Silver Apples free porn video

Silver Apples By Armond *** "I fell" "Evidently. Off a train?" "I fell in love." - City of Angels *** "Hi ya, frozen stranger. Some storm outside, huh? You look like you could use some warming up. I'm Suzannah, the owner of this dump. Actually, it's officially Princess Suzannah Yomaris Tinne, which is a real mouthful. I'm still struggling with the 'Princess' thing, so for now, please just call me Suz, okay?" The snowman in the wheel chair had a confused look on his cold nipped face. "Arrrrrree... y--y--ou... opennn," the army fatigue clad man asked through chattering teeth. "Yeah, but only for a while; I'm waiting for some friends to show up so we can get some dinner, if the weather will gimme a break. You're welcome to stay till then. Now I bet you're wondering what a Princess is doing, serving coffee in a place called Jumping Jack's Java Joint. Cute name, huh? Well, I bought the place from Jack and never changed the name. Anyway, why don't you relax and have a big mug of my special hot chocolate... I know what! I'll tell you a, well... a fairy tale, to pass the time. You'll love it I think, 'cause it's all about the power of love. It's got all kinds of roller coaster twists and turns and subplots." "I don't like stuff like that. Ever since this happened..." the man made a vague gesture to his legs, "all those happy ending stories seem like lies. Look, I know it's real popular to 'support the troops,' and thanks for letting me come in out of the snow and all, but you don't have to patronize me. Just let me warm up in here for a while in peace. I'll pay for the hot chocolate, too, in case you're worried." "Not like fairy tales? You might as well say you don't like Christmas! Say, I know what! Are you a betting man, uh..." "Benny. Name's Benny." "Tell you what, Benny. I'll tell the story, and if you don't like it, the hot chocolate is on me." "You're gonna lose for sure, 'princess,' or whatever you want to call yourself, but go ahead. It's not like I have somewhere else to go. Knock yourself out." "But Benny, have a better attitude than that ...I'm even in the story, though I'm not one of the main characters ? they're Charlie and Kerri. You'll like them. Now, as luck would have it, their tale began at this very spot, just three weeks ago. It was snowing that day too, but not nearly so much as today... *** The white mug seemed briefly to glow red in her hand. "One green tea chai, cousin." Suz set the now steaming mug in front of a woman clad in an ocean-blue crew neck sweater and slid into the opposite booth seat. "My, my! Personal service from the owner herself." Kerri took a sip. "Mmm this is great, Suz, thanks! So how are you doing, cuz? Long day?" Suz sank quickly into the booth cushions and let a long exhausted sigh out of the side of her mouth. Several lockets of her fire scarlet hair briefly fluttered off of her forehead. "Today's been a gaggle of Mondays, and its only noon." "Well, what do you expect, when you got 'the hottest coffee in Denver.' ...Ah wait, switch that. Your rep is that you're the hottest barista in Denver." "Damn straight!" Suz flashed a smile. "To make my day even more peachy, mother called again to 'light a fire under me' about my priorities." "Someday you WILL have to take over for her, Suz..." "Someday maybe, but not today," a wistful look flickered crossed Suz's face. "Hey! Enough about my troubles. You gotta try our new holiday low fat muffins." She hurried to the pastry counter and returned carrying a plate with a large muffin. "Bite in ? they're cranberry-apple! Doesn't that sound good? I call'um Crapplemuffs." Suz announced proudly. "Did you just say 'Crapplemuffs'?" Kerri tried to sound shocked. "Isn't there some sort of law against putting words together like that, Suz? Crapplemuffs?" "Just take a bite, okay?" Kerri bit into the muffin. "Mmm! These Mapplecruffs are good! Bravo!" "That's Crapplemuffs!" Suz growled. "Honestly, you're spending way too much time with that wise-ass boyfriend of yours. You're starting to sound just like him. Say! Where is lover boy?" "He'll be here any minute. He wanted to stop off here to see me before his meeting today with a new client." "He's gotta works on Saturday? That sucks! What's up with that?" "I don't know, really. Some mystery woman who's offered to pay an obscene retainer. He was up most of last night getting his portfolio ready." "Sounds like his usual won't do then and he'll need something extra today?" "He's going to need a lot of energy tonight, because this will be our first night together since my change. And we are going to be up all night long, assuming he answers one tiny question correctly." Kerri turned her head away for a moment, and as she did Suz noticed a worried look on her cousin's face. Kerri drew her brown new behind her back and tied it in a knot, then turned back to face Suz. "Better make him his precious 'Ristretto,'" Kerri rolled her eyes. "How pretentious is it to insist on a drink that most people have never heard of ...gods, he's such a coffee geek!" "Watch that mouth! We like coffee geeks 'round here!" Suz grinned. "So great sex aside, how are things between you two? All is well?" "Well, I don't know; things could be fantastic, or they could be over. We'll see in a minute," Kerri responded anxiously. "How very 'water' of you to be the drama queen ? all emotion and no common. Are you serious?" Kerri nodded solemnly, "Take a look at this sketch he did." She removed a folded piece of paper, a drawing, from her purse and slid it across the booth tabletop. Suz unfolded and studied it for a moment. "Man, he's good! I love the energy of his strokes..." "Energy... you would love that," Kerri said. "...and I love how he highlights your high cheek bones," Suz continued, "...the curve of your smile." She examined it again. "And look at your eyes... for a sketch he really captured their liquid beauty..." Kerri shyly looked away, "He says he's going to do an oil of this..." "I wish he would quit screwing around with commercial graphic crap and devote all his time to art. If you ignore the muse too long, she eventually flames your ass." Suz pushed the drawing back to Kerri. "Do you think he'd paint me?" "Gods are you vain! I'm sure he would be happy to for coffee credits ...but don't you get it? This is how he sees me! And its so ...incomplete." "Well of course its incomplete, he has no idea ...wait! You don't mean you want him to know everything about you, do you?" "What I want..." Kerri's voice grew soft, her aqua blue eyes gazing at some unseen horizon, "...is a love that I can trust. Not a half love that's always hiding half of me. This time, I've got to know." Kerri continued, letting out a long bitter sigh. "It's impossible to have something real when you're a shifter. I envy you, cousin, at least you can have a normal life." "My life normal? Ha! Need I remind you that 'mother' is head of our little clan? And she's on my ass every day about how I need to assume my 'ruling' responsibilities. And look around you; the place is filled with of full breeds and half-breeds, and your basic lovable clueless Ordinaries like your Charlie. It's a cross between Rick's Caf? and the alien bar from Star Wars." "Okay, okay, but you know what I mean, normal for one of us. It IS different for me. I want to be with my love all the time; my feelings don't change when my body changes. But I can't! Every three weeks I have to hide from him, lie to him, tell him that I'm away on business or some other excuse." "You have feelings for him when you're female and when you are male?" Suz asked "It's always been a point of curiosity in 'the tribe' about whether a shape shifter's orientation changed with a body change. I always just assumed it did." "Mmm-hmm, most think so. But that's not how it is, at least not for me. I'm like ...the reverse of a