Sailormoon Expanded: Tales of Other Worlds

Memories

by Becky Malsin

I look down at the child on my lap and stroked her hair. "Auntie Rhi," she asked, "Why is it that the stories you read me always have the same thing in them? I mean, they aren't the same story, again and again, but the all have something in them that's the same. People sometimes do lots of thing wrong in them, but then they make up for it in the end."

Hematite is right, all the stories I've been reading to her have the same theme, the same element. I've been reading her sagas of redemption, maybe because I need to hear them. Maybe because Hematite somehow symbolizes my own redemption. Mine and my daughter's . . .

Beryl. I wish I knew where to start about her. I could start with my pregnancy, but the reason for the pregnancy goes back a long time. I think I will start with that. Of my struggle to grow older. To finally age, like a normal person, or at least qualify as an adult . . .

My hair was brown then, my eyes an expressive green. Unlike Ferrite, I don't go by my former name. I've stopped thinking of most of us by our old names. But, back in my own Silver Millenium, I was called Calliope Vivianne Bwenteir and my Setsuna was known as Persephone Nimue . . .

"Sis? You done yet?" I poked Persephone. She was frowning over the blood samples she took from us. The Presence, the clan's goddess Sidhe, the one I had jokingly named G.O.D., had told us or rather me, since I was the one who had meditated, "Look into your blood, my children, and you, little rainbow, can find the reason."

"You know how we get our powers, right?"

I nodded. "Planets and moons generate magical energy called mana, just as they generate electro-magnetic fields and gravity. We can access the mana and it powers us. I like to call it the planet's life force." Perse looked aprihensive, but nodded.

"Right. Well, something, connected with the mana, has happened to our blood. The cells seem to be both locked up in stasis and multiplying at an imposibly fast rate."

I tried to remember my little knowlege of science. "So that means we're aging, but it will take along time. We might live a few centuries."

"Calliope, we are going to live forever. We've stopped aging all together!" Forever? I'd be a kid forever? I hadn't been so scared in years, which was odd, because I had vowed never to grow up as a child. I think, even then, "Be careful what you wish for" was a saying.

"But we did age after we recieved our post," I protested. "Why else do you seem twenty-one and me, sixteen or seventeen?" Persephone must have been kidding, this couldn't be true.

"It took a few years to gain full effect, and during those years our aging started to slow to it's present standstill. I'm guessing on five years untill full effect but we only aged about three or four."

So that was it. I had five years of growing and changing, and now I'd be a teenager forever. I think I aged in that realization, the years that I couldn't age now, because of an oddity of mana. I think that was when my secret longing started. To grow into an adult. I think I was even a little jealous of my sister.

"So what are we gonna do about it?" I asked, actually a little sarcastically.

"You, Calliope, you. The Presence said that you would find out why.

You're the rainbow, not me." I looked at my seifuku and then my sister's.

She had a point.

What could I do? The answer came to me as a whisper in my mind. "Link with your twin planets." I knew that once Pluto and Charon were once one big planet, but torn apart by some force. Could what was happening to us go back that far? I held on to that thought like a drunk holds on to bad gin, knowing that it was dangerous, but craving it nothing less.

I nodded slowly. "I'll do it, big sister." That night I cried myself to sleep, like the child I still was, though I had live for half a century. I was growing-up, in the most confusing way. For, now that I couldn't do it physically, I did it mentally, over the next few days untill the fateful merger.

At dawn, a few days later, Persephone and I found an icy, wild, deserted part of Pluto. I shivered once or twice, I had always been more suceptable to cold than my sister. We built a fire and I went into meditation again.

I'm not sure how long I sat there, not moving, concentrating on inward and then outward. My sister guessed hours. Finally I no longer felt the cold, nor the warmth of the fire. All I knew was the two planets, spining together in the great expansion of space as if in a great cosmic ballet or symphony.

Through my veins sang a beautiful, wild music. I saw the two planets as one, in times more ancient than believable. They glowed with the mana. But, blazing just as fiercely, a spiderweb of magical energy spanned the galaxy. Hundreds, maybe thousands of streams of the magical energy spanned around the planet. They all poured into the planet, crystalising its core. Then in a blinding flash of light it broke into Pluto and Charon, in a burst of painful joy. I touched that stream of energy coming from the split and lost myself.

