"Sir," Colonel Hennessey looked up from his paperwork to see his lieutenant saluting. She was the most competent officer he had ever had serve under him. She would have hit the glass ceiling if they had still been on earth, but he was in command now. "Yes Lieutenant, what is the matter?"

"We have reports of a flying ball of fire coming in from the west," she reported dutifully. Inwardly Hennessey's heart sank. More paperwork.

"This better not be another phoenix," the colonel growled. Seven of the birds had come to roost in the past two days and two buildings had nearly caught fire. Someone had shot the first with a gun, hoping for a meal. The resulting explosion as the bird regenerated itself had nearly melted the roof. The second bird was just the result of an unfortunate raven looking for a quick meal. Luckily the birds had discovered they liked perching on statues better.

"No sir. Our recon teams show that it seems to be a flying team of horses and fire," the blond Lieutenant said simply. Her face showed none of her amusement.

"A flying team of horses."

"Yes, sir."

"On fire."

"Yes, sir."

"Would you pass me my ulcer medication please?"

"Certainly sir."

Lady Alustriel Silverhand of Silverymoon was having a pleasant day, flying across the Silver Marches. A warm breeze was at her back, unusual for the early spring. The devastation was not as bad as it appeared from the ground. In many valleys the mountains had provided ample protection from the shock waves, creating pockets of green between piles of rubble. The Nether Mountains would be feeling the brunt of the blast for some time. In places streams were blocked by rock slides, creating pools much higher in the mountains that was normal for the region. Some of the hot springs were bubbling forth from very different places than before and were wreaking havoc with the surrounding areas. When she saw the flat plane of green perched between the roots of two mountains, she knew this had to be the city her sister spoke of. As cities went, it was not the most impressive at first glance. Waterdeep had high walls and closely packed buildings. Halruaa had cities carved out of the rock itself. Luskan had the Host Tower. Lost Myth Drannor had buildings that intermingled with trees so one could almost not tell them apart. This was just rows of boring small buildings.

But as she got closer she noticed the subtle wealth of the city. It was massive, much more widespread than any city she had ever been to. And each building in the outer areas had its own yard. This was unlike any city she had ever seen. The buildings were small, only two or three stories on average and made of unknown materials. So engrossed in her pass she only then noticed the growing rumble of two strange looking beasts. They flew, but had no wings and their eyes seemed to reflect the sun so brightly. Wait, was that a person in there? In its eye?

"Woman on the burning chariot! You are in Sunnydale Airspace, you are ordered to land immediately!"

She heard the words but did not understand the meaning. Holding the reins in one hand, she flicked the fingers of her other hand, casting a translation spell with a word.

"I repeat, you are in Sunnydale Airspace, you are ordered to land immediately!"

This was a rather rude way to greet a foreign head of state!

"If you do not comply we will fire! Land immediately!"

With a deep sigh, she complied, flying lower as the strange creatures guided her into a specific strip of road. A human with brightly colored sticks motioned for her to land. As soon as her chariot hit the ground, twenty young men and women armed with strange looking arquebuses and other things which do not look

"Step away from the chariot and put your hands in the air!"

Surprised at the reaction, she complied. A young man walked up to her, keeping the barrel of his weapon trained on her. "I am Agent Riley Finn. If you attempt anything that can be interpreted as a hostile action you will be shot. Please follow me," he said, summoning up all of his courage to stand up to the woman who rode in on a flying chariot with flaming wheels. With a word, she cast the spell of translation a second time allowing her to speak the local tongue.

"Young man, I am Lady Alustriel Silverhand, if you do not allow me to see my sister immediately, you will regret it," the silver haired woman said with a rather disturbing smile on her face.

"Lady, you could be the queen of the world and I wouldn't let you in. I have my orders," The other Initiative agents moved in to back him up. "No offense ma'am, but we have only a guess as to your intentions," Agent Finn said as they walked, the soldiers fell into step beside them. "As long as you come peacefully, you will be treated well. If we find you have hostile intentions you will be seen as a threat and dealt with as such. The only reason we allowed you this far is because we had advanced notice that you would be arriving."

