I'm baa-aack!

*crickets chirp*

All: *are silent*

Insomnia: *blows a kazoo*

Kazoo: *"phhhh-bweeeeeee"*

…fine, then don't be excited, you mean people. *cough* Anyway, you know what time it is---yup! It's time for the extremely long author's note with no useful content whatsoever that every reader hates! YAY!

Number one: recently, a friend of mine brought to my attention a small problem. Apparently, in the Harry Potter world, "The Great Hall" is the name of the place they eat or something; I wouldn't know, as I haven't read the books or seen the movies, but that's what she said. I want to clarify that point right here and now: the Great Hall in my stories is not a mess hall. It's a room for the High Seekers, sort of like a recreation room. I picture it as having a fireplace, maybe a tapestry or two, nice carpeting, vases, etc. Nice sitting-room-type place.

On to number two. The same friend, after reading the second chapter, asked me why I'd dedicated it to NightDragon. Please, don't think that I was slighting my other reviewers. It's just that I wanted to give NightDragon a special thank you, and that seemed the best way to do it. Why? Because she's a very good writer; she's my first, friendliest, and longest reviewer; and because it gives me a lot of encouragement to know that there's another girl out there writing NID fan fiction like me, and she's looking forward to reading my stuff like I look forward to reading hers. She was kind enough to provide me with color pictures of the Minions, as well. And, though I never told her, Lorelei used to be my penname. *grin* And she likes Jackle. How could I not think her great?

Okay, last thing. I used to spell NiGHTS as Nights, because the capitals seemed to distract peoples' eyes from further up the page; however I've been hanging around the Dream Realm message boards a lot lately, and while there I make a conscious effort to spell the maren's name right. It's become habit, and by now when I'm writing I instantly spell it with the caps. After a heap of deliberation---

AC: She was eating cheese doodles and watching The Three Stooges with her brother.

After A HEAP OF DELIBERATION, I figured ah, what the heck. Spell it like it should be spelled, and make NightDragon and BlackFox happy. So from this point on he's NiGHTS, like he should be.

Not to mention a subtle hint from NightDragon that my version of his name was improper…^.^

Oh yeah, one more thing. Nightmaren. When referring to "nightmaren", I mean either the High Seekers or, more often, dream creatures which resemble Nights or Reala. You know, general human body shape, round head, big cat eyes, etc. In my stories I have quite a lot of the little buggers---

Insomnia: LITTLE BUGGERS?!

---and they're all lower on big heap-um's---Wizeman's---totem pole than the High Seekers. Ranks of soldiers, if you will. There's a lot of them. *nods* I know, I know, that's not canon, and Wizeman has no need for a giant fighting force when he himself is more powerful than NiGHTS, Reala, Bill Clinton, broccoli, and even that Ash kid from Pokemon, but this is artistic license at work again. I LIKE my maren, thank you. Cope with 'em.

There, end of long boring author's note. Now you can read the actual story. As always, please review; I only bother posting this stuff when I know someone's reading it. Thanks to all the people who reviewed my other stories; it's because of you I sat down and got this thing finished. Not to mention every time I get a review it makes my day because writing is, essentially, my life. Thanks!

__________: The disclaimer that's supposed to say I don't own these characters was blown up. Seems to happen a lot around here.

Jackle: *from another room* GIMME BACK MY EXPLODING CARDS!!

The River Shall Flood

Slow river, tarnished water

Silent already with the sense of sea---

Hold us a little in your drifting thought,

O silent, sad river! We,

We too forefeel; we too remember;

Destiny awaits us as it waits for you

Beyond the sea-fall on those shuddering beaches…

Chapter One:

The Clouds Have Gathered

Questo quid juris.

{Latin excerpt from The Canterbury Tales. "The question is, what is the point of the law?"}

Lunch at Nightmare Castle was a noisy event. Of course, this was the normal state of affairs, but today the talking reached a new record of sheer length and decibel levels. The Dining Hall was filled with nightmaren, all talking excitedly with their neighbors about Wizeman's announcement that morning. Which wasn't really surprising, as taking over the Waking World isn't something that is done every day.

Hist wrinkled his nose in disgust. Couldn't these idiots ever let him have a quiet lunch? He'd been looking forward to being able to think over the morning's events, and he couldn't even hear his own thoughts in this noisy room. It seemed every nightmaren and his brother was either boasting he'd be the one to find a Red Ideya or verbally pondering what the Waking World would be like. Didn't the fools see this was more then a simple game? If they hadn't found a Red Ideya yet, they certainly weren't going to within the next few days. And taking over a world, even with Wizeman's leadership, wasn't simply the work of an hour. Fools.

As usual, within five minutes he was fed up with the chatter and took his lunch out to the wall top. It wasn't the most comfortable place to eat, but at least it was quiet up there.

Normally Jackle didn't mind the noise in the Dining Hall; it was loud, to be sure, but not deafening. Besides, he liked being around other people. Talking didn't bother him.

However, there was such a thing as absurd levels of noise, and the occupants of the Dining Hall had reached them some time ago. His ears were beginning to hurt.

Sighing, he slipped a roll and some cheese into a cloth and headed for his room; he wanted to think, and Dining Hall obviously wasn't the place to do it.

