By now one could hope for some sense from this.
But where?

So there we were in the bed enjoying ourselves. After some tender lovemaking Evelyn felt asleep again, but I who felt as I always do after making love, as if infused with a huge amount of energy, found myself getting restless, I looked at the window. Exactly as the room it was set in a beautiful octagonal shape, I went up to take a closer look. Looking out I saw a cold windy morning and looking down it seemed as if it had snowed an awful lot. The few ragged clouds I saw up in the sky seemed to hold a promise of even more snow as they swept past the house. Standing there looking up I somehow got the impression that I was standing on a large ships bridge, traveling majestically through a gray windswept sky. Looking to the horizon I could barely see the peaks of the Broken Hills mountain range from where the clouds seemed to come, they were so far away that they almost seemed imaginary to me.

Suddenly I felt the imminent need to refresh myself so I went out to find a bathroom. There was one not to far from our room, so after relieving myself I had a good wash too and brushed my teeth, you know, all those thing one should do, and even do at times, if one remembers that is. There were even unused toothbrushes, so it seemed as if people visiting and staying in those guest rooms were a common situation. But I didn't find my breath to have become any better though, Before mine brushing I mean. So I don't really think that the girls last weave at the doorway worked as they had planned. Even though it still was a very good idea I admit, walking back to the room I tried to be as quiet as possible. Well inside I found myself a chair and sat down to just watch my girl. Before her life had only seemed a struggle, all just to keep my head above the waters, and I had been on the edge of giving up. Thanks to her life once more had a purpose and magic.

She seemed so innocent and sweet to me as she slept, with a satisfied quirk to her lips, as if she was a cat who at last had found out where the cream was. I wondered was she was dreaming of. Could it be me perhaps? I crept under the sheets to find out, and snuggled into her to sweep her into my arms. "Did you know that you are mine." I whispered in one little rosy ear. "All mine, and that I'll never let you go." She opened one eye to stare me down most imperially, the color of it slowly changing from a blue to deep green as the light from the window started to touch it. "How can I ever forget it baby, if you never give me a chance?" She answered coolly. "So much mischief that you put me through already." Then she shook her head as if trying to shake away the cobwebs, and relenting slightly she hugged me back.

"But I forgive you sweetiepie." She whispered. "You do kind of grow on me baby." She smiled as she now opened both eyes and I feeling as if I was loosing myself inside their pools of ethereal light kept on soaring inside them for what seemed as an eternity. In the end having to close my own so not too allowing the feeling to overwhelm me. "You do know that I love you Evelyn?" I said, as I held her. "Don't ever leave." "Oh baby, I won't" She promised and there I felt as if a yoke had been lifted from my shoulders. "Oh, baby." She said, suddenly sounding very businesslike. "It's time to get up now, come on lazybones, get a move on." When I told her that I already had done so and just had snuggled back because she was too inviting, looking at her sleeping, she smiled a most self-satisfied smile asserting to my good taste. But then she went up anyway, saying "Well, I haven't, so be a good boy and wait here while I get myself ready."

Putting on a dressing gown she stopped in the doorway. "And don't get into any mischief either." she admonished as she moved to the bathroom. Well, from being on my own to being with a woman who at times seemed to see herself as my mother. It was kind of strange but if that was what it took to keep Evelyn happy then that was a cheap price I thought. People, as we well know is never static, we change all the time, we act in one way at work, another with our friends and yet a third way with our love. It is much in the same way as we say one thing meaning another and ending up doing a third, we sure seem to make a mess of things, but, on the other tentacle, it seems to be that way we want it to be too.

When she came back all rosy, smelling of soap and woman, I had no choice. Dressed as she was in only her dressing gown I found it quite easy to convince her to my ideas merit, and so it was that it took a little more time before we finally got dressed and could walk down to the kitchen. Why we went there? Well, we were hungry, and a kitchen is a very nice place to start your day in if you are so inclined. There was a spread of different stuff served on the table, even more stuff than yesterday with Tea and honey, cheese and olives, some different sausages and roasted meet, thick crusty bread, vegetables and soup. All waiting for me primarily.

Well, if you have to be picky about it there was Evelyn too of course, as well as a assorted assembly of beings from yesterday, but now with a new sprinkling of younger looking 'people' inserted. Everything from four-footed cats eating fish and speaking with a strangely purring sound, whom I freely admit to look more like animals than sentient beings to my eyes, to blue colored gentle giants. Evelyn seemed to take it much in her stride but too me it was still quite a shock to the system. The two months I had been here I had mostly spent inside after all, and a little around Evelyn's home, but never faring long from there. After all I had been growing up you know, and it also had been a very cold winter and... Okay, ok. So maybe I'm lazy. What can I say, it's in my nature. Some people are black, right, others are white. Well, I'm lazy, and, depending on circumstances, at times yellow.