With a slight humph, the regal woman strode forward with a kick of her skirts. Forest turned to Riley with a grin. "Bet you ten bucks that's the least weird thing we see today."

"You're on."

"Aren't you even going to ask me how we can understand each other?"

Riley looked back at her as they approached the Mansion.

"Judging by the fact that your words do not match with your lips, I would guess a translation spell," Alustriel looked up to see an older looking man holding out his hand. He was walking with a cane now. For an older man he was healing like someone half his age and even Dr. Chung had been impressed. He had not told them that he had been casting all the healing spells he knew every night to get well as fast as possible. "My name is Rupert Giles. Dove's sister, I presume?"

"Yes, Alustriel Silverhand by name," she shook the offered hand.

"Charmed, please join us inside."

It was nearly an hour before Snyder would allow the Scooby Gang to leave school early. Buffy's sudden celebrity was somewhat troubling because on one hand, she didn't have to hide the Slayer stuff, but on the other hand, with everyone watching her, it made her job a lot harder. There were actually spectators in graveyards watching for her to come by and slay some vamps. Seven people had been killed last night because they had been having a keg party next to a neophyte grave.

When they arrived at the mansion, it was clear that the locals had made an impression on the Initiative Agents. Riley and Forest were joking about facing down an army of cavemen was easier than dealing with the Lady of Silverymoon. "She's inside meeting with Dove. She's a powerful woman who's used to being obeyed."

"I'm sure the chariots of fire help in that," Forest put in with a grin.

Walking into the sitting room they found the already infamous Lady Alustriel Silverhand chatting amicably with the other locals. Her hair was a few shades darker than Dove, making her hair a bright silver without giving her the impression of being old. She was well over six feet tall with bright eyes and a look of agelessness about her. Giles walked up and extended his hand.

"Hallo, Lady Alustriel, my name is Rupert Giles, local head of the Watcher's Council. I am the Sunnydale representative meeting with you today," he was clearly not who she was expecting to meet with. Like her sister, she understood the similar gesture and shook his hand. "I welcome you to Sunnydale. I must apologize for the commotion when you arrived. You must understand that most…dramatic…arrivals so far have not been peaceful in our first few days on your world." He referred to the dragon, the orcs and the many mountain animals that had moved into the area after the destruction had ceased. There had been at least one six legged lizard that turned people to stone with a bite and two minotaurs. The minotaurs had been shocked out and delivered to the Initiative for study after Buffy had disarmed them. The lizard had been killed after it turned ten people into stone. The frozen bodies had already been placed in a park as a memorial.

"Well met, Mr. Giles. I will cast a translation spell on all present so we can all take part in the discussion," the regal woman replied. Willow watched enraptured as she noted the motions and intonation of the arcane spell.

"Thank you, it will make things much easier in the long run," Giles introduced the others before bowing to the rest of Dove's party, finally making their acquaintance. "Forgive me but this is the first time I can speak my thanks directly. You have all prevented an invasion that may have cost many lives. We cannot thank you enough."

"It was our duty, Mr. Giles," said Kellindil with a similar bow. Everyone noticed that his mouth did not exactly match the words they heard. It was like watching one of the old kung-fu movies with the really bad dub. You could understand the words, but it never matched what they said.

"And we must thank you for your pleasant accommodations," the dwarf, Fret said with a similar bow. "You have the most fascinating bathing rooms. It will be difficult to return to a heated tub after this." Xander stifled a comment. He had to remind himself that this was a diplomatic mission.

"Perhaps it would be better to adjourn to the dining room," Giles said, his hand leading the way. "We can have our discussion over dinner."

"When did Giles get so good at this stuff?" Buffy asked as she leaned in close to Willow.

"He said it was important when dealing with powerful demons," Willow said with a shrug.

"At least no one is being eaten for this discussion. I'm tired of being kidnapped for a demon sacrifice," Xander said with a similar shrug. The silver haired woman overheard this and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

The groups sat down on opposite sides of the huge table. It had been used for many things over the past months and after some serious scrubbing most of the blood had been removed, but the burn marks remained. It was quite clear which parts Spike had sat as cigarette burns dotted the area. Soon, Buffy came back with a huge bowl of fruit under one hand and a vegetable and meat platter in the other. The fruit was washed but none had been otherwise processed. As far as anyone could tell it had all been freshly picked.

