WaveDancers - the lost series

Some of you may remember the "Original" WaveDancers, a comic series from 1993/94 published by WaRP. It's about an air breathing, sea dwelling tribe of ElfQuest elves, whose founders were fugitives from the crashed Palace.

Story & Script - Julie Ditrich, Bruce Love
Pencils & Inks & Colors - Jozef Szekeres
Letters - Lorina Mapa

It was planned as a series of 4 chapters with 6 issues each. Due to artistic differencies and copyright issues the cooperation was cancelled after the first 6 issues. Those WaveDancers ended up non-canon and non-ElfQuest.
In the new WAVEDANCERS #1 and the following graphic novel it was declared a nightmare of the Broken One.

Some years ago I found a text summery of the published first chapter
"Search For the True Crown"
on the site of Black Mermaid Productions. And to my delight there were - more or less rough - scripts of the missing three chapters:
"Children of Recognition"
"Rescue of Rydos"
"Passage to Ausra"
It gives a conclusion of some sort.

I'll post my find here because I know that some of you like this series as much as I do.


All story, art, and characters are and Black Mermaid Productions 1994, except the titles "Elfquest" and "WaveDancers", the character "Winnowill" and the Elfquest environment and lore, as depicted herein, are Copyright and Trademark 1994 Warp Graphics, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Search For the True Crown
Issue 1

Our story starts with the first event of the Crowning Festival (duration: two turns of the Mother Moon) that cele-brates the return of Raenafel, the Crown, to her birthplace, the grotto-home of the WaveDancers. Raenafel and Sydor, the High One from the palace, sit in a place of honour within the beautiful grotto shaped into the cliff-face by the first-comers. They are surrounded by the colony of WaveDancers who are either audience mem-bers or participants in the dramatic re-enactment of the WaveDancer's history from the arrival of the palace to the journey of the High Ones to the Bay of Solitude. Maron, Paffa, Shoseabee, and Zadori tell the story with mask, movement and dance.

It is morning, but Raenafel's face is in shadow, and as the drama unfolds, Barmek circles the future Crown with suspicion in his eyes. The tale finishes with the introduction of Tilaweed representing the mer-elves, and re-counts the story of their ritual shape-change as a mark of respect to their mentors, the dolphins, and as an ad-aptation to their watery environment.

After the dramatisation, the elves embark on the Big Swim: a race for all of the WaveDancers, but Barmek is conspicuous by his absence. He watches from the clifftops above the grotto at the height of the mid-day sun, and is joined by Sleia, his best friend, who suspects that he is brooding after his humiliation from the night be-fore.
Sleia asks him why he is not participating, and he answers tongue-in-cheek that he wouldn't win against her anyway, and why wasn't she down there herself. She replies that she is concerned about him and would much rather be with him.

They decide to swim to the river, and dive from the clifftop into the water below. They swim up the Bay of Soli-tude to the mouth of the Shoaltail River which appears mysterious and foreboding and heralds an uncertain path that they both unknowingly must travel.

Back at the colony, Irralee, Shoresprout and Inkbottom rush in and tell Korillia, who is in a flap over lack of in-gredients for the feast she is to prepare for that night, that the victor of the Big Swim had been Hyfus. She is not interested, she is far too busy. She tells them to go and find some gull eggs, and they reluctantly go off to do her bidding. Shoresprout suggests they go via Tentus' cave (which is a lone rocky pillar divided from the head-land and the grotto) to check out any new booby-traps he might have come up with to keep them out, but Irra-lee accuses them of having no responsibility and being nothing but little squirts and goes her separate way to collect the eggs. Inkbottom excited by the suggestion joins Shoresprout in the invasion of Tentus' cave. After negotiating several harmless booby traps, they find him pale and ailing in his bed chamber. He tells them to fetch Rhialdor.

Meanwhile, Barmek and Sleia have become a trifle more adventurous and have decided to follow the river a little further inland than they previously have done. All the while Sleia is trying to encourage Barmek to cheer up by swinging on the vines and playing in the water, but Barmek has a serious face and Sleia confronts him about his behaviour. Barmek confides that he was responsible for Raenafel being sent away in the first place. He tells her (in flashback from his P.O.V.) of the time when he was a young squirt and he followed his mother, Kirith, to a secret place and came face-to-face with a young elf who had been kept in hiding from the rest of the colony. She was the daughter of Brom, the Crown at that time. She was a Child of Recognition, her name was Raenafel and it was obvious that she was in grave danger. She was immediately sent away because of his discovery.

When we come back to the present, it is late afternoon and the sun is beginning to set. Sleia doesn't under-stand Barmek's problem: the past was the past and Raenafel was back safely now and he has nothing to worry about. He tells her that that is the real problem: Raenafel wasn't back. Sleia tells him that he's not going to start the same nonsence he did last night. It is time to return, that they have wandered too far from the safety of their home. Barmek tells her that he is not going back: he is going to search for the True Crown. Sleia tells him that he is being stupid. And besides, where was he going to look anyway? He tells her that she needs to trust him. He only has two turns of the Mother Moon before the imposter is Crowned. He knows that Raenafel is out there somewhere: he can feel it. Sleia tells him she is going: he has no more chances left. He will have to do it on his own. He says goodbye and turns to go. She leaves.

A few hundred yards downriver, he slips and falls and before he knows it, a welcoming hand is lifting him back to safety. It is Sleia. They look seriously at one another and then a smile crosses their faces and they journey on silently arm in arm.

It is evening and considerably colder than they had imagined out there in the wild as they begin to adjust to a different and somewhat frightening environment. That night as they sit huddled and hungry, he thanks her for trusting him. He tells her that from the moment that the colony was introduced to the future Crown (24 hours before), he knew her to be false and besides where was No-Wing? He couldn't believe that No-Wing would stay at the palace and not return to its sea-home.

And he remembers (in flashback) Jormak proclaiming that Raenafel, the True Crown, had returned with Sydor, the High One, from the palace. And then we see, surrounded by cheering WaveDancers, the body and then the face of Winnowill.

Search For the True Crown
Issue 2

We pick up the action in the flashback sequence of the previous issue. On sighting Winnowill, Barmek protests that she is not the True Crown. There is stunned silence from the rest of the colony until one suggests that Raenafel alias Winnowill be taken to the one who knows. Winnowill is brought down to Kirith who with Brom had raised her from birth in the secret place many turns of the seasons before. Kirith's head is inclined and gradually Winnowill raises Kirith's chin. We see the fixed eyes of blindness. Kirith's hand goes up and touches Winnowill's face. Kirith is unsure, but Winnowill tells her of a private incident from their past that only Raenafel and Kirith would know. Kirith accepts her and Barmek's protests are ignored.

Barmek closes the flashback with his thoughts and feelings on the matter and huddles closely to Sleia as the sounds of hungry stomachs grumble in the night.

Cut to the feast in the grotto that very night. We see close-ups of wonderful food prepared by Koril-lia. Sydor and Winnowill are surrounded by eager, curious and chattering elves. There is a cacophony of conversation: for example, Korillia's constant need for reassurance about her meal preparation, an enquiry to Sydor about how he and Raenafel met which Sydor suitably deflects, the set-up of Hyfus' and Tilaweed's estrangement over their lost Child of Recognition, the first note of Barmek and Sleia's absence, Rhialdor's jester-like role in the community, and Korillia's refusal to serve octopus as part of the meal even though it is a great delicacy. The scene closes with Rhialdor announcing that he was summoned to Tentus' cave earlier that afternoon, and that Tentus has requested a visit from the two new arrivals.

Rhialdor takes Sydor and Winnowill to Tentus' cave and the Chamber of Remembrance which holds an enormous coral sculpture with dioramas set in it depicting the history of the WaveDancers. Tentus is still very sick, but he tells them of a special ability he possesses. From the taking of the first Child of Recognition many generations before, he has felt the sickness of an unknown presence upon him prior to each disappearance of a recognised child. And his whole being is now awash with that feel-ing; the threat of danger which has incapacitated him is stronger now than it has ever been before. He warns Raenafel alias Winnowill that "the dangers are many!"

Cut to Barmek (exit) pursued by a bear. The two travellers have had nothing of substance to eat all morning except for little red berries from bushes along the way. They are no longer travelling by river but have turned northeast through forest terrain in the direction of Barmek's calling. They discuss Barmek's failure to kill the bear for food and are unsure and totally ill-prepared for this new environ-ment which poses danger but also wonder at every turn. As they travel along feeding a little more on the red berries (dreamberries), they begin to feel a little fuzzy in the head and find that they are gig-gling at the slightest provocation. They encounter and begin to take an unusual interest in many alien creatures like grasshoppers. They also start to hallucinate.