schizophrenic. Instead of two personalities in one body, I'm one personality in two. And the problem I've got is that I want Charlie in both." "In one body form you're straight and in the other you're gay? That IS a problem! I'm not sure Charlie's the kind of guy that could go both ways. This must be serious if you are willing to risk telling him everything!" "It could be But Charlie is different, I think ...I've never seen a person, either Ordinary or Elf, that had so much potential! As you are so fond of saying, we Waters have a habit of deep thinking..." "Hey, I didn't mean it as a compliment! Paralysis by analysis is not a good way tackle problems." "Maybe not... but anyway, it probably won't surprise you, that I've given a lot of thought to Charlie's personality and whether we are compatible. And what I've found ... what I've found, is that he can be the most amazing balance of elements: ...sometimes he's water, like me, empathetic and emotional; or fire, like you, creative, intense; he's air, carefree and cerebral and yet he can be earth, too, grounded and practical." "But?" Kerri let out a long exasperated sigh. "But, he's so inconsistent and so superficial sometimes! He seems at times to be running from his own depth, if that makes any sense." "It does." Suz nodded her head in agreement, smiling as she thought of him. "I gotta admit, he's can be a most unordinary Ordinary." "He's always in the middle of some ridiculous practical joke, but just when you think he's incapable of being serious, he up and quotes some passage from Dante's Inferno and lapses into a melancholy funk. And there is something that I've found to be especially fascinating about him. He has this inexplicable fear of flames. Have you noticed? He practically runs at the sight of it. Kinda like the monster in the Frankenstein movies, ya know? 'argghh - fire bad- arrghh' Probably explains why he's never shacked up with me. Man, if that were ever to happen, though..." Suz stopped speaking when she realized that Kerri was staring at her, and not in a fond way. "B-but of course it never could, cousin, what with our relationship and your relationship and his fear of fire..." she said hurriedly. "...Anyway, he IS amazingly paradoxical. One moment he's creating the most exquisite artwork, like the drawing you showed me, and the next he's howling at the moon after downing a dozen shots of espresso." *AHEM* "Exactly! As a said, he has this incredible inner hidden well of depth, that is completely blocked at times by by something. And I hope..." Her face strained with unease, as if she was trying to convince herself as well as Suz, "...I pray ...that I can do something to unblock it, to make Charlie that rare person, that could love just me, and not whatever body I'm wearing." "But sweetie, even if you could, think about what you're asking of him: first, to accept the existence of our race, and if that doesn't send him running to the nearest exit sign, you want him to accept that his lover regularly turns into a guy and wants to love him when she's a he! Is it realistic ...is it fair, to expect him to be a ...a ...what, a bisexual monogamist? And if he can't?" "If he can't then ...I don't know ...its over, I think ...I haven't decided yet," Kerri said, her emotions welling up. "I'll tell you this, Suz, I barely escaped one nightmare relationship, I won't waste a single moment in another one." "You're making a huge mistake, Kerri, he's NOT like Rachael! They're in no way comparable!" Kerri was visibly pained as she wrestled with the dilemma. "No, I know it's not fair to him! But the only one I've met that loved me as male and female was Rachael and you know how that disaster ended... and ...and all I'm looking for... is someone to love me for me ...is that so bad?" "Rachael didn't love you!" Suz's light brown eyes seemed to spark red. "She was in love with the idea that you could change yourself into anyone she wished. She was sick and twisted and tried to psychologically enslave you, basically. I was never so glad to see the back of someone." "That's why I MUST know about Charlie..." Suz thought a moment. "Shame you can't take the parts of Charlie that you love and mix them with the parts of Rachael that loved you in both your forms." "...all I know is that ...uh-oh! Sshhh! Here he comes!" *** "Let me introduce meself," an airy voice announced; the sprightly man's eyes twinkled as he extended his hand in greeting. "Me name is Aethelfrith Uath. Ah'm an historian an researcher an Ah'm trying te track doon the theft of one of our antiquities." "Glad to meet you, Mister...um Aethafr-a ...um" "Ah've heard me nyame pronounce very creatively ower the years...it's best if yee just caal'd me 'Mr. U'." "Very well, then! Welcome to the Rocky Mountain Keep, Mr. U!" answered an elfin-like woman, as she rose from her seat behind a large oaken desk to take his hand. She was in her late fifties perhaps, with graying red hair, round cherry cheeks and bright sparkling eyes. "You're from the Northumbrian Keep?" "Aye! Hoo did yee knaa? Was it me accent or me nyame?" Mr. U asked, as he removed his winter jacket and hung it from the back of the chair. "Accent? What accent?" Jessica asked in mock innocence. She smiled and continued, "actually, I'm familiar with your writings." "Well, Ah hope you aren't one of me critics that thinks Ah'm a kook!" "On the contrary, I think your premise is undeniable; we elves ARE slowly disappearing from the world. With each age we become fewer. This I accept. It's your conclusions I disagree with, that the salvation of our race is somehow tied to the return of the Akasha. That just doesn't seem to be a realistic solution for us. It's been almost six hundred years since the last one; no more are coming. After what happened to her, why would the Goddess ever send another? No, I appreciate your point of view, but we need solutions for the here and now, Mr. U. We Elves must learn to live in the modern present if we are to have any hope of existing in the future. The whole concept of the Akasha is from our rosy romantic past. Our 'reality' is that we live in a world driven by technology, information and power. I'm Jessica Tinne, by the way, I'm the Queen of this Keep." "Ah, Queen Tinne! The git person Ah was looking ta see! But before wi get te the reason Ah'm here, Ah need to say more aboot the Akasha. You're frem the 'Realist' school Ah see, probably you've been reading articles by Terrance Beith of the Moscow Keep?" "Beith, yes but also Liz Dair." "Ah! Ms. Dair, o the Provence Keep, the chief of me many critics. Am Ah only the only one tha sees the irony of such a hard core Realist living in the dreamy provincial countryside? But both Beith and Dair have it completely wrong! We do na need to get better at accepting and adapting ta modern life! Look around yee and yee will see a world spinning out o balance, a world filled wi pollution, massive extinction o species, global climate change. An all this has happened since the last Akasha wez here ? because there has been no Akasha. Where is the balance? The humans will soon have the ability te merge with machines, te become part machine. Do we Elves simply nod our heads an accept such change simply because the technology is possible? Do we become part machine too? Are Ordinaries no longer te be human, then? Are we te no longer be Elves? In the past, the Akasha always offered choices te Elves and Ordinaries alike, choices tha balanced the changes. Sheh centered, sheh healed, sheh offered different paths. Elves and Ordinaries alike need her now!" "Then where is she, Mr. U, where is your beloved Akasha?" Jessica's voice was raised as she strove to contain her anger. "The Ordinaries murdered the last one long ago, and hunted the rest of us for centuries! Listen! I lead the Elves of this Keep and the problems they face cannot be answered by telling them