I suddenly stood up, arms out stretched, and in that long primal moment shrieked a long high call. My entire being pulsed with that ancient stream of magic. Then I collapsed, more tired than I ever had been before.

When I awoke I was laying, wrapped up in a blanket, by the fire we had made. My sister smiled and spooned something warm into my mouth. "I'm glad that you've awakened. I was worried, after how you fainted." I smiled back weakly but didn't try to speak untill she had emptied the whole bowl into my mouth.

"Persephone, there are long streams of mana-like energy spread through the universe. There are so many of them that gather in the cores of our planet and it's moon. It's done something to the mana in them." Perse nodded slowly, then handed me a small mirror.

"Look" I peered at my face in the mirror with wonder. My hair and eyes were a molten silver, but brighter and more pure than any metal known. My face had almost been resculpted, it was thin and elven though still heart-shaped. My whole body looked close to emancipted, and incredably pale (although later I regained the weight so that I was as distressingly round as I am today, I still am as pale). But the most startling thing of all was that I had no color at all, anywhere. I looked down at my serafuku. I had loved colors, so I had had a rainbow blend of shades dyed onto the fabric. Now it was the only color on the ice statue I had become.

"It happened right before you blanked out. That's when your hair came undone, as well." I would braid it back later, but I let it hang for awhile. It just made me further unrecognisable, something I didn't really mind. I didn't cry, all my tears had been cried out in the days before, but I mourned for my old life.

I think Ferrite once said in his memoirs that, since no one else remembered the Generals as the good men they used to be, he was their only mourner. Since I'm the only one who remembers my daughter with love, even my Setsuna only has guilt now, you might say I'm her only mourner, the only one at her wake. It's an unsettling feeling, that my child is considered an infamous monster whose death was a triumph. Not that I hate Usagi for killing her. Beryl should of known what she was getting into after what she did but she was much more than the demon that she's portrayed.

After a few centuries, my sister and I grew restless on Pluto. We had thoroughly mastered our powers and were looking for a purpose. We talked to the Queen Serenity that ruled then and got permission to build a stronghold that was a bridge between Earth and Pluto. It took about a decade of work but we finally bended space/time enough to create a small island that we christianed "Ynys yr Afflon" which meant "Island of Apples" in the language of the time, Avalon for short. Later, after the reformation of our written language it would be spelled "Einis Aflon-eir". What I think is odd is that in the legends after the fall the Welsh people called Avalon by it's official name.

So, for a couple centuries, we lived in seeming peace, dividing our time between the twin planets and the earth. We gained a reputation for being witches and wise woman, so much that they named us the Ladies of the Lake. Mage-gifted children began to seek us out, and I would teach them my craft.

Near the end I remember an especially talented boy named Hawk. He had a bit of a crush on me, and I rather liked him too. But, for fear of losing him when he'd die before me, as he eventually did, I never made ovetures and ignored his. For a long time that was as close as I got to a love affair.

A decade or two after Hawk's death, though, I began to have regrets. Of all the bones in my body, a good percentage were maternal. Hawk would have made a good husband and father. In my own damnable pride, I thought I would be a good mother and wife. After nearly two millenia, I wanted a family.

"An arranged marriage? Are you crazy?"

"Why not? You said you wanted a family. You won't chose any men of the clan, so obviously our next choice should be an Earther like Papa."

I stared down at the list Persephone had provided. "Sis, all these men are at least minor lords! You even have a king or two! Besides, even if Mama was in the line of sucession, Papa was a commoner."

My sister was calm through my hysteria. "Calliope, you are the titular leader of Clan Bwenteir, the highest ranking of all the clans of the Twin Planets. If you won't marry one of your own people or a mage, then you must marry someone of the same station in life. It's unfair, but it's politics. You know that as well as I. Now, King Griswold of Lyonesse is having a coming-out party for his daughter, Igrana, in a week. We'll present you to the earthly nobles then." And, despite my protests, nothing would sway her.

A week later, I found myself staring at the mirror. Persephone had remade an old dress of mine into what I supposed was a ball gown. It was black, like so many of my dresses had been lately, with silver embroidery around the neck and waist. Sleevless and free-flowing, she promised it would be quite different than what the other girls would be wearing. Perse had managed to pin my hair to my head, but had failed to make me remove my glasses. They served to remind me that it was really just plain Callie Bwentweir under all that fripperie. I wouldn't let myself be deluded that I could look beautiful. I'm happy to say I still haven't.