At the colony the alarm goes out that Barmek and Sleia have been absent all night. The community congregates in the main chamber of the grotto and comments on the fact that this is not their way. No WaveDancer would stay away without telling others where they were going and what they were do-ing because of their painful history with the disappearances of the Children of Recognition. They begin to organise a search party for the missing two. Kirith asks Raenafel alias Winnowill to heal her sight, so that she can join the search for her son. Winnowill asks Kirith how and when the blindness came upon her. Kirith tells her the dream she had several nights before their arrival. She was alone in the middle of tiny rocky outcrop in the middle of a huge ocean. Her belly was swollen with child and she had her original legs. Suddenly Jormak appeared from beneath the waves. She tells him he must deliver the two children for her. And before she has a chance to say anything more, she feels the first birth pains, strains and he receives the first child and then the second with outstretched arms. He steps back holding the girl child in one arm and the boy child in the other. Kirith collapses to the rocks in great pain. When she looks up again she sees that Jormak has an arm around the grown woman, Raenafel, and his other arm around a grown man, Sydor. She strains again and falls onto her back. In the final after-birth delivery, two spiders run across her stomach and up to her face. They sit on her eyes and she wakes up, blind.
Sydor steps forward and speaks for Raenafel alias Winnowill. He tells Kirith that she has been given the gift of fore-sight, and that is why she understood their coming and why she sent Jormak out to greet and bring them home. But with every gift there is a taking. She must learn to accept her blind-ness.

Hyfus calls the group together and organises them to search for the two missing elves. Hyfus asks Sydor and Raenafel alias Winnowill to wait and that the news will be brought to them. He reaches out and touches them both as a goodbye gesture then leaves with the rest of the WaveDancers. We get a momentary glimpse of Sydor wiping his hand on his garments as if to remove Hyfus' tainted touch from his skin. He also comments as an aside to Winnowill that it is a great pity that Kirith will never receive a dream of fore-sight again.

It is late afternoon and Barmek and Sleia are drunk on dreamberries when they spot another bear. Barmek tells Sleia that this one is not going to get away: he has a plan. She is to climb a tree and upon his signal must drop onto the bear thus distracting it while he runs it through with a knife. He will flush the bear out towards the tree. She does as he instructs and somehow makes it onto the lower branches. He starts hollering and dancing wildly for the bear which turns and runs towards him. He holds his ground beneath the tree until the bear is within feet of him, and then he yells to Sleia to drop as the bear looms up on its hind legs to strike him. But Sleia misses the bear and hits the ground instead. He turns to look at her just as the bear begins its downward swipe. He turns back just in time to raise his knife and plunge it into its throat. It is a total fluke and somehow or another they manage to roll the bear off Barmek and cut some meat from it. They ease the emptiness in their stomachs, but comment on the taste differences between red bear meat and white fish meat.

The calling is strong and acts like a homing signal to Barmek. Later that night we see them walking in silhouette against the moonlight. Sleia asks that they stop to rest for the night, but Barmek insists on going a little further. Presently he points her to what looks like a good place to stop, and Sleia says she hopes they will get a good night's sleep after the events of the day. They lay down on a small grassy mound. We see a closeup of an ant coming out of its hole and pull back to see a swarm of ants about to put an end to Sleia's wish.

Search For the True Crown
Issue 3

Sydor and Winnowill are in their private chamber within the grotto. Sydor tells his companion that the two missing elves must be found, so they cannot cause any complication to his plan. If they are pre-sent within the community, they can be controlled. Winnowill says that if they are dead then they are silenced and it does not really matter. He tells her it is the not knowing that is an annoyance to him. Jormak enters their chamber. He says the WaveDancers have had no luck with the search and have returned empty handed. The others are asking for them.

They are greeted by the colony in the main chamber. Rhialdor asks for their help. Why was it that the happiness of the colony was so fleeting? Just when things were looking better. Barmek and Sleia would not have stayed away without saying anything: it was not the Wave Dancer's way. Hyfus says that the WaveDancers are battling an unknown foe: these two young ones were not even Children of Recognition. Rhialdor says that Brom would have done something, that is why he gave his life for his daughter. They must do something. Sydor responds with "what is it that you would have us do?"
There is a deadly pause. Sydor turns Winnowill away, and they walk back to their private chamber. Jormak begins to accompany them, but Sydor barks to him to stay away.

Within the privacy of their chamber, we see a momentary crack in Sydor's facade. What is it that he is to do, he asks himself. Winnowill comments that it is interesting how the most insignificant little elf can create such a problem within one's plans. Sydor turns and threatens her. He tells her he has pushed her pain down for her, but he can just as easily make it erupt once again. He sends to her and uncorks an avalanche of torment, despair and old memories that will sear her internally. She keels over and lets out a silent scream as the torment courses through her body, and she is once again forced to confront her past. As the pain subsides and she begins to recover, we see a glimpse of her eyes: pain then confusion. We see a flash of her P.O.V. Sydor is curled up on the floor of the chamber in a foetal position. We see her eyes again: bewilderment then comprehension then realisa-tion and a glint of knowing.

A moment later we see Sydor, regal and tall, oblivious to his previous fugue state, telling Winnowill that he knows how to get his plan back on track again.

We visit Kirith's and Rhialdor's chamber. Present with them are Hyfus, Shoseabee and Lazik (Sleia's parents) and Kadva. Hyfus is consoling them for their loss. He tells them he knows how they must feel. He still remembers what it was like to lose his child, Illora, many years before and how a loss like this one could bring it all back for him. He wishes that he could be like Tilaweed and be unaffect-ed as she is by such a tragedy.

An open ocean, a setting sun: Tilaweed is swimming through the waves. She finds her rock and pulls herself up to face the horizon. We see a closeup of her face: a tear falls from her eye and a fleeting memory of a younger self with a tiny baby daughter now gone passes through her mind.
Several days later we catch up with Barmek and Sleia marching along with itchy red welts along their body which strangely resemble ant bites. Barmek is setting the pace: he is very focussed, very driv-en and doesn't even acknowledge the pain in his webbed feet that have been cut and bruised by the hard terrain. They walk across a great river. Barmek's heart is heavy from the calling. They wander over a ridge.

Stretched out before them is a scene of mighty devastation: the remains of a collapsed mountain (Blue Mountain). All is silent. They proceed with caution until they reach a deserted human camp. Hav-ing no experience with humans, they cannot identify with it. Scattered around are different weapons: spears, knives, etc. Barmek picks up an arrow head which compensates for the fragility of his own weapons (carved from sharks tooth and coral) in this environment . As they walk over the rubble, they become fascinated with the colours, shapes and curling rock formations. Sleia pockets a small piece and remarks on how it is the first rock they have seen that resembles coral and maybe it was a good-luck omen for them.

As they continue along they are overcome with the stench of death and decay. It is not long until they see the carcass of a giant bird with an armoured plate on its breast. Their eyes fix on the creature which is nearly as big as a whale. They are so distracted by the sight, that Sleia steps on a snake. It bites her and slithers away. Barmek spins around and pinions it with his new arrow head. It thrashes around in its death dance, and Barmek and Sleia panic. They may never have seen giant birds be-fore, but sea-snakes are known to them and they mean only one thing: death if bitten.

Barmek carries Sleia down to the other side of the mountain rubble to a more forested area and lays her down beneath a tree. Sleia says she doesn't want to die, but she knows it is inevitable. Barmek is at a loss: for the first time the calling is secondary to him. She feels a numbness in her leg. She has seen the effect of a fatal sea-snake bite and knows that the numbness will soon spread through her body until the living breath is choked out of her.

Barmek knows that there is nothing he can do for her and holds her close to him. She feels the numbness spreading and at last asks Barmek to perform the ultimate act of friendship: to take her life so she need not suffer. He refuses. He tells her that maybe this land snake is different: that may-be she wouldn't die - all they can do is wait and he will wait with her. He cradles her in his arms in the shade of a giant tree. They are small and insignificant in the cycle of nature. We see an owl and hear gentle forest noises. A doe steps out in front of him then runs away as he moves.

It is morning. Sleia lies cold and limp in Barmek's arms. He stayed awake for most of the night, but drifted off just prior to sunrise. He is again awake. The sun is warm and beckoning, but its warmth can do nothing for Sleia. He looks at her resigned and tears form in his eyes. He lays her gently on the ground and kneels back. High in the tree above them, dew drops collect on a single fragile leaf pooling in the middle. A tiny perfect drop hangs delicately on the end of the leaf. A small ladybird lands on the stem of the leaf causing a slight tremor that sends the dew drop on its downward path. It lands on Sleia's temple and Barmek reaches to wipe it away. But Sleia's hand moves and wipes it first. Her eyes open and they embrace. It was terror, not poison that caused her to fall ill.

