Shrek rolled over and saw Fiona laying next to him. A memory came through the fuzziness of sleep. The day of the roast was at hand.

"Fiona, wake up."

She grunted in her sleep and stirred, but did not wake.

"Fiona!"

Fiona looked up and smiled drowsily at her husband.

"The roast is today!"

"Right!" Fiona said, excited. They got dressed and went out to spend the day with Shrek's family. They were in for a surprise. Tayer and several others were sitting around the table when Shrek and Fiona came into the clearing.

"So, how's all the preparations for the roast going?"

The occupants of the table turned and stared open-mouthed at Shrek. Donkey also stood open-mouthed, a few feet away, but no one noticed him. Tayer cleared his throat.

"Shrek...the roast was last night...do you not remember?"

"It's normal with incidents like this for the victims to lose some of their memories," a female voice said. Everyone turned and saw Donkey. Donkey, too, was turned to his right, toward the edge of the woods. A pair of dark blue eyes glowed some feet above the ground.

"Rahnee, what are you talkin' about, girl?" Donkey asked her.

"Uhh..."

The blue eyes blinked, and two circles of pink appeared below them. Rahnee cleared her throat and stepped out of the shadows. The dark blue eyes were set in a dark face, the result of spending the first fifteen years of her life on a island jungle. Her face was framed with black dreadlocks pulled into twin pigtails. A large gold streak ran down the center of her part. She had full, gold lips and sharp, cat-like fangs in the corners of her mouth. Gold dragon ears stuck out of the sides of her head. Her halter top showed off the belly scales on her midriff. A large belt made of silver and adorned with a large yellow stone seemed to hold up her pants. She wore large, scale-patterned boots. Her large golden wings were tucked carefully away behind her, and she swished her long, gold tail behind her as she opened her mouth to explain.

"Hey, girl, where did you run off to last night?"

Rahnee closed her eyes. Donkey could see a muscle in her face jumping. Rahnee took a deep breath through her nose and released it through her mouth, and, finally, she looked at Tayer. "Not right now," she said through clenched teeth. "Well, of course not right now," Tayer replied, smiling in an odd sort of way.

"I have to explain what happened to your brother last night!"

Tayer's smile faded. Upon seeing Rahnee, he'd forgotten. He turned toward Fiona. She looked much better then she had the day before.

"What...did...happen?"

Rahnee sighed and walked over to the table. "Over here, please," she said, patting the table. Something about her demeanor made the others want to obey, so they gathered around the table as Rahnee leaned back on her tail and propped her legs up on the table. Donkey ran over and jumped up onto Rahnee's legs. She was jarred by the unexpected weight, but she stayed upright. Rahnee sighed and glanced at Fiona, who sat to Rahnee's right.

"Okay, um," Rahnee thought aloud, trying to think of a good place to start. "I invited you to come to the roast, but you were late!" Donkey started from his perch. "Right, Uncle D, and, again, I'm sorry," she said, placing her hand on his muzzle.

Rahnee wrote the last word, then clicked her ballpoint pen closed with a happy sigh. Her eyes drifted the the late Fairy Godmother's grandfather clock. 8:30. Rahnee ran out of her office and into the factory, looking for Waves and Alexa. She was exhilarated from finishing writing the story, so she was dancing about as she searched. She danced right into the bedroom of her captive princess. Alexa was asleep in her bed. "Wake up, Sleepyhead!" Rahnee cried as she danced about the room. "It's 8:30! I promised Uncle D we'd be there around noon!"

"It's 8:30 PM, Rahnee," Alexa moaned sleepily. "Oh no! We're late!" Rahnee cried as she started a different dance.

"Captive princess?" Fiona cried. "Hey, she can leave anytime she wants. She just don't wanna," Rahnee explained. "Now can I finish?" she continued, eying her nondragon cousin. Fiona didn't say anything else.

Rahnee slowed down. She sniffed the air, trying to find some trace of her aunt and uncle. There! Rahnee flew toward the scent and landed next to a barn that had probably seen better days. Dragon stuck her head out, and, when she saw her niece, rumbled in greeting. Rahnee rumbled back. Alexa slid down from Rahnee's neck, and Waves flew over and dropped Rahnee's pack into Alexa's arms. Poor Alexa looked absolutely frazzled. Her big, light brown curls had gone frizzy, and she didn't feel well, probably lag from flying so far and so fast with Rahnee. Dragon took Rahnee's pack, and eying Waves disappointedly, walked back into the barn. Donkey noticed that Rahnee was fidgety.

"All right there, girl?"

"Umm, yeah, yeah. I...just want to do a little exploring before I turn in...sorry we were late..."

"No problem, Rahnee," Donkey replied, then helped Alexa inside. Rahnee shimmered down into her dragongirl form, then followed the scent that had plagued her nose since she'd landed. She found herself in front of a guesthouse, and she followed the scent inside. A familiar figure stood over the bed, her hand on Shrek's forehead. He was tossing and turning in sleep fueled by manufactured nightmares. Rahnee's mouth opened, and her lips pulled back in a snarl. She leapt at her nemesis.

"Minerva!"

"Who's Minerva?"

"Yeah," Donkey cried, backing up Shrek. "I've known you for a while and you ain't never said anything about her."

"She's looks like a dragon, but she don't act like one."

"How so?"

"If you pull on a dragon's tail hard enough, she'll backfire. Not so with Minerva. And...she doesn't like mud!"

The others laughed at this. "Anyway," Rahnee continued. "She's got some weird powers. She...she had Shrek thinking that Fiona hated him!"
Fiona turned to Shrek and softly asked, "Is this true?" Shrek wasn't paying attention; he was dreaming again.

