The day was cold and starting to darken as Myro ran down the streets, his boots tapping on the cobblestones. The wind was blowing something fearsome, shaking his blond and dark brown streaked hair about his face. Even his long cloak with fur trim did nothing to warm him. He glanced over his shoulder to see fire light on the horizon. He really didn’t mean to light that store on fire. Honestly. At least he got the doll he wanted. He peered into the bag he was holding as he ducked into and alley and kept going. Pretty glass eyes stared up at him from the face of a boy only a foot tall. Now that was a charming doll and a perfect find for the day.

That’s what Myro was thinking anyway until he found himself nearly face to face with a sign in front of a tiny shop tucked into a corner. He looked around and realized he had left the alley behind long ago while he was lost in the doll’s eyes. He peered at the sign. It just said, ‘Wake up in a Dream’. He chuckled at the silliness, but decided to check the store out anyway. If anyone was chasing after him, they wouldn’t think to look in here. It didn’t even look in business though he saw dusty display’s in the window.

“Hello?” Myro called as he stepped into the store.

Fealty shouldn't have been in the store in the first place. Her master had died again, one among many, and this time hadn't left any provisions for her in his will. It was how the mahogany haired doll with delicate features had found herself in the toy store. The old, time ravaged, blue dress she wore made a soft rustling sound as the doll shifted from her box to stand upon the table. Usually she wouldn't show herself so to anyone. Even the magically inclined shop owner didn't know about the fact that she had a living doll in her store.

Loneliness had been gnawing at her though, and here was finally a way to chase the feeling away. "Over here!" Pipped up Fealty softly in her chiming voice. Made of porcelain, she didn't dare jump from her table for fear of breaking her limbs. She was bigger then most dolls, but much smaller then any human. Oh how she wished to be human, to feel, to be able to run about without fear! That was impossible though. Even grasping things in her hands, stiff and clumsy as they were, was a very difficult task.

With a shake of her head, making her curled locks tumble delicately around her pale face, the doll peered into the darkness. A spark of hope lit her amethyst eyes, as surely as the sun shone, she wanted someone to take her home.

Myro paused in his inspection of some ornate combs when he heard a tiny voice call from his left. A quick glance didn't show him anyone though so he just started walking toward the voice. "Someone's here? where are you?" he asked. He was so busy looking around that he didn't see the table right in front of him until he walked right into it.

"Table!" he yelled, grabbing on to it half to keep from falling, he to keep it from falling. "And vase! Doll!!" He didn't try to save the vase, but instead grabbed onto the doll instantly to keep her from falling. He ended up pulling the thing closed to him in the process and though she was large for a doll, he found himself looking into her eyes. they were a startling shade of purple and he instantly became lost in them.

She giggled softly, and waited to see if the young man would come and find her on the table. And fine her he did! Just not in the way Fealty had expected. The doll was falling, and going to shatter into a thousand pieces. But no, she'd just been caught and held close in a tight embrace. Her eyes caught the young man's, and he was staring right at her in a way that had never happened before.

"Thank you for catching me," chimed the doll. Of course, he was the one who'd made the table fall. Though of course, that might have been because he saw her standing there freely on her own without a stand. "I didn't mean to startle you," stated Fealty politely.

"AH!" Myro yelped rather high for a guy and jumped back from the doll. "It spoke! The doll spoke to me!" he exclaimed. Any normal man would probably back away from the table, but he just stood there petrified and fascinated. The doll he bought earlier was clutched tight in one hand, but never so tight he would damage its cloth skin. He suddenly lifted the thing and looked into its eyes.

"Have you ever seen a talking doll before?" he asked it. The doll of course, stayed silent. Myro lowered it and looked to the doll with amethyst eyes. Maybe he really did wake up in a dream. He was about to ask the talking doll if that was true when he heard a door open from the back of the shop. A middle aged gypsy looking woman walked into the main part of the store.

"What's going on in here?" she asked.

Another laugh escaped her, though Fealty found herself feeling disappointed. He wouldn't take her home, not if he was afraid. Then the owner of the shop walked in. The mahogany haired doll sent a pleading look Myro's way. "Please buy me, I don't want to be alone again.." Whispering the words, she tried to get her message across to the young man.

