Welcome to Gaia! ::

I remember the day that I first cradled you in my hands. A small, weightless bauble that even the silken angelic sash that I wrapped you in seemed too heavy. There was a feeling of warmth, not just of the fiery power that became yours, but of companionship, and affection, and even hope.

It was three days, I think, to the day. Three days before the shell around you dissipated and you stumbled awkwardly into consciousness. You were so affectionate and bumbling. Always wanting to cuddle with someone. I sometimes think it took you so long to fly because you were happiest on the ground curled against another body.

It was Halberd who finally gave you the tip that seemed to teach you how to bring your stumbling walk into the air. Even there, you seemed out of element, but you cheerfully pushed on, not knowing how graceless you were. Not caring that others did know. It was all the same to you.

When your wings began to flicker, you delighted only that this was something new and exciting for you. As beautiful as you became, you never indulged in vanity, always quietly observing the things around you. Always content just to be with those that cared about you.

You never needed trinkets or things to keep you happy. You always needed other lives there to touch you.

I admire that about you so much.

I miss you, Corinth. I wish you would come back to me.

-chae �

Im not entirely sure what's going on with things these days. Real life is a hassle, and with Corinth already avoiding me...the added stresses just make it easier for her to do so. I must really look downcast...even Ter was trying to cheer me up last night!

I was talking to Auri the other day, and she seems to think that Rhei and Cor are spending time together a bit. At least she isn't alone...but I still wish it were me she was coming to....

As the time gets closer for my real life move...it seems like less and less chances to reconcile with Corinth are available. Surprisingly enough, she had gone into seculusion to breed wtih Rheidun. While Im not surprised entirely...I sort of wish I had been involved a bit more on the courtship.

With the addition of two more in our Dream lives, as well as the requited love from her bondmate...Corinth and I seem to have reconciled somewhat. She still seems flighty and distant at times, as if weighed down by some terrible bit of weight...but she at least acknowledges me, and shows unrestrained affection for Ophelia.

I keep hearkening back to the conversation that Teratus and we had some time ago...right after discovering that the Dream Eaters were actually Dream Sentinels.

*note...this is all unknown in the RP...noone else heard this conversation, or knows this information unless imparted by Ter, Cor or myself...and we aren't talking*

It is about an hour after the group has returned from the House. Prox has tended to injuries, examined the coals, and gone off to collapse and sleep off the healing he's done.

Teratus lands beside Chaeval almost silently. He speaks into her mind, focusing tightly so that only she and Corinth can hear. Chaeval, intelligent and dangerous, and bonded to my brightest, most powerful child. ... Teratus thinks Chaeval has guessed his secret.

Chae looks at Teratus rather quietly, cleaning the remainder of dirk from her clothes. *I'm guessing it has to do with the line of questioning that you danced around before, Teratus.* She thinks quietly at the Dream, hearing a sleepy affirmative from Corinth where she nested quietly with Rheidun. *Having to do with the story you half told. The lady that had snared the Sentinels had been expecting a bit more....and a bit less than what she received. She was expecting royalty. Did she get it under a different guise?*


I am sorry to have avoided the questions before, but it was not for all and sundry to hear. Teratus shifts and hunches his wings tightly. Only the King can call dreams, only the King can change what is real in this place. But the King is being hunted by those who overthrew the old King. He pauses, adds quietly, The King is dead. Long live the King.

She stares at him for a moment. *Thought so. Then where do we fit in? And where is the King that is being pursued?* She looks out to where the nests were. *and where do you fit in Ter? You were never hatched? Were you one of the "summoned" ones*


Sleeping now, and unaware and therefore safe. Teratus stretches a wing. Trust you not to share this, he adds, and gives her a hard stare. Teratus is different. Teratus is not quite Dream nor Nightmare. Teratus is First. Teratus hears what is Dream, and acts accordingly. He blinks once, slowly, watching her to see if she understands. Dreamers are the Court. It is a new thing, but the King's will is the will of the realm. You shape the sense of this place. You keep the balance, and hold the keys.

