Morfynn was puzzled about the things that were currently happening in Craftworld Iyanden.

The most puzzling thing was the presence of Yvraine and several of the Ynnari. They had arrived a few months ago via the webway and of course been welcomed, but no one knew why they were here. It was singularly strange, that they would want to spend time in Iyanden without any kind of explanation. Yet that was what was happening and when asked, Yvraine would only smile mysteriously and say she was saving herself time.

The other odd thing that was happening was a request from the necrons to evaluate a pwi-necron psyker. The information they had was from Manric, presumably assisted by the Spear of the Ancients, but it was also utterly absurd. Astral walking and reality manipulation? Morfynn knew how difficult it was to astral walk. One had to train for decades to separate the soul from the body while maintaining enough of a grasp of the body to still return. And that was only the first step… once you had mastered the art of separating soul from body, actually going into the Warp posed huge risks to body and soul. Morfynn shuddered slightly as she remembered the fate of the Eldar who had dared to go into Nurgle's garden looking for Isha, thinking the fact that they were only souls would keep them safe. They were still there, damned forever to produce hideous fruits.

So, it was simply insane to think that an untrained child had this ability. Morfynn knew that Manric and the Spear were powerful, but could they have made a mistake? And reality alteration? That surely had to be a misunderstanding… true reality alteration was the provenance of the avatars of gods. However, there were lesser gifts that could be mistaken for it and the souls in the Spear were uniformly warriors. Perhaps they had made an error? Also, part of this report came from a Necron Overlord. True, he had fought in the War in Heaven, but that was different from knowing the subtle differences in psyker abilities.

"Still, to even make such a mistake would indicate this child is fantastically strong," Morfynn murmured to herself. The astral walking could be visions and perhaps a bit of rudimentary body/soul separation. The 'reality manipulation' might be a natural inclination towards certain materials, similar to an infant bonesinger. Still, for an aeldari to have accomplished that at a hundred years of age would be incredibly impressive. Could they nurture this?

"Don't get too excited, aunt. Humans are often hopeless," Belriel said and Morfynn nodded with a sigh. It wasn't their fault, it was just that they weren't built correctly to handle the vast energies of the Warp. Some of their people had experimented with training them and sadly, the weaker ones were actually often better. Less prone to go wildly out of control and endanger everyone around them, and they got more out of the lessons, despite being able to do less with it. It was sad really.

(Zivok would have agreed completely with that assessment)

When they met this 'Loki' he appeared to be a Necron Warrior like any other. The only things unique about him were the insignia on his chest, which was an odd little creature with long ears, one upright and the other drooping. The other thing was how he was looking around, gazing with an alert curiosity that was conveyed entirely by body language.

"Wow, this place is fantastic! I'm really glad to see it!" Loki said before placing his hands together. "I'm Loki, pleased to meet you." Then he bowed, the correct depth of a common warrior to a Lord. Morfynn was still getting used to Necron courtesy but was able to recognize this as good manners.

"I am Morfynn Iyanna and this is my nephew, Belriel. Two others will be here shortly, to do a preliminary evaluation. Can you show us an example of what you can do?" Morfynn asked gravely and Loki tilted his head to one side.

"What I can do? I dunno… I'm not really feeling it right now…" Well, he was going to have to get past that. Humans did usually use Warp powers in the grip of strong emotion and so did aeldari children, but being able to summon them without such things was a mark of maturity. "OH I know! I just need some music," Loki said before pulling out his data pad. Where had he been keeping that? "Um let me see, I have some time if we're waiting… um, no, that's no good… um…" Loki started mumbling to himself and Morfynn wondered exactly what they were dealing with here.

He feels extremely good natured and very intelligent. That is about all I can say for now, Belriel said and Morfynn wondered. Surely he? There is no sign of mental distress, no sign that he is fighting off the sounds of the Warp. Really? From what she had heard, that was very strange. The aeldari who had tried to train humans had all reported the first obstacle was how they found the ambient sounds of the Immaterium overwhelming, interpreting it as screams and howls. The problem was worse the stronger they were. Yet Loki heard nothing?