When I arrived at Griswold's keep, I was shuffled into another room with two other girls. The first seemed to be earther nobility by the style of her green gown. She had a pouting mouth, warm brown eyes, and a waterfall of chestnut hair that streamed down her back. The other was taller, almost as tall as I, in a white gown, her eyes as blue as the daytime sky. From the dumpling-shaped style of her raven hair and the sigil on her forehead, I knew she was the current Princess Serenity.

The earth girl greeted me first. "Hi, I'm Igrana May Grimstead of Lyonesse and this is Serenity Dione of the Moon Kingdom. What's your name?"

"Calliope Vivianne Bwenteir of Pluto. Most people call me Callie."

"Most people call me Grana. Hey, isn't Bwenteir the ruling family of your planet? Are you some sort of princess too?"

"My sister is, being smart enough to refuse position of heir. I was a damn fool enough to let Grandma name me as successor."

"You're the _queen_?"

"Please, my title is Clansmother."

"Still, isn't fifteen a little young to be queen?"

Serenity butted in, "Grana, don't you know who she is? She's older than anyone else here. She's the secondary Senshi of Pluto, the Charon Senshi. The only woman older than her is Sailor Pluto herself."

Igrana was ticked. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

I shrugged. "Most people feel funny around someone who was around when their great-grandparents were babies. Besides, it's not like I keep such a high profile."

Serenity nodded. "I met you when I was a child and even with that it took me time to recognize you. Hey, remember when you got Ariel of Neptune mixed-up with her cousin Thetis?"

"It was an honest mistake," I muttered.

"In fact, wasn't it your fault that we even have these so-called

Lunar Senshi? Mother told me about it once." Oh great, that can of worms was being opened.

Igrana chimed in with a smirk, "Do tell us about that, Callie. It's so interesting to hear history from someone who's lived it."

I took a deep breath."You two know that each planet's mana is channeled through an artifact that can support multiple senshi, right?" Serenity nodded and a second later Igrana copied her. "Okay, Pluto, like Earth, also has an artifact, albeit 'lesser,' on its 'moon.' So, when Serenity I bound each artifact to the royal bloodlines, Pluto ended up with two senshi, Perse and I. The other planets became jealous and cried for senshi for their own moons. After Serenity II did the bother of linking new senshi to the bloodlines, Venus and Mercury wanted an extra senshi so they got Aphrodite and Hermes. Which all ends up with there being more senshi than originally planned. Stupid competition on behalf of planetary government, not me."

Igrana shrugs. "Whatever. So why are you attending Papa's little shindig here? Not just to see me and Serenity married off, I hope."

I blushed. "Actually, I was hoping to find a husband for myself as well. Would you two have any recomendations?"

"You can't have Uthra of Logres, 'cause I like him, or Fujio of Rising Sun, 'cause Serenity likes him. Anyone else, take your pick. It's a pity you need to wear those glasses. You could be quite pretty without them."

"Whatever."

"No, really. With the right make-up and dress, not that old-fashion thing you have on, you could bait a husband easily. She's a diamond in the rough. Don't you agree, Serenity?"

The lunar princess nodded, "For a girl of her apparent age, she's tall and relatively . . . let us say of curved figure. There are men who like girls who are both child-like and womanly."

Igrana laughed. "Like Fujio's old man bodyguard? Do you know how many times I've had to slap him for looking up my skirt?"

"No, more like a couple of princes I know. Some of them, like Lasar of Anatevka, are complete push-overs. His first wife, Sarah, just died, by the way. He's a tad old, though. Not that it would matter with you."

I sighed inwardly. Serenity was a bit better than Igrana, but both of them were so . . . so . . . superficial. Like all their life was balls, husband hunting, and such. I supposed it was only natural since we lived in a time of peace, but I hoped they'd get serious before they ever had a stint as queen. Nice girls, but real ditzes.

They did get better, however, as the years went by and I admit that my first judgements were rather harsh. In retrospect, I've come to realize that being divorced from society since I had been, oh, fifty that first time around made me unaware of the relatively newfound importance of courtly graces. I'm sure I seemed just as strange and backward to Igrana and Serenity as they seemed superficually polished to me.

