Familiar Faces

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By the time they were within sight of Na'alha, no one was speaking to Xander at all. The children cowered and snarled at him, preferring the company of their other parents. Saelen and Pairdra had tried a few times to talk to Xander about his handling of various situations over the past few days, but he was so ugly about it that they gave up. Vaishi and Fain simply stayed out of other people's domestic disputes. So when the dalhari first spotted Na'alha ahead of them, Xander was the last to know.

"Is that it?" Mai'zi whispered to Saelen.

"I don't know," Saelen whispered back. He and Pairdra had told the kids they could talk, as long as they didn't attract the attention of Xander when they did so. "I'll ask Vaishi." Saelen directed his ifnan up to where Vaishi was. "Is that Na'alha?"

Vaishi nodded. "Yes, it is."

Less than half an hour later, the group was at the main gate, where Vaishi and Fain were warmly greeted. It was obvious that the dalhari were well-known in Na'alha. Soon, though, Vaishi was leading them through the streets, toward the Disiaron house.

The siv couldn't help but marvel at the hold. Fain had told them that dalhari architecture varied from area to area, and that Na'alha was a bit different from Adaes Der and Palesti. The high, sweeping spires and intricate carvings were still present, but the material from which they had been created was different. Instead of a single type or color of stone dominating the hold, the colors varied here and there. An odd, dark blue seemed to be the single most common color, though.

Saelen and Pairdra dismounted quickly when they finally reached the house. They were more than eager to see the last of the ifnan, having suffered through riding them daily for the past weeks. The kids clung to them, looking around a bit fearfully. Unlike their previous stops, this one was going to last a long time, so the hold took on a new strangeness. It was one thing to visit a foreign place, but it was another thing entirely to live there.

"Shall we?" Vaishi asked, gesturing toward the plaza that made up the main entrance to the Disiaron house. The siv were impressed with the large, open structure, surrounded on three sides by columns and doorways. They followed the dalhari across the plaza and through one tall, open set of doors, blinking as the light abruptly dimmed as they went inside. The interior of this house was much like the one they'd visited in Adaes Der, with seemingly endless, winding hallways and passages. Before long, Xander and his family were hopelessly lost.

"Where are we going?" Saelen asked curiously. They'd been walking for what seemed like hours.

"To see the elders. We need to announce our arrival, as well as yours," Fain replied. Saelen shrugged but said nothing. If that needed to be done first, so be it.

Finally they reached a huge room, filled with pillars and lined with fireplaces along the walls. Vaishi and Fain led the siv straight through the room, right up to a pair of dalhari standing by a red-tinted window. "Gaha," Fain called out as they approached.

A petite, purple dalhari turned to face them. "Fain! You've returned. How went the—visit?" Gaha asked, noticing the siv as she talked.

Fain grinned. "One would think that Laio had accompanied us, considering the level of excitement."

The blue dalhari standing next to Gaha frowned. "What happened?"

Vaishi shook his head. "It's better discussed another time. May I present Saelen, Pairdra, Xander, Mai'zi and Hainien, representatives of the Ieccra siv from Caildin?"

"Welcome to Na'alha," The blue dalhari said formally. "Although you might find La'iv a richer resource for diplomatic efforts."

"Oh, but they're not here for that," Fain replied. "Xander's an old acquaintance of Laio's."

Gaha's brow wrinkled. "Old acquaintance? I do not recall any siv befriending him…"

"I wasn't siv then," Xander said, not liking to have the dalhari speak for him. "We knew each other before we were brought to this world."

"What?!" The blue dalhari shouted. Laio and Del had said he had crossed over alone! "How did this happen?"

Xander shrugged. "It was about eleven years ago, I guess. The siv thing was an accident."

Gaha grinned. Her mate often overreacted, but she had a feeling this was going to be funny. Now that their relationship had been mentioned, she recalled Laio telling stories that included someone named Xander. If she remembered correctly, he hadn't thought much of the human. "I am sure that Laio will be delighted to see you again. He has been here a very long time."

