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From: hutch@ibeam.jf.intel.com (Steve Hutchison)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [KAN] A Year and a Day (2)
Date: 29 Oct 1994 02:04:32 -0000
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Joy belongs to Liralen Li; Raphael belongs to Bernie Hsiung (who has
vanished to the realm of the PostGrad Gnomes).  They are used by
permission.  All of 'Raelf belong to me no matter what name they
happen to be going by at the moment.

This story is copyrighted (1994) by Stephen Hutchison.  Permission is
granted for the distribution of this story on the usual alt-net channels
and for archival but all other rights, including repost, are reserved to
the author.

 = == === == =

In a featureless silver blue nowhere, a tiny bubble of convenience
has been made to hold a few small treasures -- a bell, a pinwheel, a
handful of gold coins, a long white feather, and an appallingly
frilly bed covered with eiderdown quilts, lace, bright-colored long
and wide comforters decorated with tropical birds and fish.

The comforters hid two lumps, rumpled and tossed and giggling like
lunatics.  Some sort of game, possibly tag, seemed to be going
on under there, around where the fish gave way to the
birds.  One of the two jumped, and there was a shriek followed
by a retaliatory jab, and more giggles.  After a moment's silence,
a hand emerged, followed by a young woman's head, hair braided
with silver ribbons and bright flowers.

"Where'd you go?" the woman said.  She sat up and looked around,
then spotted the lump moving towards her under the covers.

"HAH!" she shouted, and flung the sheets high.

She dived underneath and moments later, the bedclothes were lost
off the end of the bed.

The man who had been hidden blinked at the bright light and grinned
a lopsided crazy grin.  He shook his wings loose where the sheets
wrapped them, long pale gold pinions the same color as his hair.

The woman giggled at his confusion and sat up against the pillows,
her own silver-edged butterfly wings spread wide.

"One last kiss before I go," the man said.

"Last?  Never last.  First kiss," she replied.  She leaned forward
and pressed her lips against his, then jumped up and pulled a dress
from the air around them, a blue the color of the sky and trimmed in
tiny silver bells.

"I have to take him back," the man said.  The woman nodded.

"It's time, I guess.  Give them my love, and tell them not to worry
so much, 'kay?"

"All right."  He stood, stretching his arms and wings and legs.
A wad of cloth hit him in the face.

"Put some clothes on, silly," she said.  "You're going to get
yourself arrested for disturbing indecency."

"Ah, then you'll have to teach me how to be modest and how not to 
disturb the indecent," the man said, smiling quietly.  He pulled
the tunic over his head, letting it find its way into place.
A belt of gold cinched it at the waist and he picked up a staff
from what passed for the floor.  The snake on the staff licked at
him with its tongue, tasting his scent.

He smiled at her, watching her pull her hair into order.  The
smile faded to reluctance, but he stretched his wings anyway, and
stepped out of the bubble of convenience, flying past the bright
nothing, stepping down into the world to the place where his name
had been spoken.

======

<<Raphael>>

There was a moment's quiet, then the sound of wings in the
distance.  From around them, the wings folded, and closed across
six dimensions.  The tall, angular, blond form of the Healer stood
on the sand.

"I've been waiting for your call, he said.  "It has been a year
and a day since you freed me, and I took the name of Healer.  Now
I can repay my debt to you."

<<Your debt to me?>>  'Raelf shook his head, making his ears flutter
noisily.  He sat back down on the beach, gesturing for Raphael to
sit as well.  <<What do you mean, your debt to me? Dude, we're even.>>

Raphael stuck his staff into the sand and sank into a crosslegged
position between 'Raf and Kev, completing the circle of six:
'Raf, a muscular satyr with straw-blond hair; Miro, a gold-skinned,
red-haired elf, wiry and ice-eyed; Lex, a normal-looking human, if
a bit overly muscled, and otherwise 'Raf's identical twin; 'Raelf,
who was inside a bubble of elemental instability, a humanoid/feline
with yellow-gold fur and a lot of scars; Kev, a young man about 16
with black, curly hair that hung below his shoulders and skin the
color of dark red maplewood.

