The forest was dark, the night at its darkest hour and the stars shining pitifully. As if an omen of the happenings in a certain glade in the spacious forest.

A bonfire would be the first thing seen if one were to enter the clearing at this point in time. Though if one did, one would be killed swiftly and efficiently. Latecomers and spies are not acceptable to be in the presence of the future Empress of the Unseelie Court.

The next thing one would notice, either way, would be the figures cloaked in black from head to toe. Figures with hoods up concealing their identities from all but the Empress. As if in some kind of cult or important ritual of sacrifice tonight, they stood completely still, even their breathing barely noticeable, in a ring around the bonfire.

The last thing one would notice, in this ominous scene, would be a slight figure. Stretched almost lazily over the arms of the stone chair, engraved with hundreds of different designs, most representing macabre scenes and stories untold, some even in languages now forever lost to time. The figure is in the shadows, face obscured by the darkness. Also cloaked in the heavy, black robes the others wear.

The figure stands, revealing itself to be a woman. Obviously of great power and prestige, as the others bow to her; chanting in a language that has never been heard by the ears of many for many millennia.

"Listen to me now, brethren," She booms in an unnaturally powerful sounding voice. One that would grate on the nerves, send shivers of fear down the spine, and break any ordinary mortal to her will. The forest around them went quiet, unnervingly quiet, unnaturally quiet. A quiet nothing good could ever come of. The woman pauses but momentarily, assuring them all that she has their undivided attention. That she holds the strings to all of them. That she knows that she is superior and that they know it too.

"Brethren, our night has cometh upon us! We shall strike in the very heart of this empire soon. Our day is coming, we shall create an empire of such strength we shall overtake Men! We shall once again rule the world as Fae, eliminate the Men who have desecrated our lands." Her eyes shining with determination, all that could be seen from under the hood of her cloak. Her eerie coloured eyes, of a deep alizarin hue and the whites of her eyes gleaming red and black from the night and the fire illuminating all but her face. They all knew who their leader was either way, they all knew how deadly she was. They all knew how much they agreed with her. With her cause. With their cause.

"Defiled our sacred places, overrun our homes. We shall beat those worthless scum back into the pits of death they had been spawned from. Take back our worlds! I know you are with me." She paused once again at this last statement, warily letting her eyes wander over each and every member. As if she had sensed an outsider.

A figure to her far left started to tremble. Her eyes, quick as the strike of a serpent, locked onto the poor, unfortunate soul. She grinned darkly and sadistically, her teeth gleaming black and white, the darkness doing nothing to make her appear any more forgiving or less frightening, quite the opposite.

"I sense an outsider." All eyes shifted to the intended target. The male, for they were all male Unseelie Fae, trembled all the more, now recognizing that his life was forfeit. "Bring him forward!" Two others snatched his arms from his control as he tried, vainly, to flee.

"See what intruding on something you are not supposed to witness does to you? Poor child." Her grin is spreading, inch by malicious inch, becoming all the more sly and conniving every moment that passes.

"Well, I suppose not, seeing as you have done it anyway. Oh, you poor unfortunate soul. That someone would send you here to gather information that is just not to be theirs.” She pauses, deadly grin still in place. The lad frightening more and more with the silence. The dread that comes with the time to think, and to imagine, in the torturous silence. He tries again to break away, even then knowing he would never leave alive or whole.

The woman leans back, in a somewhat giddy mood and willing to allow her servants, for that is what they were, to have some fun tonight, "Do as you wish with him. All I require is that his face is on a pike near the edge of the forest for some dear, innocent maiden to find on the morrow and make a ruckus. It is time we stir up some more uneasiness, either way it will serve as a warning to all who had known of his mission. Perhaps we can even trace the guilt caused by his 'ill-fated' demise back to the one who had sent the lad..." She paused and quickly stepped forward to the outsider, almost frantically, and ripped his hood back to expose the face of the boy. She let out a silent and unnoticeable sigh, as if expecting something else, for better or worse she knew not.

"Though it is a shame we have to waste such a handsome face." She trailed the side of her index finger along the lad's jaw line; taunting, mocking, jeering, insulting. The boy-child, for he could be no more than four centuries old, flinched away from the touch as if disgusted. "Poor luck you have child, that you would be picked for this task or perhaps that you have not chosen the winning side of this battle and might live. With your strength you would have gained in your first millennia you could have been a great and powerful weapon for destruction. You could have been great. High in my Court..." A whimsical tone is used to further taunt the boy-child with delusions of grandeur and images of royal treatment. Abruptly she grips his face hard enough to bruise, would he live long enough to do so, with a menace so great the others stumble. The boy would have to if she were not holding his jaw so.

