From alt.pub.dragons-inn Wed Aug 10 10:40:16 1994 Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:7500 Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!netcomsv!hood.paros.com!cherry.atlanta.com!emory!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!news.cac.psu.edu!psuvm!asg102 Organization: Penn State University Date: Tue, 9 Aug 1994 22:02:18 EDT From: The Dreamer Message-ID: <94221.220218ASG102@psuvm.psu.edu> Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [ELR] Commitment Lines: 296 ADMIN: Group copyright 1994 by Steve Hutchison, Penny Hutchison, and The Dreamer. Permission granted for one-time distribution to alt.pub.dragons-inn and for archival purposes. All other rights reserved. -+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Two men stood on a cliff high above the ocean. Alone, but not lonely, not when they are together. The arms of each held the other with affection. In the distance, the sinking sun turned the early evening sky curious shades of orange and red. The distant sounds of laughing and cheering drifted up to them from the beach below. "Lex ... " "What is it, Love?" Lex asked tenderly. "Lex, I want to tell you something. Well, it's really a question. I don't know where to start." "Start at the beginning, go through the middle bits, and when you reach the end, stop." Erik laughed nervously and picked at the wisps of his GREY cloak, "You make it sound so simple. Well, okay, here it goes... We've been seeing each other for quite some time now, nearly a year." "That's right. About a year, depending on which time stream you're floating in at the moment." "Well, this has been the happiest year of my life. I really do love you Lex. You mean everything to me. I want you to understand that." "I know, Erik." Lex looked out over the ocean. "I realize that we aren't the same species ... we're about as different as two beings can get. Still, I feel closer to you than I have to any other person. And you understand me... I mean you *really* understand me." "Erik, I know what you're doing. I think I should get my stuff together before you continue." Lex stuck his fingers into his mouth and made a loud whistling sound. <> A few yards away, the ground rippled, and a lion-satyr twin of Lex rose out of it like a solid ghost. At the same instant, the wind gusted abruptly, and when it died down, a gold-skinned red-haired elf, garbed in grey, stood beside Erik, just on the fringes of the GREY cloak. A wisp of dried grass caught a red beam of sunset, and began to smoke and burn. The flame erupted into a pillar the size and shape of a six-year-old boy, then flickered and expanded to six feet, solidifying into a dark young man with smouldering red-amber eyes. A small red dragonet was wrapped around his neck, and it flew over to Erik, landing on the ground beside him and investigating his feet in the manner of a friendly cat. A moment later, a figure rose up the front of the cliff before them -- 'Raelf, carrying a metal cylinder, standing on a short surfboard which glowed around the edges. "Cheaters," he muttered under his breath. Erik blinked, looking a little disconcerted. "What are they doing here ... I was hoping that we could be alone for this ..." "Erik, I've been telling you this... they ARE me. We are all one being. I just happen to be looped in time, and split and scattered all over Nexus at the moment. Like that Schroedinger's Cat I told you about. Like Luthor at the party, only worse. See, sooner or later, I have to get myself together. Or I'll wipe out ugly and there won't even be street pizza left." Lex was growling as he spoke, and the others nodded gravely. "I see ... I think." "Cool. Hang tough a minute, then if you still want to, I'd like you to finish what you were saying." 'Raelf floated the board onto the ground and stepped off. He unscrewed one end of the cylinder, and the smell of hops and yeast filled the air. A latch on the side freed a handle, and revealed the thing to be a tankard, of sorts. "Kampai," he said, raising the tankard in salute to Erik, and he took a swig. He blinked, twice, and his eyes began to give off an inner light, changing color rapidly. Kev took the tankard and swallowed a draught. A wash of heat came off of him, like a campfire just stoked with a dry pine knot. "Skoal," Miro said, and quaffed. A heartbeat later, the wind began blowing from his direction. "l'Chaim," Lex said to Erik, and took a long drink. He shuddered, momentarily, and began to sweat. "You guys didn't leave enough for me," 'Raf said dubiously, and with a muttered "evkaristo" he chugged the rest. A faint tremor shook the ground, as his feet sank in to the ankles. He handed the tankard to Erik, who looked at it dubiously. It was re-filling itself with black, slightly foamy, slightly cold brew, that he recognized as Catamount Porter by the smell. 'Raelf moved over to a place where the rock was mostly bare and free of grass and weeds. Wordlessly, the other four linked hands around him, and there was a flash of something not-light, a blinding ripple of chaos that made Erik's senses itch. When it ended, there was a single figure standing there -- Lex, or 'Raelf, but not quite. The face was different, more squared, and he was quiet and looked kind of impassive, in a way he never had. "O/o K -- you WERE saySaying?" The voice had a peculiar echoing ring to it, like it was shouted from a long way away. Erik coughed nervously and wiped his sweating palms against his breeches. The dragonet at his feet crooned encouragingly and rubbed its head against his shin. Somewhere inside he dredged up the courage to continue the speech he had rehearsed so many times. "Well then, here it goes. 'Raelf, having expressed my total devotion to you and having proven that I am a person of honor, I ask that you be my partner for --" he hesitated. How long? "For/Ever?" "No, I can't promise forever. I would like to, but as a Shade, my philosophy doesn't include the word 'forever'. There is always a possibility that something will happen. How about we see how the first hundred years or so goes and then proceed from there?" "You want/Want to have a ceremony, make Our/our bond more formal." "Essentially, that's right," Erik replied. "You don't know what you're/what you're getting yourself into." Erik almost flinched, the emotion in that voice was so strange. Not fear, not rejection, there was love, but also foreboding. "I'll take that risk," he said defiantly. "Then I/i agree, but on one condition." 