And Raphael.  He considered his answer for a moment.
"Not exactly even.  I owe you for building a physical form that I
could inhabit, sacrificing your own, and for the year you spent
living inside me, teaching me to live.  Did you know, we are still
locked in the Gifting Ritual?  Even though, you won the contest in
the War of Creation."  He looked around the circle, meeting their
gaze.  "And, my friend, you're ahead in the Ritual by two gifts."

'Raelf blinked.  "I am?  Huh.  So I am."

Raphael picked up a handful of the sand.  "These grains ... they're
all talking.  How strange.  They're full of stories."

<<Not as good as the real thing,>> Miro said drily.  <<Like a blurred
copy of the original.  The original is a person named Island.>>

"I can tell," Raphael murmured, sifting the sand out onto his feet.
It was cool and dry and heavy but not oppressive.

"I cannot complete our exchange of gifts with you scattered in bits
across the beach, and I believe that I must complete our exchange
if you are to grow well.  The stars and the winds and the voice of
Paradox all say to me that you must be healed, and soon."
He reached up to caress the head of the snake that coiled around
his staff.  It hissed gently.  "So, tell me what you can about the
symptoms of the illness that keeps you apart."

<<It's like this,>> 'Raf said, pausing to scratch behind his
right horn.  <<We each got it worse in some way than the others.
Kev can't rest, he's terminally hyper.  I have this animal biz that
makes me pretty raunchy to be around lately.  Miro hides out 'cause
the noise of all the lives around him, begging to be controlled,
makes him nauseous.  Lex has been hanging with Erik too much, or
he'd go nuts with knowing too much.  Fuzzy over there,>> 'Raf nudged
'Raelf with his hoof, <<He's always depleting his strength pulling
us back to main-line, so we'll be _able_ to get back together.>>

He coughed, uncomfortably.  <<We figure it's the Gifts dragging us
off main.  They're too strong.  And we're pretty much stuck with
them.  We can't give them back to you, or the universe would
insist on you giving back the ones we gave you, and that would
be majorly uncool.>>

"I have been watching you.  I saw that you were having problems
while your mate was away.  She was able to heal you a little.
Each of you found a balance that let you heal the worst of your
wounds."  He shook his head slowly.  "Then it stopped."

<<What do you suggest?>> Lex smiled, but the expression showed
more strain than mirth.  <<Eric tried to heal me.  But the Shadows
don't like all the details to be known, and there are too few
real variables in my condition.  Jac suggested some changes that
I could make, that my merging will require ritual magic.  And he's
enlisted the aid of his god.  Kev worked the ritual out but we
don't have all the elements and part of it is guesswork.>>
He stopped smiling.  <<And Raye -- can't get too close, any more.
It's too hazardous for her, we're too intimate.  We came way too
close to a total merge-and-fragment, the last time we shared.  So.
What's your take?>>

"Everything is tied together and it all seems to take priority
over everything else.  I think we should analyze things, first.
There are things that must be done first but the doing will surely
precipitate something terrible.  At least, it will if we aren't
precisely careful."  Raphael blinked and stroked his snake.

<<What kinds of things do you need to know?>>  'Raelf was not
so much blunt as matter-of-fact, but there was an element of
reserve in his manner.

"My nature has changed, and some memories were blurred, but I do
recall this much.  My prior self built the Gifts to act through
self-defining curses.  They sought a part of the one they were
given to that was appropriate to their use, and fastened
themselves onto that part, replacing what they could with their
own structures.  Purging the Reaver taint as you did, made them
change somewhat.  I know their general shape, but I need more.
So, tell me what you know of them."