"Bone apatite," Buffy said.

"That's 'bon appetite' Buffy," Willow corrected. The first phrase had made no sense through the translation spell, meaning basically "bone rock," but the second one was better translated as "good eating." Famished, the Lady of Silverymoon regally took several pieces of food onto her personal plate and ate calmly. When everyone had finished some food. The discussion began.

"So, Mr. Finch, have the Slayer and friends met with the new local yet?" the mayor asked, looking up from his work.

"Yes, the soldiers and Team 3 escorted her in just a few minutes ago," Mr. Finch said, glancing at his clipboard.

"They seem to work well with the slayer, don't you think?"

"Well, they have only worked together once, I'm not sure that's the best judge," his deputy replied.

"Good point. We should team them up more often to see if a long term arrangement can be made," the mayor continued.

"I'll see to it," Finch said as he jotted a note on his clipboard. "Are you not satisfied with Dr. Walsh?"

"I'm not sure dissatisfied is the right term," the mayor mused. "Perhaps 'wary of her inability to change for the situation' would be better. She keeps wanting to do the same thing she always did, but she clearly does not understand that she cannot keep the Initiative hidden any longer. And besides, their original goal here is pointless at this current juncture. Her efforts would be better spent on research and development."

"So are you planning to hand the agents over to the Colonel?"

"I'm considering it," Wilkins replied. "I'm also considering making them officially part of the Watcher's Council."

"What?!"

"I thought that would get your attention," he said with a chuckle. "I need these people alive. I didn't before. I have to adapt to a changing situation. The Initiative is made up of specialized agents who even have field experience. The fact of the matter is we need a special supernatural self defense force. We live in a world where magic comes flying in on blazing wheels. So far we have been lucky. When will we encounter someone who will choose to blast a helicopter out of the sky instead of complying?" Mr. Finch did not reply. "What was the outcome of the engineering symposium?"

"There are some impressive amateurs in town," Finch said, glancing at his notes. "There are several people who have made creations almost out of science fiction. One boy brought a humanoid robot as an example."

"Oh really? What is his name?"

"I don't have it written down here. I'll get it for you when we get back to the office."

"Good. An agriculture?"

"Joyce Summers reports that it looks good. People brought in samples of almost everything they had. Many other samples are being created by the University greenhouses as we speak. The seed bank seems to be a success, but not everything could be saved. At least we have chocolate."

"How did that happen?"

"Someone had a couple of trees in a greenhouse. We can grow the seeds and make a plantation. There is one problem with all of this: latitude and elevation. Many of our standard crops might not be able to live in this climate. We can keep them in heated greenhouses, but as of yet, we do not have a source of heat for the winter. Most houses are only heated for a brief period in the winter. We've only had snow here once."

"No, three times in the last century."

"Understood sir. This is a serious problem that we need to address."

"Look into it. Have Joyce help you if she has the time. Contact the geologists to see if there is potential for geothermal power," Wilkins commanded. "I think someone mentioned a volcano earlier."

"I believe it was spotted when the area was mapped earlier today. To the west I think, I will have to check my notes," Finch replied. "There were several people with sheep dogs, rabbits and a couple with a different breed of sheep so the scientists tell me they have a good stock for starting an expanded agriculture program. They also half joked about growing goldfish for food. It seems they have been a food fish in China for thousands of years. Some of them can grow feet long if allowed to live. From what they saw, the new freshwater lake might be big enough and cold enough to be a great breeding area for the goldfish if they can get enough food. Scientists suggested growing the fish in pools until they were big enough to fend for themselves. They, the scientists I mean, want to make some tests in the ocean-lake thing, to see if it is possible for it to continue sustaining life. We have edible crabs, fish, shellfish and some edible seaweeds in there. Someone suggested farming lobsters from those in the supermarket as well."

"What is happening to the zoo animals?"

