smallestopener | Trust dreams. Trust your heart, and trust your story.

Ingress had a brilliant birthday. She’s eleven. Eleven is nearly grown up! It’s also the year when children in the stories she’s read come into their own. Adventures begin, schooling starts, worlds are saved… she can hardly wait to see what will happen next.

Her party earlier was such fun. Door was almost nice to Puck; Ingress had worried a little about that after she invited him. But he was very nice and charming, and Tom was nice, too, and Puck helped Ingress steal lots of roses off the cake while Havelock talked to Tom and Door, and it was brilliant.

She ate far too much icing sugar, but Tom had the peppermint potion waiting for her when the party was over. She feels much better now. And she’s eleven!

It sounds so good in her head. Eleven, eleven, eleven.

She should have asked Mary to stay the night with her, she thinks, as she tosses and turns. She’s never going to fall asleep, even with staying up past her bedtime. Tom and Door insisted she go to bed after she started yawning. They can be so silly sometimes.

She tosses one more time, and she thinks, again, how impossible it will be to go to sleep tonight. Her eyelids flutter and close. It is not long before she’s deep in dreams.

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From:

not-only-wisdom.livejournal.com

"Light, girl," comes the acerbic voice from her right, a whip of fire dancing from Nynaeve's hand and incinerating a few of the creatures.

"You'll never be a Herald if you can't keep your head and your sword. Come now. With me."

But did she say Herald or hero?

And does it really matter?

Edited Date: 2010-06-03 02:54 am (UTC)

From:

smallestopener

Nynaeve's voice cuts through Ingress' fear. She grabs her sword and stands, swinging wildly.

She still hasn't gone back to a controlled form, but she's not as afraid now. The monsters keep coming, but some are repelled by the light.

From:

taishar_malkier

"Watch your stance, girl." Lan's voice is level, flat, business-like. She's heard this tone of correction dozens of times, if never before pitched to cut through the din of battle. "You're leaving yourself open."

He's yards away, a blur of steel and camouflaged shadow, whirling through forms with the deadly grace earned through years of survival and war. A handful of bat-monster corpses are already scattered around him.

From:

smallestopener

She takes a deep breath and pulls herself into Moon Rises Over Water, her sword sweeping up. The blade slices through the neck of the monster shrieking towards her.

While there are many corpses littering the grounds, the one Ingress strikes turns into black dust.

She hits one after the other, over and over, until her arms start to ache. She's barely aware of the strange sounds she hears over the ever present din of the monsters.

From:

gonna_live

Kaylee's dress -- in the layer-cake style -- is the color of Tonks's hair, and her scarf is a deep, deep purple. "Nĭ hăo, xiăo mèimèi." There's a parasol, and she's twirling it, making the red and green and yellow and white swirl. "What's the news?"

From:

lastgunslinger

It's not the first time there have been bat monsters on the Milliways grounds, nor the first time a coalition -- a tet, if you'd like -- has formed to fight against the things that come from out of the blue, and into

( consign you forever to )

the black.

"Canda," says the gunslinger with the shooter's eyes and the white at his temples, in Cort's dry teacher's voice, "is the distance that assures that outnumbered gunslingers cannot be killed by a single shot."

Shooting one-handed, he is, reloading, with that peacemaker with the sandalwood grips, glowing and golden as soft sand, as late-summer light in the Maine woods, and she'll have no trouble hearing him over the sound of thunder. "Never the same distance in any two situations, my dear." There: the faded blue eyes snap toward Ingress, catching and holding. "Keep thy head, and thy head will keep thee."

A spare second, in which Roland passes close enough to press his three-fingered hand to Ingress's shoulder -- "And con thy vantage." -- before whirling away, firing, head high and eyes cold.

From:

smallestopener

Ingress remembers this man, vaguely, but she knows him the moment he touches her.

Gunslinger

That's what he said. That's what he is. Like Eddie, like Susannah, Cuthbert, Alain... She's known so many of his kind. They've helped her, by their presence, become this brave girl with a heavy sword and aching arms.

Tiny monsters, their sharp teeth biting, graze her head again. Instead of being afraid, Ingress is angry.

"ORIZA!!!" she screams. She has no sharpened plate to throw, but she has a slingshot in her hand. It's much lighter than the sword, and it's a relief to heft and aim and shoot.

The pellets of steel take down each of the monsters she hits. Still they swarm, a dark cloud over the lake.

This is a nightmare, after all.

From:

smallestopener

"Galatea brought me pictures," Ingress smiles, and now, in place of her tutu, she's wearing the first dress Tom bought for her at Madame Malkans. It's deep red with puffy sleeves and a full skirt. It was one of her very, very, very favorite dresses ever, but she outgrew it a long time ago.

There's only so much a charm can do to expand a garment.

"Are you going to a party? You look like a princess."

As Ingress stands, a couple of little toy robots go marching by, their gears whirring.

From:

not_that_spike

"Yo." He's there as always, leaning against... hell, nothing at all, just giving a damn good impression of leaning against something a lot more substantial than it is, smoking like there's no reason not to. And really, he can't think of a good reason not to smoke but... yeah. He's her teacher, or one of them.

Time to fucking teach; he quotes his mentor at her, reminds her of one of the things he taught her pretty damn early on. "Do not be tense, just be ready, not thinking but not dreaming, not being set but being flexible. It is being wholly and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come."

No laugh escapes -- those are Bruce Lee's words, not his -- but he does smile in her direction and it's all casual with him. All casual all the time, because that's the best way to catch an enemy off guard. "Those things up there? Nothing but another damn nuisance. You know how to move around them. You know how to get rid of them." Sure, he could do it for her but what would be the point in that? It wouldn't be a lesson. It'd just be showing off, and how the hell's she going to learn if she doesn't do?

