{-Sharena-}

They all stared. Sure, they'd all seen dragons and laguz, considering them just as real as any normal human. What other worlds might've considered as legend was fact in Askr because they could prove it was real by going to another world. Even with that knowledge, it didn't change the fact that they were staring at something from one of the few folktales the World of Zenith actually possessed.

Peony didn't seem to mind. She casually waited for Lucy to come back with Alfonse and began a bunch grander introduction of herself and why she was here.

"So! I'm Peony, a ljósálfar from Ljósálfheimer. I came here on behalf of Dream-King Freyr to get Sharena and fix something back in the dream realm." She tried to be serious, but there was something about her that just couldn't do it completely; like asking a child to act serious in a situation they either didn't know the full extent of, actually found happy or exciting, or a combination of the two. "I know the specifics but I don't understand them enough to really explain it well, so I'm sorry now if some of this doesn't make any sense. I'll try to answer questions! They just, uh, may need to wait until it's done and Mirabilis can talk to you…

"There are two places in the dream realm: Ljósálfheimer, ruled by Dream-King Freyr, and Dökkálfheimer, ruled by Lady Freyja. Really the only difference between the two is that Ljósálfheimer is where the ljósálfar—who create good dreams—live and Dökkálfheimer is where the dökkálfar—who create bad dreams—live. That's basically all it is. Other than that we all came from the same kind of background and came there through the same means.

"What determines whether an álfar becomes a ljósálfar or dökkálfar is the balance between the two places. Having too much of one or the other could bring a dream imbalance and, from what little I actually know about it, it's not good in the slightest. There's also a line that needs to be kept between the dream and waking realms, which I am technically crossing by being here and having all of you see me.

"This line, according to Dream-King Freyr, is especially delicate and has just as much if not more bad effects than a dream imbalance does. It involves everything, not just the dream realm. There's only one person who's actually supposed to go back and forth between the two realms; I think by now you have some kind of idea about the little dreamer. Dream-King Freyr and Lady Freyja gave a really technical and complicated answer so I'll put it like Mirabilis did: Sharena is supposed to be able to walk with one foot on either side. Instead she's smearing the line so much it's getting hard to tell what belongs to what side.

"That is obviously a bad thing. A big part of the reason it's happening is because of Lekra and Iztali and the memories they brought to her. Without going into too much detail, a lot of it binds her to the dream realm much more than the list of other stuff. So Dream-King Freyr gave me the mission to get her and bring her to Ljósálfheimer so then he and Lady Freyja can fix the problem. It probably won't take very long for you at all—an hour at most—but Dream-King Freyr wanted to make sure you all understood the situation before we just took her. He said that once this was fixed the line between the dream and waking realms would stabilize, too, meaning there generally wouldn't really be as big of a threat of something consuming both realms after that."

There wasn't really anything anyone could say. They gave their mutual agreement that, as long as Sharena was okay with it, they were fine with her leaving. Alfonse only made sure that she'd be safe there, to which Peony promised that she'd safely return to them. To the álfar's confusion, Sharena asked if Fauna could make sure Iztali stayed out of trouble. Lekra had to explain to Peony that it was unlikely that Iztali would be able to go with them to the dream realm like a normal dream could, reminding her again of what they talked about earlier.

It wasn't until after they were leaving the castle that Peony mentioned another piece of important information to her. "Before we go anywhere, we need to find Mirabilis. I think she fell asleep somewhere along the way, but she shouldn't be far—especially since she's probably been looking for me for a little while, too."

Sharena nodded. She was more interested in something else entirely; "What exactly are the Dream-King and Lady of Nightmares going to do when I get there?"

"More or less one of two things," Peony replied hesitantly. "You're going to either have to forget everything you've remembered about us, including this, or you're going to remember everything and they're going to have to face the consequences of messing with her plan."

((A/N: For record's sake, Alfonse, Anna, Fauna, Eir, and Fjorm heard this; Lucy was sent away after getting Alfonse, so she doesn't know anything more than what she originally saw.

The World of Zenith only has a few major legends: those regarding the realm of the dead, a bit of stuff about the dream world, obviously stories relating to their kingdoms' founding and gifts of dragon blood, and unknown nations somewhere else in the world. Other regional stories include vague legends relating to dreams and nightmares (what Iztali and Lekra are) in Nifl and changelings in small Askran communities. Múspell also believes the winter envoy eats disobedient children, in case anyone wanted to know.))