Lucrese settled down in her favorite corner of the library, book in hand and a pile of others on a table by her side. She wasn't studying, but was rather trying to escape her tormentors. One would think that by the twelfth grade they'd be mature enough to stop picking on her. It was too much to hope for. At least the books whispered not a word behind her back.

Absentmindedly sucking on a strand of pink hair, the young woman began letting her eyes rove over the pages of the large tome. Filled with magic and adventures, it made Lucrese dream of being someone else. Or maybe, just maybe, having the courage to turn into the person she imagined she could be.

The library would darken for a few moments, what looked like a swirling grey cloud appeared close to the ceiling, a bit of a breeze seemed to have picked up. Inside the library. Causing pages of open books to flutter and turn gently, the cloud seemed to open up a bit, a pit of hollow darkness in it's center. But something seemed to be falling through that hollow darkness. Whatever it was came tumbling out in a flurry of white and blue but mostly white until it landed with a soft 'ow' on it's butt.

A person, it looked more like a girl than a boy, had landed. The dark cloud was gone, the wind stopped and the library had lightened back up again. The cloud the person had fallen out of was gone, but suddenly a black hard bound book fell out of the air and landed on the person's head. Another 'oww' escaped those lips as the book bounced off the head of white hair and landed on the feminine boy's lap. He picked the book up with one hand, and slowly stood. With his free hand he straightened and smoothed out his skirt and then took a look around. People were staring at him. They seemed confused and unsure of what to do. And he seemed to be in a library of sorts. Well that was good. Libraries were good, no doubt a book with the return spell in it would be here.

"Where are the ritual books located?" The voice that left his lips sounded more feminine than masculine. No doubt everyone thought a girl had just dropped from the sky. That was alright, Alai didn't mind too much that people couldn't immediately tell he was a boy. Besides it was very fun to play along. Of course that did often make others angry when they did eventually find out the truth. Blue eyes just watched the few people that were watching him. They really didn't seem to know what to do. He didn't understand why they looked so confused. It had just been a bit of magic. Magic that had gone wrong, as he obviously was not where he had intended to go.

Rubbing her eyes, Lucrese stared as something strange happened in the library. Ritual books? Well even if she wasn't sure if the person was a boy or a girl, at least she could help out with that little bit of information. This was probably just one of her elaborate daydreams anyway. After taking a deep breath, she smoothed down her sweater, tugged down her white blouse, and then moved forward with a shy smile.

"I can show you..." Trailing off, Lucrese turned away with her thumbs hooked into the pockets of her jeans as she walked away. She could hear the people whispering behind her back, but this time they had a legitimate excuse. People didn't just drop from the sky, no ceiling, everyday. It was all quite a big shock actually. Lu found herself thinking it was a good thing all the new age, self- help, books were in the very back of the library far from prying eyes.

Alai pulled his cloak tight around him for a moment and then let it go. He clutched his book tightly to his chest with one hand and just peered curiously at the people. No one seemed inclined to really help him find the ritual books and he didn't quite understand why. But then a girl was coming to him and offering to show him. He smiled brightly at her. "Oh thank you!" Alai didn't hesitate to follow her at all. He was practically bouncing on his feet as he followed her to the back of the library.

"Why did everyone look so confused? I'm sure I'm not the first person whose teleportation ritual went wrong." He peered at her a bit more critically. Her clothing were a little strange, but not too different to what he was used to seeing humans wear. Still, those blue eyes darted this way and that over the spines of books they passed on the way to where the ritual books might be. Alai frowned. He couldn't read the words written on the books, but he knew the language. All humans spoke that language. It was why he was speaking it right now. Since he had fallen into a predominately human library.

Though now he was beginning to suspect that it wasn't just predominately human. It was completely human. That didn't make sense. But his eyes could find no books in elvish, draconic, demonic or any other language from his realm. "Could you please tell me where I am, exactly? Which kingdom or realm?" He most definitely wasn't in the Fey Wild. In the Eladrin library at their gorgeous school of magic. Of course he had expected to end up in a mortal realm, but not one that he was unfamiliar with.