Chaeval blinks in consideration, restraining a yawn. *Who am I not supposed to share this with?* she thought. *Doesn't Prox know this already? If not, perhaps he should, since he's the one that's in the best position to keep thinings together here. Of course * she added with some humor*he's facedown this moment, but even Dreamers awaken, no?*

What is First's duty? Corinth peeps up long enough to ask.

*Yup, my next question too.* Chae agrees. *What are you up to, Ter? And what is it you need from me other than to stop badgering you with tough questions at inappropriate moments?*


Does not know, Teratus admits. I tell him now, the flare of Awareness will bring Blade Court onto us. Must be ready before that. King has no heir. If he is killed, the throne goes to some faraway bloodline child, and is lost again. Or worse, to the Blade Court's usurping snake of leader. He shakes his tail ruefully and advises his daughter, Do not keep secrets from your dreamer! It is no place to be.

At Corinth's question, he tilts his head and considers. First's duty is to watch, advise, keep Court and King safe; to listen to Dream, to be a connection. He falls silent for a moment. Need you, he sends quietly, to help Teratus be sure he is not making giant mistake, since he cannot tell his own dreamer some things yet. From his posture, it's obvious that this is a difficult admission for him.

((Sorry for vanishing last night - I realized only after I'd turned the computer off that I hadn't let you know I was going to bed.))


"Hm." She says aloud. *So what mistake are you afraid you are making, other than keeping secrets?* She was wondering if she already knew the answer to this...but considering his gravity in mentioning it, she felt it best to play along and wring his beautiful neck for all the needed information.


Not being human, I need human thoughts about it. Am I protecting too much? Is it wrong to keep King and Court all unknowing of their roles? He flexes his claws a bit and says, half to himself, had he stayed in Dream only it would be an easier task!


"Hm." She says aloud. *So what mistake are you afraid you are making, other than keeping secrets?* She was wondering if she already knew the answer to this...but considering his gravity in mentioning it, she felt it best to play along and wring his beautiful neck for all the needed information.


Not being human, I need human thoughts about it. Am I protecting too much? Is it wrong to keep King and Court all unknowing of their roles? He flexes his claws a bit and says, half to himself, had he stayed in Dream only it would be an easier task!

*Not smart* she sighed. *Just can't think of anything else to do right now. Care to give me a history lesson on all of this though? Im assuming you know pretty much all there is to know about this all...so what should I be looking out for?*

((heh, Im feeling like we're trapped in a rogue Sailormoon episode now! XD))


Eight years ago was when everything happened, Teratus nods. I was not born, but I know how it went. The Blade Court rose against the King. The King sent his son away and blocked his memories so that he could not be found. The Blade Court searches still. They, too, are lucid dreamers. If you see a dreamer who is not caught in their own dreaming, who carries a jagged knife, you have seen a traitor. Teratus shifts his weight. Find anyone who noses about asking questions, see a lucid dreamer without a dream, come to me, please.

((Yes, I know, it's all horribly cliche. ^^;; ))

*So who are the Blade Court? And didn't you refer to a court of the King? Or was I confused? And why is it that *I* can know that Prox is this King...but if HE knows, it all blows up?*


Blade Court are the renegades, the faction who wish only the pure Dreamborn in the Court and on the throne. Their leader wants only power. He is a distant cousin to my dreamer. Teratus bobs his head. When the power of Dream did not go into him after the old King died, he lost supporters; but he has been waiting, and has his loyal followers, and is poison-mad. The loyalist Court is dead or scattered. The dreamers here are by default the new Court, representative of the worlds from which they come. He lets out a long sigh. When my dreamer becomes aware that he is King, all the fullness of Dream will rush into him, and it will be like a flare to anyone who can touch magic. Until he is strong enough to fight off those who will come to him to kill him then, he must not know. I tell you now because I believed you had guessed, to hold you back from showing him.

