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"N-No!" Iarla protested, as Dusty elaborated on how Odette's story might have 'called' to him. "I don't feel anything about it at all! AGH!" He dropped his head on the table with a dull thud.

Even as Arrien lightly scolded Dusty, Iarla looked up at her with the side of his head on the table - but she was smiling too, so his world was shattered once again. Agh!!

He glanced at Dusty at the deerkitten's question, his head now a permanent fixture of the table. Not thinking correctly, he said painfully, "I...I don't know what an arabesque is..." Wait! That means I can't be the Princess, right...? That's a good thing, isn't it...?

At this point Iarla wasn't too clear on what was a good thing or a bad thing, so he just assumed a look of intense worry on his face.

Iarla's face flushed a bright red. Before he could get a handle on what he was saying, he said loudly in protest: "I'm not a girl!" This was, perhaps, rather amusing for someone looking at him: even his voice had that light, musical tone to it - never mind the soft features of his face! However, Iarla tended to be oblivious to these - it was often the people looking on who were reminded of it.

"I can't be Princess Odette! I can't be!" He sat up straight, staring at the opposite wall in mixed horror. He had no proof that he wasn't Odette - except that he wasn't a girl, which felt like a very good reason, except that Dusty had glossed over it completely.

"I-I don't even know anything about ballet, except what the shoes and outfits look like!" And that, he was sure, was all Kuraino's fault. She had taken a weird liking to that ballet story fairytale thing, after all. So it was hardly his fault that he knew what the bare essentials of ballet were!

Seeing Arrien clearing the table, he immediately stood up on instinct to help. Besides, it was good manners to stand when a lady did. He had to show this kind of respect to Kuraino in public at home, due to her rank - although Kuraino detested it from her close friends.

Suddenly, as Iarla picked up his plate and utensils, there was a burst of desperate BANGing on what must have been on the front door. Iarla froze in place, the loud sound rooting him to the spot for a moment. BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG! Someone was knocking like a huge storm was on the way (common back home) or else some other emergency he could not fathom.

Iarla stood very still, resisting the urge to start flailing in panic. Loud! What now?! What if that was the Prince at the door right now, here to seal his fate?! His eyes widened. N-N-NO! He gripped the sides of the plate very hard in his hands, fighting off the instinct to tremble. No! No! No!

Instead of answering Dusty's outburst, Iarla merely turned and stared with his mouth slightly agape in horror. He was still holding the plate, his knuckles white. I-I-If it's a Prince, I'm going to run!!!! But run where?! Trapped! He felt like his heart had completely stopped beating. I DON'T WANT TO BE PRINCESS ODETTE!

Losing sight of the situation, he suddenly yelled, "GO AWAY!" at the top of his lungs in the direction the rampant knocking had from. Backing up against the kitchen countertop, his hands began to shake. He was beginning to feel a bit light-headed...


Kuraino was standing outside the door in her full white priestess robes, an earpiece in her ear. She looked absolutely frantic. Before she could even answer the spunky ponytailed girl who opened the door, she heard the strangled "GO AWAY!" from inside the house. Her eyes widened: it was Iarla's voice!

"IARLA?!?!?!?!" she practically screamed. Rudely she shoved herself right past the girl in the doorway, thundering down the hallway - trying to discern where the voice had come from. IARLA!!!! ARE YOU HERE?!

Her silver bangs were plastered to her forehead from the heat outside. She looked a wreck: like she had been sobbing. "Iarla!?!?!?" she screamed again, breaking off into tears. ARE YOU IN HERE?! ANSWER ME! Oh gods please!

Kuraino nearly launched herself on the android women in frustration, ready and willing to kick and holler until she fought her way through. She was surprised, though as the other women appeared - Arri by name - but that didn't especially matter either at this point.

"Where's Iarla?!" she half-screamed, clearly hysterical. Her face was stained with tears that were still running. If you bastards did anything to him - I'll ******** KILL YOU! she raged mentally. On Nemesis, most people would have telepathically heard this threat: it wasn't clear whether anyone in this place could.

