Alright, the usual blah blah blah....
This is not my universe, these are not my characters. I'm just playing with them, a privilege for which I deeply thank the immensely gifted Neil Gaiman. Anyone you don't recognize is mine and I am proud of them. Please read and review - I'm begging you..... Do you see me begging you?
This section is G, although later ones may be PG or even - gasp - PG-13! Don't worry, I'm gentle.

Tales Not Told

Lucien edged around the corner, warily regarding his lord. Morpheus sat in his throne room, chin resting on his hand, and stared moodily into the shadows. It did not look good, and Lucien sighed. "My lord?" he murmured quietly, hoping perhaps that the Dream-King would not hear him, thus enabling him to return to his Library while still being able to say that he had done his duty.

"Did I not say that I did not wish to be disturbed, Lucien? Did you somehow misinterpret my request?"

Lucien sighed, careful to hide it. Morpheus had – well, to say that he had not been in the best of moods lately would be a bit of an understatement. "My lord, there is a – woman here to see you. In the Library. She is waiting for you."

Morpheus' eyes flashed. "I must assume this is important, else you would have told her that I do not wish to be disturbed, so I suppose I must go see her, this unwelcome guest." He unfolded himself from his throne, long coat swirling about his feet. "Go and tell her to await me; I shall be there momentarily."

With long strides, he left the room. A relieved Lucien hurried back to his library, while his lord went to the front gate of his palace. Staring up at the wyvern, the gryphon, and the unicorn that guarded his castle, he spoke coldly, dangerously. "How is it, my Guardians, that I have been presented with such an intrusion? Were you not informed that I was not accepting callers?"

The gryphon, oldest and chief of the Guardians, rumbled, "My lord, we could not help it. She – she sang to us. Not since Or – not in some time had I heard such music."

Morpheus scowled but nodded, instantly transporting himself to the Library. Lucien stood in the entranceway, waiting, and pointed down three floors and across one of the visible gaps in the stacks. There stood a woman, her back to them, a book open in one elegant, tanned hand. She wore a long, shimmering robe in many shades of deep blue, and her mahogany-colored hair flowed down her back in an unrestrained wave. With a thought, Morpheus stood next to the presumptuous woman. "Do make yourself at home, my lady," he snapped, his irritation only lightly veiled.

One eyebrow crooked toward her hair, she turned to look at him. "My lord Morpheus," she said pleasantly. "This is indeed a splendid Library you possess; I have long heard of the wonders here, and had not thought to give them credence until now. I thank you for allowing me access to it for this short time." Shelving the book in its original spot, she looked him full in the eyes, and for a moment he was brought up short. Her eyes were enormous and deep, glowing like sapphires. As her gaze held him, he seemed to hear faint strains of music, a haunting air, and for just a moment he caught a flash of his elder sister's smile, so like this bewitching stranger's.

This fleeting image made him hesitate. The woman smiled again, a little more broadly, and Morpheus felt much of his anger abate. Who is this woman? he wondered, half angrily and half in bemusement. "My lady, you may come here any time you choose; I far too rarely have the time to enjoy the treasure found here. For right now, though – did you have any pressing business? Are you mortal?"

Smiling strangely, knowingly, she replied simply, "No and no, my lord Dream-King."

"Ah. If that is the case – since you enjoyed the Library so – would you care to see some of the rest of my realm? I hardly ever have guests, and –" he trailed off, carefully watching her reaction.

Her eyes seeming to look deeply into him in an almost unnerving manner, the strange woman slowly nodded. "I would be honored to glimpse the splendors of your realm, your majesty. I am certain that no matter the number to whom you showed it off, it would never be appreciated enough to befit its glories."

At her courtly words, he laughed and said, "My lady, if we are to be traveling companions, we must forsake this elaborate nonsense. And you must call me Morpheus."

Her smile came again, like a benediction. "Then I am to be Alaina."

Alaina, he thought. Her name is music. And in the back of his mind a nascent dream surfaced, of tawny fingers tangled into midnight hair and ghost-pale in rich brown.

Lucien watched in bemusement as his lord left with the unusual woman. They were very much alike, for all their physical differences. The Dream-King was a good hand's span taller than Alaina, but they carried themselves with the same dignity and watched the world from the same keenly-observant eyes. Both also had something of the creator's fire about them, which didn't really surprise him, considering. The Librarian sighed as he saw Morpheus bend slightly to catch a soft comment from the woman at his side.

Some time later, Alaina and Morpheus returned to his throne room, the vaulting windows with their ever-changing stained glass soaring upwards on either side. High above them, the elf Nuala polished them, for lack of anything else to do; she looked down and sighed sadly at their entrance. Resigned, she simply moved higher, to a point at which she could neither hear nor easily see the two below. The echo of Morpheus' laughter at some quip still rang in her ears as she did so.

"Really, though, my lord, as pleasant as this has been, I must be going. I might not have had any pressing business then, but that was some time ago, and I do fear that I must go." She smiled and tucked a strand of his unruly hair back. A swirl of music rushed out of nowhere to envelop her, and she began to vanish into it.

He reached out and clasped her hand in both of his. "Can you not linger just a few moments longer? I cannot bear to let you leave so very soon...."

"'Remain, for thou art fair'? I would I could, but I have never seen myself as Mephistopheles." She laughed lightly. "Neither, my lord, do you look like a Faust."

"Did we not agree that it was to be Morpheus?"

Again she smiled her enchanting smile, but she drew her hand free of his, ran the backs of her fingers lightly down the side of his face, and said, "Aye, we did. Well then, Morpheus – I must go. However – I have an invitation for you, if you would care for it. I am having something of a party at the full of the moon -" she pulled a small, twisted bit of glass from a pocket. At a whistled note, it manifested a chain which she looped once around his wrist. "That will take you there, if you will. And I should be very honored to have you attend...." With that, the music took her completely and she disappeared.

Morpheus slumped his head into his hands, still hearing the last notes. Behind and above, Nuala, having heard the music, mirrored him. "Lucien! Lucien, come here!" Morpheus called; when the Librarian appeared, he asked, "Who was that woman?"