Her voice is dripping malice this time, and the venom bites into all who hear, "Too bad you chose wrong boy!" She is hissing her words, reminiscent of an angered snake, or perhaps one who is simply feeling cruel enough to play with the bird who can no longer fly nor escape before it inevitably is devoured. "Too bad, simply too bad. What ill-fated luck you have child, that you would come this night. What gods have you so invariably upset that they would chose to punish you so. What sins you must have committed in a past life that you would be caught by the En' I' Leitha. Poor, poor child." Her laugh is cruel and mocking. Her minions join in with her mirth at this terrifying scene.

She goes back to her perch on her throne and boredly waves her hand to dismiss her servants for the night. "Away with all of you, I am done. Begone, I am done with this miscreant. Teach him a lesson he will never forget. In this life, or an other!"

They leave. The fire burns out, and all that can be seen in the clearing, surrounded by lush trees seemingly miles high, is a horrible grin. Glinting black and white in the dim light of the stars that still bother to shine.

"It's a pleasure, Salina." Em inclined his head toward the girl, then toward her ukelele. "Grangea." He grinned, quite willing to go along with the named instrument. Sure, he recognized it was a little odd, but not really any stranger than all of his friends who had named their cars or guitars.

He watched with interest for the first half of Salina's rendition of Jane Doe, but his eyes began to wander after a moment. His head still bobbed in time with the beat and the smile stayed put, so he wasn't disinterested in her performance, but there was just so much else for him to see. He met Umeko's eye and nodded toward Salina, as if to say, "Not bad, eh?" As the song wound to a close, Em straightened in his chair and offered quiet but sincere applause, clapping gently as she found her way back to her seat.

"I don't do anything quite so grand as that!" He chuckled as he slid back down into his casual-cool slouch. "Apparently, I enjoy jet-setting halfway across the country to meet barefoot musicians in strange Italian restaurants." He glanced around the table, wondering if anyone else was willing to acknowledge that their current scenario was... out of the ordinary, to say the least.

"I don't do anything quite so grand as that!" Em chuckled and went back into his casually-non-challant posture, "Apparently, I enjoy jet-setting halfway across the country to meet barefoot musicians in strange Italian restaurants."

Salina laughed a little at that comment, then slung Grangea onto her back again, "Well, I'd say that's a pretty awesome hobby if you ask me."

She smiled genuinely at him and then glanced around the room as well. She wondered when things were going to start up. There had to be something they were all called here for. She returned to her usual sitting position, scrunched up with her bare feet curling on the edge of her seat. She rested her head gently onto her knees and stared Em in the eyes intently. She cocked her head a bit to the right and smiled slightly.

"Your eyes are beautiful. Oh! And that's a nifty piece of metal you have in your ear." She giggled a bit and then looked at the ground, suddenly feeling shy. Sometimes she just lost confidence, but she can quickly gain it back. Her hands quietly wandered to her uke. Salina didn't bring her back out. Rather, all she had to do was touch it. She closed her eyes for a moment and slowly looked back up at Em and stared into his brown eyes, waiting for an answer.

Shaun stood, letting the wall against his back support his weight. One would think that his gaze was glued steadfastedly to the odd grouping seated around his table, but in reality, it was the clock on the wall over their heads. At 6:29:59, his forehead contracted, a crease appearing between his eyebrows, and when that second passed without event, the crease melted away into a genial smile. He pushed away from the wall and strode toward the group, all of whome had chosen chairs at the same table. Shaun snagged a chair from a neighboring table and swung it around so that he could sit in it backwards.

"Let's get this ball rolling, shall we?" he said, forgetting his manners and cutting over whoever had be talking. He took a long moment to stare around the table, checking the faces there aginst the faces in hiss mind. Clearly, some decisions had been made at the last moment that he had not taken into account. The changelings seemed more drawn by the letter, Umeko, Em, and the Wikket twins all hidden from their true selves. Selina alone of the halflings had ventured into the meeting. Still, he would take what he got. Those that came, they would be the ones most needed. That was the way the world worked. He still wasn't exactly sure what to make of Rissandra, the only true faery among them, but if she was here, again, she must have been needed. So, he folded his arms over the back of the chair and grinned.