As Loki was picking through his song list, Warlock Zonean and Bonesinger Mehlair arrived. Warlock Zonean had a very commanding stride and he gave Loki a glance of flat dislike. Morfynn wished it could have been someone else, but Zonean was the finest of their remaining Warlocks, a great veteran of the battles with the Tyranids. He did not remotely like the necrons, although truthfully, he'd not had much to do with them. Where Zonean had worn his armor and looked quite intimidating, Mehlair was the opposite… she had chosen to come in her work clothes, her hair barely brushed, but she simply did not care. Morfynn knew she thought this was a waste of time.

"Oh, this one is perfect! Can you hold this? The speakers aren't too good," Loki said before offering the tablet to Belriel. He took it, mildly puzzled as the song began to play. And Loki began to dance.

The song itself was slow and sinuous to start, meant to evoke the idea of serpent. Loki moved with ease, matching himself to the song and Morfynn saw he was a talented dancer. She had been a skillful dancer herself, when she was younger, and Morfynn knew that managing the choreography on the fly was the hardest part. Loki was doing a credible job. Then a sharp bit of percussion and Loki twirled and suddenly he was wearing a coat?

Morfynn felt paralyzed as the tempo of the song increased and Loki gradually gained clothing, taking on the appearance of a Harlequin. At one particularly dramatic moment, he reached up and pulled down a golden mask, his transformation complete. Then the dance went wild, the music becoming blazingly fast and the dance became a thing of great mastery, ignoring mere things like gravity as Loki leapt and rolled and danced. Then, at the perfect moment, as the music culminated Loki landed in front of them, his arms held out. And the golden, grinning mask regarded them all.

/Now, little ones, what of the Warp do you have to teach me?/ Cegorach mocked them all and Morfynn felt her eyesight go a bit grey as her knees felt weak. Zonean caught her, preventing her from falling as Cegorach laughed and then the Harlequin finery vanished, fading away. The Necron was left behind.

"Wow, that was a mood! Um, are you okay? That was fine right?" he said and no one knew what to say at all. Morfynn managed to recover, taking a deep breath as she straightened. She glanced at Zonean and could easily see that behind his hard frown, there was an edge of fear. Reality alteration was the provenance of the avatars of gods, and Loki had just channeled Cegorach. Was it truly possible? But why else would the God have come if it was not?

What did this mean?


Morfynn sighed as she sat with the other three in a lounge area. Overlooking the beautiful gardens of Iyanden, it was an excellent place to enjoy a small meal in private. A plate of tiny snacks floated out, carried by advanced technology, and settled at their table. Morfynn sipped her tea, trying to find her balance.

Loki was no longer here. With quick wit and fine social skills, Belriel had taken over, gently telling Loki that his abilities were quite surprising and they would need some time to plan his study and would he like a tour of Craftworld Iyanden? The youngling had immediately leapt at the chance and it would take hours, so that gave them plenty of time to discuss what had just happened.

"I believe this is a message from the Laughing God, that we can teach him nothing of the Warp," Mehlair said serenely, taking a drink of wine. She seemed completely unaffected by what had just occurred. "If we assume that Manric's reports are simply accurate, he would be a master of astral walking, as fine as any of us." That… was terrifying. But Cegorach's words could indeed be an oblique message indicating such, it would be very much like him.

"He must be tested. I volunteer for this duty," Zonean said and Morfynn nodded. He was a fine astral walker, so it made sense he would go.

"I volunteer as well," Morfynn said and everyone nodded. She was also very good at astral walking, in addition to her abilities as a Farseer. Dropping into a bit of a trance, Morfynn looked for any signs in the near future for disaster. It was cloudy, fantastical visions of a strange town full of capering beings, but she saw no terrible outcomes. Coming back to herself, she saw everyone was watching her, understanding what she was doing. "I see no unfortunate outcomes, although I do not understand what I saw." Very strange, what was that? It was like nothing like she'd encountered in the Warp before.

"I see… and what of the reality alteration? Can that truly be correct?" Mehlair asked, tilting her head. There was an uncomfortable silence before Zonean stated what they were all thinking.

"That would indicate he is the avatar of a God." Yes. Morfynn shivered a little at the thought. "Surely he is not an avatar of Cegorach." Surely not? Although it would be very odd for the Laughing God to possess the avatar of another god.

