[Sabrina]

Xanth, who was Xanth? There should have been an Elysian Handbook, like those books at home such as "Computing for Dummies". Well, Sabrina would really appreciate a book called "Elysia, Another Dimension for Dummies". That'd be a great help to all the newcomers like her, the people who knew nothing of Elysia and its secrets. Of its races. She barely came to terms with all the abnormal powers everyone around her seemed to possess, or, to tell the truth, did not have much of a clue about what she could do, nevermind anybody else. The only races she knew about were Anyeli, Therians and Nymphs. The only reason she knew about them was because they were typical; everyone on Earth knew that Angels were well-known throughout mythology, as were shapeshifters and abnormally beautiful people. The latter because she was one.

William had always had the brains of the family. He was full of knowledge and interesting comments, and although Sabs was quite an intelligent girl, she was always in the shadow of the middle brother in terms of intellect. Sure, she didn't mind, but it meant that she needed to make a phone call to him. The Casius family had always known Will would make it somewhere on his own, and indeed he was in university in England at the moment. Cambrige, they called it, supposedly very, very fussy with its applicants. Sabrina didn't see the difference in going to a normal university, as opposed to going to 'Cambridge'. But it mattered to Will, she guessed. William was quiet and studious, hard-working and intelligent, and he'd make a great scientist; he was studying Forensic Science.

Just call him Miss Marple.

Stan had always teased Will for his intelligence - was there one person Stan didn't tease? - and his fetish for watching murder mysteries on the television with Sabrina. And this was thus how he obtained the nickname 'Miss Marple'. Sabs wondered if he'd prefer being called Sherlock Holmes instead, and she could be Watson. She'd never really understood the murder mysteries, whereas about 95% of the time Will had suspected the right person to be the murderer. She didn't get how the cops, or Miss Marple, could figure out who did it. She tried. But that was a telltale that she wasn't as renowned for her brains as her brother. But back to the present.

With a phone call to her brother William, who had cheerfully answered the phone and informed her he was doing extremely well over there in England, Sabrina had learned a lot of things about Elysia. Xanth was a deity, a goddess, and she was the creator of Elysia. She had lots of different powers and she could kill in the blink of an eye - "I always was a good girl anyway," Sabrina had commented innocently - and supposedly had some henchman (if you will) called Aides. And then a quarter of an hour later, Sabrina had known the basics of the different races, the distinctive features to tell them apart. Except 'shifters, Will had said Sabs would never know they were 'shifters unless something out of the ordinary happened like random morphing limbs or something.

All in all, Sabrina was a good two steps further in her knowledge of this other dimension, a little more informed. The call had lasted for a good hour, and after that Will had had to go to class or something. Sabs had set out in a red elbow-length top and a white cotton skirt to allow the breeze around her thighs, a small red bow perched atop her jet black hair and flip-flops on her feet, the type you take to a beach in California to prevent your feet from frazzling on the tarmac of the promenade. Just call her Snow White, with her ivory skin and her ebony hair, and her cryptic disability to go out into the sun and obtain a nice brown tan. Sure, make fun of Miss Vampire.

It hadn't taken long to reach the Statue, and Sabrina secretly thanked Xanth for that; the sun seemed to be blazing down on her fair skin even though it was only Spring in the underground. Sabs wondered if vampires had skin problems because of not being able to get any Vitamin D. Or if vampires actually burned in the sun. Stan had always said that crispified, like what your take-away fried chicken does when you forget to eat it and you put it in the microwave. Crispify. Sabs wondered if going out into the sun had the same effect on vampires as the microwave did on last night's fried chicken.

Gently dangling from her hand, Sabrina held a bracelet that had been passed down for four generations in her family, which held no use but sentimentally. It was silver, with six little charms hanging from it; a delicate Nymph with a seductive smile, a vampire who bared his fangs, a beast dragon with his maw open, as if to let out a jet of flame, a small figure with bat wings and small horns, an anyelos with angelic wings, and a humanoid creature who seemed to be half wolf, half man; a shifter seemingly halfway through shifting. It was a beautiful little piece of craftsmanship, but Sabs supposed she should make an impression on her goddess. After all, she didn't want to be killed in the blink of an eye.

