---

In spite of her apparent fury of moments ago, when Audrey entered the palace she was uncharacteristically subdued. She was realizing as she walked that she had been on her feet for basically the whole day, which had included a hike in the woods, and ended with their collective uphill walk to the palace. Her feet hurt, and all she had eaten was a fair snack that Syd had bought her. The day was catching up, and she was frankly exhausted.

Still, as they walked through the grand hall, she couldn't help but raise her head to try and take it all in. The place was covered in something like ivy, but she soon saw that it was the result of careful cultivation, and not a lapse in maintenance. She stared up at the ceiling in particular, which was completely obscured by the growth.

"You guys seeing this? Syd, Row?" she spoke in a murmur, as if they were in a library, or at a funeral. "It's really something else. Nothing like it in New Hope, anyway."

As they neared what she somehow intuited to be the center of the palace, the Song got louder, and clearer, though it no longer compelled her like it had at the beginning.

Presently, they reached their apparent destination. Eckehart left them with a gesture that seemed to be for Audrey in particular. She nodded gravely in return, before entering the audience chamber.

Audrey was most struck by the informality of pretty much everything. From the setting, to the princess's dress, to her greeting.

"Well, I'm Audrey," she hesitated the barest moment before offering her hand to shake, "But I guess that you knew that, huh?" The naked aggression she had given to Eckehart was reigned in tightly now. Audrey had decided to give the people here the benefit of the doubt, and surely this lonely girl would be more likely to give answers if they stayed on good terms.

---

Rowan stared at the palace's interior with sheer awe. Blending natural growth into architecture and the building's structure was an astonishing feat. The reality that plant life in this world may be far different from the real world had not set in for her.

She appreciated the spectacle with a growing urge to study it down to the smallest leaf and seed. The growth of vines may even be similar to the ones that saw fit to restrict her hand movements. Surely it would only be a matter of asking around to remove them from her person.

"I'm lucky to say I see it all too." Rowan replied to Audrey, but keeping her eyes pinned to the ceiling of verdant green. "I have a few ideas for the greenhouse back home."

Rowan felt more drawn toward the great doors as she could now hear an addition to the song. Voices. The same tune had been playing since their arrival in Yo'Bikur repeating more than a few times, but only now did voices begin to blend in. It told her better than Eckehart's directions that their destination was just on the other side.

Once the doors where open, it took a while for Rowan to take in the scene. The circle of elders brought the centre of focus onto the duo in the middle. The princess which Eckehart had mentioned and another which she could gather a being some sort of family member. Likely brother. Rowan furrowed her brow slightly in confusion. Eckehart seemed to only mention a princess from her recollection and even now it was only the princess who ran forward to greet them. It was an interesting footnote in this meeting but didn't invite scepticism to her mind. As the princess approached, Rowan bowed her head in acknowledgement of the brother before returning her attention to Rulania.

"I'm Rowan." She said concisely with a smile. Although she stayed back, perfectly willing to let Audrey do the hand-shaking, hugs, and what not.

---

---

---

“It's not your fault, Mr. Eckehart,” Damon offered him a faint smile. He wasn’t as antsy as Freya, but was ready to meet Rulania. He tracked along, marveling at the sights. As impressive as the building was – like a castle, museum, and great garden at once – his attention was more so on the people.

Like those automatons, whose movements were so fluid he couldn’t nearly believe someone or something had just produced them in front of his eyes.

Once the great doors were opened to them, the source of the Song was finally revealed. There were several elders surrounding the young royals.

What a beautiful pair of siblings.

Rulania stopped singing as she gasped upon seeing them. The Song was notably missing something afterwards but even so…It was ridiculously impressive that so many people had put in so much effort to be able to match someone known as the ‘True Voice’. Not only did Damon admire the sheer dedication to their craft, he was also awed by their performance.

The duo conversed shortly, but Damon still noted how different their speech patterns were. How curious.

But then, before he could really question it, there was a bundle of over excited princess right in front of him.

“Hello…Princess Rulania…Prince Ralek.” He waved at each of them in greeting. He did in fact remember Eckehart having mentioned Rulania’s brother by name. Now that he knew these people here wouldn’t be bothered or think it rude regardless how they were greeted, he forewent mimicking Eckehart and didn’t bow. Still, he had included the titles…just in case.