hm* she thought unhappily. *That's pretty damned sneaky of you, Ter.*

*Not like trapping, Elder* Corinth concurred. *Prefer truth without apology*

*Fun situation all around.* she mutters. *So when you say "poison mad" is that just a fun way to say the guys nuts? Or is there something else causing it? And did that wench fit in at all to this? Was she one of them?*


Teratus dislikes being sneaky also. But Teratus does not want to see his dreamer dead nor his world turned to something dark and killing. The second holds more sway. I will be glad when secrets are gone. Teratus slumps slightly and gives Chaeval a sharp look. I hope I have not been mistaken to confide in you, but you are a good person and I believe you are worthy of trust. To hold a secret entirely alone is to be a very lonely thing.

He considers the question. I do not know what runs in the man's veins, but it is not blood. He is Dreamborn but tainted, I believe. The woman - she is likely to have been his. Her knife was right, her taste for power also. She must have some of the old King's bloodline, or she could not have worn the pendant and had any control.

*Hm.* she thought again *dont you worry, Im not about to land Prox in a heap of trouble over this...yet. But I don't like keeping secrets, it was because of him that I was given Corinth. But what can any of us really do about them? I mean...when your King was killed, did the place change somehow? And how DO you kill a Dream?*


Hurt more to reveal this one than to keep it yet. Teratus hesitates. Can make you forget, if you prefer, when we are done, he offers sadly.

When King dies ... Dream lives in new King. Mind of King shapes Dream. World stays, but ... what King expects to find, he finds. A good King keeps the balance of dark and light in this world. Must be near to equal parts, or dreamers are not safe. He stretches a bit. Dreams die when our magic and bond are taken away. Tear us apart, scatter us too far to reform, and we will die; remove the magic from us, we will die; a bonded dream will die with its dreamer, but be reborn to nightmare. A slight shudder runs through him.

*So how is thie world formed, if Prox's Dream isn't manifested?* Chae frowned. *And I meant how was the King killed? Isn't he a Dream too? Or did he transverse the real and Dream worlds like we do? Lucidly?*

*Not need to forget* Cor said sleepily. *not intended for ears yet. Safer some know, if not all*


Dream is wild, not fully in control, not fully merged. But it is in proper balance. Teratus clicks to himself. When he awakens to full self, will be able to direct its balance and shape. Until then, it will listen to the balance under the conscious mind and attend accordingly.

Dreamkings are lucid dreamers of a sort - dreamers born and raised in Dream, of the bloodline of the first King who shaped the world that other worlds' travelers can touch. Old King was human, pureblood dreamborn. Kings are mortal too, though long-lived; metal and spells can kill them, if less easily than ordinary humans. My dreamer's cousin took the old King's life himself, with that blade he carries. He hoped the spell on it would give him the inheritance, but the true heir was not dead and it failed. Teratus shakes himself. Dream chose rightly. Pureblood does not mean saner nor more balanced than halfblood, he grumbles.

*All right* she answered thoughtfully *I think I get it, now. But is there any defence against the Blade Court? Cor has magic, and so does Prox...but Cor's is still developing, and Im not the hocus pocus type, I don't think. So what can we do? And how can we keep things safe? That wench saw us, she didn't recognize Prox, but word will get around.*

For now, silence is the best course, and the invisibility wards I have constructed. I will guide my dreamer to be stronger. Will you help me watch for threats? Teratus bobs. The woman is mad. I will find her and see what she knows.


*I'm always watching for threats* she answered sourly *I now know of several more than I had wanted to though... What about Cor and I helping out though? What really can we do other than be quiet about things and keep our eyes open.*

*Magic small yet* Corint affirmed *Work harder to make better. No magic for Dreamer?*

*News to me if I did.* she replied, *Ter?*


Help to hold up the wards. More folk to keep them strong. Will take you to Library sometime if you wish, help me look for things. Teratus nods to his daughter. Corinth is getting stronger, is big help.

...

Everything seemed the same since last she was here. Same fridge, same kitchen, same eerie quiet that hung about the house of dreams. As of late, the people she had known were replaced by new faces, which was only to be expected.

