[Intro]:
Kevlan Sharr and Bernadette Marshall have gotten themselves stranded in one of 
the odder remote corners of Estenar: a secluded valley, filled with countless 
tiny flowers, with a surprisingly powerful effect on their senses. Warned by 
Kevlan's tiny niece Fanna that they had to go into 'a secret place' and 'be 
careful,' the two Singers nevertheless brave the odd flowers to find another 
surprise in the heart of the valley, a small silver sculpture with a symbol 
atop it, which Kevlan identifies as a symbol for his patron goddess, the 
Star-Lady.

Seemingly having grown into a believer in the Lady herself, and convinced this 
is the sign they needed for Kevlan to ask Her for his voice back, Bernadette 
urges Kevlan to sing. And shyly, he complies, testing the ability of vocal 
cords that have gone mostly unused for nearly a year. To Bernadette's delight, 
his voice sounds almost normal.

But the Singers tarry too long in the valley, and the flowers soon swamp both 
their minds, leaving them dizzy and dreamy. The pair fall asleep in a tangle of 
vines, yielding to the place's peculiar form of enchantment....

----------
Utter silence... utter darkness. Air as warm and thick and sweet as a
  scented blanket. And with soft flower petals and grasses underneath
  for bedding, one could sleep for hours... and hours. Lose oneself in
  the heady, peaceful stillness... and let time pass.

Kevlan sleeps, his arms curled lightly over Bernadette's smaller form.

Bernadette also sleeps, lying on her side facing Kevlan, her hand
  clutching the front of Kevlan's shirt possessively even in her
  slumber.

Kevlan after a time - how long a time, he has no idea - lifts open heavy 
  eyelids. Where is he.....?

Bernadette continues sleeping heavily, not stirring a muscle.

Kevlan slowly becomes aware of Bernadette curled against him, and smiles 
  fuzzily. Mmm. _She_ is here... it must be alright... shouldn't it? His
  brow furrows, as he tries to remember.

Bernadette cuddles a little closer to Kevlan, still soundly asleep, her
  fingers flattening against his chest.

Kevlan concentrates, and with an effort, brings one hand up to gently
  smooth disheveled hair out of Berni's peaceful face. Pretty, he
  thinks... and after a few long moments of further effort, finishes,
  .... Berni. But... wasn't there something.... he should remember?
  Maybe he should ask her... but she's sleepin'... shouldn't... wake her
  up....

Bernadette turns her head slightly and slowly opens her eyes, peering at 
  Kevlan's face. Oh, good. HE's here. She smiles and moves her hand up
  to loop comfortably over his shoulder.

Kevlan starts to smile, tenderly. "... Ber.... ni," he mumbles slowly.
  Then, with satisfaction, "Berni." He studies Berni's face in rapt
  fascination, watching her awaken.

Bernadette raises her eyebrows and looks back at Kevlan, a little more
  alertly. She opens her mouth and...uh...she knows him. She closes her
  mouth again and swallows, her lips parting once more, blurting
  "Kevlan!" in one rush. She smiles smugly.

Kevlan giggles a little, and thinks, finally asking, "'Sat what...
  Ah'm... s'posed t' membah....?" He doesn't move, though. So warm and
  soft lying here in the vines. He was having the nicest dreams....

Bernadette frowns a little "Remember?" She searches her memory...or as
  much of it that's functioning...and shrugs. "I don't know."

Kevlan blinks at himself. Dreams? He frowns vaguely, considering the
  images of... someplace else... in his memory. Different places, only
  faintly perceived, and far away... but still, shouldn't... he...
  they... be there? He murmurs to Berni, "We... s'posed t' be heah...?"

Bernadette turns her head ever-so-slightly to look around before looking
  back at Kevlan. "Where...else would we be?"

Kevlan starts to frown, seeming mildly worried. "Ah... dreamed...
  someplace.... othah people... "

Bernadette blinks and shakes her head slowly. "Only you an' me..."

Kevlan protests, "Ah'm... sure... Ah seen 'em... other folks...."

Bernadette frowns as she concentrates for a few moments then shakes her
  head again, more firmly. "Only you an' me...always," she says with
  more conviction.

Kevlan looks sleepily at his companion, confused. "But... mah dream...
  Ah saw... rocks...?"

Bernadette sits up, almost regretfully, and brushes some leaves aside.
  She picks up something and shows it to Kevlan. "Look, here's a
  rock..."