Iarla, in fact, poked his head around the corner of the hallway, looking now after hearing that familiar voice - albeit stretched to the breaking point. "Kuraino-mama...?" he asked in surprise. Unfortunately, feathers were already sprouting from the backs of his hands and down his neck. In panic he clapped his hands over his mouth: the most embarrassing part was always his beak. Dammit! No! This was a very good reason to swear again.

He was already shrinking as he pelted down the hallway to Kuraino, who broke into fresh sobs seeing him there (and apparently unhurt). "Oh my gods! Oh my gods! Oh my ******** gods, Iarla!!" she wailed, as he came running - but tripped over the bottom of his pants. In a tumble of cloak and feathers, he ended up face-down on the floor: if only he hadn't gotten so anxious with Dusty's teasing! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!!!! Another nine hours of fail, coming right up.

Kuraino was oblivious to his transformation - almost. She knew the reasons why Iarla would transform, so she shouted protectively, "Have you done anything to him?! Have you?! Iarla!" She dropped to her knees and put her arms around him, just as he was struggling to get up. It was no use, now: he had become smaller, changing all the while. It was surprising - but not horrifying - to watch. There was still that strange harmony to the process: he could no longer raise his arms to cover his mouth, so his beak was revealed on his face: plain as day. Around his widened eyes the feathers spread, his eyes changing to the ebony of a wild thing's. He struggled again, in the growing pile of his clothes. Around the time he was four feet tall, he spread his arms - wings - to try and get his feet under himself. The wings grew, and grew: easily eight or nine feet long, the flight feathers blossoming from him. Kuraino hooked her arms under what would have been his underarms, trying to help him right himself. The position he was in worked for a human, but not for a bird.

Kuraino pulled Iarla into her lap, quite a large and heavy-looking bird, now. As his neck lengthened into a regal arch, Iarla bent his head into her shoulder. Big, wet tears rolled down his feathery cheeks. He was the only bird he knew that could cry, and talk. It wasn't exactly comforting.

"Kuraino-mama," he said with his beak, his voice betraying his frayed nerves. He could not hug her in return, so he merely pressed his body against her chest, bending his head into the front of her white robes. He began trembling as he cried, not realizing how much he had missed her; how worried he had been he would never see her again. Kuraino-mama! You are here, now it can be okay.

"Iarla," Kuraino said, her voice hoarse. She was hugging his body rather tightly, as best she could manage. She shot a look up at Arri, tears still flowing quite freely down her face. It wasn't clear whether these people had hurt Iarla, but he was alive - not tied to wall, not hanging from chains with his head low and various sharp objects rammed through his body. Not like her brother, when he had stepped through an unknown portal to an unknown place: right into the hands of one of the most ******** up people in existence. Not tortured, not dead, he's okay, Iarla is okay, he is right here, he is okay - don't let go! Mustn't let go of him! She broke into harder sobs, closing her eyes and drawing him as close as she possibly could. She didn't say anything, only cried herself further into exhaustion. Suddenly she placed her hand on the earpiece in her ear, repeating: "I found him. Yes, I found him. He's alive."

Kuraino caught Arrien's insulted stance. She found this rather interesting. Under the circumstances, Kuraino had actually been expecting Iarla to be quite dead, or - and she knew for a fact such a thing was possible: - something worse. Yet the world outside seemed oddly like Earth, and not very threatening...although she had seen a few weird things in her frantic door-to-door search. She could sense Iarla, and even hear his thoughts, but - she couldn't find him anywhere! It was just luck that it was this house... She tried to calm herself, looking down at the swan in her lap. He was just eating breakfast? Maybe he appeared here?

Her worry turned to sternness very quickly. "I'm sorry," Kuraino said to Arrien. She looked down at Iarla, her expression cross. "If you'll excuse me just a minute." But she didn't leave the hallway, being a bit wary of the weird android girl stopping her if she tried to walk into some other room.

