Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: penny@agora.rain.com (Penny Hutchison) Subject: [ELR] [LH] My Dinner with ar'Elya Message-ID: Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1993 20:02:09 GMT ADMIN: This takes place after [GATM] and immediately before the big Lighthouse party and _just_ before the [Offer] thread. Erik and revisions appear courtesy of The Dreamer. Erik is copyright 1993 by The Dreamer and ar'Elya and all her personas are copyright 1993 by Penny Hutchison. Lex is copyright 1993 by Steve Hutchison. Dinner was over. Everyone rose to prepare for the party. Erik was about to leave the table when Lex put a hand on his shoulder. "Stay and talk to ar'Elya for a while." Noting Erik's uncertain look, he added, "I wouldn't ask you if it weren't important to me. Please, love." Erik looked full at Lex for a moment, then nodded. He sat back down as everyone left the room except for the woman with the silver eyes. Erik made no outward signs of his nervousness, but his GREY cloak seemed to wrap about him protectively. ar'Elya walked around to where Erik was sitting, pausing only to take an apple from the bowl of fruit on the table. He stood at her approach. She smiled and asked, "May I sit here?" Surprised, Erik answered, "Yes, of course." ar'Elya nodded and they sat next to each other. She placed the apple on the table in front of her and took out a small, black penknife and proceeded to core it. Erik squinted at the blade. Were those actually runes, or scratchmarks? He peeked with his MageSight, but then shut it down. There was just too much magic in the Lighthouse to see clearly. "Things have been awfully busy around here, haven't they? I've wanted to talk to you for such a long time." She looked up from her task and smiled at him. Erik studied her, his face closed. There was no guile, no sarcasm that he could see. He began to relax slightly. The apple was now cored. She cut it in half, then halved again until there were eight sections, which she lined up next to the core. "First of all, Erik, I wish to officially welcome you to my home. I am honored to have you here. Please feel free to enter whenever you wish, or whenever you need. Enter any room that opens to you. Secondly, thank you for keeping Lex company while we were gone. Nothing has been very easy for him lately, and I was so glad that he didn't have to be alone." "Perhaps you should know everything before you welcome me to your home. Lex and I...well, we're a little more than just friends. I don't pretend to understand the connection between Lex and his brothers, but I do know that they are somehow the same being, yet separate. I also knew that you and his brother 'Raelf are mates. I take full responsibility for what has happened between us." For some reason, Erik couldn't look ar'Elya in the eye. Perhaps he was afraid to see a reflection of the guilt on his face. "You do? Oh, I'm glad. You must know how it has been for Lex." Not believing his ears, Erik looked up into her face. Her eyes caught and held him. They were so shiny -- like mirrors. More than mirrors, he thought as he realized what was reflected therein. One showed him standing on a cliff. Below him was the ocean, ceaselessly crashing against the rocks. Above him, the clouds gathered and grumbled in an imitation of the loneliness and pain etched on his face. Erik gasped as he remembered how that had felt then, alone and desolate for so long. The other eye showed an image of him in a loving embrace with Lex. They were surrounded by nine -- no, fourteen others placed around the couple in a protective circle. He could almost make out their faces... "It's been so hard for him, you see. And things have not been so easy for you, have they?" ar'Elya tilted her head inquiringly at him. "No, I guess not. I do have my friends, and they are dear to me. But I've been without, uhm, companionship for a long time." Suddenly there was a glass in ar'Elya's hand, with about a quarter-cup of thick, brown-black liquid inside. "Do you like Catamount Porter? I don't, really, but sometimes it's very useful." She screwed up her face slightly and downed the glass. "Ugh." She wiped her mouth delicately. "It makes it easier for me to do certain things." "I'm not much of a Porter man. After spending a few decades with the Golden Elves, I've been spoiled on their wine. I think I still have a bottle or two in here somewhere." Erik stuck his arm up to the elbow *inside* his GREY cloak. After a few seconds of reaching around, he pulled out a dust covered glass bottle with a wide base and a long, thin neck and two blue-streaked glasses. He filled them both to the midpoint and offered one to ar'Elya, "It's an excellent vintage, about 50 to 70 years old depending on your referent and how much 'Raelf has been playing with the time stream." She accepted the glass. "Thank you." She sniffed appreciatively. "What a lovely bouquet. _Much_ nicer than Porter!" She took a sip and smiled. Then ar'Elya's