“Damon,” he introduced himself after the two girls had. He extended an arm for a handshake, but was receptive to hugs too. “Pleased to meet you too,” he smiled, bemused. “Did you see us like we’re here, now? How we are in our world? Or both?” he wondered curiously.

He hoped Rulania hadn’t formed any firm expectations of them. However, she did simply appear very eager and pleased to meet them. Though Damon very much wanted a sure way back home, he didn’t mind befriending her, either.

Auidrey extends her hand- only for Rulania to fly against the other girl and embrace her in a far-too-friendly hug. She practically vibrates with contained energy as she squeezes Audrey, but swiftly pulls back and grins even as Audrey admonishes her;

"--You really should ask before touching people you know." Audrey's cool words were restrained in the face of Rulania's overwhelming positivity.

"Apologies, dream's fair friend, but thou'rt dear to mine heart in ways that mine voice doth struggle to reveal." She laughed as she spoke, but there was a powerful quaver to her voice. This was, to the princess, a dream come true. Her gaze sweeps to Rowan and she gasps softly, then curtsies low in a formal fashion.

"My lady, the pleasure tis mine." She says in greeting to Rowan. "Prithee, be welcome in this place, home to thou as it is to me. All of thee, I say, all of thee treat Xaktin and sweet Yo'Bikur as home. Thy curiosities be saked upon my breath, thy confusions be put to rest, on this eve of the year's new dawning."

Damon's greeting carries to the prince in the center of the amphitheatre, and the charming masculine figure grins and gives him a thumbs up and a nod. Ralek seems to take this as an invitation for himself to approach, and he does so with his hands clasped behind his back in a manner that only approaches the semi-formal. The group of elders continues their chorus, the words weaving myriad languages into The Song; the air thrumming and vibrating as some mystical force translates it into understood concept and word.

Even Rulania's lips did not move in a manner that fully matched the words you all were hearing, the formal and antiquated words flowing were in her voice but it is clear that she was speaking some foreign and alien tongue even as she made an absolute dork of herself.

"Ser Damon, indeed!" She cried, throwing herself upon him at his offered extended hand- Audrey's earlier chastisement lost entirely in her excitement.

<sub>Odaya snickers; "Freakshow's a knight now!" She mutters to her older brother, just slightly too loudly. Weasel, for his part, places a hand on the birdling's head and pushes her face down in a gentle gesture of 'be quiet'. Shifting in some quiet anxiety, Freyja shifts from hoof to hoof as she watches Rulania slowly make her way down the line of people. She gnaws her lip- but soon Ralek is there and extending his hand to her to make his own introductions.

"Ralek." He says easily, and when Freyja looks into his eyes- for they are roughly the same stature, Ralek being somewhat short for what people would expect of a male of their age ranges- she seems to calm down and shake his hand with a nod. Before she can speak, he chuckles; "Freyja right? White hair, gold eyes, horns. It all matches what she talks about."

"Y-Yeah." She pulls her hand back, her typical confidence surging as she grins that tomboyish smirk everyone has come to know of her. "This is unreal."</sub>

"Tis thou I see'st, good ser, tis thou." Rulania pulls back, her eyes taking in all of Damon. "However thou'rt presented matters little to mine eye, for thy heart is clear to me." She allows a coy smile to play across her features. "But to answer thy question in earnest, mine dreams showeth thy home to me in limited detail. I know of a lake, and of a river most swift, and e'er a mount rising high thither and yon- but much of thy home was myst'ry to me, and thy forms were malleable and shifting to mine eye. At times thou were presented to me thus, at times as thy world imposed upon thee- but this is Yo'Bikur, and The Song reveals thy true selves. This-" She grabs his shoulders and shakes him gently, before gesturing to the others.

"Is thy heart. Does it not feel...Good, to be as thou'rt intended to be? Tis confusing, as is kent by mine mind, but I also see that thou'rt only halfway whole." She dances back a few paces and takes in the group as a whole. "Thy voices are flat! Thy hearts only but aflutter! Shall I help thee become whole?"

Ralek seems gently surprised by this offer; "A little quick, Lania? It'll come to them when they're ready."