Xander nodded but said nothing. He wanted to see Spike, but not right away. First he wanted to take a bath and get some sleep, and maybe work out whatever was bothering his family. They were being a bit distant.

"Waei!"

The soft child's voice got everyone's attention. Turning slightly, Xander saw a small dalhari, perhaps three feet tall, running towards the elders. It was a striking contrast to the dalhari he'd met so far; its deep fuschia hair stood in stark contrast to pale ivory skin. The little child bypassed the siv entirely, launching herself at the blue dalhari elder.

"Yes, Rali?" Waei asked, holding the child securely.

"Daede vahm Laio!" The child cried, burying her head in Waei's shoulder. He patted her back gently, avoiding the large wings folded there.

Xander and the other siv looked curiously at the child. It had spoken dalhari, so they couldn't understand what it said. "Is..um…he ok?" Xander asked, hedging on the child's gender. Though its hair was long and curly, dalhari of both genders seemed to either grow their hair out or cut it short, so he couldn't tell.

Gaha smiled. "She's fine, Xander, she just can't find her father. Rali's quite attached to him."

While Xander was nodding in commiseration, realization was coming to Saelen and Pairdra. Hadn't Vaishi and Fain said that Spike's daughter was named Rali? That meant that they were looking at his kid! Before the siv could say anything, an aqua dalhari with hair the color of the child's flew into the room and landed next to the elders. "She always runs here," The newcomer said quietly, taking the child from Waei. Rali was, by this point, sniffling constantly. "We'll go find Laio, hmm?"

Xander frowned as the pair walked away. "Why do they need to find Laio?"

Gaha looked past the siv toward the main door, where she saw a familiar ivory figure entering. The curious, if a bit oblivious, siv would have his answer all too soon. The little girl screamed again and everyone turned in time to see her leap from the dalhari that was holding her to the one that had just walked in.

Xander gasped as the kid flapped her wings a couple of times, faltered a bit and fell straight down—until the solid white dalhari she was aiming for caught her. Instead of crying, she started giggling softly.

"Daede aeskierae indsnaio, Rali," The newcomer murmured as it held the little girl tightly. She nodded and buried her face in its arms. The pale dalhari strode up to the elders, an apologetic look on its face. The aqua dalhari joined it, also looking a bit contrite. The dalhari stopped to look at the siv, who were staring back with equal curiosity.

Xander glanced over the dalhari in front of him, and then did a double take. The pale one looked just like… "Spike?"

Spike turned to look at Xander. "Yes?"

The siv moved closer. That was Spike—and Spike's kid? "Spike?"

Spike took a step backward. The siv was just a little too odd for his tastes. "Do I know you?"

"His name is Xander. He's from your old world," Gaha said softly.

Spike's eyes widened and his arms clutched more tightly around Rali. "Harris?" He whispered. "Xander Harris?" He studied the siv more closely. At first he saw no resemblance, but then again he hadn't seen anyone from Sunnydale in more than a century. But around the eyes…and their color—and the fur was the same color as Xander's hair… "Bloody hell…"

"You can say that again," Xander muttered. "So, what's your story?"

"What?" Spike asked absently, still studying Xander. How had the boy gotten over here? How long had he been in this world, and how had he become a siv? The Xander he remembered wouldn't have been too keen on getting changed.

"Perhaps you two can get reacquainted over a meal," Gaha suggested. "I'm sure our newly arrived guests would like to rest now." Saelen and Pairdra agreed and the elders left. The aqua dalhari pulled on Spike's arm and led him away, still clutching a now-asleep Rali.

"That was Spike's daughter, wasn’t it?" Hainien asked as they were shown to their quarters. The rooms they were given were spacious, with more of those oddly colored windows, this time in teal.

"I believe so," Saelen answered. "Why don't you and Mai'zi find something to eat?"