<<Mine was first,>> Kev scowled.  He looked down, his black hair
shadowing the amber flame in his eyes.  <<My Gift isn't all dat
bad, 'cept it gets in da way, keeps me from playin'.>>  His Low
Town accent fell away, as he grew older before their eyes,
filling out and growing taller, shifting from sixteen to
twenty.  When he spoke again, it was in a deep baritone.

<<I'm effective at whatever I try, especially when it involves
life and death.  It's like an extra set of instincts and
reflexes comes into play, like the skill-daemons we bind into
magic swords and surfboards, except I can no longer even think
about what I'm doing.  I just succeed.  So effective that
there's no joy in it, no fun.  The Gift kicks in, I move and act
with perfect timing.  Perfection is boring when you don't earn
it yourself.  It's limited, though, to things that I would have
a chance of doing.  So I can't, say, jump off the lighthouse and
fly by flapping my arms.  And most play is doing simple things,
easy abstractions, simple challenges that can be overcome by
playing.  But nothing simple is a challenge to me, any more.>>

"And play is how you dream and what you do in place of sleep.
How have you managed?  Oh, I see.  Staying a child.  Yes, that
would work for a while."  He turned to Miro.  "You were next,
the Air Node.  What was yours?"

<<Compulsion,>> Miro said, matter-of-factly.  <<I was given the
power to make anything with even a trace of sentience, do what I
want it to do.  Not only that, but the more things I controlled,
the easier it was to take yet another -- the strength to rule was
loaned by those I ruled.  After I purged the Reaver-taint, the
stealing of power went away, and it was more of an effort,
telling people to do things they didn't want to do already.  And
I don't like forcing people against their desires.  Strange,
isn't it, that an elf who spent his life learning to summon and
control and coerce, would find on being gifted with it, beyond
his dreams, that tis bitter and not to be borne?>>  He stifled a
sort of helpless laugh.

<<I _know_ what to do or say, or how to apply magical or mental
force, to get the behaviour I want to see from nearly anyone.
Sometimes, even to think about what I want them to do will do
the deed.  Limits, well, I have to be in sensory contact, but
magical sympathy or psionic rapport works beautifully for that.>>

<<That sounds disgustingly familiar,>> Lex said.

"Your two Gifts may be similar in construction," Raphael said
with an apologetic shrug.  He paced for a minute, silent in
thought.  "Water.  Fountain of caring, you gave me, and a fount
of knowledge I gave you, correct?"

Lex shrugged.  <<Too much knowledge.  Without effort or
desire.  Whenever I really look at anyone or any thing, I know
what to do to break them, to build them up or tear them down.  I
also know sometimes, without psychic contact, what they're
thinking, and I can discover things about people and places by
meditation on them.  It's limited by the noise of chaos,
though.  Which is one reason why I love Erik so much -- he's
unpredictable.  And I learned a few minutes ago, I can't always
use it on itself, or on my own self.>>

"Yes, that would be consistent.  Never let you use the gifts to
offset their bad side effects," Raphael scowled.  "I appreciate
that you called me to help with this, it helps me to make up for
the damage I did you."

<<Wasn't the same you, dude,>> Lex said.  <<You had no choice, and
when you did, you chose the right thing.>>

"I suppose that helps," Raphael said.  "Now, the fourth gift?"

'Raf grinned.  <<Mine comes from being too generous.  I'm
forced to grant Hearts' Desires, but only if I'm asked
directly.  I suppose it's limited to the amount of power and
change that a given universe will permit, but here in Generica,
that's pretty big.  I think Mar had some kind of a genie
fixation -- what he gave us all, if you tied it together, would
make a pretty horrorshow genie type.>>

"I suspect that was part of his eventual plan," Raphael said.
"I have no clear memory of that part."

He looked hard at 'Raelf, at the notched and torn ear, at the
bent tail and stiff, matted fur.  The bubble of strange space
around the 'kan flickered into Void, and Raphael blinked at the
complicated and confusing tableau of ideas that coalesced back
again, suddenly, into the tawny-furred feloid.