"Perhaps he is not a true avatar, but deeply touched by Cegorach, for reasons we do not know," Belriel suggested, which was a bit more palatable. "Mayhap he met the Laughing God in his astral walking and the God found him useful. From what I understand from the reports, Loki did not use the powers of reality alteration until recently so we do not know when he acquired them." Ah, that was true!

"He could possess the blessing of Cegorach," Morfynn said. If it was true, she found that something of a relief compared to the thought that he might be an avatar. Mehlair stirred.

"We can easily determine it. Yvraine is here." Oh, of course! Wait, was that why she was here?! "And if necessary, we can ask Eldrad for assistance," Mehlair said before smiling, a small, wintery expression. "It seems the Stormlord's request is more troublesome than we had expected." Not that the Stormlord had personally requested they look at Loki, but it was part of their arrangements with him that any truly remarkable or troublesome human psykers would be sent to them for evaluation and assistance. Loki was the first although likely not the last… if the astropath network started experiencing issues, they might be expected to train humans for that, specifically.

Making good use of the time they had, Zonean and Morfynn got ready for astral travel. There was a specific method to it, and it took a bit of time to prepare themselves. When they were ready, they had Loki brought to join them.

"You want me to take you somewhere in the Warp?" Loki tapped his fingers together in a gesture of nervousness. "Will you be okay? I drive rats insane every time I try," he said, to Morfynn's surprise. Was he actually taking non-sentients with him into the Immaterium? That was destined to fail because –

"That cannot work. If you take someone who is untrained astral walking, they will inevitably penetrate whatever illusion you use to hide the truth of the Immaterium. They will notice some small inconsistency, something just a touch wrong, and peek 'beneath the curtain'. Then, unless they are extremely strong willed or have other advantages, they will go insane," Zonean said and Morfynn nodded.

"The only ones who might survive are powerful psykers, Navigators or perhaps those like Imotekh, who have strange and powerful minds," she agreed. Morfynn doubted the sight of the Warp would drive the Stormlord insane, although it would do him no good. Loki visibly drooped.

"I'll never get to show Calder my visions…" Loki was despondent for a moment before straightening. "Well, nevermind! Hmm, where should we go?" He tapped his face for a moment. "Umm… I guess it's either… no, no, you might meet THEM." Them? "It will have to be that place. It's not perfect but it'll have to do. I know how I took the rats with me, want me to do that?" Morfynn tilted her head. They had just meant to complete the process of astral walking themselves, and follow Loki, but what was he suggesting?

"If you can?" she offered. They should see this too. Loki gently took their wrists and Morfynn felt a gentle tugging. She could easily have resisted but instead she allowed it to take control and found herself easily and smoothly pulled from her body. The attachment still remained, though, and she felt no alarm.

Morfynn did feel a bit of alarm as everything abruptly twisted and there was a strange sensation of speed. It was not entirely unknown though, she'd felt it before when she knew exactly where she was going and was in a hurry. Then she came back to herself as her feet suddenly landed on grass.

"?" Morfynn blinked. This was not usually how astral walking felt, she normally traveled entirely as a spirit, accepting that viewpoint. But Loki apparently had other ideas and she felt her body again, or rather a simulacrum. Lifting a hand, Morfynn realized she was wearing a black gown with tightly fitted sleeves, leading to matching gloves that covered only her ring finger, leaving the other fingers exposed. On her right hand, over the black glove, was a large ruby ring.

"What is this?" Morfynn's attention snapped to Zonean and she saw he was wearing what humans called a 'suit'. Black on black, everything was black except for gleaming cufflinks of silver and ruby. His black hair was still in the usual topknot but eve there, it was tied now with matching cubes of silver and ruby. "Morfynn, what are you wearing?" He was regarding her with extreme dubiousness.

"Uh, sorry! I just wanted you to fit in a bit," Loki said and Morfynn turned to look at him. He was in direct contrast to their finery, because he appeared to be… dead. He was a pale man with blonde hair and quite handsome, as humans measured things, but his skin was extremely sallow and rotting in places, exposing bones and tattered flesh. His clothing was also a nice suit, but this one was rumpled and dirty, as though he'd climbed out of a grave. Oddly enough, he also had golden horns. "You're supposed to be a vampire and Morfynn's a witch. This place is dead themed, we're in the orchard right now." Orchard? Morfynn felt a deep chill as she looked around her.

