Welcome to Gaia! ::

"And so if we were to look at the various factors - "

Rune Traverse stifled a yawn, trying hard to look as if she weren't nodding off over her dainty china plate. Dear gawd, how she hated these meetings. Tucked into these board rooms for hours on end, nibbling at delicate little pastries that seemed designed to make a mess, listening to idiot after idiot repeat the same stupid thing over and over with barely an argument to break the monotony. She fought the urge to rearrange her dress irritably. It didn't help matters that she was trussed up like a collector's doll, either. Full noble attire was a necessary evil at these already wicked functions, even if most of those present didn't pay any attention to her anyway.

And this is a MAGE-based conference, in lands where mages have just about the same rank as nobles. She thought indignantly. You'd think they'd at least respect the fact that I've been a fighter IN the Mage Wars, even if they don't know about the Rare Blood thing. Then again, at least they won't ask me to repeat any of it - though considering how many times I've heard the same thing, I'd actually be good at it. Can't any of these idiots listen to each other? Or talk in varying pitches, so I don't take a nap in the fondue?

As the fourth speaker in the last hour climbed to his feet, Rune twisted one end of her waist sash around her fingers and debated blowing up something outside to end the meeting early. This was insane! It was completely pointless for her to be here, no matter WHO her relatives were! Her dark green eyes flicked to the chairs next to hers, and she bit back a curse. To top everything off, her cousin Ri was sitting calmly in her seat of honor, gaze intent and focused on the speaker, nodding in all the right places. Granted, her Aunt Krystal - Crown Princess and co-ruler of Tarr'icto, settled on Ri's right side - had to listen to this drivel, but Ri wasn't even fidgeting! For a few seconds, Rune wondered how her cousin could stay awake; then she caught the ever-so-faint hint of magic hovering inside the eighteen-year-old's skin and swore to herself. The little witch was using her Incarnate bond - in her mind, she was with her fellow Coloured Eyes, hanging out and probably doing something a thousand times more fun than this. Rune wondered if she could set her cousin's chair on fire and still claim it was an accident.

KA-BOOM!

Everyone in the room jumped as a massive explosion shook the castle, sending the hanging lights swinging wildly from side to side overhead and a few drinks cascading over the table. Rune leapt to her feet along with several of the more practical mages and the guards; sparing a parting hope that the notes of the next speaker were soaked through, she ran lightly down the high stone corridors, heading for the source of the blast. When the group hit their first corner, she turned in the opposite direction, knowing from her explorations beforehand that there was a quicker way through the galley and outer storage gardens. Her cousin joined her a few seconds later, padding lightly down a set of sharp stone stairs. "Wow, did you hate the meeting that much?"

"Having fun watching anime with Ray?" Rune retorted as they emerged into an open garden walk. Ri flashed her an impudent grin in reply. To the left and farther inside the castle were glimpses of the guards, though they'd have to double back to get around to the area where smoke rose in a high column to the sky. On the cousins' right, a pair of small figures came running themselves, waving their arms frantically to get attention. "Mama! Aunt Ri! What's goin' on?"

"Get back to our quarters, Rin, and you two stay there." Holding up a hand, Rune blew past her children with Ri on her heels, her voice brooking no arguement. She didn't want any of her kids found anywhere near this explosion, whether they caused it or not; their being Gaian was already a mark against them, and being her children was a double-edged sword for sure. "If you see any of your brothers and sisters, I want them back inside too."

Moments later, the two young women reached the source of the explosion. Rune stopped dead, frozen for a moment by the pure destruction in the blast. It looked like the lower portion of this particular turret had simply been shattered by some monsterous baseball bat. The room inside might have been a mage's workshop at some point; now, it was a rubble-strewn wasteland of shattered potion vials, smoldering spellbooks and soot-mashed tools. Stone had splintered throughout the wreckage, dirt torn in huge tracks outside the foundation. A lone hot-water pipe spewed steam into the dusty air. What in hell had blown up here?

Ri had already moved on, her attention caught by several wounded guards that had apparently been standing outside when the tower exploded. A few dozen feet away, a mage in expensive-looking clothes - newly scratched and ripped, from the look of them - was out cold, surrounded by his squabbling and squawking peers. Rune guessed it had been his workroom, though what he was working on she had no idea.

