Another disclaimer: Thanks to H.P. Lovecraft, Chaosium Works and Michael Ende for inspiring my version of the dreamlands. For those of you who don't play the RPG "Call of Cthulhu" (-which will probably be everybody besides me-) : You can imagine the dreamlands as a dark and eerie version of Fantasia from the "Neverending Story".

Anastasya: (grin.) Thanks! ;)

Ahn-Li: You did think of Dalamar/Nima? That's interesting because that couple never occurred to me. (Scratches head) No, no its not Dalamar/Nima. But since this story is subtitled "How to hook a mage" Dalamar may get another fine catch... Maybe someone who likes evil good-looking black mages... ;)

Guan: Thank you.

singvogel: Yes, I think it's definitely about time I start with the romance things or people will ask if I was quite right in my head when I labelled this a "romance".

Dally: Yes who could that be??? /ggg/ However, you agree with me that Raistlin and Naranja would never work, don't you? That would be worse as Raistlin/Chrysania. Can you imagine the power-hungry and the starry-crossed? "Darling, what do you do next?", "I become a god and gain absolute power.", "Oh, you're so sweet.", "Arrrrg!"

kenderling: I'm glad you enjoyed this. Sorry about the mistakes. Dally and I try to erase them as much as we can, and I always re-write the chapters according to her advice but even four eyes don't see everything. (And I have the suspicion that these mean little typos do it on purpose. They always jump out of hiding after I loaded a new chapter up!)

Chapter - 23 - All I Do is Dream

Her touch had been like the effect of a spell. The moment her fingers had touched his forehead, it felt as if he'd been thrown into an icy pool of water and a burning fire at the same time. All of a sudden, he was fully awake. The strange feeling passed. But it left an irritating prickle along the trail her fingers left on his temple. He had no idea why she was doing what she was doing, but he wouldn't allow her to do it a second time. He had caught her hand and pushed her away, yelling at her to find out what she was up to.

"I just wanted to-" Nima started an excuse but stopped in mid-sentence and stared at her hand. Her skin tickled where it had been in contact with his. What had she been doing? And why? She didn't know the answer herself. She blushed.

"Aiiich... Sorry, Sir. I didn't want to-... I just was- ...You had a piece of lint over there!"

Raistlin watched her stutter and didn't believe her in the least. Some kind of reaction had definitely happened between them, resembling the sizzling, reeking result of two incompatible substances brought together in an alchemist's cauldron. Could the girl have anticipated that? No, she looked abashed and flabbergasted. However, it was as if her ill-considered move had set something in motion. Something that should have stayed dormant. Wretched kender! He was about to teach her a lesson once for all, when another voice could be heard like coming from a distance. It was calling her.

"Nima, Nima!"

The calling grew louder, rang in his ears. He tried to say something to the kender. Again her blue eyes caught his own.

"Nima, Nima!"

The alien voice pulled him away. Called him into another world. He felt himself falling. This time, it was he who fell into darkness. The last thing he noticed was an astonished look in the girl's face.

"Nima, Nima, wake up. Its a nice day!"

It was like ascending from another realm. For several moments, Raistlin didn't know where he was or what had happened. The darkness fled away leaving the smell of old wooden walls, milk and honey and brilliant sunlight streaming through a tiny window right above him. Slowly it dawned to him where he was. He was back in the juggler's camp. The babykender had grabbed his shoulder, shaking him and shouting his name.

"Mom and Dad said I should let you sleep, but I am so hungry because I need to grow a lot. Hrongar said that, too. Can I have your breakfast?"

The world of the gypsies had Raistlin back. He sent the child away. If a missed breakfast was the price for being undisturbed he gladly paid it. It had been another dream. Had it really only been a dream or was there more to it? Multidimensional magic... did they have a strange kind of mental connection that only worked in dreams or was he just overreacting? No, Raistlin decided, these dreams had a source. The last incidents had been too realistic for dreaming. Maybe the dreams were the missing part to the crystal-construct. Multidimensional magic... Similar maybe to dragonorbs. The crystals became more intriguing then ever. Raistlin's eyes glittered in fascination and ambition. He definitely needed to understand them, to analyze how they worked. If he only could learn how to control the stones... After a while he noticed that he held his crystal in his hand. During the dream he had apparently taken it out of his pocket and into his hand. Another proof that the crystals were the source of his "meetings" with the kender. The crystals were the key. It would take several days and some more analysis sessions, to find out more. At least it wouldn't get boring.

It was still fascinating three days later. Every afternoon and evening, when the others were occupied with their shows, he studied the crystal. It was not as successful as he had hoped, though. He definitely needed access to a laboratory, he needed his components and besides that he needed the second part. At the moment he was working with an incomplete structure. Raistlin had some ideas how the artifact worked, but without the active counterpart, it all stayed pure speculation. It was comparable to having the edge of an unknown weapon and with only this trying to determine what the blade would look like. Even more concerning was the dream issue. He met the girl every night now. Their little game developed a certain rhythm. By interrogating her he had found out some interesting facts. First of all, their visions of their surroundings were different. Where he saw only moving shadows, she saw bright and shining colors whirling around. He was not sure why it was like that. Apart from that, the "room" hadn't changed yet. It seemed to be immune against spells, too. Raistlin was relatively sure by now, that they were captured in a globule, a dimensional bubble. And this bubble was very likely the missing link between the crystals. He also had a pretty good idea in which dimension the globule was located. Apart from that he had not decided how to go on. If the globule was destroyed before the power of the crystals was broken, their souls would probably be sucked into this alien dimension and being caught there without a way back. He had tried to explain this to her, but he wasn't sure how much she actually understood of his theories. Oh, discussions with her could drive mages insane. He remembered it too well, it had been during their third shared dream.