They were standing in a cold, desolate orchard beneath a crescent moon. The grass was dead and the trees were full of half-dead leaves, completely barren. Loki rested a hand on one, though, and the tree seemed to come back to life. As Morfynn watched with astonished eyes, the leaves plumped out and fruits began to grow. Tiny little orange fruits, but a few of them were gold.

"Here, hold this and I'll go get them!" Loki passed a basket to Zonean who held it stoically as Loki shimmied up the tree.

"Ah, why are you doing this?" Morfynn asked as Loki began picking the little fruits and tossing them into the basket. Glancing into the basket, Morfynn saw the fruits each had jolly faces, making odd and amusing expressions. A prickle of deep unease struck her heart, although she reminded herself that she'd seen nothing terrible in her vision.

"Offerings to the spirits! You shouldn't come to the Land of the Dead empty handed, that's rude," Loki said as he eeled out onto a branch, trying to reach one of the golden fruits. It seemed to wiggle away from his hand. "Oh come on! Come on come on – ACK!" Loki grabbed the fruit but fell out of the tree. He twisted like a cat, though, and landed on his feet in a squat. "OOF! You're bad," he said severely to the fruit before tucking it away into his suit. "These golden fruits are the special ones, they're for trading. Sorry, we should keep harvesting the orchard before we go in."

"Do you not understand what this place must be?" Zonean asked and Loki paused for a moment, his shoulders slumping a bit.

"I mean… I didn't when I first made this place… I mean, I thought I made it. I thought this was just a figment of my imagination, something out of my head," Loki said unhappily. Morfynn noticed his green eyes were filmy, continuing the theme of death. It was quite detailed. "Now I know what it must be but I don't want to think about it. Some of the people here are my friends, you know?"

"How can you be friends with – " Zonean was stopped with blinding speed, as Loki sharply put a hand over his mouth. His brows drew down and he would have taken offense, but Loki spoke with an absolute seriousness that was quite unlike him.

"Don't say it. 'Speak of the devil' isn't just a phrase in here and if you say those words, you're putting us in danger. Don't say it," Loki warned before pulling his hand away. "And I know the people here aren't good people, but I can be friends with them because they mostly play straight with me. And when they try to be sneaky, they're really bad at it." That sounded like a strange kind of friendship. "Not like some other people," Loki said, a bit sadly. Morfynn wondered who he was referring to. "Anyway, I think this place will be safe enough, everyone here is good natured if you've got fruits." Well, that did match her vision of the future.

Zonean was displeased but tolerated it as they gathered the rest of the fruits. When the harvest was done, they had two bushels of fruits and five golden ones. Then they went into the town.

The town was a small human village, made of grey stone. The houses were decorated with jolly skeletons and wildly colored paper flowers. Paper lanterns lit the way and Morfynn paused to examine the details of one house… it was really quite beautiful, if you didn't mind skulls and bones. They were everywhere, all the lintels and edgings were bones, but the skulls were universally pretty and painted with white and colors. And the skeletons were also either funny or cute. In the little lawn leading to the door, there was a darling little decoration of three skeletons, father, mother and child. They were not remotely realistic, with very large eyes that Morfynn recognized as attempting to look childlike.

As they continued, Morfynn heard footsteps mimicking theirs. She carefully glanced back and realized they were being followed. Loki was perfectly at ease but reached over to the basket Zonean was carrying and took a fruit. There was sudden a rapid patter of footsteps and Morfynn moved instantly to avoid an attack –

And Loki shoved a fruit into the mouth of a child.

"MRPH?!" The child landed on his rump, a small knife landing beside him with a clatter. Then he started to chew, distracted by sustenance. Morfynn looked at the creature in fascination… it had soft white hair, bright red horns and little bat wings and tail. An insanely cute child, with large red eyes and a darling, innocent face. "Mph… Loki… why you bringing bad people…?" he muttered, mouth full and Loki patted him on the head before taking the knife and making it vanish.

"They're not bad! They just want to see a place I visit and I thought this was best. You don't mind, right?" Loki coaxed and the child stared at them thoughtfully, still munching. More children were starting to appear, with hair of different colors and all as incredibly cute as the first.