Each word the person spoke only served to confuse Lucrese. "What are you talking about? Did you bump your head when you fell?" Turning around she looked at Alai's head nervously. This was probably the strangest person she'd ever met, or who'd ever fallen into her lap. Even so she felt kind of responsible for the ... Oh she was so confused, she didn't even know what gender her impromptu acquaintance was. Just something else to mess up, Lucrese supposed.

"This is a city, not a kingdom or anything else like that." Absentmindedly she pointed at the books on magic available in the library. Curiosity had pushed her to read them, but none of them held the magic described in her books so she'd grown bored of them.

After a moment's thought and staring, Lucrese sighed. "I .. umm, this is awkward, but could you tell me if you're a guy or a girl? I'd hate to make a mistake." It would be even more embarrassing then what she was doing now. Quickly plucking a random brook from the shelf nearby, Lucrese tried to hide her blush. Sure, now she'd be the laughing stock of everyone in town for helping some poor lost and confused person who'd ended up with a concussion. She could live with that, but asking questions like this was almost too much to bear. She hoped this was a girl, otherwise the clothes would be ... just a little awkward in her eyes.

Alai reached up to rub his head lightly when she asked him if he had bumped his head. Well, his book had landed on his head, but there was no bump there and he was sure his book was too light to do any permanent damage. It was nice of her to be concerned for his well being though! Blue eyes seemed confused as she spoke of it being a city and not a kingdom. Most kingdoms were cities. So that didn't make much sense. Alai shook his head. "...You don't have a ruler? No king to lead the people and keep everyone safe from those that might invade?" That just didn't make sense to him.

Alai often found human's confusing, but still. Where exactly had he ended up? Though when she asked about his gender, Alai giggled and stepped closer to her. "It's a game. I won't tell you, you'll have to figure it out all on your own." He stepped back from her and twirled once. Letting his long skirt flare out and twist around his legs. He twirled so agilely in those thigh high two inch healed silver and blue boots of his. His cloak had wrapped around him a bit when he twirled and his skirt had wound around his slender, smooth legs when he had stopped. Now all of that fell to lay around his body like it should. It should have been impossible for him to move around in that skirt without the long slit in the side giving at least a glimpse of things that shouldn't be glimpsed in public, but that slit never once revealed anything, not even a quick glimpse.

Blushing furiously now, Lucrese tried to find what she'd been about to say before she, or was it he, started twirling around. It was just a little strange to say the least, but o well. She was more then glad though that the skirt didn't reveal anything. Lucrese wanted to know her acquaintance's gender of course, but not that much. "Can't you give me a clue?"

Putting aside that question, she mulled over what the white haired person had asked "We don't have royalty anymore, instead we have a democracy where people vote for the president and his council, or for the prime minister and the other ministers. " One person didn't hold all the power, though sometimes it didn't seem like that. Well considering that she didn't pay much attention to politics she really wasn't the best person to ask.

"It's not a fun game if I give you clues or tell you the answer." He giggled softly at her and twirled around one more time before he began to look intensely at the spines of the books on the shelves nears them. As she spoke again though, Alai blinked those brilliant blue eyes and stared at her. He had no idea what a democracy was, had never even heard the word before. He didn't know what a president or prime minister was, but so far from her description those seemed to be how they referred to their king, instead of calling him a king. Alai thought that was very silly. His gaze turned back to the books and he frowned slightly. "Are all of these written in Common?"

Alai spoke Common rather fluently, as well as a multitude of other languages. His own native language was a form of elvish spoken primarily by Eladrin and others that dwelled within the realm of the Fey Wild. Still even if this realm was a predominately human one, there ought to be some books in other languages. Languages that he could read. Alai couldn't read Common, but only because most spell books were originally written in elvish or draconian or other languages, very few were ever originally written in Common, and as a creature of the Fey Wild it would have been rather unusual for him to learn to read the human language.

Humans had a habit of scribing and copying magic spells and rituals into Common. His brow furrowed a bit. All of these books must be copies then. He pulled his cloak open a bit, and his own book vanished within the folds of the long white garment. Then he reached for a random book and opened it, he flipped through the pages carefully. As if he greatly respected the book he held. "I can't read the human language...could you help me find the ritual for teleportation?" Alai found himself wishing that he had learned to read Common from a human mage. Of course no one could have predicted he would end up in a place like this.