We see them briefly through the course of the day. Barmek fetches and carries water and food for her. He dips leaves in water and soothes her brow. He tends the bite on her leg as best he can with limited knowledge of treatment in this environment until the next day when she has somewhat recov-ered. He asks her if she is ready to travel because the calling is overwhelming, overpowering within him and he must acknowledge it again. She say yes, together they can do it, and they go on their way.

Montage sequence of the travellers passing through different terrain over five days. There is an in-creased sluggishness in the rhythm of their progress as the land gets colder, but also drier around them. We see that there is no water and that they are affected badly. The Mother Moon has reached the first quarter of her second cycle.

We join them again the next day. Barmek is frantic now: the calling seems to ring in his ears. Sleia is exhausted and delusional from her misadventure with the snake. They are badly dehydrated and in need of rest and nourishment and near delirium. Suddenly paranoia sets in and they turn on each other. The fight culiminates in her pushing him over a cliff where he falls over onto jagged rocks and gets knocked unconscious.

Sleia runs away in a frenzy until she drops exhausted to the ground. When she wakes up she sees No-Wing, the wingless Preserver spitting wrap stuff in her face. Sleia looks up to where No-Wing came from. In a vertical niche in the rock face, camouflaged with branches from a tree, is a large co-coon made of wrapstuff. It is obvious from the size that it contains an elvin body.

Search For the True Crown
Issue 4

What Happened Many Years Ago: Ailsa gives birth to Raenafel in the sea with Brom her soulmate at her side. Kirith is the midwife. A shadow hangs over the birth: as a Child of Recognition, Raenafel will undoubtedly be stolen from the colony.

When the baby emerges, Kirith takes her to the surface for her first breath. When Kirith returns she finds that Ailsa is dead from a loss of birth blood. The WaveDancers have lost their only healer. Brom tells Kirith to go back to the colony and tell them that both mother and child are dead. After Ki-rith's departure he cuts Ailsa's chest with a shell to release her blood and to attract the sharks which will dispose of the body in the WaveDancer's traditional death ritual. He farewells his soulmate, then casts her body out to sea. He takes the baby girl to a hidden cave where she is kept in solitude for many years.

Montage sequence: the baby feeding from a dolphin, little Raenafel playing with No-Wing, and the adolescent Raenafel learning life lessons from Kirith and Brom.

Then one day the peace is shattered when young Barmek follows his mother to the cave and stum-bles on Raenafel. Raenafel is startled when she is given his soul-name, but he is still too young to receive her's. Raenafel realises that she has half Recognised. Kirith tells Barmek to go. When Brom finds out what has happened, he understands the danger that Raenafel is in. He sends her away with No-Wing to find the Palace of the High Ones, and then tells the colony the truth about his daughter's existence. Barmek is plagued with guilt about his part in the venture.

What Is Happening Today: Sleia moves aside the branches that hide the cocoon. She gets excited at the discovery and announces to Barmek that he was indeed right, this must be Raenafel. But he doesn't respond. She retraces her steps and finds him mangled at the bottom of the cliff. She climbs down and carries his unconscious body to where No-Wing is situated. Knowing that Raenafel is a healer, she goes to slash the wrapstuff, but is stopped by No-Wing who tells her that the pretty high webbed thing needs wet-stuff. Sleia hoists Raenafel's cocoon over her shoulder and asks No-Wing to look after Barmek until she returns. She finds a pool of water and emerses the cocoon in it.

We see remnants of the wrapstuff scattered over the rocks and see Sleia moving Raenafel through the water rather like one would resuscitate a beached whale. There is movement and bubbling from beneath the water and we get a glimpse of a blurry face as the eyes open.

Sleia runs back to Barmek to find him totally cocooned in wrapstuff with No-Wing standing proudly over its work. Sleia drags him back to the water and demonstrates her strength and her endurance throughout all these tasks.

Barmek comes to consciousness in the water and Sleia tells him she has found the True Crown exact-ly as he had predicted. Barmek asks where she is, and Raenafel steps forward and says she is here. We see her from Barmek's P.O.V. as he lifts his head from the shallow basin of water he is lying in. A statuesque young elf with long black hair who bears a striking resemblance to the imposter in the grotto rises from the water. And as eyes meet eyes, soul meets soul. The Recognition is complete. He passes out again.

Sleia turns to Raenafel and asks for help healing the young elf. Barmek goes into dreamspeak.
Barmek tumbles into a dream scene and he sees himself cradling Sleia in the forest of many days ago when she had just been bitten. He is crying as he holds her cold limp body. He hears a crackling in the bushes beside him and the Raenafel steps out. They look at each other, their eyes meet. He lays Sleia down and goes to the Raenafel and touches her. They are transformed into a doe and a magnificent elk. Her soul name echoes through his being. We follow the journey of the elk and doe to the top of a mountain looking over a beautiful valley as lightning and thunder crashes around them. A clap of thunder rouses Barmek from the dream.

He awakens to find himself on dry land. Sleia embraces him saying that she's glad that he's okay. Raenafel has healed both his leg and restored her body to balance after the effect of the snake-bite and the hard journey. As she hugs him, he looks over her shoulder and sees Raenafel staring at him.
Raenafel says that it has been a long time since they have last seen each other: he has grown up. Raenafel tells him that she is glad that they received her sending: it is obvious that she has been sending for a long time. Now that everything is okay, she needs to continue on her quest to find the palace.

When the land had become dry and she could find no water, she had asked No-Wing to perform its ancient but never-forgotten craft and cocoon her in wrapstuff until a future, safer time.

She tells them that she must continue on and find a High One in the palace to bring back to the colo-ny and stop the Curse of Recognition. Barmek and Raenafel exchange looks. Sleia tells her that is precisely why they are here: that another elf claiming to be her has turned up at the grotto with a High One by her side. She will be crowned in Raenafel's place by the end of the current cycle of the Moth-er Moon, and it is imperative that they go back and stop this from happening.

Raenafel asks what Brom is doing about this. Barmek tells her that her father is dead: he died trying to defeat the very thing that he feared would take the life of his recognised child. She asks how he died. Barmek tells her that his father, Rhialdor, found the body of Brom, and that he had drowned. To this day Rhialdor cannot talk about the discovery. Raenafel asks to be left alone and goes off.
Sleia and Barmek debate the virtues of consoling her. Barmek wants to go to her and help her, but Sleia says he must leave her alone with her grief.

Raenafel presently returns. There is a change in her demeanour and attitude. She seems stronger and far more in control as if she has seized a vital essence that only one belonging to the true line of the Crown can possess. She tells them she will follow her father's wishes and take responsibility for the Crown. No-Wing says goody-goody yes, time to go back to old flippy-flop thing (Tentus). Raenafel takes command of the return journey to the Bay of Solitude.

Search For the True Crown
Issue 5

It is several weeks since we were last at the colony. Winnowill and Jormak rouse from a bout of lovemaking. They are lying on a rocky platform on the northern headland amidst rock pools and an incoming tide. The Mother Moon is nearly full and rests on the horizon. Jormak comments on how ex-traordinary he finds Raenafel alias Winnowill: he has never known such depths of passion. She doesn't need to answer: she knows where her strengths lie. Jormak launches into a tirade of com-plaints about others in the community: how Rhialdor, his father, is weak; how he perceives Hyfus with new eyes; and that she is the first true strong elf that has a right to claim the power that is her's to command. She is the only one of the WaveDancers to venture out from the safety of their shores; the only fearless one. He asks her about the palace, and she responds with a lie. She describes the palace in terms of Blue Mountain and the Egg.

Cut to Sydor sitting in the Chamber of Remembrance surrounded by devoted WaveDancers. He tells his version of the palace. Above him Tentus works on his coral sculpture. He appears puzzled, be-cause the description that Sydor has given does not match his own diorama based on Ausra's and No-Wing's description.


Jormak and Winnowill are tantalising each other on the rocks. Jormak asks Raenafel alias Winnowill what Sydor means to her. She tells him that he is a necessity at this point of time. Jormak remarks that it is only two days before her crowning. He knows what Sydor's vision is for the colony, after all, he had brought the community back together again. His speech to them several weeks before has left the memory of his brother and Sleia on distant waves. But what was her vision for the Wave-Dancers? Her words seem to echo from the past during a time when she spoke similar words to an-other black-haired elf. She tells Jormak that together they will command the palace on its journey amongst the stars, and she points to a constellation in the sky and spins a false story of them return-ing to their original spiritual home.