"Tis only right to offer, blood of my blood, tis only right." Rulania sways as she speaks. Ralek shrugs, as if deferring to her judgement.

---

David's entry along with the rest of the group matched their awe in tow, but by this time it wasn't a new emotion at this point. Everything about this world had been rather awe-inspiring. He had been the same way when he arrived at the new land, and similarly here as well.

As soon as he got past that, other things began to be evident to him. The origin of the Song that accompanied and blessed his every steps. It stopped briefly as the singer, the princess herself Rulania, greeted her guest with heartfelt fanfare. The emotions of a lonely friendless individual bursting at the seams as she finally got to meet her otherworldly friends made David, and for certainly others, to extend a smile to her. For sure it was dubious circumstances that she did this, but a smile of genuine happiness was easy to forgive her faults.

"I'm David." The robotic man gave a bow with one of his hand crossed on his chest. "It's nice to finally meet you Princess Rulania. You as well Prince Ralek"

Afterwards, he was presented with a rather (overly?) flowery offer to mend his heart. Or rather make his heart whole? Weirdly enough, David could understand what she said perfectly, despite his mind consciously telling him he had never heard of these Old English words ever in his life. Wait, those are Old English? Or was it Yo'Bikur's language. Now everything is confusing to him again, but compartmentalizing taking effect, David cut through it to get to the real thing he wasn't sure about.

"I guess that's fine? But..." David crossed his arms and looked down at his chest with a sigh. "I know there's something clicking away at my heart, but I don't know how to fix that. How would you be able to help me in this case?"

At David's consenting line of questions, Rulania skips over to him and extends her hand to him. Her smile curves her lips upwards in a confident manner as she curtsies in a semi-formal fashion, raising her skirt lightly with her other hand.

"Tis my honor then, sirrah, thy hand in mine and take care to mind mine feet as I guideth thee in the dance."

And presuming his further consent, she guides him in a simple dance. The only contact of their bodies being the singular hand, the dance a spinning and childish thing where they twirl about each other by contact with their palms. She guides the motions, starting with simple long twirls, but soon creates a singular elaborate pattern—then she begins to sing, as if the words could no longer be contained within her. Sheer joy bubbling forth from her lips as they perform this slow pattern of twirls.

Her lips move in a strange fashion, the words flowing out from her not in her own voice. Instead, David's voice fills the area round him. His Song. The tapping of a keyboard forms the undercurrent and beat, the echoing of dot-matrix printer patterns become a chorus, the wafting of old wind chimes a refrain, and the sudden striking of a gong bringing the song to a crescendo; his voice flows in an ethereal way around him, and through His Song he glimpses—and indeed, grasps—a part of himself that he may not have understood was missing.

@Conscripts
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Rulania sighs, a soft glow emanating from within her veins. The colors of the aurora above the palace visible within her flesh, flowing through her and to coalescing at the hand touching David. As her lips close and the song stops, she breaks the contact with David and steps back a step.

"There, thou'rt made whole for a time. My own song is bridging thy bond; twill form in its own time by thy own accord with Yo'Bikur. Ralek, endear thyself to mine heart?" She turns her eyes upon her brother; he chuckles and offers his hand to David.

"Here you go." He says casually. "Give it a try."

---

Perhaps David was just more trusting than Audrey(this was not difficult to achieve), and he welcomed the Princess. Aud watched, warily at first, but her eyes widening as the pair rotated, the glow of the Song moving from Rulania to David. She didn't know David well at all, at least when the song started. But by the end of it, she heard his voice, and it felt right.

Audrey slipped out of her jacket. It was still wet from the pool, as were her feet in her boots, but she found that it didn't bother her as much as she expected. Perhaps it was her new amphibious nature. Rulania had said that their new forms were truer to their nature, and she had become a poisonous frog. She wrinkled her nose as she looked at her arms, wondering what that said about her. Was she such a caustic bitch that she needed warning coloration? She had a temper, she knew, but she had thought it was always in response to injustice and unfairness. But then she had yelled at Eckehart, the one who had come to help guide them in this strange land. Who had only been kind and patient, even bearing her diatribe.

