Time Under Chaos | TimeUnderChaos / Aegea Before Beauty

Index | Time Under Chaos | Game Logs | Aegea Before Beauty

Clytemnestra stumbled as she stepped into the temple vestibule, the rainbow light flaring and vanishing around Petra and herself. She caught herself against one of the columns, and gratefully lowered herself to a marble bench. A mild breeze from the glorious sunlight day outside carried the scent of the sea, and her face relaxed somewhat under its ministrations.

Petra hovered, ready to catch her if needed. But once it was clear she wasn't about to tumble off the bench, the brunette stepped back to give Clytemnestra breathing room.

A smiling, golden-skinned youth in a short white robe approached from inside the temple. "Welcome to the temple of..." he began enthusiastically, but then fell to his knees with a cry of delight. "Goddess! You grace us again with your presence! How can we serve you?" His head was lowered to the floor, but he kept glancing up at Ness and her companion through his curly brown locks.

Arching an eyebrow, Petra refused to laugh. She had heard of the Family doing such things, but this was the first time she had actually witnessed it. She turned her attention to taking in the Temple itself.

"Prepare my chambers, Nicias," Clytemnestra replied, in a tone that was gentle and soothing, but nonetheless a command. "For myself and my guest." She managed to keep most of the fatigue from her voice, and sat with an attitude suggesting languor rather than exhaustion. She had wiped her face dry.

"At once, Goddess!" He stood, quickly gave Petra a look that might have been a mixture of admiration and envy, and ran back into the temple. Sounds of bustling activity began within.

The vestibule was decorated with numerous statues, reliefs, and tapestries, all of them unabashedly erotic. Satyrs capered after dryads, nymphs sported together, youths wooed maidens and each other. Even the wall sconces were carved with fertility symbols.

"This is lovely," Petra offered after a moment of just the environmental sounds of the world around them. She tilted her head to better sort out exactly what was going on in the tapestry she was studying. "No need to ask what you're the Goddess //of//...."

Ness smiled a tired smile.

Petra returned to stand near the bench and study Ness unabashedly. "I have questions, but they can wait until you have rested."

"Thank you," Ness murmured. She already looked less hysterical, as if the familiar setting had restored her equilibrium. "Time flows faster here than Amber, so resting won't cost so much. But I don't mean to stop here. I intend merely to nap, to recover enough energy to call the Pattern once more. Then we can go another shadow I know, where we can take a week off and be back in Amber in time for breakfast. So it's urgent that you only let me sleep for one hour." After a moment she added, in a whisper, "Please."

Petra gave her a dubious look, but nodded. "Si. Un ora."

Nicias returned before much longer, and led them through the temple. The main temple area was decked with fresh flowers, and scented with incense and perfume. A decorative fountain did not quite cover the sounds of pleasure coming from numerous curtained alcoves. He stopped before a golden door, opened it before them, and closed it after the ladies had passed within.

Inside was a private chamber of opulent softness. Thick rugs covered the floors, barely visible between cushions and couches. A buffet along one wall held a bounty of food and drink, especially various kinds of fruit. Petra could hear the gentle strumming of a stringed instrument, though no performer was present in the room. A steaming copper bath, large enough for two to bathe in comfort, sat in a corner, surrounded with luxurious towels.

Ness locked the door before throwing herself down on a couch. "An hour: no more. In the meantime, please make yourself comfortable. As my guest, you have only to ask, and my acolytes will provide." Her eyes closed, and in one last mumble she added, "Anything you desire."

Petra eyed her sleeping form and mumbled, "I doubt that very much."

She moved quietly around the room, stopped to pour herself a glass of wine, and then settled herself on another couch to wait out an hour and just enjoy a moment's peace after the insane 48 hours that had gone before. She was certainly too wired herself to even think about sleep.

Judging by her internal clock that enough time had passed, Petra put her glass back on the table and went over to wake Ness. She was almost reluctant to wake her. But she wanted to get back to Amber as soon as possible. She reached down laid a hand on the blonde's shoulder to nudge her.

"Ness. It's time to get moving."

In the end it took a few more attempts, and much more vigor, to awaken the sleeping Clytemnestra, but she did eventually come awake. She stretched luxuriously as she looked about, apparently taking a moment or two to remember where she was. When her gaze met Petra's, she smiled. The short nap appeared to have done her a world of good.

