpering softly, she looked to the other Thule, half hoping she would laugh and say it was all a joke. But she didn't. She looked dead serious about this. I don't wanna go... she thought to herself, turning back to the shark and slipping beneath the rope that kept onlookers from getting too close. Closing her eyes for a moment, she just kept telling herself that it was dead. It couldn't bite her, it was dead. It wouldn't mind losing a tooth, it was dead. As she started to climb, however, and got closer to the shark's mouth, that mantra wasn't as reassuring as she'd meant it to be.

Sedare watched the Aduthule child's face for reactions and she smiled brightly as she continued the tale.

The girl had to ride for a great many days, and for a long and wearisome time, before she got there; but at last she did arrive, and then she asked the East Wind if he could tell her the way to the Prince who dwelt east of the sun and west of the moon. "Well," said the East Wind, "I have heard tell of the Prince, and of his castle, but I do not know the way to it, for I have never blown so far; but, if you like, I will go with you to my brother the West Wind: he may know that, for he is much stronger than I am. You may sit on my back, and then I can carry you there." So she seated herself on his back, and they did go so swiftly! When they got there, the East Wind went in and said that the girl whom he had brought was the one who ought to have had the Prince up at the castle which lay east of the sun and west of the moon, and that now she was traveling about to find him again, so he had come there with her, and would like to hear if the West Wind knew whereabout the castle was. "No," said the West Wind; "so far as that have I never blown; but if you like I will go with you to the South Wind, for he is much stronger than either of us, and he has roamed far and wide, and perhaps he can tell you what you want to know. You may seat yourself on my back, and then I will carry you to him."

So she did this, and journeyed to the South Wind, neither was she very long on the way. When they had got there, the West Wind asked him if he could tell her the way to the castle that lay east of the sun and west of the moon, for she was the girl who ought to marry the Prince who lived there. "Oh, indeed!" said the South Wind, "is that she? Well," said he, "I have wandered about a great deal in my time, and in all kinds of places, but I have never blown so far as that. If you like, however, I will go with you to my brother, the North Wind;55 he is the oldest and strongest of all of us, and if he does not know where it is no one in the whole world will be able to tell you. You may sit upon my back, and then I will carry you there." So she seated herself on his back, and off he went from his house in great haste, and they were not long on the way. When they came near the North Wind's dwelling, he was so wild and frantic that they felt cold gusts a long while before they got there. "What do you want?" he roared out from afar, and they froze as they heard.

Said the South Wind: "It is I, and this is she who should have had the Prince who lives in the castle which lies east of the sun and west of the moon. And now she wishes to ask you if you have ever been there, and can tell her the way, for she would gladly find him again."

"Yes," said the North Wind, "I know where it is. I once blew an aspen leaf there, but I was so tired that for many days afterward I was not able to blow at all. However, if you really are anxious to go there, and are not afraid to go with me, I will take you on my back, and try if I can blow you there."

"Get there I must," said she; "and if there is any way of going I will; and I have no fear, no matter how fast you go."

"Very well then," said the North Wind; "but you must sleep here to-night, for if we are ever to get there we must have the day before us."

Saevire watched eagerly as Nuria crossed the boundary into the exhibit. If THIS didn't make someone mad and cause some screaming and shouting, she'd eat her eye patch. It'd been too long since she tasted someone else's anger. She gestured for the little Thule to keep going, saluting her with her cutlass.

Danica was enraptured, her mind imagining the winds and their voices... the travels and the worry that the girl must be feeling. At the mention of hte North wind, Danica cringed back slightly, the 'booming voice' seeming all too real to her. Still, she listened, wanting more than anything to know what happened next.

Nuria, meanwhile, was halfway up the shark, clinging to it as best she could. Her size was both an advantage and a detriment to her... being light enough to move around, made it better, but she couldnt' reach very far as she tried to find new handholds.

"NURIA!!" Youko darted forward, eyes widening as he saw her all the way up there. "What on earth are you doing??"

The yell made Nuria jump, and she felt herself slip, one hand clinging to the shark as her feet waved in midair. Letting out a yelp, she looked down and began to wail, the ground seeming MUCH farther away than she originally thought. She was going to try and find a way down, tooth bedamned... then her fingers slipped the rest of the way. The little fire Thule screamed as she fell, sure that she would wind up splattered on the floor.

Youko rarely used his 'gifts'. He rarely felt the need to. Now, however, he HAD to, and in the blink of an eye, he had vanished from Saevire's side, reappearing in mid-air as he wrapped himself around Nuria. Unfortunately, that set HIM to falling, and he landed hard on his side, curled protectively around the little girl.

Gods, that had hurt... he didn't think anything was broken, but he didn't really feel as though he could move at the moment without direly wishing he hadn't. In reaction, his body changed of its own accord, a small silver fox winding up in a ball on the floor as Nuria picked herself up and looked to him.

She knew he wasn't supposed to do that... that the only time she'd ever seen him like this was when he was really sick. Envy had said it was 'instinct', whatever that was, and she immediately scooped him up into a furrball in her arms, looking to Saevire and babbling incoherently. [Help me! Help me, we have to find someone who can fix him!]

"I'm alright, little one," he whispered softly, still rather rattled, and not really in a condition to shift back to his 'normal' form just yet. "I'll be alright. Just take me back upstairs, okay?"

A soft whine left Nuria's throat as she looked to Saevire then. She was older... she'd know what to do. She'd know how to get back up there.

Anger, fear, pain...Saevire breathed them all in and revelled for a moment, but the fear and pain were far more prevalent than any anger and she snorted softly in disappointment. The furious expression on a museum employees face fed her a new rush though and she grinned wildly at them as they took off running towards the strange little creatures that had sullied the megalodon display.

"Avast, little Nuria! We have scallywags off the port bow! Follow me, to the secret passages in the bell of the deep!" The crimson thule dashed off, grabbing Nuria's tail so as not to lose her, and scrambled through the crowds to head for the stairs rather than the elevator.