Just under her breath, she said seriously, "Iarla, what the hell were you thinking?" Tears began to sting her eyes again. "Didn't I tell you what happened to Auron?!" She held Iarla's wings at his sides, like one might put their hands on another's shoulders. "Didn't you listen to a thing I told you?" She was trying not to cry further, but the memories were so ******** bad. Auron had been tortured, doing just what Iarla had done. Walking through some random damn portal.

"I'm s-sorry," Iarla stammered, those big tears dripping off his cheeks. "I-I just." He hung his head. "There was a light! I felt like I was supposed to follow it..."

Kuraino's palm met her forehead. "We'll talk about this later," she said, her tone suggesting she wasn't finished with him yet.

Carefully she lifted the large swan back onto the floor and stood up. Iarla's clothes were still in a pile on the floor, and everyone was staring at one another in the hallway. Kuraino swallowed, fiercely wiping her eyes on the back of her gloves in an effort to seem...at least faintly competent.

"I'm sorry about this," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. She took a deep, shaky breath, and let it out slowly. Iarla looked up at her, mournful and apologetic. He didn't 'send' her any thoughts, in case he might interrupt her.

"I'm the Herald of Nemesis," Kuraino said, extending her hand out to Arrien in a kind of ritualistic gesture. She dropped it to her side. Another sigh. They probably don't know what that means. She cleared her throat. "We're..." she glanced down at Iarla, and back up. "From a different universe than this one. Another world." She put her hand on the back of her head, her face still smudged with tears. How the hell was she supposed to explain? "Iarlaith is...a part of my family," she said, moving her hands around as if trying to elaborate. "He...disappeared. From home. Through a..." Do they know what portals are... "...a gateway, to this place." She narrowed her eyes at Iarla on the floor, who grimaced noticeably. But Kuraino's voice faded: "I thought...he was dead." She gritted her teeth, clearly fighting off some thought or memory.

Putting her face in her hand, she got out in a monotone voice: "...I just...just followed Iarla's presence to here. Haven't been able to find him...I've been so worried, I thought...thought he might have..." Clenching her hands in her fists, she suddenly yelled, "Iarla, don't you ever do that again!!" at the swan on the floor.

Iarla said nothing now; in humiliation he stuck his head under his wing. He didn't like facing Kuraino's ire at all; he loved her and he didn't want her to be mad at him. It made him so upset. But he had done something so stupid, hadn't he? I know, I know! I know I did...it was stupid...I don't know why... He made sure to 'send' the thoughts to Kuraino. From under his wing he cried out tearfully in quick succession, "I'm so sorry Kuraino-mama please forgive me!" Then he trembled a little, and became quiet again. Under his wing, his fat tears rolled off his feathers and dripped onto the floor. That was wrong and bad of me. What was I thinking? I don't know...just the light...

"I forgive you," Kuraino answered, her voice now almost gentle as the reality set in that Iarla was all right and safe. I forgive you.

Iarla slipped his head out; he could not smile apologetically in return, but he blinked his big black eyes and tried to send that feeling to Kuraino. Kuraino smiled ever so faintly.

Then she sighed heavily, pressing on the earpiece in her ear - though she didn't speak into it. She looked up at Arrien now with dead eyes. "I'm sorry to have...accused you of...it's just..." she fell silent, thinking she had explained already what she thought was going on. Her shoulders fell a little; her layered robe looked almost a bit heavy now. "I've just been up all night, all this time, I've been trying to find him, I..."

She hadn't rushed through as soon as she had found the portal, though she had become completely hysterical. She had had to tell people; to have a plan, depending on what was on the other side of the gate. She had insisted on going alone, much to the distress of family members. She had at least agreed to wear the earpiece currently perched in her ear. But now that the crisis had been averted, the stress was taking its toll on her.

"I'm not sure what this world is," Kuraino said. Her voice wavered.

"It's called 'Gaia'," Iarla said. He looked over his shoulder at Dusty. Oh...oh! Oh... A lot would have to be explained to Kuraino. Maybe now wasn't the right time? He was unsure.