He's there if she needs him -- like hell he'd leave anyone he cares about to fight all alone if they weren't capable of doing it -- but he'll just give her one more piece of advice.

"You're better than they are. Kick some ass, and you'll have one hell of a story to tell later."

Still, he takes the ready stance. Just in case.

From:

smallestopener

The funny thing about scary dreams is that sometimes you can find pockets of calm in between the frightening parts. Spike is all about the calm.

Ingress breathes in and out, as she listens. She tries to let the anger flow away. Anger can get you in trouble. That's one of the first lessons she's learned well. Anger and fear - they stop you from being your best, from listening to your heart and your mind.

"Okay," she says, and she nods her head. Spike has her back. The Aes Sedai and the warriors have her back. "I'm going to kick some serious ass."

She loves telling stories later. She can do this.

The bat monsters are swarming around Mr. Julia. His mighty tentacles take out as many as can be caught, but she has to help him.

From:

a1enzo

There's a sprite playing by the fire, which is made of shifting pixels, which are hovering ice cubes. The pixelated fish swim around them, unfazed.

Enzo is no older than four, by human reckoning. The building blocks he's playing with are each made of four cubes, connected in different configurations. He's building a wall, but he never gets it more than four units tall without it collapsing.

From:

smallestopener

Ingress knows it's Enzo right away. How does she know? She just does!

When she walks over to the little boy, her skin turns green. She's not a sprite. She's just green for the fun of it.

"I'll help you build a tall one. If you like."

From:

a1enzo

"Thanks!" Enzo does not seem surprised by her colour. "With your help, I'll win for sure!"

Apparently you can win at stacking blocks. Who knew?

From:

agloriousthing

A Pirate King starts singing from rafters that are almost a mast, "Oh it is, it is a glorious thing to be a pirate king!"

Then he leaps down to bow at her feet as the music swells around them,

"Happy Birthday, fair lady."

From:

gorgonfondness

There's a hook in the fireplace.

If Ingress follows the hook, she'll find it's attached to a fishing line, attached to a fishing pole, and held by Mia. She's in a yellow sundress and sitting on a dock, though how the Meribian Sea underneath it (and is that Nall swimming in the waters?) is a mystery.

"Ah, hello, Ingress!" she calls. "Happy birthday!"

When she reels in, she lands a huge bass. This gets dangled over the huge dragon's nose and he unhooks it with his mouth before scarfing it down.

"Birthday girl want a ride?" he asks in a friendly growl.

From:

stilljustandrew

"Hey, Ingress."

It's Andrew, sitting at a table behind a huge pile of books. He's got a gigantic milkshake sitting at his elbow, in a transparent glass; it's layered, in stripes of pink and green and rich brown and creamy white.

From:

the_lioness

Alanna unbuckles her swordbelt and places it on the rug near Ingress, then settles herself with far less care. "Where shall we go next, Lady Ingress of the House of Arch?" As she asks, she flicks her hand in the air and unrolls a map of Tortall that looks far too large to fit up her sleeve. It is old, yellowed and smelling dusty with age, but it moves and shifts with images not unlike her wizarding photographs.

Photographs that have completely captured the attention of the Lioness' daughter. "Oooh. I quite like her hair," Grace says, pointing to Tonks. "And I thought we said we were taking her to Port Caynn?"

"Port Caynn is nice," Thom remarks, appearing on Ingress' other side. His smile is gentle and a little shy.

Jamie's isn't. He thrusts a milkshake at Ingress and grins. "They've got lots of ships there. And maybe pirates!"

From:

smallestopener

It's not long until the stack of blocks is taller than Enzo is.

The fish have swum out to help stack, picking up small blocks with their pixellated mouths and dropping them on top of the blocks Ingress and Enzo stack.

"I bet we could go as high as the moon!"

Or at least the rafters.

From:

smallestopener

A sail drops down from those same rafters, and it billows as if in a breeze.

Ingress has a pirate hat on.

"It is my birthday, isn't it? Would you like more cake?"

She's had enough, really, even in her dream state, but she should offer it to friends.

From:

smallestopener

"But of course," says Ingress, curtsying before the dragon. She's followed the line, because how can you not follow a fishing line dangling down into a fireplace?

The fire was certainly ticklish enough to step through, she can tell you that.

"Hi, Mia!"

From:

smallestopener

"That is the best milkshake I've ever seen," she says with wide, delighted eyes. "Is it made of magic?"

From:

smallestopener

"Hi, everyone! I should like Port Caynn, I think. If it's nice."

She holds out a camera.

"I've no pictures of you, either. Say cheese!"

Ingress isn't sure why you say cheese. You just do.

From:

a1enzo

Enzo has gotten larger, too; he's almost as old as Ingress.

"I've never been there before!" he says, delighted by the idea. "It'll be a long climb. We'd better bring snacks."

From:

stilljustandrew

"Noo," he says, examining it a little doubtfully, and then nodding more firmly. "Nope. Just deliciousness. Want some?"

There are two curly straws in the glass; one blue, one purple.

From:

gorgonfondness

Mia gets up from her spot on the dock and gives Ingress a hug, careful not to hook her with her fishing line.

"Here, up you get," she says, giving the birthday girl a boost up onto Nall's fuzzy neck.

With a great splash, Nall takes off out of the ocean and they soar over the landscape, dotted with labels, borders, colors, some of London Below, some of Lunar, some even of Milliways, and all places precious to Ingress.

"Hang on tight!" Mia calls against the wind and Nall takes them into a corkscrew.