"The Pig King will mind," the boy said as several other children abruptly ran up, clamoring for fruits. Loki began distributing all the fruits, patting children and saying kind words to them. Zorean's voice quietly spoke in her mind, as he communicated via telepathy.

These are Nurglings. Yes, they had to be. This whole place was surely a fortress of Nurgle yet somehow, Loki had turned it into a playful, happy place. Curiously enough, Morfynn could see how it worked… Nurgle's demons did tend to be more easygoing than virtually any other, it seemed they'd decided to play along. Perhaps it was the bribes of fruits that kept them sweet, what were those exactly? Morfynn didn't think they were the typical fruits of Nurgle's gardens.

"Come on everyone! Let's go to the party!" Loki said and the children all whooped in excitement before pulling on masks. Silly masks, everything from jolly demons to wolves to insects. Then they all went towards the centre of time, Loki following.

Before they reached the centre of town, Loki paused at a street vendor. The vendor was an animate skeleton with blue fire for eyes, wearing a bright red robe. He was tending a small table of wood, holding a few little bottles filled with colorful fluids. Beneath the table were boxes, holding more bottles and Morfynn thought the ones on display were samples.

"Hello, beautiful woman. Want a pomegranate?" Morfynn regarded the fruit she was offered with mild confusion. It was a strange, alien thing and had been sliced in half to display the plethora of juicy seeds within. They were crimson and looked quite tempting, but she knew better than to eat them. Then Loki grabbed the red skinned fruit.

"A pomegranate? Seriously? Do you think we're dumb?" Morfynn felt puzzled as Loki leaned threateningly close to the vendor, who backed up a bit.

"Can't blame a guy for trying, right?" he said, pacifically lifting his boney hands. Morfynn noticed, with a touch of unease, that Loki's eyes were glowing a bit. Not green, but a brilliant blue. Then he snorted and backed away.

"I'd blame you for breathing but you aren't actually doing that… anyway, don't play silly billies with my new friends," Loki said before tossing the pomegranate away. "I might get mad." Morfynn wasn't sure why, but she thought the entities here did not want to get Loki angry.

"What is significant about a pomegranate?" Zonean asked, although one should certainly never eat a fruit from Nurgle's garden. Loki answered instantly, eager to talk about his knowledge.

"Oh, that's an ancient symbol of the underworld! Specifically, the goddess Persephone was forced to become Hades' bride and while she was trapped in the underworld, she ate six pomegranate seeds and that was the exact number of months she had to return to the underworld every year, resulting in the seasons," Loki said. "It's just a story after all, but stories have power and if you eat the pomegranate seeds you have to stay in the underworld. That's how it goes."

"Yeah, right. You looking for a party pack?" The vendor asked and Loki nodded, pulling out the golden fruits. As they dickered, Morfynn looked around and saw the children at play. They were everywhere, playing games of tag and chase and other, childish things. Morfynn was suddenly struck with a realization… this whole place seemed designed to delight children, despite the theme of death. Everything was cute and wholesome, how very strange.

"This place is childish," Morfynn said without thinking about it, then winced as the vendor took offense.

"Hey what? What you say?" he said but Loki touched his 'arm'.

"No, don't be mad, she's right. Remember when I first came here? I was only five." Wait, what?! "It was just a vision, I wasn't here the way I am now, but I think that shaped this place. Remember?" Loki said to the vendor and he tilted his head.

"Oh yeah, I remember now! You were sad because the other kids wasn't playing with you so you came here to play." Oh… Morfynn couldn't help but feel that was terribly tragic. Loki nodded, although he seemed completely serene about it. But then, for him, it had been a long time ago.

"That was before I met Calder so I didn't have any friends. You tried to give me a pomegranate then too, remember? But I was onto you," he said and the vendor laughed with the rattling of bones.

"HAH! You were, you little scamp! You looked me right in the eye and said 'I can't eat a pomegranate in the land of the dead, that's bad'. How'd you even know about that anyway?" he asked and Loki shrugged with a smile.

"Mum read me the myths at bedtime, I loved them so much… anyway, can I also get a cracker?" The vendor nodded and Loki took a little box of five potions in addition to a small package wrapped in wax paper and tightly secured with cords. Loki passed over three of the golden fruits, before taking the package and tucking it away into his suit. Then he carefully picked up the box of potions, handling them like they were quite delicate.

