Alanna was competing in the tournament next week and was not in the mood for prowling the streets of a country she barely knew. She was in the mood to clean her sword and read up on Tyra history. Which is why she was alone when she suddenly burst into song.

( Let's get down to business... )

Alanna quietly put down her sword. "What was that?" There was a long pause as she processed the song. "And what's a Hun?"

Alanna bit down into her rather biscuit with a lot of delight. It was a beautiful day and for once the countryside did not make her want to run back to the nearest part of civilization that had bathtubs.

She was just sitting there, enjoying the weather and her biscuit and the lovely company of the nearby military. So it wasn't exactly what she signed up for, but she figured she was allowed some time off every once in a while.

"You really don't get weather like this in April." She commented.

[ooc: For one. Or well, one who is a PC. NPC's are free to chime in as well though I'm not sure how they would do that.]

Alanna would not have been very recognizable to most people who knew her. Honestly, she was not that recognizable to herself. What felt like an army of ladies-in-waiting had gotten her into formal gown and had even gotten her into make-up and done her hair. She still had her sword though, and two daggers carefully hidden away.

She had even managed to stay at the dinner and dancing for almost two hours before she had absolutely had to get away. Which is why she was now wondering around the gardens and trying to avoid all the couples looking for some privacy.

She was getting very, very restless within the castle walls.

[ooc: Waiting for one. You get three guess who. First two don't count.]

Alanna was absolutely not hiding, really. If anyone thought differently they were very, very wrong. That was totally not why she walking quickly through the hallways, glancing around to avoid anyone who might have scissors or thread.

Alanna was pretty much used to getting dumped on her head from portals, but she was still annoyed when her bag crashed on to her knee.

"OW." She informed it with a glare and picked herself up. A quick glance around showed her that she was on a vaguely familiar street, but she didn't see anyone she recognized. With a shrug, she headed off in a direction she thought was correct.

It wasn't until she walked by the restaurant did the pieces fall into places. With a wry grin, she stepped inside and sat down. As she sat there waiting for the waitress to take her order, she remembered the last time she had been there. The last time she had sat there. And the last time her cat made snarky comments from inside her bag. And for the first time, the memory didn't make her cry. Instead, she felt something inside her unwind and a weight inside of her felt much lighter.

"What can I get you something hun?"

"Anything with shrimp?"

"Shrimp? This is a seafood restaurant, what are those?"

Her last portal took her back to the desert.

[ooc: So this unbelievably late and slightly backdatedish. Thanks to everyone who played with the bouncy girl! I had a blast, and a huge thanks to everyone who wrote the paragraphs and the longer posts and the coding and the drawing and planning and giving me cracked out ideas. I'm going to put up a wrap up post ... soon.]

Alanna was almost used to landing in strange places. Almost. At least it only took her moment to scramble up and collect her dropped sword and bag. Then she paused. "Am I on a space ship?"

"We prefer to call it planetary storage unit that sometimes moves," John said, not really thinking of the new arrival. It happened all the time. "It's more PC this way. Keeps the feelings from being hurt and all."

"Ah, okay. Hey John." Alanna sheathed her sword. "I thought you were in Ma...some state that starts with M?"

"Was I?" John frowned and tapped the side of his head with a finger. "Aeryn, we been to a state that starts with an M lately."

Aeryn, hand tightly on the holster of her gun, shook her head. "No. We've been here. Nothing has moved."

Alanna blinked. "It might have started with another letter?" She blinked some more. "And I just talked to you last week." More blinking. "Maybe it was a T?" And some more blinking.

The hand Aeryn had on her pulse pistol tightened. "You're mistaken. We've been here and you're obviously suffering from some sort of head wound if you saw us."

John, for his part, laughed. "Don't worry, I've been suffering from a head wound for years. You're in a good company. Aeryn's just jealous."

Alanna continued blinking. "Aeryn." She pointed. "John." She pointed again. "And you have no clue who I am." Her brain was finally beginning to catch up and she summarized things with a few explicatives.

John shrugged and waved it off. "Nope, never seen you before. Doesn't mean you're not welcome here. Just ignore the little green slug. He'll try and take your money. Right, Aeryn?"