In the Chamber of Remembrance, Sydor shares his vision with the WaveDancers. They ask him to tell them once again what it would be like when they all returned to the palace. He tells them they will be reunited with Barmek's and Sleia's spirit along with the spirits of Brom and Neama, and all the elves lost to them. One of the WaveDancers asks whether this includes the Children of Recognition. There is a momentary pause, and then he gives his assent. Tilaweed and Hyfus exchange a private look. Sydor describes the palace in very heavenly, spiritual terms, and says he will command the palace on its journey amongst the stars. Suddenly, he looks around the chamber and realises that there are missing faces in the fold. He asks where Raenafel is. He is told that she was last seen with Jormak. His face clouds over and he lock sends to them both.

Winnowill and Jormak receive his sending. Winnowill instructs Jormak to go back first, that she will follow a little later. He goes. Winnowill's face hardens. She stands and faces the open sea. She says that if he thinks Sydor can command her, then the tide will turn sooner than he thinks. She raises her hands and the waves crash onto the rocks around her.

In their private chamber a short time later, Sydor begins to interrogate Winnowill on her behaviour. She stands with her head bowed. He demands that she stay by his side, and wants to know where she has been and what she has been doing. He tells her that from the time he found her on the is-land, he could either help her or destroy her. He had given her the disgusting webbed fingers so that she could pull off the charade and fulfil his plan. But he could also cause her more pain than she could ever begin to contemplate. A worm's P.O.V. Her face is hidden to Sydor by her hair, but she bears a knowing smile: she knows his weakness.

Elsewhere in the Chamber of Remembrance, Inkbottom is upset because Shoresprout has denied that Sleia is his sister. Kadva patiently explains the parentage of all parties and establishes indeed that Sleia is Inkbottom's half-sister. Feeling happy again, Inkbottom ventures out looking for his friend, but encounters Sydor instead. Sydor asks Inkbottom is he would like to see some magic. Inkbottom says yes and follows him into a dark cavern where Winnowilll is waiting. There is a myste-rious flash of light.

Rhialdor tracks Jormak to the clifftop where Jormak is throwing stones onto the rocks below. Rhial-dor asks whether Jormak could come to the family chamber to console Kirith who is still taking the loss of Barmek very badly. Jormak says he has other priorities at that moment. Rhialdor asks him whether there had been any feelings of remorse for his brother at all, and Jormak says that tears are a sign of weakness and Rhialdor would know that only too well. They should follow Raenafel alias Winnowill's example who did not shed a tear when informed of Brom's death. Jormak's place is at the side of the new crown. Rhialdor departs, and we see that Jormak has been throwing stones at some helpless and hapless crabs.

We join the travellers. They have paused on their journey. They have trekked across the mountain rubble and have swum down the river that was adjacent to Blue Mountain to reach the mouth. It is night and before them stretches the Vast Deep Water. Raenafel is silhouetted against the Mother Moon lost in her own thoughts, No-Wing perched in her hair. Sleia says she is exhausted and asks Barmek why he had been so quiet, so sullen for the whole return journey. It had been fairly unevent-ful, but he had hardly said a word since they started. She asks him to share his thoughts and feel-ings, but he turns away and lies down to sleep. Sleia goes to Raenafel. Raenafel asks if they are ready to go. Sleia tells her that they are too exhausted. Raenafel says they will rest for a little while only, because the moon tells them they only have two days left. Sleia says that she is concerned about Barmek. It was as if he had been burdened with a great weight: he doesn't talk, his swimming is slow and heavy.

They sit down on the cliff-face, their legs dangling over the edge. Raenafel asks Sleia what kind of a relationship the two actually have. Were they lifemates? Sleia tells her that she has special feelings for Barmek, but sometimes she gets the impression that his path lies elsewhere. He seems changed: she hasn't heard him laugh since they've started back. Raenafel says that she is at a loss about what to say or do. She hasn't got the right words inside. Barmek and Sleia are the only two WaveDancers she has ever met outside Kirith and Brom, and she hopes that Sleia will be her friend. Sleia is listen-ing, but at the same time playing with the rock she found in the mountain rubble. As she throws it in the air, Raenafel catches it and her face freezes. She sees fleeting, fractured, and confused images of Blue Mountain with Winnowill featuring strongly. She asks Sleia where she got the rock from; Sleia tells her. Raenafel makes an internal connection that perhaps the same elf with the long black hair that caused the pain in the mountain, may be one-and-the-same as the imposter at the grotto. She gets up quickly and says they have to leave there and then. She goes to Barmek and wakes him. His eyes are pained. She tells him "soon", but they must leave now. Barmek does not want to recognise with her - he knows the repercussions of the union - their child will be stolen like all the other Children of Recognition. Raenafel tells him that Brom believed that the curse was not fated and could be fought. Would Barmek stand by her? He doesn't answer. They all dive into the Vast Deep Water.

One day later. The WaveDancers gather in the evening for a group sending. The sending, which is a calling to their brothers and sisters (the dolphins), marks the beginning of the final event in the Crowning Festival: the Sea Hunt. It is traditional for the outgoing Crown to go out and lead the hunt in on the morn. As Brom is dead, the honour falls on Hyfus' shoulders as he has, until this time, been the acting leader of the colony. As Hyfus is about to leave, Raenafel alias Winnowill stops him, and bestows the honour on Jormak. There is silence as Hyfus steps back, and Jormak proudly and smugly steps into the sea.

That night Winnowill is separated from the other WaveDancers. She is bathed and annointed for the coming ceremony. She prowls over the Crown as if she has the world at her feet.

Search For the True Crown
Issue 6

It is the morning of the last day of the Crowning Festival, and the Sea Hunt is about to begin. The WaveDancers are assembled in the shallow water off the beach in the Bay of Solitude. They are look-ing seawards. On the horizon small black dots appear: the Hunt is coming. We travel across the wa-ter, and the dots become bigger and bigger until it is clear that they are dolphins. Jormak holds onto the dorsal fins of the two lead dolphins as they speed through the water. There is an aerial view of the Bay: the WaveDancers on the shoreline, the dolphins herding something in from the north-west and between them a moving dark patch of shadow under the water.

All of a sudden fish of all shapes, sizes and colours burst everywhere. The water froths and boils from the huge quantity as the WaveDancers laughingly try to catch the biggest prize. The largest fish caught will take the place of honour at the feast after the Crowning. The elves and the dolphins ca-rouse joyfully: there is activity everywhere. Sydor and Winnowill stand back on the shore. Sydor comments on the impurity in the relationship that the revellers seem to have with the dolphins, but Winnowill can't help smile at the scene before her.

Paffa and Maron work together in their serious attempt to get the biggest fish. Korillia scuttles be-tween them all taking lone and helpless octopi from the bubbling mess. She notices one has at-tached itself to Burdekin's face and peels it away. Irralee runs up to Sydor and presents him with a ra-ther large fish to enter as a possible prize. He accept it with a forced smile then turfs it over his shoulder once she has turned away. Shoresprout goes to Inkbottom's aid when the fish he has speared swims off with him still attached. She shouts to him to let go, but he refuses to lose his first weapon and his catch. She grabs hold of his legs and they go on a merry chase with the wounded struggling, but very strong, fish in their grasp. The spear dislodges itself and the fish leaps out of the water. They think they have lost it, but find that it has accidentally committed suicide on the rocks by beaching itself. The children win by default.

And just as quickly as the dolphins had come, they go.

Up north, Raenafel, Sleia, Barmek and No-Wing are swimming in the open ocean. Their webbed feet and hands propel them through the water. This environment is their's. The two females are leading. Sleia sends to Raenafel and says that Barmek is dropping behind. Raenafel responds through send-ing, and tells her to keep going, that she will look after him. She swims back to him, offers her hand in an act of support and identification, but he refuses to take it.

Preparations are underway for the Crowning. Zadori and Burdekin gather firestones into a clamshell from a nearby volcanic island. Lazik harvests seaweed for decoration, Korillia cooks the feast and Maron gather the players masks. Inside Tentus' cave, Inkbottom and Shoresprout sit with the old mer-elf. As he delicately shape a hole through the centre of the pearls he takes from a oyster shells the two squirts clean fronds of seaweed and thread the pearls onto them.

Tentus tells them stories of the past. How Ausra was the only flesh-shaper and perhaps Raenafel would inherit that took. Inkbottom looks at the coral sculpture and points to a Conehead form saying that he has looked like that.

