A Lady and a Gentleman
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

He had watched her all night. He had danced with another lady, but his eyes had been on her, or rather her ears and her throat. He did not need to get in close to see that they were real diamonds. He knew that the quality of the settings was enough. You do not apply that much workmanship to protect stones of no value. He could see it from the clips behind the ears, and the clasp of the necklace below the nape of her neck exposed by the upswept hairdo. Quality work means quality stones.

Queen Dana of Highwinds the Elf Kingdom inside the Empire has a problem. One that she cannot fix personally. The problem is with a small minority of her population. A problem that has been brought to her attention by the half elf son of a problematic Duke. What is a Queen to do? She calls on help from a friend. The question now is does she realize what she is letting loose on her kingdom?

Slowly, Tiberius is getting the hang of things.
One year ago he joined the adventurers Conway, Debtar, and Sinea as a freshly baked mage.
His new friends had been generous with their advice and friendship.
But when the topic of Shroom Dungeon is brought up, they are unusually mum about any details.
They agree on one thing quickly. It was time for Tiberius to delve into Shroom Dungeon.
A dungeon yet undefeated. A place to lose yourself.

This story takes place a few years after Hatter’s babysitter.

“Mom, do you know where I left my cell phone?’ Bree was looking all over her bedroom for her cell phone.

Aylin walks into her oldest daughter’s bedroom with her cell phone in her hand. She stands in the doorway “you left it in the bathroom again, sweetie.”

“I mean... he’s hot, he’s a great guy, but I can’t marry him! He’s straight as a pin, and I’m male like 80% of the time!”

Part 1 can be found HERE.

Doyle, Whateley
Early Evening
November 10th, 2007

The character in this story was introduced as an encounter in The Kissing Bandit. I later decided the character deserved a background of her own. Normal started as a way of reconciling the inconsistencies.

Changing

I’m Ben Plover. I was a perfectly ordinary thirteen-year-old boy until it happened. Actually, until two things happened. Where most boys grew hair on their body, I started growing feathers. And I started turning into a girl!

General Ajani didn't look quite so tense as he had the first time Keir had met him. The tall man looked like he hadn't had a good nights sleep in ages, but he didn't look like a man facing execution anymore. He did look rather curious about the four Lleial soldiers and the two ghostly soldiers who were standing ramrod straight beside the door, yet he didn't say anything.

Night of Broken Glass
By Sabrina G. Langton

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Author's note: Hi, another quick story about my new favorite couples, learning to live with memories, new and old. Just slightly darker than my usual stories, just another song we all know by heart. I hope YOU like it.

***

I watched the airplane fly overhead. Sometimes they drown out the music, sometimes they drown out Linda.

"Sabrina do you want one of those drinks with a straw?" I couldn't really hear her, there was an airplane overhead, I had on music, we were by the pool listening to Billy.

It was only for pure alphabetical chance that I met Albert. We shared a college dorm room since Idlewild and Ien were next to each other on the list.

I reached into my purse and flipped him my drivers’ license. “That’s me,” I said. “Or was, up until a month ago. I have sixty years of memories to go with the photo. If I was scammed, the scammers are the functional equivalent of an advanced species. And there’s no way that I could ‘delude’ myself into a working knowledge of Old English, Norman French, Greek, Classical Latin, Church Latin and Hochdeutch, with a smattering of other languages besides.”

After a great lunch where Sylvie refused yet again to sample Grits and instead, settled for a Pork Sandwich with all the trimmings. I had the chicken version of the same Sandwich while Jared settled on some Meat Loaf that, to be honest, looked and smelt fantastic.

I awoke in a sweat beneath cold light streaming through a framed picture window set into the wall beside me. It was flanked by heavy gold curtains on either side, but they had apparently not been pulled during the night. I struggled to remember where I was; it was a bed for certain, and likely a bedroom, but how had I gotten here? As I struggled into an upright position I surveyed my surroundings; it was indeed a four poster bed, the sheets made of soft green satin and presently drenched with my sweat.

Tulsa, Oklahoma
1992

John looked down at the sleeping woman, teeth clenched, his shoulders tight. He didn't say or do anything for a long time, just watched her sleep, longing to reach out and hold her, hating what he was about to do, struggling to hold it off for just a little longer.

He couldn't wait anymore, he had to do it now or he never would.

“Say it again!” Melina once again grabbed me by the setting of my overdress, jerking me forward roughly and sending a tremor through my body just before she released and shoved me backward. I stumbled, tripping over the torn hem of the chemise, ultimately colliding with a wall and using my hands to steady myself. My face stung from the receipt of a slap moments earlier. She looked at me, staring daggers into my eyes, all kindness flushed from her countenance.

I headed back to the school after a lengthy discussion with Elizabeth on the passage in the book. I was excited, but I was also trying to stay calm since it just wasn't enough information to take action. Elizabeth and I both agreed that we would look through the library and try to find more information on Shar'li.

Third Wife
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I had always had long hair. My mother let me grow it. She said that she had long hair when she was younger but cut it when she had children. She liked to brush it.

At high school I wore it in a long braid oiled so that it did not have too much volume. After it was washed it would gain volume and look like girl’s hair, which was not a look I wanted. It was interested in girls and so I wanted to be masculine. In fact, girls used to like to play with my hair.

The Lleial part of the camp was set apart from the rest and farthest from the keep. Unlike the other camp, which was a mix of tents, lean-tos and shacks, there were only leather tents here. Most of them were old, ragged and heavily patched, runes, symbols and pictures in faded paint gave a hint of what they had looked like in better times.