Aeryn was staring at the new girl coldly, making sure she made no sudden moves. "Right."

John grinned and spread his arms. "See. Now we know you. Welcome to Moya."

Alanna was giving Aeryn the same sort of look, possibly because she actually did know what Aeryn could do with the blaster. "Right. I'm Alanna." She tried to remember if she had pointed this out and gave up. "Why does this keep happening to me?"

[ooc: Huge thanks to John!mun!]

This time when Alanna crashed down the first thing she realized was "oooh, trees". The second was "Ow, root to the stomach." Scrambling up, she glanced around her, trying to get her bearings.

A boy clad entirely in green swooped into view, giving the girl a strange look. "Sayyyy, who are you supposed to be?" he asked, alighting onto a nearby tree stump.

"Alanna." Alanna replied, blinking more at his outfit then at the fact that he had swooped in. "Where am I this time?"

"Now that's a silly question!" He threw his head back and crowed. "You're in Neverland. Second star to the right, and straight on 'till morning!"

"...Great." Alanna commented and put her sword back on her hip where it belonged. "So um, what is this place?" She asked, glancing around.

"What is it?" He folded his arms, huffing at her question. "It's only the best place in the whole world, that's what. I'm never gonna grow up. I'd rather be here."

"Ignoring the physical issues with that statement...wait, weren't you flying earlier?" Sometimes, Alanna's brain took a minute or two.

"What, flying?" Peter pushed off, hovering in mid-air for a few seconds before swooping down and circling again. "You mean to tell me you can't fly?"

"No." Alanna said flatly, trying to figure out where she lost her sanity. Possibly when she left the Bahzir desert. Possibly when she told her twin that changing places would be a good idea.

He was now winding around her, smirking. "You sure? I bet you've never even tried," he teased.

Alanna frowned. "I tried. I got a headache for a week." She tracked him with her eyes. "How come I never go anywhere normal?"

"Must be 'cause you're a grown-up," he said, looping back again. "Grown-ups aren't supposed to be here. How'd you get here, anyway?"

"I fell from the sky." Alanna commented dryly. And literally.

"Should've flapped your wings," he said, bending his elbows and demonstrating. "C'mon, it's fun, I'll show you! Get somewhere high! Follow me!"

Alanna grabbed her bag just in case. "I don't have wings." She pointed out, but followed the strange boy. It's not like her life could get weirder...or more dangerous.

"Course not," he scoffed. "That doesn't mean you can't fly." He soared up to an overhanging cliff over the sea. "You've gotta think happy thoughts," he explained.

Alanna gave him a very dirty look. "You live my life and think happy thoughts." She snorted. "Happy thoughts."

[ooc: Huge thanks to Tinkerbelle! Four more posts left!]

Alanna fell down with a loud clank that had more to do with her sword hitting the surface then any breaking bones, thankfully. "OW! NOT FUNNY!" She yelled and glanced up. And blinked. And blinked some more.

Nita looked over from where she and Kit were laying out their spell circle. "Uh..." she began, blinking. "Kit? We've got a visitor."

"What, did Dairine come-" But as he turned around, seeing the young woman with the sword laying on ground, Kit, who'd been distracted enough not to notice her yell, stopped himself. "Hello...?" he ventured.


Alanna scrambled to her feet, still blinking, though more at the visible Earth, than the two teens also on the moon. "Um, hi. That's the Earth." She pointed out, a little numbly. "And we're breathing. While not on Earth."

"There's a bubble keeping our air in," Nita said, pointing to the larger circle of shimmering, spidery characters several feet away; it marked the border outside where the waste gases glinted in the Earth light as they condensed rapidly to frozen mist. "Kit, how much extra did we put in? Enough for a third person?"

Alanna blinked. "Hopefully? I'd rather not suffocate, thanks." She blinked again. "Magic or science?"

Kit shook his head. "Wizardry," he explained. "And yeah, we've got enough, at least for a bit." He looked down at the spell diagram. "We've got as much done on here as we're going to, anyway; I think we're at a dead end."

Looking at the diagram herself, Nita nodded. "Yeah," she agreed. "Later, though. So," she continued, turning to their unexpected guest. "I take it you weren't headed for the moon, then. Where were you hoping to land?"

