A massive purple head and gigantic purple-and-silver wings errupted out of the brilliant light, and it curled down out of the haze, jaws full of teeth and power, to sniff diffidently at Lucinda. Her gown fluttered in the dragon's breath, and it was all Lucinda could do not to faint. Again. When did she start having a fainting problem!?

"Maria, I would like to introduce you to Amity!" the Lord Chamberlain announced.

*This is not the one I was meant to meet,* Maria thought fiercely. *There has been some trechery here.* She turned to glare at the Lord Chamberlain, who shuffled a few feet backwards.

"This is Lady Amity!" he insisted. "She is here to bond with you!"

Maria sniffed at Lucinda again. *This is not Lady Amity.*

"What? Outrageous! She bears the sacred birthmarks of the Punjaro! She knows the Wishing Tree as none other!"

"Oh for the love of Pete," Lucinda muttered.

Both dragon and Chamberlain turned towards her. "What was that?" the Chamberlain asked as the dragon wrinkled the skin on her beak in amusement.

"I'm not Amity," she said. "My name is Lucinda. I wrote this world, and somehow wound up in it as a major character. You're right, Maria. I'm not Amity. But I wrote Amity reflecting me, and--"

Palm interrupted. "I thought something was weird around here..." she said quietly.

*Where, then, is Amity?*

"Honestly?" Lucinda asked. She shrugged, throwing her arms into the air. "I don't know. I don't know where the real Gavin or Palm or Kate are, either, because these -" and she gestured behind her to indicate her friends, "- are not the ones I wrote. Everyone else, so far, yes. They're right. Not us."

The Chamberlain looked stunned. "There must be a mistake," he said.

"Have you been listening?" Palm asked, cocking her head gently to the side and smiling, while laying a hand on the Chamberlain's shoulder.

Gavin just stared openly. "I'm not the main character?" he whined.

Lucinda turned and shrugged.

Maria twisted her beak a little in an imitation of pursed lips. *I usually am not so hasty,* she said, *but I like you. And if my chosen bondmate is not available to be my companion, you, I believe, will fill her shoes nicely.*

Lucinda looked up at the towering, huge dragon. "You know," she said, "if it's any consolation, I was expecting something a lot more Death And Dismemberment. This is a huge sigh of relief."

Before anyone could comment on this, however, another brilliant flash errupted from the second circle.

They had to wait a much longer time to see what was revealed in this flash of light, because no massive dragon head errupted out of it. Everyone leaned in closely to stare as the light disappated. Gavin leaned in extra closely.

"It's... an easter egg?" he asked, peering at it. It was small enough to be held -- easily. And it was colored a dusky combination in rainbow patterning. It looked like an egg dyed a million times too many. There was a post-it note on it, which read, amid a bunch of scribbles: "GAVIN SCOTT. FILARA."

"Uh. I guess it's ... my easter egg?" He picked it up, and he felt a slightly confused jolt through his brain. He nearly jumped out of his skin in response. "It's a scary easter egg!"

NOT an easter egg... his brain told him.

"It's a scary not!easter egg!" he ammended.

Better. e__e;

*It's a Decorated Clarus egg,* Maria supplied, perring curiously at it.

"How can you tell?" Lucinda asked. Fine, fine, he'd take her word on it that she really was Cindy.

*The Isle of Mirrors, where I come from, is good friends with the Temple of Dea, where Clarus come from. I've visited once or twice -- enough to know what a Clarus or a Decorated looks like in every stage.*

Gavin cocked his head to the side. But before he could say anything else, ANOTHER brilliant flash of light errupted.

As the light faded, two little voices could be heard arguing about something.

"I said left!" one of them squeaked.

"I'm going left!" another chirped back.

"My left!"

"You, you, you, you, you!"

"Well you're not taking charge of this one! Last time 'destiny' happened all over the place, it was an utter mess! Samir sent me to--"

"Hend take you! Y'know, Samir doesn't think you're everything and the cat's pyjamas! Just because you're a fluttery little thing doesn't mean I can't still kick the --"

"AHEM," the Lord Chamberlain said, glaring down at two little teeny tiny things around a giant green egg that was easilly too big for Palm to lift. She got the distinct feeling that this was the source of her headache.

The two creatures - one a bare-chested man with long blonde hair, a halo, and feathered wings in a skirt; the other a tiny man with tawny-furred legs, little red horns hiding amid a riot of black curls, tiny cloven hooves, and a vicious, spaded tail. Neither was taller than Palm's...er... palm.

"Oh look, they found us," the winged man remarked, flicking his long golden hair out of his face with what was clearly a hint of attitude.

Palm crouched down in front of them, her skirts swishing appropriately. "Hello," she said. "What's this?"

"Palm McCannohan?" the little goat-man asked, his tail flicking in irritation.

"Yes?"

"Sign here, please." He handed her a clipboard, too tiny for her to reasonably sign with her full name. She scribbled her initials on the paper. "And here," he said, flipping through some pages and handing it back to her.

"What is this?" she asked.

"Waiver of liability as well as proof of delivery."

"Waiver of -- what?"

"Ferreus Caves and all its associated personnel, including but not limited to we courriers, Samir, Chaucer, or any other residents of the Caves, are not to be held liable for any personal harm that may come from the ensuing search."

"What?" she asked, blinking.

"You sure don't pay attention too well, do you?" the little winged man sighed. "This here," he said, patting the giant green egg behind him, "is your Easter!Bunny!Dragon!Egg. He's for you."

"Easter what?"

"Why does Palm get an easter egg, and I -- OW I'M SORRY!" Gavin exploded, hugging his little egg. "I like you just fine," he muttered, patting the clarus egg.

"Bunny dragon. HUUUUGE towering massive destructive cute things. The Rabbit said you got one, whether you wanted it or not. Something about Palm Sunday, April Fool's... I don't know. She's more our boss-lady than the thlaylii back home. Gotta do what she says, no matter how Hendishly ticked Chaucer and Samir get."

Palm just blinked.

"She also said, since you've gots like, no easter theme going, you've gotta go find it." In a puff of sulpher, he was on her wrist, snatching the clipboard, and in another puff of sulpher, gone again. "This is some light reading material for your search. Happy hunting!" He tossed her a manual, and as soon as she'd caught it, he and the egg and their companion were gone.

Palm stared openly.

And then she blinked.

And then she started to cry. "THAT WAS WHAT WAS GIVING ME A HEADACHE!" she complained, and stormed off to find it.

Behind her, she could hear Gavin try very hard not to snicker.