I shook my head. "Thank you, Grana, Serenity, but I think I'd like to try to find my husband on my own. Good luck with Uthra and Fujio."

Serenity smiled. "You too, Callie. So, anyone up for poker?" Well, we didn't call it poker back then, we called it Queen's Bluff and used something like modern day tarot cards. However, it was basically the same game.

I was looking morosely down at the my pair of two (the suits being grails and coins) when we were finally fetched to be presented. It seemed that presentations had gone by reverse importance and I, being one of the higher ranking girls, was third to last. After a long list of titles, Serenity whispered for me to walk down the stairs and find an escort.

At the bottom of the stairs the escorts were a scraggly bunch. Besides then two men who seemed to be waiting for my companions, the rest seemed to be a rather gloomy looking group. I finally picked a brown-haired young man who introduced himself as Prince Fujio's cousin Ataru.

It wasn't so bad in the beginning, but then Ataru started ranting about his Jovian fiancée and how she wouldn't let him do anything with other girls. The girl, whose name I never learned, seemed to have all the reason it the world to want to squash his plans of harems. And that's when it happened.

He groped me.

I thought of transforming, but decided that would draw unnecessary attention. So I instead screamed, kicked him in the bollocks, and stomped out of the ballroom, crying. I finally ground to a halt on a balcony overlooking the castle moat. The stars were beautiful, as usual, but I paid no notice.

"I hate princes and cousins of princes," I muttered, burying my head in my arms.

"Funny," said a voice beside me, "I was going to say the same thing about princesses. You wouldn't happen to be one, I hope."

I raised my head to look at the person next to me. He was a young man, perhaps five-ten years older than my apparent age, with flaming red hair. He was smiling, but it wasn't in a mocking way. "No, I'm not a princess."

"Well, I'm not a prince. King Alcinous of Akkadia at your service."

"Calliope, Clanmother of Pluto. Actually, just of the 'royal family,' but it's close enough. Isn't Akkadia that peninsula to the south-east of us?"

"Actually, that's our neighbor, Arcadia. Akkadia is a bunch of islands and a rather mountinous section of the same continent. We share religious beliefs and our dialects are quite similar. I saw you run out after kicking that man. Is he the reason you hate princes?"

I nodded. "Why do you hate princesses?"

"They're always chittering around like a bunch of scared mice. They mean well, but I doubt any of them has a brain in her head. At least the last few I've met, anyway. Also, I used to get tormented by a couple of them, cousins of mine, when I was young. I was practically scarred for life." He looked closely at me. "You've been crying." I nodded. "Do you mind if I touch you?" I shook my head. He stretched his hand and wiped the remaining tears off my face.

"Why did you come to the party?" I asked.

"Some of my advisors think I need a wife."

I laughed out loud. "My sister thought I might find a husband here."

"Really? Maybe we could help each other out. Calliope of Pluto, will you marry me?"

I mock-punched him. "I hardly know you, silly!"

"You could get to know me," he insisted.

"Maybe," I relented, "but why would you want to marry me?"

"You aren't silly, like most of the girls here. And you haven't thrown mud at me."

"That's all? You really need get to know me better. You're staying here for rest of the week too, right? Why don't we see how that turns out?"

"All right." He was silent for a minute or two, then suddenly spoke. "Stop what you're doing. I just realized something."

I had been polishing my glasses with part of my dress. I stared at a blurry Alcinous. "What did you realize?"

"You're beautiful."

I couldn't believe my ears. "What?"

"I said that you're beautiful."

"I am not!"

"Why don't you think that you're beautiful?"

I started to tick reasons off on my finger. "I have a rounder body than most girls, I'm too pale, I'm nearsighted, my eyes and hair are freakish, and, anyway, no one outside my immediate family has ever said that to me."

"I can't see why not."

"It's easy to see, I'm plain. I always have been and always will be. No amount of being dressed-up will ever change that. Why are you coming closer? HEY!" He had snuck up on me and pulled my hair out of its carefully mounded layers.

"There, you're perfect. No wonder you hide your hair and eyes from plain sight. You'd probably get more offers than you want."

"You're lying, you're lying, YOU'RE LYING!" I cried. "Alcinous of Akkadia, I'm not speaking to you!" After a second I added, "At least not for a little while."

He laughed while I put my glasses back on and my hair back up.

Quite naturally, I stormed back up to my room.

