February 24, 2002

• Ok, here it is!  Finally my story again… geesh!  SOME people give me no break!  lol  I know I have been slacking a lot lately, but in all fairness, I have been a bit busy and preoccupied.  Mike’s surgery, my move and I am going for an interview in an hour for a part-time evening job too.  To supplement my income so I can get furnishings and so forth.

  
  

  Ok, now… I give you chapter 5 of A Quest for Love…

  
  

  Chapter 5 – Rises and Falls of the Heart

  
  

   

  
  

  Each new day brought more excitement with it seemingly, for Jen had been so depressed and felt so alone for some time. Now she had so many friends and a new interest of the heart as well. Getting things done such as work or errands was completed so she could make her way to the games and hopefully see Smaug and play with him. She knew many liked having him as their partner since he only infrequently lost a game. She noticed too that he had mostly female partners, quite a list, to her dismay. She hoped to get a game with him as she made her way there after her work today.

  
  

  He was not there when she arrived and she ended up playing with an old partner, but decided she would NOT go away from the others with him. She had told him since meeting the teacher and discussing it with him that she would rather just play cards and not become too close. He seemed to be ok with that and they played occasionally. Today was such a day. She thought he was a good spades player and he hated to lose. She played a game with him and began to chat with others in ‘the main’. That is the area where acquaintances are usually made and everyone can get in on the fun of a conversation. At the game tables, usually only the four players talk, so things can keep moving in the game. Sometimes good friends do stop by the tables and chat. It makes the game take longer though, but is a lot of fun too.

  
  

  Once the game with her former, usual partner ended, Jen sat in ‘the main’ hoping to chat a while and ended up getting into a conversation with the teacher she had met and had enjoyed conversing with so much a few days before. He had noticed with whom she had been playing and mentioned it. She thought he seemed more concerned than he need be about it. It was only a card game, no more. She could have taken it as an offense or prying, except she felt he was truly concerned for her well being and he had spent some time talking with her after her bad experience so recently. So she sat with him for a while and didn’t mind at all that he wanted to discuss this situation. She liked their easy flow of dialogue and his humour and sensitivity was such a nice change from her usual conversations with men. The thing she appreciated most had to be his verbal skills. He used words so well, and she had always been fairly good with words herself. It seemed a game to them already to play with words. She found herself caught up in the conversation with him and not really looking for her game with Smaug. Then he told her something that really made things difficult to understand. She knew about the ‘changers’ and that there were many there who could change. Her former partner had many identities. None very different from the other, all were human for the most part. This revelation from the teacher was a bit more difficult to take in or comprehend. It did, however, make some things easier to understand.

  
  

  As it turns out, this teacher happened to be a ‘changer’. Better than that, he had had games with her. Was she ready for this?? This human teacher was also her new favorite partner! Yes, none other than Smaug, the mighty dragon of the Basement!! Now things seemed to fall into place a bit and she was glad to know she was not feeling so drawn to two different personalities, but rather, the same in different forms. She wanted to know how the changing was done and he explained all to her. She not only understood, but could apparently be a changer as well. This bothered her to a degree. She really was not sure why one would want to change and not sure she felt she needed to do so herself. It was an intriguing idea though. Smaug explained he came as different beings to better keep watch and also because there were many who knew him as the teacher who would expect to monopolize his time, and as Smaug he was expected to be with certain ones too. So he could take on other identities to avoid hurting their feelings and still be there to guard and enjoy his time there. This made some sense to her. So she considered another ‘being’ she might like to become… in case.

  
  

  He shared some of the other identities he could be found using there. She knew he had more names and identities that he did not tell her. Ok, then, she would become a changer too. This could make things interesting. So she followed his instructions and to her amazement, she strolled back into Shiothore without anyone being aware. She still felt like herself and actually had to take care not to be so much herself that she gave it away. This was possibly going to be a fun thing. She was not really very good at deception and she felt a little awkward trying to play as though she were someone other than herself. Still, she felt some sense of power now that she had never known. She was still Jen, the innocent, fair maiden, but things looked quite different to her. One thing she knew would be not a problem was if she wanted to NOT play with the old partner, she could just be careful who she let be aware that this was her and he would never find out. She also knew another thing… she DID want Smaug to know it was her… so she went to look for him and share this new identity. To her dismay, he was nowhere to be found. Her heart sank. ‘Well, maybe later she thought.’ She hoped…

  
  

   

  • 1:53 pm
  • 6 Comments