"Welcome. There isn't exactly a point in you all introducing yourselves to me. I called you here myself." He paused thoughtfully, and then added as an afterthought, "And there'll be time for that later". He took a moment to shove his hair out of his eyes. "My name is Shauntouro Ileme, call me Shaun. I am one of the fey you read about in your letter. What you see is a glamour. She's one too," he said, jerking his head toward Rissandra. He pointed to Umeko, Wanda, William, and Em. "You, you, you, and you were born fey as well. Salina, you are half fey, through your father I believe. If anyone would like to go into hysterics, now is the time," he finished, sounding seriously polite.

Miriel was HIGHLY irritated when Shaun stole her chair to sit in, she knew it was not his fault, he could not see her after all but still how rude. She had fallen flat on her back after hitting her head on the table and nearly lost her concentration, as soon as he touched it she was not able to interact with it anymore for some reason. Miriel had never really know exactly how her powers worked even after over 1000 years but she had figured out a few things. 1. Objects other then the ground walls mountains trees etc that someone else was directly touching she could not touch, luckily this included weapons jewelry and clothing, but in this case it included her chair which honestly was highly inconvinient, her back and head hurt now. 2. She was much much faster then usual, even able to fly which honestly had to be the most useful part of it for her. She walked places sometimes as well so that she could relax and see the scenery but when she needed to be somewhere quickly...


Ah well she had needed to go closer to the meeting anyway, luckily the time she was on her back was while Shaun was staring at everyone and she had walked over quickly enough that she could hear everything. Alright, her earlier suspicion of what the invitees were was confirmed, but why would Shaun call them here. *Wait a minute, lleme, isnt that the same last name as the ones champion, interesting I wonder if they are related.* she then thought. *Hmmmm this is definitely looking to be more important then I thought it would be at first. I wonder what a relation of the ones champion is doing in a dingy italian restaurant like this, I would think that he would live at the heart of the ones forest itself.* She then sighed, considering the warm welcome Rissandra had gotten she probably should have walked outside and entered openly earlier. He probably would have let her in too and it would have been much warmer. Ah well. This way she could leave if it turned out to be something that she did not want to be directly involved in.

Just as Em opened his mouth to continue his conversation with Salina, the sound of a chair scraping across the floor drew his attention. Apparently, their host had decided it was time for the meeting to begin. This was what he had been waiting for, and he was more than a little anxious to find out what this was all about. He closed his mouth and smiled at the free-spirited girl to show he wasn't abandoning the conversation, and he nodded toward Shaun to show why he'd gone quiet.

As Shaun began his brief introductory speech, Em sat up and pulled his chair closer to the table. He propped his elbows on the table's edge and leaned forward with obvious interest. As each of the members of the group were introduced by their bloodline rather than their names, Em followed around the table with his eyes. After each had been named -- two fey, one half-fey, and four people that Shaun claimed were fey -- Em looked back at Shaun and blinked incredulously. His mouth opened as if to speak, but snapped closed again as he sat up again and crossed his arms.

After a moment's stunned silence, Em said with a half-smirk, "Seriously? You're calling me -- calling us -- fairies?" He barked a soft laugh, but it came out sounding much less nonchalant and much more uncomfortable than he had hoped. It had somehow seemed more reasonable for some sort of magical world to exist when it was described to him in a mysterious letter, but it was an entirely different prospect to be told that he was secretly and unknowingly part of it, that he wasn't really even human. Not quite enough to drive him to the hysterics that Shaun seemed to expect, but it certainly put him enough off-kilter that he wasn't quite sure how to respond.

His quick glance made another round around the table, gauging the others' responses to Shaun's announcement. It wasn't until he realized just how bizarre everyone else in the room seemed to be that he wondered if it would even occur to anyone else that it might be crazy. And, oddly enough, the idea of everyone else accepting it -- even if they were certifiably lunatics for it -- was a strangely comforting concept for Em. A bit of tension in his shoulders relaxed and his half-smirk softened into a more genuine smile, but he still shook his head in obvious suspicion of the idea.