The kids tackled a bowl of fruit that sat on a side table, while the adults prowled around and checked out the place. Soon both the kids and the adults had settled down enough to actually get some rest. Mai'zi and Hainien claimed two of the bedrooms, while the adults took a third. When Xander looked like he might bolt, Pairdra picked him up and dumped him on the bed, joining him immediately. Saelen, too, clambered onto the bed to make sure Xander didn't do anything stupid.

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Spike gently laid Rali in her bed, tucking blankets around the sleeping child. He never got over how delicate and tiny she was, like a porcelain miniature. Of course, she shattered that image on a regular basis, proving time and again just how resilient she was. Had he not caught her today in the great hall, she would have proven that hardiness once again.

After a couple of minutes, Spike retreated to his own bedroom, where he found Del lounging on the bed. "Still avoiding the issue?" She asked, smiling slightly.

"A little," Spike admitted, joining her on the bed. "I'm not sure I want to know why he's here—either on this world or in Na'alha. There's a good chance I won't like what he has to say."

Del pulled Spike closer to her. "Perhaps he's just looking for a familiar person, Laio. You remember how lost you were when you first arrived here."

"You were there, so it wasn't so bad," Spike replied. "It's not that, exactly. I put Sunnydale behind me a long time ago, Del. That part of my past isn't something I relish rehashing with one of the Slayer's friends."

Del nodded. "Yes, but remember he is a guest here, and he traveled a long way to speak to you."

"I know, and I'll be my usual charming self, Del, so stop worrying. Actually, I'm more concerned with Rali. What got her so upset today?" Spike asked.

"What else? She couldn't find you," Del replied. "Perhaps she should simply live in the weavers' hall. That way we could avoid these uncomfortable experiences."

Spike snorted. "Oh, don't start acting like she's any different than you were. Gaha tells stories, you know."

"I wasn't that bad, Laio," Del replied guiltily.

"Mm hmm," Spike hummed. "She'll grow out of it soon enough, particularly after her lessons start lasting all day."

"At least Fain's back," Del said. "The house should be grateful he returned. There isn't another language teacher in the hold at the moment."

Spike slid down until he was laying flat on the bed. "Yeah, Rali's going to be thrilled he's back."

"Just because he and Vaishi indulge her," Del said, joining Spike.

"Someone has to," Spike replied. "We're just horrible to her, making her eat her vegetables and go to bed."

"Terrible. How can you treat your own child that way, Laio?" Del murmured as they tucked in for a nap.

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Xander was grateful when a dalhari showed up at their quarters to guide them to their meal. He, Saelen and Pairdra followed him through the halls after warning the kids to behave and not break anything or do anything while they were gone. Mai'zi and Hainien seemed content enough to stay in the rooms they'd been given, playing with the floor cushions and enjoying a bit of freedom away from Xander.

The siv were surprised by their destination; they had thought they'd be returning to the great hall they'd been in earlier. Instead, they were led to quarters in another part of the house. Xander was again shocked when Spike opened the door to let them in.

"Greetings," Spike said formally as the trio entered his quarters. Xander immediately began looking around the main room. It was considerably larger and fuller than their temporary quarters, with personal items and decorations scattered everywhere. The windows were a mosaic of midnight blue, pale sky blue and clear glass, providing oddly shaded light throughout the room. After a couple of minutes, Saelen elbowed him to get his attention.

"Oh, hi, Spike. Long time, no see," Xander said quickly.

Spike smiled. "A very long time, indeed. Please, sit," He said, gesturing toward a low table. The siv situated themselves around it, shifting and folding cushions until they were comfortable. "There are benches if you prefer," Spike said, pointing to one wall. The siv shook their heads and sat, willing to suffer a bit to be good guests.

"Ah, your old acquaintance has arrived," Del said as she stepped into the room. Spike smiled weakly and reached over to pull Del to the table.

"Rali?" Spike whispered as they sat.

"Sleeping like the dead, as you prefer to say," Del replied quietly. Spike nodded.