Kevlan stares at it muzzily, before finally shaking his head in
  disappointment. "'Sdiff'rent... bigger rocks... pretty... "

Bernadette looks at the rock in her hand and tosses it aside with a
  shrug, "Jus' a dream."

Kevlan lifts a hand to his head, scrubbing the back of it across his
  eyes. "No... Ah... 'membah... us bein'... someplace else... "

Bernadette smiles patiently at Kevlan, as if humoring him.

Kevlan moves his hand, then blinks slowly. That was it. "Ah 'membah...
  we... hadda go... " He tries to sit up, unsteadily.

Bernadette frowns again. "Go where?" she whines, apparantly not willing
  to leave the forest.

Kevlan looks around, anxiously, scanning the trees as if he seems to
  think he might find his strange dream-place between them... (What's
  wrong with him? He should just sit down, surely... ) He makes it into
  a sitting position before doubling over again, dizzily, and he mumbles
  huskily, "Godda g'home... "

Bernadette protests "We are..." looking around herself again, as if to
  confirm it.

The forest is unchanged, deep, peaceful shadows dotted by the pale
  flowers, air thick and soft with their scent. Nothing is different...

Bernadette nods resolutely, repeating "We _are_ home.."

Kevlan ... silly Kevlan... tries to stand, and totter away from Berni...

Bernadette frowns. "Where you goin'....(what's his name
  again?...oh!)...Kevlan?"

Kevlan wanders a few feet away. "Godda g'home," he insists, anxiously.

Bernadette whines "But we ARE..." She climbs unsteadily to her own feet, 
  although she doesn't move from her spot.

Kevlan reels, as the continued activity makes him dizzy. "Don't... feel
  right," he mumbles.

Bernadette pouts, mumbling to herself.

Kevlan finds his gitar lying not far away, and stares at it for several
  long minutes, in shock, before he looks around for Berni. "Ah 'membah
  this!"

Bernadette folds her arms stubbornly across her chest, then, as if
  making up her mind, stumbles after Kevlan, grumbling the whole way.

Kevlan scoops up the instrument tenderly, starting to smile again.
  "'Membah this. Mine. Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah sang with it... "

Bernadette frowns at the pieces of wood and steel strings, recognition
  not flickering across her features.

You say "Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah sang... an'... Ah-Ah-Ah was s'posed t' come heah...
  t' sang... l'il bitty youngun said so... 'membah?"

Bernadette frowns deepens. "Cain't have no more younguns." She shakes
  her head.

Kevlan's smile wavers, but he insists, "'Membah... " After a moment, he 
  triumphantly produces the name. "Fanna... got th' starlight... "

Bernadette blinks, the name apparantly not meaning anything to the
  smaller Singer. "Starlight in th' sky..." she mumbles.

Kevlan finishes solemnly, "Gotta git back t' Fanna."

Bernadette balks, eyes wide. "An' leave HOME?"

Confused by Bernadette's reaction, Kevlan pauses. "Well... she... ain't
  heah," he says uncertainly.

Bernadette frowns again. "Where is she, then?"

Kevlan falters over that question. He remembers... a place. A house. But 
  getting the words for that place seems strangely difficult, and he
  finally says lamely, "Someplace.... else... "

Frowning again...something she seems to be doing a lot of
  lately...Bernadette thinks. She doesn't want him to leave her...so...
  "Okay." She says.

Kevlan smiles crookedly, and nods. And starts happily, "Godda g'home..."
  He trails off, turning slowly around as he tries to figure out _how_.
  Why can't he think better? So hard to think... he finally points, in a
  direction where the flowers grow slightly less thickly clustered.
  "Thattaway."

Bernadette looks back over her shoulder regretfully as she trails along
  after Kevlan, not certain they should REALLY be leaving...

Kevlan clutches his gitar contentedly as he ambles off, at an extremely
  slow pace. "Find Fanna," he repeats with satisfaction.

-*-
(How long has he been wandering? He isn't at all sure... it is easy,
  very easy, to completely lose track of time. And with the
  shadow-shrouded trees surrounding him on all sides, it is even easier
  to yield to the temptation to simply _stop_... for if all things are
  the same in every direction he looks, why should he move?

It takes a massive effort, but he forces himself to remember scraps of
  dream, of a weathered, cozy house, and a small child's face, full of
  solemnity, and starlight. He is certain he remembers another place,
  too, busier, wilder, full of reverberant music and tumultuous weather.
  The memory of a glimmering black surface of... something... almost
  soapy to the touch, and soaked with the heat of a rising primary,
  lingers about his fingers, making them itch with longing.