"Virginia." Alanna said dryly. "But I've pretty much given up on that."

"We could probably get you down there..." Nita said. "But we'd need more exact coordinates. What can you tell us about it?"

At about that moment, a bright purple portal opened behind Alanna. "That would be my ride, actually. Um, nice meeting you. Good luck with your thing." She stepped through, and the portal closed behind her.

Nita and Kit blinked at each other. "... That wasn't a worldgate," Kit said.

There is no rule that says that every person with any connection to the future family that will be living at Pirate's Swoop must get kicked out of a certain restaraunt.

There is no rule, but it still seems to happen.

There is a rule however, that what happens at the end of the universe, stays at the end of the universe.

[ooc: Y'all know the drill by now, no IC, but OOC welcome.]

After leaving the Hyperion in the morning, Alanna had fully planned to go Fandom. Really. No detours. Which didn't explain how she ended up dropping out of the sky on to a "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign and then tumbling down a dusty crater.

Sometime later, she had become the red-head previously known as a red-head due to the layer of dust coating her from head to toe.

"Not funny." She growled at the universe and grabbed her things, which had remained at the lip of the crater. Of course. A few minutes later, she stepped through another portal.

After two hours of scrambling in the dirt of the not quite accurately labeled Sunnydale, Alanna was ready to go anywhere. She was hoping it was somewhere with a shower, so when she was deposited on the front porch of a coffee house? Not very amused, no. But she did go in anyway. "Hello?"

Dora was leaning against the counter when she came in. The coffee house was a pretty standard coffee house, except for the specials board that read

SPECIALS

* Chupacabralatte

* Bigfoot 22-oz espresso

* Yeti cannolli

"If you want to use the bathroom, you'll have to buy something," Dora said. "Or I'll take a song and dance number if you're strapped for cash."

"If I do a song and dance number, you'd probably be giving me money to get it to stop quicker." Alanna informed her and read the specials board. And then she read it again. "How did you get the yeti into the cannolli?" It seemed like a logical question.

"I make Faye do it," she replied, wondering if she really could get Faye to fight a yeti for enough money. Then she could get people to place bets and make an event of it. "Did you get into a fight or fall into a dumpster?"

"Which one gets me access to your sink faster?" Alanna asked, trying to find where the money she had shoved into her pocket had gone and reading the menu again in a desperate hope that some it would sound a little less...scary.

"Go on," Dora said, jerking her head towards the door that led to the restrooms. "I won't be a stickler on the 'customers only' thing, but you'd be doing me a favor if you bought a coffee. It's been a slow enough day that I sent my employees home and I'm so bored I was thinking of redecorating the walls with mocha and cream. It'd be a pain to keep having to repaint every time the walls went sour."

"I'll buy something once I remove the sand from my teeth." Alanna promised her. "Try it without the cream maybe?"

"The walls or your coffee?"

"Both." Alanna informed and went rinse the dust off of her face and teeth in the desperate hope to feel a little more human and a little less human-dustball. "So um, can I get the first one that no person can pronounce without breaking teeth?" She asked, coming back out.

"One chupacabralatte coming right up." Dora made herself busy and pulled a coffee mug with a text face on it from the shelves to pour the drink into. "I'll charge you for the coffee, but the mug is on the house. You look like you've had a day where you need a smiley face mug."

Alanna rummaged in her pocket and produced a enough money to cover the coffee. "Thanks. If you ever feel the urge to visit Sunnydale? Don't. Free advice." And that's how Alanna spent the remainder of her trip with a smiley face mug for company.

[ooc: No interaction possible, ooc comments always welcome. Thanks to kawalsky for the Dora!]</font

After a week and a few odd days back with the Bloody Hawk, Alanna was going stir crazy. It wasn't that the tribe wasn't welcoming. It was kind of the opposite that was driving Alanna to the edge of her ability to keep on smiling. She had gone riding with the young men every single day, but even that did not seem to be far enough.

So one morning, half on a lark, she left her horse with one of the lads, grabbed a spare change of clothes, wound up grabbing a lot more food than she meant to due to a very friendly woman, and set out to put some space between herself and the village. She had meant to go to Fandom, really. But somehow, she just wasn't specific. And the universe really does have a sense of humor.