"Thank you!" she said. "I can't think when I've needed that more. Not even that time with the twenty...but never mind that now." She stood gracefully and made her way to the sideboard. She poured herself a glass of wine, and then fiddled with the underside of the table. A long, thin drawer emerged from the edge of the table, with numerous vials of powders and tinctures. "I'm not yet fully recovered, but I think I can make myself a pick-me-up that will keep me going. I think I prefer that to calling up the Pattern again right now." She selected several vials and mixed their contents with her wine. She called over her shoulder to her guest, "I could make one for you too, if you like. It's actually rather tasty, and not at all addictive provided you do eventually stop to sleep."

"No thank you," Petra replied. "I'm fine for now." She sat on a couch and made herself comfortable again. "Do what you need to do." She watched the other woman in silence for a moment. "Did you understand what Flora was talking about when she explained where she thought Helena was? Is Tir what's keeping the Sidhe back?"

Ness sipped her concoction and sprinkled some of the vials into the bathtub, which still steamed though no source of continued heat was evident. "I have no idea," she replied. "I'd never heard of the Sidhe before. I've been to Tir many times, and seen some very strange things there, but I have always attributed them to the ghostly shadows that dwell there. Perhaps I'd seen other things as well and not known the difference."

Petra nodded silently. It sounded plausible. She'd never heard of the Sidhe either outside of Sorcha's collection of folklore.

She dropped her robe to the floor and began unselfconsciously peeling off the black formfitting garment she wore beneath it, which looked nothing like pajamas. "Something very strange happened when I was there just now, though. When I arrived at the top of the stairs, I heard music. I didn't see anyone, but this music came from everywhere, and it was like a fanfare, celebrating my arrival. I can't recall ever hearing anything at all in Tir before, it's usually this silent, pallid cloudscape. Maybe it was different because of Tir's untimely appearance, I don't know. I wanted to stay and investigate, but at that point noticed that a cloud was about to hide the moon�apparently your brother's doing�and I had to get back through the lens to somewhere solid so I could catch my sister when the stairs vanished. Only it didn't work out that way. I hope... I hope someone else caught her instead." Having finally removed the last of the bodysuit, she hurled forcefully it against the wall.

She flashed a rueful smile at her guest and said, "Damn, it's good to finally be out of that thing." She slipped off a tiny undergarment and, holding her delicate nose, toppled backwards into the tub. So great was the splash that Petra felt some of the droplets from where she sat.

The brunette didn't seem to notice as she set there fingering the jewel around her neck. She did live and work on a boat after all, so a little water wasn't going to send her into a panic. "Not that I know your sister, but she seems the type to be very resourceful. I'm sure she's fine. What of her companion? Was she not with her?"

Ness reclined in the tub, running her fingers through her wet hair. "I'm sorry to say you know my sister as well as I do at this point. Today...er, yesterday...is the first I've seen her since we were four. She does seem to know how to wield sharp pointy things admirably, but that won't stop everything. As for Amba, she wasn't on the stairs. Unless she's in that cage in Flora's room, I don't know where she went. For all I know she's the one that put Helena in Helgram's clutches in the first place."

"And now Father's hurt, and missing, and I thought I overheard something at dinner about Mom being hurt too, and damn, I just, I just don't know what to do about any of it." A note of rising panic was creeping into her voice again. She took a deep breath and totally submerged herself.

Petra frowned at this information about Fiona. Things were quickly unraveling, it seemed. She was no strategist, but even she could see the disasterous end if some of these fires were not put out.

It was while she was under the water that the messenger emerged from the shadows and came to stand at a little distance, giving a nervous cough to signal his presence.

Petra's attention snapped to the intruder. She glanced over to make sure the door was still closed and rose to her feet, moving to put herself between the tub and the unknown person. "Can I help you?" she asked silkily.

The figure moved into full light, stepping daintily...and then Petra saw why. He stepped not on human feet but delicate little hooves, like those of a goat. And as her eyes lifted...he was not wearing trousers, just thick, dark, curly hair on his legs and...

The whole was surmounted by one of the most beautiful faces even Petra had ever seen, a boy with sulky lips that curved in a sensuous pout, and dark, laughing eyes.

"I have a message to the Goddess of Love from my master, the great god Pan," he said. "Are you her handmaiden?"

His eyes appraised Petra slowly, thoroughly and quite, quite wantonly.

(OOC: no-one in Aegea has ever seen Pan; he's a legend of the male principle, as Ness represents the female).

Ness still lay silent below the water in the bathtub, apparently unaware that anyone had joined them.

She started to correct him, then stopped. Her eyebrow curled and a smile worked its way through. She waited until his eyes were once again on her face. "You might say that. I do not believe I have ever been so thoroughly undressed while remaining clothed," she purred.

"Do you need to deliver your message to her personally?"

He tilted his head on one side. "I could deliver it to her handmaiden," he allowed. "If I were suitably rewarded."

