Chapter Three: Here, There, and Somewhere Else

"Could you tell me where exactly I am right now?" Daphne asked Leicester (or possibly Trafalgar).

"Right now," Leicester (or Trafalgar) said, "you are Here."

Daphne shook her head. "But where is here?" she asked.

"Not here," Trafalgar (or possibly Leicester) said. "Here. With a capital H. More specifically, you are on Here Hill, just windward of the There River, near the Somewhere Else Port."

"Well, those are silly names," Daphne said. "Here, There, and Somewhere Else? Next thing you know, there will be a place called Over There."

"Oh, we're all Over There," Leicester (or possibly Trafalgar) said. "All of the Storylands are Over There. But don't worry, it's just a short walk from Here to There."

"And from There to where I came from?" Daphne asked. "I think my parents are going to be worried sick if I don't get back home before dinner."

"Oh, it's already after dinner," Trafalgar (or possibly Leicester) said. "From Somewhere Else, you can take a ship to any number of places and have any number of adventures. You do want to have adventures, don't you?"

Daphne thought about this. "Well, yes," she finally said, "but I'd like to tell my parents not to worry and that I'm fine. I don't want to just leave them."

"One has to leave ones parents eventually," Leicester (or possibly Trafalgar) said. "That's why most of the protagonists in these types of stories are orphans - they've already got their parents out of the way. No fuss, no muss."

"Well, I don't want to be an orphan," Daphne said. "So if you could lead me to another one of those Doors that leads back to my world, please."

Leicester and Trafalgar looked at one another and laughed again. Daphne didn't like the feeling of being laughed at, especially by two talking pigeons, even if they knew more than she did.

"Doors don't work that way," Trafalgar (or possibly Leicester) said. "Doors don't take you where you want to go - they take you where they want to go. Now, there are other options, but they all involve having an adventure and meeting with one of the Pavor Nocturnus et Diem."

"What are they?" Daphne asked, for she had woefully little skills in translating Latin.

"The Pavor Nocturnus et Diem?" Leicester (or possibly Trafalgar) said. "They are the Day and Night Terrors. They rule the Storylands."

"'Day and Night Terrors'?" Daphne said. "They sound unpleasant."

"Oh, they are more than unpleasant," Trafalgar (or possibly Leicester) said. "They are un-all sorts of things. But they have ways to moving from place to place, from Over There to Home Again."

"Personally," Leicester (or possibly Trafalgar) said, "I'd go with the King of Trees." This sparked off another argument between the two pigeons and Daphne sighed, wondering if her journey to Home Again (as they called it) would ever start with guides like these.