She felt...uncomfortable here now. Wanting to see what she was used to seeing, and feel what she was used to. What Ter had told her changed everything, and yet....nothing had actually changed.

Patting Reaper on his head and letting Ophelia claim her knee as she liked to do, she smiled with the realization that their family had grown by yet another.

She wondered what Corinth would have to say. It had been such a CHORE to get her to accept Reaper, and it had been Ophelia, and not her mother who had shown the fortitude to make the overture to the insecure puppy. That friendship had blossomed into something truly remarkable.
It was awe-inspiring to watch their total devotion to each other. Even moreso than Rheidun and Corinth...for Ophelia and Reaper did not even share the same language...although she knew they had created one of their own together.

Where was Corinth? Getting to her feet, she prowled around a bit. She and the Dream had not been as cuddly-close as when she was first born, but establishing a family of her own had seemed to calm her down and reaffirm their bonding.

*Corinth?* she called quietly in her mind, and was uneasy when there was no response.

"Prox? Ter?" she called, walking in to the next room. "Corinth's gone, and she won't answer me!"

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

The forest had been forbidden her by Teratus. But that had been when she was still small. Now her wings carried her larger frame into the branches with a calm assurance. She had always been called ot this place.

She heard the faint echo of Chae's summon, but her mind was on other things, Chae included. There was much she needed to consider. Herself, her family, her Dreamer, and her future.

Her father had charged her with a heavy burden. To protect and grow. But such things came with time, although she HAD applied herself, she felt little had resulted. The King slept, and knew nothing. Just as Cor herself felt she knew nothing.

Her own Dreamer she felt distanced from. It had been her own actions, she understood. Her late term rebelliousness that had driven her from the love that she craved from others...from her own kind. She had shunned Chae, because she had felt a human Dreamer could not supply her with what she needed, other than the impulsiveness she cherished.

She had been very mistaken in that. But was not sure how to convey that. Her speech was good, but not good enough. Better than her fathers had at her stage, but not the way she needed to convey that complexity of remorse.

And her mate, Rheidun. Where had he gone? They had formed a family that so quickly fell to shambles. A rebellious daughter, a quiet daydream wrapped up in her own loves, and an absent offspring that was never brought near. What had happened to her family? She missed her mate greatly, never stopped aching for him, and yet there was no sign.

Was she able to protect the King when she could not vouch for the location of her own kith?

Heavy thoughts, enervating. She felt less and less sure as each moment passed and hunched her wings. What did she need to do?

Spreading her wings, she glided deeper into the woods. perhaps the answer could be found there.

She stared at him blankly for a few moments and sighed. "If you say so. Whatever you said."

Mainly that Corinth was allright. She was used to being ignored by her Dream....unfortunately.

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

Deeper and darker the woods were, as she wove in and out and around the branches and thicket. Her wings provided a steady if somewhat dimmed illumination. It would not do to have others see her.

Her sapphire jewel eyes flittered faintly with the reflection of flames and the stuff of forests, as she dove upward, piercing the tops of the trees and hovering briefly above the trees. Seeing around her, she knew she was farther from home than she had ever been. But perhaps closer.

Rheidun, Chae, Ophelia, Reaper, Morri, Ganymede, Teratus, Precious, Halberd, Auri, King....

the names chaced themselves one after the other through her mind, and she flapped, wheeling about in the sky and pitching back through the treetops, into a complete fall, twisting and flailing about.

Pulling up just in time to avoid certain flattening, she lighted on the forest floor, and peered around. Perhaps this perspective could offer her more.

She was small after things were considered. A tiny bit in a great world of collective unconscious.

With all the time that seemed to have past, it should have been that she was closer to a solution. Such was not the case for Corinth, however; she felt many things...but none of them was a solution.

Hope, anger, frustration, love, need and hurt. How could such a small creature feel so many things? There was hardly enough room for it all. And how had all this happened?

And what did she need to do now?