He spent a few minutes then, whispering back and forth to the
serpent on his staff.  Finally, he spoke.

"You can have a second opinion if you want it, and I think I'll
have to do some exploratory work to confirm my diagnosis.  The
trap in each gift was that they were involuntary and overwhelming,
that they don't permit self control.  You've removed the hooks
that would have made you obedient.  For the most part.  It's just
as well, though, that you haven't left this World -- you would be
a magnet drawing the Reaver's Children should you venture to an open
world where they could get at you."

He drew the fingers of his left hand across his eyes as if to pull
away something sticky. "Very well.  Kev, I think I'll do the
first surgery on you, if you don't mind."

Kev shrugged.  <<While you're in there, could you take out my
appendix?>>  Raphael smiled.  "You don't have an appendix."

He stood, and gestured to Kev, who rose to his feet and stood
squarely, facing him.  Raphael put one hand on either shoulder,
then extended one wing.  Kev was suddenly transfixed, not even
breathing.  After a heartbeat, if his heart was still beating,
his deep brown skin and black hair faded to transparent hues,
revealing the flame that was his primal being.  There, in the
heart of the flame, a ring of blue-white effulgence spun.
Raphael extended the other wing, and reached through and around
the flames, touching the ring gently.  Kev blurred slightly as
strong square fingers pulled the ring open, and changed its
shape ever so slightly.  It spun in place, shading to the same
color as the amber of the flames, and Raphael withdrew his hands
and lowered his wings.  Kev returned to solidity, feeling his
body to make sure it was all there.

<<What did you do?>>

Raphael sighed, flexing his hands to work the cramp out of them.

"I made a slight adjustment.  Even if you can't rejoin, it should
make the gift more tolerable."

<<Oh.  OK.  I guess.>>  Kev sat down, and Lex stood up.
<<My turn, huh?>>

"I see your Gift doesn't respect privacy of thought."

<<Nope.  Not at close range.>>  Lex stood across from him for a
few moments, while the Healer stared fixedly at him.

<<What are you ... oh.  Trying to see where the Gift is
anchored.>>

"Right.  And it showed its nosy self just now, so if you're
ready," and Raphael again spread his wings.  Lex gasped and faded,
leaving behind a liquid bubble that mimicked the form of his body,
but completely reflective, until the tips of the wings and the left
hand of the Healer touched his chest.  Ripples spread, turbulence
brought a crystalline shape to the surface.

"Aha.  This is what I wanted," Raphael smiled.  "Yes, this is
what I expected, exactly.  You've been too much in the Chaos, it
appears.  Well."  He touched the crystal, wincing as it cut his
finger.  Light bled from the wound, and washed through the whole
of the fluid body.  After a moment the turbulence returned, making
the light blur, and after another moment it coalesced into a human
body, and Lex fell backward, gasping for breath.

<<That hurts,>> he said, <<and I feel like I'm going to sneeze.>>

"I wouldn't," Raphael counselled him.  "The feeling should pass."

He gestured, and Miro stood.

"You know, I believe most of your strength is tied up in that
curse?  I wonder,"  He approached the elf, who flinched and tried
to ward him off.  Raphael stepped back and frowned.  "I felt that.
There's still a hint of the Reaver taint there, you'll need the
Flame to finish the task."  Before Miro could speak, Lex and Kev
held him suspended between them, locked in no-time.  Kev nodded and
relaxed, leaving him in Lex's grip.

"Useful trick," Raphael said.  "You'll have to show me how to do it
sometime."  He raised his wings, and the gold skin and copper
hair faded to amber transparency, showing the deep azure sky
behind.  A smudgy brown smog remained in place around the elf's
heart, where a spinning pattern of pentacles and runes around
nested rings was vaguely visible by the ripple it left in the
smoky air.  Raphael folded his hands together prayerlike, then
opened them as if they were a book.  Fire danced across their
surface, the Flames that burn in the Beacon of Hope.  He plunged
those hands deep into the Air before him, and the smog burned
away.  The Flames danced across the runes carved in the rings of
the Gift, and some of them changed.