His smile left no doubt as to what the reward should be.

She let her eyes roam freely over him again, her admiration very clear. But then she smiled again. "Perhaps another time," she said with a wistful sigh. She didn't wish to offend him by explaining that, well, he had hooves. Petra was very liberal minded, but that was a bit much for her.

Petra turned and went over to the tub, reaching a hand into the water to shake Ness from her reverie and tug her to the surface. "You have a messenger, Great One."

Ness broke the surface, gasping for air, and wiping the water from her face and hair. It took her a moment to notice the messenger. She started for just a moment, then turned to Petra with an arched eyebrow. "Make a new friend?" she asked.

Petra grinned as she shook out a thick towel for Ness. "An interesting place you have here, I have to admit. This is Pan's messenger."

Ness looked the messenger over, without rising from the tub. She withheld any hint of emotion from her face, save, perhaps, a trace of aloofness. "Ah. Greetings, messenger. Are you aware how dangerous it is to disturb a goddess in her bath? There are many precedents, and they generally end unpleasantly. I do not wish to create an incident between myself and Pan, but you will knock next time, or Pan will need a new messenger. Now, deliver your message." She took her goblet from the adjacent table and finished the rest of her concoction.

The messenger smiled at her winningly. "But what a cause to die for, great goddess! My name would live on in song and legend and all should envy me for what sights I have seen... "

He raised his hands placatingly. "But to my message. Great Pan would meet you in the Wood at the World's End, for he has seen the one who wears your lovely face...and in a place he did not look to see her."

Ness erupted from the tub, bounded across the room, and embraced the messenger fiercely.

Petra leaned back against the table and observed. If true, that was one concern they could take care of.

The satyr was grinning broadly, his spirits considerably raised (and that was not the only thing considerably raised, either).

"So will you meet my Master?" he asked Ness, his voice slightly muffled by a cloud of blond hair. But over her shoulder he was watching Petra lasciviously too.

Petra just smiled and entertained the idea of inviting him to come work for her. Aura would just love this guy, she suspected.

"Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!" Ness said, scrambling about the room. She dried herself before dressing in leather leggings and tunic and vest suitable for riding. She stashed a few things from hidden drawers into pouches on her belt, which also bore a pair of sai and a thin tube of dark metal. She was fully attired in roughly seven minutes, though she was still brushing out her damp hair when she said "Lead on, messenger!"

Looking around for anything else that might need attention before departure, Clytemnestra's eyes fell upon her guest. "Oh! Petra, I'm so sorry, I've been a terrible hostess. And I'm sure you're worried about your people, and I understand if you want to get back to them. But I don't know what I'll find in the wood, and it would be good to have a friend there. I can provide you with whatever you want to wear."

Petra turned from smirking at the satyr with a look of mild surprise at the sound of her name. She made a dismissive gesture at the apology, but she was clearly concerned still with her ship and her people.

"I'd also like the opportunity to talk with you as we travel. You've now, briefly, seen my establishment, though I'm sorry you haven't had time to truly experience it. I haven't yet been able to visit yours: I've been interested for some time, but I've been trying to keep up appearances for Aunt Flora's sake. I'd like to learn more about the Ramblin' Queen. I think there are interesting possibilities for information exchange, or perhaps more."

"Merlin is already unhappy with me, I would be doing myself no favors by leaving, and I would fret about abandoning you if I returned now." She pushed herself off the table she had been leaning against and kicked off her shoes. "You have been understandably preoccupied, but now that you mention it, I would love a change of clothes before we go tromping through the underbrush."

"Merlin unhappy with you? I never would have guessed. Apart from Morgan, I always thought you were his favorite. As for tromping, I think we can avoid that. If you have the means, why don't you check in with your people while I gather you some things."

"Graci," her guest nodded and pulled her Trump case from its hiding place.

Ness stuck her head out the door and found Nicias, who had apparently been waiting there since he'd escorted them in. "Nicias dear," she said sweetly, "Saddle up a pair of horses for myself and my guest. Oh, and bring those boots from lost and found, I think they'll fit my guest nicely. And you needn't pout so, I'll see to your needs before we leave, but you must hurry."

Over her shoulder to Petra she said with a grin, "People are always leaving bits of clothing here, I can't imagine what comes over them."

"I am certain the Spirit moves them," Petra responded grandly. "Certainly the decor is inspirational."

Turning to the satyr, she said, "And you can wait out in the vestibule. You've already had one free show, you can give my guest some privacy while I see her suitably attired."

Looking down at her fanned out Trumps, Petra chuckled. It was hardly necessary to clear the room on her account.