to wait for a savior to come. I dearly hope that your visit here does not involve a request by you for support from this Keep for your theories. If it does, I shall have security immediately drive you back to DIA so that you can catch the next flight out." "As much as Ah'd love te discuss this subject further with yee, as Ah said, it's not why Ah'm here. We've had a theft frem our archives an Ah'm trying te catch up te the thief. She's been spotted here. "Really?" the anger in Jessica's voice was quickly replaced by concern. "Who is she? What did she take?" "Her name is Rachael Fern, an she's pinched the Pumed Egwyddor Llyfr chan Hud. Ah've been sent te fetch it, an her, back te our Keep." "The Pumed Eg...um...er..." "It's an ancient book o' magic. Its use ...even its reading, wez forbidden bi the Combined Keeps centuries ago." "Stole an ancient ...magic ...book?" Jessica struggled, trying to sort through the implications. "Rachael IS from our Keep, by the way. She has quite a dicey history here. But why on earth did she steal a forbidden book?" "That's the question we have te know" he replied, his eyes meeting hers. "The lass is up te mischief that's fre sure." "Knowing her, no doubt! I'll alert our security and see if we can't detain her ...and we'll need to warn Kerri Saille. Rachael and Kerri were lovers and when Kerri broke it off about a year ago, Rachael went postal. We actually had to lock her down for several months. When we released her, she just vanished." "Well, now, that's when she must have showed up at our Keep, by the curse o the gods." "It's a good bet she'll try to find Kerri. I'll call my daughter, and have her spread the word among our people. They all hang out at her place. Perhaps the gods will grant us luck." *** Benny cleared his throat. "Do you have a question, Benny? I was just thinking you had a pretty confused look on your face." "Elves and fairies? In modern day Denver? What kind of bullshit is this? You don't really expect me to believe any of this do you?" "Oh yes, I absolutely do. Here. Have another hot chocolate and let me try to explain some of this to you. I'll give you the short version: Kerri and I are members of an ancient and magical race that has lived along side mankind, well, forever. We are officially called Elves, or informally, fairies, a name that we despise. But just so you know, this is a REAL fairytale. We elves, each of us, are gifted with an elemental power of either fire, water, air and earth. Mine is fire. Kerri's elemental power is water. "In the story, didn't you just call Kerri a shiter?" Benny snickered. "No, Benny, I called her a 'shifter.' Kerri is a Water, but not your common rain or water worker. She's a Shape Shifter, because water is the element that can change, ya know, from solid to liquid to gas. Shifters are the rarest of our race, their bodies regularly change gender, male to female and back, every so many days. Tracks the moon or something. They can also change their shapes to be anyone they can imagine, but can only hold that form for a few hours - then they revert back to their own form." "Okay, so how do the shiters' clothes change when they change?" Berny leaned back in his wheel chair with a cocky smile on his face. His cheeks were rosy warm, and all signs of coldness had left him. "Is it sorta like the Hulk, buttons popping off an stuff? I mean, if you're gonna make this shit up, it a least has to be consistent shit." "Good question, Benny! Actually, the clothes that shifters wear are just an illusion. They buy these black sort of skin tight outfits from a clothing company run by some Airs. The Airs embed air illusion magic into the fabric, allowing the shifter to change with a thought the illusion of the clothes to appropriately fit their body. It's uber cool stuff. More elves would wear them if the Airs didn't charge an absolute fortune. No warranty, either. Look, this will become clearer as we get more into the story. Why don't we get back to it, cause Charlie is about enter the story and what happens next is really funky..." *** Kerri waved at the man that had just entered the coffee shop, who waved back and started towards the two women. Suz watched Kerri try and fail to suppress an affectionate smile at the sight of the man: Well over six feet high and athletically tapered, he wore a multi- colored plaid board shirt and faded jeans. Beads of water from melted snowfall glistening in midnight black wavy lockets of hair, and his deep blue eyes sparkled as he approached his lover. Customers at other tables yelled "Charlie!" as he walked through the room. This was a Java Junction tradition, as Charlie was unofficially hailed as the biggest caffeine consumer along the Front Range. He grinned, nodded in return, then walked directly to Kerri to plant a long kiss on her. Kerri blushed and pulled away, though not too quickly. "Man I've missed you! I sure wish you didn't have to be away on business so much!" he whispered, and leaned towards her to kiss her again. Dog howls greeted their continued public display of affection, followed by Suz yelling, "Stop that, you'll scare away my customers!" "Thank you..." Charlie turned up the collar of his shirt, "Thank you very much..." and scooted into the booth next to her. "So, Elvis, where've you been all morning?" Kerri asked. "Working. Last minute prep stuff. I was going to call, but my cell phone's dead." "You know, to charge it, you actually have to plug it in once in a while." "Really? Is that what that cord thing is for? Do you have a piece of paper? I should jot that down." "Funny. Hey, Suz and I were just having a debate on whether you would need a normal cup of coffee or a fancy one" Kerri winked at Suz. "'Normal'? 'Fancy'? I have no frame of reference for such obtuse coffee descriptions." "Oh please, dear. I was just kidding. But why in the name of the gods do you put so much importance on it? All we're talking about here are smashed brown beans mucking up perfectly good water. It's just coffee." "Just coffee? JUST COFFEE? Blasphemy! BLASPHEMY I say!" Charlie now modulated his voice to sound like a southern preacher, "...and you shall be con-demned, con-dee- umned to the 10th circle of hell where all must drink instant coffee for e-tern-it-y!" "Uh Suz? Did Dante's Hell have a 10th circle for..." Kerri whispered to Suz. Suz shook her head 'no' but whispered back "sshh! He's on a roll!" Charlie sprang to his feet and began pacing in front of the booth, hands behind his back. "Why, the forces of Gawd hisself must align to create the perfect cup. Did Juan Valdez plant in the right place? For the best beans must grow high - in - the - sky!" "Say it, brother!" was shouted from a nearby table. "Did Juan choose the right earth, sacred earth? For only that magical combination of nutrients, drainage and shade trees gives birth to the holiest of holies - coffee cherries." "Hallelujah!" came another call. "And water, the life givin' mountain monsoons, ? must ? come!" "And what of fire, for roasting, Brother," Suz was in to it now, eyes glowing. "Patience with the fire, sister Suz! I'm getting to that. Yes, the beans must be roasted to perfection; for too hot or long surely brings coffee damnation!" "So ...for that cup of joe that will make you fall to your knees and shout 'PRAISE THE LORD,' there must be the perfect blending, a magical blending, of the four elements; air, earth, water and fire." Suz and Kerri exchanged raised eyebrow glances. "It would seem," Kerri asked, trying to bring Charlie back to the planet, "rather by chance that the elements would come together in just the way needed for 'good coffee'. Is it all just luck then, dear?" "Luck, yes my child. Fortune, chance, destiny even. But there's more to it than that. Much more. There is a ...mystical dynamic involved. The coffee grower, the roaster, and..." Charlie smiled at Suz, "the