"Where are we?" the kender asked.

"We are dreaming." Raistlin answered. "Or better, we are very likely visiting the dreamlands. That's a difference."

"What's dreamlands?"

"Another realm. A world different to our own. Another reality."

"Is it on Krynn?"
"No. It's another dimension as I already said."

"What's a dimension?"

How could he explain that easier?

"It's...another... world."

"Like the afterworld?"

"No, the afterworld is yet another dimension."

"Oh." She was silent for a moment. "But it's a really boring world, don't you think? The only things that are ever here are us. It's astounding that this world shouldn't have any people living in it."

She was stretching his patience again. Why did he even bother to explain it to her? When he felt the blue eyes watching him curiously, he went on.

"This is not all of the dreamlands, were in a dimensional cage that is only anchored in the dreamlands. It's only our minds being present. That's why in here we are in our normal shape and why we can make objects from our past appear in this place if we concentrate intensively enough. This was probably created for the ones who carry the crystal halves."

"Like we do?"

"Yes. The real dreamlands are as large as Krynn, with as many peoples, tribes and beings living there. They have their own deities and their own kinds of magic. People from other worlds can sometimes enter these lands via dreams. But this rarely happens by chance. And they are dangerous for invaders, especially for too curious kender without any knowledge of these things. However, this is not important at the moment, since we will not come in true contact with the dreamlands."

"Do they have unicorns in the dreamlands?" Nima asked, intrigued, naturally ignoring the part of those lands being dangerous. "Have you ever been to the dreamlands before?"

He shook his head.

"I don't know if they have unicorns, maybe, maybe not. And no, I haven't visited the dreamlands, yet. I was not through with my plans for Krynn, actually. But I read about them. Still, I don't see why the creator of the crystals wished us to be caught temporarily in this globule. At the moment, I don't see the point of that."

"Maybe it is for us to get to know each other better." Nima stated, beaming at him.

Never, never discuss magic with a kender....

Three days went by in the same fashion. In the morning he memorized the spells, in the evening he studied the crystal and in the night he figured out which options they had in the globule. The kender family tested his nerves as always but fortunately he was left alone by the gypsy and the kender's ill-mannered friends. However, Raistlin's studies hadn't made any real progress and the whole issue became more and more frustrating. Before he had made up his mind how to proceed further from there, somebody else decided that it was time for a change.

On the third day, Mrs. Teketoll made an appearance before Raistlin. He had just begun to concentrate on the spell on page five, when the book was suddenly snatched out of his hands. The kendermother had taken it and now raised an educational finger.

"Daughter." She began. "I've watched this long enough. It can't go on like this anymore."

Raistlin looked at her irritably.

"What do you want?"

"What I want?" She shook her head. "Darling, I won't take this silently anymore. You know exactly what I mean."

No he didn't. But he didn't want to argue about what ever she had in mind.

"Give me the book back... mother."

"NO, you don't get it back. Father should have never brought this nasty book at home in the first place. It is not good for you. Darling, you've always been too introspective and much into yourself, but this goes too far now. Since three days you sit inside, doing nothing but reading and learning. You father and I are worried about you."

"Would you kindly remember that my foot was hurt?"

"Oh, your foot should be healed enough for running around."

She was actually right, but he wouldn't tell her that. Since violence was out of question and intimidation likely to be ignored, he tried it politely.

"It's important for me, mother. I need to learn if I ever want to become a mage."

"Pah! Magery, sagery! That's for grumpy old men. But you are our girl and you should act your age. You cannot sit at home all day! You need to go out and do things that young, responsible kender should do. Go out! Play tricks on your fellows, do mischief, play games, find wondrous things, run from guardsmen and get into trouble, godammit!"

Had he just been introduced to the secrets of kender education? Somehow that was priceless. Raistlin lost his new-found sense of humor when Mrs. Teketoll went on.

"I'll go now and hide that stupid book until you are responsible enough not to forget your obligation to yourself and your family over this, young lady! No magic for you anymore." She turned around to leave.

"No, you can't go!" he said utterly perplex.

"Yes, I will. And you will go, too. I'm sorry I have to say this, young lady; but you're under HOUSEAREST!"

"What an impressive demonstration of educational skills." Raistlin muttered to himself. Wasn't housearrest the absolute contrary of what she wanted him to do? Oh, these illogical beings. He hadn't expected that kender even grounded their children. As Raistlin didn't make any effort to move, she raised her voice.

"No! NO! Don't look at me like this. You've heard correctly. HOUSE-A-REST! You will give the house a rest! OUT with you, young lady!"

Five minutes later, Raistlin gave up and left the wagon. Mrs. Teketoll's high-pitched screeching was simply unbearable. Great! And what was he to do now?

"And have a swim in the river, Darling!" he heard her voice from the wagon. "It's a nice sunny summer-day and you really need a bath! I want to see wet hair when you're back!"

TBC

A/N: Hey, wanna play a game? Here's a a riddle for those of you who like riddles: Who can tell me why Nima sees "whirling colors" in their shared dream while Raistlin notices only a "floating darkness"? I admit that the roleplayers among you are probably in advantage on this one... However, who gives the correct answer first can have a minor appearance in this story if he or she wants. :D