The satyr pouted prettily but withdrew, not without some backward glances which gave the impression that things could be much, much more interesting if they let him remain.

Petra watched him walk away out of the corner of her eye. Her humorous consideration of earlier was turning into an actual idea. She went back to her cards. Most anyone she called was going to have a splitting headache they would not thank her for, and would leave them at less then 100%. Petra sighed and selected a card before putting the rest back in their silver case.

Nicias returned with a selection of boots and other garments as well. It was quite eclectic (Petra could have arrayed herself in any style, from a warrior queen in a leather bikini to being encased in a heavy silken burka with even her eyes covered by a veil�and all stages between the two).

Petra's dress was discarded to a couch before she started going through the offerings. Tempting as leather bikinis were, they were not very practical. Slim fitting leather leggings, boots, and a soft poet shirt were donned as they were selected.. She thanked Nicias with a dazzling smile before turning to Ness.

Ness had watched Petra appreciatively for a moment, then seemed to recall that she'd said something about her guest's privacy. When Petra finished, Ness was lying back on a couch with her eyes closed, apparently squeezing in a few more minutes of rest, but Petra noticed that the couch selected was facing toward where she'd been dressing.

"I think I will take a moment to call the ship. It gives them a headache, but after tonight, I am sure they all have one already. I will not be long." She withdrew to the side of the room and focused on the card in hand.

"Go right ahead," Ness said. "Nicias, come over here. I'll see to you now. You'll have to apologize for me to the others, I just don't have time."

But Ness had a little time, while Petra was engaged on a trump call...

After a few minutes, Petra finished her quiet conversation and returned the card to her case before glancing over to see if Ness was done dealing with her altar boy�or whatever his official title was.

Nicias lay on the couch, quite naked, with a thoroughly satisfied smile upon his sleeping face. Clytemnestra was pulling her riding boots back on. She pulled a light blanket over the youth, kissed him on the cheek, and turned back to the brunette. "Ready?" she asked. Her ice-blue eyes sparkled.

Petra smirked. "To go traipsing after a satyr in search of the Great God Pan? As I'll ever be."

As they left Clytemnestra's chambers, the pair were greeted by a crowd of temple acolytes. They were male and female, pale and dark, youths and matrons, but all possessed of unusual beauty, and all clamoring for a blessing from their goddess. Ness smiled and walked through the crowd, touching, hugging, or kissing each in turn, and in response each fell trembling to the floor. By the time they reached the satyr in the vestibule, Clytemnestra seemed more energized than Petra had yet seen her, radiant in a nearly literal sense.

As they mounted the horses prepared for them, Petra could see that the temple was built on a seaside cliff, with the beach perhaps a hundred feet below. Gulls wheeled and cried in a perfect sunlit sky, marred only by a storm out over a distant peninsula. Ness pointed to a statue on the beach, and told her companion, "That's where I first arrived in Aegea when I was a young woman. That's why they built the temple here."

They rode along the cliff, following the capering satyr past fields of grain as the land rose. When the fields gave way to olive plantations and vineyards they turned inland, and the foliage grew wilder as the sound and smell of the sea faded behind them. Soon they rode through a scrubby wood around the base of a mountain. When their path led through a clearing full of blood-red anemones, Clytemnestra called a halt. She dismounted, and kneeling reverently, picked a single flower and wove it into her golden curls. When they rode on she was more subdued.

Eventually they left all signs of human habitation behind. They rode a deer track between trees like pillars, lit by shafts of gold and emerald light that pierced the distant canopy. A continual descant of songbirds completed the cathedral effect.

The path seemed straight and clear enough, but after a while it began to twist and turn, and the trees grew darker. They were climbing upward, too, and through the gaps in the trees, they could see that the crown of the hill seemed to have a crown of its own�an open space, girded and guarded by tall trees.

When they were still some two hundred yards away, the satyr who had run tirelessly beside the horses throughout, stopped them.

"You must dismount here," he said, "and go further on foot." He cast an appraising eye over their practical clothes and gave a little chuckle, "You are not attired to please Pan, but perhaps he will overlook it."

Having ridden this far in silence while listening to Ness and admiring her surroundings, Petra rolled her eyes at the satyr and chuckled. "I am much too fond of my own delicate hide to go romping through strange woods barefoot and naked." She dismounted and moved to the front of her mount to remove the bit from its mouth so it was free to graze. "And Her Glory over there dresses to please Herself."

"As I do all other things," Ness said, sliding down from her horse. "And yet somehow I still manage to please others as well. It's a gift." She patted the horse's neck as she removed its bit, and it shivered as if to emphasize her point.

She turned to the satyr. "Lead on...say, do you have a name, or should I just call you Billy?"

