This ship or whatever it was called was too big. That much Alanna had decided, having already gotten lost more times then her pride would let her admit. Big and strange were the best words that she could come up with to describe it, but it was not actually unpleasant so far. It could be a bit lonely at times without her friends, but she had her brother here and that was something to cherish in itself. She comforted herself with the thought that her friends were sleeping safely in that cavern where she'd woken up though. If they woke up, then she'd be glad to see them. If they did not, then she'd see them when this war was done and their world restored. And that was what she believed. She didn't see any point in dwelling on the negative. This was hardly the first time that she'd gone traveling without her friends, although... it was admittedly the first time she'd done so when not on their world anymore.

She sighed as she entered the next room, her thoughts drifting to the palace before she could stop them. In her mind's eye, she could picture the beautifully decorated walls of the castle and how comfortable she felt when there, assuming that she didn't need to attend any silly formal functions. Looking back on it now, it was funny to think that she hadn't always felt that way, but she supposed that was what happened when you spent so long living and working in one spot surrounding by people that you cared for deeply. It had been her home for years and she still thought of that way for the most part.

Looking around the room, it seemed to Alanna that could physically see the castle walls around her. It was kind of a surprise as her imagination was not usually so vivid, but it wasn't as though...

Then she froze and really stared at one of the walls. That didn't look like a figment of her imagination. It looked real, but that wasn't possible. The palace had been destroyed along with Tortall. She stepped closer and reached out her hand to touch the wall, jerking it back quickly when her hand hit what felt like a solid wall, her other hand flying to the Goddess' token around her neck. What type of sorcery was this? She clutched the ember stone tightly as she looked for signs of magic, but her amulet revealed nothing. Was this not caused by magic then or was it just something that her amulet couldn't detect? It didn't usually fail to react.

With her mind now cleared of all thoughts of anything except the strange things going on in this room, the image of the palace faded away, leaving Alanna with little more then confusion. She reached for her Gift and tried to use it to investigate the room, but she found nothing with it. That was not encouraging.

What had just happened? Why had the palace appeared out of nowhere like that? It obviously hadn't been real given that it was gone now. Not only had it appeared, but it had appeared right when she'd been thinking of it.

That thought caused her to pause. From what she'd learned so far, the ship that they were living on was alive in some sense of the word at least and that it had some very unusual capabilities. Had it... done that? Could it do that? It was hard to believe that it was a coincidence that the castle had appeared just when she'd been thinking of it.

She tried again, this time picturing Pirate's Swoop in her mind as she'd last seen it. Sure enough it appeared just as she'd remembered it. The tall walls, although still in the process of being redone since she and George had moved in, were beautiful and the image of her home managed to put a smile on Alanna's face.

As she walked the halls of the Swoop though, the smile faded some. Being able to see her home was nice, but it was the people who really made it home. She prevented her thoughts of drifting to George though, not sure what would happen if she wished to see him. There was no doubt that she would love to see George, but she wanted to see the real him and not some imitation, no matter how real whatever controlled this room could make him seem.

Still, she'd enjoy what she could get from the experience and if this was the only way to see her home then so be it. Her mind turned again, this time picturing the Bloody Hawk village in her mind, the Great Southern Desert all around them.

Sleeping, is what. Now, Ellyn had not intended to come to the Media Library to sleep, but the book she had chosen had sealed the deal. It was yet another treatise on magic by the Endless--"A Dissertation on the Vagaries of Elemental Magic". Required reading back at the Elemental College. Dry as a bone.

Even now, that book was sitting in her lap. Ellyn herself had her head thrown back on the fattychair she was sitting on, sprawling bonelessly across it. Only the fact that she'd had her robe closed protected the book from sliding onto the floor.

Every once in a while, she let out a loud, rumbling snore. It was sort of like a small, localized thunderstorm had rolled in, only without any rain...