He was following me again the next day. Serenity, Grana, and I had gathered in the gardens playing Fool in the Middle. I had played that gamed many times over my long span, but at least this time was novel since we played with a ball made from pure gold.

For such a pampered little princess, Igrana had a mean throwing arm. Hardly five minutes after I had finally gotten out of being the fool, she threw it into a pond near the wall. Naturally, I chased after it. And then I saw him. Stupid, idiotic Alcinous.

"Need any help, milady?" Trying to be gallant. How just like a man.

"Of course not. I can get it out of there myself." Well, it wasn't that deep. And I was a good swimmer, if it wasn't for the damn dress I was wearing.

He smirked, "And ruin your pretty frock?"

I looked down at the plain brown shift I wore. Either he understood sarcasm or the boy was stupider than I thought. "If you think you'd do so much better, then try it. Or would you rather ruin _your_ 'pretty frock'?"

He blushed, something I thought him too moronic to be able to do. Pretty frock was right. The fashions for men in that time period may have included pants, but even the most simple of royal garb outclassed what I wore. That included his green tunic and breeches.

"You look like an idiot!" I snarled at him, as I dove into the pond. The water was a bit murky, but nothing I couldn't handle. I had spotted the ball at the bottom and was just closing my hand around it when I felt another hand clasp mine.

I quickly surfaced, tugging the jerk behind me. At this rate I could get to really hate men. His head broke the water a few seconds later. "Didn't I tell you I could handle this for myself? What do you think you are, some kind of frog?"

"I was only trying to help!" he protested. I would hear none of that.

"Help? You're a nuisance, plain and simple!" With one last tug I yanked Grana's ball from his hand and kicked my way toward the shore.

The stupid dress was plastered to my body by the water and I was wondering how to get dry when I heard his wet footprints squelch on the grass. I turned around, annoyed, "What do you want?"

"I'm sorry, Callie." His face seemed sincere, it really did. Then, however, I looked at his entire body. Something with his pants wasn't quite right. It dawned on me.

That . . . that . . . pervert! "Get the hell away from me, Alcinous of Akkadia!" He was just as bad as Ataru!

I stomped back to Serenity and Igrana.

That evening I refused to come to dinner. Serenity and Igrana begged me to come with them but I was adamant. I knew if I took one step outside my suite of rooms that pervert would come looking for me. I was beginning to regret ever coming to Lyonesse.

After ten minutes of arguing my comrades finally got tired of trying to change my mind and went to the night's banquet and subsequent ball. To pass the time I got out my cards and started to form a Scrying. I had learned from Old Cerridwen, my grandmother, how to form intricate patterns which would make use of the Bwenteir Sight. My own degree and reliabilty of the mind magic that ran in our family was relatively low, but I found the cards an accurate, if somewhat vague, way to make use of it.

I had made use of the third card or Priestess to symbolise myself and was just uncovering the card that related to my immediate concerns (which was number six, the Lovers, much to my dismay) when I heard a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" I asked, peevishly.

The answer came softly, "Alcinous."

"Go away. I'm not speaking to you."

"Why not?"

"You lied to me. That and you're a pervert."

"Err, are you refering to this morning, Calliope?" the idiot asked sheepishly.

"Yes," I growled.

"Oh . . ."

I snorted, "All you have to say for yourself is 'oh?'"

"It's a biological reaction. I can't control it. I'm sorry if I offended you, Calliope."

He sounded sincere that time as well. I was a rock, however. "Okay, but even if you couldn't help _that_ you still lied to me last night."

He was incredulous. "All I said was that you're beautiful!"

"I'm not, so you lied to me. I say you owe me an appology."

He sighed theatrically, "All right, Calliope. I'm sorry I tried to compliment you, but accidently hurt your feelings."

"And you won't do it again," I supplied "And I'll try not to hurt your feelings again."

I smiled. Maybe Alcinous wasn't so bad after all. "You can come in,

Al, and please call me Callie."

He quietly opened the door, grinning in the stupid way men grin when they're happy. "Thank you . . . Callie. So, we're friends again?"

"Friends again." I looked at the Scrying on my bed. It could be remade. "Tell me, do you play Queen's Bluff?"

"So, how far have you gotten?" Grana asked me the day before I was supposed to leave. The three of us (Igrana, Serenity, and I) were sitting on my bed in the room we were sharing. I decided to play dumb.