"So…" Xander muttered under his breath. He wasn't so oblivious that he hadn't figured out that the aqua dalhari was Spike's wife, er, mate…or whatever dalhari called them. "Vaishi and Fain said that you've been here for more than a century, Spike." The years seemed to have changed the former vampire a lot, at least that's what Xander saw. Other than the physical similarities, there wasn't a whole lot the same. This Spike was calm and polite, and obviously normal enough to sustain a family. That wasn't anything the Spike of his world could do. It boggled the mind.

"Indeed I have," Spike replied. "Actually, I've been here one hundred fifteen years this summer."

Xander shook his head. "Then time really does move differently here." He'd figured out soon after learning how long Spike had been here that there was a good chance only days had passed in Sunnydale since his disappearance. Even if they worked nonstop, which assumed that they even knew he was gone, his friends might spend weeks or months finding a way to get him back. But with the time difference, he may well be dead by then. That realization had done a lot to make Xander more resigned to his life here; there really wasn't any alternative.

Spike cocked his head. "Why do you say that?"

"I've been here around eleven years," Xander replied. "And you disappeared about six months before I got here—we all thought you had just skipped town."

Spike's eyebrows rose when he heard the time difference. "That's quite a difference," He said softly. "Eleven years? How did you get here?"

Xander's eyes darkened. "Anya and I got into an argument, and I just appeared here. How about you?"

"Hmm. I had this crystal from the Magic Box, and got cut on it. The next thing you know, poof! I’m here," Spike replied. "We were sure it was the crystal."

Xander frowned, thinking back. "Well, Anya did throw this paperweight at me, but I wouldn't have thought it was that—she gave it to me as a present because it wasn't worth anything. I doubt she'd just give away magic like that."

Spike shrugged. "Maybe she didn't know. They certainly weren't priced that well." Spike remembered most of the events surrounding his abrupt departure from Sunnydale, and he'd written them down for good measure. After all, there weren’t many people of any species that could say they were from another dimension. Actually, he really only knew of himself, and now Xander.

"Perhaps," Xander said.

Del looked over at the other two siv. They were quietly following Xander's conversation with Spike. "Would you care for something to eat?" She asked them. "I'm not sure they'll notice the food, talking like they are."

Saelen looked at Pairdra and nodded. "They have a lot to catch up on," He said as he accepted a bowl from Del.

"They do, yes," Del agreed, passing over a couple more bowls. She watched with veiled amusement as the siv poked through the cooked foods and ladled some onto their plates. It was very obvious to her that these siv didn't venture outside their own region very much; they were unfamiliar with cooked foods such as what the dalhari and other species ate. A few weeks on the road wouldn't have changed much of that, since they probably just ate dried food as it was, instead of cooking it.

Pairdra nodded and tried a bite of the stuff he'd chosen to eat. It was more of that odd stuff dalhari seemed to like—a stewed mixture of vegetables and sauce with some spices mixed in. It was a lot more complex and…well, cooked than they were used to, but at least the dalhari had a bowl of raw fruits and vegetables on the table as well. Xander stomached dalhari food far better than he and Saelen did, since he grew up eating cooked food. To Pairdra, it seemed weird and he wasn't sure if he liked it.

Saelen watched Pairdra choke down the dalhari food. He was the worst of all of them; Xander didn't mind it at all, and Saelen himself was learning to like the stuff. Pairdra, though, would rather go hungry most days than eat cooked vegetables, in any form. "How old is your daughter?" Saelen asked Del.

"She's eight," Del replied. "And your children?"

Saelen was surprised. The little girl he'd seen looked far younger than eight. But then, he'd been told that dalhari matured more slowly than siv, so maybe her size was normal. "Mai'zi's thirteen and Hainien's eleven."

Del nodded. It was unusual to see dalhari couples of the same gender have children, but among the siv it was far more common. The species was known for its easy and fluid handling of parenting; infants and young children were often moved or handed off if their parents couldn't raise them, although older children were usually left with whoever was raising them. It wouldn't surprise Del at all to learn that the two kids were completely unrelated to any of their parents. "You're from Caildin?"