Thanks to every who's stuck around for the great spamming of '08! I'm going to be nice and make a summary here of all the posts. Usual disclaimer goes: plot stolen from Tamora Pierce's Lioness Rampant, though with edits. But before that, I'd like to give a huge thank you to my co-conspirators kawalsky and tricksy_spy without whom this would have been a paragraph written on a cocktail napkin with a stick figure for an icon. You guys rock, and not only for your awesome coding skills. This has been two years in the making and it's been a wild ride. I'd link to all the posts that led us here, but I only have about forty minutes and the list would go into the three digits. So...here we are. The Coronation of King Jonathan.

1. Alanna's letter FH
2. Charlie's letter to Aly
3. Aly reacts to her letters
4. Alanna waits with Jon
5. The bad guys plot
6. The coronation begins
7. Inside the Hall of Crowns
8. Alanna in her brother's chambers
9. Chaos in the Hall of Crowns
10. Alanna versus Alex and Roger
11. The End.
12. Alanna's letter to FH

Unlike Alanna's usual letters, this one was not written on crisp parchment in careful handwriting. This one could barely pass for a letter, more of a note really. It was a bit crumpled as well, as if the person writing had dug her nails into the side to hold on to something, and the letters were dark and bounced over the page, as if the person writing was gripping the quill too hard and had a hand that was shacking a bit too much. It was also covered in ink blots and random scratch outs. She also forgot to sign it.

Charlie and I are all right. Jon is King. Faithful - Here, the wobbling got worse. - saved my life. Thom and Roger are dead, as are others. I don't want to bury my twin and my cat.

[ooc: And this concludes the IC portion of our evening, letters have the usual disclaimer with them.]

Alanna hurled herself out of a nearby door, running as quickly as gold mail would allow for her brother's quarters, Faithful on her heals. She only stopped long enough to shout over her shoulder "Guard the King" to Raoul and didn't wait for the older knight's response. She had to get to Thom - he was under attack. The magic of the earthquake had held the same tint as his corrupted powers.



( What is it, lass? )

There were plenty of things Alanna could have been thinking about. There was the coronation coming up in a few hours, there was the fact that she had gotten no sleep the night before, waiting for Jon outside the Chamber of Ordeal. While he had meditated on the obligations of Kingship, she worried.

She worried about the single men pouring into the city in recent weeks had come to enjoy themselves. She worried about her brother and Duke Roger and the magical Gift that swirled inside her. She worried about the future of the kingdom and her role in it. She worried about would come tomorrow and how it would shape the world around her. She simply worried.

The night inched by quietly; the only movement she noticed occurred when she
or Jonathan changed position. The iron door of the Chamber shimmered in the candlelight, a vivid reminder of her Ordeal of Knighthood. Here Jon would undergo the Ordeal of Kings. The only advantage she could see to his entering that room a second time was that the Kings' Ordeal was said to be short. For herself, she knew that no inducement could get her to enter that place again.

Suddenly the light shifted. The Dominion Jewel danced in the air in front of her, so real looking she had to touch the pouch at her waist to make sure the Jewel was in there. She stared, wondering if this was a glimpse of the future, or something of the Jewel's making. The false Jewel shimmered and grew, coming closer, until it overwhelmed her eyes.

Inside it she saw:

In the center of the Chamber of the Ordeal Roger lay on a block of stone. He got up andheld out his arms. "Come, loved one," he whispered. She had been warned not to speak or scream. Her jaws knotted to keep from yelling her
fury. She couldn't move. Closer he came. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep silent—coppery blood flooded her mouth.

She was in his arms and they danced, his face lit with love and with rage, his sapphire eyes insane. "We'll dance until the end of everything, my darling, my pet," he crooned. "Promise me we'll dance forever."

She shook her head, struggling wildly against his grip. She opened her mouth, then clamped it shut. She was forbidden to scream in the Chamber of the Ordeal!

She was in the chapel once again, her hands tight over her mouth. Luckily Jonathan was in some kind of trance, unable to notice her antics. Slowly she lowered her hands, trembling. What did today have in store?

[ooc: Not for interaction, ooc comments okay.]

