ConVersion
"Mom, will you tell me a story?"
"Which one do you want to hear?"
"The one about the Shapeshifter and the bad Wizard."
"Again?"
"It's my favorite."
"It's my favorite, too. Did you brush your teeth?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. Close your eyes."
"Why?"
"So you can imagine everything better. Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a Lady in a castle full of diamonds. The Queen had ordered her to keep the castle in order, and she did her work year after year with dedication. But then she began to feel alone. You see, diamonds are pretty, but they are also cold and sharp. The Lady wanted a little bit of warmth in her life. So she searched for a long time, and finally she found a special child in a Kingdom torn by war. There were a lot of other children in the Kingdom, but as she looked at this one, she saw a golden glow around him and knew he was the right one.
She went to a powerful Wizard and asked him to rescue the Golden Child for her. Readily she offered him all the gifts she had gotten from the Queen over the years as reward. The Wizard agreed, and so the Golden Child was rescued from the dangerous Kingdom.
But the Wizard was evil. He wasn't interested in the gifts of the Queen his sights were set on something different. See, the Lady owned a magical collar her mother had given her on her deathbed. So the Wizard threatened to take the Golden Child away unless she gave him the collar. To protect the child she agreed, believing it the only way. But when the Wizard got the collar, he realized that some of the gemstones, which were rumored to be magical, were missing. So he threatened the Lady again. He told her to bring the gems, or he would take the Golden Child from her.
But the Lady didn't own the gems. A Marauder had taken them from her mother a long time ago. In her desperation she took some of the diamonds she was supposed to care for to offer them to the Marauder in exchange for the gems. Hiding the Golden Child in the back of her carriage, she went to meet the Marauder.
The Marauder looked displeased to see her.
"Do you really want to do this?" he asked her when she met him.
"Do you really want to do this?" he asked when she offered him the diamonds.
"Do you really want to do this?" he asked a third time, and when she still was adamant to give the stolen diamonds away, he showed his true face. He wasn't the Marauder she was supposed to meet, but the Shapeshifter of the Queen sent out to bring back the missing diamonds.
The Lady begged for mercy, but the Queen's guards were relentless. They took her Golden Child and put her in the dungeon. The Queen decreed that unless the Lady could prove that she acted under duress, she would never see her Golden Child again.
Only the Shapeshifter and his best friend the Hunter felt compassion for the Lady. They learned that the evil Wizard had displeased a powerful Warlock, and that the coller and the gems were supposed to be a payment for him. The Warlock had been born in the same Kingdom as the Golden Child. So the Shapeshifter and the Hunter went to the warlock and told him that the evil Wizard had used a child of this Kingdom for his own gain. This angered the Warlock and he agreed to help the Shapeshifter and the Hunter. Together they proved what the evil Wizard had done to the Lady. The angered Queen locked the evil Wizard into the dungeons forever. But towards the Lady she showed mercy, and so the Lady and her Golden Child lived together happily ever after."
A/n: Well, I promised something special...hope you liked it (and for those, who celebrate it, a nice Saint Nicholaus day). You have the chance to get three points: One for the episode, one for the name of the story teller and one for the story hearer. Yesterdays answer is Bad Judgement. Ray Huffmeister (sp?) is the full name of the character...take an extra point if you also knew that Mozzie called him "Collins".
An additional note concerning ConCurrent: I'm still working on it, no fear, but since I'm on a deadline for ConText, it takes the backseat at the moment. Plus, the sudden winter and the following chaos on the streets here in Germany means I need a lot of time to get from A to B at the moment...time which I can't spent in front of my PC.