Raphael withdrew his hands, retreating and pulling the Flame
back into himself.  He looked carefully at Miro for the effect.

"You can release him now," he said to Lex, who nodded and
gestured.

<<Eka ere a dairrty trrick, Davvid boyo>> Miro said to Lex, but
he seemed not particularly angry about it.

<<Really rotten accent,>> Lex replied.  <<How you feelin',
dude?>>

<<Not much differ ... oh yes.  I see.  You changed something.>>

"I did.  I'm changing the gifts slightly so that they're not
complete in themselves.  You see, I have a cunning plan."

<<And what plan would that be, Baldric,>> Lex said, before Miro
or Kev could fit a word in edgewise.  They both glared at him.

"Well, milord Blackadder," Raphael replied, "It involves turnips,
and an infinite number of Morris dancers, dancing on the head
of a pin.  Or a pinhead."

<<No Morris dancers, please,>> 'Raf said, moaning.  <<They give
me a hangover just watching them.>>

<<I wonder what 'Raf is gonna look like,>> Kev said, tossing a
pebble at the satyr, <<when ya open him up.>>  Miro leaned over
and whispered something to Kev, who nodded.  <<Double or nothing.>>

Raphael raised an eyebrow.  "I ... you three are taking bets on
this?"

<<What's a wager between oneselves anyway?>> Lex said.  He
nudged 'Raelf and 'Raelf nudged him back, getting Water all
over him.  Raphael shook his head.

"Indeed.  I think I will go back to work now.  'Raf, come here
and let me poke around where you've buried your Gift."

The satyr backflipped to a standing position and moved to stand
face-to-face with Raphael.  <<Enter freely and of your own will,>>
he said, leering.  Raphael raised one eyebrow and flared out his
wings, touching the satyr's head on either side with the tips.

'Raf faded away, and where he stood there was a window into forest
primeval, great trees and rocks and where the sun reached, heavy
undergrowth.  The rocky ground split open to reveal a cavern, a
lava tube, and down in the tube, in the dark, a tiny flame
danced, lighting up the lamp on which it burned.  The lamp was
cold, black and silver, decorated about with the runes that
marked its limitations.  The tree roots wove around it, the rock
fed oil into it, and the flame burned undisturbed by the wind of
the outer world.  Raphael reached inside, to gently shift the hold
of the roots on the lamp, and examined the runes carefully.  After
a moment he took a pinion from one wing and wrote new silver runes
into each of the places where a black rune had been.

Finally he released it back into the hold of the roots.  The
flame was brightly burning, dancing on the tip of the oil wick.
Wings furled, and 'Raf pulled himself back together, shivering.

<<That was an interesting sensation.>>  He sat down in the
circle next to the others.

"All part of the cunning plan.  Your turn, oh anchor," he said,
pointing at 'Raelf.  The 'kan lashed his tail, creating a wash
of flame inside his elemental-field bubble.

<<What?  Why me?  I'm not "gifted" ...>> 'Raelf protested.  He
shrugged, and walked over to where 'Raphael waited.

"You have to be healed too.  Your timesense is still injured."
The Healer lifted his staff, and held it out towards 'Raelf, who
hesitantly took hold of the top.  The serpent "tasted" him with
its tongue, and then sank its fangs into his hand.  He flinched
but did not let go.

After a moment, it released him, and coiled itself back on the
staff.  Raphael pulled the staff back out of the bubble and
watched.  'Raelf hunched forward, holding the bitten hand gingerly.
He licked it reflexively, and blinked in surprise.  His tail began
lashing and his ears flicking.

