What the Cat Dragged In

Nessa: YOU! I should've known!

Nessa: I thought I heard someone sneaking around. I should've known it would be you.

Marius: Good to see you too, Nessa.

Nessa: Where have you been? You reek of fear... and pain...

Marius: It's been a long night, Nessa. I am sorry I disturbed you.

Nessa: I will show you disturbance. Stay away from Lenore. I will not have her influenced by vicious predators that hunt in the night. You may have fooled the others. You have NEVER fooled me. You stay away from her, or I swear to the Gods, Carin Warrior or not, I will kill you myself.

Marius: You need not worry about me, Nessa.

Nessa: You are not a worry of mine, Marius. I know that you will leave her alone. Good night.

Marius: (sigh) Seph... angel. I wish you were here to help me. I don't know what to do. I didn't feel this lost, even as I lay dying in the snow... I wish Lenore hadn't found me... Oh my angel, what have I done...?

Marius Does a Favor

(creaking boards... wind blowing... old house noises in the Colorado Faery King's Mansion, in the middle of the night)

Princess Sheeri: Hello? Is anyone there?

Princess Sheeri: Hello? Because if you are there, you should know... we have alarms, and big guard dogs... that haven't been fed... in a while...

Princess Sheeri: GAACK!!! NO... help!!! (struggling)

Marius: I am so sorry... I...but, I have to... I am so sorry, Princess.

Marius: (looking for case he was sent to retrieve... sighing) There it is. All of this for a suitcase.

(wind blows... creaky boards... old house noises...)

Lenore's Nightmare

Lenore: Hawk!

(POUNCE)

Lenore: Hi Hawk!! I'm so glad I found you. I had the most terrible nightmare, and I haven't seen you in a few days, and I just thought that maybe you were in trouble because I had the most terrible nightmare, and I'm glad you're okay and you're not in trouble.

Marius: (laugh) Hello, Wren! There now. I'm okay. And it's long past your bedtime so...

Lenore: Hey, your hair is different.

Marius: Yeah, the pixies did it for me yesterday. Do you like it?

Lenore: Yeah! I wish you had told me, though. I would've helped. Where have you BEEN? I haven't had anyone to play games with.

Marius: (sigh) I've just been...um... busy, Wren. I'm sorry... and now you really should..

Lenore: Don't you want to hear my terrible nightmare?

Marius: Sure. Please tell me your terrible nightmare.

Lenore: There was a thing, like a little yellow worm, that was chewing on your heart. And you were falling, and crying, and I was reaching out for you, and trying to catch you, but I couldn't reach you and you kept falling. And the thing kept eating your heart and laughing. It was terrible. But your heart seems okay now. So where're you going?

Marius: I'm going... out. I have a favor to do for someone.

Lenore: I don't want you to go. I just have this bad feeling, like something bad is happening. Something bad won't happen will it?

Marius: (sigh) No, nothing bad is going to happen to me.

Lenore: Promise?

Marius: Promise. Now let's get you back to bed, okay?

Lenore: Okay...

Ariel Asks a Favor

Ariel: Oh good! You're up and around and you're even dressed! That's wonderful! Glad to see you on the mend, Marius.

Marius: Well, thank you for your kind wishes. I sorry, but don't recall meeting you before.

Ariel: Ya didn't. Name's Ariel. Ariel P. Ixie. Put 'er there.

Marius: (smile) Glad to meet you Ms. Ixie.

Ariel: Nah, boy. Just Ariel is fine. We're going to get to be good friends, and you should be on first name basis with good friends, shouldncha?

Marius: Well... I guess.

Ariel: You're going to do a little favor for me, Marius. Just a favor for a friend.

Marius: What kind of favor?

Ariel: Well, this not very nice pixie stole somethin from me. Somethin I want back. And I want her to suffer some for takin it. So, in a few days...

Marius: No, absolutely not. I'm sorry Ms. Ixie. I cannot help you.

Ariel: Well, that's too bad. Are you sure, son? It's a pretty little favor, really.

Marius: I have nothing more to say, Ms. Ixie. I'm sorry I could not help you.

Ariel: Well, all righty. I can accept "no" as an answer. Not going to be too pretty when your folks all get here though, is it? I don't think THEY take "no" for an answer so good... even though everyone'll say you were never here... but I don't think they'll believe them...

Marius: You wouldn't, I mean...

Ariel: I guess you'll just have to wait and see, wontcha dumplin? Wow... that poor little Lenore... they don't like people with powers like hers, hu? Awww, they'll have a great ol' time with her, won't they?

Marius: But... you... this is madness. They'll kill everyone here! Including YOU! You can't think they'll reward you, because I can tell you that they won't.

Ariel: Sweetness, being the one calling them, how likely do you think it is that I'll still be here? Hmmm... maybe you could hold them all off by yourself. Or, maybe you could run away... oh, well I guess even if you ran away, they'd probably kill everyone anyway. Well, that's a shame. Bye now!

Marius: (quietly) Ariel... wait... please. I'll... I'll do whatever it is you want. Just tell me what to do, but don't call them. Please.

Ariel: Aww, sugar! You're such a good friend, doin' me this favor! It's just a little favor...

Ariel: And now that you're willing to listen to reason, I think we're going to have a very LONG friendship, full of favors, aren't we, son?

Seph Leaves

Thorne: So then, I had read that Berghoff had THREE sons, but you're saying he.... um....You're not listening to a word I'm saying are you? Hello? Marius?