She didn't know what to think of it all, but she could hear the rightness in David's song, and she yearned for the voice, even as its compulsion had ceased to hold her. As the dance wrapped up, she bent down and undid her boot laces, prying the wet leather off, and then peeling away her socks. Her feet had changed, though only a little. They were a little longer, but more slender and flexible. Her toes had been curled at the ends of her boots and she'd barely noticed. Leaving her boots, socks, and jacket in a neat pile, she stood again to address the Princess once more.

"Ya gotta understand that this is strange for us. I've lived sixteen years as one thing, and then I get dragged here and I'm suddenly something else. But," she held out her hand again, taking a step toward Rulania, "I'm willing to try to understand. If you'll help us."

Brown blinked. The mysterious girl had vanished. And again, he was alone. In the crowd. He looked around, shocked and dazed. What had he just witnessed? Who was that poor scared girl? Even more isolated than he was, a grieved misanthrope among a field of joyous celebrants. Seemingly the only being in this land not dosed with the euphoric drip of the song...

Maybe all was not as it seemed in this land.

Brown would come to find the truth. For now, he had become separated from his group. The only link he had to his home. He looked around again for some evidence of them, his head peering out above the fair majority of the crowd. Still, he could not spy a single familiar face. Nor his guide. His worry began to grow. He stood, an unmoving rock amongst the flowing river of the crowd. When suddenly, his brow was unfurrowed and his trance of thought was broken. He felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. And he turned.

A small fairy-like gentleman was hovering in his eye line with a smile on his face. Brown noticed the glowing symbol on his neck, and after the being's gesture to follow Brown decided to go with him. Find his compratriots.

He continued examining the wondrous sights in his surroundings. A humanoid being made of twisting shifting abstract shapes. Something resembling a Queztalcoatal. And what appeared to be a moving cloud of flour. He made tried to remember in as much detail everything he took in as they passed through the city, going up and up towards the palace.

Finally, he arrived, the huge doors opening with the sun shining directly through them, casting his silhouette across the opulently decorated floor. He arrived just in time to see an amphibious girl, who if he recalled correctly was Audrey, take the hand of an elegant woman of an otherworldly (even for here) nature. He blinked thrice, staring down at his group, and the various courtiers and spectators.

Rulania smiles softly at Audrey's approach, her iridescent eyes glimmering from within with a dazzling light. She reaches out and slowly presses her hand to Audrey's outstretched appendage, her fingers delicately entwining with Audrey's. Rather than the antiquated circular dancing she did with David, she pulls Audrey beside her and hums to herself as she shuffles a few steps.

"Mm, thou'rt a more difficult tune than ser David." She amuses. "His Song is likened to that of the Bikura, but thy song, my lady, is—" She laughs, suddenly stepping strongly with one foot in quick succession in the manner a guitarist might before beginning a small-scale gig at a club. She leaps upwards, letting out a howl of excitement; this cry rings Audrey's song into a climactic birth, her feet landing upon the ground in a heavy reverberation of bass and the crashing of cymbals. Her voice emanates as Audrey's, a hard and fast song with direct words and messages that interweaves into a more complex symphony of poetry that is hidden within the boisterous clatter of instrumentation and the forceful nature of the Song.

Unlike David's guided dance, Rulania tugs and pulls Audrey as if their connected hands are more a lifeline than a friendly gesture; her jerking and writhing body thrashing akin to the mosh pit rather than any sort of elegant dance. The fire lights within her flesh again, the coursing veins of light and energy, and it flows from her into Audrey in a dazzling display of power. At last, Rulania tears herself away and throws herself back from Audrey, sliding back a few steps as she brushes sweat from her brow and pushes her hair back.

@Gisk
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"Prithee, it has been long ere I moved as such! Didst thou see, Ralek? How the music touches me so?"

"Yeah, Lania, I see." He says in a placative manner, as one does when addressing the dork or weaboo when their obsession has arisen. His smile is good natured and his eyes show true amusement. "The lost one has returned to us too; 'sup." He says as greeting to Brown. Then, he looks around slowly. "There are a few here you haven't described to me before. Like him."

