I do not own these characters or profit fro them.

However I do feel that there was something missing from the end of the Bone series.

Bone: Dreamtime

By, Clayton Overstreet

Fione was a beautiful girl. Everyone said that she looked just like her mother, Queen Thorn, at least in her features. Her eyes however, we solid black and her skin like fallen snow. Also she had been born bald and had never grown a single hair, but with a crystal in the middle of her forehead. In some places this might have marked her out, but she lived in a world of enchantment and in her home valley there were talking animals, a red dragon that occasionally babysat her, fairy creatures, rat monsters, and a giant mountain lion just to name a few things. Plus she was a princess. So all of this just meant that she was really good at playing hide and seek when winter hit.

Still she was aware that she was different from everyone else. She was the princess she spent most of the year living on the family farm. Thorn made monthly trips to the city and that wore beautiful gowns while her mother held court and dealt with the stick eaters. Since the defeat of the traitors, the Lord of Locusts, and re-establishing the treaty with the rat creatures the valley had been pretty quiet. Not completely safe, but people mostly just got on with their lives.

When she was young Fione had been playing in town while her mother was busy and had garnered the attention of a group of young boys who had not known who she was. They had teased her about her pale skin and tugged her hair. She was not sure how she had done it, but Fione had gotten angry and suddenly her muscles had bulged and her body swelled. Suddenly she was an angry white giant and swatted one boy away into a fountain. The others had scattered and a minute later the confused princess was standing in tattered clothes and crying like any little girl.

When she was returned to Thorn and hesitantly told her about it Thorn had gotten quiet and then said, "I remember your father doing something like that once. We were at a fair and I was…" She blushed and gave a rueful smile. "I was making a fool of myself over a boy at one of the honey stands."

Fione was fascinated. She had up to that point never known that she had a father. Thorn had not told her the story of how she had risen to the throne before, so when their time in the city ended she spent the trip home to the farm telling her daughter the story of the young woman who had been raised in secret until one day when she met a strange little person in the woods and his friends who had gotten lost. You know the story. Fione was quite surprised to learn that the statue in the city square was of her father.

"But if he left, where did I come from?"

Thorn smiled and said, "You were conceived in dreams. Fone Bone and I both walked in dreams when we defeated the Lord of Locusts. Both of us were given pieces of mystical crystal from the Crown of Horns…" she showed her daughter the shiny crystal took in her mouth just like the one on Fione's brow. "Neither of us knew it at first, but that meant we had a connection. For the weeks it took them to get back to their home beyond the desert Fone and his friends were sleeping in the day and traveling at night, so all I could do was miss him. And I missed him terribly during that time."

Fione frowned, remembering the kids who had been teasing her. "Why? If he looks like the statue, he looks silly."

"Yes, I thought so too a first," she said. "I'm not proud of that. Fone fell in love with me at first sight and it took me a long time to notice even though it was obvious. And in some ways he was silly. But your father is also brave and smart, kind and honorable. By the time he left I was more than ready to marry him and make him my king."

"Was he a good fighter?"

"He defeated many enemies, but mostly by tricking them and running away until he was in a better position."

"But if he could do what I did and make his muscles big…"

"Why didn't he? Well first keep in mind that where he came from everyone was like him, so they could probably do the same thing. It's like how dragons are fire proof so if they are fighting each other, they don't use fire. Besides most of the dangers he faced here… the armed guards, the monsters, and the rest… brute strength would have been useless and taking the time to try it in a fight would have been a waste of time. It probably never crossed his mind."

"If he loved you, why did he leave?"

"He had his reasons. First he had friends and family who needed him. Second… this was not his home. I understood. When I was freaking out about being some kind of magical princess, monsters chasing me, and I was supposed to have some big destiny I could barely comprehend all I wanted to do was runback to my grandmother's farm and hope that everything would go back to normal. I could be living in the city to this day with servants or traveling the world, but instead I spend most of my time raising cows and chickens. I never even offered to go with him when he left and not just because of my responsibilities here or because of the long trip."

Fione nodded. She was always a little uncomfortable in the city too. Or when she visited the dragon's caves. "So where did I come from?"

"Well after he finally got home, by which time after a few winters Phoney's goof ups had been forgotten as anything but a funny story, Fone finally went to sleep in his own bed at night and we found ourselves in a dream. We were in a glade by the river. There was a picnic and a blanket. We were so happy to see each other that we did not ask any questions. Maybe it was the crystals or our connection from fighting the Lord of Locusts or just because we loved each other so much, but ever since we see each other every night and for us it is as real as the waking world." She smiled dreamily. "You know all things considered your father can be very romantic in his reams."

"You still see him?"

"Every night."

"Can… can I meet him?"

"Of course," she said. "It'll take time, but I can teach you to travel the dreamtime. I was just waiting until you were old enough. Fone Bone wants to meet you too."

"He does?"

"I tell him all about our beautiful daughter."

Fione smiled. "Good."

Author's Note

I considered doing more with this, but I'm working on my own actual books. I was going to have the people of Boneville give Phoney a house, clothes, and food in exchange for never trying to earn money again. I was going to have Fione meet Fone Bone. All kinds of things. Still I think where I left off gives it potential and you are free to use this story as a basis for other fics if you like. I just thought that Fone and Thorn not getting together was a bit sad.