<<It itches, is it supposed to do that?>> he asked.  Raphael nodded.
The tail began to move more flexibly, the stiff bit at the end
suddenly curling properly, and he felt his ears curiously.  The
deep notches were healing.  His fur was still somewhat matted, but
it was growing back in, where it had fallen out.

<<Woah,>> he said.  <<I almost forgot what that felt like.>>

"What which felt like?" Raphael asked.

<<Time-space sense.  Glad I didn't try to go anywhere.  Unsafe
at any speed -- corrective lenses required,>> he said.

"I'm glad that came back, I wasn't sure I could fix it."

<<Now what?>>  Kev asked.  <<You said something about fitting us
back together?>>

"Yes.  But I'm not sure how to start."

<<Kev just finished a ritual definition,>> 'Raf grinned, <<except
he couldn't figure out how to offset the Gifts pushing us apart.
You think that won't be a problem now?>>

"Show me."

Kev nodded.  <<Comes outta da same ritual.  Goin' back t'gether
backwards.  'Cept, I din't know about da Void part.  Here's
da outline,>>  and he very quickly sketched a diagram in the
sand, which politely didn't fall back into itself as he drew.

<<So, we're going to do a penterract with me on the bottom,>>
'Raelf said, studying the diagram.  Raphael smiled and nodded.

"Exactly.  See, 'Raelf, you are the remaining anchor.  Along
with your brother in the elemental Void who is bouncing around
inside my heart right now, you carry the ritual weight from
winning the war in Creation and Destruction.  So you are the
correct and only starting point for the reCreation of your whole
self.  Except, of course, that we have to start with the Void
fork instead of starting with 'Raf."

<<That pattern looks like five people trying to put on the same
wetsuit at the same time,>> Lex commented.  <<Hope you're stretchy
enough, oh anchor.>>

'Raelf frowned at him and looked at the diagram from the other
side.  <<Aren't we still out of balance for Gifting?>>

"Right.  I am giving him an initial Gift, and I believe it to
be very similar to what was once planned for him, but without
the bindings of Dark.  But first,"  Raphael folded his hands
against his chest and closed his eyes, then opened them again,
a blinding white light shafting from behind them.  His wings
unfurled once more, and with a flare of impossible brightness,
he stepped back.  The light died down to a bearable level, and
when the others could see again, a ghostly seventh figure stood
on the beach with them, still glowing with light.  Its features
were indistinguishable.

<<We won?>> it said.  <<We won!  Cool!  Hey, where am I?>>

"In your resting place," Raphael replied.  "Remember?"

<<Oh yeah.  Hey, I know you guys, don't I? Right, now I remember.>>

"Your own Gift," Raphael said, and held out a hand.  There was
a silver chain in it, freshly forged and almost white-hot.

<<Cool,>> the shape said.  It draped the chain around its neck.
With a flash, the chain faded into its body.

"Now," Raphael said, "You, the anchor: into the penterract."

<<Hang on a second, dude,>> 'Raelf protested.  <<I gotta do some
things first.>>

"As long as it's quick.  The ritual needs to happen before the
end of the day.  Which is in ten minutes."  Raphael leaned over
and adjusted one of the glyphs in the sand.

'Raelf blinked.  <<OK.  Lighthouse, status ar'Elya.>>

A metal disk materialized, suspended in midair at about
shoulder height, and a flat, uninflected voice spoke from it.

<< -- Ale is in her office at Ale House.  El'n is in the chapel
      at the Hostel.  ar'Elya Neutral is in the Great Room visiting
      with Kadrys.  No other foci.
      (ping) Do you wish to contact any of these? -- >>

<<Yes.  No, cancel.  Send informational to El'n, quote, I'm about
to try re-fusion, and your prayers on my behalf are appreciated,
endquote.  Then set up a repeater line to Erik via Iradeth and a
second one to Jac Benson.  Same message.>>

<< -- Complied.  (ping)  Acknowledged receipt of message. -- >>

"Who is that person?"  Raphael looked around, trying to spot
where the power-flow was originating that had created the disk
from nothing.

