The great Library of Rhy'Din City was by far the largest and most beautiful public building Piper had ever seen, seeming to take up an entire district of its own and capped with a high, sparkling dome. She stood on the steps for a long time, staring up at the elegantly fluted columns and highly decorated portal door in amazement. The sheer size of the place was intimidating; how on earth was she goingt o find what she was looking for in a library so big"

The interior was no less intimidating. The library seemed to be split into separate rooms for separate subjects, each one able to accomodate several of her mother's not-insubstantial personal library back home with ease. Piper couldn't help feeling more than a little overwhelmed, wondering if she would ever be able to find anything, much less learn what she needed to know.

After several minutes of wandering to and fro through the rooms, marvelling at the size and beauty and peace of the place, Piper was thoroughly lost. She touched her hand to the small bump at her waistline, the cause of her visit here in the first place.

"I hope you're pleased with yourself," she muttered to the 18-week-old foetus residing within, not at all pleased when it replied with another of those fluttering kicks she was becoming accustomed to. "My brain is going to melt out of my ears if there's more than ten or so books in here that I have to read."

"Excuse me, madame?"

Piper jumped, startled by the near silent approach of the woman who had spoken to her. She was a lady of upper middling years, it appeared; one of those formidable types who seemed to approach the world from behind a battering ram consisting of an ample bosom and delicate reading glasses looped on a sturdy chain. Just as intimidating as the library itself, in fact. But then she smiled, and Piper felt herself relax a little.

"My name is Magda, I'm one of the librarians here," she introduced herself in a voice that made Piper think of her childhood nanny. "I couldn't help noticing that you seem a little lost. Is there some way I can help you?"

"Oh, I rather think you can," the young soon-to-be mother said in a quiet voice, not wanting to break the hush of the huge building. "Do you have anything here on ....uhm ..." Embarrassed not to know the phrase off the top of her head, she rummaged in her bag for a moment, coming up with the scrap of paper on which she had had Ollie write down the words, reading it out carefully. "Unseelie Fae?"

Magda nodded pleasantly, laying a warm hand on Piper's back to steer her through the complex arrangement of whispering, book-lined rooms. "Ancient History, Modern History, Magical Studies, Anthropology, Dimensional Geography, Contemporary Studies, or Myths and Legends, my dear?"

"Oh, uhm ..." Piper looked blank, already out of her depth. "All of them?"

Magda looked at her as though she'd gone ever so slightly insane. "That is a lifetime's worth of study for a mage, young lady," she informed Piper gently, glancing down at the younger woman's swelling belly. Perhaps if you tell me why you are researching the Dark Fae, I could point you in the right direction."

Piper bit her lip, a flashing memory of pain lancing through her mind. If Riley, Mesteno, and Gem were right, that was only a foretaste of what could happen in the future. "I don't know anything about anything," she confessed to the librarian unhappily, her expression crumpling as she suddenly found herself close to tears. "I'd never even heard of magic before I came here, and now I'm pregnant, and there's dragons and fairies after my baby, and even my baby does magic, and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do."

"Oh, there, there, my dear." To her surprise, Piper found herself swamped in a motherly sort of embrace as Magda moved to comfort her, producing a handful of clean tissues from what Piper could only assume was a filing cabinet hidden in her impressive corsetry. "I see what we need. You need an education, and a little background, to prepare you for what might come after."

Startled, Piper nodded, wiping her face dry with the tissues she had been given. "Oh, and I need to see a directory of midwives in the city," she added, remembering belatedly Gemethyst's addendum to the reams of advice. "Preferably those who have experience with ....non-human pregnancies."

"Of course, my dear, I can look up a list for you easily enough," Magda told her firmly. "Now, you sit down here, and let's see about getting you settled in. You'll be coming back here for at least a few weeks, I'm certain."

As she was manoeuvred into a comfortable armchair, set a little out of the way in a nook between shelves, Piper realised she had been gently guided through several more of the library's rooms, to one evidently set at a corner of the building itself. Sunlight streamed in through tall windows on two walls of the room, illuminating various desk and work stations no doubt set up there to take advantage of the natural light. Bookshelves lined the walls almost without any breaks; a balcony ran around the mid-point of the room's height to make access to the higher shelves easier for those who were browsing.

"This is our section on Myths, Legends, and Faerytales," Magda explained as she watched the younger woman look around in slack-jawed wonder. "Most of the information you need will be in Modern History or Magical Studies, or possibly in Contemporary Studies, but I think we will make this your base of operations, Mrs -?"

"Piper, please. Just Piper." Don't let's get into a discussion on why I'm not married.

"Piper." Magda chuckled softly to herself, laying two impressively bound volumes in the pregnant girl's lap. They were both bound in rich green- leather, embossed with gold and silver lettering which read, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Volume 1 and Volume 2. The authors were cited as The Brothers Grimm. Looking up, Piper offered the older woman a confused smile.

"You mentioned you have little familiarity with magic," the librarian said gently. "Reading this will at least give you some idea of what magic can do, in a safe manner. They're stories primarily read to young children, to teach them moreals and ethics as they grow, but I still find them refreshing to read as an adult. Now then, you settle in with Wilhelm and Jacob, and I will see about getting together a good selection of material for you to study."

"Wilhelm and Jacob?" Piper was mystified.