"We don't really know what to do with them," Finch admitted. "We have enough food to keep most of them alive for the next month or so and after that we have to find some other way to keep them alive. Some people suggested releasing some, but they might not survive and there isn't enough of them to make a stable population for the most part. There is also the concern of invasive species. Other people suggested eating the animals, but they won't produce very much. Other areas are going to be renovated to be used as pastures and pens for some of the other animals. Our reindeer petting zoo might end up a reindeer farm."

"Gosh darn good work, Mr. Finch."

"Anything else sir?"

"Yes," the mayor held up a piece of orc flesh. "Does this look more like a toe or a finger to you? It's so hard to put them back together after you take them apart."

"So you have need of raw materials. These do not come free or even cheaply," the Lady of Silverymoon said, leaning back in her chair with a steely look. "And you admit you have little with which to trade for these goods."

"We have some animals of good stock. We have much scientific knowledge and some technology we are willing to trade," Giles explained.

"What kind of technology?" Lady Alustriel asked with a tight smile and an appraising eye. Dove was a little ashamed of her older sister who seemed to be taking the Sunnydalers for all they were worth.

"We are not willing to part with weapons technology and even if we were, you haven't the basic level of technology to properly utilize it," Giles said flatly. He opened a book from the library which illustrated the history of trains. "We do have some technology for transportation and trade. In many parts of our world we have the locomotive transport people and goods from one place to another at great speeds, much faster than horses can travel and greater volumes than magical travel."

"I'm listening," she said with a smile. They both knew this was not the best Sunnydale could produce, but the most Giles was willing to part with on the first day of negotiations.

"With rails you could travel from one city to another without the trouble of dealing with most common threats like bandits and random encounters," Giles explained. "You would have to stop the train for herds moving across the rails, dragons and similarly large creatures, but these are problems you would have to deal with normally. Troop transportation would become much faster, instead of moving a few miles each day, you could move hundreds of miles in a single day before having to move on foot. Horses and other larger animals can ride in special larger cars. Smaller versions can be made for cities and in mining tunnels."

"I am intrigued by your offer, but we are talking about hundreds of workers and caravans traveling through some of the most dangerous regions of the Nether mountains," Lady Alustriel said. "You will have to offer more if you are to convince me that the benefits are worth the risk of my subjects lives."

"We are willing to pass on our knowledge of medicine as well as animal husbandry," Giles said, opening another book to show images of medical procedures. "We are even willing to trade some of our animal stocks. We have very different genetic lines of bovines and sheep that are not seen on this world. Some are very disease resistant and others are bred to produce greater amounts of meat."

"I have priests who specialize in healing magic and druids who understand animals like their own children, why would your knowledge be useful to my people," Dove rolled her eyes at her sister. Alustriel was playing hardball, which only meant she respected the capabilities of Rupert Giles. She considered him a challenge, and she was loving it.

"Do your priests simply treat the problems, or do they prevent problems as well?" His opponent said nothing. "Healing, training, help with childbirth and pregnancy: in peasant societies there is no guarantee that people in isolated villages would have access to all those services. With this knowledge they can take care of many problems on their own without having to tax a small number of clerics serving a large area. It takes much longer to attain sufficient spell casting in order to service many people at once. We can train doctors in much less time to use our techniques and they do not need spellcasting at all. Doctors come from all religions and backgrounds as well. We know how to prevent plagues, infection and many other ailments with simply changes in lifestyle. We can pass this on as well as welcome students who wish to become doctors themselves."

"I can see your reasons for the medicine, but what about the animal husbandry?"

"We have scientists who have made it their life's work to study animal production and improving the stock," Giles answered. "They know more than I do on the subject. I have not made a study on it, but I am aware of its importance."

"I am not convinced on that subject," she said flatly. "We have the locomotive and the medical knowledge, but I need something more. I want a common protection pact."

"I cannot in good conscious agree to one if I do not know the feelings of the populace," Giles answered in an equally flat tone. "Sunnydale is not a monarchy. We are having enough problems internally without assisting other nations' problems. Unless everyone understands and agrees to the ramifications of the pact, I cannot in good conscious make this agreement."

