This is being written in response to a challenge on "Where the Fire Lily Grows" website.

Summary: Hem discovers the Internet and Fanfiction.

~ Hem must read 1 fanfiction
~ Maerad must join him at the computer
~ Someone random must walk by and ask what they are doing.

It might be several chapters, maybe more, hope you like it! :D


Hem laughed gleefully. He had snuck into the council earlier that week, and been fascinated by the latest Bardic invention: a portal to the future. It couldn't transport items or people through time, Hem was slightly disappointed to find, but it allowed the user to view any thing or person anywhere, any time, as long as it hadn't already happened, and that could be very interesting. For one, he could find out if he ever married, and who he did. He could also check to see if he, Maerad, Saliman, and Cadvan left any amazing legacies behind (of course he was going to be famous, he just wanted absolute proof to show Maerad, who had laughed in his face when he had told her).

The only problem was that the new invention- some were calling it technology, for some reason that escaped him- was heavily guarded.

And not lent out to scruffy teenagers (he had turned thirteen a few months ago).

So what to do?

That problem had just been solved thanks to careful planning, Irc, and his own genius, and Hem cackled inwardly. He was a mastermind.

The invention (Cadvan called it a machine) was heavy, and he put it down for a moment and surveyed it curiously. It was dome-shaped, with clear glass covering a smooth black bottom (he had no idea what it was made of- perhaps it was the secret ingredient to the contraption). A thin, flexible black rod extended out from a small hole in a side, with a black egg-shaped object on the end that fit perfectly in his fist when he closed his hand around it. He had heard that the rod communicated the user's wishes to the dome, and whatever he wanted to see would appear in it's interior, three-dimensionally. Fascinating.

Unable to curb his eagerness, he picked the machine back up and slunk through the front door of Silvia's Bardhouse. He heard voices in the kitchen and pressed himself to the wall, hoping no one would notice him when they came out.

They didn't, because no one came out of the kitchen. Sighing in mingled relief and disappointment (it was almost fun being a spy again, as long as he didn't have to go back to Sjuk'hakar Im), he ran upstairs and into his room, shutting the door silently behind him. At last, he would get to view the machine, the technology, the... portal to the future. He cackled quietly again and resisted jumping with excitement. It wouldn't do to be discovered now, after having taken such pains to steal- no, borrow- the invention. He was going to give it back, as soon as he had had some fun with it. With Sharma's power and influence growing and reaching farther every day, fun was often hard to come by.

Unable to wipe the grin off his face, Hem carefully set the machine down on his bed and sat down cross-legged next to it. He picked the egg-shaped end of the black rod up, pressed his hand around it, and waited eagerly, his eyes wide with expectation.

Nothing happened.

Hem growled with frustration. Why wasn't it working? Perhaps it needed more time? He waited a few more seconds, bit nothing happened, and he threw the rod down, only to immediately snatch it back up. His wishes weren't clear enough, that was the problem. I want to see myself in twenty years, he thought, with whoever I live with.

Nothing happened.

Nearly weeping, Hem tried in desperation to mind-touch the thing, not really believing that it would work, but needing to do something. He felt a presence. Well, not a conscious being or mind, but there was something there. A force, perhaps, if not quite an intelligence. I want to see myself in twenty years, he said enthusiastically, thrilled that he had figured out how it worked.

The response was immediate: only objects could be seen. Hem almost screamed. Hadn't the annoying squat man at the council said people too?! But no, he realized. That had been Irc, and the crow, while clever, tended to exaggerate, and didn't always grasp ideas clearly. Well, thought Hem, there went that brilliant idea. What could he search for that didn't include people?

A legacy, of course. Show me something to do with Maerad or me in four hundred years, he told the dome. He viewed the scrolls that appeared interestedly, and read that Maerad had indeed defeated the Nameless One. Ha, so she was going to prevail. He had always known it, of course, but maybe now that he was sure, he should go make bets with people. There was that awful girl, Linrea, for instance, who was always sneering at him. She would take the bet, he was sure, and then he would get even with her. Yes, he would do that as soon as he had finished with the machine.

What was a machine, anyway? Show me another machine, he said, and a dark shape began to grow inside the dome. It had a flat shiny top part that stood vertically, and a bottom part that was covered with tiny little squares with letters on them, and lay flat against the base of the dome. What does it do? he asked.

It is called a computer, came the answer, and exists 2,500 years from now. It contains information, entertainment, and provides a means of instant, worldwide communication.

Information? About what?

Everything. Search for something.

Um, myself? And Maerad?

Instantly, the shiny part turned white with a colorful word "Google", and then little writing appeared, spelling out "Hem of Turbansk" and "Maerad of Pellinor". There was a click, and then suddenly many lines of writing containing their names came up. "Wikipedia," he said aloud. "I wonder what that is. Probably another machine." He didn't ask about it. "And, hmm, , what's that? Almost all of these have 'dot com', except a few, strange... maybe it's a code. Or futuristic language."

He shrugged, then spotted something. "Why did this come up? The... Cadvan Thread? More sffworld. Maybe it's famous. But I didn't search for Cadvan, so why did this come up? I guess he's related to us, somehow, if our names come up together. We are friends, after all, and he was Maerad's teacher. This future stuff is weird.

He decided to check out the Cadvan Thread. (Why would Cadvan have a thread, anyway? He didn't like to sew or anything... and anyway, just one thread? What good would that be?) "'Spoilers for the Riddle'," he read when the page came up. "What's the Riddle? And... woah. Mrs. Cadvan? What in the Light?" He decided to read the first line- maybe things would become clearer. "'Right, well I've been thinking today (as my perverted little mind often does) about Cadvan.'"

This thread, whatever it was, was definitely strange. He had, so far, come across a Mrs. Cadvan, spoilers for the Riddle, whatever that was, a perveted mind who often thought about Cadvan (why was he so popular, anyway, in the future?!), and- something caught his eyes at the bottom of the first light blue rectangle- 'Asides, I thought the Cadvan-fans (now a small army) might as well have this thread for their lustful rantings, kiss-and-tell-Cadvan stories, and so on.' WHAT?! This was just plain freaky. He was most certainly missing something. Either that, or the future was a very messed-up place. I am so glad I was born in this time, he thought fervently.

Sorry the first chapter is so short! Hopefully the others will be longer. Please review and let me know me what you think!