Feyd stared at Chelsea.

	Suria stared at Feyd.

	Chelsea cried into Feyd's chest.

	A wind picked up, sending sand to waft around them.

	Chelsea shivered and pressed herself against Feyd.  Suria looked at her
and frowned, then stepped forward and grabbed Chelsea by the back of her blouse.
Pulling the girl away, Suria scowled in her face.  "What do you *mean*,
'broken'?" she snapped.

	Feyd blinked.  "Gen--Suria, there's no need for that."  He reached out,
but Chelsea shook her head.

	"No, it's my fault."  She sniffed.  "If I hadn't--come out here and--"
Her eyes got big and watery.  "I just wanted to see you again--and now you
can't--"  Suria, looking at the girl's eyes, *almost* managed a sweatdrop.

	"Now--just a moment," Feyd said.  "Let's think this through."  He bent
down and picked up the lamp.  "This doesn't look so bad."  He turned it over in
the moonlight.  "Just a little scraped.  And dented.  And this part..."  He
tried to bend the lamp's neck back into place.  "Maybe if I--"

	There was a flash of light and a big square object fell out of midair.

	Silence reigned for several moments.  Then Feyd reached out and tapped on
the square thing's glowing surface.

	There was a clunk.  Feyd reached down into an opening on the thing's side
and pulled out a small metal cylinder.

	"At least we don't have to be stuck in the desert without soft drinks,"
Suria deadpanned.

                                     -*-


                                   -Genie!-

Concieved On A Sugar-High by Madsman
This Part Written by Reason
Hosted By Syrian Stories
http://myth.sandwich.net/impro/ss.htm

Part Six: Every Little Girl Dreams of Being a Princess


                                     -*-

	Princess Frida toyed with her hair and scowled.

	"Finally, an etiquette lesson at the sixth hour after noon," the Grand
Tutor droned, "and dinner at the seventh where you will be expected to apply
your etiquette lesson.  Then an early curfew."  He pushed his glasses up his
nose and squinted at her.  "How does that sound?"

	"Same as always," Frida muttered.

	"I beg your pardon?"

	The Princess rolled her eyes.  "Does it really matter what I think?"

	The Grand Tutor blinked, his glasses magnifying the motion.  "Well, you
*are* the Princess--"

	"But my father is the King, so he decides my schedule, and I don't get to
do anything I want until I'm an adult," Frida recited.  "So why ask?"

	The wizened advisor almost seemed to inflate.  "Really, Princess!  There's
no need to be--"

	"Oh, stop it.  It doesn't matter.  It just *doesn't matter*."  The
Princess fell back onto her bed and stared at the ceiling.

	The old man harumphed some more before finally saying, "Well, as long as
you understand the situation and your obligations.  I shall see you in an hour
for your history lesson."  She listened to him walk over to the door, open it,
step outside and close it behind him.

	After several minutes had passed, Princess Frida sat up on her bed.
Straining her ears to listen, she heard--nothing.  No footsteps of tutors or
servants or maids.  For the moment, she was alone.

	A smile broke out on the Princess' face.

	Scooting off, Frida lay down on the floor and squirmed under her bed.  A
few minutes of prying pulled free a loose panel, behind which was a veritable
treasure of ordinary clothes.

	A few minutes later, Frida looked at herself in the mirror.  Still as
beautiful as ever, but now cute and ordinary like a serving girl instead of
regal like a princess.

	She flashed her reflection a smile, skipped to the door, took a moment to
listen, then crept out into the palace.

                                     -*-

	Suria leaned over while they walked along.  "There's so much happening,"
she whispered.  "What should we do, Commander?"

	"Please, Suria, it's just Feyd now."  His eyes narrowed.  "Although..."

	Suria raised her eyebrows.  "I know that look.  You have an evil plan."

	"Perhaps," the former High Commander said.  He watched Chelsea bouncing
along ahead of them, arms laden with vended goodness.  "Do you recall the
scientists' explanation for our trip?"

	Suria glanced ahead.  "There wasn't one."

	"Exactly.  They could not understand it."

	"Therefore, if we could turn it to our advantage..."

	"Precisely."  Feyd nodded.  "If we could harness this 'magic', then I
might have a chance of regaining the throne from my uncle."  He scowled.  "Then
I would be the rightful ruler of the Kingdom Dark.  Just like my father..."
Feyd blinked.  "My father..."

	"What is it?" Suria asked.  "Feyd, what's wrong?"

	Feyd shook his head.  "It's nothing.  Just--"

	A piercing scream jolted them both to a halt, followed by a series of
raucous clatters as Chelsea's cargo fell from her arms.