It sounded like her tag along had just jumped out of a fantasy novel. "Did you just come from a fantasy convention? Somebody put you up to playing a prank on me right?" There was really no other explanation. It wouldn't be the first time people tried to twist Lucrese's love of books into some kind of cruel prank and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

Lower lip trembling a little, the pink haired girl shook her head and plopped down onto the nearby armchair. It wasn't fair! Just because she was different people did their best to make her feel bad. Sure she didn't have the nicest of clothes, and she was quiet and reclusive, but that didn't give them the right to play mean tricks on her!

It had been going on for years of course. Graduation day couldn't come soon enough for the young woman. An escape from her tormentors was exactly what she needed. A soft hiccuping series of sobs left Lucrese's lips before she plastered her hands upon her mouth to quell the sounds.

Alai blinked, tilted his head curiously. What exactly was a fantasy convention? Was that what these humans called it when you fell out of the sky from a botched teleportation ritual? Maybe it wasn't. She said something about playing a prank, and Alai shook his head. "I'm not playing a prank. Windlings are fond of pranks but I'm not." His brow furrowed as she plopped down in the armchair. She seemed so upset and Alai didn't really understand why. He knew humans could be very complicated and confusing creatures, but this was taking that a little too far. He had done nothing but ask for help. Why did that upset her so much?

Now she was crying, Alai couldn't stand to see anyone cry. He returned the book he had been holding to it's shelf, it hadn't really felt like a spell book anyway, he couldn't sense the power in it so it had probably been a wrong book. "Please. I don't mean to make you cry, I just wanted some help. If it's too upsetting for you I can ask someone else to help me. Please, stop crying." But what could he do? The only magic he could use was healing, rituals were designed in a way that they could be used by any spell user and even some non magic having people. Rituals drew on the inner power of the user and turned it into a power that could be channeled for the ritual. That was the only way Alai could do something other than heal, was if there was a ritual for it.

He reached for her, grabbing her by her wrists and gently pulling her to her feet. Those arms slipped around her waist and he held her close against his chest. "I'm sorry my ritual messed up and brought me here, and I'm sorry I seem to upset you so much. Please stop crying, please. Once I find the book with the right ritual in it I can go back to my home and then I won't be bothering you anymore. So then you won't need to cry anymore. Alright?" Honestly Alai had no idea how to make this better since he didn't really understand why she was so upset.

(Oh the wonders of miscommunication and disbelief)

Why was he apologizing? Things weren't making any sense at all. People who played pranks on others didn't end up saying sorry. She'd learned that trough experience. Maybe there was at least a kernel of truth in what this strange person was talking about. Lucrese's sobs were beginning to quiet when she felt herself being pulled up and hugged.

A blush replaced her sobs, and only became redder when she realized this person was a he. For a few moments Lucrese tried to figure out why any guy would walk around dressed like this, but put aside the thoughts when she couldn't figure it out. Instead she concentrated on what he kept saying over and over again.

"But magic doesn't exist," stated the pink haired girl with confidence. If it had she'd have jumped on the chance to learn it. Then at least people would show her a little more respect, at least the ones who couldn't use magic anyway. But no, everyone was on the same playing field, except that was so far from the truth!

After a moment's hesitation, she lifted her arms to return the hug uncertainly.

Alai's body tensed when she said that. How could she say such a thing? He was about to pull away from her, but she raised her arms and hugged him. Perhaps he had just misheard her. "How do you mean? Of course magic exists! Do not your healers heal with magic, does your...president...not employ battle mages?" His brow had furrowed and he felt very confused. Now he did pull slowly away from her, his hands resting gently on her upper arms as he studied her face for any trace of a lie. But then, why would anyone lie about something like that? Magic was everywhere, even those not gifted with it could see it. Mages abounded, priests and healers of all types. Wizards and necromancers, even holy paladins had magic.

