Quake's ear twitched as she heard Alyson call her from the lagoon. Without saying a word to War Scribe or anyone else, she left the temple and simply walked down into the ground. Earth meld was such a wonderful ability.

Madeous merely watched at the chronicler heading out of the temple. He surmised that whatever War Scribe truly was her own origins were anything but natural. There were gaps in how she viewed people in general. It was as if she never experienced childhood herself, and neither could grasp it or cared about it. He wondered on how Alyson met her in the first place.

Sergeant Talos started to head out of the temple but not before saying one last thing for the evening, "Well then, I must return to the barracks and clean up the mess left by the previous officer. Do enjoy the rest of Asylum, and please stay out of trouble."

"We will stay out of trouble, Seargeant Talos," Willow replied.

"But we cannot guarantee that trouble will stay away from us," Irzen added with a grin.

Madeous turned to Willow, Irzen, and Neven, "You are more than welcome to join me at the Light house. There's a library there, as well as Armendes, the keeper of the lighthouse and long time friend of Lazheros. There are two ways to get there, one is by boat, the other is when the tide goes out at dawn and dusk."

"Sure," Irzen replied.

"There is nowhere else we need to be," Willow added.

"Thank you for the invitation," Neven replied as he turned towards The Shield Maiden, "Serna, do you want to come along?"

"I think I'll stick around and hang out with Caliphay," Serna replied, "You guys can go on. I'll be fine!"

"She'll be fine here in Asylum," Madeous assured Irzen and company. "This city is one of the safest in the Realm for children to play at night."

"Neven, would like to hang out with us?" Seri stepped forward towards the thief, "I'd like to know more about you and my friends would like to hear more of the Realm since we don't go very far from the city itself."

"Sure," Neven smiled at Seri before he turned back to Irzen and Willow, "Guys, I'll catch up with you later." The Thief turned towards his new friend, "In truth, I would like to get to know you better and learn more about Asylum as well."

*************

Right on que, the elemental phased out of the cliff side near the shore and gasped at the sight of Alyson, "Lady? Wha, what happened to you?" She looked over the elementalist's shoulder to see the bronze dragon laughing, "you got pranked? By him? Uh, maybe you'll tell me later, okay."

Alyson peeled her current robe off of her body, ringing it out as best she could along the way leaving a gold halter top and shorts on. Her leather boots were saturated with sea water. "Can you take these to Madame Mabel in the Commons on the far side of Asylum. She heads the washer women there and will know how to properly clean my gear."

At the same time Quake appeared, another Kurori elf popped up in the dragon's line of sight, "Teehehee!"

"Seama, what are you doing here at this hour?" The dragon's laughter died down a bit while still watching Alyson.

"I heard laughter. Your laughter. You haven't laughed this hard in a looooooooong time!" Seama's bright neon green hair glowed intensely. "Oh! Is that Alyson?"

"Yes, Seama."

"She grew up! Oh-no! I didn't want her to grow up! We had so much fun! Awww!" Seama's form sparkled in the dim light of the evening.

She flew over to Alyson and Quake giggling. "Alyson! I've missed you!" She gave the elementalist a hug and danced around her. Then stopped and looked at Quake, "Who are you? Are you a friend of Alyson?"

"You mean the lady? Yeah, something like that."

"Hello Seama. It's good to see you again. Say, would you show Quake where the Commons are?" Alyson smiled warmly.

"Of course!" Seama beamed from ear to ear, "Meet me at the city fountain, Quake." Then she was gone.

"Better get going, Quake, and thanks for sticking up for me and my uncle." Alyson handed Quake the rest of her items.

Quake melded with the earth once more and left the elementalist and the bronze dragon alone together. Alyson reached into a pocket of her old robe and found a hair tie to which she fastened on after braiding her hair back out of her face.

Alyson walked back down the beach towards the water again, only to get splashed by the dragon flicking water at her. "Hey!" She dove under the water to avoid the waves and came up next to his scaled body.

Lazheros chuckled again in another attempt to knock her off balance and fall down but then she vanished from his sight, "Hmm?"

The elementalist rolled onto her back starring up at the stars and then over at the bronze dragon. "I missed this place. I missed being with you. I remember not wanting to leave and go back to Earth. This place was the only thing that let me be happy."

The dragon moved slightly around and placed his forelegs underneath the elementalist bringing them up to lift her out of the water. His head dipped down to see eye to eye with her. He gently nuzzled her, "Alysiane, welcome home."

Alyson reached over and caressed his snout. Smooth to the touch as the sea water made his scales glisten in the star light. The rush of emotions filled her being from the physical contact. It was nice to open up and let her emotions over take her. "This is nice. *sniff* So nice...."