She had lived for centuries already, surely she wouldn't be relegated to a toy store. Everybody over looked her because of how disheveled her dress was, or for the small smudges upon her porcelain features. "Please?" In truth, being alone was her worst fear, and yet it happened to her so much!

Myro looked in the doll's pleading eyes for one last second before turning to face the shop owner. "Ah yes, hello there. I bumped into this table you see. Sorry I broke a vase," he said as polite as he could be while still flustered. He glanced at the vase in pieces half on the table, and half on the floor. He never cared for vases anyway. He made the little doll he was holding hit him to keep himself on topic. "I'll pay for that really. But, I must know, how much is this doll?" he pleaded, pointing to the one on the table.

Raising an eyebrow, the gypsy flipped her hair out of her face. Putting her hands on her hips, the shop owner glanced at the mess, then at the doll standing upon the table. "Let's see if we can come to an arrangement young man." It looked for a few moments like the gypsy might come up with some impossible task, as she was tempted to. Instead, she shrugged and pointed at the dirty looking doll. "Take her, and give me a hundred for the vase. That ratty old doll won't bring me anything in her state." With humph, the gypsy held out her hand expectantly with a raised eyebrow.

Myro's heart could have fluttered right out of his chest in pure joy. He slipped a hand into the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out a few gold coins. "Will this do instead?" he asked, holding them out to the gypsy woman. "I'm afraid I already spent my cash for the day, but I don't need these old bits of gold," he said with a little chuckle.

Without a word the gypsy snatched the golden coins in her hand and turned away. She disappeared again in the back of the shop, leaving Fealty and Myro alone. "That went well, don't you think?" Finally someone who would take care of her and spend company with her again! Oh, Fealty had missed friendship so much! In her state, she'd feared never to be cherished by anyone ever again. A sad thought for anyone really.

"Oh so well!" Myro exclaimed. He picked up the doll from the table and held her closer to the light. Tattered dress, smudges, hair softened with dust. "Dearie, what a mess you are. But any doll that talks is better than one that doesn't." He glanced back at the table. "Oh! Do you want your box?" he asked as a second thought. Perhaps a doll would want that before he took her home.

She allowed herself to be picked up and examined while doing some examining of herself. He had the oddest of hair colors, and seemed to be holding another doll in his free hand. "The box, yes of course I want it." It held so many memories of the past. Little bits and pieces of all the people who had once owned Fealty. All dead of course, but she liked to think that a part of them remained with her in her memories.

Myro smiled and grabbed the box. Of course, now he was holding too many things and had to shuffle them around for a while to get a hold on two dolls and a box. He had the talking doll cradled in one arm, the box under an arm, and the other doll in his hand. It was a miracle he made it to the door and out of the shop without knocking anything else over. By the time he stepped outside, it was fully dark and even chillier. Myro hugged the doll closer though he wasn't sure if she could get cold and she wasn't going to warm him up.

"Dolly, do you have a name?" he asked suddenly.

Patiently Fealty dealt with the fact that she was being juggled around like nothing more then a common package. This was after all someone who had no reason to care for her. He was a stranger to her, and not of her creator's blood. Two strikes against him, she supposed. Still, the mahogany haired doll was inclined to like the young man, if only because he'd rescued her form the stuffy antique shop.

"Fealty, and you are?" Her amethyst eyes turned to his in an attempt to see what his reaction would be. Fealty, for loyalty, for love of family. Despite her name, they'd abandoned her, left her alone. Still the person who'd put Fealty aside had no idea what they had lost.

"That's a pleasant name. Is it apt perhaps?" he asked. "I'm Myro. It doesn't mean anything at all, just the sort of name bored rich parents come up with," he said with a slight skip in his walk. Despite the cold, his entire demeanor was exceptionally joyful. He couldn't smell rain coming in the air, so he hurried further. "How in the world did someone such as you end up in a weird store like that? Okay, you and both that store are weird so maybe that makes sense. Curious," he muttered, tilting his head in his odd sort of way.