sainted barista." "These are the alchemists that watch over the four elements, from the growing, to the roasting to the making. These are the wonder workers that know when more or less of this and that is needed, to produce ...the miracle." "Amen! And pass the refills, Suz!" came a chorus from nearby tables. Suz put her arm around Charlie "I just love this one, he's sooo good for business." "Back off coffee wench, he's mine! " Kerri answered with a playful grin. "It sounds like Buddha didn't need to sit under that bodhi tree at all, all he needed was a good cup of coffee." "I'd better get his Ristretto going. The pressure's on now, since his eternal salvation rides on every cup." Suz said, starting back to the coffee counter. After Suz left, Kerri leveled a cryptic look at him. "Do you really believe all of this talk of magic and balance and the four elements?" "Sounded good, didn't it? Of course, it's true - as in all things, a balance is needed." Charlie gave Kerri an exaggerated eye-rolling look, "but honestly, love, magic?" *** "Magic, love, deepest darkest magic will bring you back to me," the woman hummed, as she carefully placed four incense sticks in a diamond shape on the floor. When Rachael learned that Kerri had fallen deeply in love with an Ordinary, she spiraled into a deep depression. Panicked and desperate, Rachael knew she must find a way to force Kerri back to her. Night after night she burned with jealousy, and found herself wishing that she could switch places with the man. But there was no Elvin magic that could do such a thing. Or ...was there? For, one night in a dream, she journeyed to a strange island filled with apple trees, and at the base of the tree in the middle of the orchard lay an ancient book of spells. In the dream, she had turned to the far back and found a chapter of odd spells. Though she could not read them, she knew, as you do in dreams, that these were transformational spells. She also instinctively knew that these spells were forbidden. When Rachael awoke she was filled with new hope and booked a flight on the next plane to Greece. There, she traveled to the Aeolian Keep, which housed the largest Elven library on the planet. Rachael jumped ferociously into researching her people's magical lore ? for she must find those spells! After several hectic months, she found her first real clue - a reference to an old Combined Keeps edict: 'Henceforth, it is expressly forbidden to engage, employ or invoke, the spells contained in the Pumed Egwyddor Llyfr chan Hud. Henceforth the Pumed Egwyddor Llyfr chan Hud shall be stored and preserved by the Stara? of the Keep of Northumbria, where none save he may view it. This counsel finds that any violation of this order shall be a capital offense. So ordered - Edict 402, Council of the Combined Keeps' 'Death? DEATH?! Elves NEVER executed their criminals! What kind of magic could be so horrible ...or powerful?' Rachael wondered, intuitively sensing she was on the path to realizing her vision. From Greece, she traveled to the Northumbrian Keep in the UK. But there she ran an into a brick wall in the form of an insufferable Elf Stara?, or historian, with a completely unpronounceable name, and an indecipherable accent, who fiercely kept the manuscript under lock and key. Even worse, though was the fact the he was an Air too, and so was immune to her illusions and magic. She might never have gotten the manuscript, but for Lady Fortune's favors once more. The Stara? had been challenged to debate his absurd theories about the return of the Akasha at the Australian Keep, and so had to travel to Perth ? Australia, not Scotland. Once he finally was gone, Rachael was able to use her Air illusions to take the ancient book. A quick peek inside confirmed that it was indeed the spell book from her dream! 'How the Goddess herself must be guiding my venture,' Rachael mused. 'I wm destined to succeed!' "Not long now, my Kerri, and we shall be together, forever. Hmm, I like the ring of that..." Rachael squinted at the ancient manuscript that lay before her. "Okay. So, step one, invoke the elements." Candles she placed at four diamond points, and at each candle a bowl. In one she poured water, another, soil. In the third she poured a clear liquid, which she then held a match over. A small blue-white flame flicked bright. The final bowl contained nothing save air. Lifting the book in her hands, again Rachael prepared to recite the incantations. So many variables to hold in her mind ? the raw transfer itself, how much concentration would that take? Then there was the problem of memory, one to preserve and one to erase. How risky was that? She shook her head and decided she was over thinking the spell. Concentrate! What was the essence of the magic? Transferring male to female, female to male, memory lost and memory to remain... "trosglwyddo gwryw i benyw, benyw i gwryw, cof colli, cof aros..." After all was spoken except the final word of activation, Rachael stood to regard her work: the soft flickering of the fire bowl was the only sound to be heard; blue glow, gentle white incense smoke, serenity. Yet Rachael sensed, could physically feel, the raw energy that had been summoned, waiting to be unleashed. She smile, and sat cross-legged in the center of the pattern, humming again: "The web now spun, My will be done!" *** "Very poetic, dear. Now shut up about coffee for a moment...we need to have a serious talk, Charlie." "Uh-oh! ...did I leave the toilet seat up again?" "No. Well yes, but that's not what we need to talk about." "Okay, shoot." Kerri took a deep breath. "When you say 'I love you' to me, what do you mean?" "Oh crap. So if I answer wrong will there be no sex tonight?" "Charlie, I'm serious." "Sorry. What do I mean when I say those words? I don't know, it's hard enough for me just to say 'em, Kerri. I'm not sure I know what you're asking now." "Its simple, dear. You must have had a reason to 'say those words.' Is it a deep deep feeling you have? Is it my smashing looks?" she batted her eyelashes. "Is it the wonderful way we are together? Or something completely different?" "Well, first, you ARE incredibly beautiful, Kerri..." Kerri's eyes suddenly stormed: "So! It's just my looks, Charlie? Your love for me based on looks alone?" "No... wait ...you didn't let me finish! God your mood can change faster than weather at sea! Honestly though, I don't see what's wrong with loving the way someone looks..." "I see! Random chance is the basis of your love for me ...simply a lottery of genetics that produced the person you're supposedly in love with. Looks are nothing! It's not the surface of the ocean that matters - the surface is the tiniest part. It all that lies beneath." "...Yes, of course there's more to love than looks," he countered, "it's a million different things...its..." "Hey ...hang on!... Are you actually saying looks don't matter to you at all? That's rather noble, isn't it? "Charlie, I would love you ...however you looked, fat, thin, old or young or male or female, even, " "Wait a minute! Wait just a minute! You're saying ...you would love me ...if I were a fat bald slobbery toothless old man? Or better, a fat bald toothless old woman the smelled of... of old socks?" "Yes!" Kerri answered fiercely, "yes I would! Can't you say the same about me? Could you love me if I was an old woman... or man?" "This is just plain silly, Kerri, asking me if I would love you if you were an old man..." "... or just a man..." Kerri interrupted. "I'll admit this sounds weird, but it's important to me...is your love that true, that sound, Charlie? ...could you?" "You'd really fit well into my family, Kerri. We've got a long history of odd ducks, on both my fathers' and mother's side." Charlie offered, desperately trying to change the subject. "Answer me, Charlie," Kerri pressed. "Love you if you were a