ToF4-01-09: The Gathering – Lost in Reverie: Faeryl lay alone in her bed, pondering the odd events and the group of strangers she had encountered that night; wondering how they fit in the destiny Eilistraee had led her here for. She was certain that they were meant to meet. It was far too great a coincident to happen by chance. Although she had enjoyed the company of the dwarf Tarl and the wizard Galen, it was the young ranger Aeron that intrigued her most. He claimed to have visited the Mouth of Song, the temple of Eilistraee near the heart of the Moonwood. But in the ninety years she had lived there she had never know a single visitor to welcomed there. Yet she did not believe that he was lying. Still pondering the conflicting truths, Faeryl let her exhaustion carry her into reverie. Elves do not sleep as other races do; instead they enter an unconscious state in which they relive the events of their lives so vividly that they truly relive them. Tonight Faeryl found herself five years ago, dancing naked with her sister priestess beneath the silvery full moon. The Circle Dance took place on all three nights of the full moon every month to honor Eilistraee. But she could sense something was different, although at the time she had not recognized it. Then see saw it, as she spun and twirled in time with the others; Nadal, high priestess of the temple, had left the dance… Slipping away into the darkness so gracefully that no one seemed to notice. Why would she have left a sacred ritual to the Dark Maiden? As the reverie went on, time slowed down in Faeryl’s memory so she relived the event in slow motion, focusing on glimpses of movement in the darkness which passed to quickly in real time for her to notice. She saw Nadal approach the tree line at the foot of the hill as she passed in one circle. Then on her next pass she saw the high priestess kneeling beside another figure that lay on the grown at the foot of a tree. On the next pass she saw them standing together and recognized the other figure as a young man with fare hair… Aeron! He was younger by several years, barely more then a boy, but it was him… He had been to the Mouth of Song! On her next circle through the dance she saw Nadal lead him into the tree line at the foot of the hill, and they vanished into the darkness, but it was sometime still before she rejoined the dance; nearly an hour. What had she done with him? Nadal must have seen him hiding in the tree line. Somehow he had found a way into the temple grounds and was spying on them. So she had confronted him and escorted him away. But would not have taken so long to reach the temple boundary and return… Something else must have happened. Faeryl woke from the reverie with a start; her heart pounding and her skin soaked in sweat as if she had truly been there, dancing naked with wild abandon along side her sister priestesses. Nadal had never spoken of an intruder that night. But she was sure she had seen him… Aeron had been there!