Sabrina looked around at her surroundings, admiring the beautifully cultivated Quadrangle with its rhythmatically swaying flowers and its trimmed green verge. She touched one of the flowers, a purple pansy, it looked like to her, awed by how pretty the whole area was. Sabs turned around and took tentative steps to the statue, keeping eye contact with the towering purple statue. It might've been just her, but it seemed as if Xanth was just about to leap up into the air from her plateau and begin throwing lightning bolts at the nymph girl. But that was just paranoia wearing in. She knelt down and placed the silver bracelet into the bowl nearest to her, head bowed. Respect had to be the key.

[Xanth]

As Sabrina knelt before the statue with her head bent, a young girl no more than twelve knelt beside her and mimicked the Nymph's pose. Violet eyes sparkling with happy mischief as a tangle of wheat-gold hair fell into her eyes, the girl didn't say anything at first, simply placed her hands together as if about to pray and closed her eyes, her face tipped up to the statue.

It was not at all obvious that this child was anything more than human. The heavy near-denim fabric of her pink jeans was wet and muddied at the hem, as if she'd been playing in the grass. She could have been any of the number of children who could be found rampaging through the Underground on a daily basis, enjoying the faux sunlight and safety of the caverns.

Xanth opened one eye and peered sideways at Sabrina for a moment, a grin erupting as she lunged forward excitedly to snatch the offered bracelet out of the bowl. If Sabrina knew anything about Xanthorra, she would perhaps realise that no one but the goddess herself, and her acolyte, could take items from the bowls once placed there, but this was not common knowledge and, at any rate, Xanth's actions were likely too fast for the Nymph to have time to consider it.

Lifting the bracelet to inspect it, Xanth, in her excitable child's voice, said, "Oooh, it's lovely!" She had received plenty of offerings before, including a large variety of jewellery, but this intrigued and appealed to her enough for her to want to wear it.

Flopping back onto her bottom, she rolled up the bottom of her jeans to reveal a bare foot and began to fasten the beautiful bracelet around her ankle, beaming happily. "Thanks ever so much, Sabrina!"

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[Sabrina]

If someone is not used to things that were out of the ordinary, or at least perhaps considered so on Earth, then they should suppose that, being in another dimension, that these things are bound to happen. Cultural and behavioural patterns were not at all similar to Earth, and on Earth, things are so much less abnormal. But the people who lived here, would they consider, for example, taxis or Buckingham Palace abnormal? Fast food restaurants, like McDonalds? It all depended where you had been raised for enough of your life to influence the way you thought and acted. So when Sabrina had opened her eyes, and had then laid eyes on the small girl with the odd purple coloured eyes and the stark blonde hair. Blinking four times in succession, having not at all heard her approach, curiosity quickly transformed to surprise.

Because the girl then snatched Sabrina’s offering for the bowl, with an emotion that was blatant delight, and proceeded to put the bracelet on. Now Sabrina had never been used to things like this, and her face was one of surprise mixed with slight anguish. Despair at the slight anger that rushed through her, but never enough to blame the child’s own curiosity. Despair that she was non-violent, and more despair that even she was free to use violence she wouldn’t use it anyway. And yet even more despair that her good intentions had been thwarted by the intrigue of a child.

Frustration when the pretty little girl used the nymph’s name. And dismissal at the irrelevant thought, deciding she maybe had the ability to read minds.