man? That's an ...uncomfortable hypothetical. You're serious?" "Deadly! How you answer is key to our future" "What's gotten in to you? Stop talking this way, love, it isn't funny." "It's not meant to be. Answer!" "Why are you doing this? I love you, Kerri Saille, I love everything about you. Why isn't this enough?" "You're avoiding the question, Charlie!" "Fine," he almost yelled in irritation. "Fine! No. I could not love you if you were a man. Happy now? Can we please stop this nonsense?" Kerri's eyes began to tear, and she looked away. Charlie immediately sensed he'd made some horrible error, and reached his hand up to try to caress her face. She pushed it away. "I'll stop by later to pick up my things from your place." "Kerri? I don't understand..." Charlie was stunned. "You're ...you're breaking up with me over this? Let's talk about this, ...DON'T DO THIS! Tell me what you want me to say and I'll say it!" "I'd appreciate it if you'd leave now. Don't you have your presentation to make?" Dazedly, Charlie checked his watch: "I don't give a flip about that! Let's talk this through, okay? I ...I ...of course I would love you if you were a man or woman or anything, okay?" Kerri refused to look at him. "Stop making a scene, Charlie. Retain a little dignity and just leave." Slowly he stood and turned to walk away, then stopped, swaying. A feeling of utter despair and nausea washed over him as he grasped that this could be a final ending to their love. The seemingly limitless wonder and joy that he found with her, gone! From the sudden ashen pale of his face, Kerri was actually concerned that he might collapse onto the floor. "Charlie?" "Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch'entrate.." Her eyes went cold, "So! Even now you can't resist a stupid quote from ...Dante, I presume? Gods are you self-absorbed! How could I have been so wrong about you? Not that it will make any difference, but what, pray tell, is this quote supposed to mean?" "It means 'abandon all hope, ye who...'" he abruptly stopped speaking as his throat closed, choked by emotion. Finally, he managed to whisper: "It means I'm lost!'" *** Suz approached the booth with a confused look, setting the demitasse cup down upon the table. "Where's..." Kerri turned from the window where she had been staring at the winter storm blowing in off of the front range. Tears were wet on her cheeks. Suz's eyes brightened with sudden understanding: "Oh no, Kerri! So ...he couldn't accept what you are?" "We didn't get that far. I asked him why he loved me, and when he told me I was beautiful, I went into a rage." "Yeah, that always pisses me off too." "Suz, this is serious. Just so you know, I told him I'd be by later to pick up my stuff from his place." "Dammit, Kerri! Why'd you go and do a stupid thing like that? Big...fuckin..." "...mistake" Kerri finished the thought. "I know ...I KNOW! I realize that already! With all my talk about how he should love me, I forgot the other side of this ? how much I love him. Why did I DO that!? Why didn't you talk me out of this?" "Hey! I tried! But you wouldn't lis..." "I ...I've got to go after him..." Kerri interrupted, "tell him I wasn't serious, grovel, whatever. I have this horrible feeling in my gut that I've screwed things up and things will never be the same again." "Calm down! Don't be too hard on yourself - you just wanted what we all want - you wanted it all." Suz raised a scarlet eyebrow and drew closer, "Now, if you want my advice, what you should do, is be waiting in something hot when he opens his door... don't let him say one word, just reach up and..." Suz's cell ring tone of the Doors, 'Come On Baby Light My Fire,' suddenly began chiming. "Sorry." Suz looked at the caller ID. "It's Mother," she frowned. "I'll call her later... Anyway, reach up and give him your wettest French kiss - you Water types are so good at that - and then grind..." Her cell phone rang again. She angrily clicked it on. "Dammit, what? Did you remember something you left out of your hit list of my faults this morning?" Suz's look of anger quickly drained away to be replaced by shock. "When? ...How do you know?" long pause "She's right here" Suz's eyes looked at Kerri. "yes, of course I'll let her know ...I'll spread the word for the clan to be on the look out... you too. Bye." "What was that all about," Kerri asked. "Brace yourself - she's baaack." "Who?" "Rachael. Seems she's stolen some forbidden scroll or book and is in hiding somewhere nearby." Suz reached across the booth and held Kerri's hand. "When it rains, it pours. I'm so sorry. First Charlie, now this." A thought occurred simultaneously to the women. "Charlie's mystery client is..." "A woman I think," Kerri answered. "Charlie said it was someone new, not a referral from a current client. You don't think..." "Call him, just in case. Better safe than sorry." "I can't, his cell's dead. Wait, I think Charlie got the meeting address from his phone messages - I'll call and get it." Kerri punched several numbers into Suz's phone and listened. "Why doesn't he ever erase his old messages," Kerri said in frustration as she slowly worked her way through them. "Here it is...! OH SHIT! Shit shit shit! IT'S HER VOICE! It's Rachael! SUZ! We've got to go!" "We'll take my 'Stang, it'll get us there faster. I'll call mother on the way and have her send some help to met us." "Gods! What is she doing? " Kerri was wild-eyed with panic. "If she's done anything to him, she's toast - literally." Suz's eyes blazed red. *** Charlie had trouble finding his meeting place. He had expected to arrive at an office complex. Instead, he was now parked in front of an abandoned warehouse in a light industrial area off Sante Fe Drive. Charlie felt a sense of impending disaster. He knew it was completely stupid to go ahead with the meeting; he was so numbed now he could barely drive. The problem was that with his cell phone dead, he had no way to call the woman and cancel. He could find a pay phone, but the woman's number was on his cell, which was, still, dead. Hell, he couldn't even remember her name! It would just be simpler to show up, stumble in, and beg another meeting time. The warehouse was completely empty - simply concrete floor and barren metal walls - but Charlie noticed a room of some sort at this far end of the warehouse, with a light flickering from its doorway. "Hello?" his voice reverberated. "I'm in here" came a response from, he guessed, the far room. Charlie's echoing footstep seemed almost ominous as he approached the doorway. He had expected to find chairs, desk or table, telephones, computers, lamps and other office kit, and to find someone vaguely resembling an owner of a media publications group. Instead, he found a room lit by four candles, placed to form a diamond shape, or perhaps four compass points. In its center, a white-robed woman, sat cross-legged on a folded cloud- white blanket. Beside her were incense holders, burning sticks that coiled sage smelling smoke into the dim lit air. The woman was both breath-taking and cold: except for her robe, she wore no other clothes. She was lithe figured, with alabaster smooth skin. Her silver and albino white hair fell to her small breasts, framing her lean face, soft thin lips, delicate nose, and thin arched eyebrows. Most unsettling of all though, were her night-black oval eyes. "Excuse me, I must have come to the wrong place." "No, Charlie, you've come to the right place." "I ... uh ...don't think so." Charlie's instincts screamed 'RUN' to him, and he turned and started hurriedly walking back out the way he had come. "Ah, but what kind of trouble will Kerri be in if you don't stay?" Charlie froze. "What did you say?" "Kerri. It would be a shame if something happened to her." "You're ...threatening Kerri?" He stepped towards her. "Who are you?" "You have no idea who she really