Full Disclosure

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Dawn watched Rali sleeping. They'd finally made it to the bedroom, after playing around in the bath for hours. She was content, almost suspiciously so. Something about the pale dalhari in her bed filled in all the little holes inside Dawn's soul. It scared her a little; she'd gotten used to being by herself a long time ago. Other things worried her as well, mostly things that she hadn't said.

In all the months she and Rali had known each other, Dawn had never mentioned two very important things: that she'd been a human at one time, and that she had crossed dimensions to get where she was. She'd had reasons, good ones, to keep silent. Those parts of her life were intensely private and she wasn't fond of talking about them. The dalhari respected that; after all they were a species that held each other in very high regard and tried to show respect at all times. If Dawn wasn't comfortable talking about her past, so be it. As a matter of fact, according to what Dawn had read most changed-dalhari didn't exactly advertise their state. They simply were.

But now it was important that she'd remained silent. Dawn knew now that what she had with Rali wasn't simply a casual physical relationship. Yes, they were courting, but courting didn't always lead to something more. This time, though, she knew that it would. She didn't know precisely how she knew that, but she did. Maybe it was because she couldn't imagine spending even a day apart from Rali. Or maybe it was because when she was near the teacher, she felt whole.

So now Dawn was awake when she should have been sleeping, trying to figure out how to tell Rali things she needed to know. As the hours passed, Dawn thought up and discarded thousands of ideas, each one worse than the last.

"You're troubled."

Dawn jerked, surprised to hear Rali's voice. She hadn't even noticed the dalhari waking up. "Um…"

Rali frowned. A dark feeling settled in her mind. Was Dawn…"What is it, Iriya? Have I done something?"

"No!" Dawn insisted. "It's just…I…" Dawn jumped out of bed and paced the floor in front of the fire. "There's something I need to tell you—something really important."

Rali's frown deepened. She couldn't think of anything offhand that would worry Dawn so. The dalhari wasn't bonded to anyone, and she had been reasonably sure she hadn't promised herself either. "What?"

Dawn looked over quickly. "You know that Chadai adopted me, right?"

Rali nodded. Yes, she knew that Chadai was her father in name only. Perhaps this was about her natural parents. "Your parents…"

"They're dead," Dawn said. Rali flinched. It was true, though. At least, her mother was dead. Her father she could care less about.

"I'm sorry, Iriya," Rali said softly. She was surprised when Dawn didn't react much.

"That's not it," Dawn replied. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "They were human."

Rali sat straight up. Human? That meant…"You were changed."

Dawn nodded, staring into the fire. She'd stopped pacing after dropping that little bomb.

"When?" Rali asked quietly. It couldn't have been recently; Iriya was entirely dalhari; no trace of human culture or personality remained.

"About a hundred years ago," Dawn replied. Rali's voice was too calm for her comfort.

"Why?"

Dawn turned to one side, still not looking at Rali. "The clan and the house became my family. It seemed like the natural thing to do; they adopted me and I asked to be changed."

To her surprise, Rali nodded. She could see the motion out of the corner of her eye. "They raised you?" It was not unheard of for humans raised from infancy by dalhari to be changed upon request.

"I was about fourteen when I met up with them," Dawn answered. "There's more to that story, of course."

"Then perhaps you should sit down with me and tell it," Rali suggested. Dawn's head shot up and she turned to look at the teacher. "You thought, perhaps, that I would be angry with you?" The look on Iriya's face was answer enough. Rali's eyes narrowed. "Then you think little of me. Such things are yours alone to know and share, Iriya."

"Yes," Dawn said quietly. After a few minutes, she relented and took a seat on the very edge of the bed. Rali sighed and crawled over to where she was, taking the musician into her arms.

"Now, tell me what it is you think I should be so upset about," Rali insisted.

"I'm not from here," Dawn whispered.

"You came from another region?" Rali asked. The musician shook her head.

"Another dimension." To her surprise, Rali didn't move away. She didn't say anything either, not for several minutes.

"So did my father," Rali said finally.

"What?" Dawn squeaked, turning to look at Rali. "Do you know what I'm talking about? I'm from another dimension, one where there aren't dalhari, or siv, or orth or anything but humans and a bunch of demons."

Rali just nodded. "I do know what you're talking about, Iriya. As I said, my father is from another dimension. Laio accidentally crossed over more than two hundred years ago. His change from human to dalhari was a bit different from yours, but believe me he wasn't born dalhari, or even on this world."

Dawn just stared at the teacher. Well. This wasn't how she'd expected this to go. "But…there are just myths about people crossing dimensions," She whispered.

Rali shrugged. "Most of them are stories, yes, but a few of them are true. I know two people—and now three—who have crossed over. It is rare, but few people deny that it is possible. Most species' witches insist that it can and has been done."

"My coming here wasn't an accident," Dawn said after a moment. "I meant to cross over."