A soft groan from just behind her snapped Rune around, frowning at the tall wooden cargo boxes that stood haphazardly through this corner of the gardens. She recognized that type of sound - it was a child's voice, and from the tone, a badly injured child. Ducking around the nearest crate, her eyes widened as she discovered a small, unconscious girl lying flat on her back, already ragged clothes torn and damaged even further by the blast. Rune dropped to her knees beside the child, stunned. This little girl had obviously been caught in the explosion, but even stranger, she had a fading aura of magic about her, a wild power Rune had never seen before seeping away inside her skin. She moaned again, small fists clenched tight, as if she were fighting something even in this forced sleep. Rune glanced backward with a thoughtful frown. Everyone else appeared to be busy - but her own instincts insisted she couldn't turn this wounded and defenseless little girl over to the idiot mages. Moving carefully but quietly, she gathered the child in her arms and slipped back toward her quarters. There was something very wrong about all of this.
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"Three broken ribs, fractured wrist, spiral fracture of the same forearm, quite a few internal bruises, split lip, bloody nose, two black eyes, burns, some lacerations and one hell of a knot on her forehead." Ri's voice was calm and clinical as she removed her hand from the little girl's forehead, the blue glow that indicated her magic fading from her fingertips. It had been several hours since the explosion; after returning to her quarters, Rune had cleaned the child up with a gentle washing, found a baggy nightshirt and pajama bottoms for her, and tucked her still-unconscious body into her own bed. Ri had arrived soon after, having tended to most of the wounded with the castle healers. Now the Incarnate of all Water Magic sat back in her chair, eyes sharp. "But you knew that already, Lorrie."

Rune nodded, her own gaze dark with fury. Washing the little girl's battered body had reinforced her already-screaming instincts. "Some of those are weeks old, Ri. She's got a healed fracture in her leg that's nearly a year clean."

"She's branded." Ri gently brushed fingers across the child's bare shoulder. "Dorgan's mark - same idiot that nearly blew himself up. Do you think she was part of it?"

"I think she might have done it." Rune told her cousin about the magic she'd sensed in the little girl. "It was wild - whatever she's got, it's never been trained. I doubt these idiots even have a clue what it might be. With the wrist . . . " Her voice trailed off, but Ri knew what she meant. Someone had grabbed the child and twisted her arm, hard enough to snap the bones as well as half-crush the wrist itself.

"Just when I hoped this place couldn't stink any worse." The Incarnate's voice was stark with disgust. Shaking her head, she smoothed her skirt absently, one eyebrow raised. "You still didn't need me to heal her. You've set up most of the work already."

Rune didn't answer, locking eyes with her cousin, and Ri sighed. "You wanted me to poke around and see if I can get any information about her, and you had to ask here, because you won't leave her and you know damned good and well there's no way for them to bug this room. Were you going to sic Aunt Krystal on him, too?"

"No - even if I asked, she's too obvious." Rune managed a ghost of a smile, and Ri snorted with laughter. This was what Rune had known would happen; for all their new-found powers and her mega-celebrity status, Ri was still the same optomistic, fiercely loyal girl she'd been when they were growing up together. And she was noble, not just in title, but in action. Ri wouldn't stand for beating a kid anymore than Rune would. "You stick your nose everywhere anyway, and you're better with the subtlety than I am."

"Be still my heart. My cousin just gave me a compliment." Ri clutched her chest dramatically, getting gracefully to her feet, and Rune chucked a pillow at her. Grinning, the Incarnate tossed it back and headed for the door. "While I'm at it, I'll look for your kids - seems they mind about as well as you do sometimes."

Rune nodded, smoothing the little girl's hair gently. Knowing Rin and Tex, they'd gone along with the common children to see what they could find out. They were good at making friends with people, and she knew the two of them could protect themselves if they needed to. This little one was her big concern now. Softly, she began to sing one of her favorite lullabies under her breath. "Some-where, over the rainbow - "

"Way - up - high - "
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"Shhh, it's alright. Dorgan wouldn't dare come in here."

Ri smiled just slightly as she pushed opened the door and slipped inside, eyes intent at the sound of her cousin's voice. So the little girl was awake. She wondered idly how long they'd been talking. Rune was settled in one of the chairs the cousins had pulled up beside the bed, still in the formal attire she'd been bullied into for the meeting. The child was sitting in the center of the mattress, arms wrapped around her drawn-up knees. She looked better than she had when Ri left; her face was less drawn, skin no longer quite so paper-thin. Her long, dark hair spilled around a proud little face, and her dark green eyes were haunted. She stared at Ri with a mixture of fear and defiance, relaxing only slightly when Rune gently touched her bare foot with her fingertips. "See? This is my cousin."

