Water and Earth, Prologue, scene 13.70 -- Debriefing

Previous: To the Third  and Fourth Generation

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---

From within the forest, four wild boars watch the group of students and their teacher leave. As the group disappears around a bend, the amber gilt nuzzles the ebony boar's neck, and he nuzzles back. After a few nuzzles and nips, they back away, perhaps regretfully, grunting and sighing, then turn and snort to the other pair, who hesitate, then approach and join in nuzzling.

Shortly, four Xhilrans stand in the shade of the forest.

Earth Prince grins. "Nuzzling is fun."

Water Princess smiles shyly, looking down at the grass. "But staying in that form would be dangerous. I'm not sure I'd be able to control my, uhm, natural instincts."

"We changed back too soon?"

"Mom!"

"Animals have different rules." She pauses, then ducks her head in apology. "But we aren't animals. Sorry."

"Yeah. Much as I like your mom's ideas, I do agree with you, Dŵr. No." Earth Prince chuckles, and the four join in. He continues, "Just as well it's not yet rutting season."

"I shouldn't tease, honey. But I do like your new prince."

Earth Prince clears his throat.

Water Princess squeezes his hand while reaching out to give her mother a hug.

"Maybe we should go see what we can copy from the monuments and markers," Water Princess's father suggests.

Earth Prince looks at the position of the sun. "I've still got an hour."

(A sixteenth of a day. You would call it an hour and a half.)

The four head back into the woods, retracing their steps.

"Well, I think we did a good job."

"Thanks Mom. We need to thank the real boars, too, if we can find their sounder."

Earth Prince holds branches out of the way as the others pass. "Yeah. I was a bit worried about the methods, but this avoided the appearance of magic. That would have caused problems in this particular case."

Water Princess's father holds branches in turn. "I think at least two of their group are thinking there was magic involved."

The two men stop and nod to each other, then move on.

"Professor Parry." Earth Prince's expression turns a bit pensive. "She was one of my favorite teachers when I started the upper forms. She reached out to the students who didn't fit in."

Water Princess nods. "That must be disappointing. But I don't think she's a bad person. Just confused."

"Yeah, I think you're right. But I think I need to visit her."

観 -- That is correct. You do.

"She needs some  support. I'll go with you."

"If you need, we can too," Water Princess's mother suggests.

"Thanks." Earth Prince nods. "I'm not sure a crowd's a good idea, though."

使 -- Better not to have any parents on the first visit. And it will likely require more than one visit.

"Should I go alone the first time?"

助 -- Water Princess can help you.

"It's a date."

"But what if she calls me by name? Or asks yours?"

Water Princess pauses in her progress, and looks back to Earth Prince. "Maybe I'll have to give up a little more of my comfort zone ..." Her voice falters as she starts moving again.

They break through the underbrush, into the gravesite clearing.

"There's Professor Parry's dagger."  Water Princess's father walks over and picks it up. He frowns as he examines it. "Definitely not just a re-purposed letter opener. Can't leave it lying around."

"She would keep that in her desk and use it as a letter opener. She knows how to throw it, too, and just the thought of her having it handy kept some of the rowdier boys in line."

"Rather unique professor, I'd say."

助 -- We can take care of that.

Water Princess's father thoughtfully hands the dagger, handle first, to the messenger. The messenger accepts it, removes her pack, pulls a long cravat from it, and proceeds to wrap the dagger. Once the blade is protected, she stores it in her pack.

助 -- When necessary, the blade can be returned to any of you four.

観 -- Water Princess, what are your opinions of the work you have just done?

"If I had been more prepared, I think I'd have just asked the boars to handle it, and we could have watched from the shadows without having to assume any different form."

観 -- Do you think you could have been sufficiently prepared?

"Good question. I was just following the ideas that came to me, in my heart."

使 -- Could you have done better?

Water Princess and Earth Prince look at each other. Earth Prince shakes his head slowly.

"It's always possible to do better." Water Princess purses her lips thoughtfully.

"Until the job is done. It was sufficient," Earth Prince says with a wry smile.

使 -- Earth Prince is right. 

"And follow-up is always necessary, anyway." Water Princess nods in acceptance of her own words as she speaks.

助 -- To what object, the follow-up?

Water and Earth look at each other and nod, then speak in unison -- "To confirm Agnes's decision, and to try to help Professor Parry believe that magic is not the path she seeks."

助 -- Correct. You may now proceed with the business of the day.

"I have some questions."

観 -- Yes, Earth Prince?

"That was some pretty heavy-duty physics."

使 -- True.

I'm sure you share our amusement at Earth Prince's insight. Please be patient with him.

"Care to enlighten us how it was done? I mean, the one translation of matter forms is hard enough to understand being possible. It's way beyond simple alchemy--"

助 -- Very true.

