"Who am I?"
"Who are you?"
"Who is he?"
"Isn't he Cleverer?"
"Indeed." he says to the one who said cleverer.
Wilhelm looks from one person to the next, trying to make head or tails of what they're saying.
He finally looks at the apparent (to him) leader, the one who spoke to the one who said cleverer (aka the Blue Man). [color=green]"Will someone please tell me what's going on?"
"What's going on?"
"She doesn't know?"
"Who is she?"
"I guess she's not cleverer?"
"Quite."
"The time of sorrow was ending."
"Reunification was at hand."
"You started the story," he says to Wilhelm.
"And now it is coming to an end."
"Are you ready?" He asks Wilhelm.
[color=green]"Not very clever at all, it seems," Wilhelm mutters before he realizes that the villagers (if that's who they really are) are calling her "she"...which surprises her greatly, since he doesn't even use the feminine to describe himself in his thoughts anymore.
[color=green]"'Time of sorrow'? Whose sorrow? And why?"
"The prodigal daughter has returned."
"And she still doesn't know."
"What's a prodigal?"
"Does she know it was cleverly orchestrated by Mary Neat?"
"Probably not."
Wilhelm does notice that these "people" aren't the revelers, and that they aren't dressed the same as the village folk. She can identify several familiar faces, and even several faces who have their mothers' and fathers' features. She also notices that the people speaking to her aren't dressed as the villagers, and stand apart from them, with Wilhelm, observing the villagers in celebration.
((Ah, it makes a little more sense. I was thinking that the speakers were either the revelers or fae disguised as the villagers/revelers.))
Wilhelm stands there stunned as what they're telling her sinks in. My family grieved when I left? he thinks. I didn't think they'd want me around, that it would be too painful after what happened to Papa. Was I wrong? And why are the Merinita so concerned? Or is it just Kirstyn?
After a moment, he nods. [color=green]"I'm ready."
"Well, of course you are. No journey begins before the person is ready, though they may not realize it."
"She still doesn't know."
"Nor do I."
"Is the clever woman's mind working?"
"Probably so."
The singing of the revelers seems to draw at Wilhelm, and her heart begins thumping.
"Can you feel the drum beat with your pulse?"
"She's been gone for so long."
"Indeed, we have been too long separated."
"She was cleverly hidden."
"Perhaps no longer."
Wilhelm begins to feel uncomfortable in his clothes, and her bosom pushes at the bandages undoubtedly holding them back. Her clothes begin to transform, the snow swirls violently around her disrupting her vision of what is exactly happening, but she feels the clothes, and everything she's wearing removed from her body. When the snow clears from Wilhelm's vision, she's wearing a brilliant dark blue dress of velvet, and never has she worn something so fine.
Wilhelm, or Wilhelma now, looks at herself as best she can, too shocked for words. She looks around for a mirror or a pond or something so she can see better what happened, what she's wearing now.
[color=green]"What is this?" she yells at the Blue Man, tugging at her dress. [color=green]"This isn't me! This isn't even Wilhelma, and I've not been her for twenty-five years! Change me back!"
"No."
"Not quite yet."
"Perhaps you are dressed as the lost Wilhelma that should have been?"
"She was cleverly hidden."
"Perhaps no longer."
"We took her from you."
"And now she is returned to you."
"The man who was a girl becomes the woman she never was."
"She was cleverly hidden."
"Perhaps you can say a proper goodbye."
[color=green]"Wait...are you telling me that you're the reason I...that I had to leave Rötenbach? she says, her anger turning to confusion, then concern.
[color=green]"Say goodbye? Goodbye to who?" She looks around to see if any of her family are among the revelers.
Another voice sings out, but unseen. "I have toiled for years to bring this about. You can choose to say goodbye to Wilhelma. You can choose to say good by to Wilhelm. Or you can choose to stay as you are. This gathering is for you, sister. An attempt to allow you to reclaim that which you lost, or gain what you really want."
Wilhelm/a doesn't say anything, but looks around trying to figure out where the voice is coming from, or who spoke.
"Talk to her."
"You know her."
"Correction, she knew her when. Alas, it was a long time ago."
"She was so clever to unravel the story."
"A Merinitae, sacrificing to change a story."
[/quote]
"She knew her when", Wilhelm/a thinks, replaying what the faeries said in her mind. "A Merinitae, sacrificing to change a story."
[color=green]"Kirstyn?" he calls out. [color=green]"Is that you?"
((Yes, I'm being intentionally careless with Wilhelm's gender in the narrative. Reflective of the transitional nature of the Story, and the confusion that Wilhelm/a is dealing with at the moment.))
"I have not heard that name in some time, sister. It's taken an enormous amount of effort to find you, and bring you here. You need to choose quickly, the threads of the story are beginning to unravel." Kirstyn voice is strained, as if she's doing something far beyond her capability, concentrating very hard, or carrying a burden to heavy for her.
"What would happen if I pull this thread?"
"Let's unravel the tapestry."
"And weave a new story."
"Are we so clever to unravel the unraveling?"
"Vanity."
The aspect of the fairies is a bit darker, and the weather, while it was snowing never seemed very cold before, but now it's beginning to feel colder, and the wind is cutting through Wilhelma's clothes like a knife.
[color=green]"My name is Wilhelm Hiltprantin. Wilhelma died shortly after my father...or the man I thought was my father did. And I have no regrets about her death. Let me live the life I have chosen."
"Let the man be a man??"
"Let's unravel the tapestry."
"Or let the woman be a man?."
"Unravel the woman, to unravel the life?"
"Vanity."
"Do I call you my brother, or are you my brother?" Kyrstin asks. The snow turns to ice, and it stings the faces of Wilhelm and the revelers. Wilhelm also notes that his body is shifting back and forth between sexes...
[color=green]"I have never been a woman in my life, my sister. I have lived as a man as long as I can remember, and I am your brother."
The ice and snow begin swirling around Wilhelm again and begin shredding the dress, some of the ice crystals making it through to the skin. Wilhelm's groin, in fact is on fire and feels oddly swollen. When the snow clears, he's wearing his normal outfit. The pants are a bit tighter in the front,and the shirt doesn't feel so tight across the bosom.... And then he passes out.
Sometime later, Wilhelm awakens in what he remembers to be his bed as a child, a voice calling out, "Wilhelm, wake up and eat so you can help your father."
Wilhelm blinks a couple of times and sits up, wondering for a moment if the whole thing was just a dream. [color=green]"I'll be there in a minute," he replies. (Does he recognize the voice?)
He then goes to the chamberpot/outhouse to relieve himself, turns to squat, and stifles a scream when he sees what he's got now. It takes him a minute or two to orient himself, probably makes a slight mess, and goes out to where the voice seemed to come from when he's done, feeling a little confused.
((Time to whip out the F.A.T.A.L. pdf to see what he's got...several dice rolls later Not bad.))