Any Journey Begins With the First Step...

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 12915

"My name is.....Annafrid," the blonde finally manages to say. "And.....I don't know how I've come her....or come to be looking like this!"

"You don't know?" Astra asks, surprised. She'd at least hoped that this odd woman would be able to finally tell just how she'd popped out of thin air with a flash of magic and nothing less. Why she'd arrived naked, painted, and speaking a foreign tongue that nobody understood.

"No, rather I do not," Annafrid says simply, not put off by Astra's words, nor her high social position for some reason.

Right now she was too busy trying to figure out how to proceed first. There were so many questions she had. But, she had a feeling that these odd people (one who looked to be a beautiful elfin girl with long silvery tresses), could very well lead to an answer to her questions!

Just how to proceed, though.... she mutters to herself, still pulling herself together.

The others were proceeding carefully, themselves, not sure what to make of this odd woman.

"Well, they say the first step on a journey as well as to recovery begins with the first step," Jarlath says suddenly, a soft smile on his face. "But I think the first step here is to get our mysterious lady is to get her properly set for coming into the city!"

The others look at Jarlath, as if asking just what Jaralth just had said (he had such an odd way at expressing himself sometimes). Ti'mma, used to the oddness, then enlightens them.

"He means that Joan, since she has a similar bust size, should let her borrow some clothing," Ti'mma says bluntly, "I know that while the cloak covers her modesty mostly, I'm sure she'd like something more when we finally get back to uncle Grailing's place."

Joan, seeing the wisdom of that, unpacks a spare set of clothing and after Annafrid (wasn't that the name of the singer from that one offworld singer group she'd listened to from one of those "CDs".....ABBA?)....she sees that despite the different in skin tone....they are a match in height and....bust size. The same lack of need of a brassier.....

Annafrid returns after having gone behind a bush to change into her clothing, has a thoughtful look on her face as she looks down at herself....seeming to see the designs on her body despite them being blocked by the clothing.

"I was going to try to brush off the designs....but I thought that perhaps they provided a clue to my situation," Annafrid says demurely, "I don't know why....since I don't ever remember having anything like magical lessons or anything like that."

"That's...actually a good idea," Jarlath murmurs, embarrassed at having not having thought of that. There had been something rather mystical about some of those signs. Then again, the oddity of such a rather lovely woman arriving naked from the blue can tend to jangle any males nerves, eh?

"Good idea," Ti'mma says, appreciating the rather lucent reasoning of the mysterious woman. "That was a perfectly good idea there. Though I can sense from here a powerful magical residue from here.....as I know that Jarlath can feel also....I also can tell that whatever those symbols were....they're spent.

"Now, however we seem to be remiss in our manners," she continues, borrowing one of the human phrases her parents used. "My name is Ti'mma D'Honaire. The young red headed woman before is named Astra Thessamer but she likes to be called Astra 9. The young man who has a strange way with words is Jarlath D'Honaire. The dark skinned beauty who you share certain similar physical attributes with is Joan D'Honaire. And the small, young red headed woman with fox ears sticking through that lovely tangle of hair and the fox tail is Andrea Croix....but she sometimes is called Andrea 2 to tell her apart from her analog in casual conversation."

"D'Honaire?" Annafrid gasps. "One set of memories I have is of a Fred D'Honaire!"

Well, that caused quiet a stir!

Finally, it came to light that this Annafrid had two sets of memories of two different people. One of a young teenage girl named Hannah who'd been orphaned at a young age and raised by peasants. The other was of a young knight called Fred who'd been a day away from reaching his goal of getting into the Southern Caverns and killing a dragon.

"The last thing I remember in each set is closing eyes to go to sleep," she sighs, "Next thing I know is that I am named Annafrid. I have two sets of memories of two different people, but what is most disturbing is that one seems as real as the other. Do you....mages have any ideas?"

Jarlath takes a thoughtful look as the others told them their stories. Annafrid looked doubtful, understandably, but for some reason she seems to sense the alienness of the world around her. A feeling that she is indeed something of an outsider. Jarlath also sees that there is an inner strength to this woman that he admires, for she's not falling down in a crying fit or panicking.

Jarlath is pleased to see, all else being said, that Annafrid seemed to trust them. Something about this woman begged to be trusted, and Jarlath wanted to trust her. The others seem to trust her.

"If I was to hazard a guess," Jarlath finally say out of the blue, "I'd say that despite the fact that you have memories of being Fred....I think that your memories of Hannah are the true."

"Oh?" Annifred, intrigued. "Why say you that?"

The others look like they'd like to know themselves. Jarlath may be odd, but usually his hunches were right on! Being a seventh son of a seventh son had advantages, really.

"Oh, it's too early to tell," he said, "But let's examine the facts. She has the feel of somebody recently transformed...."

"That part about the transforming would explain why I look different from what I remember," Annafrid said, with a smile. Her Anna side had only been fifteen years old (she looked something like eighteen), and there were other....er....things different. As for her Fred side, the obviousness of the change was just too plain to state!

"Ah, but you wondered about the 'recent' part, eh?" Jarlath smiled, "I have an....affinity to magic. Comes from my chosen path in life. And to make it simple, I get....some would say vibes. The vibes I get from you is of somebody who'd recently been altered."

He actually did have an affinity that he couldn't really explain, even to other mages......

"That true," Joan affirmed, remembering how Jarlath had known, despite not being told, that she'd been something other than what she was now.

"Now we move on to the next part," Jarlath continues, "You seem comfortable with what you are as a woman. Now, from what I've been told of male to female transformations, a male takes time to adjust if they can. You seem to take to your new body quiet well."

"So the Fred part of me is false," Annafrid nodded, "That make's a certain amount of sense. Joan adjusted quickly enough, true, but......"

"It didn't happen all at once," Joan finished, remembering.

"So our Hannah Thessamer has another analog sister," Astra smiled, happy with the thought of yet another sister. "That's what it looks like."

"Whatever the case," Ti'mma finishes up, "I do know that there's no way of undoing this. The Atlantians and Atlantian items that could do such are dead and dust for ten years now."

"But being that as it is," Astra finally says, "We need to get to the capital, don't we?"

All agree with that. As for Annafrid (who decided to just keep calling herself that since it seemed right), she'd come along with her new friends.

  1. Maybe once things get settled down something could be done to verify the young mage's assessment of the situation.

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9/5/2000 6:01:34 PM

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