"But, then, reversing it. Perfectly --"

観 -- You don't remember?

Earth Prince mulls this over. "Well, I remember bits and parts, but I was mostly leaving things up to my princess and hanging on for dear life. First time you know."

Water Princess blushes and looks aside. "It was my first time, too."

"I remember a kind of a bump when the entropy field turned sideways. Or was it we turned sideways in the field so we could have time to --" Earth Prince begins to turn pink around the base of his neck. "This feels just a little what it must feel like to have the family present on the wedding night."

使 -- So you could have time to what?

Water Princess's face turns bright red. Her parents smile patiently and nod.

Earth Prince swallows. "Scan all our grosser parts into storage in our finer matter memories."

観 -- Ah, those finer matter memories. Your scientists call it dark matter. How silly of them. All parts, as in?

"Everything from our backpacks and the clothes we are wearing to -- every part of our bodies, down to the cells and genetic material. Down to sub-atomic particles."

"I'm sorry, Ddaear."

"No one's to blame, Dŵr. It's not like we were looking at --" he pauses and they look into each other's eyes, "each other that way."

"Or like we'll be thinking that way about what we've seen."

There is an uncomfortable moment of silence.

"Should we keep not using each other's real names?"

"I still need the, uhm, safety zone, as long as we can keep it."

"Maybe I do, too."

観 -- Making babies may be one kind of intimacy, but not all intimacy is about making babies.

"That's a slippery slope." Earth Prince shakes his head. "I don't want to go there. Well, not today, not any more than we've been. It's hard enough knowing I've now seen more of my Princess than her doctor ever will."

"Me too," Water Princess mumbles.

"And your parents."

Water Princess's father clears his throat. "Well, speaking of relatives who were helping out, when you're handling so much of your own genetic material for the first time, it often helps to have close relatives who share the same genes helping you."

"Huh?"

助 -- 土母?

土母 -- Hi, hon.

"Mom?"

土父 -- Sorry we haven't able to be there the usual way, son. But we've been doing what we can from this side.

"Dad?"

Silence reigns in the forest, and after a few moments, Earth Prince raises his hand towards his father. His father takes his hand, and they embrace. Then Earth Prince embraces his mother. After another moment, Earth Prince pulls back.

"But, how? The second resurrection ...?"

土父 -- When you're called to a specific work, some exceptions may apply. 

"Can I tell Ceri?"

土母 -- Not yet, sweetheart. But she knows in her heart, anyway. Don't worry about it.

We stand aside as Earth Prince re-acquaints himself with his parents.

"Should we tell our princess that her grandparents were also here to help?"

"I know, Mom. We found a moment to talk in between moving data around."

---

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Water and Earth, Prologue, scene 13.60 -- To the Third and Fourth Generation

Previous: Wild Boars

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Now fully clothed, carrying the implements of their interrupted experiments, a sobered group of youths and one adult begins the hike out of the overgrown graveyard as the morning sun breaks into the clearing they are leaving behind.

"So, Nest, you saw stuff? Uhm, visions?" one of the girls asks the erstwhile sacrificial victim while pushing through the vines and undergrowth.

"Yeah, Enid. First it was the scary stuff you always see."

"Scary stuff?"

Wild boars can be very stealthy when they aren't announcing their presence. Four boars, whom we know, silently track the group.

"I guess that's all they're good at -- making scary faces and noises, flying around, talking about dying or --"

"Or?" Enid prompts.

Nesta stares at the ground. "Stupid stuff. Like rape. Except what they say doesn't really make sense. Or pretending to be my ancestors."

"Pretending to be?" the adult is puzzled. "Why do you say pretending?"

"My real great grandfather came and shooed all the fake ghosts away."

"Your great grandfather is dead," one of the boys points out as he holds tree limbs back so the rest can pass more easily.

"Of course, Alwyn. But there was a ghost pretending to be him, and a bunch of others pretending to be others. But it didn't feel real. I couldn't really believe it. Jut didn't feel right. Then when my real great grandfather came, I just knew."

"Knew him? How?" Alwyn is curious.

"I could tell. Among other things, he wasn't trying to scare me." Nesta pauses and thinks. "Or get me excited. There was something different."

"So you had a vision," another girl interjects. "I'm jealous!"

The whole group stops for a moment, looking expectantly at Nesta.

Nesta shakes her head. "It's not what you think, Efa."

We can see various expressions of puzzlement in their faces.

"We've been looking for magic. My grandfather told me we have all the magic we need inside ourselves."

The adult has stopped beside her. "All?"

"So how come I can't fly?"

"Why do you want to fly, Enid?"

"So I can fly out the window when maths get's boring."

Snickers circulate among the youths, and the adult sighs.

"What good would flying out the window do?"

"Be more interesting."

Murmurs of agreement.