Thorne: Oh, hi Seph!! Hello? Am I suddenly invisible here? Hello?

Thorne: Oh.... OH! I see.... um....

Thorne: I forgot that today is... um... penny polishing day. I must go polish my pennies. Bye for now you two. (under breath) Awww, so sweet. Hee hee.

Marius: Hello, my angel.

Seph: Hello... Marius I...

Marius: I know. You're leaving. Lenore told me.

Seph: That girl...

Marius: ...thinks the world of you. She wishes you could stay, almost as much as I do.

Seph: I have to go home. I can't help Lenore with her lessons... and there is nothing more I can do for you, either. But... I wanted to give you something...before I go.

Seph: Something to remind you that someone cares about you.

Marius: Seph... I don't know what to say...

Seph: You don't have to say anything...

Seph: This jewel has seen me through many hard times. It is my hope that it will protect you also... and one day, lead you to somewhere safe, somewhere you belong.

Marius: Thank you, angel. It means more to me than you know.

Ariel: (rolling eyes and speaking quietly, to self) Oh for crying out loud... This boy's room is like Grand Central Station! Well, fella, you would've been more likely to do what I'm gonna ask while she was here. You'd do anything to protect HER, now wouldn't you, my little Princy Wincy? Ah well... But you'll do it to keep Lenore safe. Oh yes, yes you will. If everyone would just leave a minute so I can finally ask ya!

Seph Breaks it to Nessa

(uncomfortable silence)

Seph: Please, Nessa. I just... I just feel how I feel.

Nessa: (sigh) You always did have the worst taste in men.

Nessa: Why can't you find a NICE fairy to fall in love with? Someone who isn't... oh, I don't know... A TRAINED KILLER?

Seph: Oh yeah, someone who dated a crazy man like Prince Tarl should be telling ME to have better taste in fae.

(more uncomfortable silence)

Nessa: Tarl was a mistake. And I would want to keep you from making the same one I did.

Seph: Come here. Even if this is a mistake, I need to see where it goes. And I hope you'll love me even if I date someone as awful as Tarl.

Nessa: He might not be as bad as Tarl. Lenore certainly thinks very highly of him. And I will always love you, Seph. You're like a sister to me. Maybe a big dumb sister with bad taste in men. But you stood by me through everything with Lenore and the court, I will stand by you if you want to date a psycho.

Seph: Um... thanks, sort of.

Nessa: And when you start having children, and your complexion and your figure go, I will finally be prettier than you. So I guess that makes it all okay. (smiles)

Seph: HEY! (laughing)

Name of the Hawk

Lenore: .... so are you very bored? I'm sorry I made you have to stay in bed again.

Marius: It's better having games, and someone to play with. Thorne is a very decent fellow, but all he wants is to hear all of my stories, and about my tribe, and who begat who, and... well, it isn't very exciting. So thank you. It's nice to have someone to talk to.

Lenore: It's nice for me too. I only have Mina to play with, well and Spot and Dinah of course. But none of them are very good at checkers.

Marius: Mina?

Lenore: My doll, Mina. I'll bring her tomorrow, to meet you! Um... May I come play with you tomorrow?

Marius: You may come and play games with me anytime at all, Lenore. It is always pleasant to find oneself in the company of such a lovely young lady.

Lenore: (blush) Ahem... um... are you sick of checkers? We could play Othello instead, but I feel I must warn you, I beat Ama every time we play. She says I'm quite good at it.

Marius: (smile) Okay. I'll take my chances, then.

Nessa: I don't like it, I don't like it one bit.

Thorne: He isn't going to hurt Lenore, Nessa. He isn't going to hurt anyone.

Syrinx: Now that I've been in it, I can tell you his is not the mind of a killer. Honestly. He's just scared and wounded, and I don't blame him. His people turned completely against him, including a woman who claimed she loved him.

Nessa: Yes, yes, yes. All very sad. But nothing compared to what his people will do to us if they find him here.

Nessa: So when is he leaving?

Thorne: (sigh) He is stronger, but I think it'll be a couple more weeks before he's really ready to travel. Especially given that bump he just received for scaring Lenore.

Lenore: You're really good at this!

Marius: To tell the truth, I've played before. My father taught me... but it was called something else back then.

Lenore: What does your name mean?

Marius: (blinking) Wha, um... I'm named after my great, great grandfather. Why?

Lenore: It doesn't suit you.

Marius: (laughing) Well then!

Lenore: I mean no offense, it just isn't the name I think of for you.

Marius: And what name DO you think of for me, hmm?

Lenore: It doesn't matter. It's MY secret name for you. You won't care.

Marius: No, I do care. It could be a secret name, just between the two of us. You'll be the only person in the world who calls me that name.

Lenore: Really?

Marius: Really. I won't tell anyone. Promise. Our secret.

Lenore: Okay. Well, I found you in the stones... and... well earlier, there was this hawk in our tree that I was going to throw rocks at, but then didn't throw rocks at and you're kind of like him. So with all of that, I think of you as StoneHawk. But, in my head, I just call you Hawk.

Marius: I think Hawk is a very nice name, but I won't tell anyone else. It's just YOUR secret name for me. Okay?

Lenore: (smiling) Okay.

Ariel: (quietly, to self) Well there you are my little Carin warrior. We'll talk after the child is gone, dumplin'. I have a little favor to ask you...