The satyr laughed. "You can call me Robin, if you like. That name I bore long ago. Come."

And he trotted off ahead of them on a narrower path that led even deeper into the woods that seemed to press closer as they climbed the hill, pressing about them with a heady green scent of sap and power together.

And then they were in the clearing, and Robin was bowing extravagantly before a tall dark figure, dressed in garments that looked like green shadows dappling his form, with little cloven hooves instead of feet (although not the goat legs of Robin), and small creamy horns on his head just protruding from his dark curly hair.

"Child of Artemis," he greeted Clytemnestra. Then his hot gaze fell on Petra and his lips curved in the most sensuous of smiles. "And you've brought your sweetest nymph, too."

Ness quirked an eyebrow at Pan's choice of appellation, but curtsied with passing grace in her practical riding garments. "Great Pan, thank you for contacting me. I am most interested in hearing what you saw, and seeing where you saw it." Gesturing at her companion, she added, "This lovely creature is our distant cousin Petra, child of silver-handed Tyr of the northlands. She has volunteered to help me find my sister, and I am most grateful to her." She flashed Petra a smile.

Petra returned her smile with one of her own. Then she turned to Pan and bestowed upon him her most dazzling of smiles. "The Great Horned One is too kind. I haven't been called 'sweet' since I was a wee lass."

"Mmmmm," said Pan, with lazy appreciation of her charms. "All the honey, and embedded bee stings too for the unwary."

Then he turned back to Clytemnestra. "Tell me, Goddess, who is this Other who wears your face? Is she your darker aspect? The Goddess of Fear to counter the Goddess of Love?"

Ness laughed. "No, Great Pan, there is no fear in her. As my twin sister, her domain is that other great human passion, War, which can have a deadly beauty of its own. We were separated long ago, but we had a brief reunion yesterday before she was taken from me again. I would be grateful if you could guide us to where you saw her."

"That," said Pan thoughtfully, "would be both difficult and not without peril. For the realm she is in lies beyond this reality, and the dwellers have ways very different. Can you set all you know and love aside to follow me?"

"If you saw correctly, what which I love most is already in that realm, and I have been forced to set her aside far too long already. I am prepared for peril, and I will learn new ways. I will do whatever is necessary to be with her again."

Ness turned to Petra. "You came to watch over me while I recovered, and that has been done, so you can tell His Majesty that you did what he required. I have no right to ask you to continue on with me. But if you are willing, I would be glad of your help."

Petra turned from being amused by Robin to study Ness. "I am fair certain he meant for me to stay until your...quest was completed." She paused briefly before continuing. "Vincenzo knows who can contact me if he needs to, and I will check on them later. Truthfully, while I have no idea what help I can be to you, there is really nothing I could do on the ship but worry and fret."

"I will stay."

"Then we should go to my home and prepare to travel," said Pan. "But before we do...are there people who you wish to tell of your plans?" He looked thoughtfully at Petra. "When the seal was set in place, it was intended that no messages should cross to and fro, The places would be forever sundered."

Petra frowned. "Well, that's certainly inconvenient. How are we to get there and back if it is sealed so thoroughly?"

"I can bring you," said Pan smugly.

Then he frowned. "Although," he conceded, "there must be another way. For I did not bring She-Who-Wears-the-Face-of-the-Goddess to the realm. And yet she is there."

"I suspect she came there through Selene's domain," Ness said, "though a path is only open at certain times. I have no wish to wait for it to open again. We will take your way, Great Pan, if you will lead us."

She turned to Robin. "I know it is wrong to shoot the messenger," she said, "but surely there is no harm in rewarding him. I thank you, Robin, for bringing me closer to my sister." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, and released just a little of her power through the contact.

Robin was left reeling, dazed but happy.

"And you have a sister too," he said incorrigibly. "Oh my. Do give her my best regards, goddess, when you find her. And my address. Any song sung in the greenwood should find me, if it's bawdy enough."

Pan smiled.

"For this first part of the journey," he said, "we must change our forms. Do either of you have that power?"

Ness glanced at Petra, and then back at Pan, dubious. "What forms did you have in mind? I'm particularly fond of this one, and I'd like it back afterward if at all possible."

Petra's expression didn't waiver, though her posture did stiffen slightly. "Why?"

"Our presence as humans or satyrs or fauns or nymphs would not go unnoticed," said Pan, "and all would be resented. But I am the horned god, and I have power over all horned creatures save one. But with me in my stag form, with two of my does, we should cross the barrier without exciting attention."

Petra apparently had some very strong notions about the idea of being a deer, but she didn't get farther then appearing as if she were about to interject...