is. At this point that becomes irrelevant...for you, because she's mine!" Anger flared in him; he turned and strode forcefully into the area bounded by the candles. Instantly the candlelight intensity jumped several fold and an ozone smell flooded the room. "Lady, just who the hell are you?" The woman was startled by the sudden power surge in the circle. she recovered quickly and flashed Charlie a deadly smile. "You are about to know far more intimately than you could ever have imagined." She lifted up her arms and shouted: "ACTIO!" Instantly, a swirling white vortex began to circle around the woman and Charlie. Electricity-like energy crackled and formed an outline around their bodies. Charlie felt himself start to spin and fall towards the floor, while at the same time he felt an indescribably painful wrenching, as if something was being wrenched from deep inside him. *** A beeping monitor was the only sound in the room for the longest time. Finally, Suz spoke, "Kerri, please sit down. There's nothing more to do until he wakes up." Unhearing, Kerri remained standing by the unconscious body of Charlie. She gripped his hand tightly, as if by sheer will alone she could awaken him. But she could not. His body simply lay on the sterile white infirmary bed. "You heard Dr. Ruis," Suz implored. "He could find no injuries, and vital signs are all good. Sit down and rest for a minute. Charlie is completely safe here at the Keep and I've told Mother to make sure all of the Keep's resources are used to give him the best medical care there is. And, we've got Rachael locked down in a detention cell, so she can't do any more mischief. Everything's going to be okay!" "Then why can't he wake up? Why is he like this?" Kerri's eyes were watery with grief. "Charlie, please, come back to me. I'm so sorry for what I said." As if in answer, his eyes fluttered open. "Charlie?" Kerri asked excitedly, "I'm ...Charlie ...what?" he whispered in a thin and raspy voice. "Honey, are you okay?" "Okay? I think so." His eyes narrowed as he stared into her face. "Who are you?" Kerri looked apprehensively at Suz. "It's me, Kerri. Think hard, Charlie. Is there anything you can remember?" Kerri begged. "Should ...should I know you?" He then turned to Suz. "And who are you?" "I'm the woman who makes you the best coffee in the world. Don't you remember?" "Um, coffee," the man answered, as if he were accessing a data base. "Do I like coffee," he asked blandly. "You're mad about the stuff!" "If you say so..." As other questions produced similar blank responses over the next half hour, the look on Kerri's face slowly turned from deep concern to icy wrath. She withdrew her hand from his. "Watch him, Suz. Make sure nothing happens to him." "Where are you going?" Suz saw the look and grew alarmed: "No! Do NOT go to her cell! Don't go vigilante on me, Kerri! Mother will take care of this - stay here for Charlie!" "This was her plan, to destroy his memory of me? Somehow that would bring me back to her? She ? must ? suffer." "Don't do this!" Suz could see the emotional fury building in Kerri and grabbed her arm. "As your friend, I'm begging you to wait. He just woke up ...we don't know enough yet. Let Mother sort this out!" Kerri yanked her arm away. "If you're my friend you'll GET OUT OF MY WAY. It's time for that bitch to feel some pain." Before Suz could answer, Kerri stormed from the room and vanished into the Keep's many corridors. Sighing in despair, Suz flipped opened her phone, and quickly pressed some buttons. "Mother! It's me. We've got another problem..." *** "You seem like you might be enjoying the story a little, hmm Benny? Want something to eat Benny? One of my Crapplemuffs, maybe?" "Well, no, miss, uh, Suz, I don't have any mon... I mean, I'm not hungry." "Oh, please have one, it'd be on the house. Think of it as helping me with the product research; you see, there seems to be some debate about the, um, appeal, of the brilliant name I came up with. Please?" She handed him one, and as he took it from her hand, steam rose from the muffin. Benny practically inhaled the pastry. "These are great," he said through full mouth, crumbs spewing out. "Cruffinmuffins are fine by me!" "It's Crapple...oh, never mind," Suz sighed. "Any questions about the story while we're on break?" "I'm sorry, 'Princess', the story's kinda good," Benny shifted in his wheelchair, his face a odd mixture of interest and doubt. "I admit it, okay? But what's all this business about a 'Keep'? You really 'keep' losing me there." "Oh yeah, sorry! A Keep is our, the elves I mean, name for our regional headquarters. We got fifteen or twenty of um around the world. It's kind of a cross between a fort and a commune, I guess. We call it that because... will, I don't know, exactly. We've been calling them that for thousands of years. Anyway, this one, the one my mother is queen of, is called the Rocky Mountain Keep. It's near Waterton Canyon in the foothills. It's a pretty amazing complex. I wish I could show you it, I give great tours - when I was a kid, my mother used to make me give tours to visiting Elf dignitaries." "Now, c'mon! Cut the crap, okay?" challenged an extremely skeptical Benny. "I shit you not, my friend. We have meeting rooms and offices, communication, medical facilities and food services, boarding school facilities for the special needs that Elf children present, a security force, and even have correctional facilities ...We're basically our own secret government." "A secret fairy government? Um, no offense, Suz, but this where the story is, well, lame! I stopped believing in Santa and the Easter Bunny when I was five. I mean, if it were true wouldn't the government know about it? The real one, I mean? Why haven't you been discovered before? With the surveillance stuff that I saw, you know, when I was over there..." Benny fidgeted in his chair as his memory involuntarily recalled what he had seen and suffered through, "a-anyway, there's no way something like that wouldn't be seen, you know? So it's a weak spot in the story is all." "Don't be too sure, my friend. Oh we've been hiding under the radar for thousands...for a long long time, Benny, trust me. Our Air Elementals are very skilled at illusion. When people see our Keep, they think they are seeing an engineering and manufacturing complex that produces weapons system components. "Now wait a minute!" answered accusingly. "Your Keep can't be there because that's the old Johns Manville complex, near Waterton Canyon, right? Am I right?" "If you think so, Benny," Suz grinned broadly. "And does the government know about it? Nah... we're pretty good at staying hidden these days. We had a bad stretch in the middle ages with those witch trials, but that was actually due to a split among the Elves about whether we should 'go public' to try help the general lot of humanity, which was pretty sorry at the time. Instead of being thankful, the humans burned our ...um ...religious leader, and chased us with the Inquisition. We learned a hard lesson ...those were bad times, the Burning Times..." Suz's face turned sad for a moment before she continued. "That's ancient history, as they say. Let's not get all down about that. Back to the story, my blizzard compadre; lots more to tell. I've even got a pretty hot scene coming up if I do say so myself." *** The pale woman tried to sit up, but restraints on her arms and legs held her to the bed. Her eyes carried a bewildered expression as they scanned first the alien cement walls and then the bright fluorescent ceiling lights of the cell. "Is this a hospital?" Words were hard for her to form, and she had trouble simply focusing her eyes on the thin white haired man and bright-eyed eyed woman sitting in front of her. "Why am I tied down like this?" "As if we'd allow you to raise your arms to invoke your element! Stop playing