“Depends on how much help I can get,” Bran said. “Up for a challenge? Question…Doris. There’s a rather substantial prize involved. Are you planning on spreading the wealth if you win?”
“Of course,” Doris said. “I mean, I need enough money to get a ride home, but you can have all the rest.”
“Wouldn’t want that much,” Bran said. “But I do this professionally. We’ll come to an equitable arrangement. You in, Anita?”
“Maybe,” Anita said, walking around Doris and inspecting her like a prize steer. “She’s got the looks, I think. Hard to tell under the clothes. Attitude: two. Major work there. Doing Dawn takes a ten attitude. And then there’s the question of costume. The easiest would be…”
“No costume is no costume,” Bran said. “Disqualification.”
“Excuse me?” Doris said. “What’s that mean? I can’t wear street clothes?”
“You could, but you’d never win,” Anita replied. “What Bran was saying is that occasionally a contestant simply wears no costume. As in nothing. Au naturale. En dishabille. Naked. Gets a hell of a round of applause, but it’s a disqualifier. Security also gets involved.”
“Uh…” Doris said, blushing. “I don’t think I could…”
“There have been Dawn winners that were clothed so fully you could barely see they were female,” Bran said. “But they had costumes that were, well, too elaborate for any reasonable chance we could make them in the next couple of days. Not to mention the cost. So one thing you’re going to have to get your head around is that you’re probably going to have to walk out in front of eight thousand strangers, if not nude, then damned close. If you can’t consider that, we might as well quit now.”
Doris thought about that and shivered involuntarily. The thought terrified her and at the same time, honestly, thrilled her just a bit. She wasn’t sure where that tendril of exhibitionism was coming from. In her heart she’d always wanted to be the pretty one, the noticed one. She hid because every time she tried to be noticed it had meant pain-mental, generally, but occasionally physical. But a part of her…
Was that what Duncan had been driving at? Was that her Stranger? And was it a Stranger or her true self? Could she get up in front of thousands of people, how was it Bran put it? Damned near nude?
Yes, she could. She would. She would do it. Because she suspected that strain of exhibitionism was more “her” than the shrinking wallflower she was now. And if she didn’t, she’d never know.
But the truth was…
“If I had to do it tonight, no,” she said. “But I will do it for the contest. I can do it. Will do it. I just need…”
“Don’t say time,” Anita said. “Or you’re just stalling.”
“No, I need practice,” Doris said. “I need to work up to it. Look, I’m just getting over my fear of crowds, okay? I’m going to have to get used to being…damned near nude around people. Fast. Or you’re right, it won’t work.”
“So now you need more than one costume,” Bran said, frowning.
“Hey, we’re experts,” Anita said. “In for a penny and all that. But here’s the question. Do you have any skills in costuming at all? Or do you expect us to do all the work?”
“I can sew,” Doris said. “I can sew really well.”
“That is music to my ears,” Bran said, grinning. “Because we may lay out the costume and do some of the appliances, but the big time-eater will be the sewing. If you can really sew, this is doable.”
“Okay, you need a costume for tonight,” Anita said, walking around her again. “And that, we don’t have time to sew.”
“Despite the red hair, let’s go Oriental,” Bran said. “I’ve got a kimono that might fit her. That’s pretty full coverage up, just showing a hint of cleavage. That way you can get used to being seen without too much boob showing. It’s going to be short, though.”
“I can handle that,” Doris said, gulping. “But…can I have a mask?”
“Hot glue is your friend, there,” Anita said.
“Why did I know you were going to say that?” Bran asked, shaking his head.
“Thanks,” Hjalmar said, taking the bottle of water from Sharice. “Any luck?”
They’d gotten registered, finally. It was nearly four by the time they were fully in place to start searching, and so far he hadn’t seen Janea pass by. He’d seen two or three girls that had the same look, but none of them Janea. Three hours in the hot Atlanta sun were wearing on him but he wasn’t going to stop looking. Janea wasn’t just a friend, she was a gydia of his Hearth, and the Asatru did not leave a Hearth member stuck on the astral plane. He’d stand out here until he keeled over from heatstroke first.
“Nada,” Sharice said. “I cruised the Marriott then headed over to the Hilton to look through the Dealers Room and the Exhibitors Hall. Drakon has been covering the Hyatt and he hasn’t seen her.”
“Speaking of the Dealers Room,” Hjalmar said. “Are you absolutely certain we’re not going to get into a furball here?”
“I hope not,” Sharice replied. “There’s security everywhere. Mystically, if I’m getting the metaphor right, that means that if you don’t toe the line you’re going to get stuck in a lower plane. Hel or Niflheim, in your case. There are places on the Moon Paths like that, places where you tread lightly or not at all. Think of it as a no-PVP section of an online game. I’m not even sure you can attack another entity.”
“So we are not going to get attacked and she is not going to get attacked,” Hjalmar said. “You’re positive?”
“You’re not, I can tell,” Sharice said.
“Call it my Viking side,” Hjalmar replied, shrugging. “I’m seeing a lot of weaponry. Sure, most of it is totally costuming. I don’t know what the reality of a plastic stormtrooper blaster is in this metaphor. But somebody used one hell of a lot of astral energy to get her stuck here. And Janea wasn’t going to take that sort of thing lying down. She’s a second-level adept and an Asatru, not a fluffy bunny hugger. She went out fighting, guaranteed. So…I don’t see them, whoever them is, just leaving her alone. And why here? What’s the significance of us being here? Of her being here? Not only the ‘here’ of Dragon*Con, but this particular section of the astral plane.”
“You really want me to get into a discussion of astral synchronicity and potentialities?” Sharice asked.
“Uh…no,” Hjalmar admitted. “I leave that up to you Wicca types. We are more the ‘Can I kill it, eat it or screw it?’ types.”
“Okay, short answer,” Sharice said, frowning. “Janea was stuck in a hostile zone. She was under attack. We managed to stop the attack and push her out of the hostile zone into one where she’s not under some sort of constant attack. The nature of this metaphor might be generated by Janea or it may be a standing metaphorical zone. Given the number of gifted people who go to Dragon*Con, it’s possible that it is maintained virtually constantly through dreaming. Time probably is different than the outside. An hour here may be seconds and it may be days. We won’t know until we return. Did they intend for her to end up here? Probably not. Does it have anything to do with the plans of the unknown ‘them’ working the mundane side? Hmmm…Possibly. Quantum synchronicity would call for it.”
“Okay, you just said quantum, at which point my brain turns off,” Hjalmar said.
“Heh,” Sharice replied. “Think of the otherworld as being a giant web with thousands of interconnected threads. Kick Janea out of the hostile zone in which they’d put her, call it the place of spiders, and fate, the Norns if you prefer, could put her anywhere. But she was in opposition to those unknown ‘them.’ That…keys her to try to fight on this side. Thus she is going to be in harmony, synchronicity, with a thread that places her still on the battlefield. Hmmm…”
“Okay, so now you’re starting to use logic to go with my gut,” Hjalmar said, nodding.
“You’re right, but it should not, given what I’m seeing, be an actual physical battle,” Sharice said, frowning. “The battle should be a metaphorical one…”
“And if the other side starts to lose?” Hjalmar asked.
“They would have to be desperate to engage in combat in this zone,” Sharice said, her brow furrowing. “But if they were…”
“Smackdown time,” Hjalmar finished. “Since they put Janea here, they presumably don’t want her active in the mundane realm.”
“With Barb taking over, their problems have increased tenfold, whether they know it or not,” Sharice pointed