He _knows_ he was there. And _she_ was, too... he needs to get her back
  there. Another niggling memory reminds him that she needs it, more
  than he. He occasionally turns to look at her, and sees her trudging
  along just behind him, delicate face screwed up into frustrated
  confusion. She looks so tired... but she can't rest, not yet, he can't
  let her... )

Bernadette's eyes look hollow and dazed, ringed darkly with bruised-
  looking flesh. She plods along, almost mindlessly behind Kevlan, 
  whining from time to time (when she can remember she's not 
  comfortable), "Can't we sleep?" She then whimpers when she's gently,
  but firmly denied this luxury, and continues putting one foot in front
  of the other.

"That's... it... c'mon, Berni honey..."

"Jus' wanna sleep..." is all she mumbles in response to the 
  encouragement, though she doesn't alter her slow, yet methodical pace.

Kevlan shuffles around yet another tree, squinting through the gloom as
  he chooses yet another path through the seemingly endless tangle of
  foliage and flowers. He pauses to hold the way open for Berni, pushing
  the vines aside so that she has a clear route through, so that the
  flowers don't touch her. He is no longer quite certain why, but he
  half-remembers that she needs to stay away from the tiny blossoms.

She passes Kevlan, through the opened route he has provided from the 
  foliage, takes a few more steps then--just stops. She takes one 
  steadying step forward as Kevlan bumps into her from behind, but she
  just....stands there.

Kevlan frowns, then awkwardly shoves his way around Berni to look her in
  the face. "Berni... honey... godda keep goin', c'mon..." He shakes his
  head for a minute, looking more than a little dazed himself, before
  steadying the battered gitar now dangling from its strap off his
  shoulder. Getting no response out of her, he asks again, "Berni?"

Slowly, Bernadette drags her eyes to Kevlan's face and says in a small
  voice, "I cain't go no more." Vaguely, she looks away and appears to 
  inspect their surroundings. "Where are we?"

Uh-oh... Kevlan studies his sweetheart, worried by her increasingly
  languid face, and even more worried when, as he casts an anxious
  glance around, he realizes that this corner of the woods looks little
  different than the one they left. (He can't tell her that! They have
  to keep going... to get back to... home! Yes, home!) "W-w-we're closah
  t' wheah we godda git, honey... we cain't stop... Ah'll carry yah,
  c'mere now...."

Hopefully, Kevlan moves to scoop Bernadette up in his arms.

Bernadette docilely watches Kevlan step forward and hook his arms
  behind her back and knees, offering no resistance to his actions...yet
  not offering any assistance, either. She keeps her hands folded neatly
  in front of her and blinks stupidly. Out of the blue she says
  earnestly, "Wanna sing th' white crystal, Kevlan."

He blinks, at that, and seems galvanized, hastily shoving the gitar on
  its strap around behind him as he lifts the groggy young woman up into
  his arms. "Ah-Ah-Ah know, honey," he blurts raggedly, as he staggers
  off again. "Ah'll git yah t' th' crystal, Ah promise...!"

(She remembers! As if inspired by her plaintive declaration, he sees
  more flickers of dream-like memory behind his eyes: images of Berni,
  her voice rising in harmony with a pale rock face's song.)

Kevlan clings to Bernadette's slight form, holding her to him
  protectively as he makes his unsteady way through the forest. Vines
  are ripped by his passing, delicate petals trod upon, smashed... but
  still he keeps going, whispering to her huskily all the while, "Gonna
  git you home, honey... we're gonna sing, you an' me..."

He does not know when his mumbled assurances slide into song: small
  snippets at first, familiar lyrics, well-known measures he's sung a
  hundred times before with his beloved. His voice wavers breathlessly,
  but slowly, every so slowly, gains confidence, purity and volume.

(He remembers now. He came here to sing... and it seems oddly fitting,
  now, that he should sing to get home again. She needs to hear his
  voice, to know she's safe, to know he'll be ready to sing with her 
  when they get home once more....)