"How about flying in your imagination?"

Murmurs of complaint.

The adult changes the subject. "You said I shouldn't let people define me. Why did you say that?"

Nesta turns to face her. "Professor Parry, my great grandfather showed me what he did to my grandmother. He said he had convinced himself he was trying to help her, but he was lying to himself. Then he showed me how she did much the same to my father, but worse, and then my father did it to me. Then he showed me some of what my mother and your mother did to you when you were a child."

Professor gasps, almost inaudibly, mumbling something.

"He said he was sorry. Said he really thought he was trying to help, but he messed up. And he said four generations repeating the same mistakes was four too many."

"You saw everything?"

"No, but I saw that they told you that you were to blame. That you were evil, so you didn't have any right to object. That you should like it because you were bad. You're not really a bad person, Professor Parry."

Professor Parry looks down, then starts moving forward. The rest of the group starts moving again.

"But it's too hard, being good," she complains in a low voice.

The students stop again, and Professor Parry proceeds a few more steps, then stops, holding a tree branch out of the way over her head as she  turns to face the students. "I don't think I want to be good."

Nesta and Professor Parry look into each other's eyes, each querying the other.

助 -- Maybe she is misunderstanding what good is?

"What is good?" Nesta asks.

One of the boys offers, "You've told us yourself a lot of the hard rules society makes are hard to follow because they aren't good."

"Llewellyn, did I really say that?"

"You told me I had to learn which rules were good for me, and how. And you said you were still trying to figure the rules out for yourself. That's why we came here today isn't it? We wanted to know whether magic is good or bad."

"So now we know it's not something to play with, I guess." Professor Parry turns around again and the group proceeds on their way through the thinning underbrush. "I did say that."

One of the girls adds, "We're trying to figure things out as we go along. And that means we're gonna make mistakes. It's what you say. That's what you tell us. Mistakes that don't kill aren't fatal."

"Bryn, you have no idea how hard it is to believe my own advice right now. My plan failed. And I could be disqualified from teaching, if people know what we've been doing."

Nesta shakes her head. "You didn't force any of us. Not really. And we learned something from it. I don't think it's a failure. Experiment with negative results, isn't it?"

Another boy volunteers, "And thanks to a bunch of wild boars, hey, nothing really happened today beyond a little drama practice. That's what I'm going to say it was, and it's pretty close to the truth. Right, Nest?"

Nods and murmurs of assent are exchanged as the group breaks through the trees onto a small path.

Nesta shrugs. "Yeah, Dylan, the boars were very helpful. I'm going to offer a quick prayer to whatever deity were watching out for us, in my heart. If you guys want to do that you can too. And then I'm getting back to real world."

The group pauses for a short minute or two of contemplation in their hearts, reaching in their own ways for communion, before heading in silent agreement down the path.

(Short minute — roughly twenty of your seconds. Sixteen hours to the day, sixteen long minutes to the hour, sixteen short minutes to the long minute. It is a coincidence that the Xhilran day is rather close to the same length as the day of your world, when comparing entropic rates.)

---

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Next: Debriefing

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Water and Earth, Prologue, scene 13.55 -- Wild Boars

Previous: Pink Unicorns  Or Purple?

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Entering the clearing, we begin our examinations.

You haven't been here before, so this will be somewhat new to you. There are a number of headstones and a few larger monuments spread around this clearing.

It is the family grave site of a once prominent family, now fallen from grace, the subject of stories told in whispers.

Lying in an open space between monuments, the ceremonial victim's chest rises and falls almost too slowly to notice. Now her body shivers, and she moans quietly as we approach. On examination, we find vital signs within safe ranges.

使 -- You'll keep an eye on things while we talk with this girl, won't you? Hold her hand, will you, to give her some comfort. 

An adult woman dressed in long, open vestments emphasizing as much as hiding her lack of dress beneath, slips into the clearing from the opposite side from which we entered. She comes to the victim and draws a ceremonial dagger from within the vestments. Holding it horizontally over the victim's mouth, she checks for telltale fog of exhaled breath. Finding fog on the blade, she checks the vines, adjusting two for purposes that are not obvious. Apparently satisfied, she lightly traces the veins in one of the victim's arms with the tip of the dagger, raising it quickly to a safe height when the arm twitches.

Suddenly, there is a commotion in the undergrowth, and a boy and girl back cautiously into the clearing. Both appear barely a hexadecade in age, if that, and are dressed more or less the same as the victim.

"Easy, easy, we're not threatening anyone's babies," the girl says in an unsteady voice.

"What are you doing here? It's not time yet. And who are you talking to?"

The boy replies, "There're wild boars out there."

"Where?" The woman rises and goes over to them to check, as a commotion breaks out on the other side of the clearing and a boy and girl of similar age and dress to the first pair break into the clearing.