"Uh, er," Iarla said, turned his hefty bird body around and stood squarely in the middle of the hallway. "Kuraino-mama," Iarla said softly. "This is Ms. Arrien..." He dipped his head to Arrien. Then he glanced at the android girl, having no idea who she was. Er. Well there was Dusty. "This is my friend Dusty..." he bobbed his head in the direction where Dusty was. He turned back to Kuraino. I met Dusty last night. He saved me.

He did? Kuraino answered mentally, surprised. Now that she looked at Dusty, she realized how odd he looked. At first she had a jarring thought: was he a demon? Yet she didn't get that awful feeling that demons dragged around with them in a kind of toxic aura. And this 'Dusty', though he looked like some sort of animal-human, didn't sound like he was going to hurt her or Iarla from the way he answered Arrien. Could it be she takes care of him? Kuraino thought. She had seen some weird stuff outside, like ******** flying horses for pete's sake. And other things too. Maybe Dusty was just another race of this world. Interesting...that's...kinda cool...

She looked thoughtful, but very tired.

Iarla was sort of itching to get right into the whole Fa'e thing that he'd just had explained to him. "Kuraino-mama," he said, not caring now who heard him using Kuraino's nickname, "Dusty is like me."

"Uh, okay?" Kuraino said, with no idea what the hell that meant. Uh...that's nice? Wait, what exactly are you saying? Was he saying Dusty (weird name) was his friend? Or, wait, that Dusty was like Iarla Down There?

K-Kuraino-mama!!! Iarla objected instantly, his mental presence mortified.

Oh, uh, sorry, I just thought...uh, Kuraino said. She wasn't feeling particularly like this was time to hang out. It's time to go home.

"Wait," Iarla said, this time out loud. "I..." He looked bashful, if a swan can possibly look such. "I'm not sure if I..."

"Ohhh no," Kuraino said, guessing where that was going. I'm sure we can thank Ms. Arrien and Dusty with some gifts, Iarla, but we really should get going, everyone is worried!

"Um..." Iarla said. Now what was he supposed to do?

At Arrien's explanation, Kuraino was extremely relieved. "Oh, that's good, that was lucky, then..." Seeing Arrien go to shake her hand, she laughed and waved her around nervously. "Ahaha! Sorry...sort of, weird ritual greeting thing we kinda do at home...I can shake hands too, though!" She laughed again, a bit more at ease - but she apologized for her mistake. Gah, I should just assume it's Earth here...because it seems to be mostly the same...

To Dusty, she raised an eye, more interested in his strange appearance than what he was actually saying. But she caught the notion he wanted to go hang out with Iarla, which made her grown inwardly. Oh man, I haven't slept all night... But by saying 'other Fa'e,' Kuraino deduced that maybe Dusty was called a Fa'e and his race looked similar to him. Maybe he wanted Iarla to meet his family or something?

"Er," Kuraino said.

Iarla was excited. "Yes!" he exclaimed, spreading his huge wings. Quickly he tucked them back into his sides, aware that his outburst might seem strange. He was 'feeling' Kuraino's confusion already.

"Ah..." He bobbed his head at Dusty, sort of jerking it back over his 'shoulder' to indicate Kuraino: 'What do we do with her?' She doesn't know yet...

He turned around with some difficulty, swinging his tail end. "Kuraino-mama," he started...then realized he hadn't introduced Kuraino properly yet. "Oh uh, er, uh," he swung his head to look up at Arri. "This is...Kuraino, my...Guardian." He was already guessing that 'Guardian' might have a different connotation than he had originally thought. "...But I'm sure you could probably tell that..."

Kuraino forced a smile, a bit nervous for some reason she couldn't figure. What's this...I feel like he's going to tell me something big. Iarla, you're still...a virgin, right?

Iarla, flailing, just barely managed to keep himself from yelling it out loud. Y-YES!! KURAINO-MAMA!!

"Oh, sorry," Kuraino said, laughing and shrugging. This probably seemed odd, as the other half of the conversation had been done with telepathy, there...