"You're a pirate at heart, matey! I'll definitely keep you on my crew!" She began skittering up the stairs towards the floor her guardian and sibling would still be on.

Sedare frowns softly in the office upstairs, as if she could sense the satisfaction Saevire had been drawing off the anger below. She shook it off though and returned to the story.

The North Wind woke her betimes next morning, and puffed himself up, and made himself so big and so strong that it was frightful to see him, and away they went, high up through the air, as if they would not stop until they had reached the very end of the world. Down below there was such a storm! It blew down woods and houses, and when they were above the sea the ships were wrecked by hundreds. And thus they tore on and on, and a long time went by, and then yet more time passed, and still they were above the sea, and the North Wind grew tired, and more tired, and at last so utterly weary that he was scarcely able to blow any longer, and he sank and sank, lower and lower, until at last he went so low that the waves dashed against the heels of the poor girl he was carrying. "Art thou afraid?" said the North Wind. "I have no fear," said she; and it was true. But they were not very, very far from land, and there was just enough strength left in the North Wind to enable him to throw her on to the shore, immediately under the windows of a castle which lay east of the sun and west of the moon; but then he was so weary and worn out that he was forced to rest for several days before he could go to his own home again.

Next morning she sat down beneath the walls of the castle to play with the golden apple, and the first person she saw was the maiden with the long nose, who was to have the Prince. "How much do you want for that gold apple of yours, girl?" said she, opening the window. "It can't be bought either for gold or money," answered the girl. "If it cannot be bought either for gold or money, what will buy it? You may say what you please," said the Princess.

"Well, if I may go to the Prince who is here, and be with him to-night, you shall have it," said the girl who had come with the North Wind. "You may do that," said the Princess, for she had made up her mind what she would do. So the Princess got the golden apple, but when the girl went up to the Prince's apartment that night he was asleep, for the Princess had so contrived it. The poor girl called to him, and shook him, and between whiles she wept; but she could not wake him. In the morning, as soon as day dawned, in came the Princess with the long nose, and drove her out again. In the daytime she sat down once more beneath the windows of the castle, and began to card with her golden carding-comb; and then all happened as it had happened before. The Princess asked her what she wanted for it, and she replied that it was not for sale, either for gold or money, but that if she could get leave to go to the Prince, and be with him during the night, she should have it. But when she went up to the Prince's room he was again asleep, and, let her call him, or shake him, or weep as she would, he still slept on, and she could not put any life in him. When daylight came in the morning, the Princess with the long nose came too, and once more drove her away. When day had quite come, the girl seated herself under the castle windows, to spin with her golden spinning-wheel, and the Princess with the long nose wanted to have that also. So she opened the window, and asked what she would take for it. The girl said what she had said on each of the former occasions -- that it was not for sale either for gold or for money, but if she could get leave to go to the Prince who lived there, and be with him during the night, she should have it.

"Yes," said the Princess, "I will gladly consent to that."

Nuria clung to the fox's form, letting out a bit of a yip as she was dragged along. [But we have to go upstairs!] she wailed, frustrated that no one could understand a word she was saying. Still, she followed along behind Saevire, running as fast as her little legs could carry her.

Danica, meanwhile, was scowling. The girl was an idiot. She'd lose the spinning wheel and then she'd have nothing left. Why didn't she ask to see the Prince during the day, when he'd be awake?? And why was it that Princesses seemed to be magic too... unless she'd drugged the poor prince. That was likely it! Wanting to find out what happened, however, she gave all her attention to Sedare.

Sedare watched the girl with a bright glitter in her eyes, loving to see the story affecting someone much as it had affected her not so long ago upon first hearing it told to her.

But in that place there were some Christian folk who had been carried off, and they had been sitting in the chamber which was next to that of the Prince, and had heard how a woman had been in there who had wept and called on him two nights running, and they told the Prince of this. So that evening, when the Princess came once more with her sleeping-drink, he pretended to drink, but threw it away behind him, for he suspected that it was a sleeping-drink. So, when the girl went into the Prince's room this time he was awake, and she had to tell him how she had come there. "You have come just in time," said the Prince, "for I should have been married to-morrow; but I will not have the long-nosed Princess, and you alone can save me. I will say that I want to see what my bride can do, and bid her wash the shirt which has the three drops of tallow on it. This she will consent to do, for she does not know that it is you who let them fall on it; but no one can wash them out but one born of Christian folk: it cannot be done by one of a pack of trolls; and then I will say that no one shall ever be my bride but the woman who can do this, and I know that you can." There was great joy and gladness between them all that night, but the next day, when the wedding was to take place, the Prince said, "I must see what my bride can do." "That you may do," said the stepmother.

"I have a fine shirt which I want to wear as my wedding shirt, but three drops of tallow have got upon it which I want to have washed off, and I have vowed to marry no one but the woman who is able to do it. If she cannot do that, she is not worth having."

Well, that was a very small matter, they thought, and agreed to do it. The Princess with the long nose began to wash as well as she could, but, the more she washed and rubbed, the larger the spots grew. "Ah! you can't wash at all," said the old troll-hag, who was her mother. "Give it to me." But she too had not had the shirt very long in her hands before it looked worse still, and, the more she washed it and rubbed it, the larger and blacker grew the spots.

So the other trolls had to come and wash, but, the more they did, the blacker and uglier grew the shirt, until at length it was as black as if it had been up the chimney. "Oh," cried the Prince, "not one of you is good for anything at all! There is a beggar-girl sitting outside the window, and I'll be bound that she can wash better than any of you! Come in, you girl there!" he cried. So she came in. "Can you wash this shirt clean?" he cried. "Oh! I don't know," she said; "but I will try." And no sooner had she taken the shirt and dipped it in the water than it was white as driven snow, and even whiter than that. "I will marry you," said the Prince.