"Well said. I wanted to test you. You have little reason to trust me and if you had agreed to that I would have thought you a fool," was her blunt statement. "However, I will need something more."

"But what do you need?" Buffy said, interrupting. The silver haired woman smiled at her.

"It is not a matter of what I need. I have everything I need, I am trying to see how much I want and how much of what I want that I can acquire," she answered. "I have seen flying vehicles. I want the knowledge of them."

"I can give you the physics behind them," Giles said simply. "But I refuse to give actual plans. They have potential to be dangerous and as you said, we do not truly know you. We are not willing to arm a potential threat. If you develop them on your own, that is fine, but we will not simply give them too you."

"If that is the case, why give me the locomotive?"

"The locomotive only runs on rails. The limits are much more sever for locomotives than aircraft." The woman laughed outright at Giles' blunt statement.

"Very well. I will take this for now and I will pass word to other city states of your needs. They are places I trust and deal with myself," the woman said. "Citadel Adbar will be quite interested in your engineering. I would expect them to arrive in a matter of weeks after they hear of you."

Negotiations over for the day, the two parties rose and shook hands. "I understand the problems with the language barrier. Tomorrow I will have some additional assistance for when I am not present," the Lady of Silverymoon said, shaking Giles' hand. She glanced at Buffy and Gabriel. "If you do not mind, I have not seen the Slayer fight and I would be interested in a demonstration of arms. If Lady Buffy does not mind." Indeed she did not. She was anxious to get some blood pumping in her after sitting still and quiet for two hours.

"It'll be fun!" Buffy said with a perky bounce. And soon she and Gabriel were standing opposite each other, wooden practice swords. Drizzt, unable to participate due to his broken leg, sat on the sidelines. He wanted to see more clearly the styles of these combatants. He had fought beside them, but never had a chance to see style and skill. He wondered too about Buffy's supernatural strength and speed. Would she simply rely on them and bully her way through the fight, or did she have the skill to properly utilize her abilities? He was as eager as everyone to see the fight.

Gabriel had chosen his usual bastard sword, albeit a similar sword made of wood. Buffy had chosen a single sword similar to the rapier she had used against Angel. Both looked to Alustriel who waved once and spoke one word: "Fight!"

Gabriel attacked first, swinging his massive sword from his left shoulder diagonally down. Buffy did not parry, but simply dodged out of the way. She went for the kill, a strike to the heart. But Gabriel was an experienced fighter and he managed to block the strike so it slid away harmlessly. He managed to get a quick slash at Buffy's thigh, but it was just a graze. Buffy made a feint as if she were going for the kill again, but struck the shoulder just above the armpit. It would have still been a bad wound if it had been a bad battle. With the next strike, they parried back and forth for some time, matching each other's strikes blow for blow. Buffy began closing the distance, making it more difficult for Gabriel to use the length of his sword to his advantage. Getting inside his guard, she was surprised when she suddenly found herself falling over. He had tripped her. She gave him a shocked look and he just shrugged and moved in to strike. Buffy rolled backwards avoiding three successive blows. Leaping to her feet, she struck out, parrying another of Gabriel's blows. He was good, damn good. As good as Angel, maybe better.

Gabriel was impressed by her as well. Not even twenty and she was fighting him to a standstill. Even if he was close to twice her age, he was only old enough to have gained plenty of skill and experience, but not yet old enough for his body to start to give out. He struck again and again, pushing her backwards. Being the Chosen One gave her an advantage, but there was plenty to be said for experience. She was driven against the wall, nearly pinned. Now! He struck out, intending to hit her in the abdomen, but suddenly she wasn't there. Buffy had flipped over him and landed on her feet with her sword flying towards his throat, he ducked and rolled out of the way, coming up and striking at her legs again. She flipped backwards, landing onto a table.

Buffy moved faster and faster, keeping the older man off balance. He was damn good, but she was the slayer. She wanted to keep this going, but he was only human. It was nicer of her to keep it short so he could save face. She struck at his sides, keeping him moving his sword side to side. She parried his blows that he somehow managed to still return. She slid below his guard, knocking the sword out of his hands with a kick to his wrists. She was up and had the sword at his neck.