"A-Anyway," Iarla said, closing his eyes as if saying something Very Important. "Uh..." He glanced at Dusty again. He wished he could talk to Dusty with his mind too. It'd be easier. "Kuraino-mama...what I meant was...Dusty is..." Gathering his courage, he stood defiantly on the floor. It was almost funny how he wasn't as worried about being in swan form in front of Dusty and even Arrien now: even though he had just met them! "Dusty is called a Fa'e."

"I guessed that," Kuraino said, nodding and looking interested. Before she could think about being regal and a good ambassador of Nemesis, she said, "That's cool." I mean, he has cloven hooves, and, I think, a cat's tail! ...Cool. She wasn't sure about the marks on his face: they almost looked like...gems? Maybe that'd be too weird?

"Well, the thing is..." Iarla tried to retain composure, instead of cringing into a little ball. "...They think I might be one, too."

"Huh?" Kuraino asked, her voice giving away her weary state of mind. Things weren't clicking as fast as usual with 31 hours of no sleep. Wait, what. You don't look anything like him.

"Oh, I know that we don't look the same," Iarla said, realizing Kuraino probably thought that Fa'e was a race of Gaia like he had at first. "I think all the Fa'e look different." He wasn't sure on this one, so he looked at Dusty for confirmation.

"Huh?" Kuraino said again. She wasn't quite following.

Kuraino looked at Dusty in thoughtful confusion, until around the time ' Fa'e are reborn legends an' stuff' sunk in.

"Wait...what?" she asked.

Iarla tried to put a good face on it. He was trying not to think about that whole idea of being from a story. "Uhm...yes..." He looked back and forth between Arrien, Dusty, and Kuraino. "Y-You see..." he tried to begin. It was hard to talk without being able to gesture. "Ms. Arrien and Dusty just tried to explain it to me earlier..." Meekly, he dipped his head in Dusty's direction. "It's that...Dusty is...from a legend, but reborn...he is Excalibur, but come back as a Fa'e." I think I got it right...

"Wait...what?" Kuraino asked. She sort of screwed up her eyes as if this would reveal sense in what Iarla was saying. "Wait...Excalibur?" Oh, she knew what that was. Thank you 20-something years of living on Earth in her second life. "...You mean, King Arthur's sword," she stated.

"...Yeees..." Iarla said. This was beginning to sound stupider by the second, but he clung to the information Dusty had given him. Dusty was confident, and had said Iarla was probably a Fa'e too - at the very least, Iarla needed to consider such a possibility...

"Wait," Kuraino said. She put a hand on her hip. "He's...King Arthur's sword. Excalibur."

"That's right..." Iarla said, trying to sound encouraging.

"The one the Lady of the Lake gave him?" Kuraino asked, having momentary flashbacks to watching a certain hilarious movie about King Arthur and his Knights.

"Uh..." Iarla had no idea about a Lady in a lake. "Maybe?" he said carefully. I don't know what the Lady in the lake is.

"..." Kuraino raised an eyebrow, sizing up Dusty. Okay...this little black-furred kid was...Excalibur. Reincarnated. "...Okay what wait just a minute!" She slapped her palm onto her face again, fighting exhaustion to figure out what the hell Iarla was saying. You're telling me this kid, this Dusty, is A SWORD - Excalibur?! The one from the legend of King Arthur?

"Yes," Iarla said. He grimaced. "And he isn't a sword now...but he was."

What the ********> Kuraino thought.

Iarla had been afraid of that. "...Uh, w-well..." He looked at Arrien appealingly, hoping another Guardian might explain it better.

"He thinks you're something from a legend, too?" Kuraino cut in. Iarla gasped inwardly, then looked slowly over his 'shoulder', his eyes nearly slits in suspicion. Oh no...DUSTY IS GOING TO TELL HER I'M PRINCESS ODETTE.

"You're WHAT?" Kuraino said, staring stupidly.

"I-I MEAN, I'M NOT, BUT DUSTY WILL SAY SO," Iarla said, loudly. He put his head under his wing, shutting his eyes.

"What the ********," Kuraino said out loud. "Now just hold on a second, how could any of this happen anyway?!" She was willing to believe Dusty's story, but when it came to Iarla, it was probably some kind of mistake. What the hell is a 'Fa'e'?!