Then the old troll-hag flew into such a rage that she burst, and the Princess with the long nose and all the little trolls must have burst too, for they have never been heard of since. The Prince and his bride set free all the Christian folk who were imprisoned there, and took away with them all the gold and silver that they could carry, and moved far away from the castle which lay east of the sun and west of the moon.

Saevire half dragged, half carried the little Thule and the fox up several flights of stairs to the right floor. "The diving bell is too easy to be trapped in...wanted to avoid the squid and all..." she panted as she pushed open the door to the hall and raced across it into the Aduthule office.

Sajhiri blinked at the site of the girls rushing back in with the fox. "Saevire! Where'd you get that! You put that display back right now!"

Saevire skidded to a halt. "It's not a display _mother_" she spat out disdainfully, "It's their guardian!" She gestured to Nuria.

Danica breathed a sigh of relief at the thought of the stupid princess getting hers, and her mother too. They didn't deserve the prince, but the girl did. When she looked back to Sedare, she was peaceful once more, the expressions gone as she seemed to return to her normal state of being. It was a good story, however... and she made herself a promise that she would find more stories to share with the girl sometime.

Just then, the other two came back in and Danica could hear Nuria sniffling from across the room. [Now what happened??] she asked, turning a glare on her sister.

[I climbed up onto a shark and was trying to get a tooth and I started to fall and Youko caught me adn then he fell and I landed on hima nd now he's all fuzzy like he was when he hit his head really hard that one time and no one's helping meeeeeeeeee!!!] Nuria was wailing by this point, holding up the silver fox, who just dangled there for the moment with his eyes closed.

It wasn't that Youko was really HURT... it was that his head was pounding from the fall and Nuria's yelling. And all he wanted to do right now was curl up into a furrball and sleep.

Sajhiri rushed over to help Nuria, bringing another blanket to wrap Youko's vulpine form in carefully. She moved to lay a hand on the fox's head to ease it's pain when a shout stopped her.

"No Momma!" Sedare cried out. "You can't...not with the baby...remember?" The silvery thule rushed over and pulled Sajhiri's hand away from Youko. In it's place she put her own hand, gently stroking the fox's fur to lend her calming aura to ease his discomfort.

Sajhiri swallowed. "Almost forgot...if I heal I take the life force from myself...bad for the baby."

Saevire climbed up onto one of the chairs and sat down to watch, swinging her cutlas back and forth seemingly disinterested in all the hub bub.

Nuria was wringing her tail, shuffling to stand a little ways away from Youko, but nearly hiding behind Sajhiri's skirts. [It's all my fault, he tried to catch me and I didn't mean fo--...]

[Shut UP!] Danica hissed, moving towards Youko and ignoring her sister's hysterics after that. She knelt down beside the wrapped fox and moved to brush her hand over his head lightly. She remembered when that fire-haired boy had come to visit them... he'd hurt his head too, and Youko had said that anyone who hit their head shouldn't go to sleep. So she did what she knew... 'zapping' the fox with a bit of cold, just enough to make him yip and open his eyes again.

Just because it was for his own good didn't mean that Youko LIKED the cold. Or being forced to stay awake. Squirming for a moment, he sighed and started to push himself to his feet, realising that he was right on his first assumption. He hadn't broken anything... and he also didn't feel like retching, so he didn't have a concussion. "I'm okay," he said faintly, managing well enough with four feet underneath him. He wasn't ready to try two just yet. "Just rattled myself a bit."

Sajhiri blinked and murmured "You can talk like that?" She smiled then. "Glad to know you're ok. What on earth happened that caused this?"

Saevire was grinning from ear to ear, her eyes closed, as she rode the waves of anger emanating from Danica. Oh delicious anger. How she adored it.

Sedare continued to soothingly pet Youko-fox, her innocent violet eyes showing concern mingled with relief that the transformed guardian seemed to be ok. At Sajhiri's question she looked pointedly at her sibling, who was not totally unaware of anything but the anger in the room.

"Can talk... dont' really care to, it's a stretch on the vocal chords." Even though he was understood, his words were at a different pitch than normal, and didn't sound like his voice usually did.

Danica sat back when Youko got to his feet, the calm replacing her momentary lapse once more.

Nuria, however, started to dive forward to hug Youko, only to be caught by her sister and held back to keep from bowling the fox over once more.

"Long story," Youko said simply, ears pinned back as he looked to Nuria and Saevire. "It's taken care of. No harm, no foul."

Saevire opened her eyes once more when the anger subsided and she hopped off the chair to stride over and pat Nuria on the back. "Yer all right kid.." she murmured to her new friend, visions of ultimate mischeif dancing in her head like sugarplums.

Sedare finally stepped back when the fox seemed all right, and she moved to quietly and calmly gather the blankets and her book for Sajhiri, so the pregnant woman wouldn't have to.

Sajhiri smiled after the patient Thule and then looked back to Youko. "Do you need some help getting home or are you all right? It's about time for me to get the girls home for dinner."

"I'll be alright..." Youko sat down then, slowly shifting back to his 'normal' form so that when the change was finished, he was planted firmly on the ground without having to wobble on his feet. "I think someone was out hunting something other than adventure, however," he said, giving Saevire a sidelong glance. That one bore watching. She seemed almost disappointed in the way that Youko had handled things, and he was pretty certain he could guess what 'factions' these two Thule represented. If he was right, he was really going to have to watch Nuria around her, because the over-emotional girl was going to give Saevire everything she wanted, and with very little provocation. "Maybe we need to save the treasure hunting until you're a little older," he continued, ruffling Nuria's hair as the fire Thule squirmed loose from her sister and pounced into Youko's lap.

Danica, however, turned to follow Youko's gaze to Saevire, her eyes narrowing slightly. That one was behind this, she was sure. And she wasn't going to let anyone hurt her sister OR Youko. She did nothing for the moment, however, simply filing away this knowledge for later use as she moved to sit on Youko's leg, looking up to Sedare with a faint smile. It was her way of saying 'thank you', since she knew she wouldn't be understood if she actually said it.