At this moment, Petra began to feel the tug of a trump.

The Cornaron blew a breath out between her teeth. "Pardon me, Horned One," Petra said graciously.

Glancing at Ness, Petra tapped the silver Trump case clipped to her waistband as she turned so that all that was visible behind her was trees.

Ness waited to see what outcome the trump call would have on the situation, pondering what it would like to be a deer, and how to stop being a deer once it was no longer necessary.

"Tell me more of this sister who means so much to you," said Pan to Nessa. "For you've never come to visit my woods before."

"I've never been invited before," she replied, somewhat coyly. "But as for my sister, I haven't much to say. We had a happy childhood together, and she was my first, closest friend. We learned to talk by finishing each other's sentences. But I don't know her now. We've been apart for so long, I don't know if, if we'll still like each other. All I know is that I feel like a part of my soul has been torn from me for most of my life, and I want it back, whether it still fits or not."

She eyed him shrewdly. "But I tell you too much. I'm glad you contacted me, but likewise surprised. You and I haven't been close, Horned One. Is there something you hope to gain in this?"

He spread his arms wide and smiled. "What could Pan hope to gain from the Goddess of Love?"

"Love means different things to different people and in different contexts. I'm not the goddess of Sexual Favors in Exchange for Services Rendered, though in this case my need is great, and I would agree to that. Alternatively, your help could gain you my friendship, and I do love my friends, in a variety of contexts. I can only grant one or the other. Which would you prefer?"

"No," said Pan, "you wrong me. There are many was in which the goddess of Love might work with Nature..."

At which point he sensed he was losing her attention.

~Si?~

"Petra?" said Merlin, his usual bored, urbane tone. Then his voice changed abruptly. "What the hell are you doing in a forest?"

~Thinking of having my nails done,~ Petra responded flatly. ~Honestly, Merlin, I am doing what you asked me to do. Aegea is very pastoral. Ness is all rested up and ready to follow up on a lead she was just given by Pan.~

"By whom?" Merlin demanded. "I sent the pair of you off to sybaritic temples and solicitous nymphs for a couple of hours, not to turn into a couple of Maenads!"

Petra's eyebrow curled slowly upwards. ~Pan,~ she replied calmly. ~The male aspect of Ness's Goddess persona in this place. I know you are under quite a bit of pressure, Merlin, but please try and calm down. Ness did make it plain before we left that she was going to be seeking Helena as soon as possible.~

"From Amber," said Merlin. "With as many of us as possible working together to help you. Not with the pair of you racing off into Shadow Woods with the first nature god who gives you a glad eye."

~I beg your pardon?~ Petra scowled. ~I assure you, fun for me this is not. I am one of the last people that would choose to go running off into the woods and cavort with Nature Gods. Satyrs are not high on my List of Things to Do Before I Die. But you told me to go with Ness, so I go.~

Her expression changed to one of concern. ~Did Vikund find Delluth and Mandor?~

"He found Delluth," said Merlin. "Who says he sent Mandor to Chaos to receive treatment. As yet, he has not produced him, or opened up a line of contact. That's our next move..."

Petra gaped at him in disbelief. "Che? He what? I am so sorry, Merlin. He did not look stupido, or I would not have sent him with Mandor. Dio Santos...."

Overhearing her father's name, Ness whirled to Petra. "What? Sent who with Father? Where is he?"

"Yes, well," said Merlin, "I suspect we'll both be more than sorry if Mandor is dead..."

Petra reached out a hand in Ness' direction. "I suspect you are correct," she said to Merlin. "In retrospect, I should have sent him to the castle. But when I couldn't get through to you�and with everything else that was happening at the time�getting him away from the Pattern seemed like the best idea. I am sorry events unfolded as they did."

Ness took Petra's hand and joined in the contact.

Merlin hesitated, and then nodded.

"Look, cara," he said. "Thing are as dangerous as all hell here�you may be better off out of it�you and Ness both. As for being sorry...you probably saved his life, you and the doctor between you. Wherever he is."

His eyes unfocused for a second�then focused again. "Ness," he said. "Just...be safe. The pair of you�all right?"

~Safe like Hell!~ Ness growled, barely controlling her voice so as not to involve Pan. ~What good is safe? Where is safe? Once I get my sister and my father back, I'll lock all of us up there myself! Maybe I'd better go get Mom, too!~

Merlin winced�the shiver was felt through the card.

"Calm," Petra murmured to Ness. "You must have your wits about you if we are following Pan."

