Long ago, in a city that nearly became hell on earth, New York still had some semblance of what once was considered beautiful, and that beauty barely existed in Central Park..where some 20 years ago in the year 2010, a little child, a 4 year old girl, called Kessie, was reported missing. Folks came together to search for the sweet little girl.... Gangs forgot to hate their foe, Domestic disagreements took a back seat, and for a moment in time, that almost seemed eternal, there was peace in a city..just devoted to the quest to find this missing girl... Kessie woke up in her little bed because a roach had crawled across her face and frightened her.. she ran to her Mother's room and tried to shake her awake.. "Mommy! Mommy! Monsters in my room! " *yawn..* *groan* No..go back to bed..Kess.....*zzzzzzzzz* Kessie, put on her little coat, her little boots, her scarf, her hat, and her mittens, and filled her pockets with the packets of Captain's Wafer crackers her mother would bring from the restraint where she waitressed....and she took the elevator to the ground floor, and headed out the cooridore, past the vagrants and drunks snoring on the floor, and the prostitutes just outside the door.. no body noticed her at all. No monsters will get me at the pretty gate...Kessie headed dangerously through traffic across the street to Central Park. Kessie was cold, and frightened in the dark, but she had on her magic bead, a stone she found near the "pretty gate", where she often went with her mama on picnics. Her mother put the stone into a setting she saved up for..because she knew Kessie loved it so much. She saved tips for a month to afford it, but the stone was unusual, and the jeweler said it was like nothing he'd ever seen before. Kessie never took it off and felt safe with it, because her mother told her it was her good luck charm and nothing could harm her as long as she kept it on. Kessie loved the gate, which wasn't standing or anything that anyone else was very aware of.. it was an old iron gate that was on the ground entangled with ivy that had grown wild. The gate seemed magical, because of the carvings. The carvings showed winged ladies and unicorns, things she'd seen in her story books..things that she loved. Kessie and her mother made a pact, that the gate would be their secret place for feeling safe and sharing dreams. Kessie did feel safe here. Little Kessie thought she could open the gate and enter some wonderful fairy tale kingdom where no monsters could crawl on her face. Kessie made it to the gate, still not a soul even noticed her. It was getting very cold now, and Kessie was tired, and curled up right on top of the gate and began to sing herself to sleep..her body melted some of the snow away and had exposed the keyhole that kept the gate closed once long ago..and had locked it for eternity.. but as she lay curled up on her side, the stone from her necklace slipped into the key hole..and suddenly there came a greenish glow as the ground began to gently shake beneath the sleepy little girl. Kessie sat up and rubbed her eyes.. then she stood up..as the gate opened..and as it opened it stood upright, tearing the old dead ivy vines off as it opened further.. Kessie just stared and sort of smiled fearlessly. She looked beyond the now opened gate at a world so beautiful, so green, so bright and clean, and she saw the first of the pretty people, as she called them come toward her..... Kessie's mother had long since been awake and aware her daughter was missing..she called the police, the fire department, alerted all her neighbors, the vagrants, the prostitutes, anyone within earshot as she screamed and cried frantically for her missing child. She set off quite the alarm and people suddenly felt the need to help find the missing child. This time, for the first time in ages, people got involved. Megan McGuire, searched for her little girl for blocks, but didn't think of the park until she heard one of the hookers cry out "Hey! What's that glow coming from the park?" Then she knew that her little girl was there, at the secret gate, though she was horrified about the glow..she hurried to follow the crowd to where she knew would lead to her baby Kessie. It hadn't been easy raising Kessie on her own, without a husband, but she knew she couldn't give her up, and somehow, they'd survive . Now, having her out alone, in a crime-ridden city...made her wonder had she made the right decisions...Was she good enough a parent for her daughter? Tears streamed down her face as Megan reached the gate to find her daughter being held in the arms of a tall, rather regal man, unlike any man she'd ever seen. He seemed to be in his early 20's although his hair was long, and silverish white. His eyes were kind, and beautiful, but Megan caught her breath when she saw his ears, how unusual they were..like the elves in the fairy tale books she'd always read to Kessie. "Look Mommy," Kessie said with a soft sleepy voice.. Look Mommy.. the Fairy King Obydoby. Megan covered a laugh, because she