The life of a young knight who’s not quite the gender everyone expected her to be in a changing medieval country or what Alanna has been up to the past month.

( Upon arriving back in Corus )

( The next day )

[ooc: Mostly stolen from Lioness Rampant with some editing where necessary. No IC interaction possible, OOC comments welcome.]

Alanna was sitting on the bed, growling at the world, her hands covered in bandages. Thayet was somewhat more amused, parchment spread out on the writing desk and a quill ready to go.

"It could be worse." Thayet said, getting ready to take diction. Alanna simply glowered some more. Thayet wisely chose to turn to her work. "All right. Let's hear it."

( To whom ever )
Alanna was still glaring and set the letter off with her usual spell. "What?"

"Do you miss them?" Thayet asked, geustering widely.

"The use of my hands? Of course I do." Alanna said dryly.

Thayet shot the other woman a look, but didn't press. "Heal up quickly, we'll ride out in a few days."

"You could just tie me to the horse."

[ooc: ...Yeah, I suck. Here, have an Alanna post. Responses to her/Thayet's letter can go here.]

Alanna was not in a good mood. An early riser, by noon she was still not awake. Faithful's smug expression and Coram's ribbing were helping exactly none. The fact that Liam Ironarm was the one to catch her one and only fall off of a horse and into the mud had a lot to do with her bad mood to begin with. The Great Mother Goddess showing up on her pre-dawn ride just fed the headache she felt rattling in her skull. When Faithful gave up with subtle and simply threw the parchment and quill at her, Alanna snarled and grabbed them to write, mostly to have something to do other than polishing and sharpening her sword.

( To whom it may concern... )

After the letter burned down to ash, Alanna turned towards her cat. "Happy?" "Meow." Alanna's response was far less polite, however, she did have to admit that she felt somewhat more cheerful. With that thought, she set off downstairs to find her man-at-arms.

[ooc: Like the girl says, leave letters. Who knows, you might even get a response if I'm insane enough. And we all know that sanity is so not my thing. Sorry it took so long to get this up.

A week had past after George's departure Alanna was sitting was sitting in front of a blank page, willing for something to get written.

( What do you say? )

"You're pathetic." Faithful informed her.

"Shut up." Alanna said.

When George returned after his trip to Chorus, he brought a note from the young sorcerer along with a stack of letters from Fandom, to Alanna's delight. Thom's short letter, along with the odd questions from her friends, did plenty to alleviate her fear of something going seriously wrong and she set to replying to her post.

( Xander )
( Bel )
( Logan )
( Parker )
( Isabel )
( Bridge )
( Aeryn )
( Zero )

[ooc: So this was supposed to go up two days ago, except I keeled over due to exhaustion. Smaaaart. Due to where Alanna is living right now, replies to letters will be much more prompt for the next...well, while she's here. Replies can go here, la.]

For the past week, the sense of power radiating from Chorus had continued to grow. George's reminder that the only person capable of raising that kind of power did not help alleviate Alanna's fears. The fact that all her attempts at corresponding with anyone from Fandom or her brother failed horribly.

Finally resigning herself to the fact that there was nothing she could do, Alanna had spent the day before All Hallow's training with her sword, ignoring the tiny voice that reminded her of other students who had gotten cut off from the school.

All Hallow dawned bleak and stormy. The waves battered the cliffs below the house, and the winds blew away anything not already fastened down. Alanna arose to find George gone, summoned to the city on a matter of business. His note said he hoped to be back by nightfall, but if he was kept too late he would stay at the Dancing Dove in Corus, rather than risk the return trip after dark.

Toward noon exhaustion hit her like a sledge hammer. She was barely able to make it to her bed before falling into a deep, dreamless sleep. When she awoke, it was pitch-dark, and the wind howled outside the shuttered windows. She reached out and ordered the branch of candles beside her bed to light, something she had done without thinking since becoming a shaman for the Bazhir. There was no flame in answer to her command, and when she looked inside, searching for her Gift, she found just a trace of magic. Only then did she discover the ember-stone was flickering with increasing urgency, and that the crystal sword was humming in its sheath as it had not in weeks. While she slept, something had come and leeched away her Gift.