	Feyd rushed over to her.  "Chelsea!  What--"

	"Oh no," she sobbed, staring through the doorway of the abandoned house
they had used as camp.  Feyd took a quick look and noticed the door hanging
ajar, nearly splintered.  He stepped forward and pushed open the door to reveal
a scene of shocking disarray, as the furniture and bedclothes were trashed and
scattered around the room.

	Chelsea ran into the house.  "Karl!" she cried.  "Karl!  Karl, where are
you?  KARL!"

                                     -*-

	Karl, as it turned out, was tied to a chair in the depths of the palace.

	"Listen, kid, if you don't spill what you know--"

	"Hey, settle down, man."

	"No!  I'm sick of all this!"

	"You'd better tell him what he wants to know, boy!  I can't control him
when he's like this!"

	"Shut up!  Now, for the last time, where is the lamp?"

	Karl was being interrogated.  Given his lifelong, ah, *career*, this was
not a new experience for him.  After being arrested a few times for stealing,
Karl had learned not to let being questioned bother him.  He had even learned to
appreciate the various methods different interrogators used.  This particular
style was one he thought of as 'good guard, bad guard'.  It was one of the
classics, but Karl wasn't about to let it get to him.

	The fact that the 'good guard' and 'bad guard' were the *same person*,
however, was just a little unnerving.

	"I don't know where it is," Karl said, raising his head bravely.

	"What do you mean, you don't know?" Wynn asked, brow furrowing.

	"We lost it."

	"Lost it?"  Wynn leaned down and peered closely into his face.  "Lost it
*where*?"

	"In your mother's bedroom," Karl sneered.

	Wynn blinked.  "Uh--hey!"  He scowled.  "Why, you--"  Then suddenly his
face calmed.  "Now, now, he's just trying to get to you, Wynn," Wynn said to
himself.  Karl blinked.  "Now come on, *where* did you lose it?"

	"I dunno."  Karl shrugged.  "Lots of stuff happened yesterday.  You were
there, you saw it.  We were running around, could have been anywhere in the
city."

	"I see."  Wynn turned and walked a few steps away.  Karl heard him
muttering something that sounded like 'control yourself', then the wizard turned
back with a smile.  "So you say you lost it yesterday, then?"

	"Isn't that what I just said?"  Karl sniffed.

	"Ah, but my magical sources indicate that the lamp emitted a pulse of
energy just this morning."  Wynn's expression could best be described as a
smirk.  "Can you explain *that*?"

	Karl stared.  Come to think of it, when the guards had taken him away this
morning, Chelsea had been nowhere to be found.  Almost as if...

	"Oh, no," Karl groaned.

                                     -*-

	Three sets of eyes peered out of a strategically placed alley, then
retreated again.  Any listener might have heard an intense yet hushed planning
session that would have sounded something like this:

	"All right, that wizard probably has him again, right?"

	"What?  Are you sure, Fey-chan?"

	"Well, he IS the one who tried to kill us--"

	"Easy, Suria.  He probably was hoping to capture both you and Karl, but
since you were out getting the lamp..."

	"Oh!  Oh no, Karl--"

	"Keep it down, girl!"

	"Ahem.  In any case, we need to get inside the palace somehow.  Do either
of you have any ideas?"

	Silence.

	"Hello?  Uh, why are you two looking at me like that?"

                                     -*-

	A figure hunched over an ancient tome of magic, studying intently.

	"All right, nextht time I'll be victoriouth!"

                                     -*-

	"As soon as we get out of here, I'm going to kill something."

	"But you look so kawaii, Fey-chan!"

	"Really, Commander, you look--quite good."  Suria felt warm for some
reason and scowled.  She felt Feyd looking at her, but looked away.  Damn this
hot desert climate!  A General without armor was--almost naked.

	"I told you, Fey-chan!  Even Suria thinks so!"  Chelsea giggled.

	"Quiet, girl!" Suria snapped.  She turned to her former superior, an
apology coming to her lips.  Feyd, however, was muttering something.  "What was
that, Commander?" she asked.

	"I keep telling you, it's--"

	"THEM!"

	Our Hero^H^H^H^HProtagonists stopped in their tracks and looked straight
ahead.  A cluster of guards were eyeing them with an expression of turgid
cogitation on their faces.

	"Who?" one of the guards asked.  Suria stared as her two companions
facefaulted.

	"You know!"  Another guard rolled his eyes.  "That muscular dancing girl
who was beating us up the other day!"  Suria was amazed to see a strange little
symbol appear on Feyd's prone head.

