THREE FACES OF NARTHUR [Lyrical]

Mountain climbing was one of Lumi's favorite activities. She hadn't done it in forever, because over the past several months she'd either been busy, mentally traumatized, or the weather'd been terrible. But today was a beautiful day, and Quinn was doing some Overloridian thing, so she decided to climb.

Unlike most people, who took a trail up the slope of the mountain, Lumi challenged herself by climbing the vertical face. God, she'd gotten out of shape. She was so tired by the time she reached the top that she collapsed onto the grassy peak. The last time she'd climbed this mountain she hadn't even lost her breath. D= She really needed to start working out again.

She laid there for a while to catch her breath and get the feeling back in her arms and legs.

Lyrical chased Noah up the mountainside, the African Wild Dog winning by just about as far as it was possible for them to be apart.

"Noah, this isn't really fair, you know," Lyre laughed, jumping over a boulder that blocked her way.

"No one said life was fair, darlin'," he replied, not losing any speed. The wind was ruffling his fur, and he was enjoying the weather.

"When we get to the top, let's relax for awhile," his girl called from behind him. The two ran the mountains everyday. It had been where they had grown up, it was home to them, much more so than the home they resided in in Deilig nowadays.

When they reached the peak they noticed a girl lying on the ground, dæmon at her side. Lyre, being the outgoing nosy girl that she was, decided to say hi.

"Hey there," she called, leaning on her knees a little to catch her breath," how's it goin'?"

Lumi looked up from her resting spot to see a girl kneeling over her. "Oh...not bad," she replied, still winded. "Just realizing how out of shape I am." With some slight effort she sat up. "I'm Lumi, this is Moxie." She pointed to the cat, who was passed out next to her.

"Heh," Lyrical laughed, "me too. The winter was kinda bad, didn't have as much time to get out and about."

"I'm Noah," the dog to her side said, wagging his tail furiously, "and this is Lyrical."

"Yeah. I had a rough winter," Lumi sighed. She pushed those thoughts out of her mind and smiled at Noah. "Nice to meetcha." He was a cute daemon. She would have petted him if he was a normal dog.

"You have a very pretty name," Lumi commented to Lyrical.

"Thanks," Lyre said smiling," yours is pretty too. You can call me Lyre though, three syllables is pretty killer."

Noah sat on the ground, his tongue lolling out of his mouth, one of those adorable doggy-smiles on his face. "What Eilemaiden are you?" he asked, looking up at Lumi.

Lyrical wouldn't have asked that herself, for fear of being intruding, but she didn't hush Noah when he imposed. She wanted to know, too. Having just settled she like knowing what other clio were. And their choices behind it.

Lumi smiled wryly. It was impossible to meet a new clio without the Eilemaiden question coming up, it seemed. "Dian," she replied. After a pause, she added, "Well, I settled as Dian, but I live in Ughdarras." She stopped to allow Lyre to ask the inevitable follow-up question.

"Dian huh?" Lyre asked, wondering why she had chose the metal Eilemaiden, "But you moved to Ughdarras? That's strange. Did you choose wrong or something?"

Lyrical couldn't imagine choosing wrong. That would suck beyond belief.

"Haha, no, I like being Dian," Lumi replied honestly. She had never heard of someone 'choosing wrong' before. Was that even possible? "It's just that my fiance is Ughdarras and he can't exactly leave there, so I moved to be with him.

"So how about you? What's your Eilemaiden?"

"Eh, I wasn't really sure what I wanted. I chose Deilig, but to be honest I don't really remember doing it. It was weird. One morning I woke up and I was settled as Deilig. It really wasn't even one of the ones I was considering, but I guess subconsciously I must have wanted it, right?"

She rarely told anyone, but really it had been Narthur that had chosen their Eilemaiden.

"That is weird," Lumi agreed. "I always thought everyone except the Overloridians had to make a conscious choice. Maybe you settled in your sleep and that's why your subconscious chose instead?"

To be honest, Lumi wasn't exactly well-educated in Daemonology (or whatever the study of settling and all that jazz is called) so she really had no idea what she was talking about.