For once, Alai was frowning, and he began to look around more closely. His blue eyes shifting this way and that as he studied their immediate area. This library did seem very different from the libraries he was used to, and it was odd that if she had brought him to the section of spell books and ritual books that he felt no power emanating from them at all. His hands fell away from her arms and he took a step back. "How can magic not exist?" That was a hard concept for one such as he. One who lived in the Fey Wild where magic ran nearly rampant, and was infused into almost every living thing. Even the wilderness of the Fey Wild was ripe with magic. The trees the animals, everything. Especially the Eladrin, the ancient ancestors of the elves. Alai himself was half Faery half Eladrin of the Fey Wild.

"No, doctors use medicine, machines and stitch people up for healing. The president has missiles, and guns for weapons, not spells." She was beginning to think he really was confused. More like deranged. Magic didn't exist, no matter how much you wished it did. So what to do with the delusional young man? Someone was bound to be looking for him. Lucrese looked at Alai worriedly and with confusion.

She really didn't know how to deal with someone like this.

As he stepped back, she tried to think of a way to put it to him gently. "The only magic here is seeing the morning dew on the leaves, or watching the sunrise, or seeing a new life being born into the world." Everything else was science. Maybe there was a world out there where science and magic co-existed, but it certainly wasn't this one. People believed in what they saw, or found a way to disprove it with logical explanations. There were exceptions, and so many things unexplained, but it seemed like everyone was a skeptic.

Alai was so confused, what kind of place had he fallen into? What did those words mean, missiles, guns? "I..where am I? You say such strange things. Missiles, guns. I don't know those words or their meaning." Eladrin had machines though, they ran on steam and magic. So if this world had no magic, how could their machines work? What was a doctor? Maybe their term for healer, and medicine. Of course. Healing potions and salves. Those were medicines. The things that she called magic, weren't magic at all. Those were just wonders of existence. Beauty of life, such a thing wasn't exactly magic. "The beauty of life, though mystical and enchanting is not magic." He was frowning deeply, frowns didn't look good on his face. His was a face of smiles and happiness. "I don't understand at all." He was shaking his head and he looked almost frightened.

Lucrese let out a sigh as she rubbed her head. This was harder then she thought it would be. Part of what was the fact that she wanted to believe that magic existed too. It would be so easy to let herself be pulled into this charade , to let her ordinary life disappear for a while. "You're in Riverglade, Texas. As for what they mean it would be easier to show you." Later, if there was a later, when a computer was available.

A pang went trough the young woman's heart as she noted how different the stranger's expression had become. It seemed like the prospect of a magicless world was too much a horrible thought for him. Deranged or not, either way it had to be. "There's no magic here. I'm sorry, but it's the truth." Maybe there had been at one time, and humans had driven it all away into another place. Traces of it might have lingered ... Lucrese shook her head to shove the speculation from her thoughts. It wasn't possible.

Even when she told him where he was, it didn't help at all. He had never even heard of Riverglade Texas before. What realm had he fallen in to? He had to be on the material plane though, because humans were here. So, Alai had assumed that he had simply been dropped somewhere within Faerun, a city or country he had never been to before. Alai was beginning to think that he was somewhere far from Faerun. A map. If she showed him a map it would be easier to discern where he was. He brightened significantly. Perhaps once he figured out which country he was in, he could find his way to a more familiar place.

His frown turned to a smile as he looked at her. "Could you show me a world map, please? So I can get a better idea of where I am?" His smile wasn't quite as bright as normal, he still seemed a little uncertain. He reached into the folds of his cloak and pulled out his spell book. He had a map of Faerun folded up in the back of it. As well as a map of the Fey Wild. He hugged his book close to his chest, clinging to it almost as if it were a life line.

((Riverglade is a figment of my imagination.))

It was a relief to see the white haired boy smiling again. His request made sense too. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. Bobbing her head up and down in assent, Lucrese waved for him to follow her trough the maze of library shelves. Lucrese hadn't mentioned it, but she thought books had a magic all their own with the ability to transport your mind to other far off places. Real or not, you could travel to wherever you wanted without having to pay for tickets or worrying about anything else for that matter.