A storm is brewing as Raenafel, Sleia and Barmek continue towards their destination. The sky is dark, the waves are tumultuous, and a lightning bolt strikes the clifftops above them. The three travellers decide to swim in the quiet and relative safety of the undersea. They dive about twenty feet under and proceed to swim ala dolphin style through the water. Occasionally they surface for air, and we see stage by stage how ferocious the storm is becoming.

The grotto which has been transformed to reflect the happiness of the occasion. The walls are deco-rated with garlands of seaweed, strings of pearls festoon the coral formations, and wooden torches with dried seaweed wrapped around the ends have been prepared to be lit. When the torches are dipped into the firestones they burst into flames and are held aloft. The entire grotto is transformed into a heavenly vision of fire, of blazing colour, of sparkling brilliance.

The travellers are coming around the northern headland. Raenafel cannot tell if the moon has risen for all the thunder-clouds and lashing rain. She calls to the other to keep up, they are nearly there. They cross the mouth of the Bay, and all of a sudden they take a deep breath and dive down into the depths. They swim until they reach the entrance of the grotto. As they burst into the main chamber, all eyes fall upon them. They find that they are too late: the Crowning has already taken place. Before them stands Winnowill with the elaborate head-dress of the Crown upon her holding the Crown's tri-dent.

Raenafel steps forward and says that the elf before them is a false one. The colony is aghast at see-ing Barmek and Sleia alive not to mention another long blackhaired elf maiden with a wingless Pre-server in her hair. Jormak steps forward and accuses his brother of treachery and demands to know the true identity of his companion. Kirith asks Rhialdor what is happening, and he recounts the cir-cumstances to her. He cannot comprehend how the two young ones were still alive when they had been given up for dead. He mentions also that No-Wing is with this new elf. Kirith asks Rhialdor to take her to the new one.

The argument between the two brothers escalates and becomes physical. In the background we see a soft and gentle interchange between Kirith and Raenafel as the latter restores the sight of her surro-gate mother. Kirith shouts to her sons to stop fighting. They break and all eyes are upon her. She says that she can now see that she has been deceived.

Sydor breaks in by pointing the blame at Winnowill. He says that he too has been manipulated and lied to by her: that she had convinced him that she was who she said she was. Winnowill turns to him and says that the tide has turned and his time is up. She lock-send and he falls to the ground in ago-ny. While all eyes are upon him in the confusion, she slips away unseen by all but Jormak who fol-lows. We see a flash of Sydor's torment: screams echoing behind him, primordial humans surround-ing him, a dark cave, mutant Conehead forms. The convulsions subside, and he is left a vacant, star-ing shell.

Winnowill then smashes the crown and the trident, and derides the WaveDancers as being weak and foolish. She blacksends and they fall back. Raenafel hits her, but Winnowill sends her flying onto the rocks. It is clear who the victor is. The WaveDancers are no challenge for Winnowill and not worthy of her time or energy. She swims away.

Winnowill climbs up the northern headland with Jormak in hot pursuit. She gets to the summit and Jormak calls out to her. She tells him to stay away. He says he will stay by her no matter what. She tells him she doesn't want him nor need him: that he is pathetic and has served his purpose ade-quately. She lock-sends and taunts him with his soul-name which he voluntarily gave her after their passionate interlude on the rocks. He reels backwards. The storm howls around her. She thinks out aloud and professes that she will take care of the others if and when it suits her. And with that she dives into the churning water below never to be seen by the WaveDancers again. Jormak climbs to the summit, and falls to his knees alone: a broken elf.

In the grotto Raenafel is surrounded by the WaveDancers. She tells them she needs some time alone, that all that has happened has been overwhelming for her. They move aside and let her pass. She goes to Barmek and takes his hand.

Cut to the clifftop on the southern headland. Thunder and lightening all around -no longer threatening, but wild and majestic. Raenafel and Barmek stand slightly apart. Raenafel says that she has been the leader up to now, but now it is his turn. They embrace and passionately kiss, and tumble to the ground amidst the upheaval of the heavens.

Children of Recognition
(Chapter 2 - lost issues)

Our story begins a turn of the Mother Moon after the Crowning. Shoresprout and Inkbottom are playng on the northern headland. Shoresprout has seaweed draped over her hair and is flinging her head around in meloramatic fashion pretending to be Winnowill and acting out Winnowill's last encounter with Jormak who is performed by Inkbottom. Shoresprout dives off the cliff into the water below, but when she surfaces she finds that her young friend has disappeared somewhere. She is somewhat cranky because he is not taking their game seriously, and tracks him to a lonely spot on the beach later on. He appears to be talking to air, and when she asks him what he is doing, he tells her he is talking to his new friends. She is perplexed because she cannot see a thing.

Meanwhile in the grotto, Raenafel has had time to establish herself in the colony. She has met the WaveDancers, been given her own space, has told her survival story to one and all, but is now faced with a problem: divided factions within the community over her right as the Crown. In the council chamber where remnants of the shattered crown and trident lie in the middle of the circle reminding the colony of their folly, she is confronted by three groups placing different demands on her. The traditionalists (Jormak, Paffa, Maron, Burdekin, Zadori and Kadva) insist that she undergo a challenge to undo Winnowill's false crowning (that is, Raenafel must win back the right to become Crown by completing a test to prove her worth). The believers (Kirith, Rhialdor, Hyfus, Barmek, Sleia and Tentus, who incidentally has recovered from the sickness) support Raenafel as the one and only blood-leader, and argue that the Crown had been claimed under false pretences through deceit and is therefore not valid. Then there is the third group who follow Sydor's ideals (Korillia, Irralee, Shoseabee, Lazik, Tilaweed) who are counting on his recovery to fulfil his grand plan of returning to the palace leaving the cursed world they inhabit behind them.

Not only does Raenafel need to contend with bringing some sort of unity back to the colony, but she also has her unborn child to think about. She holds the responsibility of Crown and leader, mother to child and clan, as well as that of healer. There is also much she has to learn about the world she has been hidden from for the better part of her life. It is a burden she must carry without the support of Barmek who is estranged from her. They have recognised and sated the physical need to procreate, but Barmek refuses to acknowledge the relationship beyond this point and leaves her to single motherhood.

Barmek is very sullen and moody and keeps himself on the periphery of the colony as does Jormak but for other reasons. The former is angry and confused about his feelings for Raenafel and the stigma of Recognition. He wants no part in the upbringing of the child since he knows what the consequences will be. The latter is in self-exile because of his shame: he trusted and loved foolishly. The brothers come together for one brief moment as they sit talking at each other about their trials and tribulations but not really listening or bonding with one another. The fight seems to have shifted something, but not reconciled their relationship.

Hyfus on the other hand begins to take more than a passing interest in Raenafel, and steps in as a surrogate mate. He also takes on a role of comforter and protector, but whenever he does something for Raenafel, he reminisces about the time he and Tilaweed did the same thing during the latter's pregnancy many seasons before. When he asks Raenafel at one stage if he can feel the baby's kick, she says no. She wants Barmek to experience it with her, but she knows she cannot coerce him to come back to her. Recognition gave him no choice, but she does.

Meanwhile, Sydor sits in a catatonic state in his sleep chamber. He holds an exulted position in the colony as a martyr for having put himself on the line with Winnowill supposedly for them. Everyday Irralee comes to visit him. She feeds him, chatters to him, and washes his feet. But there is no response. (Winnowill has succeeded in releasing Rydos' fear and guilt and the black memories that go with them. Now Sydor struggles to take control again. He must pacify Rydos, and find his own way out through the maze of the psyche.) But even though Sydor is relatively helpless at this moment, the effects of his twisted visions have spread beyond the colony.

Inkbottom avoids Shoresprout more and more now preferring to communicate with his imaginary friends. Shoresprout calls him names and tells him that he is going stupid then saunters off to do her play-acting by herself. She is caught by Jormak who frightens her by giving her a good shaking for mocking him. Sleia interrupts and tells him to get a grip on himself, and they have an argument.
But the spectres of Inkbottom's imagination turn out to be more than just hallucination. For he is communicating telepathically with two strange misshapen elves from a distant island about a day's swim away who have been lock-sending to him for some time. They are the only two surviving Children of Recognition that were kidnapped many moons ago. They are Shardon and Illora.