When they arrived in the centre of town, they found a great carnival in progress, set within an immense garden. It was shockingly beautiful, great trees full of autumnal leaves and gorgeous paper flowers, artificial blooms. More paper lanterns swung from the bows of the trees, providing warm light beneath the crescent moon. There were booths set in the trees, offering games ranging from the ring toss to a measuring of strength. As Morfynn watched, a zombie picked up a hammer and tried his strength, reaching only "mediocre" level. There were rides too, and as they walked deeper they passed by a ride of jolly orange faces, carrying the children up and down and side to side. Morfynn was bemused by it all, the aeldari did not do such things for their children, but they also had so few that it would make little sense. If you had thousands of children and wanted to amuse them all at once, this was more practical.

Loki led them to a place with a stage, where a band of odd creatures were lolling around. Two guitarists, one a vampire and the other a zombie. The drummer, who was a mummified zombie, and a skeleton with a gleaming golden instrument like nothing Morfynn had ever seen. It appeared to be a wind instrument, so she wondered how he would use it but then, logic was not the strong point of the Warp. Loki gestured for them to stay and went up the stage before quietly conversing with the band. He handed out the potions to them and they gulped them down, before beginning to set up the stage for a performance. As they did that, Loki did something that Morfynn found extremely puzzling… he went to another strength contest and shimmied up the machine, before tying his 'cracker' to the bell at the top. What was that for? Although presumably, if someone rang the bell they would set off the cracker. Oh, a special part of the performance?

As the band set up, a crowd began to gather and Morfynn found it mildly uncomfortable. She wasn't used to crowds anymore, Iyanden was so unpopulated but also, it was just the knowledge of what she was surrounded with. The vendor from earlier joined them, smoking what seemed like a candy cigarette?

"Forgive me, but why do you put up with this?" Zonean asked and Morfynn bit her lip. She didn't want to tempt the powers here to break the illusion! The skeleton tapped his cigarette, sending little flakes of pink into the air as he looked at them, blue eyes flaring.

"I'll let you in on a secret… we can't. We're not strong enough," he said and Morfynn blinked. What?! But if they combined their strength – "Loki sets the rules and first rule of this world is no bullying. No ganging up." The skeleton chuckled, with a rattling of bones. "The kid was getting away from bullying, y'see."

"Oh, I see," Morfynn murmured. Loki had trapped the demons of Nurgle in his private fantasy world and they could not break free. That indicated truly fantastic strength, and also a kind of iron will that was utterly frightening. Some sorcerers and aeldari could do this, but such individuals were few and far between. "But surely a greater individual could?" Loki's power could not be inviolate. The skeleton shrugged before pulling out a golden fruit.

"Yeah maybe, but then we wouldn't get no more of these. Boss really likes these and we like to make the boss happy, so we make deals," the skeleton said and Morfynn understood. Loki was using the carrot and the stick… the golden fruits being the carrot, the rules he set for the world being the stick. The combination was more than enough to keep the demons of Nurgle happy, but what were the golden fruits? She might have asked, but then the performance began.

The guitars and wind instrument sang first, picking out haunting chords and Loki swayed, eyes half closed. He had the microphone in hand and as the drums added their beat, he began to sing.

/There is a house in Sin City, they call the Rising Sun/
/It's been the ruin of many a poor boy/
/And God knows I am one/

The guitars picked up, and Loki's voice became stronger and harsher as he moved around the stage. Morfynn did not really like the music – it was very different from what eldar favored – but could still feel the magic of the performance. Had Loki been an entertainer, when he was alive?

/My mother was a tailor, she sewed my old blue jeans/
/My father was a gambling man, down in New Orleans/

The zombie stepped forward, lights dancing across his body, showing the tattered flesh and bones as his fingers moved smoothly up and down the guitar. Music throbbed in the air like a living thing and he bent his head, dark hair falling down as he pulled magic from his instrument. Loki swayed to the sound, waiting for his turn to sing.

/Now the only thing, a gambler needs, is a suitcase and a trunk/
/And the only time he's satisfied/
/Is when he's on a drunk/

Loki's voice was beautiful, a warm tenor artistically roughened for the song. He brought the music to life and Morfynn vaguely noticed the entire crowd of spirits was entirely captured, enjoying every moment of the performance.