Rali's head cocked to one side. "Why?" While her father was very happy here, he had been honest in saying that it had been a freak accident—and the same was true of her siv friend Xander.

"A friend of mine was sent here. I came to get him," Dawn said. "It was a stupid thing to do, but I was just a kid back then. Lucky for me, I ran into Zhaen and the other musicians. They helped me get here in one piece. Otherwise I'd have died fairly quickly."

"Did you ever find your friend?" Rali asked.

Dawn shook her head. "No. We looked all the way from Taphaur to here, but we never found Xander. I'm not surprised though—what?" Dawn said when she saw the expression on Rali's face. "What?"

"Xander?" Rali whispered. "You came here to find Xander?"

Dawn's eyes narrowed. "Yes, but like I said I…" Rali said his name awfully familiarly.

"He's here," Rali said softly. "I know him."

"You…" Dawn's head started spinning and she began to sway backward. Rali caught her before she could fall onto her back. "Know? He's still alive?" Her voice quickly rose to a high-pitched squeak.

"Yes, he's alive," Rali said calmly.

"He's dalhari?" Dawn said hopefully. Rali shook her head.

"No. He's siv."

Dawn's eyes widened. "Siv?" She tried to picture Xander with fur and a tail…the image she got was funny and it made her smile. "Where is he?"

"Tragith. He came to Na'alha from Shaen a long time ago, with his family. They moved to Tragith some time back, to be with other siv. Na'alha is a bit cold for them," Rali said. Something occurred to her. "You know, you could go see him. I'm sure he…" Rali's voice dropped off when yet another thing occurred to her. If Iriya knew Xander, then maybe…"Iriya?"

Dawn looked up. "Yeah?" She asked cautiously.

"Did you ever know someone named Spike in your old world?" Rali inquired.

Dawn's face lit up. "Yeah! He was this vampire. My sister and, well, everyone else didn't like him, but he was so cool! Why? Did Xander mention him?" Dawn asked curiously. How would Rali have known about Spike? She hadn't thought about the vampire in years.

"He has another name now," Rali said. "Laio."

It took a moment for Dawn to make the connection. "Laio…as in your father Laio?" Rali nodded. Much to her surprise, Dawn's face broke into a grin, which quickly widened. Then she started howling with laughter.

"Iriya?" Rali said cautiously, not sure if she should be worried or not.

"Just a sec—" Dawn said, trying to get herself under control. "I should explain…" Rali nodded. "See, in my old world, Spike and my sister Buffy didn't get along." Rali's expression changed, so Dawn stopped for a moment. "What?"

"Buffy. He mentioned her once. You're her sister?" Rali bit her lip. "So your name was…"

"Dawn," Dawn said. "It's a lot like my—"

"I know," Rali said fondly. "It's beautiful." Dawn blushed prettily.

"Anyway," Dawn continued. "Spike had a thing for Buffy, but she wasn't interested. If we were over there, she'd have killed him for even thinking about me. Now I'm…involved with his daughter! It's just too much," Dawn finished. Even Rali had to grin at the coincidence.

"But you must know that Laio isn't the same person that he was in your world," Rali said. "When he crossed over, the magicks that brought him here took away the vampire part—he was never that thing here, but human instead."

Dawn nodded slowly. "That makes sense, I think." Rali's eyebrows rose.

"Why do you say that?" Rali asked.

"Well, when Xander disappeared, we—Buffy, Willow, Tara and Anya—called up another researcher friend to help us figure out what happened. He told us about this world."

"He knew about our world?" Rali said incredulously. "Xander and Laio knew nothing about it!"

"Neither did we, until Wesley explained it. According to him...wait a sec," Dawn said, going over to a nearby chest. "I wrote this all down when I first got here, so I wouldn't forget it. I only remember the highlights now." Dawn pulled out an old journal. It was written in English and she had to think for a moment to remember how to read it. She'd been writing dalhari for a hundred years.

"Ok, according to Wesley, there was this shaman person on our world that took all his people—humans—to this world to protect them. Then he isolated this world so that nothing could get in or out. The left a few magickal crystals behind so that some stragglers could get here. They were bespelled, though, so that only humans could use them, and that demons that tried would be destroyed," Dawn read. "Which means that when Spike used it, it killed the demon, but left the human part to be sent here."

Rali nodded. "Is that all you have?"

Dawn thought for a moment. "The only other thing I've got is a theory about why humans here speak the same language that I did back in the other world. See, the shaman brought people over here a really long time ago—way before the human tongue existed on either world. But one of the crystals in the other world was used about a hundred years before I got here—but if a hundred years there is more time than a hundred years here, then that guy that came here so long ago would have had lots and lots of time to get this human language spread around."

Rali stared at Dawn. "Are you sure you don't understand mathematics?"

Dawn shook her head. "Nah, I wrote all this down a long time ago, when the stuff I knew about magic and dimensions and stuff from back in the old world was fresh."

