CH. 1 "We're Off To See The Wizard" Lea and ace stepped through the gateway quickly, and before lea could turn to see where N was, it had snapped shut. Lea wasn't really worried though. It all felt right somehow. Even being in a really dusty, moldy basement that looked like it needed some serious redecorating. She immediately knew that she was in the Stone of Tear from the twisted redstone doorframe that caught her eye. Uncharacteristically oblivious to the objects of Power that cluttered the room, she was drawn to the door like iron filings to a lodestone. "ace, I need u to...guard the door, yeah." Ace seemed all to happy to comply.

With that, lea stepped through. And wondered if she was suddenly abducted by X-files aliens. Blinding white light hit her, but in a moment it was gone. When her vision cleared, two really weird...people stood in front of her in yellow togas. Hmm. I guess the foxes have taken up residence w/ the snakes since moi did her little stunt. ehh. Whatever. Then, the two spoke in unison, and needless to say, It Was Friggin Creepy. If lea had her way, she would rather have teatime & crumpets w/ 1 of the eyeless. "You have brought no lamps, no torches, as the agreement was, and is, and ever will be. You have no iron? No instruments of music?"

lea considered these questions very carefully. Since she was AS, she couldn't just say, "yeah, I have all those things, what r u gonna do about it?" but there were plenty of ways around that little Oath. Then, she had an ephipany: technically, she DID have all those things. She could make a torch above her hand with Fire, she could sing, if necessary, and although she thought N had some better ability w/ Earth than she did, she could still convert her steel belt knife to iron. Ohhhh, it was so tempting to point out all these things. NO. Must. Control. Self. Must. Rescue. Moi. Calm. Flowers. River.

Back under control, lea finally answered: "I didn't intentionally bring any of these things w/ me. You must b aware that I can channel though, and there's nothing we can do about that" there Better not be. "I want to see the fo...um, elfinn, please. You know, the ones u can make deals w/." The intensely disappointed snakey 1 wandered off, while the foxy 1 looked ready to do a jig. W/ a singsong, "follow me" it started skipping down the hallway, even singing, "We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz, because, because, ..." if lea hadn't been disturbed before, which she had been, she was Disturbed now. Praying to the Light that she wasn't involved w/ homicidal maniacs, she hurried off after the fellow she now decided to name Bob. THIS was going to be a day to remember.

After going in circles for about an hour, w/ Bob still singing and skipping ("...because of the wonderful things he does..."), lea wondered whether Bob was actually a Certified-Elfinn-Steal-Your-Soul-Dealmaker or just an escapee from the Elfinn Meadows Insane Asylum. Lea was leaning toward the latter. His toga could just have been a modified straight jacket afterall. She was considering starting a round, w/ her singing "this is the song that never ends, it goes on and on my friends..." but she wasn't sure if that would violate the Agreement. D*** Agreement. When lea was just about to balefire him for making her feet hurt, he suddenly stopped-the skipping and the singing-in front of a room that she swore had NOT been there 2 sec. ago.

Happily leaving her insane guide, She entered into a circular domed room, empty except for three large pedestals with foxies sitting on top of them. Before they could get a word out, lea started: "yeah, I know. You want stuff, I want stuff, we make a deal. *pulling out a large sack that the reader would swear had not been there a moment ago* let's see. I'll trade you 1 shoots and ladders game and 1 dvd player and 1 dvd w/ 5 seasons of this years Award Nominee for Best Soap Opera 'the young and the boring'". This news seemed to excite them immensely. An endless supply of Emotions. And a shoots and ladders game. Yuummy. It seemed that they were ready to grant her anything. Lea thought, good thing they don't know about battery lifetimes. She told them, "In return, I want Moi, who u are holding captive, to return w/ me, unharmed." They seemed to be expecting more demands. Hmm. Interesting. Two more wishes.

"I also want...an entire new wardrobe, all in the latest fashions of every country, in silk, w/ lots of embroidery, of every color that every existed, delivered to my rooms in the Tower when I get some...I guess I should also get a souvenir for N...I want a lifetime supply of moonstones, delivered to N right now" three voices chimed "Done." (N's pocket simultaneously got a lot heavier.) And Bob appeared w/ a rather annoyed little woman in a ripped, blue dress and blue stone dangling from her forehead. Lea yelled "MOI!" running over and hugging the woman. Moi seemed somewhat bewildered by this strange Green, but she was happy to see ANYONE who wasn't a fox or snake, and so reciprocated the hug.

Then, before Bob could start in on an encore, they ran for their lives to the entrance (it was really only 10 feet away from the circular room...it was kinda funny, too...the foxies on the pedestals were alarmed to see Bob, and were whispering to each other. Lea had caught the phrases "lifetime sentence" and "...was agreed he was NEVER to be let out from the padded..." as she was fleeing). Lea and moi flung themselves through the door, in proper "we're ducking a massive explosion here" fashion, diving through the curtain of brilliant light, and onto the dusty floor.

Ace looked around, his expression asking "what kept u?" Introductions were in order. "Hi, moi, I'm lea, Green AS from 753. that's my warder, ACE, and a prophecy told us that things were really looking bad for the Light friends, so we were transported here. You're my idol, btw. You don't really need to tell us anything about yourself as we already know EVERYTHING, even your last boyfriend from about thirty years ago, Cormanes, and your fav. Love novels, Hearts of Flame. Id explain, but it'd take to long. I have a friend, N of the Blue, she's dealing w/ Rand at the moment"

Moi had been puzzled and then Disturbed by this introduction, but at the mention of Rand, she grew slightly fanatic, "how is he? Is he ok? Is he saving the world? Not trusting any AS, even Verin and Alvarian? Making new friends at camp?"

lea answered yes to all these questions, leaving the camp one blank and assuming that Moi needed time to recover from her ordeal. "come on, Moi. *lea opens gateway* We're going to all meet up at Mat's place. He's a general btw, he can't lose-really, its physically impossible for him. Lan and Nyna are married by the way. And rand's shacking up w/ Elayne, Avi, and Min. and Egwene's the amrylin of the REBEL AS and elaida's leading the Tower AS, and there are lots of random armies, aiel, and male channelers running around. Rand also cleansed saidin, and wont trust anyone except Cadsune, who needs to teach him the difference b/n strong & hard, along w/ laughing and balling like a baby. I think that about sums it all up" moi suddenly realized that becoming captive to save rand might not have been the best choice. The world really needed her. With a sense of purpose, the 3 of them stepped through the gateway.