Falling Slowly Awake

Her Royal Highness has been dreaming a lot lately. Not your average/regular dreams, either, like the one where all your teeth become loose or you are expected to take an exam you didn’t study for. No, these have been strong and vivid dreams. Powerful omens? Specific portents? She is unsure, and since she has not yet consulted the kingdom’s Oracle she knows not what to make of these visions.

She dreams of many things, but there is a common throughput intertwined amongst the imagery. She dreams of a man. He follows her from dream to dream, the same character in each place. He wants her, desires her to be his, needs her to recognize him as her love interest.  This is not a joking matter, Dear Readers. This dream man is on the razor’s edge of becoming a ha’ant , or an incubus. She likes him, but she fears him a little, too.  When she wakes, she feels as if she ought to know this phantom, as if he is someone she is already familiar with. But that could just be the dreamstate creeping into her waking life.  He is tall, thin, blue-eyed, pale, bespectacled, brunette, charming, intelligent, a bit gawky and awkward. He hesitates in his actions but never in his words. The strangest part of this phenomenon is that this entity not only follows our queen in her dreams, but KNOWS just as she does that he is in a dream – he actually comments on occasion to the fact that they are traveling together through this OtherLand. He does nothing to frighten her, but the situation itself is unsettling. It’s downright spooky, in fact, and she wonders both where this is coming from and also where it will lead her.

On a separate but related note, yesterday HRH reached into her satchel to retrieve keys to the castle upon return to the kingdom. To her utter astonishment, a foreign coin fell from the bag to the ground at her feet. This currency was not one minted in Aes Sidhe; although legal tender in another place, it is not accepted in our realm. No, this coin which had no business being in her satchel in the first place comes from the lands of The Gold Standard. How did it get there? True, our beloved monarch travels to lands beyond our borders, but her satchel was cleaned and restocked more than once since her last adventure more than CCCLXV days ago! Another omen? We think this both exciting and disturbing. We can only hope the queen does as well.

Empty dreams can only disappoint
In a room behind your smile
But don’t give up
You can be lucky in love
Send me an angel ~Real Life

An Apology from Her Royal Highness to Her Fellow Solo Queens

To my fellow Solo Queens,

I am sorry for my seemingly continued absence from this parchment. You might begin to think I am simply not interested in communicating with you anymore, but that is simply untrue. Don't let the rumors dissuade you from your support.

No, Sisters, I have been writing regularly, just not to you.  It's not that I don't love you, for I love you with every fibre of my refurbished spirit.  It's that the point of my other writings has taken a very personal and private turn.  To what am I alluding to? A couple of things, actually, but I cannot be completely open & forthright with you at the moment. One of the writing exercises has been the revisit of my novel.  Oh? Did you not know?  Yes, I have been working on a story (mostly in my own head) for a number of years. I made an attempt a few years ago to commit it to paper, but my efforts were strangled and hurried. I am patient with many things, Sovereigns, but being patient with myself is clearly not one of them! Anyway, that aborted mission has always offended me, and the story is a good one therefore should not die on the vine. So I began again.  I don't know where it will lead me this time, but I can say for certain that it proves to be an unfortunate distraction from updates to Aes Sidhe.

Another distraction has been this queen's attempt to learn another language in earnest. Yes, indeed! A couple of weeks back The Brigadier General was the one to suggest what I have been thinking about for months anyway, and that was enough to push my inactivity into action! It is time to embrace not only Nutella's culture (and let's be fair, part of my own heritage), but his language as well. It is a beautiful tongue and sounds as lovely spoken as it does sung.  I admit I can comprehend much of it already, having taken lessons many moons ago. But I cannot speak a word, which makes me as much as mute to The Gold Standard. So why not tackle the problem head on? I have always considered myself as much a citizen of the world-at-large as my own fair land, so why not take the time to learn another language?  It makes perfect sense, and only serves to further broaden my horizons. As an added bonus, Prince Megillah is fluent and has offered to tutor me as I go along. Not a bad benefit to our friendship, that's certain!

"l'uomo che le sorveglia
adesso non é più sicuro
se veramente sono mai partite
oppure sono sempre state lì"
~Gianmaria Testa

a modern moment penned on the subway in five minutes

i wanted to:

• write you a song, but i couldn't remember the lyrics. you know, the ones from your dream where you're singing in my underwear in front of a cast of thousands.
• bake you a cake but the recipe called for caster sugar and i don't know what that is.
• show you the world, but you left before i had the chance to board the train and ask the provodnitsa if she would accept my Orient Express card
• introduce you to the face of God, but She told me that gods don't really have faces. they are merely constructs of the inner workings of Kurt Vonnegut's brain.
• build you a house, but you were looking for a split ranch while i bought the plans for a queen anne.
• tame you an eagle, but raptors were born to fly free. i will try to tame a great blue heron for you instead.
• paint you in acrylics, but all i had were oils. and they were all cerulean blue
• give you my germs, but my N95 kept you safe from contagion.

so all i have left to give is me, which is poor substitute indeed. however, since there is only one of me, at least you know I will become an instant classic that you can trade on eBay for the latest Sega title.

The Herald Reports Updates of the Land

Fair Citizens of Aes Sidhe: it has been a number of weeks since our sovereign last addressed her people and she feels time is overdue for an update.

The Hibernian Daredevil: The Queen and this dashing fellow met over drinks a couple of weeks ago, and they had a marvelous time in one another’s company. Talk was easy and light-hearted, and they fell into a comfortable patter with one another. For this reason or another, however, it seems that their connection could be placed squarely into the “friends” category, and seeing that the Daredevil is seeking a Solo Queen or Princess for more than just simple companionship it appears their meeting will be the only one of its kind. Our ruler wishes him nothing but the best, and hopes he finds his mate. He is a good catch and will make someone very happy one day.

The Real Megillah: The Queen and Megs are still seeing each other. She took him by surprise two weeks ago when he found himself in a difficult business quandary and she not only talked him down from the ledge but offered him sound counsel as well.  This was unexpected, you see, for not only is Megs smarter than she, but older as well. He admitted a little shamefacedly the next day that her advice was logical, multifaceted, and astute beyond her years. Our queen knows that Megs misjudges her often, for he is used to dealing with persons who are not his intellectual peers, so she was more than a little amused when he offered his gratitude.

The Brigadier General: A goodly part of the reason why there have been few news updates to regale you with, Citizens, is the fact that our kindly ruler spends much of her precious free time these days entertaining her friend the General. He departs Aethelred for dangers known and unknown (but most assuredly very, very real) in a few short days. He is anxious but ready; she is merely anxious. She knows not when she will hear from him after that, but is fully prepared to offer regular sacrifices to the Powers That Be in order that her friend the warrior-poet may return safely to his lands in short order. As a sign of our allegiance to our queen as well as support for the alliance with the people of Aethelred, many Persons of the Realm have taken to wearing camouflage armbands with fleur-de-lis & lightning insignia and will do so until the General returns to these gentle lands once more.

There is more yet to come, including an introduction to Baron Gallus Gallus, but for the moment be satisfied! Seeing as how we must leave the news unfinished, we shall not depart with a song today.