The two missing children are in fact grown up, but are hardly recognisable. They are quite deformed; their limbs have been stretched into strange shapes and they have severe structural problems with their bodies which impedes mobility. The two are fully grown, but function psychologically as children because their only frame of reference has been their keeper's cruel treatment of them. Shardon and Illora have been abandoned by the only parent they knew who has left them imprisoned in a cave on the island, and have had to survive by foraging for worms, beetles and small rodents in the confines of their cell. In desperation the stronger one, Illora, has managed to dig under the bamboo bars that keep them confined, and together they have sent out telepathic messages to the surrounding area in search of their parent figure: Sydor. Through their searching they have telepathically stumbled upon the colony that Sydor has falsely warned them about, and the burden of secrecy he has imposed upon them causes them to avoid any communication with the WaveDancers that might reveal their identity and whereabouts. However, they establish a link with the innocent Inkbottom who they recognise as also having been touched by their father's hand (he had been shapechanged to a conehead form in the previous series by Sydor who had Winnowill's help).

Inkbottom teaches them how to survive on the island. This goes on for some time. Firstly he asks the older WaveDancers many questions such as how to make a spear, the best way to catch fish, how to makes clothes or choose the best plants to eat, and then he sends the instructions to Illora and Shardon who put his teachings into practice and so manage to sustain themselves.

Then comes a time of great fruitfulness for the colony: the Spawning. It is an annual event when all the creatures of the deep - the fish, the coral, the plants, the mammals, the WaveDancers - take part in a sexual frenzy of reproduction. (This is actually a natural phenomena that happens on coral reefs). It is a visual and sensual feast. Sleia looks forward to reuniting with Barmek, but it is obvious that despite his protests, he only has eyes for Raenafel. Barmek also dislikes the fact that Hyfus has been so attentive to her needs. Sleia realises that she and Barmek will never be soulmates, and she tells him to stop running away from the truth. He realises the choice is his, and he makes it. He goes to Raenafel. Sleia's grief is deep, and she cries continuously for a long time. She is happy for Raenafel and Barmek, but the wound of loss is overwhelming. Later on she is chastised by Jormak for carrying on so, but Kirith points out to him that Sleia and he have a lot in common. They both love deeply, have risked much, but have lost. It makes them all the more braver.

No children are begotten at the Spawning except one, and that one, in secret. For as Irralee is looking after Sydor, the energy and rawness of the occasion, brings him out of his coma. But it is not Sydor who wakes up: it is Rydos who answers the call of nature. And it is Rydos who recognises with Irralee in a moment of great passion. But as soon as the act is complete, he sinks back into unconsciousness and is swallowed up again by his psyche.

Barmek goes to Raenafel, and he feels the baby in her belly. He breaks down and tells her that he has loved her since he was a child, but he is scared now for both of them. But he will be there for her. Later when the colony demands more of her, he puts a stop to it and tells them Raenafel cannot solve all their problems. Raenafel reminds the WaveDancers of Winnowill's words, and tells them that they need to stand and work together. She is not the Crown, everyone is the Crown. With the baby on the way, they can either do nothing and wait till the Cursemaker comes again or they can start to put up a resistance. Together Barmek and Raenafel convince the others that joint responsibility is the way.
There is a comprehensive montage sequence of time passing: Raenafel and Barmek are intent on solving the mystery of the Cursemaker (and play at detective) just as Brom tried to do, the beginning of an organised defence force is seen in weapons training and sentry duty, Inkbottom is getting more and more remote from the others, Irralee is hiding away her secret until it is obvious that she is with child and speculation about the sire takes over when they try to remember who was with who at the spawning of eighteen months before, Hyfus is disciplined and methodical in his guard duty as he works to prevent history from repeating itself, Tilaweed's confronts Hyfus over why he wasn't this vigilant with their own child and accuses him of failing as a protector. And then the baby is born at the end of the montage sequence. It is a good birth. It is a time of hope and celebration, and all the community works together with a feeling that perhaps for the first time they will be able to defeat it.

As the baby is taken to the surface for its first breath, the cry of the boy child pierces the ether and the waters below and reaches Sydor's ears. This cry of life is the very thing he needs to bring him to the surface. For a moment he opens his eyes again, but then thinks quickly and realises he has the perfect disguise in order to gather information. He pretends to be in his sleep state, but his mind is clear and alert.

The colony is distraught, but on the defensive. They associate Winnowill with the Curse because when she left so did Tentus' sickness. They naturally conclude that she must be back not realising that Sydor is the culprit, and it is his conscious presence that has sparked off Tentus' psychic warning. The colony decide that the safest place for the Child is the Chamber of Remembrance, and Tentus is asked to move into the grotto. He is peeved at first, but he understands it is for the sake of the child. As the colony meet and calculate their strategies, Sydor in his pseudo-coma state overhears their plans and waits for the right time to make his move. And then one day it comes. Inkbottom rushes in to the WaveDancers and tells them to come quickly. One of his friends is gravely ill, and needs help. At first they don't believe him, but he convinces them of the truth.

Raenafel and Barmek leave the child in Hyfus' trusted care as well as the other tailed elves, and journey to the island led by Inkbottom. Once there they crowd onto the beach, but Shardon and Illora have sensed that there are many strangers with Inkbottom and have hidden themselves in their cave. Inkbottom manages to lead the group to the cave, and when they go inside they find the two Children of Recognition huddled and cowering amongst skeletons of their dead companions. The place is filthy, and evidence of the atrocities that have been inflicted on them is in evidence. Inkbottom goes to them first and they understand that help is here. They allow Raenafel to heal Shardon's shattered leg which he had broken by falling off a nearby cliff. When Raenafel asks Shardon and Illora questions about who they are, and who has kept them this way, they lock-send and the story is told flashback. Sequence of attempted flesh-changing into Conehead form, other tortures inflicted upon them, the death of the others, etc. The perpetrator was Sydor. Raenafel and Barmek realise what has happened. They order Sleia and some of the other WaveDancers to escort the Children of Recognition to the Bay of Solitude at their own comfortable pace, and rush off with the remaining group as quickly as possible to get their baby.

But they are too late. Sydor has seized his chance. He has camouflaged himself in an energy bubble that reflects light while under water and therefore appears invisible (this is the mechanism he was able to use in the past to spy on the colony, to conserve his energy, and to steal away the children without being seen). He sneaks past Hyfus who is on sentry duty within the Chamber of Remembrance, and finds the baby in Tentus' sleep chamber. He steals the baby and hides it within his bubble then exits to the main chamber only to find that Kirith and Tilaweed have come to help Hyfus guard the entrance. Sydor cannot get past them, and so decides to climb up the coral sculpture to make his escape. Once out of the water, he loses the bubble shield and must remain very quiet in order to climb out.

Suddenly Hyfus receives an urgent sending from Raenafel and Barmek which provides him with information on the Curse-maker. He checks the sleep chamber and finds the child is missing. There is great panic and distress in the air. But Sydor slips on the coral sculpture, and breaks off a chunk. As it clatters to the base, the mer-elves look up to find him near the summit. He taunts the tailed elves for their helplessness on dry land, and tells them he has always hated their impure forms, and that the child he carries will only exist in the original Conehead form once he finishes with it. He climbs through the suncatcher to the outside world only to find a small group of WaveDancers who have scaled the external wall of the Chamber (alerted and organised in military fashion by Hyfus' sending).

Sydor summons up the rarely used magic of the High Ones, and levitates across to the natural bridge known as the Lover's Hands which spans between the two rock formations in the bay. He finds that the WaveDancers have each end covered, and realises he is trapped. He dangles the baby over the edge as Raenafel approaches him from the front steadfastly pleading with him to return the baby. Barmek sneaks up from the back, never taking his eyes off the child. Raenafel gets up close to Sydor, and suddenly No-Wing jumps out from Raenafel's hair and spews wrap-stuff in Sydor's face. He drops the baby as he is encased in the sticky substance, but Barmek dives over the edge catching the child in mid-air and then tumbles to the water far below.

But the tailed elves with Hyfus at the fore have positioned themselves in such a way that they break the long fall and bring father and child to safety. Back on the bridge Sydor is totally wrapped and teeters on the bridge before plunging into the water below. His body is recovered and taken back to the council chamber in the grotto where he lies in state until a future time.

There is rejoicing at the fact that the WaveDancers have worked as one to overcome the Curse of Recognition and its instigator. But their joy is interrupted and a hush spreads over the grotto as the island party send that they are about to arrive. Raenafel tells the WaveDancers that they have found kin and not strangers on the island. Sleia and the others come in. They lift the two survivors out of the water and onto the grotto floor. There is a deathly silence, and all eyes are upon them. No-one knows what to do or say until the silence is broken by Sleia who says that today is a special day. All the Children of Recognition have been brought home. And with that she places the bones of the dead ones on the floor beside Shardon and Illora. And the last thing the reader sees is Raenafel and her baby near Shardon and Illora with the ghostly images of the departed ones hanging over the scene.