"Boars!"

"Run!"

"Impossible. There are no boars in this mountain in this season." The woman turns, just as another pair bursts excitedly into the clearing, both panting heavily.

The newest girl looks around wildly.

The boy looks at the woman, then the other pairs. "You guys, too?" he asks. "How many are there?"

Yet another pair crashes into the clearing, falling more than running through the trees. The boy stumbles to his feet, then helps the girl up.

"Whatever you do, don't fight them," she says.

From each point of the compass, tusked bovine we know enter the clearing —followed by true denizens of the forest — snorting and pawing the ground. Each of the boar is heavier than any three of the Xhilrans in the clearing.

The victim stirs, waking, mumbling. Then her voice comes clear. "We should not be here."

The woman jerks around to stare. "How can you be awake?"

助 -- Thank you for helping stabilize her. Holding her hand has helped draw the poisons from her blood. 

"I've seen dreams. We are on sacred ground, but what we do is a different kind of separate." She rises. "What we were doing. I'm getting dressed."

The woman seems about to object, but the wild boars begin hollering and squealing, rooting among the stones and grass, moving towards the children and their leader, urging them away from the spot on the ground that had been their alter towards one side of the clearing, where their clothes are piled haphazardly, holding back as the children reach their clothing.

Seeing the boars hold their ground, the youths pick up their clothes and begin dressing, shedding the ceremonial loincloths and scarves to do so. The woman lags behind.

With sudden determination, she whirls around, screeching and howling, brandishing her ceremonial dagger, attempting to surprise and scare the boars nearest her, but they only respond by standing on their hind-hoofs, snuffling and grunting, dropping again to the ground, and pressing her with more urgency.

"Give it up!" One of the boys calls.

"You're the leader!" She turns toward an ebony-furred boar, slashing out with her ceremonial blade, only to find herself immediately bowled over and lying on the ground, the tusks of an amber furred gilt mere inches away from her nose, breath fierce and hot in her face.

Now shes squirms backwards, abandons her dagger and rolls and runs for the group of children, collapsing on the ground near them.

As the children regain their state of dress, most of the boars melt back into the woods.

"Don't they say these woods are haunted?"

"I've heard it's safe for people who are are not thinking impure thoughts."

"Pure thoughts. I'm busy thinking pure thoughts for the rest of the day, today."

"We should go back in a group, just in case."

The woman remains in her robes, in a heap on the ground.

"Aren't you coming?"

"No. Run away if you're scared. I'm staying."

The erstwhile victim comes over to stand by the woman. "Yr Athro, I am not staying. And I'm not going through with any more of this game we've been playing. Maybe they were hallucinations, but I've seen enough."

"Hallucinations?" the adult looks suddenly incredulous. "The boars?"

"No."

"You saw something? What did you see?"

The girl turns to the other children. "Some of you think you are stuck in an evil state, damned for things you haven't done and condemned forever for thing you have. It isn't so. There is hope for us as long as we live."

The woman howls, standing and reaching out to attack the girl, but suddenly two boars are behind her, snuffling and grunting again. Instead of attacking, she hides behind the girl.

The girl reaches out to the boars, who nuzzle her hands.

"Nothing to be afraid of, if we think pure thoughts."

"What is a pure thought?" the woman snarls. "I suppose you think you know. You are just a slut."

"That is definitely an impure thought, Yr Athro. I can't let people who did bad things to me in the past define who I am now. Nor should you."

"What makes you think —?"

The amber boar ambles over to the woman and grunts, nuzzling her leg. The woman suddenly crumbles back to the ground, reaching out and hugging the amber boar, sobbing. The ebony boar joins them, snuffling gently beside them. For a long minute or two (five or ten of your minutes) the woman remains as it were in the boars' embrace, the intensity of her sobs slowly ebbing away. Finally, she dries her tears and regains her feet, shedding her robes. One of the boys hands her clothes to her, and she proceeds to dress in a trance.

---

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Water and Earth, Prologue, scene 13.50 -- Pink Unicorns Or Purple?

Previous: Gwen

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Glad to see you here. We can definitely use an additional pair of eyes this morning. This is a difficult assignment, requiring the assistance of two of our charges. Water Princess's parents will be here to help, as well.

As you can see through the early morning mists, the forest here is thick, with ever-violet trees spreading their needled branches tall and closer together than is usual, the native deciduous white-bush fighting to catch what sunlight filters through with their translucent leaves of a color you would place in the ultraviolet part of your physically visible spectrum, and indigo vines draped thick from tree to bush making progress difficult off the few, irregularly traveled paths.

Are the unfamiliar colors of this world interesting? How is it, you ask, that you can register them all?

Now there's a good question.

"Not what I'd call a tourist attraction." Earth Prince's voice comes low through the trees.