Sajhiri shouldered the bag Sedare had packed for her. "I'm glad you're all right, Youko. The girls are hoping to have a slumber party soon. I hope you'll let Danica and Nuria come? You're welcome to chaperone as well if you'd like. I'll get an invitation to you soon."

Sedare bent to give Danica a hug, and patted Nuria's shoulder gently before joining her guardian at the door.

Saevire returned the looks of Youko and Danica by sticking her tongue out at them the moment her guardian and sibling weren't looking at her. The mischevious thule then hopped off her chair and dashed out the door ahead of them with a howl of "Yo Ho Yo Ho a Pirate's life for me!"

Sajhiri just shook her head and followed her out, with Sedare in her wake.

Date: 03.21.05

((Scrawled in semi-neat purple crayon))

We have a new baby in the house, and it isn't even the one we're supposed to be getting! Mama says Naeva isn't the baby that is in her belly, so that means we'll have TWO new siblings! Yay! I'm so excited! Sae and I got to go shopping for the belly baby last week and I bought him or her a teddy bear. That was how I found Naeva! I went to put it in the baby's crib and there she was all sleeping and stuff. She's kind of quiet and doesn't smile ever. I think she's sad or mad like my sister.

Momma's other baby should be here soon she says. I hope that baby is a lot friendlier than this one is. Naeva pulled my hair when I reached in to set the teddy bear in the crib. That wasn't a very nice thing to do, even if she's just a baby. She didn't look sorry about it either. Just what I need, two brats like Saevire to try and keep in line. Maybe the belly baby will be more like me. I can hope so at least!

Date: 03.21.05

New kid isnt half bad. Not the rite kid tho. Kid is real mad and that is good. i like to be around her becuz shes angry lots. she and i should get along reel well. nother kid coming tho which might be bad. if she is nay va and i kin take her! pirates rool!!!




Date: 03.21.05
Locale: The Silva Regia Tower
Synopsis: Sajhiri goes into labor!

Sajhiri sat in the nursery's rocking chair, which had become home for two children now that little Naeva had appeared one night out of nowhere. The unexpected new resident of the tower was cradled in Sajhiri's arms and was half dozing with her ear pressed to her caretaker's belly. Sajhiri looked down at the child perplexed, as the little girl seemed to be actively listening to her unborn son or daughter.

She smiled softly and returned to humming softly as she rocked the strange, quiet, and unsmiling child with the white streak in her auburn hair.

*Washu* and Kin entered the nursery whistling a Duran Duran tune. Something she had been doing lately for some reason. In her arms were various boxes. She seemed startled that Sajhiri was in the room. "Ooooh. Hello Saj. I must be slipping didn't notice you were here." She set the boxes on top of the dresser. "Just buying some things for the baby after its birth. Mostly clothes."

Sajhiri looked up from Naeva's face with a smile, but one that seemed to be masking some discomfort. She shifted her weight to try and ease some of the backpain she'd been having since the night before. "Hey Lady. Just bottle fed little Naeva here, and if you keep spending money our baby will never have to wear the same outfit twice." She chuckled and winced slightly.

The infant in her arms seemed to be babbling nonsensically at her belly, her cheek pressed to it, but Naeva's silvery eyes seemed too old for a face so new and young. It was a bit of a disturbing sight, especially as a few beads of sweat appeared on Sajhiri's brow.

"Momma! Momma! Saevire was being bad! She pulled Telenna's hair and she tried to stuff that fairy lady into a jar!" Sedare, the silvery Aduthule that Jhiri had adopted, came barreling into the nursery with her crimson and black twin stomping after her.

"Tattletale!" Saevire hissed. She pushed her sister in the back, making the gentler of the two stumble a bit.

Behind them came a soft sigh as Telenna followed them like a shadow. She towered over the two foot high creatures, but she herself was just a child, only one of human proportions. "I really DO wish you wouldn't pull my hair, or try to hurt Averno, Saevire. It's not very nice of you, " she calmly intoned.

Averno's face was livid from where she'd perched atop the Alphapet's head. "Not very NICE! Is that the best you can say about her behavior!? It's abhorrent, abysmal, malicious, and insufferable!" the Feien shrieked.

Sajhiri didn't even seem to notice the bickering children, she had a far away and somewhat glazed expression as one hand went to her belly.

"Well I have to do something. I feel kinda useless otherwise." She was startled as Kin ran up her back onto her head when the twins came rushing in. "It's ok girl. They aren't going to hurt you." She sat down seemingly feeling a little discomfort herself.

As Sajhiri's other children filed in she sat watching until Sajhiri grabbed her belly, prompting a similiar reaction from *Washu*. "Oh dear. Its happening isn't it Lady?"

Sajhiri swallowed hard, her head nodding slowly at *Washu*'s words. "It's time...yes. We uh...we need to get to the hospital. My bag is packed...should be in the front hall closet. Telenna, can you carry it? Averno, go fetch the Sphinx to tend to Naeva and tell Zaine and Wendigo to meet us at the hospital. Sedare, help *Washu* she looks like she needs some help, Saevire, please help me as best you can. We'll need to call a taxi..."

The mother-to-be looked pale and shaky, but as usual in the face of danger she bucked up and took charge.

"No no. I'll be fine." She stood up rather shakily. "But your right we need to get you to the hospital." She headed over to help Sajhiri. "We'll get you there."

Kin at this point was freaking out herself. If only she could help in some way...

Sajhiri's plethora of adoptees burst into a flurry of action. Naeva absolutely refused to be taken from Sajhiri by the Sphinx, resulting in the felinid getting bitten on her furry hand. The infant ended up being taken along. Telenna trudged along behind the expectant mothers with Sajhiri's bag for the hospital in her hands. A worried pair of Aduthule clung to their foster mother's skirts as the procession made it's way to the taxi to take them to the hospital. Averno raced on to find Zaine and Wendigo and let them know the baby was coming.