His bedroom was as quiet as it had been during the night. The walls around here seemed to absorb sound, making it difficult to hear what was going on in the next room. Right now Jackle was very thankful for their blocking ability. He went out on the balcony, sat down, and began to eat. The food wasn't half as good as the stuff he could have gotten if he'd gone to his seat in Dining Hall---after all, he was a High Seeker, and as a rule they were fed very well---but better a loaf of bread in silence then a steak dinner in a wind tunnel, or something that was reaching the near proximity of a wind tunnel's noise.

A cawing at his shoulder alerted him of a visitor. "Hello, AC."

AC, perched on the balcony railing behind him, cawed again. Jackle smiled and broke off a piece of cheese, waiting until the crow hopped onto his shoulder before giving it to him. AC immediately began attacking the cheese like there was no tomorrow.

"You know, I read a story just two days ago about a crow who had a piece of cheese," Jackle remarked absent-mindedly, looking out across the dream-landscape with fond eyes. "He had a big chunk of it, and he had it in his beak, just like you. A fox came along, and when he saw the cheese, he asked the crow to sing. The crow was flattered and opened his mouth to oblige him, and of course you know what happened."

AC cawed, being careful to take the cheese in a firm grip with his left foot before he did so.

"Yep. The cheese fell, and the fox ate it. And that was that."

The crow bobbed his head once, and then went back to eating his meal. Jackle grinned and scratched the ebony feathers around the bird's neck, speaking as he did so. "That's what I like about you, AC. You're a good listener."

He sighed and brought his wrist up to his shoulder, letting AC, still holding his cheese, hop on for a face-to-face conversation. "And I need someone to talk to."

The crow paused in his attack of the cheese and waited, eyes glinting with a strange intelligence. Jackle paused to reassure himself before continuing.

"I heard them again, AC. The voices. I don't know what's wrong with me---why am I hearing things like this?"

AC cocked his head to one side, cheese forgotten, his eyes gleaming in a silent query. "No, I don't mean at night---I've gotten used to that. I mean…" He looked down, his voice becoming soft. "I heard them this morning. While I was awake."

The crow blinked, but did nothing.

Jackle seemed to be at a loss. "I know it sounds weird, but I heard them! I really did!" He paused as AC bobbed his head. "Yeah, I know you believe me. I'm just trying to convince myself. I mean, hearing them at night I can cope with---it's just a weird side effect of being different, right?"

AC turned his head, giving the demi-maren a one-eye stare. Jackle sighed. "Well, it was the only explanation we could come up with, right? And I was getting used to it, too…But now I heard them while I was awake…"

He looked lost, like a child who has just realized the person he's been following through the store is not his mother. His eyes were frightened, and his voice was unnaturally young-sounding. "AC, what's wrong with me?"

The crow could not answer. He only cawed, which could mean anything. Or nothing.

Jackle shivered a bit, unconsciously drawing further into his mantle. "I don't know what's going on, but there's something that's not right. I shouldn't be hearing things, they shouldn't be there. That's not supposed to happen, AC! Only---only insane people hear voices in their head! And I'm not insane. I'm just, y'know, loony sometimes…"

AC gave him a look of disbelief. Jackle was about to protest; then, his expression faded into a grin. "Oh, shut up."

AC cawed, the sound eerily resembling a laugh. After a moment Jackle's chuckle joined in, and the two friends lost themselves in wild laughter.

Insomnia, flying nearby at the time, freaked.

NiGHTS, coming into the Dining Hall, was nearly blown back out by the sheer amount of noise flying through the air. Chuckling, he sallied onwards, making his way through the maze of tables until he found the one he was looking for. Quite a few younger nightmaren were gathered about it, all talking excitedly about the new adventure. Striding up, he paused at the head and cleared his throat.

Instantly every one of the youngsters at the table had quieted. As one they stood, giving him a group salute. He let his gaze travel the length of the table, evaluating the straightness of their stance and quickness of their response; finally, he nodded. The group relaxed and sat back down.

Grinning, NiGHTS plopped into the nearest empty seat. "Glad that's over with," someone said.

Another young maren, a girl who went by the name of Jitters, nodded in agreement. "Too bad we can't just ditch the whole stand and salute thing, huh?"

NiGHTS took the bowl offered him and began to serve himself some mashed potatoes. "Yeah, but you know Reala. My brother'd have a fit if I just walked up and sat down like a perfectly normal person."

"Actually, he probably wouldn't have a problem with that," said a feminine voice behind him. He glanced back to see Puffy. "It's Clawz you'd have on your back."

"True," chuckled NiGHTS. "He'd have a fit. 'You're a High Seeker, for goodness' sake, NiGHTS! You can't just walk up and act like you're normal! You shouldn't even be sitting with the crowd,' yadda yadda yadda. That cat needs to learn to loosen up a bit with the rules."

"He does need to calm down," admitted Puffy. "But he stays on Wizeman's good side."

"By following every rule in the book."

"At least he'll never get in trouble for rebelling," replied Puffy, and bounced away towards her seat.

"He'll also never have any fun," retorted NiGHTS before turning back to his lunch. Within minutes he was involved in a cheerful conversation with the younger nightmaren as to what the Waking World would look like, and the subject of rules and rebelling was forgotten.

Reala walked into the Dining Hall, took one look around, and walked back out.