Lighting candles with a spill from the banked fire, she headed for the library. Some extensive books of magic were there, and she had promised herself a look at them. Now seemed like an excellent time. There was no sign of Faithful as she padded through the quiet halls. Marek and the other men had gone with George. Rispah and Coram would probably be in Rispah's chambers; and Rispah's woman friend, Harra, retired early. The servants had gone home for the night. Alanna felt all alone, odd and detached. She knew she ought to care that someone had tapped her Gift, but she couldn't.

It was nearly midnight when she closed the last volume, rubbing her eyes tiredly. As she had suspected, the only one with the power and the closeness to Alanna needed for such a tapping was her twin. She should have been angry, but her emotions felt dead. And she was getting sleepy again.

Suddenly she heard—and didn't hear—a boom, a crash that made even her dull senses quiver with alarm. The crystal sword shrieked and fell silent. Somewhere Faithful let out an anguished howl. Seconds later the door burst open, and the cat hurled himself onto Alanna's chest. She soothed him, caressing his fur and holding his shivering body close. It was fully an hour before he relaxed enough to let go of her tunic and settle onto her lap.

"It's over, whatever it was," he yowled as he yawned. "He did the spell he needed all that power for."

Alanna took him back to her bedchamber. No one else was stirring, so she and Faithful were the only ones able to feel whatever had happened. "We might as well forget it," she advised the cat as she hung the crystal sword on its hook. "I doubt Thorn will give us an explanation."

[ooc: All of Alanna's letters have just gotten sent. Responses go here, yay. Most of the post blatantly stolen from TP's book.]

The journey and time catching up with her old friend left Alanna far more tired then she expected. Curling up in the room that had been allocated to her, the girl got out her writing utensils and Faithful got comfortable on her lap. Before she began, she paused. The odd sensation of power radiating from Chorus that she had been feeling for the past week had not disappeared. Instead, it felt like it was getting stronger. With a shake of her head, Alanna began to write.

( Dear everyone, )

( Aeryn )

Alanna waited for the ink to dry before letting the letters fall into the flame. A moment later, the letters were back in her lap. She ogled the flame, the letters, and Faithful, who was fascinated by a ball of string he had found. A second try left her in the same position, with the letters still on her lap and not going through.

"Well, that's not good." She informed her cat. He meowed his agreement.

[ooc: No response possible, ooc comments welcome]

Alanna knew that Homecoming was on the first weekend of October. She had booked a portal well in advance, and made sure she had appropriate clothing both for the other world and the dance. Her two apprentices were no longer apprentices and were actually the new Shamans. The world would not stop if she took an evening to go see people she hadn't seen since May. At least, that's what she told Faithful. The cat informed her he'd go as long as he got fed and there were no bows with ten miles of him. All arrangements made, Alanna set off for Fandom.

None of this explained why she was now standing, staring at the body of water in front of her, blinking a lot.

"They moved the school." She finally told Faithful who was napping on her shoulder.

"Huh?" The cat blinked as he awoke and stared at the water with Alanna. "Or you wound up in the wrong place."

"I hope not, I don't think I have enough money for transportation more than a state away." Alanna informed the cat and waved down a passerby. "Excuse me, where am I?"

The man gave the girl who had been talking to herself a wide berth as he replied, "Alexandria, Virginia."

"...Oh. Was there ever a large boarding school here?" Alanna asked, trying to figure out what went wrong.

"...No." The man quickly walked away.

"That didn't work right." Alanna summarized.

"You noticed." Faithful commented. "Is it lunch time now?"

Alanna sighed. "Yes, lunch time, there's a restaurant right there." The girl and cat made their way in and Alanna decided to order something for her companion. "Excuse me, what do you have with shrimp in it?"

"Shrimp?" The waiteress looked blankly at Alanna.

"Yeah, shrimp. Little animals, live in the ocean?" Alanna said, exasperated.

"Lady, I have no idea what you're talking about. Anything you want that's actually a real food?" The waitress said with a sigh and glanced down at Alanna, impatient.

"Something with tuna, then." Alanna said quickly. After the waitress left, she glanced down at her bag.

"No Fandom. No shrimp. Worst world ever." Her bag informed her. Alanna agreed.

Alanna sat curled up in her tent, absentmindedly petting Faithful and staring a little absentmindedly at the bandage on her forearm.