Bernadette's lips move unconsciously, accompanying Kevlan's singing
  silently, her brown eyes glazed and not really seeing where they're
  going...until her body jerks as she blinks and she wriggles free of
  Kevlan's arms, landing lightly on her feet. She looks at Kevlan (or
  does she?) and hollers "Gotta go! Storm's a-comin'!!" She stoops and
  appears to pick up something from the ground, although her hands are
  still empty, and lists to one side, as if carrying something heavy
  with that arm, while she slings an unseen instrument over her other
  shoulder. Again she looks at Kevlan and urges "C'mon! It's gonna be a
  bad blow! Mach!!" before, with a surprising speed, she sprints off 
  through the trees.

Kevlan's exhausted mind halts for a moment as Bernadette vanishes,
  absolutely taken aback. (Wha... where's she going... no, wait! We have
  to get home...!) His vision blurring slightly despite his stubborn
  attempts to maintain awareness, he staggers off after her, in pursuit.

"Berni! No... wait, Berni, we hafta go outta the flowers!"

Trees. Vines. Flowers. But no sign of Berni...save for the trampled path
  she's left behind in her passing...and even that is beginning to
  spring back slowly, as if striving to erase any evidence of the
  Singer's presence. Faintly, though, her voice floats back to Kevlan's
  ears--she can't be TOO far ahead: "Where's my sled?! I coulda sworn I
  left it here..." Louder...almost a bellow, "KEVLAN! Someone took the
  _Gold!!_"

(The gold? - The Gold! _Harvest Gold_... Kevlan remembers with an
  effort, as his mind wrestles slowly with its lingering haze.)

As Kevlan continues trudging along the path in the direction of
  Bernadette's voice, the density of the flowers appears to be
  dwindling, the blooms loosely clumped here and there as opposed to the
  thick blanket that had been apparent deeper in the forest.

Half-numbly, Kevlan peers at the opening paths through the underbrush,
  and his spirit lifts unaccountably - he needs to get Bernadette to go
  that way, out of the flowers. But where'd she go? Still unsteady on
  his feet, he half-staggers, half-runs after her, trying to pinpoint
  the direction of her voice.

"Berni! Berni honey... wait f'r me...!"

Bernadette is cursing fluidly, yelling every once in awhile about claim
  jumpers and if she ever finds out who took her sled, there'll be hell
  to pay... She sounds like she's a few yards ahead, through a
  particularly thick stand of trees, still out of Kevlan's line of
  sight...but she definitely sounds a lot closer now.

"Fardling claim jumpers!! How DARE they?" Stomping sounds can be heard,
  now, too, as Kevlan closes in on Berni's location while she continues
  to shriek at the top of her lungs, ranting and raving.    

Kevlan catches up with her at last, and cries, "BERNI!" as he fumbles
  to catch her, to spin her around to face him. "Berni honey, listen t'
  me, we ain't on Ballybran...!"

Kevlan struggles to sound as firm and urgent as possible. (Gotta talk sense 
  into her... we gotta get outta here... )

"AHHHHHH! AHHHHHH!!! I'll kill ya, ya stinkin' jumper!!" Berni screams as she 
  starts pummelling wildly, only about 10% of the blows actually contacting 
  with any part of Kevlan's body. "Lemme go!! Kevlan! Kevlan!!! Help!" she 
  shrieks.

Kevlan grunts, the wind knocked out of him, as his sweetheart's flying fists 
  get in one good blow to his midriff. "Ber*gasp*ni...! 'Sme! 'Sme!" (Oooooh... 
  head's spinnin'... gotta stop 'er... ) "Berni, lissen t' me!"

Bernadette keeps on hollering, apparantly not hearing or simply not listening 
  to Kevlan. "Where's my sled, you slimeball?!" she shrieks, trying to draw 
  forward a cutter that's there only in her mind.

"It's on *ow* Ballybran, honey - please, Berni... lissen... " Groggily, Kevlan 
  tries to scoop Bernadette off her feet again, remembering that it worked the 
  first time. And he's gotta get her out of here....

"HEYYYY!!!! HEY!!!" Bernadette slaps at Kevlan's hands and arms as he tries to 
  get a hold on her to lift her, "BRUTE!! CLAIMJUMPER!!! Get away!!"

Kevlan cries anxiously, "It's _me_, Berni! C'mon, we godda git home...!" 
  Awkwardly, he tries to pick her up, to haul her away. With the nearby flowers 
  still blurring his senses slightly, picking up the smaller Singer is not 
  nearly as easy as he'd like.