"Yeah, maybe. I don't really mind so I guess I just don't really care," she smiled, "Deilig isn't that bad anyways. It's nice to have an extra person, or thing or whatever, in case you're in a bind.

Anywho, about the man you moved for. He must be some guy, huh? For you to move out of your element and all just for him."

]It's nice to have an extra person, or thing or whatever, in case you're in a bind.

Yes, that WOULD be nice, wouldn't it?

Anywho, about the man you moved for. He must be some guy, huh? For you to move out of your element and all just for him."

"Yeah," Lumi replied, smiling. "And it's not like I was leaving much behind in Dian. Just a big, empty, lonely house."

"Well it's good that you've found someone you feel so strong for," Lyrical said. Strangely Lyrical herself had never been able to keep a steady boyfriend. Whatever, she was fine by herself up in the mountains.

"So..." Lyrical started, about to change the subject to something more interesting. Then, suddenly, her eyes zoned out, almost as if she was seeing something in a different dimension. Less than a second later they came back into focus and she started looking around like she didn't have any idea where she was.

"Do you think you can tell me where I am?" Lyrical asked in a heavier than normal voice. She glanced at the dog behind her. The snowy looking animal shrugged his shoulders.

Lumi was about to wave her hand in front of the suddenly unresponsive Lyrical, when suddenly she snapped out of it and spoke in a strange, deeper voice.

"Do you think you can tell me where I am?"

...

Lumi gave Lyrical a weird look. "Uh...the mountains...?" she said slowly, wondering if Lyrical was making some sort of joke that Lumi wasn't getting. Suddenly she noticed a fluffy white thing sitting behind Lyrical. Wait, did her daemon look like that before?? "That's weird...I could swear your daemon was something completely different just a moment ago..."

"How did I get in the mountains?" Narthur wondered out loud, looking around.

"Uh, no?" he responded to the question about his dæmon," We've been settled for ages. Who're you?"

Lumi stared at Lyrical. Was this some kind of joke? "I've, uh, kind of been talking to you for about fifteen minutes now..." she said slowly. "Is something...wrong?"

Narthur stared at the stranger suspiciously, his eyes squinted. "No, I really don't think I've ever met you before. In fact, I don't even think I've seen you before." He shook his head slightly as if he was still trying to figure out who she was.

"What Eilemaiden are you? Unless you're Deilig than I probably don't know you."

"I swear, we just had this conversation," Lumi insisted, getting kind of annoyed. This was going to be frustrating, she could tell. Either Lyrical was messing with her or she had some kind of memory issues. "Do you seriously not remember the past several minutes?"

"Are you sure that you aren't the one that's having the memory issues? I don't even know your name! That should tell you that we haven't spoken before." Who was this girl and what was she even talking about? Narthur was worried about her, people this out of things shouldn't be running loose on the mountain.

"It's okay, just come back with me to Dahlin, it'll be alright."

Lumi was starting to get mad now. "Don't talk to me like I'm the crazy one here!" she snapped, jumping to her feet. "You're the one who can't even remember how she got to the mountains!

"And...and you told me your name! You're Lyrical and your daemon is Noah. That should tell you we have spoken before."

She refrained from crossing her arms and proclaiming, SO THERE!

"She? Excuse me, but I'm a guy. And you got the name wrong too, it's Narthur. But how did you know my dæmon's name?"

"You told me your daemon's name!" Lumi yelled, throwing her hands up in the air. "At the same time you told me your name is 'Lyrical!' And sorry, but unless you're the most convincing cross-dresser in Amelia, you are not a guy."

She narrowed her eyes at Lyrical. "What the hell are you trying to pull?"

"I am so a guy, you jerk!" Narthur yelled back. Why were so many people in Amelia mean to him? He may look feminine, but Narthur was all male.

"Listen to me, I honestly don't know what you are talking about. I haven't seen you in my life."

Suddenly, the glazed look returned to his eyes and then left as abruptly as it had came.

"Soooo..." Lyrical repeated about to say something before realizing-- "Hey? When did you stand up, Lumi?"

Lumi stared at Lyrical. "You have got to be kidding me," she said in a deadpan voice. "What's the matter with you? You JUST spent like, five minutes telling me you have no idea who I am."