"Lady Ri'Jelan Aarimeth-ki." The child didn't look away, and her soft alto voice had the oddest accent, like Elven by way of Ireland. Her gaze was measuring, words doing their best to give nothing away. "Dorgan is afraid of you."

"So I noticed." Ri's smile widened wryly. She nodded to her cousin and added in Heiraldic, "Apparently some slavers found her to the north a little more than a year ago, sold her as they were passing through because she was too much of a handful for them to contain. He's not 'aware' that she has any magic at all, but if he's not draining her for his own uses I'll kiss a badoran's butt. So far, he has no idea she's here, but he's starting to get over the healer's remedy I slipped him, so he'll be madder than a hornet soon enough."

"He's already mad because I blew things up." The quiet words shook only slightly - and were said in perfect Heiraldic. Rune blinked, and Ri turned to stare at the child, causing her arms to tighten around her skinny knees. No, not skinny - scrawny - Rune frowned, shaking the hazy memory out of her head as her cousin's voice touched her thoughts. Where'd a little slave child learn fluent Heiraldic? And that accent - I know I've heard it before.

Beats me. Rune replied. It's familiar, but I can't place it. And she's got something on her ankle, some sort of mark, but I didn't see it before she covered it up. There's something about her, Ri. She's special.

I know. Aloud, though, the Incarnate spoke without emotion, face neutral. "So you did blow up his lab."

The little girl's eyes widened, and her small face turned defiant, as if she were afraid they wouldn't believe her. "I had to!" She cried out, voice shaking. "He was going to hurt Alexander again! And Valentine was crying - he was going to use the dark alkemai on them more. He was going to do another experiment, and - and he was going to use my Arthur now."

"That son of a -" Rune cursed softly, power flaring off her skin with rage, and Ri's face hardened. Alkemai was similar to Alchemy, a combination of science and magic that had been studied for years in the northern lands. Dark Alkemai - that was human experiments, transformations, blood-magic. That b*****d Dorgan was using people to like guinea pigs. Rune's thought was furious. Ri shook her head slightly. Not just people, Lorrie. Kids, slaves. It has to be. That's why your two didn't find anyone to play with the first day. He's using them for experiments.

The child dashed angrily at her welling eyes with one wrist, and Rune's heart turned over. "I - I won't let him hurt my people anymore." She half-whispered, sniffling. "It's not fair, and it's not RIGHT. I told him to stop, and he grabbed me - and the green light came. And then I was here."

Her people. She's got a noble's mind. The thought clicked its final puzzle piece in Rune's head, and she nodded slowly. "What's your name, honey? Rhiannon?"

"Morgana Rhiannon." The girl looked surprised, but Ri got it. She'd heard about Kanth, after all. Well I'll be damned. The Lady Morgana le Fey - called Rhiannon before she became a sorceress. She acts like a noble because she was one. Her ankle has the Crescent Star mark inside the celtic dragon pattern, it's in the Temple's version of her story. And she speaks the Heiraldic with an Irish-Old English accent because that's how they taught it in Arthur's time. Looks like your new friend Kanth might have someone else for the Pied Piper to meet.

"Mom!" Rin's voice broke in before Rune could answer, and the small kitsune came flying through the door, a pack of children at her heels and something clutched tightly in her hand. Rune blinked and realized her daughter was holding some sort of tarnished silver pendant, threaded through with a dirty silken cord that was wound around her fingers. "Mom you have to stop him he's hurting people and he stole Arthur's sister an - "

"Morgan!" A little male voice cut through Rin's words, and a small boy launched himself from beside the older Cody, tackling Morgan as she scrambled from the bed. "Arthur!" She held the younger child close as he clung to her. Two other small children came flying as well, one wriggling from Cody's arms in a bundle of ragged half-clothes. The four held onto each other as the cousins exchanged signifigant looks. Cody, what happened? Rune asked her son.

We made friends with Arthur and Alexander a while back. The Tenjutsu boy's dark green eyes were even darker with anger, intent on the reunion. Rin just loves 'em, and I figured - they had the same bruises and stuff like Shiran had, when he was little. So when things blew up and you said to stay away, we went to find them.

Both cousins understood that. Rune's werewolf son Shiran had been adopted when her daughter and niece had found him being attacked by the scientists that had been experimenting on him. Cody had only been a child then, but she knew he knew what abuse looked like. He'd gone to protect these kids. Rune smiled and nodded, proud of him. Did they say how it happened?