Alustriel clapped her hands, ending the fight. Buffy suddenly realized that something was poking into her ribs. Looking down she realized it was a small wooden dagger held firm in Gabriel's hand.

"How'd you do that?" Buffy asked, confused as she stepped away. The man grinned through his helmet.

"Experience. You kept going for the kill. I knew you would go for the first opening you saw," Gabriel said with a smile, handing the dagger over to Giles.

"You fight like an assassin." Every one turned to see Drizzt sitting in a chair, speaking for the first time since Alustriel arrived. "Attempting to finish the fight with one move."

"It's the best way to fight Vampires," Buffy answered with a shrug. "It's too easy to get bitten otherwise."

"You are also more experienced with a shorter piercing weapon," Drizzt observed. Buffy reached inside her coat and pulled out Mr. Pointy.

"A present from a dead friend, meet Mr. Pointy," she responded perkily.

She did not know that for the Drow, the statement "from a dead friend" suggested she had killed the previous owner.

"It is an interesting color," observed Kellindil. "Does your wood naturally grow in that color?"

"Oh, that's because of the dragon blood the other night," Buffy said.

"You killed a dragon with a piece of wood?" asked Alustriel with a surprised look. Buffy blushed and shook her head.

"Nope, just blinded one with it. The helicopters killed it. I was mostly a distraction," she said, sitting back down on a seat and taking a drink of water from a glass. "Are all dragons that big? It was about the size of a house."

"Actually, they get larger than that. Much larger," cautioned Dove. She had watched the fight with the same interest. "And they are not stupid beasts. They are among the most crafty and intelligent creatures in Faerun."

"And they are not uncommon in this part of the world," said Alustriel. "Your people should especially fear the blue dragons of Dragondoom Mountain. They are some of the most territorial of all dragons and they do not fight alone, but in flights." Inwardly Buffy shuddered thinking of fighting more than one at a time.

"I'm going to get Colonel Hennessey to make AA guns a priority," said Xander.

Far too soon it was time for the sisters and their friends to leave. Alustriel vowed to return and bring maps and the first of many plans and deals from the other leaders in the Silver Marches. She apologized and said she should meet with her companions who would no doubt worry. She conjured up another chariot of fire, extending it, so that her sister and companions could right with her. In a blaze that streaked across the sky they were gone, leaving the Scooby Gang, Drizzt and the Initiative agents watching from far below.

The Scooby Gang would later be criticized for allowing them to leave.

"How, exactly, did you expect me to restrain them?" Said Giles after several minutes of berating. "Shoot the people who are willing to help us?" No one had an answer.

"I'm telling you it's true!"

Warren looked at Andrew like he was crazy. "Andrew, I play Dungeons and Dragons. You play Dungeons and Dragons. Jonathan plays Dungeons and Dragons. Half the people in town have played Dungeons and Dragons! You're the only one with the crazy talk."

"But I know it's true! I have the evidence right here!" Andrew held up a handful of loose printer pages. "It's the Forgotten Realms, the setting that never got made! Ed Greenwood and TSR had a falling out and it never got made. But TSR had already bought the rights, so Ed Greenwood took them to court. In the end they both lost and it never got made because the lawsuit cost too much money and TSR sold out to Wizards of the Coast!"

"I got it, it never got made. But Andrew, it's a fictional world. It doesn't exist. This," he said as he waved around to take in the world, "is quite clearly real. Ergo, we are not in a DnD setting!" He started walking away, shaking his head sadly.

"You watch! You'll understand I'm right, soon you will all see!"

"Andrew, stop talking like a 60s super-villain!"

"Sorry Mom!"

Buffy and company is owned by Joss W. and Mutant Enemy.
The Forgotten Realms and such are created and owned by Ed Greenwood and Wizards of the Coast and the various authors of the fiction.
Ranma 1/2 is owned by Rumiko Takahashi.

Thanks go to Janessa Ravenwood for editing this massive literary beast.