Soon enough the young woman had reached the map section of the library in an even less frequented corner of the library. After perusing the shelves for a moment while biting her lower lip, she reached out with a slender hand to pluck a tall, slim, volume from one of the shelves. After opening the atlas, Lucrese flipped trough the pages until she found a two page world map. "Here why don't you take a look at this?" Hopefully this would break the strangely dressed boy's delusions.

Alai followed her happily to the part of the library that held the atlas's and such things as that. He waited patiently as she selected a book and opened it to a two page map. Alai dropped his own book, his eyes wide with disbelief. The continents, the, countries they were all wrong. And so strange. "Have I really gone beyond Faerun?" How could such a thing be possible? Had his teleportation ritual opened a rift between dimensions? Alai didn't think that was possible, only the most powerful of spell casters could travel between dimensions. He was clearly on the material plane though, so it must have been dimensional travel, even if that made no sense to him.

Alai bent to retrieve his fallen book with a trembling hand, he turned it over and opened the back cover, pulling out one of two folded pieces of paper. He closed the book and unfolded his map of Faerun. Of course all the countries and cities names were written in Common, and Alai couldn't read common, but he didn't really need to read the map to know it was completely different than the one she showed him. He unfolded it and held it next to her map. "...Where am I?" He sounded so lost.

She watched his reaction and found herself wanting to ease the worry from his mind. What could she do though? This person was delusional, and Lucrese was no doctor of the mind. The fact that she half believed him was a problem in itself. Biting her lower lip again, the pink haired girl watched as he bent down to pick up his book.

Curiously she peered at the map he pulled out, then back to the map of the world. It was true, they were different. But for all she knew the white haired guy had drawn it up for himself and forgotten that he had. "Are you sure you're from this ... Faerun? I mean magic doesn't exist, so how could you have gotten from there to here? I wish magic was real, but it isn't." Suddenly an idea filled her mind.

"Why don't you try proving to me that magic does exist, and then we can go from there?" It was a distraction. She didn't actually think the stranger could do the impossible.

"No, I'm not really from Faerun, Faerun is on the Material Prime Plane. I was trying to travel from the Fey Wild to one of the cities of Faerun. Faerun is the realm of humans, the Fey Wild is the realm of elves and fairies, though most elves reside in Faerun now." Alai was frowning again. Slowly he began to fold his map back up. "I was in the library at the school in Shinaelestra; The Fading City, when I tried the ritual to take me to Neverwinter City in Faerun."

Alai pulled out the other folded paper as he replaced the first one. This one was a map of the Fey Wild. It didn't seem a very big place, but only because just a small part of it had cities. Mostly Eladrin cities. The rest of the Fey Wild was wilderness and tiny villages of windlings, other small fairy type folk and the few elves that remained there. As well as kobolds and some goblinoids and of course animals dwelled there. "The Fey Wild and the Material Prime cannot exist without one another. They are parallel to each other and there are many ways to travel between the two realms."

He glanced at her for a moment. He could show her magic, but he could only do healing spells. "How can I prove it to you? The only magic I can use is spells of healing. Although, I can make a protective barrier, and a sword of holy light." Alai would give her a few moments to look over his map of the Fey Wild. The words written on it were also written in Common. "This map is magic." He said it as if he had just remembered, Alai passed his hand inches over the map and the words began to change. From English to a language she probably wouldn't recognize. They went from English to the odd language of Eladrin, a mixture of elven and faery language combined into one. It was Alai's native language.

Every word he spoke made her confusion grow. She'd never heard of any of these places he spoke of! Though him coming from another world entirely, as Lucrese imagined, might explain all the strange things about the unexpected drop in of the library. Shaking her head, the pink haired girl kept listening as the white haired boy went on in his attempted explanation.

Silently she took the parchment map, and marveled a little at the craftsmanship that must have gone into it's making. It must have taken someone exceptionally good at their craft to create something so detailed. All the names were strange, like thins straight out of a fantasy novel. Just as Lucrese was about to point out her triumph of proving that magic didn't exist, all the names changed beneath her eyes.

Perplexed, Lucrese flipped the map over and ran her hand over it in quite imitation of the other person's movements. Nothing happened. "How did you do that?" Disbelief filled her words, as Lucrese tried to stop herself believing in everything that the blue clad stranger had been saying. She still didn't know his name, and neither did he know hers for that matter.

