In which - Swan introduces herself.

Hi, I'm Swan. Scaramouche introduced me briefly a week or so ago. I'm one of her friends from around the place humans call Woodstock, although I was brought into existence in another part of what is now New York, nearer to what is now the Great Lakes.

When I was brought into existence, New York as we know it didn't exist. It was the land of the Great League of Peace, a group of five Native American nations stretching from what is now Canada into the Ohio Valley. The people I knew best were the Haudenosaunee, the People of the Long House, who European settlers later named the Iroquois.

The Haudenosaunee collectively named us - all elementals - the Jogah. We devas were called the Gandayah, the Drum Dancers. We were, of course, the guardians of plants and grains. There were also the Gahongas, the Stone Throwers, who sometimes caused rockfalls and earthquakes while moving things around and the Ohdows, who tended to those creatures who dwell underground.

It still amazes me just how much has changed in not quite two hundred and forty years.

Unlike the devas Zephyr first met, I'm not bitter toward humans. Yes, I watched the humans who came from Europe do great, sometimes irreparable, harm. But I have also seen humans do great good, acting to repair what they can and right the wrongs done by those who came before. Humans are strange. They have far more power than they realize. And the ones who would use that power well are many times the ones who distrust power most, because they've seen what happens when others misuse it. Or they don't realize the power even a small act has. But, to borrow a line from a book that Caroline's human loves, it's not always with the mightiest or most powerful that the fate of the Universe lies.

If you'd like to learn more about the Great League of Peace and the nations that were part of it, here's a good place to start: The Iroquois Nation. 

And this link includes a tale the People of the Long House told of us. (Might I add that it really did happen. I was so glad we were able to do something.): The Jogah.

In which it's just another day around the house....

"This has got to be some kind of April Fool's joke...."

"What does?" I was wondering what the FedEx package John got today was.

"We switched to Apple?" He didn't sound especially pleased.

"Miskatonic?"

"Yeah. When they said they were upgrading everyone, I expected something like your person's laptop. Not one of these...."

"I thought MirrorBooks were supposed to be good," I said. Not that I know. I've never used a Mac, much less a Mirror.

"They're just - completely different...." He got it booted up. "Now what?"

"Dunno," Scaramoche said, coming over to look. "I've never used one. Just an iPhone. Some of my human-type friends have those.....

......Hey, short stuff, no popping the bubblewrap, 'k?"

"Do you know anyone who knows anything about these?" John was at a loss.

"Swan does, I think. Where is she, anyway?"

"Upstairs. Something about rehearsing for the Spring Talent Show," I said.

"Oh yeah. The Woodstock devas do that every year. I think she said they're doing Oscar Wilde's Salome."

~*~

Meanwhile, upstairs.....

"I would, that they presently bring me in a silver charger..."

"Silver charger?" JT, aka Herod, looked skeptical. "Man, Apple's getting all fancy-schmantzy with this new release. WHich one is this, iPhone ten or something?"

"JT, stick with the script, willya?" Zephyr, aka Herodious, sighed.

"Okay, so - what would you have in a silver charger, whatever the heck that is, oh fair and sweet Salome?"

Swan, in character, took a deep breath. "The head of Jablome."

"It's Jokannan...." Zephyr tried, and failed, to not laugh."What do you think his first name is? Heywood?"

"I told you we should have picked The Glass Menagerie..." Swan said, laughing as well.

"Swan? You got a sec?

"What is it?"

"You know how to set up a MirrorBook, don't you?"














"Yeah. I'll be right down."















"Okay, what do I do here?" John was looking helplessly at the screen.

"Okay, launch System Preferences...."

"Where?"

"Right here. Now, click on Mail, Contacts and Calendars - okay, good, they have your iCloud account all set up already. Looks like your Miskatonic account is set up already along with your Gmail. So click out of that - okay - and click here to open your mail...."









"Is it - oh good, it's syncing up with the server..."

"If they did this right, you shouldn't lose anything. Were these your folders before?"

"Yeah. Looks like everything's here. I just hope I can get to all my stuff. I had a lot of files on the main server,"

"They should have thought of that," she said.





"Okay, here's the new emails...." He opened one and frowned. "Okay, what do you devas know about the Unseelie?"

"They're jerks," Scaramouche said. Well, she actually described them as something else, but I won't repeat it here.

"And they're not supposed to be here now. It's the season of the Light Court," Swan added.

"Okay - but first, how do I hibernate this thing?

"Here. It's called "Safe Sleep."


He hibernated the computer. "So what else about the Unseelie?"

"What's all the interest int he Unseelie?" I said.

"There have been some reports of attempted abductions and a reported attempt at swapping out a newborn in Boston for a changeling," he explained. "It was foiled by an observant nurse in the maternity ward."

"Are they sure it isn't the Seelie?" Scaramouche said. "You can't trust some of them, either."

"The Seelie wouldn't normally swap roadkill for a newborn," he said.


"Um - no. Ew." Swan made a face.

"I haven't heard anything around here," Scaramouche said.

"I haven't, either. I'll ask Tallulah if she has," Swan said.

"Yeah, where is she?"

"Bearsville. Where else? She told me to tell you she ran into one of your New York friends up there last summer."

"Who?"

"Cheetah Chrome. When he was up there putting down the track for "Bad Blood."

"No way. And she didn't tell me?"

Nice. And she didn't tell ME, either? How come the devas get to meet all the cool people?


~*~

Swan is a tan Pukifee Mio. Tallulah will probably be here next month.

Bonus pic - Paisley and Swan