"I don't understand."

"You know, what post have you gotten to with Alcinous? I bet you've gotten to second, haven't you? Or, maybe, you've run the whole footrace!

He's hardly left your side since that night you spent together."

I frowned. "We were playing Queen's Bluff, that's all."

Serenity giggled. "Hasn't he even kissed you?"

I was silent.

"He hasn't, Callie?"

I shrugged. "We haven't known each other long."

"It's been long enough. You've been kissed, haven't you?"

"Twice. Both when I was very young. A classmate named Clay, when I was barely fourteen and a second cousin named Olwen when I was twenty. Why?"

The two looked at each other. "You aren't enamoured of women, are you?"

"Not particularly. I like boys, if that's what you mean. Is there something wrong with not kissing Al yet?"

Serenity finally answered. "No. You're just slow for your age."

Igrana nodded quickly. "The week isn't over yet. We have one more ball tonight. What you need to do is get him onto the balcony or in one of those nice trysting grottos and lay your lips on his."

I blinked. "Kiss him just like that?"

Igrana grinned. "Why not? Girls take the initiative all the time.

You and Serenity might come from whaddayacall'ems-"

"-Matriarchies-"

"-But even in places like here where men have top value," Grana continued, "girls have started lots of the courtings. It's the twentieth revolutionary century, Callie. Who knows, one of your Queen's Bluff sessions may turn out to be strip." Serenity coughed politely. "Not that I'm saying you two have to do that . . ."

I snorted. "And how far have you two gotten, hmmmm?"

Serenity was the first to volunteer information, but it even took her a good part of a minute. "Fujio and I have gotten to . . . second post."

"Tongue in mouth and tentative over-the-dress caresses?" I asked.

"So you _do_ know the posts . . ."

"Err, sorta. What about you, Grana?"

"Third," came the soft reply.

Serenity and I responded as one. "HE TOUCHED YOU THERE?"

Igrana blushed and nodded. Serenity wisely changed the subject to the controversy about lunar senshi. It was well-known that when Serenity I had created her senshi, she herself had represented the moon. However, she had retired after her coronation and none of her descendants had ever taken up the fuku. My Princess Serenity, my companion at the Lyonnesse functions, expressed no small longings to revive the calling but feared that she would have scant time before she took the throne. Her mother, Serenity XXXIV, who was nicknamed Serenity the Pale, had never been very strong and my friend was terrified at the very real prospect of her mother's reign ending within the next decade, an anomaly among the long-lived lunar monarchs.

Studying my new friends discussing the topic animately, I wondered if I was missing out on life. The last thousand years of my span had been a never-ending cycle of spinning, weaving, sewing, cooking, writing, and teaching. This had been my first big trip outside our earthside home in decades. I had possessed no lover in all that time. I hadn't even had any close friends, for they would eventually die and I dreaded that prospect.

In truth, I had never been in love. No man had ever made my heart beat and my thoughts melt. I had been attracted to a former student, true, but I knew the difference between his hero worship coupled with my bashful recognition and real love. Perse had taught me, as I wiped the tears she had cried century after century when her lovers had died or left her.

There was a mirror in our chamber. I gazed at myself, a somber, owlish child-woman, sitting lotus style. A girl with enough curves to appear womanlike, but those curves were nestled with small abounts of lingering baby-fat. A child who might pass for eighteen if dressed appropriatly, but otherwised condemned to live as fifteen or sixteen. Not only did I look like a child, but I realized that in all the ways it counted I was one. I may have know all the mechanistics of human sexuality, but when faced with anything of it close to me I was a blushing innocent. Just as emotionally young as Serenity and Igrana, if not younger.

And, strangely, I thought of Alcinous. Had I earlier said my heart had never beat for a man? It had pounded like a drum when he had loosened my hair that night on the balcony. If my brain had never quite melted like butter on a hot bun, my resolve to hate him had when he visited me to appologized. And, really, he was rather cute when embarrassed, my Al was. My Al? Had I just thought of him like that?

I gulped. Oh my . . .

[courtship and life with Al]

[Birth o' Beryl]

[Beryl and her siblings as kids]

[third soliloquy]

[Gwyndion/Brendan's birth]

[the fall]

[ending]

[Author's note: the soliloquys take place in SME but all other scenes take place in Rhiannon's world.]