She nodded silently, finding herself tired of being dirty and unclean all of a sudden. Though at the mention of bored rich people, the doll managed to smile a little. It was a rather different kind of prospect for her. "When my previous owner died, he forgot to pass me on to someone in his will. Not knowing my importance, the others bundled my up in that box and sent me off before I could say a word. I miss them already ... It's been a century at least that I've been with the same family." In truth it was more then that, but Fealty didn't want to scare the joyful looking young man.

"Even more curious!" Myro exclaimed. "Does that mean you're immortal? To be alive a century, what a feeling that must be!" He did a little twirl and raced ahead. He was getting close to his home already. He could see the silver gate in the distance, only visible because of the street lights reflecting off of it. "I'm liking you more and more by the second," he whispered to Fealty.

"No, it's horrid! All I want is to be human, to grow old and die with those I love, instead of watching them all pass away one after the other." This boy had no idea what it was like! Obviously he'd led a rather pampered life, without troubles. Or so it seemed to the doll as she was carried away trough the silvery gates. She quieted down in Myro's arms with a little downward tilt of her lips that was her show of unhappiness.

Myro pouted slightly as he closed the silvery gate behind him. He stared up at his mansion of a house, not saying anything for a second. "But you have a chance to love over and over again. To fix mistakes and still have time to do it right the next time. People like me only get one shot." A second longer of silence and then he grinned madly again and went skipping up the slightly overgrown, but once well cared for path to his house. He pointed to the majestic building and shouted gleefully. "How's this for your new home?" he exclaimed. Or maybe majestic was no longer the proper word for the building. The mansion was majestic in its own way with its size and skilled architecture. When Myro inherited it though, he had in a fit of childishness, ordered the building painted white and pastel blue. The art nouveau inspiration had gone from majestic to whimsical in just a simple color change.

The doll shook her head at his words. He was far too young to understand her reasons, so she spoke none of them. The boy showed his age even more as he skipped forward with glee. Fealty clung to his arm with her stiff hands and a sketch of a frown crossed her face. Oh this was going to take some getting used to! It had been a very long time since she'd had to deal with someone so childlike in nature. Such a long time in fact, that she preferred not to remember. "After so many years alive, it takes quite a lot to impress me." She lifted her amethyst eyes to Myro's face with a slight smile, though her words didn't warrant it.

Myro frowned. "Somehow, that didn't sound all too nice. Is it bothersome that I want to impress you?" he said as he stepped into the house and moved quickly into another room with a little plush red couch and shelves all around filled with doll. He set Fealty down on the couch and kept moving around the room. He had too much energy. He wiped the dust off of the table and set the other little doll on it before he went back to wandering around the room. He stopped and looked at Fealty. "I would like very much for you to be impressed with me."

She had to think about it for quite a while before finally answering with a shake of her head. "No, it's simply something I'm not used to." She wasn't much one for trying to impress others, so it was a strange idea for her that this near perfect stranger wanted to do such a thing for her.

The purple eyed doll shifted around on the red couch as she peered curiously at all the other dolls in the room. "Why is it you have so many dolls?" Some people might have found it strange that a young man owned so many dolls, but Fealty was simply filled with curiosity as to his reasons. For certainly, Myro must have had some.

Myro stood there staring at the dolls. While the rest of the room wasn't perfectly taken care of, each doll was. "Aren't they pretty?" Myro asked simply. "I've always liked dolls because they're perfect. Symmetrical faces, eyes that are always the same..." His own eyes darted to the floor instinctively then back to Fealty. "A broken doll can be fixed and will never just leave you."

She watched him with a perplexed expression, as if she didn't quite understand. "Why are you hiding your eyes?" The doll hadn't yet truly seen their color. His last sentence made her wonder about Myro, his life and why he might prefer the company of dolls to that of people. Though with her he would have a problem, because Fealty was a person in truth despite the fact that she had been made and not born.

"I'm not hiding my eyes," Myro denied with an energetic shake of his head. He dropped down onto the floor in front of the couch and sat there smiling. "Speaking of eyes, yours are very pretty. I've never seen such purple eyes before. Like...like those very pretty stones!" he exclaimed, blinking his own eyes--one a bright green and other a much duller shade.