William and Wanda watched as Em and Salina introduced themselves and had a small conversation. They bobbed their head lightly as Salina spontaneously broke into song and dance; if only they had known the song and if Wanda could dance, they would have thought to turn it into a "high school musical" type charade. The siblings chuckled together at the idea of Wanda dancing. Salina soon finished and spoke with Em a little bit more. The twins had forgotten all about introducing themselves and before the thought could even try to creep back into their mind, the host interrupted everyone. They swiftly turned their heads towards the sound of the chair sliding against the floor and if they didn't know any better, they heard a slight bump on the floor, this wasn't their focal point too long, though, because Shaun (as they now found out) started his introductory speech.

The twins stared inquisitively as he explained a rather odd concept. Wanda looked towards the female Shaun referred to as a "fey" and William examined his hands trying to figure out what a "fey" was and if they all looked like normal people. The twins' eyes met and they simply gave each other a puzzled expression and looked in Em's direction; he seemed skeptical towards this faerie concept, and who could blame him? The Wikket twins spent about 15 seconds trying to work out some type of explanation in their heads then just let out a laugh. In a nutshell, it didn't make any sense. What was a fey or faerie or whatever you want to call it, anyway? They decided that they would sit around and see what else Shaun had to say. Maybe he had some hard evidence that would end the skepticism, or a good argument at the very least...

The twins glanced around the table and observed everyone else's reaction then threw their attention back towards Shaun.

Prove it.

Em smiled politely at her and nodded toward the man at the front of the room sitting casually in a backwards chair. He was about to start things up, so Salina smiled back at him and then turned her attention to the head guy. She couldn't wait to find out what this was about. She scrunched up in her seat even more and squeezed her arms around her legs in anticipation.

"Let's get this ball rolling, shall we?" He announced giddily.

"Woo!" Salina hollered and then giggled to herself.

"Welcome. There isn't exactly a point in you all introducing yourselves to me. I called you here myself... And there'll be time for that later. My name is Shauntouro Ileme, call me Shaun. I am one of the fey you read about in your letter. What you see is a glamour. She's one too," he continued, glancing at Rissandra. Then, he pointed at Umeko, Wanda, William, and Em. "You, you, you, and you were born fey as well. Salina, you are half fey, through your father I believe. If anyone would like to go into hysterics, now is the time."

Well, that was blunt. Salina looked around at the people surrounding her, eyes wide with awe. Of course, she was the only halfling here. The outcast. It didn't bother her at the moment though, because either way they were all fey, right? She smiled brightly and was truly excited. She honestly had no doubt in Shaun. She believed every word her said. Why go through all this trouble if he wasn't being serious? Salina had a feeling in her heart that this was all real, it had to be. It would explain a lot.

Em didn't seem to think this way though. He didn't believe Shaun and thought this was a joke. He even implied it out loud. Salina, on the other hand, got up and skipped towards Shaun. When she arrived in front of him, she got on her tip toes and leaned in closer. She examined him for a moment, then rested back on her heels. She smiled at him and tapped his shoulder lightly.

"Does that mean I can fly?" She asked innocently.

"Welcome. There isn't exactly a point in you all introducing yourselves to me. I called you here myself... And there'll be time for that later... My name is Shauntouro Ileme, call me Shaun. I am one of the fey you read about in your letter. What you see is a glamour. She's one too."

At this point, Rissandra smiled awkwardly and gave a half wave.

"You, you, you, and you were born fey as well. Salina, you are half fey, through your father I believe. If anyone would like to go into hysterics, now is the time."

Ooo, thought Rissandra, so that's what it was. They seemed to be a bit stunned but not blatantly astounded. She couldn't tell how they felt about it though, assuming they believed Shaun. Perhaps she could help.

"Excuse me, just to help make what Shaun is saying easier to accept, please watch!"

As she had earlier, Rissandra used glamour to cause her eyes to glow different colors, something no human could ever possibly do unless it was on the television screen.

Umeko had stayed quiet for the remainder of the introductions. She watched as Salina played her uke and Em complimented her. To herself, Umeko gagged. Kids flirting. Ugh. Her impatience was beginning to seep through her pores just as the host took his seat.

The letter had been odd, but Umeko was one for adventure. The old bitch had handed it off to her, so it had been mean for her. There had been no mistake, Umeko was sure. That rickety woman had looked at her, placed it in her hands, spoke to her about something incoherent, then walked away from her. Everything had gone accordingly. So Umeko had gotten on a plane and showed up in New York City. She ran to Gianni's, thinking she would be late, but getting there rather early. Fate was working for her.

But this mother was crazy.