In the front hall of the tower Sajhiri suddenly stopped and let out a whimper. Liquid rushed out from beneath her dress in a puddle that made the Aduthule twins leap back like cat's being threatened with a bath.

"I guess that makes false labor out of the question, eh?" Sajhiri shakily murmured, trying to remain upbeat. But those who knew her well could see in her eyes that she was worried. Something just was not right, and the hand that gripped *Washu*'s arm as she was being escorted did not have it's usual strength behind it.

"Oh dear." *Washu*'s face turned a bit green but she held it together. "No, False labor is definately out of the question." She too was worried; this was an unusual situation. But she attempted to calm Sajhiri down and ease her worry as best she could. "Everything's going to be just fine Lady. This is nothing compared to what you've faced before."

Zaine had been in another room in the tower talking with an old friend whom he had lost touch with. He had been laughing when Averno came in and told him the news. Hearing it Zaine jumped up and hung up on the friend without so much as a thought.

"IseverythingreadyhavetheycalledthecabaretheysureitstherealthiniswahsuwithherwhereWen?" Zaine had to stop himself before he realized he wasn't making much clear sense to the the poor girl. He took a deep breath and relaxed. Cnfusion brought problems and if this was going to go right there wasn't to be any problems. "Where Sajhiri?" Zaine managed to ask Averno.

Averno blinked at the stream of incomprehensible babble coming from Zaine. "They're downstairs heading for the taxi...so they can go to the hospital. Where did you think they'd be, dancing a jig?" The feien snorted and grabbed the once-dragon by his ear. "Get a move on will you, I'd rather not have to wait for another taxi!" she hissed.

Downstairs the Menagerie was easing a increasingly more worried-looking Sajhiri into the cab. She looked to *Washu* with concern. "I'm scared, lady. Something feels wrong." Another contraction hit and she let out a venomous shriek and a dissertation on how she was going to feed everyone at the clinic their livers in sailor speak. Saevire grinned maniacally but the rest of her wards blushed crimson at the cursing and graphic diatribe the normally gentle woman was spewing.

Worry crossed her face at Sajhiri's words. If anyone would know it'd be her right? She then cringed at the shriek and the Foul threats. "Ok maybe the taxi isn't going to be fast enough. Maybe I should just teleport us there. "

Zaine was pulled by the ear, he would later have to remember each of Sajhiri's children's personalities. It didn't take him long to catch up and eventually he was leading a bit heading out the door to Sajhiri in the cab. Rushing to her side he could tell by the curses it wasn't a fake and, rather than ask a stupid question, helped get the cab ready to leave. He called out to *Washu* thinking there wasn't time for hellos, "*Washu*, is Sajhiri alright? Do we have everything?"

Sajhiri shook her head. "No porting...could hurt the baby." Naeva leaned over and tried to bite *Washu*'s hand at the idea of being teleported to the hospital. Sharp little baby teeth, all three of them the child currently possessed, sunk into goddess-flesh with a vengeance.

At Zaine's arrival, Sajhiri's concern ebbed back a tiny bit. "Lo love...time to go. Get in the cab. Please. Quickly." She grimaced and leaned back in the seat, unaware of her new charge's attempt to chomp her friend.

"Owww! I wasn't going to actually do it!" She shook her hand. "Good thing I've had my Tetanus." She thought to herself, "I hope our child is better tempered".

"She'll be fine Zaine," she lied, as she wasn't to sure of that herself at this moment. She helped her into the cab. "Lets go. And make it quick driver," she handed him a rather large sum of cash upfront, "But safe."

Zaine quickly jumped into the car, not sure what to say or pretty mutch do, he was next to helpless in this. He tried a reassuring hand on Sajhiri, not trusting words. He had seen enough jokes about preganancy to know that words could be taken wrong and be painful. He tried to keep a cheery face but was worried, something was wrong with Sajhiri, his Sajhiri, and he wasn't sure what.

Sajhiri cradled Naeva on her lap, squeezing *Washu*'s hand tightly, and resting her head on Zaine's shoulder for the trip to the hospital. The twins crawled into Zaine's lap, Averno perched on his shoulder, and the Sphinx held Telenna in her lap in the front seat. It was going to be a long trip.


<>



Date: 03.22.05
Locale: Gaia General Hospital
Synopsis: Rebecca is born but Sajhiri hemorrhages!

How many hours had gone by? Sajhiri's head throbbed with each grinding of her teeth against the ice chips the nurse had allowed her to eat. She was between contractions, and getting more exhausted by the minute. A weary glance at the clock showed it had already been almost 13 hours since the wild ride to the hospital in the taxi. She'd sent Averno home to feed Arae, but the Feien had returned not long after, allowing her to apologize for nearly crushing her little bonded fairy in her hand when a contraction hit during their conversation.

Her tongue was cooled by the ice chips, but her brow was still beaded with sweat. This was taking too long. Granted, many first births take longer, but this felt to the earthbound seraph like something was distinctly wrong. She wondered if her unborn child was as weary as she was. A cry from out in the waiting room drew her eye to the door. The Sphinx would be having a hard time with Naeva. The baby girl clung to her like a vice grip when they pried her away so she could be wheeled into the delivery room 12 and a half hours after the contractions began and she was finally dilated 10 centimeters. Only Zaine and *Washu* were allowed inside with the doctors and nurses.

With an indrawn breath, Sajhiri hissed out "Another one!" And leaned forward partially as the doctor moved into position.

"This should be it folks..." the doctor intoned. "Get ready to meet your baby."


*Washu*'s hand ached from Sajhiri's grip the last several hours. That was mostly overshadowed by the continueing Sympathy pains she's been feeling. She was sweating and panting nearly as much as Sajhiri but attempted to be a trooper anytime Sajhiri may have been looking her way.

"Almost there Saj. Just a little longer. A few more." How many times had she repeated that? Each time she said it she hoped it were true. Not only for herself but for her friend.

