Author's Note: There are quite a number of spoilers here, since there are characters from lots of different books and plot details are mentioned. Major spoilers are from the Chronicles and Legends trilogies and Dragons of Summer Flame. There might be one or two from War of Souls, but nothing particularly crucial that I can think of...so, hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1: At Flint's House

One fine, sunny morning in Solace, Tas and Tanis were sitting around at Flint's house. Tanis had a house of his own, but continually leeched off the grumpy but not-so-secretly kindhearted dwarf for some reason. It was hard to understand why he and his friends would choose Flint's house to hang out in, since he was nearly two feet shorter than most of the companions, but they weren't the brightest bunch.

"What should we do today?" piped Tas, small legs swinging on his chair.

"Why is that chair too big for you? I'm a dwarf. Everything I own is miniaturized," Flint replied, bushy eyebrows coming together.

"Don't question it, Flint," Tanis said calmly. He somehow instinctively knew he must act as the voice of reason, despite the fact that he never knew what in the Abyss he was doing. Glancing around, he decided to make some breakfast.

"What does everyone want to eat?" he asked.

Flint and Tas thought hard about this. They knew they had to remain as in-character as possible, but the companions were usually shown eating dinner or lunch, not breakfast. Tas absently pulled a crust of bread from one of his myriad of pouches and munched on it as he thought. Finishing that, he pulled the rest of the loaf out of the pouch, much to Flint's amazement.

"How in the Abyss do you fit all this useless sh-t in your pouches!? They're much too small to fit any of the things you supposedly carry around! And they'd be much too heavy for you, you're only three feet tall!"

Tas looked disdainfully at Flint, swallowing a mouthful of bread. "My treasures fit in my pouches just fine. And how come you're swearing? You never do in the books!"

"Actually, Tas, I think he does--the books make references to him cursing a couple of times. But Flint, Tas is right--there's no need to get angry," Tanis said in an overly calm voice, trying to keep the peace. Unfortunately, his voice was so peaceful and calming that Flint passed out in a peaceful stupor. Tas immediately set about making a ruckus.

"How did you do that, Tanis? That was so un-canon! Dwarves are supposed to be really magic-resistant! Do you think he's dead? Or maybe he'll sleep a hundred years and then wake up? I know, Tanis--let's draw on his face and see how long it takes him to notice when he wakes up!"

With that, Tas grabbed some charcoal out of a pouch and began drawing squiggles on Flint's forehead. He would have liked to draw a mustache, but Flint's vast beard got in the way.

Tanis rubbed his temples; he could feel a headache coming on. "Tas, I know you're a kender and they're supposed to be very...er...carefree...but isn't Flint supposed to be your best friend or something?"

Tas shrugged unconcernedly. "In the Legends trilogy I say Caramon is my best friend. Anyway, Flint's not hurt--although he may be a tad upset when he wakes up. I've decided to give him a haircut."

Tanis choked on his next words, imagining the dwarf's reaction to an impromptu haircut by the kender. Clearly, he would need help for this one. "Stuuuuuurm!" he shouted as loudly as he could, knowing that only the sort-of knight could help them now.

Tas raised an eyebrow, looking at Tanis skeptically. "Tanis, I don't think he can hear you. He's buried in the High Clerist's tower, remember?"

At that moment, however, Sturm stepped through the door in his full battle armor, knightly sword at his side. His long mustaches were as sleek as ever, which was surprising considering how rarely any of the companions bathed or groomed themselves. Aside from his apparently magical mustaches, he was looking very well for a dead man.

Tas leapt to his feet, forgetting all about his haircutting plans. "Wow! Sturm's here!" He held out his hand eagerly, and Sturm shook it with an expression of weary patience. "How ya been, Sturm? Is it fun being dead? Did you get bored in the High Clerist's Tower? I would get bored--there's not much to do there, and the locks are really easy to pick. Except for those dead revelers in the middle that are mentioned in the Annotated Dragonlance Chronicles, I guess. Are you a zombie now? No--a death knight! Wow! Could you do that Power Word Kill thing Lord Soth does? Could you? Huh? Huh? Huh?"

Sturm turned to Tanis in concern. "Tanis, what's going on here? Tas is too hyper, Flint was susceptible to magic, which you somehow have, and I'm not dead!"

Tanis frowned, thinking. "You're right, Sturm--there's something strange about this whole thing. Let's get the others--we'd best get to the bottom of this!"

Dragging Flint behind them, they exited the house.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Outside, the companions, now numbering four, looked around. They were in the village of Solace in its pre-War of the Lance phase. The bridge walks connecting the houses stood firm in the gentle autumn breeze as Tas, Sturm, and Tanis walked along them, still dragging the unconscious dwarf. They knew what they had to do--find the Majere twins. Raistlin, as a red-robed mage, might know what was going on. His brother would, of course, be totally useless unless they got in a fight or needed a touching scene for some reason.

"Which way should we go, Tanis?" asked Tas cheerfully. He was skipping along beside his friends, totally unconcerned with the strange events happening around him.

Sturm and Tanis ignored their diminutive sidekick, preoccupied with dragging Flint across the bridge walk. At that moment, however, the unconscious Flint joke got old, and the dwarf's eyes fluttered open. Sturm and Tanis dropped him in surprise.

"Flint--you're awake!" Tanis cried happily, hugging his old friend. "I'm so sorry I knocked you out! I had no idea that I would suddenly be endowed with completely un-canon powers!"

Flint spluttered in embarrassment, pushing the half-elf away. "Tanis, what's going on here? I can't quite put my finger on it, but something seems out pl--BY REORX'S BEARD, WHAT IN THE ABYSS IS GOING ON!?"