"We aren't here to be tourists. We're here to research our family history." As we see them approach between the trees, avoiding the needles, Water Princess's hair glows amber in the deep gloom, catching what little light there is and re-radiating it.

"I can't imagine you'd have any ancestors there."

"As my dad sometimes says, no stone unturned." She half-giggles.

"I'm not sure that's an appropriate joke for this place. Say, where are they?"

"My parents?" Both stop and turn around.

"We're coming." Her father's voice comes through the gloom. "You two go ahead. We'll come at our own pace. No need to wait for us."

"Trying to give us time to be alone together again?" Water Princess mutters with a wry smile.

Earth Prince shakes his head, ever so slightly, and replies in a low voice. "This graveyard is definitely not a place for games, although some of my school friends would go there to make out on dares."

"Make out?"

"Heavy kissing, hands where they shouldn't, etc."

"I know what it means. Dangerous play. On dares?"

"Thrill seekers."

"What usually happens?"

"They usually come back saying it was too scary to do anything bad."

"And they thought they wanted to do bad things."

Both laugh quiet, wry laughs.

Her parents come into view, holding hands and smiling. "Did you wait?"

"Better to stay together, even if it's just to keep from getting lost." Earth Prince smiles, but his voice has something of an edge, and he reaches out to take Water Princess's hand.

The four proceed ahead of us, Earth Prince and Water Princess leading the way along a path that is becoming less of a path than a thinning of undergrowth, which they push out of their way to proceed.

"You'd think you believed in ghosts." Water Princess's father is still jocular.

"You disbelieve in the spirit that animates the body?" Earth Prince's voice turns sardonic.

"Touché. But, as you should know, I do not yield power to rebellious spirits who refused to be born, or any that refuse to move on from here when it is time."

"But even the scriptures advise against testing evil." Earth Prince pauses, scanning the forest ahead of them. "What did the bishop say when you asked him about coming to this particular site to record names?"

"He laughed." Water Princess's mother laughs as well, "Said it was work someone needed to be brave enough to do."

"Oh, for —"

Earth Prince drops Water Princess's hand, raising his arm in front of her to hold her back, trying to cover her eyes.

But she has already seen and pushes his hand down. "She looks younger than me," she says, quietly, sadly.

Her parents come up behind and draw quick breaths.

They have come to a clearing, and this is where our unusual business for the morning lies, in the form of another young charge of ours, on her back in the clearing in a space between monument stones, uncovered, except for a loincloth and bolero improvised from a scarf, and long strands of a yellow-green vine draped across her body to form an eight-point star on the ground around her. The vine's indigo leaves and white berries rest against her bare skin, and she shows no signs of consciousness.

"What?" Water Princess's mother quietly asks of no one in particular. "Is she alive?"

"Can't tell from here." Earth Prince turns to talk. "I did mention other rumors, didn't I? Where there's a sacrifice, there should be priests of some sort around. This could get dangerous."

観 -- Priests? Eight initiates — four males, four females — one older priestess, to be exact. Dangerous, perhaps.

"Well, you guys showed up. You might actually be useful for something after all." Even in a whisper, Water Princess's voice is tinged with sarcasm.

"Br-- Dywysoges!" Her mother's voice is quiet but sharp.

"Mom, ..."

助 -- She should say what she thinks.

"Where are they?" Water Princess's father asks, quietly.

観 -- In the woods around here, preparing, as they consider it, to partake of the sacrifice.

"I wonder if they know we are here." His voice drops yet further.

観 -- You saw the vines?

"Hallucinogens." Earth Prince's voice is low, but the heat is audible. "If they are also wrapped in those, maybe they won't hear us, but they will be even less likely to behave reasonably." He motions and turns out, away from what remains of the path, and the others follow him a few paces into the thicker area, disappearing from the view from the path. We follow.

"So, I suppose, since I am here, I should become the part." Water Princess's voice now reveals resignation.

観 -- It is your choice. You may even choose to leave."

"I doubt we'll ever see that happen." Her father shakes his head soberly.

"What is our assignment, other than to rescue as many as possible?" she asks.

使 -- That's all. No force. No violence. As little intimidation as possible. As natural as possible.

"Can't let it be easy, I guess." Earth Prince expresses his dissatisfaction. "What else, pink unicorns?"

"That might not be a bad idea." Water Princess looks thoughtful.

助 -- That would not be natural. There are none of the equestrian unicorns in this area. And the bovine unicorn would not exactly be in it's natural habit here, either.

"How about wild boars?" Earth Prince suggests without thinking. "Plenty of those around here. Wait, what am I saying?"

This world of Xhilr also has animals you would recognize as horses and rhinoceroses — and tusked wild boars ... and, yes, equestrian unicorns.

"Great idea." Water Princess takes his hand and reaches out for her father's.

