Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 16:49:44 -0600

"Well, my story begins a long time ago, and it's a fairly long story, so I would suggest that those who wish to hear it sit." She smiles and sits down on the floor, legs crossed, and then proceeds.

"Once upon a time, before the Resurgence, there lived a little girl named Wendy MacGregor, and she lived with her mother and her father and in the summers she went to visit her Grand-Mother MacGregor and her Great-Grandmother MacGregor and she would play with her cousins and she would have the time of her life, and at night all the children would gather around and the Grandmothers would tell them stories about the Fae, the Sidhe, fairy-tales about princes and princesses and other such things.

"Now Wendy was a very beautiful girl, and she was also very kind, and very loved by all who knew her, for she had a way of dealing with people that made them feel comfortable. She would spend hours on end with her little cousins, playing with them, and she was always the leader of their little bands, the commander to their soldiers, and no one ever minded because she was always so fair and gentle, even when slaying imaginary enemies.

"Wendy was about fourteen when Man landed on the Moon, and later that year she was walking home with some friends when she felt a rush, and then a dizziness, and then she was walking with her friends no longer, but was instead in a field, with many people scurrying around her. She heard children crying and adults angrily demanding information and she saw scared and worried faces with eyes that shone in strange colors and ears that were pointed and she also saw humans standing around, and she knew that they were afraid, and possibly causing more confusion with their noise. So she did the only thing she could, she gathered the children, with the help of one very young boy named David, and got all the humans gathered in one place, away from the strange people, and many of them looked at her with gratitude in their frightening eyes.

"After a moment, one of the men came up and started to explain to them what was going on and Wendy realized with a start what happened. 'You are Sidhe?' she asked. "Aye.' he replied, 'What ha' ye heard of us?' 'That you steal children...' and she blushed. The Sidhe smiled, 'Aye, an ye been well an' stolen this day.' He apologized for the rush, but they were fleeing and they hadn't had much time to prepare anything.

"And so Wendy was among the Fae, and they taught the humans they brought into their midst, and protected them from the Darkness that sought to hunt them down, and though many were lost, some great ones developed among the Changeling humans, among them, young David, and Wendy, who became the leader of the group by general acceptance." She pauses for comments.

Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 10:17:05 -0600

Goldeneyes looks around a moment. "Perhaps I should continue my story...

"Anyway, Wendy and the other Changelings grew amd matured and learned from the Sidhe around them. It was intersting to see who survived their hunters and who were lost, for some of the oldest managed to adapt and some of the youngest couldn't take the change of worlds, though that became less a danger as the Sidhe started changing with younger and younger children, and Wendy set up a nursery of sorts in which one older changeling carried an infant or a young child with them in case they had to flee, which they did often, for the hunters wanted to destroy or capture all of the human changelings, and even the escaped Sidhe.

"Wendy was also able to watch the Sidhe who had taken her place, to watch her fall in love with another nobleman and in sorrow break away from him when she knew that they could not last. Wendy also saw the Sidhe lady fall in love with a mighty Troll, and the light of their love and joy lit up the very air around them.

"Wendy and David watched over the other Changelings and all were taught by the Sidhe, they learned the battle arts, and even gained some ability with the more exotic Arts, though at the time no one realized that the Changelings were changing.

"David was with Wendy when she discovered the joyful news that the Sidhe lady was expecting a child, but not just any child, a Sidhe child, concieved on Earth, the first one since the Resurgence, and Sidhe births were rare.

"And he was with her the terrible day when her former lover murdered the Sidhe lady and her True Love. Wendy watched, helpless and horrified as Edwynn struck Wenhaver and as the Sidhe fell, life fading and then Wendy found that she could move and she moved forward to grab the fast fading life of the unborn Sidhe and cradle her in her arms.

"Then Edwynn stabbed Colin with cold iron and every nerve in Wendy's body cried out in pain, for Colin was a good, and a kind man. David reached forward to grab the Troll's life, holding him in his body, but he was slipping from David's hands and Wendy couldn't help him, for her hands were full with keeping the Sidhe child from death.

"In desperation Wendy cast her eyes about, Wenhaver has already passed beyond her reach with the promise that she would return if she were able, as commoner if she had to, the only other person in the room was a young Sluagh child, a boy Wenhaver had offered to adopt. As she watched, the boy swore a blood Oath to Colin, to find and serve WEnhaver in whatever form she took. Then the child slit his small hand and mingled his blood with Colin's and Wendy saw a chance.

"'Quick! David! The boy! Put what you can of Colin in the boy!' she cried. David also saw the opportunity and quickly blended the remnants of Colin's life with the boy's soul. Raist would be a very interesting Sluagh, but it was all that could be done. In sorrow Wendy and David travelled back to the others bearing the infant Sidhe with them.

"Time went on and the young Sidhe grew among them, Wendy's own charge, and the change in the Changelings became ever more apparent. They were becoming more and more Fae until finally they were Fae, Sidhe themselves in truth. But none of the Sidhe of Arcadia ever let them forget their human heritage, they were still human Changelings, and they were not part of any of the Houses, and now the time of Winter is almost here, and the human Sidhe wish a place on this Earth, for they have a job to do and they want a House of their own, one proper for their role, one which will accept any Fae, Sidhe, commoner, commoner-changed Sidhe or Sidhe-changed human.

"And now that young Sidhe, Ellen, prepares, again, for birth, this time with a commoner-changed Sidhe sister and a Prodigal brother. And words spoken unknowing of their import in introduction still ring in the ears of these waiting ones. Perhaps the time has finally come for a new House to be born?"

Goldeneyes looks around at the Fae listening to her story, interested in their reactions to her story, and interested in knowing if they have any questions for her.

From the back of the room, in the silence following the finish of the story, all hear Elisabeth's reaction. "Oh... my... word..."

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