Hearing the doctors words she almost breathed a sigh of relief but realized it still wasn't quite over. "Hear that Saj? Our baby is almost here." She smiled while awaiting the arrival of their child


Zaine was sweating along side Sajhiri, no way near as bad as her but he was sweating none the less. How long had it been since this all started, 10 hours 13? His mind was mess Zaine always thought of himself as a coolheaded individual but he couldn't seem to think straight at all. He had heard that births sometime's took hours but half a day? A small fraction of his stress seemed to be releived when he heard a cry and the doctor announcing it was finally going to be over soon.

Zaine looked to Sajhiri still worried that something could go wrong, maybe it was just the stress but he couldn't help it. Even before they got to the hospital he could tell Sajhiri was worried about something and Zaine hadn't bother to ask. "Come on love, just a little longer"


Gritting her teeth against the intense agony that crept like a growing shadow from her spine up to her shoulders, then down through her belly to her lower regions, Sajhiri let out a feral cry of effort as she pushed at the doctor's orders.

"Almost there...the baby is crowning" the physican stated in his calmest tones. A nurse stood nearby with a blanket in her arms, prepared to wrap the child up, another had the clamp and cutting tool needed to detach the umbilical chord. The sterile smell of the hospital and the hiss and whine of machinery created a soft background rhythym to the straining breaths and cries of the pained woman in the stirrups.

The top of a bald head was just visible peeking out into the world from the security it's mother's body. "Steady now, Dr. Jihaar-Draconis. Don't push too hard, take a breath, relax. The contraction has passed."

The crushing grip on Zaine and *Washu*'s hands eased up as the pain ebbed for the moment. Sajhiri laid back against the angled pillows, gasping, tears leaking from her eyes.

"Almost there Lady. Not long now." Its about time. She continued being comforting and felt relieved when Sajhiri relaxed a bit but braced herself for the next contraction. Was it this hard for her? Its been so long she can't really remember. Funny you think you'd remember something like that your whole li............. The squeeze and sympathetic internal pain from Sajhiri's next contraction awoke her from her thoughts.



Zaine had regained the feeling in his hand when Sajhiri eased up, he sorta wish he hadn't. It wasn't over yet but it would be soon, he wiped the back of his head across his forehead with his other hand preparing himself for the next contraction. "Its almost here hun" was all he could think up to saying.


In the waiting room, a plethora of eyes focused on the doors to the delivery room with worry and anticipation.

The Sphinx tried her best to soothe the agitated baby in her lap, stroking the child's back with a furred hand. "Apart is not an end but a looking forward to future reunions..." she cryptically murmured to Naeva. Naeva fussed and whimpered, squirming in the creature's lap as if trying to get free and rejoin her new foster mother. Or so it would seem to those watching, who had no means of knowing that the little girl was really trying to get free to aid the struggling infant trying to be born on the other side of those doors.

Saevire and Sedare, the Aduthule twins, were sleeping restlessly on a couch in the waiting room, barely taking up one cushion between the two of them. Merely 2 feet high when standing, the relic born girls had already exhausted themselves in excitement and trepidation at meeting their new sibling.

At the small window of the delivery room doors, unnoticed by an otherwise vigilent hospital staff, Averno perched on the slight edge provided from the shelf the glass sat on. She watched in abject horror at the scene transpiring on the other side. She thanked the powers that be, silently, that Feien did not have to go through such disgustingly messy and painful births. However, a new smidgeon of respect for what her bond could handle made her forgive the welling bruises on her arms for the moment, and the presence of another Feien in the tower.

Telenna paced back and forth, unable to sleep like the Aduthule girls were, and quietly praying to the earth mother for the protection of her guardian. She too could sense a slight wrongness to what was transpiring within the room on the other side of the doors.

Jhiri let out a yowl as another contraction hit. She sat up and squeezed her husband and best friend's hands with what was left of her strength.

"Push!" the doctor urged. She complied. Drawing on her reserves she let out a high pitched growl and pressed down internally, helping the baby to pass from her. The head slid out, and something that looked like bloody tufts of hair, perhaps, could be seen plastered to either side of the infant's head. Sajhiri gaped at the sight on the monitor to her left. She smiled in relief for a short moment before another contraction barrelled on top of the first.

"That's it now...PUSH!"

With the last ounce of her strenth, the Oracle moved past the sense of foreboding tickling at the recesses of her mind and pushed as hard as she could. The baby slipped from her body into the waiting hands of the doctor, and with a quick moment of suctioning shrieked from healthy lungs before having the umbilical cord clamped and the scissors handed to *Washu* to do the honors.

Sajhiri lay back in relief at the baby's cry, and let out a happy laugh.


After the slight pain subsided *Washu* took the scissors from the doctor and happily clipped the cord. Relieved and pleased it was finally over. Their baby was here. And judging from the cry the baby was healthy. She sighed and chuckled lightly.

Out in the waiting room Kin who was looking on the whole time Mewed happily and danced about.


After the many hours of waiting the final push seem to take forever and a day, a large swell of worry lifted from his chest seeing the baby. Zaine still holding Sajhiri hand with his other hand patted her watching as Washu cut the umbilical cord. He couldn't help but admire the strength of the woman that was his wife.

"You did it love, shes beautful!" He couldn't help but exclaim as he looked from the Baby to Sajhiri. He had a few tears in his eyes as he beamed happily to her.


With the chord cut, the newborn was hustled off for a brief cleaning and weighing before being wrapped in a clean blanket and brought over to be laid in Sajhiri's arms.

"Congratulations on your healthy baby girl..." the nurse pronounced. "7 pounds 4 ounces."






The baby gurgled with closed eyes and at the sides of her head twitched the pale white feathered wings that had prior been mistaken for hair. Sajhiri smiled down at the infant, then up at *Washu*. "You did good, Lady..." she murmured exhaustedly before turning towards Zaine. "And congrations, Daddy number one..." she whispered to her husband.