But it was warm and cozy and from the wood stove over there came those delicious smells of bread baking in the oven as well as the smell of pinewood burning. So I just laid myself back and started to lay in, so to speak. I know that I eat fast, but no matter what jealous people say. I do not eat as a pig, More like a caterpillar if anything, ah, the larger kind that would be by the way. So I was having the time of my life there stuffing myself up to my ears, as well as checking out some of the most exotic people I ever had seen before. That's when Jéena came in, she seemed rather tired but after collecting some fruit, biscuits and a cup of tea she went directly to us. "Hi" she said brightly. "I had a heck of a time waking up this morning" she told us as she nipped at some biscuit.

"But you know, hearing some crazy people going at it was almost like having your very own alarm clock." And now she gave Evelyn a most hearty expansive smile. "You have such a lovely voice." She said as Evelyn, as well as I, started blushing. Soon enough we had to move back to the council chamber. There the windows shimmered and laid out an mosaic of colors on the rooms interior. And the big fireside burning some aromatic wood made the air a joy to breathe. I quite preferred to be here in daylight than in nighttime I discovered as I sat down to listen. Alphonz who waited until the last person had came in now stood up. "Yesternight." He said. "Before we got interrupted," Here he politely bowed towards us three.

"I said that we were going to discuss the crux of the matter. Well it's time now to do so and I would like to let Master Cumely start with relating what news he has found at the borders" Here a deeply tanned man, rugged and powerful looking stood up to bow at us. He was not very tall or broad, more of a sinewy strength and seemed fleet of foot as well. "Lately there have been strange tidings coming in from the borders" he started. "As some of you know it is my privilege to supervise our borders, to my help I have a loose gathering of fellows and paid informers that keeps me up to date. Our work is at its essence a most necessary one, I don't think I have to remind any of you of the feud of thirty-three where Elfling's fought and died for two years before any settlement was found."

He now slowly looked around with a faraway look to his weather-bitten face. "It is to stop us from once more being taken by surprise that I and those who are with me freely have chosen to be so far from home and hearth. Ours is no thankful task and not many care, but we are still needed. Best it would be if we never was, but such is not our case." Now he opened a cylindrical bag, nicely made of leather, out of witch he picked up what looked like a map that he proceeded with hanging on the wall. It was somewhat peculiar, in its middle there was if I read right Elfland and from its border came other territories some of them named in Elfian but most marked in other scripts.

He made a weave as he finished with his unrolling of it on the wall and suddenly the map seemed to came to life, what had been a blurry not so well drawn map now became both sharp as well as three-dimensional. He stepped some way from it so that we all could get a good look on it and then pointed to the north border, that was the one where the Broken Hills mountain range was situated too. "From here they started first, they were rumors of new and strange beasts coming from the Hinterlands roaming and destroying without purpose or goal. Also it was said that somehow the very ground there were becoming unraveled as if distances and paths no longer was in tune with common sense. I sent some of my best men and women into those lands to find what could be found." He paused looking distressed.

"Alas, only a very few of them ever came back, amongst them was young Adrien Silbertongue." Here he bowed at one of the Cat persons relaxing on a fine rug in front of the hearth. "Adrien, would you please tell us what you found." Adrien stretched a little trying to loose up his aching muscles, before he raised himself on his hindlegs, he looked as if he preferred to be on all four, but he seemed to have no problem moving like this either. He pointed to the border making a weave with his spotted tail. Suddenly the Hinterlands came forth expanded to a great degree, looking at it one could almost discern single objects like trees and what looked like animals living there. In some ways it felt like a satellite-footage but in real three-D. To my geeky eyes this was immensely and extremely cool, I loved it.

Adrien started to speak. "As I first came into the Hinterlands I felt that something was wrong. As you probably know we are tied to the land with strong bounds and what the land sense so do we. The Hinterlands are in pain, and as Seer Cumely already told you there seems to be something twisting the lands very fabric. Time itself seemed to lose its properties as I went further into it. There were stretches of it that I know that I traversed for what to me seemed to be weeks. Coming out of them though I sometimes found my travel to have taken only hours, and another time it was a whole year lost in there while I on my side could have sworn to it taking no more than a couple of days. Magic like none of us have meet before."