"A faerie?!" Umeko hollered out. She slammed her open palm on the table as Salina's eyes glowed like neon lights outside a Tokyo club. "What the fuck?!" Laughing outloud, Umeko stood up, pushing her chair back and looking around the table. Em had spoken just before her, with much the same question she had, but wording it a little more delicately than she. Salina, who was actually starting to get on Umeko's nerves simply asked if they could fly. With a look of disgust Umeko turned on her.

"What are you, stupid?" With another snort, Umeko moved away from her chair. "You know what? This was all really cool. Me spending thousands of Yen to get here and see pretty candles and glasses with weird shit written all over them." Pushing the chair roughly into the table she leaned over it, her wicked blue eyes glaring at Shaun, or what the hell ever his name was. Damn, she really needed a piece of metal to swallow right now.

"But I am not a 'faerie' or 'fey' or whatever the hell you're calling it. They aren't real. People dress up like them because it's a fantasy. Shit! I've even wore faerie wings to a concert. They call me Mary Anne the Fairy Girl! You cannot sit there and try and con me into thinking this whole thing is real. You've lost it, dude." Stepping back she sighed. That letter had meant something to her. Suddenly she'd felt needed. But this shit was crazy. Umeko had been raised by two well-meaning, stereotypical Japanese parents. As crazy as they were, she loved them. Umeko would not allow someone to sit there and tell her they hadn't bore her into this hard, heavy metal world of hers. Without thinking about it, she'd taken her wide, steel bracelet off and shoved half of it in her mouth. The metallic flavor made her calm a little and she shook her head. This was just insane, but for some reason, Umeko's feet wouldn't move from the floor. All she could think about was the metal in her mouth and how it made her blood boil less.

Em watched with interest as the room virtually exploded around him, everyone--including himself--responding the Shaun's announcement in very different ways. Salina's exuberance drew a smile from him; he wasn't at all surprised that the free-spirited girl was willing to accept even such a wild fantasy. He, however, was feeling something between the cynicism of the twins and Umeko's angry disgust.

It was Umeko's response in particular that made Em sit up and pay attention to what he was thinking and how he was responding. He cocked an eyebrow at her outburst, blinked twice when she pulled off a bracelet and stuffed it into her mouth, and then looked at Shaun when she started to leave the table but stopped dead in her tracks. As crazy as she thought the idea was--and as crazy as she appeared to be, at the moment--she wasn't willing to walk away.

And, Em realized, neither was he.

He turned his attention to Rissandra when she spoke up, watching her technicolor eye trick with a kind of detached interest; it was a little strange, but certainly not profound enough to have swayed his opinion from disbelief to faith in a faerie world. The overall effect on Em really just confirmed how surreal the situation felt--a group of crazy folk gathered in a tiny New York restaurant from across the world, all discussing their various heritage in a magical world of mystical creatures. But the most surreal part of all, Em was discovering, was that it didn't feel wrong.

Without saying anything more, Em reached behind him and slipped one hand into his backpack. He knew where his tarot cards were without even looking, and he withdrew them from the pack and briefly shuffled them beneath the table. Then, as nonchalantly as possible, he withdrew three cards and placed them one by one on the table:

The Moon. Of course. It had shown up so often in the past couple of days that he wasn't surprised to see it. And, given the latest revelation, he suspected that it was intended to represent the magic and mystery of this fey world.

The High Priestess. The Priestess wields her authority not through force or position, but through instinct and intuition. It would make sense, Em, thought, that she would appear in an inquiry like the one before him now; science and tradition had no place here, but--as Umeko demonstrated--there was something intuitive about what Shaun was describing.

Justice. The card that represents truth and fairness, regardless of circumstances or consequences. Its presence in this spread implied the accuracy of Shaun's claim. In other words... according to the cards, it was all true.

The smile fell from Em's face as he placed this final card on the table. He looked up from the cards, staring first at Shaun, then Salina, then Rissandra, then back at Shaun. After several long seconds, he finally said, "It's true...?" His finger tapped the Justice card idly; he had not moved his hand from putting the card on the tabletop.

Just as the High Priestess card indicated, Em could feel the truth of Shaun's claim. "It's true," Em reiterated to himself, giving a stunned blink as he gathered the cards and tucked them back into his pack without looking away from their host. "I'm a... faerie?" he whispered quietly, then asked out loud, "So... what does that mean?"