A little to the left. Faithful purred. And it shouldn't bleed through, so stop being emo at it.

"I'm not ... I'm just thinking things through, that's all." Alanna paused. "And please never use that word again. Especially about me."

If the shoe fits... Faithful said smugly. Do something useful, reply to those letters Myles and Jonathan brought down, try out your new name, scratch my other ear...

Alanna obediently began scratching the other ear and glanced over at the letters that had been lying on what passed for her desk for a few weeks now. "I can either write or scritch, so make a desicion."

Both. Faithful purred stubbornly and refused to move from Alanna's lap. With a sigh, the girl reached for a quill and began to write.

( Parker )

( Bel )

( Isabel )

( Aly )

( Everyone, even Jamie! )

After the last letter was finished, Alanna shook out her wrist and glanced down at her cat. "Happy now?"

Are you? Faithful said, glancing up until purple eyes met purple eyes. Alanna paused for a long moment.

"Yes."

[ooc: This verse same as all previous verses! Leave all letters to Alanna here. If you think you got one, you did, from the nearest source of fire and/or light.]

The first of the Bazhir shamans arrived a week after Ishak's fatal mistake with the crystal blade. They came sometime during the night; when Alanna rose in the morning, they were seated cross-legged before the altar. Faithful sat facing them, blinking solemnly as he returned their stares. Alanna decided that she really didn't want to know.

They told Alanna they had come to teach and to learn, that every wise shaman tried to study new things. They meant what they said, and they were not alone. Within days more arrived with their apprentices until—with Alanna, Kara, and Kourrem—fourteen shamans and six apprentices were trading spells in the tents of the Bloody Hawk.

One night, while the tribe met with the Voice, Alanna saddled Moonlight and with Faithful in his riding cup, rode as far as she safely dared. Here in the quiet, she settled down to think. And write.

( My cat has more common sense than me. )

Staring at the short letter, Alanna tried to think of something else to add, but there just didn't seem to be any words that wanted to be added. Rolling up the parchment, the girl watched the sun sink into the desert, absentmindedly stroking her cat.

[ooc: Narration liberally stolen from Tamora Pierce's Woman Who Rides Like a Man. Leave letters to Alanna in this post, she'll have the chance to respond once more soonish.]

When Coram finally returned, he found things very different. ( He had much to say about the changes among the Bloody Hawk. ) She laughed as he swore, and returned home to read her letters before getting ready to pen her replies.

( Sam, Parker, Xander, Aeryn, and Aly )

[ooc: Coram and Alanna dialogue stolen from Tamora Pierce's Woman Who Rides Lika a Man. Letters appeared in their usual fassion. Anyone who wishes to write to Alanna, whether they recieved a letter or not, can leave a comment here.]

Alanna sighed, suddenly feeling tired and old. "I'll teach all of you in the morning," she promised. "For now, let's turn in."

Obedient as always, her apprentices left, chattering eagerly. Once they were gone, Faithful jumped onto Alanna's left shoulder (his favorite perching-spot).

"That was an interesting display of temper," he commented. "Why don't you pick on someone who can fight back?"

"He's got to learn," Alanna replied, dousing all the lamps but one. "Otherwise he's going to insult some little old wrinkled lady shaman who will tie him in knots."

"Perhaps, the cat replied.

"Not just 'perhaps,' " Alanna demurred. "You know as well as I do that there are traps for sorcerers in the strangest places. At least I know I mean no harm. Someone else might not be kind."

"You won't always be able to stand between another person and his fate," Faithful warned. "You mustn't think you can look after the world."

Alanna chuckled and tugged her pet's long black tail. "Who will look after it if I don't?"

Faithful gave a disgusted mutter and stuck his cold nose into her ear, surprising a laugh from her as Alanna reached for her writing utencils.

( Dear everyone at Fandom High and other related places... )

[ooc: So yes, another Alanna letter, again, if you wanted to get one, you did. Any letters sent to Alanna before say...tomorrow noonish will get a responce from the red head herself. If you miss the cut-off, well, you'll get a response from another red head.]

After the events of the previous day, Alanna wasn't looking forward to facing ... well, pretty much anyone. So before coming out of her new tent, she sat down to write. Or at least try to write.