the fool, Rachael," Jessica demanded. "Tell us what you did to Kerri's boyfriend AND what you were doing with the forbidden book?" "I'm Charlie, Kerri's boyfriend, ...I'm ...I ...what's wrong with me? ...Why can't I ...focus my thoughts ...everything's all tangled." "If I were you, I would drop the games and start cooperating with us. Otherwise we just might let Kerri in to have a chat with you. You don't want that, trust me. She's nearly out of her mind with rage and has vowed to kill you if..." "Kerri ... kill me?" The woman found energy to concentrate, "why?" "Because of what you did to her boyfriend, of course. You may be in danger even here. I've posted a guard, but she's a shape shifter, you know, and stealth is their business." "I don't understand ...I told you, I'm Kerri's boyfriend..." The hardness in Jessica's eyes wavered slightly as she looked closely at the woman's face. Something seemed out of place. "Is this a trick, Mr. U," Jessica asked, "or is she really suffering some sort of trauma from the forbidden spell?" "Based on what Ah know of what she stole, owt is possible, Jessica," he answered ominously. "SERIOUSLY?! You mean there's a chance she might actually be someone other than Rachael?" Jessica's mouth hung open in shock. "I'll need te fully research the spell, but, aye." "Lord and Lady! And I thought I had lived to an age where I had seen everything!" "Who are you people?" The woman's eyes were a mixture of panic and bewilderment. "I feel so weird..." She feebly tugged at her restraints. "What have you done to me?" Jessica stood, galvanized. "You, whoever you are, will stay here until we get to the bottom of this. But if this turns out to be a trick, Rachael..." She had hoped to get a flicker of recognition from the woman. When Jessica received nothing but pure incomprehension, she turned again to the white-haired man. "Mr. U, I know you've got your stolen manuscript in hand now, and are due to leave for Northumbria but could you delay your departure for a day or so, and lend us your Elf lore expertise? You see what we're up against here; we could really use your help to sort out what Rachael has done. You could look over her notes, use our library..." Mr. U held up his hand to stop her plea. "Ah'll do mah best. Ahm glad te help." As they stepped out of the cell, Jessica saw that the guard was not at his post. She heard a flushing sound from down the hall and a lumbering hulk emerged from the men's room, still zipping his pants. "Everything came out well, I trust Tony?" "Yes ma'am" The guard turned beet red. "Excellent. Next time, do not leave your post unattended." "Yes ma'am ...I mean no ma'am, I won't. "Tony, this is critical. Get that earth brain of yours concentrating. The shifter Kerri Saille is missing somewhere in the Keep. It is possible, no, likely, that she will try to visit this ...prisoner. She is to be considered extremely dangerous. Under no circumstances is she to be allowed to see the prisoner. So I want a full detail of guards posted here 'round the clock. Is that understood, Tony?" "Yes ma'am!" Jessica removed her cell phone from her pocket and punched the speaker button. "Stacey, Tony is guarding... whoever it is that's in the cell, alone. Have more guards sent to the detention section now, and have a security team meet me ASAP in the infirmary room where the Ordinary, uh, Charlie, is staying. 'He' may be Rachael for all I know, and there's no one guarding him. Gods, this is confusing!" "That's why you get paid the big bucks, my queen." The cell phone voice answered. "You mean I'm supposed to get paid? And all these years I've been working pro bono! Also, Stacey, warn Captain Straif to have her officers watch for Kerri in her male or female form..." "As if that will do any good ...she can take any form she chooses..." A voice from the phone answered. "Good point," Jessica sighed. She turned to the guard once more: "Tony, let no one other than Dr. Ruis or myself enter this room, and ...give them the standard shifter test if they do look like Dr. Ruis or me. And Tony, the rest of the detail won't be here for a few more minutes. I'm counting on you to protect the prisoner." "Yes ma'am! Anyone that's gonna get in there will have to go in through me." "Good man. Please come with me, Mr. U." Aye, ma'am ah will. Ah wouldn't miss this fre the world." As Jessica hurriedly walked down the corridors of the Keep, she spoke once more into her cell phone: "Also, Stacy, call Dr. Ruis in the infirmary and tell him to sedate ...who? Charlie-in-Rachael's body? Rachael-in Charlie? Who is who?" "Got no idea what you're talking about, boss. If it's a problem, why not sedate um both." "Great idea! That's simple enough. Have Ruis sedate BOTH Rachael and Charlie, Stacy" "How sedated?" the cell phone voice queried. "Very, like what you'd use on an elephant. And one last thing, ...I'll need you track down a Dr. John Ailm. His number's in my outlooks contacts I think. We may need his particular expertise for this ...um, what ...potential gender emergency? Anyway, tell him that he needs to have his butt on the next plane out of California." "Should we send the private jet?" "No. It would take too long to get there and back. Commercial's got to be faster. Please handle all of the travel arrangements for him. I don't care if he flies first class or has to sit on the airplane toilet, I need him here now! "Done. Anything else?" the cell phone voice asked. Jessica sighed, "Yeah, have Ruis give me a double of whatever he gives to Rachael and Charlie." *** The door to the cell opened and the guard stepped swiftly into the room. He walked over to the cot where the woman lay. Her eyes grew shot open wide when he yanked the restraints loose from her arms and legs. "Hello, Rachael, it's been a while, eh? I've just told our queen that none would see you save through me. I don't think that I lied, at least not technically, although it must be said that she had no idea I wasn't Tony. Get up, now dearest, it's time to bleed." Without waiting for a response, the bulky man grasped the woman by her right arm and leg and hurled her across the room. She slammed against the concrete wall with a sickening crunch, then slid hard to the ground, blood spluttering from her nose Quickly upon her, he reached down and grabbed her by her throat, jerking her body high in the air. "You will tell me what you did to Charlie and you'll tell me NOW." Blood gushed from the woman's nose, flowing down her face and dripping on the floor. She tried to speak but couldn't - the wind had been knocked out of her. "Tell me, Rachael!" "N-not Rach-ael," she coughed, "...Char-lie" "WRONG ANSWER," the man roared in rage and began shaking her like a rag doll. After he paused, her head fell limply to one side. "The real guard will wake soon from his unexpected nap, so I must leave you, 'dear'. But I'll return, again and again, until you've told me what you did. And if Charlie's memory fails to return ...well..." As he squeezed her throat with his massive hand she began to writhe and shake for air. Weakly, she clawed at his hands. He smiled as her spasms became first more frantic, then tapered off. The smile vanished as he looked closely into the woman's slowly darkening eyes. Were there tinges of blue in them? "Aren't you ...Rachael? He released his grip and dropped her back on the bed. Stepping back, he shouted "TREIGLO" A shimmering occurred, a rippling of the air around his body. Through the ripple waves, arms and legs compressed and shortened, hair changed color and grew, joints popped and bones crunched, until ...Kerri stood in place of the guard. She was dressed in a body length black unitard and heelless black leather boots. With a brief look of concentration, her blue jeans and aqua sweater suddenly appeared, as if a switch had been turned on. The bloodied woman opened one eye - the