"Ah." Rali thought for a moment. "You should make contact with Xander. And Laio," She added after a moment. "Xander is why you came here."

"I know." Dawn agreed. It made her feel bad to know that he'd been here, alive, all this time when she'd given up on finding him so very long ago.

"We can go to Na'alha; Laio will know the best way for us to go to Xander," Rali stated.

"You..." Dawn started. "You have a position here, at the university."

"So? This is much more important," Rali stated. "They will understand, just as your guild will understand."

Dawn nodded. She hadn't wanted to hope that Rali would accompany her—or even talk to her after she'd made her revelations. As it turned out, she was the one to be surprised. "It will take some planning," She said carefully. She didn't want Rali to feel beholden to accompany her either. Their relationship was so new, but she wanted it to last forever.

"Of course. You have family here," Rali replied. "Do you prefer to be called Iriya, or Dawn?"

Dawn smirked. "Have you heard anyone call me Dawn since you've been here? Bai hates that I've been changed—that I even exist—but he calls me Iriya as well. I rarely even speak the human tongue anymore." Rali smiled at the vehement statement.

"As you wish, Iriya." Rali reached over and pulled the musician on top of her. They both shuddered at the intimate contact, feeling skin so close, only separated by two thin layers of fabric from their night shifts.

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"Chadei?"

The master musician looked up from the stack of papers he was evaluating. "What is it, Iriya?" He asked. He'd not expected to see his daughter so soon; his suspicion had been that Rali would keep her rather…occupied for the week.

"I need to go somewhere," Dawn said slowly.

"Where is that?" Chadei asked.

"I know where Xander is." The guild master was out of his seat before he realized it.

"What?" He shouted, confused. After all this time, she had found the boy she'd come to this world after?

"Rali knows him. It all came out when I told her where I came from," Dawn explained.

"When did you tell her about that?" Chadei inquired. To his knowledge, such a thing had never been discussed with anyone.

Dawn simply stared at him. After a moment, the elder blushed prettily, figuring out just how the story had come up.

"So you wish to go see him?" Chadei asked.

"As well as another person from my world," Dawn said.

"Another?"

Dawn nodded. "I know him as well, although I'd never guessed that this was where he'd gone off to when he disappeared."

"Is Rali accompanying you?" He hoped so; he wouldn't stand for his daughter going to a strange place by herself. "And where would you be going?"

"Rali would come with me, and we would start by going to Na'alha. From there, Tragith. Xander's a siv now," Dawn explained.

That made sense to Chadei; if her friend had remained human he'd be long dead by now. Siv lived nearly as long as dalhari and pakra did. Actually, they could live as long as dalhari, but they were more likely to be killed by an enemy than the winged species. "When are you leaving?"

"It will be some time; both Rali and I have responsibilities in the hold that we cannot ignore," Dawn said. "And winter is coming."

"Spring, then?"

"As soon as the mountains are passable, yes." That gave them months to plan and prepare.

"Will you ever return to us? For your bonding, perhaps?" Chadei inquired suddenly. "Or will the Dyasa have to fly to Na'alha for that?"

"Bonding? What bonding?" Dawn echoed. "We're not bonding!" It was true, technically; neither of them had broached the subject.

"We shall see," Chadei said softly. While he hoped that Iriya would return to Tereva'diel, he also knew that she might desire to stay in Na'alha or even in Tragith with her friend Xander. No matter where she was, he would be there at her bonding—which he knew was going to occur, and with Rali. They were perfect for each other.

Dawn and Chadei discussed the topic for quite some time; he insisted that she take an ifnan, which she didn't protest. She hated walking very far and had since arriving in this world.

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Dawn had just stepped out of the guild hall when strong arms wrapped around her and pushed her against a wall. Familiar, cherished lips pressed against hers in a very surprisingly public display of affection. Just as quickly as it had started, the kiss ended and she and Rali were standing a bit farther apart, although Rali kept possession of one of Dawn's hands. They were about to stroll down the street when Bai exited the guild hall.

"Ah! Rali," Bai started, seeing only the object of his constant lust. "I have not seen you far enough lately."

"So my avoidance was successful," Rali whispered to Dawn. Bai simply stared at Rali for a moment, before noticing Dawn.

"Ah, you," Bai muttered. "Perhaps, Rali, you would be interested in a perform…" Bai's voice trailed off as he watched Rali, who was obviously listening to him, raising her and Dawn's joined hands up to her mouth. The teacher was rubbing Dawn's knuckles against her mouth, pressing soft kisses there. Bai's skin darkened to an almost purple-red and he spun around, taking to the air.

"That was evil, Rali," Dawn commented without reproach.

"I learned from the best," Rali said.

"Who?" Dawn inquired.

"My father."

Dawn's laughter rang off the buildings as they sauntered down the street toward the Disiaron house. Rali had prepared a meal for them to share, as well as a surprise. Dawn wasn’t sure what the surprise was, but from the look on Rali's face, it was going to be very…interesting.

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