( To one daughter )

( To everyone else )

Alanna paused before starting at an emtpy piece of parchment and putting it away.

"Come on, we have to have the first of many odd conversations." The knight told her cat.

I'm busy. Faithful informed her and continued washing his paw. Alanna rolled her eyes and headed out of the tent.

[ooc: Same as before! If you wanted to get a letter from Alanna, you got one. It appeared near whatever source of light/fire you had nearby. Replies here are fine.]

Alanna watched Coram and Hakim Fahrar ride away, their pack horse trailing behind. Fingering the ember at her throat, she blinked her suddenly watery eyes. Picking up Faithful, she entered her tent and for the first time in four weeks, began to write.

( A few letters )

Alanna blew on the letters to dry the ink faster, and then let the candle burn them to ash. Universes away, the letters formed on desks and chairs and anywhere else near fire or light sources, but Alanna's candle simply went out. At least the darkness hid the tears running down her face.

You're not alone. Faithful reminded her and he got a tight, wet hug as an answer.

[ooc: So this was supposed to go up a week ago. But then there was the whole "arm in a splint" thing, and yeah. If you think you got a letter from Alanna, you did. The letters suddenly appeared next to any open fire/flame or light source. Feel free to have characters respond in comments. All letters sent to Alanna will end up on her desk back in Chorus, so she's not getting them for a while. But that doesn't mean your characters won't get responses. Wow, long ooc note.]

Everything was packed up, books taken back to the library, and all final good-bye's had been said. Alanna's eyes were as dry as they were going to get today. She sat on her bed, Faithful on her lap, glancing around her room for the last time. The door was open for any last minute stragglers. Specifically, one straggler.

( Time to go? )
[OOC: Pre-played with kawalsky. No IC interaction, but OOC comments welcome. And with that, Alanna's and Faithful's adventures in Fandom end and their adventures in Tortall begin. It's been a ride!]

The door to room 326 was open. Inside, one red-head paced the length of the room, seemingly memorizing. Her cat watched her from the empty bed, his tail beating a rythmic pattern into the mattress. Alanna was very interuptable. And not on the verge of crying, really. It was just so dusty in the room and she had to blink a lot.

[ooc: Alanna's final post. Stop by, say good-bye, get hugged and cried on. I'm...packing up my empty dorm room but otherwise will be glued to my computer screen.]

Alanna was packing. Sort of. It looked a lot like starring at her things and trying to put off packing for as long as possible. Faithful had found a ball of yarn and was in a happy, happy place. The door was open.

Alanna was once more sprawled out on her bed. This time though, she wasn't studying. Well, not studying for class. Her attention was focused on the letter she had just recieved and seemingly couldn't put down, though she had already read it through three times. Letting her eyes travel down the page, she raised the number to four.

( Letter )

She ran a hand through her hair, and went back to staring at the words.

[OOC: Locked again. Huge thanks to tricksy_spy for the letter!]

Alanna was behind her desk, cramming studying for finals and ignoring the little nagging voice in the back of her head. It was fairly obvious that she had already started to pack. Faithful was playing "hide in the bag and take a nap".

[ooc: Lockinated!]

Alanna was in a happy, half dreamy state as she pulled Charlie into the room after her. The tiara was still on her head. "The advantages of being cursed with never having a roommate."

[ooc: And...heading NWSish]

Alanna was sitting at her desk, still blinking at the door after Tannim had left. "People are weird." Faithful glanced up from the bed. "It took you 18 years to notice?" The girl continued blinking at the door.

>[ooc: Door open, as is post!]

Alanna had been in the middle of reading a history book when Faithful started weowling loudly at her.

"Oh shut up!" Faithful ignored her.

"Please?" Faithful continued to ignore her.

"All right, what do you want? Food, water, my wallet?" Alanna got up off of the bed and walked over to pick up the wailing cat. "Come on." As she tried to take a step towards the refrigerator she found that ... she couldn't. "Oh not again!" Within moments, girl and cat had once more turned to statue.

Alanna was warm and in a comftorable bed. She had absolutely no good reason to even think about opening her eyes. Instead, she shifted closer to the source of heat.