	"Yeah!  Yeah, that's her!" a third guard said.  "But wait!  With him,
isn't that--"

	"KIYAAAAH!"  Suria launched herself forward and landed fully on the front
guard's face.  As he fell, she pushed off and did a quick backflip to land on
her feet, then sprang forward again to bury her fist in another guard's stomach.

	"Suria!  What--"

	"Run, Commander!" she barked.  "I'll hold them off!"  She grabbed a third
guard's wrist and twisted it viciously.  He released his sword with a yelp.

	"But--"

	"NOW!"  Suria heard footsteps rapidly fading into the distance, and grit
her teeth.  The guards backed away from her expression.

	No one was going to hurt HIM while SHE was around.

                                     -*-

	Princess Frida tilted her head alertly.  Something was happening close by.
She could hear sounds of activity, and--battle?  No, it couldn't be battle here
in the *palace*.  Still, it was certainly activity.  And since that promised to
be more exciting than creeping through deserted hallways, Frida scampered toward
the sound with a grin on her face.

	It was probably quite close.  She could discern individual words.  "Well,
we can't just leave, can we?"  In fact, it was almost as if--

	Frida rounded a corner and stopped dead.

	There was a man standing there.  A tall man, slender--no, *sleek*.  With
tight muscles covering his chest.  This was made all the more obvious by the
fact that he had no shirt on.  Short black hair hung in front of his face, and
then Frida caught sight of piercing gray eyes behind the veil of hair.  She
stared.

	He stared back for a moment.  Then he exhaled.  "There you are."

	She blinked.  "Um--"

	"Come on.  Let's go."  The man strode past her.  Frida turned to stare at
him and the fair-haired girl that followed behind.  Then another man stepped up
to her.  She blinked and refocused her gaze on him.

	"Nice to see you again," he said with a smile.  "Thanks for coming along."

	The Princess blinked.  This peasant--no, street urchin was *smirking* at
her in his ratty clothes--She scowled.  "How dare you talk to me that way,
you--"

	"Suria."  Frida felt a chill and turned to see the mystery man looking at
her with those eyes.  He sighed.  "It's not really important right now.  Now
come on."

	Frida almost jumped.  His tone, so commanding--"Yes sir," she said
involuntarily.  Like her father, almost, the only person who'd ever talked to
her like that...

	Then he chuckled.  "I keep telling you, Suria, it's just Feyd now."

	"Yes--Feyd," she said.  Frida smiled, feeling a sense of lightness filling
her, for what reason she couldn't name.

	"All right, fine, come on already."  The street urchin rolled his eyes.

                                     -*-

	Suria walked slowly through the hallway.  Her ribs ached from a couple of
blows that had gotten through her guard, and her chest burned from exertion.
She scowled.  Where had those people gotten off to--

	"Princess!"

	Suria spun and tried to get into a battle stance, but her arms were
immediately grabbed by guards.  She struggled for a moment, then sagged.  So
tired...

	"Princess Frida, how could you do this to us?  Skipping out on all your
lessons--and wandering around in these shameful rags!  What will your father
think!"  Suria looked up and realized with astonishment that the old guy was
talking to her.  Her--Princess?  "I'm hereby confining you to your room for the
rest of the day!"  The guards began to drag her off.

	"Wh--"  She struggled a bit more.  "Wait!  Wait, I'm not--Feyd!  Do you
hear me?  FEEEEEEEEEYD!!!"

                                     -*-


WHAT HAPPENED TODAY?
	> Feyd and Suria returned to Uherty!
	> The malfunctioning lamp summoned a vending machine!
	> Princess Frida snuck out dressed as a servant!
	> Feyd, Suria and Chelsea got back to find Karl missing!
	> Karl was interrogated by Wynn and Oliver!
	> Chelsea and Suria decided that Feyd should dress up as a dancing girl to
infiltrate the palace!  Again!
	> Agden Karma ranted!
	> Suria held off the guards while Feyd and Chelsea went to rescue Karl!
	> Karl was freed!
	> Princess Frida was mistaken for Suria!
	> Suria was mistaken for Princess Frida!

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT TIME?  THAT'S FOR YOU TO DECIDE!  SIGN UP!  WAI OR
SOMETHING!


                                     -*-

Author's note

"I have nothing to say."
SQUEEEE!  SQUEEEE!
"All right!  All right!  I poisoned the grain..."

Reason@rantsylvania.zzn.com
"I'm sure they'll listen to Reason."
7/24/00