<<That's the daemon for the house -- it's a kind of fake
personality that runs things.  It's not self-aware or
anything.>>  Kev stood on his hands, balancing unconcerned.

"It .. unnerves me, somehow,  that it talks like a person, but
with nothing behind it, no volition or self-awareness."  Raphael
shook his hands out, frowning with distaste.

<<You get used to it.  It's better than building a person with
awareness and no volition, and then making them run your house
for you,>>  Lex gazed directly into Raphael's eyes, and thought,
-<<Or your wars...>>-

Raphael laughed soberly, realizing the source of his discomfort
and finding it ironic.  "I suppose your folk never do that kind
of thing."

<<Oh, some of them do,>> 'Raf said.  Miro added, <<Or did once.
That's been pretty much stopped -- we don't create our children
to be slaves, no matter how much the Omnivores might want to.>>

"I sense a story behind that," Raphael said, "but we can save it
for later.  Do you all understand this diagram, the elemental
shifts and the timing?"

There was a chorus of affirmation.

"You understand that you must shift to the extreme end of your
elemental node while the anchor shifts completely away from that
node, so you'll fit together properly."

They nodded.  <<Yeah, we done this before,>> Kev said.

'Raelf muttered something rude behind them and the disk vanished.

<<Jac's been informed,>> he said, <<but the House can't find
Erik, his timeline is erratic and off-synch by plus-three days.>>

Lex paled.  <<No, it was too early.  He should have waited.>>

<<Can't be helped, lad,>> Miro said.  <<He'll be all right,
just have some faith in the boy.>>

'Raelf moved to the center of the diagram.  He stretched his
arms out full.

<<Extend low-permissivity field to radius two meters>> The mild
flicker of colors around him expanded to fill the area over the
diagram, and Raphael stepped back.  The air was turning to fire,
within the filled area.

"What is this?"  He looked at 'Raelf, and the others, and nodded
in sudden understanding.  "I see.  Your world really does fall
apart.  You call this 'permissivity'?"

<<A natural binding force, one of the fundamental archetypes.
It lets other archetypes mix together into something new.>>  Lex
demonstrated, pouring a handful of sand and a handful of water
together.  There was a flicker, and the mud reverted into sand
and water, mixed together but not blending.  <<It's variable in
our world, it changes and things shift their balances between
elements.  You should be able to deal with it, right?>>

"I ... never encountered such a thing.  Even before.  Yes, I
can deal with it, but it makes things more complicated."

<<I'll help,>> the Void-outline said.

Raphael touched the edge of the flickering-colors carefully, and
pulled a finger back.  "Hot.  I can endure it, though, for long
enough.  You did leave me some of those skills."

<<Part of the package, how to live in the world.  Shall we start?>>

"Best.  Void goes in first, on my mark."

Raphael spread his wings again, and he grew somehow brighter,
more purely lit with the Flame of Hope.  He pressed his hands
together, prayerlike, and opened them, and the diagram and the
flickering sphere of elemental change was held in them, but
the miniature held by the being before them, was at the same
time a full sized construct held by a distant and immanent force.

In the sphere, 'Raelf was suddenly very clearly present, each
facet of his presence clearly measured and concretely present.

"Now," Raphael said, and

_NOW_ the world commanded from all around 

and the glowing figure of solid thought stepped into the
outline and overlapped 'Raelf -- they blurred, and the lines
of the diagram caught deep blue fire, and there was a sound
like a bell ringing, but the vibration didn't stop.  Raphael
touched the sphere with one wingtip and winced as the end began
to fray.

<<Shift with it,>> Kev advised, and Raphael nodded, and the
torn feather repaired itself.  A heartbeat later, the blur
coalesced into 'Raelf, but he looked taller, with faint dark
markings on his ears and tail.

"Earth, on my mark."  Raphael held one hand poised, watching.