"Maybe I'd prefer pink unicorns. Or even purple."

"Just relax." Water Princess's mother takes his other hand and reaches for her husband's free hand. Water Princess's father shrugs and joins the circle.

使 -- We'll be in the graveyard, keeping an eye on the sacrificial victim.

"We'll call if we need help." Already, Earth Prince's clothes are changing to ebony fur streaked with purple and pink. Water Princess's clothes change to amber fur, also streaked with pink and purple. Her parents' fur is a more sedate black, with streaks of sand and teak.

As we move to the clearing, four wild boars begin snuffling through the forest undergrowth.

---

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Water and Earth, Prologue, scene 13.5 -- Wild Boars

Previous: Gwen

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Next: Pink Unicorns  Or Purple

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Water and Earth, Prologue, scene 15 -- Hefin

Previous: Beryl

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Five good friends, all charges of ours, are gathered with Beryl's parents' in the Kendrick's living room. They are playing a game of random bidding with cards, similar to a game you might know as Pit.

"Two! Two! Two!"

"Three! Three!"

"One! One!"

"Two!" Dai and Water Princess trade.

"One?"

"Three!" Earth Prince and Dilwen trade.

"Three! Three!" Earth Prince puts the cards he just received back up.

"Two! Two!"

"One?" Beryl is frustrated. "Okay, eight!"

Silence.

Water Princess giggles. "Try this?" and hands Beryl a single card, taking Beryl's single in trade.

"Thanks, but nope."

As trading continues, Hefin silently slips a card into Beryl's hand, and she looks it him, then gives him the card Water Princess gave her. Counting together to three and turning the cards over, they look quickly at the cards, then at each other again, grinning, and call, "Corner!" in unison.

Silence again, then laughter.

Earth Prince counts the points. "Beryl broke 500, so she wins."

"Brig and I need to do some research in the library." Dilwen stands.

"We do?" Brigham looks up at her, and she speaks to him with her eyes. "Oh. We do."

"Can we help?" Earth Prince stands.

"Completely unnecessary." Brigham also stands to leave. "If you need anything just holler." And he follows his wife out of the room.

"More Pit?"

"How about something that allows us to talk?" Dai suggests. "You've got the Scripture Dungeons set, don't you, Beryl?"

"Right here on the shelf. You guys can set it up. Dŵr, can you help me mix some more juice in the kitchen?" Beryl picks up the empty pitcher.

"Hey, we can help."

"You're not invited."

Water Princess follows Beryl into the kitchen. "Hundred percent fruit juices."

"Uh huh. Natural sugars are better for you, if you don't drink too much. Has K-- woops, there I go again."

Water Princess grins apologetically. "Sorry. Still need to keep that distance."

Beryl opens the freezer. "What do you suggest?"

"You have cherry and mango? Let's try a mix."

They open cans and scoop frozen concentrate into the pitcher.

"Has Ddaear explained about how he is with refined sugars?"

"Does funny things to his body. Ties his miscles in knots, kills his immunity system, makes it hard to focus on hard stuff."

"I've seen what it can do to him."

They re-seal the cans and pour water into the pitcher, mixing it with the concentrate.

"Can you tell me?"

"It can make him turn inside himself. Not just his muscles, not just catching colds. He can hurt himself. Stress alone can turn him inside out a bit, but sugar makes it worse. Sometimes he has no defense against himself."

"Is that what scares you?"

"Yeah. I'd have bad dreams every time we started getting really close."

"Bad how?"

"I'd see him in my dreams coming home stressed out from something, needing my attention, and he couldn't let me get close to him. It would be too dangerous for me."

"He is rather strong."

"You can see it, too? But you're strong."

"Yeah, I can see it. I think I'll be able to let him be close enough. If ..."

"If ...?"

"If we start out right. That's why we both need the time to get used to being on our own without each other before we start courting for real. Neither of us has really been on our own yet."

Beryl washes the long spoon and puts it away.

"I'd never thought of that. But even after he lost his parents, he had Ceri, and then us. The mission was pretty close to being on his own, but he always had a companion. He really hasn't been on his own like he'll be at the Hyde."

"Right."

"This is what Hef needs to know. He was mad at you for stealing Ddaear from me, and now he's mad at you for making Ddaear wait for you. But he's not thinking of what the woman who has to live with him forever needs."

"Do you think he'll talk about it?"

"Let's go see."

Water Princess picks up the pitcher and they return to the other room. Setting it down, she asks, "Who's going to be dungeon master?"

Dai suggests, "Beryl's mom and dad might. We could call them back."

Beryl looks at Water Princess, who looks at Earth Prince. He raises an eyebrow and Water Princess tilts her head slightly towards Hefin. He nods yes.