"Rebecca...her name is Rebecca..." she murmured to the nurses, who jotted the name down on her card as they prepared pink baby booties and hat to keep the newborn warm.

"Time to finish things up, Mrs. Jihaar-Draconis..." the doctor said softly, indicating the rest of the pushing needed for the afterbirth. Sajhiri paled but nodded, handing the child to *Washu* with a bit of regret on her face, and...sorrow?

She sucked in a breath and pushed, and then the blood came. Too much blood, everywhere.

"She's Bleeding out!" the doctor cried. "Post partum hemorrhage! We've got possible Uterine Atony! Get me clotting agents stat! She's going into shock, start an IV! Get everyone else out of here!"

The delivery room turned into chaos as nurses and interns rushed helter skelter. A nurse moved to usher Zaine and *Washu* out as another moved to take the child from it's other mother.

"We made one beatiful baby Lady." She watched Sajhiri with the child with a broad smile. And gladly accepted the child when it was handed to her. " Don't worry it won't be long and she'll be back in your arms," she said confidantly to Sajhiri.

The moment of confidence and pride was way too short as the room burst into a flurry of activity and Rebecca was taken out of her arms and *Washu* was ushered out. "No wait......." Her face became flush with worry and she looked on from the waiting area in horror. No this can't happen. Not now.

All she could do is turn to Zaine and give him a hug and with her best 'everything is fine' face reassure him. "She'll be fine. This is a fine hospital. This is not uncommon." She sounded as sure as she's ever been. Not that it would help him much. All she can do is stay and try and be here for him*

Zaine smiled to the baby watching it with much joy, to afraid to even to even give it a finger in fear of crushing it. It all seemed like a dream. Worry spread across his face as Sajhiri made her last push, he was told there would be blood but not this mutch. When he heard the rising voice of the doctor fear struck. He struggled against the nurses who he could of easily toppled but reason was still in his mind, they had to do there job. That didn't stop him from worry at the door they had last pushed him out of.

He couldn't find words to say or much anything else to do, he felt Washus arms around him and could only hug back. He hadn't heard the words he was to preoccupied with his thoughts of worry, everything was going good why did it have to crash down all around him. He should of seen it coming why didn't he see it coming? When ever anything went right with him something went wrong in turn. He tryed to hold back the tears as he layed his head on Washu shoulder.

Sajhiri watched through dimming vision as her daughter was carried away and her loved ones escorted out. Their faces broke her heart, and she wished she could tell them she would be all right...that either way she would be all right, either with them again, or with Him who she served for millenia now. She met their eyes a moment and those golden orbs seemed to urge them to take care of her children, all of them, in their varied forms.

She slipped from consciousness as the hospital staff went to frantic work at keeping her from bleeding to death as her wearied womb spilled out her life in the delivery room.

<>





Date: 04.01.05
Locale: The Family Room of the Tower
Synopsis: Saevire and Sedare play with baby Rebecca.

Sedare gently pushed the poofy little cow toy with it's golden bell towards Rebecca with a shy smile. She so badly wanted the infant to like her, and to think of her as a big sister, even if she was barely bigger than the human baby at this point. Rebecca let out a joyful squeee and gripped the cow in one hand as she lay on her belly on the blanket Sajhiri had set out.

The Seraph was scrapbooking pictures of all her various "children" on the couch, while the Aduthule twins got to know their new baby "sister". The silvery Thule was completely enrapt with the gleeful little baby, who shimmied around on the blanket with great vigor and activity. She set up a barrier of soft and cute little toys for her sibling, to give her something to look at or grab other than Saevire's tail. That had already happened once and sent the red and black Thule past the bounds of the blanket and behind the couch.

Sedare found that more than a little ironic, as her twin was getting a taste of her own medicine in that respect. She imagined King Cervus would be greatly amused to find Saevire the target of another creatures grasping predations. He had been trapped inside a variety of toys by her often sadistic sibling.

Rebecca gummed the cow's head while making happy sounds, and her little feet kicked wildly behind her. Sedare patted the white feathers of the headwings which sprouted from above the infant's ears. They were very soft and they moved in little twitchings whenever Rebecca had interest in something. She was so happy to have someone fun and new to play with, as her sister only seemed to want to make her walk the plank and other distasteful (and often painful) games.

Saevire nursed her tail from behind the couch, glaring up over the side at Sajhiri who was ardently pretending not to notice what her spawn had done. How dare that little rugrat touch her, let alone hurt her! She rubbed at the sore spot with a grimace, and looked over warily at the baby playing with her twin. She felt jealousy surge through her at the thought of Rebecca stealing away her sister's attention and affection.

Her scowl eased though, and formed into a sneaky little grin, as she thought up ways in which to corrupt the newborn into being another of her pirates. She could use someone to swab her deck or man the bilge pumps after all. Of course, at the moment the deck consisted of her bed, and the bilge pump was a toy accordian under the bed. Nevertheless, putting the Jhiri-spawn to work would keep her out of her hair for a while. She slunk off back to her room to consider further ideas.

Rebecca yawned widely and Sajhiri looked up from her work pasting pictures of the vacation she and the girls took to Gambino Island a while back into the large bound scrapbook. "Looks like someone is due for a nap. Thank goodness Naeva went down for her nap early today. Trying to get the two of you to sleep at the same time is futile." She set aside her work and rose, scooping the newborn carefully into her arms. "She needs to sleep now Sedare. But you two can play some more after dinner." She beamed down at her gentle foster child.

Sedare nodded and stood up, hugging Sajhiri's leg for a moment before she scampered off into the tower.





Date: 04.04.05
Locale: The GMFC Clinic
Synopsis: Saevire and Sedare go with Sajhiri to the GMFC clinic to help her watch Rebecca and Naeva during Rebecca's first checkup.

The door to the clinic slid open and Sajhiri drifted in, with a pair of bundles in her arms. A shock of auburn hair hearlded the presence of Naeva, her adoptee, in the crook of one arm, while the feathered wingtips poking up from the receiving blanket nestled in the other arm indicated Rebecca's presence.