"Aren’t you going to put that back? That’s for Xanth, you know," Sabrina asked gently, chewing her bottom lip until the beginning of her smooth pale skin was slightly raw and pink. "I’m sure she wouldn’t be very happy that someone had taken her offerings." Bite the bullet, Sabs, a mental voice suggested. No, because the expression of pure euphoria on the small girl’s face was making Sabs’ heart melt. Worry that her old habit of discussing the things on her mind with herself had arisen again. Old habits should die hard, if you asked the poor black-haired girl.

All in all, Sabrina had felt a lot of emotions in a very short space of time, and grimaced inwardly at this. Elysia was, to say in the least, an interesting place. The small fact that she was a stranger to it made everything a little better, it was like abnormality was attracted to Elysia. Sabs ought to be getting used to it, and she should be pitying the girl. Or at least, that was conscience’s opinion. "Hey, why don’t you keep that? I’m sure Xanth won’t mind, and I guess that I don’t either."

[Xanth]

Xanth was not above testing the sincerity of those who left offerings for her but this was truly not such a test. Had it been, however, Sabrina would have passed with flying colours, not through dedication to Xanth, because blind adoration had never appealed to her, but because of her kindness and generosity.

Acknowledging the girl's double sacrifice, first to offer the prized bracelet and second to forsake any better she might have received from the offering simply so she might not disappoint a stranger, Xanth paused and looked at the Nymph. The bracelet hung loosely around her ankle, too big for a child but a perfect fit for her adult form. Xanth's eyes no longer sparkled with mischief but with appreciation. Her face, though still that of a child, held a much more mature, mysterious expression, hinting at something beyond the surface.

Her tone took on a grave seriousness as she looked at Sabrina and smiled serenely. "Thank you, Sabrina." Scrambling to her feet, echoes of childish exuberation still apparent in her movements, Xanth nevertheless looked down at Sabrina with dignity and wisdom beyond her apparent years. "Welcome to Elysia, child. Do not fret, you will do just fine here."

Bestowing a final, beaming smile on the Nymph, Xanth spun on her bare feet and chased across the quadrangle with an excited squeal, darting behind a tree with a delighted squeal that faded suddenly as if the child was no longer there.

ooc; Xanth has left the thread.

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[Sabrina]

Unsuspecting as to who the girl really was, Sabrina simply watched her, satisfied that her gift delighted the child. To her, one of the best emotions that anyone could feel was warmth that they had done a good deed. She wasn't a selfish child, nor undeserving or oblivious to those around her. It wasn't that she had no faith or doubts of Xanth's existance, or that she didn't want to not be in the goddess's good books, but more of the fact that the sensitive girl was prone to being swayed easily. In this case it was because an innocent child had taken an interest to the beautiful piece of craftsmanship, and thus the Nymph had done what she thought right.

The childish judgement of right and wrong was not accurate, a child could be mistaken and have no-one to teach him or her how the world really worked. Sabrina's judgemental behaviour for this could be seen as only slightly more mature, a little bit less innocent. She thought that justice could come easily to those who needed it, and by positive thoughts and feelings, everything would be better. Genorisity was one of her more stronger attributes, and she had no idea whether it would get her anywhere... or not.

"Thank you, Sabrina." Sabrina quietly looked up and returned the child's smile, her own expression near mirroring the small girl's. The pleasure of someone else was reward enough for her, especially if they were a child. "I hope you like it. It looks so pretty on your ankle." Her pleasant smile extended into a grin, happily radiating her pleasure for the child's gratitude. Of course, she was very unsuspecting as to who this adorable little girl, with her pretty blonde hair, was.

Her last words created confusion in the Nymph, and, giving her a quizzical look, she watched the small form run away with the innocence of a child. Sabrina was utterly confused by how she ended up being the child, and shook her head as she rose to her feet. Nevermind. Brief suspicion had crossed her face, but she couldn't be bothered to put two and two together. Being a detective was Will's job. On her way out of the Quadrangle, Sabrina paused next to a tree, and placed a hand on it. Life seemed to flow within it, she could faintly feel it. A smile on her face at the beautifully cultivated garden, Sabs left. Back to civillisation.