Listening I got his feeling as if I recognized and somehow had an inkling towards what the problem might be. Which I found strange. I mean what possibly could, ah, Mundania with its science have to do with this so obviously magical Land? And me thinking I understood some laws here better than those living here made no sense to me. But I still had that feeling, almost like a premonition that I knew? Adrien continued. "After wandering around for quite some time without being able to find my way out of the Hinterlands I saw one of those creatures that they were talking about. I can not describe it to you, it was as if there was the absence of light that was revealing it." He thought some more and then said.

"I saw it best by what not was there if you see what I mean. As if it could obscure or even immaterialize itself, and whatever it touched dissolved into oblivion, there was nothing left where it went. I have no better word for what happened and I didn't dare wait for it to come nearer. I started to flee as far away from it that I could. I'm no beginner when it comes to magic but what I saw this creature do has no likeness to any magic I ever seen or heard of. I still don't know how I found my way out from there and I fear that at some point I loosed my mind as the days after my sighting of are just a blur to me." Here Adrien bowed and went back to his rug to once more relax and enjoy the warmth.

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Peering into times dark abyss

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I found that I couldn't hold my tongue any longer. "Alphonz, Sire, if you don't mind. There is something about those strange ways of the Hinterland that I seem to recognize." Adrien who almost had seemed to fall asleep at his rug now looked at me with renewed interest. He lazily asked. "Interesting, so what are you then? A boy sorcerer perhaps?" He purred amused. "No Sire." I answered. "I'm a Mundanian Sire." And proud of it too I wanted to say, but at best that would have been a truth with liabilities, soo, I didn't. Now Adrien's head sunk down between his fore legs again as he muttered to himself. "Oh, one of those." Sounding slightly disappointed as he seemed to fall asleep again. I felt myself starting to redden but Alphonz seemed to take me more seriously.

"Is that so?" he said. "Good, but before we take that discussion Joe, would you mind if we continued with what we have found out so far." I calmed down somewhat and sat myself down again answering. "No sire, of course not." Jéena who sat beside me to the right whispered to me. "And don't you forget your portends." Portends I thought confused? "What portends?" I asked. "Your dreams, silly" answered Evelyn to my left. Somehow I felt like those two were starting to team up on me. It was a little scary as well as exhilarating to see them fuse together, like seeing the evil twins getting born I thought. Now both seemed peeved with me? I got the feeling that I had been right after all, they both could read minds! "No I can't silly." Said Evelyn. "That's totally true." Said Jéena.

"Hah! I only thought it. You can read my mind!" I said to Evelyn. "No you didn't." Answered Jéena. "You only thought you thought! Silly." laughed Evelyn now. I just knew it I thought, those girls are going to give me a headache. "No we're not." said Jéena, and then Evelyn asked me stop "talking so loud." As she was kind enough to explain in a very sweet voice "there was people here trying to listen to the serious discussion". "You know. Listening to…" Whispered Jéena in my other ear. "Grown ups!" Evelyn started to laugh. By now those two had succeeded in getting me so riled that I decided to not say another word to either of them, ever. And Evelyn could forget any cuddling for this year at last, and Jéena too, I thought. "What!" Said Evelyn looking at me suspiciously.

"I knew it!" I said. "You are listening in, admit it." I concluded triumphantly. "Of course I am silly." She answered. "To the real discussion." As she nodded to Alphonz who were having a discussion with Master Liam. Now Jéena had started to snicker at me too. Well girls I thought bitterly, as the proverb say, while giving them both my best 'evil eye'. 'Two wrongs don't make a right'. And boy, did I ever have two wrongs here, one on each side, I smirked. "So true" said Evelyn. "And they do definitely not make you right." crowed Jéena who now was openly gloating. By now I felt seriously fed up with them both so I moved away to a comfortable looking chair in the corner, deciding to just ignore any further interrupts from those airheaded geese.

Then I happened to look at Evelyn and seeing her hurt expression I went back mumbling something about needing to "stretch my legs." Seeing how Evelyn opened her arms to let me into her embrace calmed me down considerably. Didn't she know that I loved her? "Oh we do" muttered Jéena while smiling at me. But this time her smile seemed quite complimentary. As I tried to listen in to Alphonz it didn't seem as if we had missed so much anyway. And now Alphonz said that he thought we should take a tea break, which to my ears sounded like a perfect idea, especially as the smell of freshly made warm scones came wandering in from that treasure of treasures, the kitchen. "Come on" I said impatiently. "There is scones." And maybe there will be jam too I thought hoping for the best. "Oh, boys and their scones." Laughed Jéena, but this time I didn't care a jota for what she said, we had to hurry here, that blue giant could probably eat them all by himself. "Okay lady." I said as I took off fast as a three-stage rocket into that enchanted kitchen. "Don't blame me, blame yourself if there is no scones left." I sniggered as I mentally prepared myself for the feast.