Me: Oyo Como Va! Sorry, I don't know what that means, but I just like to say it! It's from the Beach Boys song. Doo doo doo doo do, do doo do, doo doo doo doo do, do do. Sorry. Now…(looks around) Hey, where'd the Disclaimer go?

Disclaimer: Here I am!

Me: That was oddly convenient. Where were you?

Disclaimer: Calling the Muffin Man and threatening to stalk him, just like you said.

Me: Excuse me? You talked to the Muffin Man?

Disclaimer: Yup.

Me: You had a conversation with a fictitious character?

Disclaimer: What does fic-fic- that word mean?

Me: What did the, err, Muffin Man say?

Disclaimer: Well, he said that just because he was a redheaded slut who had an obsession with teen movies and wearing lots of make up didn't mean I could stalk him. He also said that he had caller ID and was going to call the police. You know, he had a pretty girlish and annoying voice.

Me: Redheaded slut with obsession for teen movies and…(eyes go wide) Oh. That's not good. Did the Muffin Man say he was Lindsey Lohan?

Disclaimer: Yeah! He did! Funny, you know, I always thought Lindsey was a girl's name.

Me: This isn't good. You just called Lindsey Lohan and threatened to stalk her.

Disclaimer: No, it was the Muffin Man.

Me: Much as I hate her, I can't have her calling the police. That would put them on my tail. That won't work. We'll have to…Oops. I forgot. None of the characters in this story, except Gayle and some commoners and squires belong to me. They're all Tamora Pierce's. Enjoy the story. Oh, and also, I've changed Gayle's age from fifteen to seventeen. Just a note, in case you get confused. Now as I was saying…

Meetings by Eveiveneg

Gayle was in the water, floating. Stupid cat, she thought. How could it talk, anyway? What did it want with her? It had just gotten her all wet. Not that it bothered her, but still. It was the whole situation in general that bothered her. Since when did cats talk?

She felt a thump as she came down on the sand. She looked up at the surface and saw the moon shining on the water. In fact, it was lighting up the entire lake underneath too. It was very calm and peaceful down here, she mused. All sound was muted. Her movements were slow and silent. She liked it, much better than her new life at the orphanage, and much better than how her life with a foster family was going to be.

She was contemplating this when, suddenly, she began to slide down. It felt like slipping her hand into a vat of aloe vera. But instead of just her hand, her entire body was sliding into aloe vera. It was weird. Cold, and smooth, but mostly weird. A lot weirder than falling off that tower. There was no way that she was sinking down into sand. It just didn't feel like this, even underwater.

Gayle looked at herself, and would have gasped, but was afraid to lose air. Her hand and arms were half-submerged in some sort of black goop. Her legs, except the tops of her thighs, had entirely sunk down into the goo, and her waist was quickly following. She tried to ease her body out of it, but nothing happened. She felt panic begin to rise, making her heart beat much faster. She thrashed wildly, trying to free herself, but remained stuck.

By this point her hips were gone and her stomach was slowly disappearing into the black gunk. She tried again to get out, but nothing was working. She was sinking more and more, vanishing into the darkness of the goopy liquid. She forced calm thoughts into her head, trying to relax. It succeeded in slowing her racing heart, but only slightly.

She looked down at herself, and felt the panic start to rise again, seeing that her chest was gone too. She watched in horror as her shoulders went down. Her head was sinking too, and she desperately tried kicking her legs, thinking that she might be able to get them out. But she found that she couldn't move her legs, and worse, she couldn't even feel them any more. Soon her face was the only part above the goo. She watched with panicked eyes as her view of the surface of the lake disappeared, and she was swallowed by the gunk.

She couldn't see. She couldn't hear. She couldn't make any noise. She couldn't move. All she could do was feel the black, cold, smooth, and slimy thing all around her. She thought about her life so far, and was sad to find that she hadn't done anything remotely useful for anyone.

Oh sure, she'd been ok, answering questions when asked, that sort of thing. But had she actually helped anyone? No. That was the sad story of her life. The only thing that had happened to her was her parents being killed…She didn't want to think about that. Though she probably should. She was dead, or dying. She might as well. But it was still too fresh in her mind. Too painful to even try and comprehend.

She should close her eyes and die already. Or were they closed? She had no way of knowing, since it was so dark. She knew she was probably conscious, since she was thinking. Thinking about thinking and not thinking. Ow. That hurt. Thinking about thinking about thinking and not thinking. Oooh. She'd better stop doing that.

Suddenly, she could see light, just above her. It was small, and faraway, but it was something. She set off for it, swimming as fast as she could. Suddenly, she was out of the darkness, and in water again. She realized just then how much she needed air. She kept going, knowing she would drown if she didn't reach the top soon….

Gayle burst through the surface of the water, sending droplets flying around. She gasped, trying to get fresh air. When she did, she looked around. Where was she? She was floating in the water and could see no land around her. The water was a dark and threatening, as if in the still just after a storm. She realized that was probably what had just happened, if the gray clouds fleeing above her were any indication. But what was she going to do? She wondered. She was totally lost in some ocean, or a really big lake.

Well, she thought with a sigh, that did seem like something that would happen to her.

For a long time she just kind of swam there, wondering what she was going to do. She let herself float up into a laying down position, closing her eyes and taking pleasure in the warmth of the newly emerged sun. She drifted along in the gentle waves, musing about what she should do. Probably think of some way to get out of the water. Besides getting pruned, she was seriously in danger of drowning. But she couldn't keep her thoughts on that. It was so nice right now, especially after all that had happened to her…

She drifted off to sleep, content with basking in the shining sun and floating in the water.

Percy sighed miserably and gazed out the endless stretches of water. His luck had seemed to run out. He hadn't gotten a catch all day, and he was extremely hot. He knew his skin was probably burning, causing his already red skin to go even redder.

He'd hoped that after the storm, there would be a lot of fish out, and he'd be able to catch one. But no such luck. Why did he even bother fishing anyway? It sure didn't get him anywhere. It was his hobby, but all the same, he was beginning to consider taking up carving little wooden bird whistles.

His gaze skittered across the water, and abruptly stopped. He was amazed to see a person floating in the water. What in the name of Mithros? As the body drifted closer, he was able to get a better look. It was a young girl, about seventeen or eighteen. Her scarlet hair was barely kept together by a clip, and her expression was serene, half-smiling. She was wearing odd clothes, some sort of long sleeved shirt and dark breeches, made out of odd material. Despite her strange apparel, she was very striking.

Percy leaned out of the boat and picked her up out of the water. Was she alive, or was she dead? No, he thought, with a grateful sigh, she was alive. He could see her breathing easily, her chest rising and falling slightly. He dragged out a blanket from under a bench of the small fishing boat and wrapped her in it.

Satisfied, he lay her down underneath one of the benches, to be sure that she wouldn't fall back out into the water. His fishing outing had been cut short, though he wasn't disappointed. Far from it. He was happy to be going home. He started rowing back towards the distant shore of Lake Leviathan. Maybe, he thought as he glanced back at the girl, she'd been on a boat on the large lake, and the storm had wrecked the boat, or something like that. In that case, there would probably be people who would be happy to see her alive and well. Though he'd enjoy her company until the time came. He hadn't had anyone to talk to for a long time. Only on business, not just simply for the pleasure of conversing with another being.

She muttered something. He looked back. It had sounded like she'd said…No. She couldn't possibly have. There. She said it again. There was no mistaking it. He looked at her oddly. How had she known about it? Nobody else did…

He shook his head at himself. It figured that the one girl he rescued would know everything about the enemy.