'Raelf closed his eyes for a moment and appeared to sway without moving, but he was grinning. The tension drained from Erik's face. He couldn't help but smile like a fool. "What's that?" He moved closer to 'Raelf, but reconsidered hugging him. 'Raelf flickered, almost like a fading illusion, but then he snapped back to solidity with a visible effort. His voice, when he continued, was strained, and he spoke with an odd accent. "Must waiting one year before making the ceremony. I have much things to work out. I am unhealed yet. You gotta coming to felicitous provisions with my mate. Are very roughly, very ugliness, next two weeks going to be, ne? So you gotta know first what into you getting yourself. Oops. Ouch. See if feelings still there you know what kind monster I being." "My feelings won't change, but I agree." The nonlight began to glow brighter around 'Raelf and he nodded. "Is good. Step back." Erik felt a peculiar snapping and moved quickly away. When his senses returned to normal, he saw five figures collapsed on the ground, dazed. The red dragonet moved quickly to his side as he cautiously approached. It nudged his hand with its head, and there was a sideways motion that felt a little like stepping across the elemental barriers. The dragonet was now sheltered within long, pale-blonde hair. Erik recognised ar'Elya's sorceress-self, Leah. She stood looking down on the fallen figures, uncharacteristically dressed in a garish bikini, and a sarong wrap around her hips, held in place by a dragonlike pin. "Can we help them?" he asked her. She held up a pale hand to ward him away. "Yes. Both of us will stand by and protect him while he recovers. Don't touch any of him until that stunned look goes away." She looked sternly at Erik. "Especially Lex. It would be very dangerous for you, more than you could know." At the look on his face, her own softened. "It will be all right. Just watch for now, and make sure that nothing living gets too close to him. When he regains consciousness, which will be very soon, he'll act differently." Here she smiled at the Shadowmaker. "Even, forgive me, a bit chaotic. A little erratic, and very playful. That's how kan are, when they are fatigued or recovering from injury. Who knows, you may even enjoy it." She raised an eyebrow at the dragonet as it snuck out from behind her hair and flew back over to Erik, crooning reassuringly and teasing the ends of the GREY cloak. He then made the connection between Leah and the dragonet, and blushed, but she didn't seem to notice it. "You must have heard my conversation with 'Raelf, then." Her blue eyes had a silver gleam as she turned to him. "Yes, I heard it. Don't worry, Erik. I'm not upset by your offer. In fact, I've been hoping you'd ask for some time now. But I do think it would be wise on your part to wait a year, if only to find out what you're getting into." She looked back at the unconscious parts of her mate and sighed. "I just wish I knew what he was referring to, about the next two weeks." "Don't you know?" "He never tells me anything," she smiled quietly. "No, that's not really true. It's a sort of precognitive gift he has, that comes partly from our daughter Maribel. He probably won't even remember what he said when he wakes... Wait, I almost forgot something." Leah reached into herself. She pulled out two interlinked rings of deep blue crystal, perfect, smooth, and unbroken. She handed them to him and said, "As an engagement present. Traditional of your homeland, right?" Erik accepted them and bowed. "Leah, you honor me." Lex looked up grinning at Erik. "Hey, my two most fave people conspiring together?" 'Raelf groaned and did a backflip to his feet. He looked around at the others, who were starting to come around. He picked up the tankard of Catamount Porter, now refilled, and took a long drink, then handed it to Lex, who drank and passed it on. This time there were no strange effects of magical overcharge. He waited for the others each to take their share, and closed the tankard. "Cool," he said, and reached over and grasped Erik by the hand. "See y' later, stud. Take care of Lex for me." He grinned at Leah and hopped onto his board. "Meet me for s'mores on the beach?" She nodded eagerly, and he flew off. Erik scratched at his head, bemused. "Och. Erik, boyo," Miro said, "come by me room tomorra and we can share a bit a' poteen." He bowed to Leah, and at the bottom of the bow he vanished on the wind like smoke. "What he said, but wait for Little Rat to go riding on that dumb pony," Kev said. "I promise to grow up so you won't have to deal with the brat factor." He wandered in an indirect way towards the sorceress, and snuck a kiss onto her cheek. "See ya at da beach, Leah," he grinned, and glancing around, he saw the smouldering remains of the fire he had come in on. He waved and dove into it, disappearing. "What's their hurry?" 'Raf said. "Stop by where the bands are playing tonight, Erik. I've talked Raye into singing." Leah laughed. "Singing? I don't know if I'd call it that." "She gets her voice from you, lovely one." Leah _giggled_. "Think so?" "Hey, you have a really nice voice." He leered at Erik and lunged at Leah, who dodged back. "C'mere, wench, let me show you what I think of your singing." She laughed again, wriggled a bit and vanished, leaving only the dragonet behind, who trilled in alarm as 'Raf jumped at him, and arrowed in a rainbow blur back to Shadehaven. "Later, my prey is escaping," 'Raf said, and dove into the ground. Erik shook his head. "A year of this, I don't think..." "Hey," Lex said. "Get down here. You're missing the sunset." Erik sighed and slouched down next to Lex, who put an arm around him. The sky burned red and purple. Love and Peace and Popping the Question, -The Dreamer- Comments welcome...