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To Arrien's explanation, Kuraino actually stared in wonder. She looked down at Iarla on the floor, a large swan, and back up at Arrien. In a way this was all somewhat...fascinating, or maybe that was because she hadn't slept for an entire day.

"...Uh, whoa," Kuraino said, staring longer. In a weird way, this all made a certain amount of sense - and on the other hand, it sounded completely crazy.

Finding their way back here...Iarla, drawn to whatever light he saw? She looked at Iarla as she 'said' this mentally, and he merely looked back. ...It can't be. No, it could be - Iarla's circumstances had always been...peculiar.

At the comment about being Iarla's mother, Kuraino turned a bright red. She cleared her throat very noticeably. "Yes well...I'm not his biological mother, or really even his mother I mean it's...sort of...a...you know, uh, mother...sister...relationship...thing."

Iarla laughed mentally, appreciating Kuraino's version of 'tact' in this situation. Oh, Kuraino.

AHEM, Kuraino continued.

The strange thing was, though, that Kuraino had her own experiences: ones that including being reborn, and remembering who she was. This gave her a certain amount of insight into what was being discussed. ...It's true that I'm not his mother. I don't know where he came from...I found him...I... And that was just the beginning of the atypical things about Iarla. What about when he randomly became older, after a certain amount of time - and quickly, too, just all of a sudden. There were so many things? But I love him.

Iarla flushed mentally, returning that feeling. He was glad Kuraino was with him now.

"Okay..." Kuraino said, a little more clear on the Fa'e concept after Arrien's elaboration. "...So...there is a certain...race, or something, with ties to this world...and those individuals are...born from legends?" She blinked. It was once again odd at how much sense this was making. In her own world, she knew the sort of beings that had the power to create something like a separate race. 'Airi' might be one of this world's Eternities - as they were called at home. Or maybe a reflection of the same one...who knows?

Kuraino tended to believe in these sorts of things on principle - and not just because she herself had been reborn. Although that tended to help. For me...I had...dreams. She held a hand lightly to her chest, thinking deeply. Dreams, memories...is it the same for Iarla? She looked at him questioningly.

"I have never had dreams of a past life," Iarla answered quietly, catching her question. "But...Dusty has - he has even seen visions. That is why he knows where he came from."

"The sword...Excalibur," Kuraino said, only half-listening to what Iarla was saying now. This was all getting way too interesting to ignore, even though she was almost dead on her feet from fatigue. "Was reborn..." She stared at Dusty. Oh! On his face - gems! Like what might have been inlaid in the hilt of a sword?

"Dude...this is..." Kuraino was saying, mostly to herself. "...Whoa," she finished, as if this word explained the essence of what Arrien and Dusty were proposing. "Things from myths...brought to life, maybe by magic..." Okay, it was kind of intense to think about...but that kid over there was Excalibur?! ...Awesome...

Iarla laughed out loud. ((He LOL'd.))

Kuraino snapped her fingers together. "Okay...this...kind of makes some weird amount of sense right now..." And Iarla was going to say he didn't want to leave. This has to be why. She didn't really want to think about how much work it would be to figure out leaving her home for a place like this. Maybe that was still a bit premature. "Uhh...okay." But now curiosity was eating at her. "Iarla...what are you from?"

"I don't know," Iarla said quickly, before Dusty could jump in. "I've never had dreams or anything..." Except for that image in my head this morning. I can tell you about it later.

Okay, Kuraino thought. Darn. Iarla didn't know what he was. Maybe he was...uh...her brain had kind of stopped working. She shook her head, trying to clear it.

Kuraino eyes grew huge. She stared at Iarla, then clapped her hands over her mouth. "Ahahahaha oh my god wait are you?!" she exclaimed, trying to muffle her shocked laughter.

"What?! No, I'm not!" Iarla protested, even more loudly this time. Kuraino would believe him, wouldn't she?! Oh, wait... Oh, no! She likes that story that has to do with Swan Lake! She'd probably LIKE it if I were! ...No, she wouldn't, that would just be too... He looked at Kuraino, blinking his eyes like a puppy.

...Kuraino had the same reaction again. "Eeeheehee ahahahaha oh, oh! Iarla! Are you seriouuus?" She still had her hands clamped over her mouth, though her eyes were tearing up with mirth.

"I'm not! I'm not!" Iarla shouted, now flapping his wings to emphasize the point: which made a slightly strong wind in the room for a minute.

"Ahahaha, ahahahaha haha..." Kuraino laughed, putting her hand on the back of her head. "I suppose not!" When Arrien explained the process of memories with Fa'e, Kuraino was once again interested. "Wow...okay," she said to Arrien. "Yeah, I've never had Iarla mention anything to me before...about dreams, or visions."