At that moment, Flint had spotted Sturm. The melancholy young wanna-be-knight was standing off to one side, gazing out over the town of Solace until he was needed as a straight man for one of his friends, since he just wasn't funny on his own. Angst-ridden knights who die noble deaths can be like that.

"Tanis, we should get going--for some reason, I feel a strange sense of foreboding. Maybe my psychic powers from that trip to the moon in Darkness and Light are returning."

The others stared at him, nonplussed. Sturm's trip to the moon was not a subject they liked to bring up, mostly because it would inevitably lead to discussion of his illegitimate child Steel. Which, naturally, was an awkward subject. This was exactly why Sturm was dead before the companions found out about his and Kitiara's little trip in the canon plot.

"Er..."

Tas, of course, had no inhibitions such as common societal conventions. "I always wanted to go to the moon. Of course, I wouldn't really want to go with Kitiara--she ended up being evil and slaughtering thousands of people. I guess you could say we just wouldn't get along. But you guys seemed to like each other, so there you go."

Flint and Tanis blushed, not meeting Sturm's eyes. The knight, however, was impervious.

"Tas, you don't find out about that until Dragons of Summer Flame--how did you know? This is getting increasingly AU!" Sturm added in concern.

Tas shrugged. "I can't believe you're worried about timeline problems, Sturm--you're talking to someone who almost stopped the Cataclysm! Now that would have been AU. Except it would have been the official plot, so the original official plot would have been the AU one, not the one where I stopped the Cataclysm, which I would have done except Raistlin made me break the magical device because he wanted to be Fistandantilus only I guess he really didn't because he killed him. It's the most wonderful story--do you want to hear it?"

Tas's three friends stood speechless, heads spinning from trying to follow Tas's convoluted explanation. This, however, was completely canon, so they weren't overly worried by it.

"Maybe another time, Tas--we still have to find Caramon and Raistlin," Tanis said placatingly.

Flint growled in annoyance. "Dammit, Tanis, can't you just say something for once and not try to be the peacemaker!? That's not even your personality!"

Sturm admonished the dwarf with a stern look. "Flint, Tanis is always acting as the peacemaker unless he's in the midst of a self-absorbed, angsty rant--you know that!"

Tas grew bored with the discussion. His thoughts wandered back to Raistlin and the time-traveling adventures of the Legends trilogy. "I wonder how Crysania is? You know, I always thought she and Raistlin should have ended up together. Then Raistlin could have stayed on Krynn and not gone all evil. I mean really, didn't you think his character was ultimately redeemed when he realized his mistake at the last possible second and chose to sacrifice himself so his brother and Crysania could escape? I felt he really deserved more than some weird eternal sleep thing. But hey, to each their own."

The companions were speechless again; they could see a pattern forming. Tanis sniffed sadly. "I never get any good lines..."

Laurana patted him consoling on the arm. "It's nothing personal, dear--the author just likes Tas the best, so he gets the most dialogue."

Sturm, Tanis, and Flint nearly fell off the rope bridge in shock. "LAURANA!? How did you get here?"

Laurana shrugged. "The plot was getting boring and repetitive; it needed a new character. And some kind of weird Crysania-Raistlin thing might have made it too angsty and not funny enough. Although personally I don't think it's very funny right now..."

Tanis gaped at his girl friend/wife/positive choice pole for a moment before realizing it was high time for an angsty rant. "Oh...oh NO! Now I have to choose between Laurana and Kitiara! What will I DO!? How can I CHOOSE between the good, self-sacrificing, adoring, beautiful, perpetually youthful elf maiden who's been obsessed with me for years and the self-serving, ambitious, temperamental, short-lived human who's only using me so she can rule the world!? WHAT WILL I DO!?"

The companions shook their heads, blushing in contact embarrassment. Sturm, gallant as always, took pity on his friend and grasped his shoulder.

"Tanis, stop writhing in agony and just calm down. You choose Laurana in Dragons of Spring Dawning, remember? And then Kitiara dies in Test of the Twins. So, don't worry about it."

Tanis flung himself on his best friend, sobbing wretchedly. "But we're in some kind of AU time warp and I STILL CAN'T DECIDE!"

Sturm shoved Tanis backwards, angry and vaguely disturbed. "She killed me! I'm supposed to be your best friend and you'd consider making it with my killer!?"

Tanis shrugged, sniffling pitifully. "But...but...I don't know that until Dragons of Spring Dawning! Besides, have you seen her? You liked her too! Admit it!"

Sturm shook his head in disgust. "Pull yourself together, man--and in Paladin's name, stop crying! It's...well, actually, it's not that out of character..."

Tanis nodded, suddenly filled with self-loathing. "Oh, how could I even consider wanting the woman who kills my best friend and attempts to sacrifice my future wife to the Queen of Darkness!? But somehow I don't have the brains or willpower to stop! HELP ME STURM! HELP ME TURN AWAY FROM THE DARK SIDE!"

Flint was by this time thoroughly fed up. Turning to Tas, he began grumbling a continual stream of complaints as the two friends wandered off together, away from the sobbing half-elf and the exasperated knight. "Do you HEAR this!? I'm totally discounted--again! Every time someone looks like they might be my close friend, they end up being best friends with someone else! First Tanis and Sturm, then you and Caramon--what IS this!?"

Tas shrugged nonchalantly. "Sturm and Tanis is a little weird, considering how far apart in age they are. But I say everyone is my best friend--it's nothing personal. Besides, after Dragons of Spring Dawning I spend my whole life waiting to go find you in some red star! If that's not friendship, what is?"

Flint snorted. "Star, indeed! Typical kender tale..."

With that, they began descending one of the large staircases to the ground, leaving their two friends far behind them.