'Raf stepped forward, the satyr becoming a statue in stone and
iron, emitting a radiation of cold sensuality.  In the
changeling sphere, 'Raelf had become heat and motion and
turbulence.

_"_NnOoWw_"_ the voice of the world and the Healer came, and

'Raf moved into the sphere and became still, and the flaming
whirlwind 'Raelf engulfed him, dissolving the stone and metal into
himself.  He coalesced, almost, but his outline was blurred and
pulsated in time with the elemental shift in the sphere.  A second
pinion moved to steady him, and the bell-tone was joined by a
second deep thrum.

"Water, get ready."

Lex stepped forward, concentrating.  He moved through a quick
kata, fluid strike fluid move fluid dodge -- at the end, his
body was a transparent ripple, cold and moving.  In the sphere,
'Raelf had become dry, dust blown through fire, a desert entity.

__Now!__ the world said, and 'Raphael whispered hoarsely, and

Lex moved in, and there was a flash and a roar.   A third and
fourth pinion moved in to hold the sphere steady, and a third
bell-tone rang out, barely in harmony with the first two.
'Raelf materialized from the turbulence, even more blurred and
indistinct.  A heartbeat passed, water changing to earth, and
he didn't fall apart.

"Air, on my mark."  Strain echoed in Raphael's voice, though his
face remained composed and calm.

Miro stepped forward, pulling himself into Air.  He was embodied
transparency, movement, inexorable and intangible.  In the sphere
of change, 'Raelf was solidity, fluidity, heat, energy crackling
around him.

Raphael gestured with his right hand, and Miro blew into the sphere,
and in a whirlwind the two were one, 'Raelf's blurred shape expanding
to a cloudy outline almost twice its original size.  Sparks of
silver and gold shot randomly into the sphere, like intermittent
fireworks, and the dissonant ringing was joined by a stattaco
pounding beat.  He balanced carefully, intently, and Raphael reached
out three more pinions to help with that balance.

"Now fire," Raphael gritted.  He waited, gauging 'Raelf's fatigue
and the degree of his re-integration.  A heartbeat passed, the
elements flickering in the sphere.

Kev shifted deep into Fire, his eyes blazing brightly, his skin
glowing from within.  In the sphere, 'Raelf became solid, fluid,
turbulent wind, but intensely cold.  Raphael gasped as his hand
froze over and nodded, and Kev entered the diagram. He dove into
the blurred outline.  There was a wash of flames and a loud bang,
and the chiming bell and pounding drum ceased abruptly.  The sphere
flashed red and Raphael yanked his hand and wings away.

The flicker of elements changing stopped inside the bubble.  All
that remained was a crystalline sense of depth, space turning in
on itself forever, and in the center like the flaw in a diamond,
a vaguely humanoid, vaguely feline shape.  Raphael watched avidly.
The blurred shape began to change, flickering with a regular pulse
like a heartbeat.  Each change brought a new image: fireworks over
the great harbor; a winged man and an elven woman infiltrating a
border outpost; a young woman changing into a halfbreed blend of
human and fox; an elfin man, turned to stone; the blinding flare
of a silver angel driving away the darkness; a young, blond man
in a cloak the color of chaos; an island wound around with traps
and a prisoner in the middle of it; a young girl meeting her first
pony; a satyr band playing drums and dancing with a crowd in the
streets; a picnic in the park with a laughing woman who reflected
beauty from all around her; a great whirling flower in the skies
leading halfway across the galaxy; staring sleepily across the
pale glow of the place where stars live; a sword dance on the grey
and white and pink cobble of the courtyard with a redheaded woman;
the threads from six different lines of time all weaving together
into a single stream.  Water crossing itself as it went back to
the single sea which was its source.

With each crossing, the blurred outline grew gradually sharper
until it snapped into sharp focus.

"You've changed, friend,"  Raphael said.

'Raelf tried to smile, but instead he collapsed, unconscious.

A period of time passed, unknown and unmeasured.