Iarla, fluffed up in annoyance now, continued to look put-out.

Kuraino, on the other hand, was feeling quite cheerful. She knelt down on the floor and patted Iarla's little swan head. "Don't worry Iarla...we'll figure it out," she said, grinning. Then she stood again: gah, if I weren't so tired... But Dusty had mentioned someone with...a fire head?

It was risky, but Kuraino was just desperate enough to do it. "The other Fa'e aren't...dangerous, right?" Kuraino asked Arrien. She didn't want to leave Iarla alone now, but if he wanted to go to this HQ place - I should let him. This is really important to him. I can tell. However, she had to make sure it was safe first. She wanted to go with Iarla, to at least see these other Fa'e...who knew what myths they might be from? She could think of several of her own favorites stories...imagine meeting them in real life!

Yet, her mind and body were tired. She struggled to stay awake. Iarla, noticing, felt at least happy that she was taking everything so well. So...we can stay, right? I can stay with Dusty, right? he asked hopefully.

"Uh, wait a minute," Kuraino said, forcing herself to look stern (when her eyes would much rather shut and ease into sleep). "That's getting a bit ahead. We need to figure some things out first, Iarla..." She tried to stave off that can of worms as long as possible. It was too complicated to get into now.

"I see," Kuraino replied. Secretly, she found each one of Dusty's movements fascinating. Was it because he was Excalibur that he had such an ego? Or felt he was so strong? She was trying to think about the possibilities - it was kind of like meeting a celebrity, she thought, in the back of her mind - but Dusty definitely didn't need to hear that.

"Uhh," she said, shaking her head to clear it again. Frowning, she put two fingers to her temple and looked at Arrien, Dusty, and Iarla with bleary eyes. This place seems safe. I'm not getting any bad feelings. Would it be safe to let Iarla go with them? I should go too, right? But I'm so drained. Iarla has been safe with them up till now, so it stands to reason he would be still...and Arrien knows more about this whole Fa'e thing... Kuraino looked a bit dead as she thought it over. She would probably be in the best position to guide Iarla around...

Kuraino was silently grateful for Arrien's offer. She could tell that Iarla really wanted to go. I can't believe he trusts Dusty this much so quickly! I mean...he's never warmed up to someone this fast before.

Iarla stood still, watching - hoping - listening - to Kuraino's mental debate. He decided to at least offer his own experience again, if it would help comfort Kuraino: We can trust them. They are friends. Dusty brought me here, and helped me.

Kuraino was reluctant, but she turned and looked at Arrien. "...I'll need to tell you a few things about Iarla," she said, bending down to pick Iarla's clothes off the floor. "The form he is in right now...it will last for nine hours. I think." She furrowed her brow, thinking of what day it was. Yeah, he still has a couple weeks before his mandatory transformation. "Yeah, nine hours," she repeated again, shaking her silver hair over her shoulder. "During this time he's going to be stuck as a swan like this...he can't really do anything, but he can talk, and sing..." She nodded at Iarla, who looked away in embarrassment. "He's going to get hungry...I'm not sure but, this world is a lot like Earth in my universe - do you have lakes or anything here? He can feed there. I'll tell you, I had a hell of a time trying to find him food back home...we don't have any water on our planet. It has to be created. And he kept wanting it to be in water, so I ended up sticking him in the bathtub and putting the food in there..."

"K-Kuraino-mama!" Iarla interrupted, not wanting anyone to think badly of him after hearing that. He put his head beneath his wing again. Mrr...

Kuraino shrugged. "What? It's true! Anyway...I had to get that stuff from a specialty seller...mostly aquatic plants...but some fish and bugs and all." She made a face. Kuraino hated bugs.

Iarla tried to mutter 'I can't help it,' from under his wing, but it came out muffled and made little sense.

As Kuraino bent down and picked up Iarla's left boot, she blinked. "Iarla...where's your hairpin? It isn't here."

"I gave it to Dusty for a little while, to thank him for helping me," Iarla said, still from beneath his feathers. Kuraino stared. What? Wow. I never thought he'd do that in a million years! "Uh...okay," Kuraino said slowly. That had been unexpected.

"Ms. Arrien," she said, turning to Arrien again. "I really appreciate that offer...I'd like to ask your permission for some family members to come here; I think people might be in and out of here for a little while to check on me and figure out what's going on with Iarla..." Kuraino lifted a gloved hand to her chin, looking pensive. "I'm going to allow you to go, Iarla, but I want you back here soon. I might be out of commission for a little while...I want you to listen to Ms. Arrien and be watchful of what's going on!" She said this very sternly.