/I've got one foot on the platform, the other's on the train/
/I'm going back to Sin City/
/To wear that ball and chain/

The other drummer, the vampire, stepped forward and his guitar sang, blazing up and down. Little bats flew through the air as he played wildly, his fingers clenching tight to the guitar as though he would wring the sound from it by force. Morfynn could only be amazed at the passion of it. It had been so long since the Craftworlders had made music with such emotion behind it!

/Well mothers tell your children/
/Never do what I have done/
/Spend your lives in sin and misery/
/In the house of the Rising Sun/
/In the house of the Rising Sun!/

The music came a crescendo, then slowed back into a mournful tone as Loki sang the final verse, slowly and with great feeling.

/Well there's a house in Sin City/
/They call the Rising Sun/
/And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy/
/And God knows I am one/

The crowd broke into cheers and clapping. Morfynn also clapped but then Zonean abruptly grabbed her shoulder as something heavy and thick hit the ground.

"ENOUGH!" The bellow was ear shattering and physically painful. A sound that combined a pig's squeal with fingernails on the chalkboard, it made Morfynn actually cringe. The creature that had made it was a monstrous, gigantic, bestial man with the head of a pig. Flies buzzed around his head as mad little red eyes glared angrily at Loki. A Great Unclean One. It had to be, oh this was bad, but why had her vision not warned her?

"Oh Pig King, come on, we're just having fun! I even saved a fruit just for you," Loki said before producing the golden fruit. The pig monster completely disregarded it.

"Bringing aeldari here?! You go too far! I will smash you!" The band had already vacated the stage and the onlookers were scattering, many of them climbing up the trees so they could watch the fight in relative safety. The skeleton vendor grabbed her hand and Morfynn decided to follow him, as he found them a hiding place behind a rock.

"Should we not help him?" Zonean asked as a giant club landed on the stage, completely demolishing it. Loki jumped easily over it, still waving the golden fruit and trying to distract the Pig King with it. The skeleton shook his head.

"Nah, don't. This is like an internal fight right now, if you get involved it will make everyone mad," he said and Morfynn frowned a bit at that. They considered Loki one of them? Was it just because he had been coming here for so long or was there something more to it?

The Pig King was powerful but slow and ungraceful, just like a Great Unclean One should be. He was also virtually immune to damage but Morfynn noticed Loki wasn't really trying to hurt him. Instead he was dancing with incredible grace, engaging in acrobatics that would make a Harlequin proud, the golden fruit still held in one hand. Morfynn noticed, with a bit of unease, that his eyes were glowing blue again. And was his breath steaming in the air? That was odd, this place was not remotely cold.

Then Loki found his moment as the Pig King swung and missed and roared in frustration. Into that open maw, Loki tossed the golden fruit and the Pig King suddenly gagged, dropping his club and grabbing his throat. Loki snatched up the club with both hands and with truly bizarre strength, clocked the Pig King right across the snout. The Pig King swayed on his feet and fell backwards… right onto the strength test. The bell rang and the cracker went off, fireworks exploding into the air and forming a brilliant message in bright green. It's a Porker!

The crowd went wild again, cheering and laughing at Loki's victory as he turned and held his arms up in the pose of a champion. Then he bowed and Morfynn blinked as she heard the skeleton laughing helplessly.

"Ah, this is why we put up with his shit… you got style kid," he said as Loki flipped through the air and landed beside them, grinning widely. "But you better take off and don't come back for a while, the Pig King's gonna need a bit to cool off."

"Right right, I know," Loki said agreeably and took their wrists again. Morfynn and Zonean didn't resist as they felt that sensation of warping again and were gently but firmly returned to their bodies. Loki let go of their wrists. "Was that okay? That's what I do when I go on a dream quest," Loki said, scanning them in a way that Morfynn thought was anxious. She was still feeling quite dazed by it all, but nodded.

"It is fine, that was an excellent test of your abilities." Which were indeed far too advanced for any teaching, in regards to the Warp at least. But what was this? What was behind it? Thank the gods that Yvraine was already here! They might need Eldrad as well. Morfynn's head swam at the thought.

What were they dealing with?