The brunette turned her attention back to Merlin. "What about my people? If things are that bad, I would rather send them home. Hell, I would rather go home with them. But they haven't a hope to defend themselves against the forces we saw at play tonight. My Security people are good, but against someone who can force Tir into the sky? Not even Vincenzo is that good with the equipment at their disposal."

"I don't know," said Merlin. "We're closing the harbour, for safety, so they won't be putting in to shore tonight anyway. Come daylight�well, we'll see. But your Vincenzo...Antonia...they're loyal to you, aren't they? And your other security man is of the blood, isn't he? That should be enough to hellride out when necessary."

Ness remained silent as Merlin and Petra discussed the disposition of the Queen. She almost entirely restrained her urge to fidget impatiently, knowing this was important to her companion.

Petra started to say something, then stopped, took a breath and started again. "I am not at all certain one can Hellride in a flat-bottomed paddleboat, Merlin. Then again, I would have no real idea." She sighed. "I trust my staff. It is everyone else that is giving me pause, si?"

"Once we pass across to the land of the Sidhe, we will likely be unreachable." Petra glanced over at Pan briefly before her gaze returned to Merlin. "I will try to call though and let you know what is going on. In the meantime, be careful, would you?" She quirked a half smile. "I would hate to have a set of disappointed Cornaron twins on my hands. They can be very dramatic."

Merlin's most charming little boy smile lit his face. "Drama...I think I'm getting a handle on. But I'll try not to disappoint them."

Then his face grew grave. "Take care�both of you. And bring Helena back safely."

He closed the connection.

Pan was looking at them expectantly, Robin still at his side.

"Are you ready to transform?" he asked.

"In just a moment, Great Pan, thank you," Ness replied. "I'm sorry to have interrupted our talk, I know it was important, and I would like to continue it at some point. But I overheard something about my father, who was recently injured. I've been anxious for news of him." She looked at Petra expectantly.

Petra looked warily at Ness then up at the tree canopy before replying. "Do you recall back in Flora's rooms when I said I had sent him along Dr. Delluth to my home, and when I went to check, they were gone?" It was obviously a rhetorical question, as she continued on. "Turns out that the good Doctor thought that sending Mandor someplace else for treatment would be the way to go." She winced slightly, already bracing for Ness's reaction. "He sent him to Chaos."

Ness blinked, opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. Then she spoke. "Where in Chaos? Not Sawallways, I take it? And what exactly is wrong with him?"

"Merlin, he did not say," Petra replied with a thoughtful frown. "He said Delluth had yet to produce him; they were working on that when he called, I think. As for what is wrong..." she shrugged helplessly. "I can't say, Ness. I'm not a doctor. But since he collapsed seconds after we stepped into that Pattern infused death trap that was obviously left for him, I would say he's suffering from Pattern Poisoning�for lack of a better term. Badly. He was near death according to Delluth, and he certainly looked it. Which certainly narrows down Johann's liberator."

"Pattern... poisoning?" Ness looked confused. Then all color drained from her face. "In Johann's cell? Oh no. Oh no no no." She sat abruptly on the forest floor, thunderstruck. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have let her do it. I had no idea."

Petra looked down at her then turned to the very patient Pan. "I think we are going to need a few more moments..."

She dropped into a crouch beside the upset blonde. "Listen," she spoke in a low, sympathetic tone. "I made my own guess as to who it was when I got a good look at the cell, so you don't need to tell me or beat yourself up over this. She loathes Mandor, though she hides the depth of it in public�as a good politician should. You could always surprise me and say you had an idea just how much she loathed him, but I would be very surprised. This is not your fault."

Ness took a deep breath and pulled herself together. "No. You're right. Not my fault, I'm overreacting. But Larissa and I will have words if I run into her again." Half to herself, she added, "Oh, Daddy, why did you make me do it? And where are you now?"

She stood up and brushed herself off. "Nothing I can do for him now. Nell needs me." She smiled at Petra, but it was obviously forced. "Thank you. Are you ready to go?"

"No," Petra replied as she stood. She pulled out her silver trump case and began going through the cards and card-sized sketches inside. "I need to call the ship and give someone a frightful migraine before my means of communication are cut off. Merlin doesn't need Vincenzo storming the Throne Room when I don't turn back up."

"Okay, as long as it's quick."

[Petra] nods and moves off to the side once again, focusing on the Cornaron face detailed on the card.

Pan came towards Ness, a faint smile on his face. "You should remove your clothes," he told her.

Clytemnestra looked down at herself, then back up into Pan's eyes. "Oh, of course. These," she made a sweeping gesture down along her body, "will be rather uncomfortable when I'm a doe." She began to unbuckle her belt, and then added, "This also means that when I do find whoever has my sister, I'll be naked and unarmed, which might make her rescue slightly more difficult."