"I'll go call them." Beryl leaves the room. We hear her call through the hall. "Mom, Dad, are you two too busy to be dungeon masters?"

Hefin collects and shuffles the cards and places them in several stacks on the table. When Beryl returns with her parents, he hands Brigham the playbook.

Brigham rolls a die and checks the book, then intones, "You are in a small clearing in a woods you have never seen before. In the clearing is a small cabin with one door, and a piece of parchment on the door. What do you do?"

Beryl says, "Read the notice," and all agree.

Hefin draws a card. "Seek, and you shall find."

Water Princess identifies the scripture, and Dai says, "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you." All agree.

Earth Prince says, "Knock knock."

Dilwen intones. "The door opens with a low creaking noise."

Water Princess giggles and says, "Now we run around the cabin five times and yell, 'Boo!' "

"No disagreements?" Brigham scratches his head, reading the playbook.

There are chuckles, but no disagreements.

"Okay, here it is. There is a loud thunderclap and the cabin disappears in a puff of smoke. In its place is a hole in the ground, with the top of a ladder poking out. As you watch, scaled hands grasp the top rung and a lizard-like man climbs out. He addresses your group and asks: 'Who is your leader?'"

With some consultation, Beryl is chosen. A scripture riddle is posed which they answer successfully, and the story proceeds down the hole.

Some half an hour later, as you would experience the time, they have made their way down to the third level, answering questions and fighting various creatures with rolls of the dice and scripture quotes.

"You have come to a four-way branch in the tunnel. On the floor of the tunnel you find a small metal ball. On the surface of the ball is a writing."

Dai says, "We read the writing." All agree.

Hefin draws another card. "You shall not suffer a witch to rebel forever. A witch who will use xer special talents in rebellion against God has not the word of life, and thus is in a state of spiritual death. You shall not promise xem either salvation or eternal life while xe remains in xer rebellion."

(Genderless pronoun: xe, xem, xer, xers, xemself.)

Again, Water Princess identifies the scripture.

Hefin looks at her accusingly.

"Hef." Dai's voice mixes warning with concern.

Hefin looks down.

"So I bewitched Tywysog, and now I'm bewitching all of you?" Water Princess smiles wryly.

"It was a lot simpler before you came."

Beryl turns to him. "Hef, there's something I haven't told you."

Hefin sets both hands flat on the table and leans on it, standing up. "You've told us that you both got 'No,' in reply, and I don't believe it."

"Hef," Dilwen puts her hand on Hefin's hand. "Beryl took it hard. I was here and we cried together. It was real."

Beryl takes his other hand. "I never told anyone about the dreams I've had except ... Ddaear until tonight. Whenever we started talking about marrying, I had dreams. I was warned. I can't give him the help he needs. The dreams made it clear. And this was before Dŵr ever came."

Hefin looks at the floor and shakes his head.

"Hef, how strong is K-- Ddaear?

"Why can't we say his name? See how she bewitches us?"

Brigham looks at Earth Prince.

Earth Prince nods.

"There's another thing that hasn't been told, but answer Beryl's question, Hef."

"Okay, he's stronger than anybody I know. So?"

"I'm not strong enough to help him. That's what I saw in the dreams, very plainly."

Hefin refuses to look at anyone. "You could be."

"But it's not what God wants. He won't help us. Not if we rebel."

Hefin is silent for some few moments. Then, somewhat grudgingly, he speaks. "Okay, I'll grant that Dŵr is stronger than any of us except Ddaear. But, in that case, why the code names? Why the talk of them not being able to marry for four years? Why can't they get engaged and then marry when Dŵr turns eighteen? Why can't her parents let them marry now, if they are so meant for each other?"

No one asks why he cares so much.

"I have been told I can match his strength, but only if we start things right."

"What, you've seen those messengers Ddaear told us about, too?"

Water Princess looks at Earth Prince questioningly.

"I did try to tell them once about the messengers, when I first met them."

"Oh."

"What? Then it's those messengers that have you all confused."

"The messengers have not told us to get married, but I have met them."

Dai leans forward. "This is interesting."

"That kind of thing doesn't happen now." Hef becomes adamant. "We have the scriptures and we have the Church. We don't need messengers."

Dilwen squeezes his hand. "Hefin, has the time come for miracles to cease?"

"Hefin, please. Before we met K-- Ddaear, it was you and me and Dai. Before we met Dai, it was just you and me."

"We were only seven. Your parents took me in to get me away from that foster home for a couple of years. And then they sent me to live with Dai."

"So we could stay close, Hef."

"We're brother and sister."

"But we aren't really."

"But you and ... Ddaear love each other."

"And I love you and Dai, too. I'm getting to like Dŵr pretty well, too."

Earth Prince speaks up. "And I have no small affection for everyone in this room. Ceri explained it to me like this when I was twelve and had a terrible crush on her. There are crushes, and there is love, but marriage is a contract to make babies. You can't marry everyone you love."