"Yes," Pairdra answered. It wasn't all that surprising that she would know about Caildin; after all it wasn't every day that a region was taken over and its inhabitants forced to settle elsewhere.

"What is it like?" Del asked. She'd never been to a siv hold before; her treks outside La'iv were usually limited to dalhari, orth and f'lh holds. She had traveled east to a human region once, but that was the limit of her journeying.

Saelen smiled. "Beautiful, really. It's warm all the time, and there's always a breeze off the sea. Our holds are very different from yours."

"You build in the trees, correct?" Del asked Saelen. "We spend a lot of time in trees, but we don't build much in them."

"Probably because of the types of trees you have up here," Pairdra responded. "They're not the right kind to build in—their branches don't intertwine enough, and they're far too short."

"Ah," Del murmured. That would definitely hamper building. Then again, the siv weren't known for their stonework.

"So you just appeared as a human?" Xander asked Spike. They had finally realized that there was food on the table, so they were talking as they ate.

"Yeah, it was quite a shock. Del had me pinned tight, and dragged me right into the sun. There I was, waiting to burst into flames, and nothing happened," Spike replied.

Xander shook his head. "You were lucky. I wound up in this cave, and the first people I ran into were t'kth-vaali. That's how I ended up changed."

Spike frowned. "How's that?"

"They'd also captured Saelen and Pairdra—who were on a regular patrol and had stopped by the same human village I'd stumbled into. Once they had us in their hold, they filled me with siv blood, to tenderize me before dinner," Xander explained. "When Saelen and Pairdra got loose, they found me and took me with them. The rest is history."

Spike winced at the story. He'd heard about that particular practice—Xander was lucky to have survived it. "And then Ieccra gets invaded. You've got the worst luck I've ever heard of, Xander."

"Ya think?" Xander replied, chuckling. "It could've been worse, though. I mean, we're alive."

"That's true. So, why are you here?" Spike asked, cutting to the chase. He doubted that Xander would travel all this way just to chat about shared experiences.

Xander frowned into his food. "It's a long story."

"I'm not getting any older," Spike replied. "Spill, Harris."

Xander bristled at Spike, who suddenly sounded a lot like the vampire he'd known in Sunnydale. "Things in Caildin were…complicated, so we decided to take a vacation."

"Complicated how?" Spike pressed.

Xander glanced at Pairdra and Saelen, who were chatting with Del. "Our kids pulled a prank and accidentally hurt Vaishi and Fain. The hold meted out a particularly harsh punishment, so we decided to leave for a while, until the elders calm down about it."

"Hurt?" Spike said harshly. "How?"

Xander flinched. "Broken bones, bruises and the like. They didn't mean to do it, Spike—really. They were playing a trick on me and, well, accidents happen."

Spike scowled. He could well see Xander, or anyone growing up with Xander as a parent, completely capable of accidentally causing a lot of harm. When they lived in Sunnydale it hadn't escaped Spike's notice that Xander often failed to notice the many ramifications of his actions, resulting in sometimes hilarious, sometimes dangerous situations. It figured that his kids were the same way. "But Vaishi and Fain are fine now," Spike said.

Xander nodded. "Of course—like I said, it wasn't very serious."

It must have been minor, if the dalhari were willing to let Xander and his kin travel with them to Na'alha. Spike knew he should relax about the issue. After all, it wasn't malicious, the victims themselves didn't seem to have a problem with it, and Xander did was contrite. "How long are you planning to stay in Na'alha?" Spike inquired.

Xander shrugged. "We haven't decided, really. It depends."

"On what?" Spike pressed.

"Whether we can stand it here, if we can find work, that kind of thing," Xander replied.

Spike nodded. It sounded like they were thinking about staying for a long time, which he supposed was fine. Work would be interesting; the siv guilds weren't exactly the same as dalhari guilds, so they didn't always mesh well. And, there weren't any other siv in Na'alha right now, although there were several families in La'iv. "I'm sure you're figure out what you want sooner or later."

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