knew that Kessie meant King Oberon, but it had been Kessie's way to make up names when she couldn't pronounce them correctly. Megan looked up to the man.. then approached him at the gate to reach for her daughter. Thank goodness you found her.....she trailed off as she looked at the gate that was now open and standing. Something she beheld as magic for the sake of her daughter had become true.. she wondered had this all been just a dream...then the man spoke.. Your youngling is Oaken soul our beloved gatekeeper..only those of Oaken soul can possess the key that opens the nexus between our worlds. Now, she must be protected. As he said this he began to turn back toward the gate with Kessie in his arms... No! Wait! I am her mother! You can't just take my child away from me! She has only me! I have only her in my life! Nooooo! She ran into the gate and into the altar world and grabbed onto the man's robes...please, let me be with my daughter. I love her! The man turned, Megan McGuire, you are the mother of Kessie, thus you may be with her, and you may reside here until the members of High Counsel have decided that humans may once again live among us..and we among them. Humans? You are not human? The man turned.. of course I am not human. I am an Elven Male. Call me Stryxn Moonsglo. Megan followed Stryxn, finding him breathtaking, if a bit arrogant, but loved how lovingly he held Kessie, and how she cuddled to him so trustingly. Megan trusted him too somehow. She felt a warmth from him that reminded her of home, when it was all good, and sweet. She continued to hold onto his robe as his long strides were difficult to keep up with. Finally, he arrived at a beautiful cottage with rather high doorways and windows. It was breathtaking. He entered the cottage, which was warm and inviting, and smelled of cinnamon bread baking in the oven. He took Kessie to a sweet little four poster bed, which was twined with morning glory vines in full bloom. Funny, beyond the gate..it was winter.. in this world, it was Spring. Stryxn laid Kessie into the bed and covered her with a hand-sewn quilt. Megan watched him and went to his side to kiss her little girl and to feel her brow, and tell her she loves her. Stryxn watched this ritual between mother and daughter and smiled a bit, though trying not to show his approval. After all, he'd never seen lips used in such a manner of affection, nor had he heard that funny little noise lips make as they contact other lips. He wondered what that felt like, and when he thought she wasn't looking, he tested his own on his hand.. when she caught him..he pretended he'd only been wiping his lips with the back of his hand. Come Megan McGuire, I will show you where you will rest during your stay. This cabin will be your home with Kessie McGuire, until High counsel decides what will be. Megan looked at him and spoke rather abruptly and loudly.. I'm sorry, kind sir, but Kessie is my daughter and no counsel on the planet is going to make a decision that will change that fact. Where Kessie is..so shall I be! Stryxn admired her strength and her animation.. .how her lips formed the words, the fire of her crimson hair that flowed over her shoulders and down her back wild and unbrushed, it was still beautiful. He watched her green eyes, almost grown more emerald with her passion. Stryxn smiled at her more as he noticed the speckled spots that dotted over her lovely small nose and her rosy cheeks. "As you will M'lady, As you will." Now go and rest...tomorrow is a new adventure for your kind..and for my kind. Kessie has opened the gate. Just outside the gate, where the crowd had gathered, were stunned people, lost as to how or why they stood where they stood and lost as to whether it had been a dream. Ambiguous, and tired, they mumbled something about a lost little girl..then slowly went back to where ever they came from and whatever it was they were doing before hand. Some speculated that they had been the victims of either a hoax or an alien abduction.... they called it the lost time syndrome. It had been scuttle butt for a bit until as all those kinds of tabloid like stories do.. it faded. Weeks had passed since what some still think was just some weird dream. High Counsel had met and decided that it would be safe to send scouts out into the human city to see if time was again that they could share the corporeal earth. And they decided that Kessie and Megan were to remain in their world , so that the Oaken Spirit could be kept safe. Kessie would be regarded as a Queen, and she would be given knowledge and privilege as she matured, but she would never be allowed beyond the gate into the human world again. It would be too dangerous. Megan would have to remain here as well, for the time being. Since there was no male in their lives, High Counsel assigned Stryxn as their guardian and mentor. He was to reside with them in the cabin, but not as mate. He had his own room, and he was to adhere to Elven law about breeding rites, and how they were restricted to his kind only.