Brigham laughed. "That's what she said?"

"It was a good explanation at the time."

Dilwen shakes her head with a chuckle. "Your sister always surprises me with her wisdom. I think she was the biggest factor in my joining the Church."

Hefin's chuckle becomes audible. "Blast it K-- Ddaear, you know how to take the romance out of everything."

Dai deadpans, "What's unromantic about any of this?"

Soft laughter fills the room.

Hefin becomes serious again. "So, if those messengers aren't the ones telling you to get married, what are they telling you?"

Water Princess answers, "Things about our future. Not requirements, possibilities."

"Thus, Earth Prince, Water Princess?"

Earth Prince nods. "But they -- we -- are not required to marry."

And Water Princess adds, "It does seem to be convenient to marry, but we have to choose whether to accept the mantle."

"And whether to do so married to each other or married to others."

"We have to understand what we are being asked to do as something separate from whether we marry. That's why we have to be completely separate from each other for a year. Uhm, plus or minus a little." Water Princess reaches out and takes Earth Prince's hand, and he squeezes it."

"It's scary, but we have to do it."

Hefin smiles a tight, but sincere smile. "Okay, now I think I can see."

Brigham points out, "Things have been said here that must not leave this room."

And all agree.

Hefin finally looks relieved but he has one question left. "So, Beryl, should you and Dai get married, then?"

Beryl drops her head into her hands and doesn't say anything.

"Hef, mate, you and I need to follow Ddaear and Beryl's examples and go on missions."

"Thank you, Dai," comes Beryl's muffled reply.

But Hef's face again shows signs of fretting.

---

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[JMR20190312: Backed up here: 
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Water and Earth, Prologue, scene 14 -- Beryl

Previous: Ancestors

Table of Contents

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"Dŵr, hi!"

"Huh? Oh, hi! uhm, Beryl, right?"

Beryl smiles quietly. "Yeah."

"Do you come to this store often?"

"Yeah, uhm, no, not really. Sometimes. Your parents said you'd be here."

"I needed to get some seals for my swimming goggles, or get some new ones."

"You're looking at scuba gear."

"Just dreaming. So, ... you came to talk to me or something."

"Is it okay?"

"I guess. What about?"

"Well, about," she bites her lip, "Ddaear."

"Ddaear? Well, of course." Water Princess puts the breathing regulator back on the shelf and gives Beryl her attention.

"We've been mates for a long time. Dai and Hefin and, uhm, Ddaear and I."

"He told me a little about you. You helped him overcome his shyness, he said."

"He was really shy when we first met him. Dancing was not cool, and he took a lot of teasing for it. Bullying, really. Somehow, he kept from being badly hurt, but we always worried."

"I have to say, I would have been as worried for the bullies."

Beryl laughs softly. "It took me a while to see that he was holding back. He had to use his strength to defend himself just once, and that pretty much put a stop to the bullying, but then everyone was afraid of him."

"Did the other guy survive?"

"The four of us went to hospital to visit them. They're friends, now."

"They."

"He's strong. He took three rugby players down and then made the others help get them safely in the ambulance."

"That sounds like something he would do."

"You're not afraid of him."

"He's a good person."

Beryl suddenly wraps her arms around Water Princess and hugs her tightly. "Keep him safe, okay?"

Embarrassed, Water Princess stiffens, then relaxes and returns the hug.

"Thanks. But it's not like we're getting married or anything."

"I know." They step back and look at each other, non-verbal understanding flowing between them.

"I've asked K-- uhm, Ddaear about things and he's explained. But I can see it between you. I'm a little jealous."

"Oh? Well, I guess so." Water Princesses smiles, embarrassedly. "He's easy to get a crush on."

"I have a huge crush on him. Had it for a long time. No, I'm hugely jealous. But I'd be scared to actually marry him."

"He told me about how you supported each other on your missions, and how you both got noes when you prayed about marrying. I feel like an outsider -- an intruder."

"You're not. Just from church and hearing about you, I can tell you'll be good for him. And I can tell I'll like you as a best mate-in-law."

They hug again.

"I'm putting pressure on you."

"No, you're actually answering some of my questions. I hope we can be friends. You do water ballet, too, right?"

"Yeah, a little."

"Want to practice with me?"

"I'd love to. I'll bet you could teach me a lot."

"We could teach each other. Can I have your mail address, too?"

"You have a hand-held?"

"Back home. Didn't want to carry it through customs. Dad has one."

"Tell me his." Beryl gets her hand-held communication terminal out. "By the way, he asked me to ask you to come back to the shop. He and Ddaear want your help with something."

"Well, I guess I should go. Can you come back with me, and we can keep talking?"

"I'd like that."

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]