"The authors," it was explained to her with a wide smile. "If you need me for anything, dear, just say my name, but be careful not to shout. It upsets the books."

With that she was off, moving with purpose to a computer set not too far away to compile a list fo books she could need to hunt out for Piper. After a long moment spent staring hard at the bookshelf beside her, Piper eventually dismissed a vague notion that upset books might leap off the shelves and shower her in prose until she went away.

Her eyes turned back to the pair of books in her lap, fingertips gently caressing the soft leather covers as she sighed softly. It wasn't quite what she had come here for, but Magda seemed to know what she was doing. And what harm could a little light reading do, to get her in the right mind set for the complicated stuff?

With another gentle sigh, she shifted out of her coat, laying her bag down by her feet. Opening the first of the volumes, Piper settled comfortably into her chair and began to read.

Over a week later, and Piper was getting distinctly tired of the library. Her days had settled into something of a monotony. In the mornings, she spent a little time setting her newly acquired house in order; lovely as it was, there was a distinct odour in the main foyer that just wouldn't shift, no matter what she did. The afternoons were devoted to research in the library, and she could lose several hours just reading one book, trying to track down anything she could use to protect her baby from the Dark Fae who would be coming after it.

Today's book seemed to be a winner, though. Magda had called in any number of favours to get a few books returned to the Modern Anthropology section, and among those tomes was the one in which Piper was now engrossed. It was entitled A Study of the Unseelie In the Modern World, and was filled with fascinating descriptions of just how these Fae blended into different environments. More importantly, it offered a few hints as to how they could be identified from a distance, and how their power could be dampened, if not negated completely.

"....it is important to retain such information as one discovers about these Fae at the forefront of one's mind. One never knows where they will be, nor when they will choose to take an interest in oneself. There are several runes that, once drawn upon one's body or upon something of great personal importance, will provide an aura of protection against the unconscious forms of magic Dark Fae habitually employ. These include ..."

Piper groped for her journal, carefully copying down each rune with an explanation of what it should do for her. Above this in her journal was a reminder to go to one of the Catholic priests and ask them for a blessing on her both her and baby, alongside a description of a ritual her midwife had suggested to her, designed to subdue the baby's unpleasant habit of stretching its magical wings to say hello to any Dark Fae Piper encountered.

Her pen went down once more, and the book rose before her eyes, her attention caught by the very practical suggestions made in the text. This was a book she would be checking out, she decided as she continued to read. There was a lot in here she could do with knowing.

Piper was laughing as she and Loki made their way back up the gentle slope to her little house, the Malamute walking obediently at her side, free from his leash. She had never had any trouble controlling her dog, and in his own turn, he saved his exuberance for when they were out of the city, playing at wild, unimaginable games among grass and trees.

Odd, then, that Loki paused before they reached the door, his canine shoulders broadening, hackles rising on his back. His lips pulled back to reveal those dangerous teeth, releasing a growl so low and threatening that Piper felt her happiness drain away into fear. She turned wide blue eyes toward the door before them, wondering what it was that had so disturbed her hound.

"What is it, Loki?" she asked uncertainly, the keys jangling in her hand as she forced herself to unlock the sturdy entrance to her own home. "Is someone ....someone in there?"

There was no answer but another growl, the big dog pushing her out of the way to stand in the doorway as the barrier swung open, glaring into the house as though expecting something to come hurtling from the sunlit room beyond. As her fear increased, Piper felt a familiar sharp pain in her swollen belly, laying her hands on the roundness of her womb as she sought to calm herself and her unborn child, willing it not to fight against the protection she herself had had inked into her skin to keep from suffering through any more magical influences.

Nose jumping as he sniffed the air, Loki padded slowly into the house, the agitated swish of his tail all Piper needed to know that something was not right. Trusting the dog implicitly, she lingered in the doorway, hugging herself tightly, watching as Loki went over every surface, every piece of furniture, seeking the unknown scent that had brought him into this hyper-alert state. Unknown scents were not allowed in the home of his mistress, not unless they were there to be introduced by her.

When his sweep of the living room brought nothing to light, Piper crept inside, closing the door behind her as she followed the growling Malamute through all the rooms of the house. In three distinct places, he stopped, scratching at the swept boards, his growling somehow intensifying ....the balcony at the end of the upstairs hallway; all over the little used spare room; a spot beside her own bed, in her own bedroom.

Piper felt herself pale as she dropped hard to sit on the bed. Someone had been here; someone Loki did not know, someone the dog instinctively did not trust. Someone who had entered through the hall balcony, who had inspected every inch of a room she didn't use and rarely went into ....someone who had stood beside her bed, in the perfect position to watch her as she slept. Someone who had the power and skill not to be seen or heard, who could enter a locked house and leave nothing but their scent behind them as evidence of their ever having been there.

"Oh, my God," she whispered to herself, shocked by the revelation that came upon her. "They've found me."

It had to have been a Fae, a Dark Fae; no other would have any interest in her, surely. And if it were, then there was the terrifying thought that it could well have been one with an interest in her baby. Her mind numb with fright, she wrapped her arms around Loki, hugging the Malamute tight as he leaned up against her.

Protecting herself was nothing, if her own home was so easily violated. She had to get some help. Ollie had to know. Alannah, or Alv'ss, even Magda might be able to send her to someone who could protect her home. But one thing was now perfectly clear; some faerytales did not have a clear happy ending.