"I didn't really do it. This map is enchanted, if I wish the words to be in my native tongue, all I have to do is will it and pass my hand over the map. Then the words change, the enchantment draws strength from the magic that lives inside of me." Alai ran his hand over the map again, the language changing back to words she would be able to understand. Then slowly he took the map from her and folded it back up to place it back inside of his book. "Magic is real, magic exists. Where I come from it runs free and wild, infused within every creature born and every object made in the Fey Wild. In Faerun many humans are born with an affinity to magic. I find it very hard to believe that magic does not exist in this unknown realm."

Alai watched her carefully. "My name is Alai Wynter and I am a child born of Winter's Light. Snow and Ice are my brothers and sisters, I am a Healer Extraordinaire." He was clutching his book tightly to his chest as he watched her. "I find the idea of a world without magic truly frightening, so please. Please stop telling me there is no magic here and please help me find a book with a teleportation ritual in it so I may try to return home. I speak Common fluently, but I never bothered to learn to read it. The had never been a need for me to, so I cannot find the proper book by myself. Please help me."

There wasn't anything she could do to help him. "My name's Lucrese Smith." Offering up her name was more of a way to let herself think and stall then anything else. Maybe her earlier thoughts about magic was real, in that case ... It would take a while for Alai to return to his world. She wasn't sure when the next solstice was, and Halloween was months away. This would definitely take some thinking.

"If there's magic here, it's really hard to use. I have no idea where to find any kind of teleportation spells." She didn't know how she'd feel if the situations were reversed. Admittedly Lucrese would be too excited by the fact that magic existed to think about any other consequences for a while. "You can come stay with me till we figure this out." Though not quite an adult yet, she already lived on her own. If it hadn't been for her great grandmother leaving money to her, she would have been able to afford her apartment with her part time job. As it was, she needed to be very frugal about everything.

...If there's magic here...Alai frowned very deeply, blue eyes glancing around at the books on the shelves near them. "But aren't there spell books here? This is a library, isn't it?" Those blue eyes landed back on her. Lucrese, she had said her name was. It sounded like a typical human name to his ears, so then why was this place so much different than what he was used to? He licked his lips to moisten them. "I can't use a teleportation spell, it has to be a ritual. The only spells I can use are healing ones." Alai spoke gently as he explained that, it was so simple to him, but perhaps to those who didn't believe in magic it was a bit complicated?

Alai blinked. Had she just offered to let him stay with her? Alai's frown turned to a smile. "I am deeply honored by your generosity." He reached into the folds of his cloak, and pulled out a small leather bag, it was tied tightly by horsehide string. He untied it and reached into it with two fingers, pulling out a gold coin before retying the bag and letting it vanish into the folds of his enchanted cloak. "Allow me to repay you with a bit of coin." He held the gold coin out to her, it was the size of a quarter, maybe a little bigger and a little thicker. One one side was the bearded face of a man wearing a crown, on the other side was a unicorn rearing up and pawing at the air. It was currency of Faerun, but Alai was sure it would be accepted here, all humans used that currency.

Never mind the fact that he most likely was over paying by offering her a gold piece when a few coppers or a silver would have done just fine. Alai didn't mind in the least, besides he was sure she would prove to be very helpful in getting him to either Faerun or the Fey Wild. He was smiling gently at her, his uncertainty about being in this place was slowly fading. Plus he was sure he would be able to return home soon.

"There aren't any spell books here, not the kind that could help you." Now that would take some tremendous searching. It was a good thing she knew how to peruse the online library catalog. Lucrese watched Alai reach into his cloak with a little frown on her face, which turned into an expression of complete surprise as he pulled out a coin. She'd never seen anything like it!

Reaching out, the young woman passed her fingers over the gold coin lightly. "Well this certainly makes me believe your story about coming from another world even more." It was one more piece of evidence pointing to the fact that Alai did indeed come form another dimension.

"Maybe we should go to my place." They were beginning to get strange stares from people. Some even looked like they were ready to go and complain to the librarian about Alai's strange clothing. Waring such a revealing skirt in this world tended to give one a bad opinion of the wearer.