Rakel stood next to Shrek, smiling up at him. "Wake up!" someone cried. "Wake up! Wake up!" Shrek felt the oddest sensation; not only was he standing next to Rakel, somehow he was lying on his back with someone kneeling on his chest, slapping his face and snarling and shouting.

"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey!"

The cries were getting desperate now. Rakel reached up and caressed Shrek's cheek. Someone snarled behind Shrek and yanked him away from Rakel. He turned and saw Fiona, though it wasn't really. "Dude, please!" she cried, "Get away from her! Wake up!" Shrek looked between Rakel and Fiona. He was unsure what to do. Suddenly, something long and gold lashed out and wrapped itself around Rakel's neck, causing Rakel to change. She became a witch by the look of it, but she also had great, drooping, black wings. The witch cried out, and Fiona flew across the room. She had now taken the form of a dragongirl with gold scales and black dreadlocks. The dragongirl charged the witch, and the two fought and bounced around the room, breaking things. There was nothing Shrek could do. He was starting to feel lightheaded when the dragongirl finally pinned the witch. The witch screamed then completely disappeared. Then there was nothing.

When Shrek came to, he realized he was flat out on his back as a stiff breeze blew in his face. "He's comin' to," Rahnee said to no one in particular as she fanned him with one wing. "Shrek...are you all right?" Fiona asked. "I think he had that dream again..." Rahnee said, studying his face. Fiona looked at Rahnee, and Rahnee read the question on Fiona's face.

"Same one he had last night, with me and Minerva in it..."

Shrek managed to struggle up to look at Rahnee. "Why again?" he asked, almost afraid to ask.

"It happens when Minerva (or someone close to her) gets inside yer mind. It can take years to get rid of the dreams. Even though ya know they ain't true, they still...like, sit at the back of yer mind...and poke at ya every chance they get..."

Fiona studied her cousin for a long moment, then said, "It's happened to you, too, hasn't it...Rahnee?" Rahnee was only slightly surprised that Fiona realized that.

"Will you tell me about it?"

"No! I'm here to talk about what happened last night, not what happened more than eight years ago!"

Rahnee was not ready to talk about the incident with her own siblings, let alone a cousin.

Rahnee cleaned up the things that had been broken as she and Minerva fought, then walked out into the living room. Fiona sat on the couch, watching her. Rahnee gasped. She had been so into Minerva's scent, she had failed to notice the Soot in the next room. Rahnee picked up Fiona and carried her outside. Fiona did not resist, at least, not that Rahnee could see. She set Fiona down, then pulled out her sword. Ashen tears were running down Rahnee's face, and the muscle in her face was jumping so much that the left side of her upper lip was twitching uncontrollably.

"I'm...sorry, Cuz...but...it...has...to be...done..."

Rahnee lifted her sword up, then brought back down in one swift movement.

Fiona gasped. Shrek stared at Rahnee and said, "You didn't..."

"I did."

Rahnee snapped her fingers, and a large, widemouth jar appeared in front of her. She caught it. It seemed to be filled with a black semi-liquid.
"THIS," she said, indicating the jar, "WAS the Soot. I had to remove it from yer body, then kill it. Wounds made to remove Soots disappear immediately, so I thought it strange when I realized you were still hurt. I did heal ya, but, I wanna know, didja' get inta some sorta scrape, Cuz?"

"Murdoc."

Tayer, who had been completely quiet through Rahnee's story, spoke up.

"Fiona disappeared during the afternoon. Murdoc and two of his 'friends' brought her back during the roast, and she was...different...somehow."

"Right. I'm willin' ta bet that, as strong-willed as my cousin is, Murdoc and his cronies, or Minerva's cronies, or whatever, had to 'persuade' Fiona to become a Soot, and even then the Soot couldn't completely control her because she's a princess and everything!"

The others' mouths dropped open, and Rahnee, who had been sitting in a lawn chair, tumbled backward, away from the table. She stood, and the tension drained away into laughter.

"Not funny!"

Rahnee was bristling with anger as she tried to free her tail, which was bent double, from her chair. The others kept laughing at the sight of the dragongirl, the terror from the day before draining away. Tayer finally went over and pulled the chair off Rahnee's rear end.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Tayer said, then leaned over and whispered something in her ear. Donkey saw the pupils of his niece's eyes turn into slits. Not a good sign. Rahnee turned and slapped Tayer, hard, on the cheek. "OWW!" he cried, rubbing his jaw. "What was that for?"

"I'm not a bad dragon!"

Donkey ran to his niece's aid.

"Hear that? She is NOT a bad dragon! What you tryin' ta pull, hittin' on her like that? You may be my best friend's brother, but that don't mean I won't..."

"Uncle D! ZIP IT!"

There was a strange noise, and Donkey could not longer pull his lips apart. This did not stop him from berating Tayer, however. Rahnee looked past Donkey and Tayer to the ogres seated around the table.

"Sorry, it only lasts two minutes."

With that, she left.

Rahnee sat on a rock, singing to herself. Problem was, she couldn't find a song good enough to sing at this very moment. She was only dimly aware that someone came and sat down beside her.

"Why don't you sing the 'Life is Music' one?"

"I like my food with chili in! I like to laugh 'til it turns in! I wanna stare Fear in the face! I want to take it all the way! Life...is...music...play...it...louder...If you're gonna jump, then jump far; fly like dragonriders! If you're gonna be a singer, then you better be a rockstar! If you're gonna be a driver, then you better drive a racecar, 'cause I'm lookin' for a guard...dog...not buyin' a chihuahua!"

"What's a 'chuh-wah-wah?" Murdoc asked.

"Very tiny, little, itty-bitty dog."

"Ah, well. Now the song makes sense...why are you looking at me like that, Rahnee?"

"Jus' tryin' to figure out why I keep fallin' for bad boys..."

Rahnee leaned over and kissed Murdoc...and he kissed her back.