Weasel's eyes narrow as the focus is shifted to him. He snorts derisively and makes a dismissive gesture even as Odaya leaps up and begins positively vibrating with excitement as she squirms in her little princess dress, as if wanting attention very very badly but incapable of finding it within herself to enact the cruelties in her eyes for once.

"I see thee, little Otter." Rulania says soothingly. "In good time thou will dance with me too." Then, to Ralek; "Tis the little one's blood, as thou'rt to me. He...Twas not anticipated, but is welcome nonetheless." She hesitates, then finishes with confidence and a bright smile.

Leaning against the wall with a grimace on his face, the shortest member of the group glared at the prince and princess. All this talk of dreams and powers was starting to get to him. His mind raced at the thought of what could happen to Alycia. Their bodies were changing in unnatural ways that defied anything that he had ever known. The unknown of what this could mean his little sister caused Aleyn to grow increasingly displeased with their current situation; a displeasure that would erupt from him like a volcano.

"THIS IS BULLSHIT!", Aleyn screamed, pushing off the wall.

He began stomping toward Rulania and her brother, his eyes giving a venomous gaze. He stopped right beside Audrey, not caring who would object at his outburst.

"How can we trust you? You talk about dreams and abilities and all this crap. YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT US!" The roar of his voice not matching his stature, fist balled, "I can't stay here. Do you see that little girl over there? I have to protect her. Send me home. I don't want your stupid, fake abilities. I wanna go back home. I won't let someone else use us for their own goals. I deal with that enough."

Aleyn's fangs began to show from beneath his lip, giving his anger the image of a king cobra ready to strike.

---

Rowan had consigned herself to stand back and let much of the enthusiasm run on. Through all the craziness of the situation, the excitability of the princess stood out as much as anything. Rowan was only disappointed she could not match her energy. But she grew more and more comfortable as the interactions continued.

First David, then Audrey. Rulania held each of them and listened to their song. It was easy enough to see it wasn't some simple charade and that she was truly divining something from each of them. Perhaps it didn't reveal everything behind their transformations. But a peek behind the veil would be enough. There were still too many questions.

She seemed well-intentioned and genuinely happy while doing all of this. Her happiness drove Rowan's suspicions of foul play to the back of her mind. If any sinister machinations were in play with all this, the princess was undoubtedly not the ring leader. This let Rowan smile with assurance. She was in a good place.

Aelyn's sudden outburst was frightening. Rowan had not expected such a display and immediately looked toward Audrey to help the situation. Despite all of Rowan's posturing about being the older and more responsible one, she always seemed to turn to Audrey when things took an unexpected turn for the worse.

Still, Rowan decided to take some action and stand defensively closer to the princess. But she didn't have faith in her words to settle Aelyn, so she addressed Rulania instead.

"If I'm not mistaken, it isn't within your power to send us back as you wish. Is that correct?"

---

---

By the end of their dance, Audrey was grinning broadly, her face flushed with exertion. The two were propelled from each other with force, but both kept their feet, and Audrey half slid, half stumbled backwards from Rulania.

She could already feel the power that had filled her up. It was hot, and brutal, but also strangely brittle. She felt intuitively that if she slammed her fist into the walls, the stone might crack. She also felt however, that her bones certainly would too. The power coiled up inside her chest and limbs made her feel light and fragile. Like her own strength could shake her apart.

Her reverie was interrupted by Aleyn, and Audrey had to wonder where he had been about twenty minutes before, when she herself had yet to get on board. Still, she let him say his piece, after all he had the same objections as her.

"Leyn," she turned to face him, and spoke in a tone that was both gentle, and quite firm, "Rowan's right, I already tried the whole 'send us home' bit. I think they've been honest with us, and you know I'd be shouting about it if I didn't. I know how you feel, but did you think I'd let anything happen to Alycia, if I could help it? We're not promising anything to them other than that we'll hear them out. We won't let Alycia be in any danger. Or Odaya, for that matter," she glanced briefly at the other young girl, who seemed to be the happiest with the state of affairs, in stark contrast to her brother.

Brown watched on, light streaming in through the grand doors. Highlighting his silhouette against the bright blue sky. This hid his expression of concern, differing from his usual airheaded slight smile he stood with a straight mouth and a furrowed brow. As the dance in front of him unfolded, he picked his way down into the court. Weaving between the bodies as he tried to intake as much as possible within the grand hall.