Rescue of Rydos
(Chapter 3 - lost issues)

* The reintroduction of the displaced Children of Recognition into the colony. How do they handle love, affection and positive recognition when it has been denied them for a lifetime?

* Illora and Shardon must also learn to accept their deformity in the midst of the able-bodied Wave-Dancers, and choices need to be made on whether they are to be flesh-changed to their original ge-netic blueprint or not. Illora makes the choice to be physically healed by Raenafel, but Shardon decides to keep the face and body that he has grown up with (that Sydor imposed on him) as he perceives that form as his true identity no matter how hideous it is to the outsider, and he is comfortable with it.

* With the return of Shardon, Raenafel no longer holds the status of Crown (the Crowning has been contentious since Winnowill went through the ceremony). Shardon is the first-born heir to the rank (son of Neama), and is even less equipped to deal with the position than Raenafel. The education of the Children of Recognition gives Tentus a purpose, and he takes them both under his wing and begins to emerge from his hermetic life in the Chamber of Remembrance.

* Illora is embraced into the colony by Hyfus, but is rejected by Tilaweed who does not believe that she is her daughter. After many obstacles she is reunited emotionally to the child that she has mourned for many generations after accidentally hearing Illora sing a lullaby that Tilaweed sang to her when Illora was a baby. This is the only proof she needs. Tilaweed celebrates her personal joy by finding her song and by playing her conch shell again. Hyfus realises the pain and suffering that she has gone through, and how wrong he has been to judge her by her withdrawal, and they are reunited once more.

* Sydor had previously been put in limbo in wrap-stuff, and kept in the grotto where he couldn't hurt any of the WaveDancers. But Irralee who carries his child disobeys instructions and actually releases him from the cocoon. He makes a decision to go inland, and takes her with him. She goes willingly because she is naive and trusting, and has glimpsed an element of goodness in him (the Rydos part). During the journey Sydor treats her cruelly and emotionally abuses her, and yet cracks appear in his facade when at times Rydos struggles to get out and take command and, who in these brief moments, shows Irralee some tenderness. She is confused by this swing in temperament, but nevertheless faithful to his plans and ambitions.

Meanwhile Sleia and Jormak have set out to sea together on a physically arduous search for the missing two, and have a series of confrontations about Jormak's treatment of the children especially Shoresprout who has been provoking him to anger of late. Also Paffa and Maron set out inland to find Irralee and bring her home thinking that Sydor has kidnapped her. When they finally find her after many hardships and try to convince her to return with them, she says no, and they are forced to go back. However, when the Child of Recognition is born, and Sydor attempts to control and possess the baby girl in the same way he does her mother, Irralee puts a stop to it. Her fierce maternal instinct comes to the forefront, and she protects the baby in a major confrontation. She tells him that he is twisted, and needs to be healed. She cannot help him even though she has tried, it needs to be his choice. She has made her decision, and it is to leave. She escapes from him and heads back to the grotto with her baby where she is welcomed by the colony.

Shortly after, Sydor comes back: crestfallen and stripped of his arrogance and his need to control. It is the Rydos part of him who now calls for help for it is he that has felt the loss of goodness and unconditional love and it is he that has stared into the face of his own Child of Recognition and finally understood the profound grief that he has caused others. He goes to Raenafel and asks for her help. Unlike Winnowill who refuses to allow Leetah to heal her, Sydor finally accepts responsibility for his problems and ceases to lay the blame on the past. Raenafel recruits Irralee to help in the healing process: Irralee must be prepared to go on a psychic journey to the source of Sydor's problem. Raenafel guides her through Sydor's memories till she finds the critical situations that set up the personality splinter.

Sydor's backstory: When the palace of the High Ones landed on the World of Two Moons many years ago and was set upon by hostile humans, a gifted Conehead called Rydos along with two companions and a Preserver become running mates in the quest for survival - their magic in disarray, their hope of a new beginning shattered and their minds filled with the horrific cries of those left behind to die.
The land proves to be as savage as the humans in pursuit, and as they stumble past lashing branches and through treacherous bogs, one of the Coneheads becomes trapped and cries out to the others for help. But Rydos keeps running, he cannot stop - fear is his driver. His other companion goes back to help, and is killed for her efforts. The little Preserver in its desperation to protect them spews wrap stuff in the face of the attacker who swings haphazardly with his club and sweeps the Preserver into the branches of a tree. As it swings from side to side, its wings skewered by thorns, the force of gravity drags it down and its wings shred. It falls into mud and remains there until it is discovered the next day by another group of five High Ones (Ausra, Desh, Livian, Sima, and an unnamed other) who take it with them on their journey to the Vast Deep Water (they later pull away the wing remnants and that is how No-Wing gets its name).

Rydos stumbles on endlessly, the screams of his slain friends haunting his mind until in his exhaustion one night he plunges into a valley. Thinking that he is safe he rests for the first time in days. But things have not settled around him. The Two Moons are merging as one and the land is beginning to grumble - mystic omens - for a tribe of wandering humans. They surround and pounce on this stranger with the intention of killing him. As they are about to club him, the land shudders with pain and in the distance a mountain erupts in flame. Their savagery is quelled for an instant as they misinterpret the natural phenomenon as a sign of this strange one's supernatural powers. Rydos seizes a chance and scuttles into a hole in the hillside.

The humans are too large to fit in the hole, so they seal him inside by rolling a boulder across the entrance. It is too dangerous to kill him lest he unleashes some sort of uncontrollable power that smites the tribe, and it is too dangerous to let him go lest he enslaves them. And so in their primitive way, they decide to keep him a prisoner in the hole. And through the generations Rydos takes on the focus of myth and legend as the story of his capture and imprisonment is told to frightened children and his persona is woven into an image of fear and worship.

And there he stays for many hundreds of years being fed intermittently, not seeing the light, feeling nothing but the touch of damp earth, hearing only the grinding of the rock and the muffled grunts of the human's language outside. But it is the feeling of complete and utter powerlessness that overwhelms him. For the magic and the special abilities he had as a Conehead in the Palace so long ago did not transcend to this new world. They couldn't be mustered, they couldn't be harnessed, he couldn't coax or cajole them out of hiding. The elfin body has betrayed him for now he doesn't even have the strength to move the rock. And the more he torments himself with his own helplessness, the more he withdraws inside where nothing can harm him and where he no longer has to face his reflection.

But the magic is only dormant. Deep inside where he cannot reach is a seed of energy fed on suppressed fear, anger and guilt that smoulders and flames and courses through his being until it takes on a consciousness all of its own. It is the fear that his undoing and also his saviour.

For the shadow part of himself that calls itself Sydor cannot stand to see Rydos deteriorating in both mind and limb, and it makes the decision one day to put him to sleep until it is safe to come out again. And so Sydor, the Strong One, breaks free of Rydos' living death. Having spent years augmenting the magic within, he summons all his resources one night shattering the boulder with thought and escaping into the night. Sydor has the power to reconstitute the frail limbs and flee to a distant land until he can rescue the sleeping Rydos from his internal tomb. His only thoughts are to find the Palace and return to his original Conehead form which offers all-prevailing safety and security and a well of magic that was virtually unlimited.

But it is not to be. Sydor wanders the wilderness for countless turns of the season searching for his old home and evidence that his own kind (in their impure elfin shapes) have survived, but he has not taken into account that the land has changed as he has. And as time passes so too do memories of the sleeping Rydos. All Sydor knows is that he must keep searching, and soon Rydos becomes forgotten within. Then one day he stumbles upon the Bay of Solitude in his wanderings. He has searched for many seasons for a sight of his own kind. As he looks down into the water and see the young elfin families frolicking with the dolphins, he is struck with revulsion at the sight of their physical imperfection.

He cannot reveal himself because the wingless Preserver No-Wing is part of their community and will recognise him, and it is likely that the other High Ones know of his role in the death of his companions. But he also surmises that they would know the location of the Palace, so he decides to stay close and find out what he can. The young child, Tentus, a talented coral shaper begins to ail for he senses the presence of a diseased mind.

Sydor settles on the edge of the colony on an island living like a hermit watching and waiting for clues to the location of the Palace and a chance to steal the Preserver who possesses that special homing instinct. But he sees something else he covets: the fresh, vibrant magic belonging to the Children of Recognition. Of all the fold these show the most promise: if he can change these children back into Coneheads then eventually he will be able to effectively change himself back without misdirecting the magic. And it is in the second generation he begins to steal these special children.