Lazheros released the elementalist back into the water, "Come. It is time to return to the Lighthouse. And you are tired from your journey." The dragon again moved and pushed the elementalist back towards the shore. Standing back up, his form towered over the elementalist. He followed her and changed back into the cleric wading out of the water behind her. His sleek, bronze toned body was briefly seen before his wings wrapped around his human form as robes.

Alyson walked over to her spare set of robes, dried herself off and put them on minus shoes. She dried her eyes, "The lighthouse huh? Armendes still there?"

Lazheros walked up to her, wrapping one arm around her and the other gently caressed her cheek. "Yes. Yes, he is still there. He will be glad to see you again."

Alyson leaned against his chest. Lack of sleep was catching up. When she was placed in the Deep sleep it sealed the darkness away but it didn't give her enough time to actually recover, the last few days had been a blur. She buried her face into the folds of his robe indicating she was tired.

The Bronze Man wrapped both arms around her and the two vanished in a flash of light and reappeared at the steps of the Lighthouse. The door opened by itself and the two entered the building.

The Bronze Man and Alyson stepped through the threshold of the lighthouse. The interior was deceptively bigger on the inside than on the outside. Typical of a mage creation. The main room had a two large couches on either side with book shelves behind both. At the far end was a desk covered with scrolls and various other writing tools. A set of spiral stairs could be seen just to the right and behind the desk that went further up. Plants hung from the twelve foot ceiling with long green tendrils glowing softly in the room.

Lazhreros ushered Alyson forward for her to have a seat on the couch to their left. She gladly sat down remembering how comfortable it was. He then walked to the back of the room just past the spiral stairs and came back with cup of hot mint tea for her.

A scuffling sound followed by clanking came from the stairs as someone descended them. A figure resembling a tin man, or construct stopped at it saw the elementalist sitting down and talking with the bronze man, "By Bahamut! Alyson? Is that you? You've grown into quite the woman!"

The elementalist took a sip of the mint tea and turned towards the figure, "Armendes. It's good to see you again."

Armendes was once a powerful wizard. A silver dragonborn who in an attempt to create a construct as a servant botched on the spell which left him without a body. Initially he believed that his spell was flawless failed to see the true cost of the work and magic that was required. In his haste, the magical spirit he summoned destroyed his mortal form and forced him to inhabit the construct instead. For the last five hundred years he has been a long friend and aid to Lazheros when ever his area of expertise was required.

**************

Caliaphy took notice of the chronicler arguing with Quake and walked up to Serna, "Want to see something funny?"

"Sure, what do you have in mind?" Serna asked with a mischievous grin.

Caliaphy brought her finger to her lips and whistled loud enough for all the children in Asylum to hear it and come to her location. That is one third of the population.

As War Scribe was beginning to depart, the Drowling noticed a small army of children heading towards the temple, "What in the Realm is going on here? This is a temple not a playground."

Children from the ages of seven to twelve walked up the hill from the city and entered the temple. They came and surrounded the chronicler with all smiles and giggles.

Irzen, Serna, Neven and Willow took notice of the onrush of children as well.

Caliaphy held Serna's hand and grinned, "You look unhappy here, silly drowling. So, my friends and I are gonna cheer you up. How are you at Hide and Seek? We love to play hide and seek! Teeheehee!"

"I'm very good at Hide and Seek, little Elf," War Scribe turned to face Caliaphy with an evil grin, "Do you think you brought enough kids to seek me out? What are the rules of this little game you wish to play?"

"We learned Hide and Seek from Alyson long ago," Caliaphy smirked, "Well, first of all, not it. You are it. Two, we all hide and you count to fifty. No peeking. Then you say Ready or not, here I come. The safe area is the fountain in the center of Asylum. If any of us reach it there before you find us, we're safe. If you find and tag someone else, it's their turn to be it. You can start right outside the temple since its the one place that's off limits and we don't want to anger the Bronze Man. No, hiding in the buildings either. And no magic once the game starts by the person who's it."

"No magic by the person who's it?!" The Drowling screeched, "That's not fair! You and the rest of your little imps can use magic all day to evade me, but I can't use any? That's not fair at all."

The Kurori snapped her fingers and the children dispersed so fast that it would impress any battle field commander. She then looked at Serna, "Since your new to this, you get one free-bee." Still holding her hand, the two blinked in a flash of light and reappeared down below the temple at the edge of the city proper. "Okay, we hide now."

"Sure thing!" Serna ran with Caliaphy as they reappeared.

Meanwhile, War Scribe was more than a little perturbed that the rules were so obviously set up so that she would lose. In a huff, she stormed out of the temple, "No magic, indeed! That scheming little Elf and that pest with a shield won't be able to hide from me for long. I'll get them before they can even reach that stupid fountain!"