FiG-P14-Introductions

"Are you sure you can't be more specific than this?"

Collin sighed, rubbing at the bridge of his nose in a feeble attempt to dispel the headache that had taken root there.  It had been a trying day.  They had driven over four hours in the early morning to reach Leipzig.  All of them had been on edge by the time they got there.  Rhiannon, ever the practical young woman, had insisted they get some rest before doing anything else.  Tony, ever the gentleman, had insisted on paying for her room at the hotel in addition to their own.  Collin, finally showing the wisdom of his years, chose the better part of valor in the ensuing argument, (which Tony won, on the grounds that Rhiannon had paid for gas, and a stubbornness that rivaled even Frost on occasion) and desperately tried to get some sleep.  "Tried" being the operative word.  The restless, half-awake tossing that he'd managed to achieve had left him feeling more exhausted and frazzled than before he'd ever set his head down on the pillow.

"Yes, Rhi, I'm sure," he snapped irritably, "I told you, something's interfering with the spell.  This area had the strongest pull, so it seemed the best place to start."

The location in question had taken them northwest of Leipzig into Halle Neustadt.  It was an area designed for high density living, with access to tram lines and the S-Bahn rail system.  They had taken the train to the nearest station, a dim, dirty, graffiti-coated platform that huddled grimly in the red light of the sunset.  That had been the welcoming part of Halle Neustadt.  The rest of it was a grid of massive, ten-story concrete slabs of cold gray clustered in cramped proximity to one another.  The only break in the looming, oppressive buildings were equally somber lines of dull paved streets and walkways.  There wasn't even a tree or park to break the depressingly monotone structures.  Collin wasn't surprised that the area had a deserted feel to it, despite the abundance of housing.  

Rhiannon sighed.  "Well, I guess we'll have to narrow our search somehow."  She dug into one of her pockets and pulled out half a bag of old gum drops, poking at them experimentally.  "Hoffentlich sind das genug," she muttered to herself.  She looked around, locating a drab patch of sickly looking grass.  She laid the gumdrops out in a circle, piling the remainder in a tiny mound at the center, humming five notes over and over again.  Tony and Collin exchanged a shrug and watched her expectantly.

Nothing happened.  Collin started to fidget, feeling nervous and useless.  Searching for something to do, he closed his eyes and extended his senses.  Perhaps he could feel out where his wayward brother had gone.  A dim murmur of myriad sensations flooded his mind; hot anger, heavy sorrow, flitting joy, sluggish boredom.  He frowned, sifting through them like sand on a cluttered beach, trying to find one that felt more like Frost's manic energy.  He was about to give up, when his empathy brushed over a familiar squabbling of energies, the fire in Fall bickering with the water of Winter.  He focused on the pool of Fae energy, expecting Frost's typical buzz of tension.  What he found instead was unlike anything he'd ever come across before.  Something that did not belong in this world.  

The sheer wrongness of it was overwhelming.  His mind was filled with discordant screeching of unholy instruments, pulsing to a beat that made his heart stutter and jerk unnaturally in his chest.  His skin burst into goosebumps, the hair on the back of his neck rising in protest.  He felt as though a black ooze had seeped in through his pores and gotten into his blood, filling his belly and throat with tar.

"Collin?  Collin, what's wrong?"  Tony's warm hand on his shoulder pulled him away from that foreign energy and back into himself.  He blinked, looking into his guardian's concerned face with a queazy expression.  Tony gave his shoulder a firm squeeze before withdrawing.  "You okay?"

"No.  It is not okay," Collin replied in a dazed wobble, "None of it fits classic rules.  We may have to resort to String Theory."  

Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Gee, things must be desperate," he replied, "Now, if only I knew what the hell you were talking about."

"Frost's here," Collin muttered, half to himself, "But at the same time, I don't think he's here at all...The real question is, is he here by our perspective, or not?"

Rhiannon cleared her throat.

"I hate to interrupt this philosophical discussion --"   

"Oh, please do," Tony interjected in a pleading, grateful tone.  Collin shot him an annoyed look.

"--but I have someone I'd like you to meet."

She held out her hand, and on it rested a tiny ball of orange light, no larger than a golf ball.  Near the center of the illumination hovered a gum drop, slowly vanishing as they watched.  Collin squinted, and could just make out the shape of a tiny figure, munching with gusto on the sugary treat.

"Is that a fairy?"  Collin blurted out in disbelief.  There was a musical chime from the ball that sounded remarkably like a rude noise.  Rhiannon rolled her eyes.

"No, Collin, this is a pixie."

"Oh," Collin replied, a little red faced.  "Right.  Of course.  Uh...what's it's --"  

The light chimed in protest.  

"--His--"

Another chime, this one accompanied by a miniature stamp of annoyance.    

"...her?"  

Collin eyed the pixie, waiting for an indication that he'd finally got it right.  The tiny figure crossed its arms, flopped back down to a sitting position on Rhiannnon's palm, and returned to munching on its gum drop.  Collin sighed, relieved.

"Her name?"

Rhiannon hummed the five notes again, and the pixie's light pulsed in time, echoing the sound with chimes of its own.  Collin stared.

"...Right.  I'm...just gonna stick with 'Pixie,'" he said, finally.  Pixie made an exasperated sound, and Rhiannon snorted with a small smile.

"If you think he's bad, wait until you meet his brother," she informed the tiny light.  "Speaking of which, Collin, would you hold out your hand please?  We'll need something for her to track Frost with."   

"Right," Collin nodded, extending his thin fingers in the pixie's direction, "Like a scent or somethi--YYOWCH!"  He yelped as surprisingly sharp, tiny teeth bit into his pinky finger.  He snatched his hand back, popping the finger in his mouth and glaring at Rhiannon with the eyes of a betrayed puppy.  She shrugged.

"...Something like that," she affirmed, without contrition.

Pixie chirped and whirled about in a circle around them for a moment.  Then she paused, hovering, before streaking through the air towards one of the buildings.

"Time to find your brother," Rhiannon said, hefting her bag of holy water, crosses, and stakes as she followed the orange light.  "Let's hope he hasn't changed much."