"Yes, Kuraino-mama," Iarla said, trying to contain his happiness. He was going out! Outside! He was going to go the HQ and see people like from last night! Almost as much as he wanted to go to Airi, Iarla wanted to go outside...because he was sure, now, that he was seeing sunlight out there, which there was none of at home!

"Uh, Dusty, was it?" Kuraino said, bending down to look at Dusty. She kind of liked his attitude, and as far as she could tell he was willing to help Iarla. "Iarla's gonna be stuck like this...but he can't really run, or anything, when he's a swan." She was thinking Dusty might carry Iarla wherever they were going, but that was nearly twenty pounds of hefty bird.

"I could fly there..." Iarla started.

"Yeah, but if Dusty and Ms. Arrien can't fly, then how will you know where you're going?" Kuraino shifted the clothes in her arms. "Just be careful."

"I will," Iarla said.

Kuraino's shoulders sagged. "All right...you get me immediately if anything happens..." She glanced at Arrien, a bit apologetic. "I think I'll take you up on the offer...if...if you don't mind..."

Kuraino, incredibly grateful, took up residence on the couch. She used Iarla's clothes as a further addition to the pillows already there. She spoke quietly into the communicator in her ear for some time, pulling off her priestess slippers and some layers of her robes. These she folded carefully and placed on the coffee table.

Iarla waddled over to her happily, deciding to wait for Dusty rather than brave the stairs. Going down them was one thing, but going up was exasperating. It always involved a lot of instinctive honking and flapping.

"Thanks for letting me go, Kuraino-mama," Iarla said softly, sitting down next to the couch on the floor. Kuraino paused in speaking into the communicator to smile at him. She then continued, making arrangements for a few people to come and check on her - she's probably end up having someone stay with her while she was asleep. She found this unfortunate side effect of being 'royalty' very annoying.

"You just be good, okay?" she said. She didn't quite no why she was so drained, but it probably had to do with panicking earlier...and then continuing to do that for the next 15 or so hours. Ugh.

Iarla laid his head near her face. He gave her a sort of nasal chirp, and she giggled unintentionally. Iarla did it again, then, for her benefit, and she patted his little head. "Don't get into any trouble, now...and don't talk to anyone that Ms. Arrien or Dusty don't know...and it'd be better if you're back here before your nine hours is up." She jerked her head at the clothes she was laying on.

"Oh," Iarla got out, already frustrated again with his swan-changing body. Grghhh but it can't be Princess Odette, right...

"I don't think so," Kuraino whispered. She had decided to leave the communicator on, just to be extra safe. "After all, she was a woman. I don't think there'd be any reason for her to be reborn differently. Maybe there is, Iunno. I still need to figure this whole thing out."

"But, you believe it, right?" Iarla asked, tilting his head sideways.

"...Well, yeah, I mean, I have no reason to not believe what Arrien says. Dusty is probably as both of them say. I just need to figure out - this place, and what it has to do with us...with you. We have a home to go back to...but if this is where you're really from..." She sighed, biting her lip. "Well let's not get into that now." She was trying her hardest to stave off the impending depression she knew would hit her if she had to think 'I have to leave Iarla...'

Iarla, afraid, pressed his swan body against the couch. "I would never leave you, Kuraino-mama," Iarla whispered back, his eyes starting to become all wet again at the very thought.

"Hey, it's okay," Kuraino said, pulling down the sleeve of her robes and rubbing them on Iarla's moist eyes. "We don't have to think about that right now...we just have to figure this out first..."

Iarla nodded, but he was nervous now. He tried to shake it off. "...Will big brother Lapis come?"

"Probably," Kuraino said. She sighed heavily and leaned back into the couch. She closed her eyes. "I would rather go with you...but I don't feel very good...maybe that's from him, too." She had a link to Lapis that could be...difficult at times.

"Yeah," Iarla said. "What about Are?"

"She'll probably come too. I dunno. This has been a kind of...complicated time for all this stuff to happen. People will probably be in and out of here to check on me, and you - and this place."

"Yeah," Iarla said again. He noticed that Kuraino's eyes weren't opened. "You get some sleep, Kuraino-mama...I will be back in a little while...if anything happens, I will 'tell' you right away..."

"Okay, good," Kuraino sighed - but she was already drifting off.

Iarla picked his head up off the couch and stood up, waddling - though he tried to tiptoe - away, to the bottom of the stairs. He looked up them expectantly, ready and waiting.