"Weeeeel - we sort of - didn't ask." Rin scuffed her foot against the floor, looking sheepish. The pendant around her neck let her understand the telepathic conversations, but she couldn't answer them very well. "We got in there and the mean slave lady was hittin' Alex an' Valentine and Arthur were scared and I headbutted her and Cody grabbed Valentine 'cause she couldn't walk and we ran! I got this, though." She held out the silver pendant she'd clutched, dangling from her hand. On the end, smudged and slightly chipped, was the same Celtic image Rune and Ri had suspected on Morgan's ankle. "The mean lady had it 'round her neck, but it's not hers, Alex said so. This is yours." She said cheerfully, handing it to the stunned child. Morgan had released her 'siblings' and dumbly took the amulet, her hand shaking. The larger boy - Arthur - stepped forward, his face earnest as he eyed the two cousins.

"Miss Ri'Jelan, miss Rune, please, please take Morgan with you!" His eyes were full of tears, but he shook Morgan off when she tried to hush him. "Dorgan's gonna hurt her again, even more 'cause she 'tected us! If you take her, he can't beat her anymore. An - an he said she wasn't from here, that she didn't belon' in this world, so he can't keep her if you take her. She's got earth magics, real special ones, and she needs to learn with 'em. That means she can go to the big island and stay there, right? And she can find her people?"

"Mahardral?" Ri named the mage's schooling island off the Payadien coast, slightly surprised, and Arthur nodded. The Incarnate's face filled with understanding. That must be what he taunted her with - schooling, learning to control the power he took. She paused then, looking at her cousin. Rune?

"I - will - not." Rune's voice was sharp, furious, and both her children's eyes widened. She hardly EVER used this tone. Arthur flinched, shrinking back against Morgan, but did his best to stand his ground against what he thought was her anger. Morgan caught his shoulders, pulling him back into her shelter. Alexander and Valentine - they couldn't have been more than five - pressed themselves to Morgan's side, eyes huge with fear. But all four were shocked as she knelt to their level.

"I - will - not - leave any child behind in this hellhole." Gently, she touched fingertips to the bruise blooming spectacularly across one side of Arthur's face, a soft blue glow fading the wound to nothing. "You're all coming with me, tonight. Do you have anything you need to have?"

Morgan's mouth fell open, and she stared at her caretaker as Rin cheered. "Yay! We get new brothers an' sisters!" She tugged at Cody's arm. "I told ya Mom and Aunt Ri would fix it. Does this mean we're going home now, Mom?"

Rune nodded, standing again and smoothing the little Fables' hair. Little Valentine started to cry as the Water Slider looked back at her cousin. "I don't care what it takes to arrange. They're coming with me to Gaia, and we're leaving as soon as possible. Tell them I found Morgan's people if you want, but they're all mine now."

Ri grinned. "I think I'll have fun ripping this idiot a new one." She rubbed her hands together gleefully, and Alexander was shocked into a giggle. Morgan stared upward, her strong face flickering for just an instant with hope. "You know - where I'm from? And you won't hurt my people?"

"You're from a place called Hamlen. It's near Gaia, a very nice place, and you'll get to meet some of the people soon enough." Rune smiled, eyes just slightly wet. "And no one ever hurts my kids without answering to me."

"But - but we're - " Valentine gasped, sniffling, then finished in a small voice, "We're weird. He did things to us - made us different. We're freaks."

Chimera. The fright in the child's voice had pegged it. She obviously had some sort of mage-spelled charm that made her look more human than she was now, a charm that would vanish if she left the castle. Anothr of Dorgan's tricks, the slimeball. Morgan's face shuttered closed again, and Rune knew in an instant that this point was non-negotiable. If Morgan couldn't keep her 'people' together and safe, she wouldn't leave. She'd rather die, just like the old story. She was definitely a Fable child - but what to do?

"Hey, kiddo, don't worry about it." Cody came to the rescue; Rune was afraid if she spoke, she would cry, which wouldn't help at all. Crouching down in front of the small girl, he nodded toward Morgan, then his aunt and sibling. "Morgan's special and different, Aunt Ri's really special and different, and Rin's special too. And we fit in just fine on Gaia. The important people don't care anyway. You should see my little brothers and sisters!"

Slowly, Valentine smiled, and Rune sighed in relief. Cody ruffled Morgan's hair with a wink. "All ready, Lady Morgan. Shall we go home now?"

Morgan's face lit up, and a few small tears fell down her cheeks as she took Arthur's hand. Alexander and Valentine both caught hold of her baggy T-shirt, and she nodded seriously. "Yes, please."

"I'd like to go home now."