"Oh, we'll find you something before we get that far," Pan assured her.

He stepped close and breathed, and she felt warm animal breath caressing her skin. He ran his hands over her face, and his gentle touch was suddenly powerful, as though her flesh and bones were malleable clay, and he was, in fact, molding her.

"You won't be able to talk," he warned, gazing deep into her eyes, "but you know that talking is a rather over-rated form of communication anyway, don't you, goddess?"

Her eyes turned from icy blue to doe brown as they gazed back into his. Along that gaze she sent the thought ~Talking is useful, but it isn't my preference.~ She hoped she managed to keep her rising sense of panic out of the thought.

He smiled at her, and she felt an ache on her brow.

"All horned creatures are mine, goddess," he whispered, and he gently touched the two little horns that had sprung up.

Then his hands ran down her arms and they became impossibly slender...rigid...and her hands were delicate hooves.

Petra turned from her call and opened her mouth to say something to Ness. Then she realized what she was seeing and went promptly pale.

"I need a drink," she muttered.

When Pan had finished the transformation, Ness stood trembling for a few moments. She took a few careful, hesitant steps, and finally began to walk more confidently around the clearing. She stopped before Petra, looking up into her eyes, and Petra heard Ness's voice in her head. ~It's not too bad. Rather like walking on two pair of stiletto heels.~

Petra started then frowned. "I can walk on four legs. Your father apparently has a thing for cats." Her frown deepened and she looked warily at Pan.

"I have something that I must have with me when we get to our destination and are transformed back..."

Pan nodded. "Give it to me, and I shall add it to the transformation," he said. "Perhaps you will also carry anything that the Goddess values, but has set aside."

The doe nudged the pile of clothes with her nose until she managed to dislodge a small silver trump case, not unlike Petra's. She carried it in her mouth and dropped it before her companion.

Petra picked it up and gave the doe a wry smile. "I am having to restrain myself from scratching between your ears," she whispered.

Once she had added her clothes to the pile of Ness's, Petra handed Pan the two trump cases, and after a moment's thought, her necklace.

Pan took the card cases and frowned.

"This is powerful," he said. "Powerful forces, to be protected, and yet too dangerous to be worked into the charm I have created for you.

"But there is a way."

He stood for a long minute, gazing down at the items he held in his two hands. Then he bent forward a little and blew on his hands softly, parting them to reveal...

Nothing.

But standing on the ground in front of him, on thin, spindly legs, gazing around its new world with wide open dark eyes, was a young fawn.

"Oh!" Petra took a step back in surprise Magic still amazed her on some level, and she had never seen anything like that. She stared at the fawn and then at Pan. "How did..." She took a step towards the fawn and bent down to look closer. "I understand what you did to...the Goddess, but this..."

Clytemnestra trotted over to the fawn, then walked around, examining it. She couldn't resist nudging it with her nose. Then she looked up into Pan's eyes. ~It's beautiful. Thank you.~

Pan smiled at Clytemnestra, and there was something in his eyes, a depth of knowledge as old as time, eyes that seemed to hold knowledge of the first life to stir in the forests.

Then he turned to Petra and, as he had done with Clytemnestra, he began to stroke gently along the bones of her face until they shifted and changed ...

Petra froze. This was not like what Mandor had done; this gave her time to think about what he was doing. She was not finding comfort in that until she realized that she could think about what he was doing. Fear fled before curiosity and Petra focused on the physical feelings of being shifted from human to animal.

It was long, slow...almost as though he were caressing her. And she felt her skin seem to melt and meld at his command, her bones a malleable as the rest until she was standing on all fours, a dappled doe.And Pan regarded them, a proud stag, master of his small herd.

Standing still a moment to get used to her new lower center of gravity, Petra flexed one front leg then the other before she moved over to stand by the fawn. She nuzzled it, getting its scent; they couldn't afford to lose it in the forest of the Sidhe.

Clytemnestra watched Pan expectantly, ready to move.

Pan stood up and stretched...the lowered his hands slowly...and where the hands touched seeming air above his head, a pair of the most magnificent antlers began to form, glowing with light. The light faded...and Clytemnestra rand Petra realised that the antlers crowned a most magnificent stage, the leader of their herd, their mate.

The fawn looked up at each of them in turn with love; and as part of them went into his creation, so now they felt something in return, a sense of the need to protect and nurture.

Pan stayed a moment, as though letting them adapt. Then he turned and began to make his way through the trees.

Petra nudged the fawn into motion and stayed beside it as they fell in behind the stag.

[continued in Into the Woods]

Aegea Before Beauty - Clytemnestra, Petra