"HELP!!! HELP ME!!!" Berni's eyes have widened to the point where it's a wonder 
  her eyeballs don't simply pop out as she finds herself draped over Kevlan's 
  shoulder, staring upside down at his back, her legs held as firmly as Kevlan 
  can manage in front of him. Her screams renew themselves with a fury 
  "Kevlan!! KEVLAN SHARR!! Help me!!!!" She pounds on Kevlan's back.

Kevlan staggers under Bernadette's weight... Lady Bright, but his head hurts. 
  Determinedly, now realizing he can't waste energy trying to bring Bernadette 
  back to her senses, he stumbles off in the first direction he sees that 
  doesn't have flowers.

A series of screams and furious shouts drifts out in the two Singers' wake, as 
  Bernadette continues her loud protestations, kicking her feet, pummelling her 
  fists and wriggling her body.

Repeated solid blows start bringing tears of pain to Kevlan's eyes, but 
  stoically, he hangs onto the flailing Bernadette, stumbling as best he can 
  through the trees. She's gotta wear herself out soon... gotta... keep going.

As expected, the force behind Bernadette's punches and kicks diminishes as she 
  tires, her voice hoarsening with each additional scream until she's only 
  half-heartedly patting Kevlan on the back and twitching her feet, her audible 
  exclamations barely more than a raspy croak.

(Star-Lady, but it'd feel real nice t' jes' lay down a bit... no, he can't.... 
  gotta save her.... )

Kevlan nearly falls over with relief as Bernadette's blows weaken... and nearly 
  falls over again, as he starts spying wider and wider areas free of the 
  pervasive flowers. Exhaustedly, he trudges onward....

Bernadette's struggles come to a complete halt with an exhausted moan
  and a thorough relaxing of all her muscles. She hangs limply over Kevlan's
  shoulder, arms and head dangling along his back.

Good, Kevlan thinks to himself in a dizzy rush. Somehow managing to cling
  to both Bernadette _and_ the gitar, he continues on his way, focused now
  on the single purpose of getting himself and his sweetheart out of the
  flower-infested forest and to someplace else, someplace safer.
  Even after the trees begin to lose their bloom-bedecked vines in earnest,
  after the air returns to a more normal scent and weight, Kevlan staggers
  on. Exhaustion, now, rather than the flowers' effects, numbs his mind,
  and the single thought that remains in his consciousness is Home.

(Home is where the heart is... don't need a mansion... anywhere you're
  with me...)

His feet choose his direction for him. Gradually, moonlight and starlight
  begin to penetrate the canopy of leaves high overhead; he squints at the
  unexpected brightness, his Singer's eyes tearing over in pain that he
  stubbornly blinks away. He has to see where he's going. He has to get 
  Home.

(Starlight... the very substance of the Lady. Fanna has it... he remembers
  wanting it, long ago. He can almost fathom what the little girl must see
  and experience... it tugs at his own dreams, particularly here, in the
  wilds, where the Lady herself might walk. But it's the child and not he
  who went fey. It's the child who has the Lady's blood in her. The
  starlight. Could he have it, now, with the symbiont in his own blood?
  He doesn't have the starlight, but he does have song...)

He sings, occasionally lifting his gaze from Berni's cradled form to the
  stars that appear between the treetops. Far less conscious of the words
  he sings than of the sentiment behind them (Lady guide us home/illuminate
  our path), he gives what voice he can to it. If he asks Her nicely surely
  the Lady will show him the way Home.

All his strength goes into the singing... and into the walking. His
  voice echoes, rolling down ahead of him through the trees as he stumbles
  down out of the hills. It is his voice that heralds him, at last, to
  the equally exhausted Orynn Sharr and his other two sons - that wakes the
  child Fanna, curled up in the front seat of the skimmer she helped her
  grandfather and pappa and uncle retrieve. Waiting where Fanna - after
  snapping awake, frantic, in the middle of the night, sobbing about her
  Uncle Kevlan getting lost - had stubbornly brought them, the Sharrs hastily
  run to intercept their kinsman.

"Lady showed us th' way home, Pa," Kevlan mumbles, smiling beatifically,
  as first his gitar and then Bernadette's crumpled form are gently removed
  from his grasp. Kevlan, collapsing, is placed into the back seat with his
  beloved; Fanna, jubilant, clambers into his lap and falls instantly asleep.

And Orynn, staring first at his tiny granddaughter and then at his
  youngest son as he himself gets into the skimmer, shakes his head wearily.
  Nah. He can't have seen a glimmer of starlight....

[End log.]