other had already swollen shut. Even the open eye looked glazed, as if it might roll backward into her head at any moment. "Kur - rii?" she slurred. Kerri studied the woman more closely. She looked identical to Rachael, almost. But ...there was a something else, a feel about her that was ...different. "ARE you Rachael?" she repeated, but received only the ragged breathing of the now unconscious woman in reply. She checked the woman's pulse. "Oh gods!" Kerri fled in panic out the cell door, and soon a fire alarm began clanging throughout the security wing of the Keep. *** Suz paced the Keep's infirmary observation room as Doctor Ruis processed the tests he had run on the injured woman. It had been several hours since the attack that Suz knew was carried out by Kerri. No one was quite certain who this woman was, though. A tall man in a crisp gray suit entered the waiting room. In his late thirties and fit, he had black hair that was just starting to silver on the sides. In his hands he carried several manila medical files. "Excuse me, Miss? I have been asked to see patients involved in some sort of metaphysical accident?" "And just who the hell are you?" Suz demanded holding a glowing hand by her side, cocked and ready. "And how did you get past the guards outside? No one is permitted in except my mother, Dr. Ruis and myself." "Please..." the man eyed her glowing hand nervously, "you're a Fire aren't you? Please, remain calm, I have no desire to be ...uh, scorched." The man held out his hand to her; Suz ignored the gesture, and he awkwardly withdrew it. "Fine. My name is Dr. John Ailm. I'm a clinical psychologist and have been asked by the Queen of this Keep, to make ...to make an emergency house call, I guess. Is that the patient?" He motioned through a glass observation window to a woman lying on a hospital bed, her face badly swollen and bruised, with bandages wrapped around her ribs. "That's one of them. The other is the man in the room two doors down. The man has lost some of his memory, and the woman has just been attacked. Before that, she apparently believed that she was the man. It's all rather confusing." "I met Dr. Ruis in the lab a few minutes ago, and he filled me in as much as he could. I've also had a chance to review the MRI and EEG results that he ran to determine if there was head or brain trauma to either of them." Dr. Ailm spread the files on a table. "You were a friend to the male?" "Charlie? Yes. We are very good friends." Suz intuitively reached the conclusion that the doctor was legit. She held her hand out to shake, which the doctor accepted with a smile. "My name is Suzannah Tinne. " "Ah! Princess Tinne! Glad to meet you. "Your mother told me you'd be here. Kerri also mentioned you in our sessions." "I'm not much on the Princess thing. You counseled Kerri? What kind of a psychologist are you?" "I work with the California Keep. My area of specialty is counseling shape shifters for gender confusion. Kerri, and most all of the Elfin shifters, really, come to me for... shifter counseling, I guess." "So, do you know how to figure out who's who?" "I think I already have. Take a look at these MRI and EEG results. I don't know if you know this, but every person has a unique EEG pattern or 'fingerprint.' I also have Rachael's baseline EEG from when she was held here for observation after her episode with Kerri last year. Now, compare it to the EEG of our 'Rachael' in there." Dr. Ailm laid two sheets in front of Suz. "These are completely different." Suz observed. "They are. Now, compare Rachael's baseline to the EEG results of the male patient." Dr. Ailm placed another sheet next to Rachael's baseline EEG. "Whoa! They're identical! But how is that possible? Their ...their brains weren't switched, right?" I'm just an Ordinary, Ms. Tinne, and am the last person you should ask conerning how your magic works. But these results are most clear." "So ...this shows...that Rachael is now in Charlie's body? And ...I'm guessing that ...by logic of elimination ...Charlie is in hers?" Dr. Ailm nodded "I don't see how there could be any other conclusion, crazy as it seems. But wait, there's more! I've reviewed MRI's from shifters I have counseled, and the MRI for uh ...Charlie ? in ? Rachael's body ...showed some bizarre energy patterns. The patterns I'm used to seeing in shifters are blue, of course, but here..." He showed her the MRI results, "...you can see four distinct colors, blue, red, green and white. "So what does that mean, Doctor?" "Doctor Ruis was puzzled by it, and I have NO idea." "Leaving us ...where, Doctor?" Suz asked impatiently. "You're very to the point, Princess, just like your mother." "I'm not like my mother at all, and don't call me Princess, it's Suz." "Okay, Suz it is. Other than the apparent memory loss, the male, Rachael-in Charlie, appears to be quite stable. In fact, he is, in all other respects a healthy Ordinary..." "BUT... I am extremely worried about Charlie-in Rachael's body. We must somehow assess her condition NOW, and the quickest way, I think, is for her to tell us what in God's name is happening to her. You said you were close to Charlie, right? Look, would you try to talk with her to see what she's perceiving and experiencing?" "Charlie and I very close. My coffee shop is like a second home to hi... to Charlie." "Good. It is important I think, that she talk with someone she trusts rather than a stranger." "What should I say?" "Your mother and Dr. Ruis told me she's extremely disoriented right now. So why don't you first put her at ease, and then gently probe to see how much she is aware of what has happened. I'll watch everything from here." "I'm still struggling with the idea that 'she' could be Charlie, but sure, happy to help. Put her at ease, huh? If she IS Charlie, then I know just the thing that will help. Let me just run to the kitchen to get it." *** "So what's your pleasure?" "Suz? Are you ...really you?" the battered woman slurred ...all this ...strange stuff ...crazy dreams." She struggled to sit up in her bed, involuntarily crying out in pain as she tried. She finally just managing it, but not before almost shaking loose the I.V. bag next to her bed. Suz had developed a deep dislike Rachael over the years, and the sight of Rachael's image before her stirred that bias. She rought to put that bias aside now and do as Dr. Ailm had asked. "Yup, it's me, or it is I, or whatever is grammatically correct. So how are you feeling, 'Charlie'?" "I'm having trouble ...concentrating on things." She was still panting from the exertion of sitting. "Everything's all fuzzy. Why do I ache all over? Hey! Is this Porter or Swedish hospital? Please say Porter because I may have an insurance problem if it's Swedish. And ...uh... why is everything moving in slow motion, Suz? Am I drugged?" "Could be... we'll talk about that in a minute..." Suz eyed the woman closely. Was she fooling herself, or did she hold herself different than Rachel? In any event, Suz couldn't help but feel sympathy for this creature, who, in addition to suffering a great deal of pain, also had a utterly lost look in her eyes. "...first, would you like some coffee?" That sparked the woman's attention. "C-coffee? Seriously? Man! I ...I'd kill for an Americano right now, but I'll take a cup of anything you got." "Oh ye of little faith! An Americano it is!" Suz opened the silver carafe she had brought and poured some of it into a big white ceramic mug. "Espresso?" The woman's interest was now fully engaged. "So ...uh ...how are you going to get hot steamed water?" "Now watch, um, Charlie ...here's the cool part, I mean, hot part..." She opened a bottled water and poured it into to the mug with the espresso. Then - dramatically brandishing her index finger. "TANAU!" A bright flame burst from Suz's finger. Sudden fear gripped the woman's face at the sight of th