face grew serious again. "Erik, as an honoured and honourable guest, you should know a little more about me. I often assume different roles for different tasks. Most people also do this, but when I am in a different role, I also assume a different body for that role. Let me show you." ar'Elya picked up one of the apple slices. "I believe you've already seen Sister El'n and her acolyte." As she spoke, she *blinked* and the nun he had seen banish Br'Nai was seated next to him, with the acolyte standing behind her. El'n broke the slice in two, and handed half to the acolyte before eating her own piece. El'n nodded a welcome to Erik, and the acolyte smiled charmingly. Just as Erik nodded in acknowledgement, there was another *blink* and ar'Elya replaced the nun. "That is my role as godcaller-mystic, or rather, half of that role." She *blinked* again, and an older man appeared, dressed in monk's robes. Erik remembered him as the one who had led the priests in their attack on Br'Nai. The monk also ate a section of apple, then made a gesture of blessing over the wine. He then turned to look at Erik, and the tanned skin around his eyes crinkled as he smiled. *Blink* "He's the other half of my godcaller," ar'Elya continued as if nothing had happened. "I have male and female in all of my aspects, save this one," and she gestured at her lithe form. "Male and female?" Erik sipped his wine while he mulled over this information. "Then some of the other 'kan I have met here were you also?" "Yes, I have three others. Thief," *blink* An exotic-featured, black haired woman gave Erik a steady gaze, then slowly and deliberately picked up an apple slice, her long red nails blazing against the pale flesh of the fruit. Still looking at him, she dipped the morsel into the goblet of wine and ate it delicately, her lips caressing the fruit with each bite. Finishing at last, she cleaned her fingers with the tip of her tongue, staring at Erik the whole time. Just when he thought he couldn't blush redder than the siren's fingernails, *blink*. A small, slight man with a hat shoved well down over his head was slumped in the chair. He looked at Erik from the corner of his eye, muttered something that could have been a greeting, popped an apple slice into his mouth, and *blink* ar'Elya was there again. "Almost done," she smiled. "Warrior." *blink* A red-haired, pale armor-clad woman smiled at him, took a slice and tossed it in the air, catching it easily in her mouth as it fell. *Blink* Erik's eyes widened in surprise. Taller and even more well-built than Lex, the male warrior aspect lounged easily in the chair that now seemed almost too small to support him. After eating his piece of apple, Erik was given a wide grin, white teeth gleaming against the dark, well-tanned skin. "No bheer?" the warrior growled, then spotted the wine goblet. He snatched it up and drained it in one easy motion, sighing with pleasure at the taste. Erik wished the warrior hadn't been so lightly clad, especially when the man caught his eyes wandering over the extravagantly muscled chest, and grinned wickedly at his embarrassment. *Blink* ar'Elya had almost the same grin on her face. "Finally, mage." *blink* A swirl of multicolored dragonets dazzled Erik as a blonde woman of royal bearing appeared. She ate her fruit portion and watched with amusement as her dragonets explored the dining table. One of them spotted a corner of his GREY cloak, and stalked it as cautiously as any kitten. The dragonlet gave an "Eeep!" of surprise as the cloak rose up and seemed to snuffle back. The woman giggled delightedly, and she and the dragonets *blinked*. Erik immediately recognized the young, pale-blonde, bearded man who now sat next to him. "Ilya?" he asked with surprise. "You...you are one of her...?" Ilya looked at him with sad blue eyes. "I'm sorrier than I can say, Erik," he replied after he ate the last slice. "We didn't mean to deceive you, but with all our preparations for Br'Nai, the time didn't seem right for major and personal revelations. You needed to work in concert with Lex, with no hesitation or reserve." Blue eyes shaded into silvery-grey as ar'Elya's neutral form once again sat beside him. "You see, in a way you have given me a very special gift. You are able to give Lex something no one else can give him. No," she answered Erik's look, "not even I. And in giving him this, you have made him very happy, and his happiness is precious to me. I wish I could express this better." She studied Erik carefully for a moment, then her eyes lightened. "Oh, I see," ar'Elya smiled and disappeared, replaced by the tall, redhaired H'ro. The warrior smiled charmingly at Eric, and handed him a white carnation with red fringes. He then leaned over and kissed Erik gently on the lips, and murmured huskily in his ear, "Be always welcome, Erik." The warrior rose, became the silver-eyed woman again, and smilingly left the room, as Erik stared after her, then at the flower in his hand.