As the gleaming girl turned from Audrey and spoke to 'Ralek' he began to formulate his line of questioning. Still shaken from his encounter in the streets, he was still standing in the center mouth agape when she had finished talking. Still looming when she turned and acknowledged him. He managed to begin, 'What did I see? You're the one who brought us here? It doesn't feel right- Why are we here? Who did I see?' His face fell even further from the usual, it was a rare sight to see Brown so openly unnerved. 'What did she mean? Everything about her seemed wrong...'

He looked unto the princess for answers. He was unwittingly leaning upon his staff now and had not even acknowledged the rest of the group since his entry. His paper skin flickered in the soft light, the details of his face lost to all but those closest to him beneath the writhing sea of everchanging symbols.

Aleyn's outburst strikes Rulania resoundingly. His shout makes her eyes widen, and his stomping approach warrants a coolness from the princess that she has not wielded thus far. Her thus far cheery and warm demeanor calms, the excitement of the dancing and music waning as she folds her hands formally behind her back and clasps them behind her hips. She lets him get his words out, dutiful and attentive, giving him her full attention. Ralek seems as if about to speak, but at a glance from the princess he silences himself and bites his tongue in a manner that seems well practiced and casual.

Rulania's eyes are drawn to his fangs, and she raises an eyebrow at his display. It is not a haughtiness, but rather a curiosity.

"If I'm not mistaken, it isn't within your power to send us back as you wish. Is that correct?"

---

"Aye, prithee ser Aleyn, the mistress Rowan has the gist of it. It is not within mine power to bridge the worlds, but tis Yo'Bikur's. Eckehart whispered in mine ear; fret not for he doth possess immense haste in these matters. Thy Resonant Bell will be discovered. None that I know would have agenda or motive for harassing thee as thy mind discerns, my dear friend."

"Leyn," she turned to face him, and spoke in a tone that was both gentle, and quite firm, "Rowan's right, I already tried the whole 'send us home' bit. I think they've been honest with us, and you know I'd be shouting about it if I didn't. I know how you feel, but did you think I'd let anything happen to Alycia, if I could help it? We're not promising anything to them other than that we'll hear them out. We won't let Alycia be in any danger. Or Odaya, for that matter," she glanced briefly at the other young girl, who seemed to be the happiest with the state of affairs, in stark contrast to her brother.

The princess falls quiet, shifting to turn and gaze back at the Chorus in the center of the room as Audrey says her piece. It's Ralek who speaks up next, gruff and straight to the point;

"Nothing's stopping you from leaving once the bell is found. You certainly won't find me stopping you from making yourself scarce."

Rulania gasps at his words and swats at his shoulder with a hand, but before she can reprimand her brother Odaya suddenly flies between them, no longer able to contain her desire for attention.

"I like him!" She declares boldly, swinging herself around to look to Weasel. "He's an honest one!"

As the gleaming girl turned from Audrey and spoke to 'Ralek' he began to formulate his line of questioning. Still shaken from his encounter in the streets, he was still standing in the center mouth agape when she had finished talking. Still looming when she turned and acknowledged him. He managed to begin, 'What did I see? You're the one who brought us here? It doesn't feel right- Why are we here? Who did I see?' His face fell even further from the usual, it was a rare sight to see Brown so openly unnerved. 'What did she mean? Everything about her seemed wrong...'

But the group falls quiet as Brown begins speaking. Freyja finally seems to shake herself of her reverie, no longer hypnotized by Rulania's presence, and is grounded back in reality by Brown's strange questions. She lightly springs to Brown's side and peers up at his face, leaning over and tilting her head to avoid hitting him with her antlers.

"...You alright, man?" She says softly, but audibly. "Something's got him spooked, he isn't usually like this."

"...!" Rulania starts, but takes a moment to digest Brown's questions. After but a short pause she brings her hands forward and makes a tic out of steepling her fingers and shifting them in a methodical manner. "Thee saw...Someone? They seemed wrong? Prithee, elaborate good man. Yo'Bikur is home to many folk, and to thy ken many may be strange. But few, indeed, wouldst cause such a start." She says this last part mostly to herself.