Sajhiri looked exhausted as she moved to one of the couches. Behind her, a pair of 2 foot high creatures, one silver furred, the other crimson and black furred, followed, pushing a double stroller. The Aduthule stopped when Sajhiri did and the silvery girl, Sedare, set the brake.

The two babies were secured in the stroller before Sajhiri moved to the desk to sign herself and her biological daughter in for their checkup.

Since when was it "Take the kids to work" day EVERY day?

A faint grumble escaping her lips as she sips on a cappuccino, Junyi pauses to drop papers into an inbox before checking on a small child in the middle of the floor- a young girl with Sun Tzu's The Art of War in front of her.

Seeing the book wasn't currently on fire, she then glances at the hulking angelic figure sitting on one of the chairs, possessively clinging to a sleeping baby.

Another glance up, and she suddenly jolts, noticing the newcomers.

"Hello!" She blurts out. "Can I help you?"

Sajhiri smiled wearily at Junyi as she filled her name out on the sign in sheet. "Good morning. I'm Sajhiri Jihaar-Draconis here for my daughter, Rebecca's checkup?"

The red and black Thule, Saevire, poked a finger at Naeva who promptly attempted to bite it. The creature grunted at the Legend and took a few steps away. Sedare checked the seatbelts on both babies carefully, taking the job of assisting Sajhiri very seriously for a little girl.

"I don't..." A yawn. "I don't think she's in right now. Are you early?"

She glances at the Adu in the stroller, quirking an eyebrow. Same species as Yeu's two hellraisers?

"Er. Sorry. Forgot to introduce myself. Name's Jun Keth, but everyone around here just calls me Junyi."

"A bit early, yes. Is it all right if I wait until she gets in? It's a long drive back home." She smiled at the introduction. "Pleasure to meet you Junyi. Most people just call me Jhiri."

Rebecca gummed the edge of her baby blanket droolingly, her little feet kicking out in the warmth of her pink onesie. Naeva watched her through slitted eyes, almost like a guard dog might watch out for it's family.

"Of course," Junyi answers with a quick nod. "There should be enough to keep the little ones enertained, at least."

She casts a quick glance back at the child behind her. "At least, Ying always seems to find something to do while I'm working."

With a slow nod, she finally turns her attention to Rebecca. "What a sweet baby!" She knows better than to approach the infant, however. A small smile crosses her face as she studies Naeva. She'd seen that look before on Jokeph.

Wings outstretched to make himself look larger, Jokeph eyes the newcomers through a VERY similiar gaze.



Sajhiri looked relieved at not having to trek all the way back to west Barton with 2 children and 2 infants just to come back later. She let out a happy sigh. "Great, thank you! Is that your baby?" she offered, gesturing towards Ying.

She waved to Jokeph, recognizing him as the person who was taking care of that little bird-like critter Telenna had been feeding last time she brought her along.

"Hrm? I suppose she is." She wrinkles her nose in thought, struggling to come up with an explanation that didn't make her sound callous. Finally giving up, she sighs. "I didn't give birth to her, if that's what you mean," Junyi whispers.

She gestures to the baby in Jokeph's arms. "That's Luna; I had her with the help of the clinic."

A blink. "And... you know Jokeph?"

Jokeph relaxes somewhat, finally managing a weak, shy smile.

Sajhiri chuckles. "Sort of. He was here with a strange little birdlike creature which one of my adopted daughters was feeding when I stopped in for a pregnancy checkup a while back." She smiled at Luna. "She's adorable!"

Rebecca gurgled happily and looked over at Jokeph and Luna with a happy squee of hello.

"Oh Zohar? That's his translator. I have no idea where he is right now, though..."

One eye slowly opens, and Luna lifts her head to glance at Rebecca.

HIHI

"Maaaaa-" Ying suddenly blurts out, looking up from her book. "What does cho-ler-ic mean?"

"Um."

"Oh! Well Telenna certainly seemed to think it was adorable. How long have you been working here at the clinic, Junyi?"

Rebecca wiggled little tiny fingers at Luna in hello and her head wings fluttered excitedly.

Naeva glanced over at the other child warily at first, but she settled down to nap, having determined that Rebecca was safe.


Junyi frowns in thought for a moment. "A little over a month, I think. I mostly just push papers around and make coffee."

"Do you work elsewhere?" she asks tentatively.

Well, that settles that.

With a happy mental squeal, Luna wriggles out of Jokeph's grasp and slowly lowers herself to the floor, using the clinic's chairs to help her navigate toward Rebecca and the other children.

Hihihi!!!!!!!!!

Frowning at the lack of an answer as to what the strange word means, Ying returns to the book. "...seek to ir-ri-tate him."

"Gooberglarthefooey!" Rebecca squealed in response, which of course means "Hello to you too!" in baby gibberish. She bounced in her stroller with arms outstretched, happy to see another baby.

Sajhiri smiled. "I work here and there. *Washu*'s subspace saloon and the Tall Tales Tavern, the latter of which I own, and I also own a specialty timepiece shop."

"...Wow," Junyi mumbles, eyes wide. "I.. uh... run a coffeeshop, but nothing as cool that."

She glances at her watch, frowning slightly. "Um, if you want to check Dr. Kamiki's office, she miiiiiiiight be in? I'm never aware of her comings and goings, but if you have an appointment..."

Luna simply radiates bliss.

"I'll do that, thank you Junyi. And it was nice meeting you!" Sajhiri grinned and moved to push the stroller, the Aduthule trailing to either side of her and arguing back and forth over whether Orlando Bloom or Johnny Depp was a better pirate.

The quintet slipped through a door to the clinic beyond the waiting room, with Rebecca blurting out "Merplefigerub!" as a goodbye to Luna.

As they leave, Luna raises one hand in farewell.

Baaaaaaaaaaaibai...