First he takes Shardon, then Illora and then eventually four more. The colony is plunged into grief and mourning for their young. Their search is hopeless for his power to camouflage by way of the bubble is quite extraordinary. He takes the babies to his island and rears them as his own instructing them, fashioning their thoughts, and eventually working his magic. But things go wrong: as Coneheads they are weak and fragile. Each time he thinks he has conquered the flesh, they are left sick and frail and incapable of doing anything but the menial of tasks. He has lost sight of the fact that in their sea-elf form they were strong for they had evolved with the environment.

And so the Curse of Recognition is set up, and as the generations pass the colony takes on a different dynamic. Where once they were joyous and carefree, they are now melancholy and clouded with suspicion. Where once couples recognised each other with an excitement and exuberance about the product of their union, there is now a sense of impending doom. The colony as a whole is genetically undermined and morally weakened, and soon the special gifts begin to die with the kidnapped children.

This continues to Brom's time. Ausra in her despair gives the Crown to Neama her daughter, and disappears with the narwhale without warning taking with her the unique flesh-changing magic. Tentus, her son, is left with the scars of an abandoning mother, and retreats to his self-sculptured Chamber of Remembrance. With Ausra's disappearance the seafolk are no longer given the luxury of choosing a tail, and a special status is endowed (rather like that of a near-extinct animal) on Tentus, Tilaweed, Hyfus and Kirith. When Neama dies, Brom becomes the third Crown. He takes the burden of the community and the rearing of his fourth generation Child of Recognition, Raenafel, on his shoulders when his lifemate Ailsa dies at birth. Brom enlists the help of Kirith and together they hide Raenafel away (with No-Wing as a companion) in a secret place. In protecting her in this way, Raenafel becomes a prisoner by virtue of her birth and the strong elemental powers that she displays from a very early age.

In the ensuing years Sydor searches for the Seventh Child without success growing more frustrated and unhedged with each passing day. He can swim and camouflage himself, but he will not give him-self a tail for this will genetically remove himself even further from the Conehead form. He knows that this special child Raenafel will be his crowning glory: full of promise and potent magic that could un-deniably be utilised to making her perfect: for the only perfect form is the Conehead form and his entire quest hinges on his search for perfection.

After Barmek stumbles on Raenafel and she is sent away, Brom begins to tell the story of how his daughter did not die at birth but had survived all this time and would return once more with the wisdom of the High Ones to become the next Crown. And so a legend begins to spread through the colony offering a new hope, a new expectation and a feeling or promise.

But Brom does not live to see this happen. During his relentless and obsessive pursuit of the shadow that stalks the innocent, Brom is branded with a warning sign of the Cursemaker's powers (ie. facial hair) when he gets too close to the truth. Many years later, shortly after Raenafel has been sent away, Brom uncovers the truth and is killed accidentally in a confrontation with Sydor in the very cave where his daughter has been brought up. The secret dies with Brom, and so the Crown is unfilled. Sydor is enraged that Raenafel has escaped him, but later finds an excellent playmate in Winnowill after she is brought to his island by Tyldak. By controlling her internal pain, he realises that he has a powerful shape-changer on his hands, and that Raenafel is no longer needed to fulfil his master plan of returning to the Palace with his followers and to find their true Conehead form.

The source of Sydor's internal split is the guilt of not having helped his companions. During the healing process Irralee shows the Rydos part of the personality an alternative scenario if he had gone to help the trapped elves. He sees that he would have been killed by the human club, and finally realises that the only way he could have survived the situation was to act in the way he did in those circumstances. Irralee also helps him release the terror from his experience at the hands of the tribe of humans. Finally, Raenafel convinces the Sydor personality that he won't be banished (for he is afraid that he will disappear), and then integrates both sides of the personality so that the dysfunctional parts fade away and the strength and resources from both alter-egos remain in a healed and whole Rydos.

Passage to Ausra
(Chapter 4 - lost issues)

* A meteorite hits the surrounding land near the Bay of Solitude, and the grotto is destroyed. Most of the WaveDancers manage to get away except for Jormak and Sleia who are stuck in the internal chambers with all the children. Sleia's leg is pinioned by a boulder as the ground breaks up around them, and the entrance caves in. Jormak is forced to take responsibility for the children when the rock floor drops away around them, and he is stuck on a narrow ledge with them.

As they navigate through the danger area, Shoresprout loses her footing, and falls onto a coral out-crop that starts to crumble beneath her feet. Below her is a sheer drop into oblivion. Jormak cannot reach her, and Inkbottom helps him by dangling over the edge to grab Shoresprout's hands while Jormak anchors him. As the coral breaks away beneath Shoresprout's feet, Inkbottom manages to grab her hands but their fingers slip, and she plummets to death. Jormak struck with remorse finds super-strength and manages to guide the other children to safety comforting them as they express their grief.

Sleia helps and begins pulling rocks from the caved in entrance at the same time that Rhialdor frantically pulls them from the other side until they create an opening together. Jormak pushes the children and Sleia through and just manages to escape himself as the whole grotto collapses, and the grief-stricken WaveDancers make their way to the shore.

Father and son stand united in the tragedy of the situation. Jormak manages to pull on all his emotional resources to support Inkbottom, Zadori and Burdekin. After many nights of mourning it is only Sleia who sees that despite his composure he is shaking, and she follows him to a quiet place where she offers him solace and comfort when he breaks down.

* The WaveDancers decide to split into two parties:
one to stay and rebuild the grotto (ie. Tentus, Hyfus, Tilaweed, Kirith, Rhialdor, Korillia, Inkbottom, Illora, Shardon), and the other (Barmek, Raenafel, Shoseabee, Kadva, Burdekin, Zadori, Lazik, Maron, Paffa, Irralee, Rydos and the two babies) to go and find Ausra, the mother of the WaveDancers, to get her help in rebuilding the colony as perhaps only she can make the colony whole and at peace again. Tentus tells them that Ausra does not belong: she left them long ago when they needed her strength and guidance, and he does not want to see her anymore.

* Just before they depart, it is revealed that Sleia and Jormak have bonded in a deep love for each other. They have finally realised how similar they are: possessing both great athletic prowess but also deep emotional souls. They say they are not going, but have chosen to remain in the shattered grotto. When asked why, we see that they have had their legs moulded into tails by Raenafel.

* After many trials and tribulations including encounters with seals, walruses and a great variety of marine life, the seafaring party (in much warmer clothes) end up in the polar wastelands of the World of Two Moons, and in the icy graveyard of the great horned whales. Amongst the bones and unicorn-like horns they find the skeleton of an elf clutching the remains of a narwhale to her body. It is Ausra. She has died with her constant companion, the narwhale, who had saved the lives of the first comers when they had nearly drowned in the Vast Deep Water after battling the Wailing River and the Maraeva on the Cliffs of Peril.

Raenafel removes a necklace from Ausras neck which has a large crystal talisman in the centre. Rydos recognises the necklace, and tells them that it was fashioned from the same substance as the Palace, and was intended to be a gift from the newcomers to the humans of this world. Ausra had carried it on her since that fateful day, but had never had cause to bestow it on any of the inhabitants of the land. Raenafel gets some impressions from the wand for it carries its own memory, and receives information on Ausra's last days. The group realise that Ausra had not run away from the colony but had deliberately set off to seek help for her children. And like Ausra, they are now given the prize from the Palace: knowledge that other elfin tribes exist on this world. They understand too, that in order to grow and flourish, they must become explorers rather than remain isolated, and cross-pollinate ideas, genes, and traditions to realise their full potential.

The group returns home with the news to find that the foundations of a newer and better WaveDancer colony have been established, and Tentus finds peace in the realisation that his mother was doing her duty and had not betrayed them through her weakness as he had suspected.

Awesome! Thank you for this!!

Do you have the character designs for Ausra and the other characters we never got to see in the story that were once on the Black Mermaid site?

Also; this is a MUCH better story than the WD 2.0 that became canon.

However, I always felt that the sea elves as presented in the "Sea Elves" RPG guide were a much better "fit" for EQ.

You are welcome, BlueCoyote.

I have saved those sketches and character bios, Paranthropus. I don't dare to repost pictures by now ... years ago my uploads on photobucket were deleted due to wrong copyright (labeled it as WaRP) because Mr. Szekeres objected against it. I still don't know how exactly I can give proper copyright informations in this special case and don't want to repeat known mistakes.
I might add the written character bios to the Keeping in Character threads sooner or later.


For now I can offer a work of love by someone else.
I recently found this little site and think other WaveDancers lovers will enjoy as well. It covers your request perfectly, Paranthropus.

For gorgeous comic art I recommend Jozef Szekeres Deviant Art - it's worth to dig a bit to find all the original WaveDancers art posted there!