“Alright!” I announced, slapping my hand down on the table in front of Bergen.

“You’re high,” he said.

“Of course I am. Look,” I said, indicating the paper I slammed before him on the table.

“What is this?” he asked.

“Their Homework assignment if they want it!” I shouted, declaring.

I strutted across his room — “When did you get a room on my ship?” I asked.

He glanced up from my paper. “When you decided to stay in bed all day yesterday and I didn’t want to sleep in the chair beside you again,” he said, looking back at the paper.

“The Queen’s Challengers?” he read.

“That’s right!” I said. “I’m hosting a Real Life…”

I paused for Legal Purposes… I was pretty sure there were words I wasn’t allowed to use. I googled them. I could not understand any of it.

…

I would have my Attorneys figure it out for me.

“Dungeons & Dragons!” I shouted.

“I see that,” he said.

“The Queen’s Challengers,” he said.

“Yes!” I said. I shrugged. “I wanted to play.” I was suddenly very sober. “And it’s hard for me to find my Campaign… And I’m on a Quest anyway. So… Why not…”

I felt myself teary eyed a little. I was longing for something that went deep in me.

“I wanted to play… Not many people know how to play with me.”

“You’re lonely,” he said.

I nodded, fighting back tears I failed to hold back.

“I want to play.”

He nodded.

“So what to do you want me to do with this?” he asked.

I could see it. I could see all of it for two years now. I had tried so many times… “Let’s do a sign up sheet,” I said. “Send it out to all the Villages throughout the Land! Let them know the Queen is holding a Contest for her Challengers!”

“We’ll see who accepts my call! Who would be willing to play with me…”

“And the winner?” he said.

“They will be invited into The Epic Group,” I said.

“Oh… I’m afraid to ask,” he said. “But I’ll brave it. What is The Epic Group?”

“My Private Club!” I said. “For Nerds!”

He looked at me.

“I’ll play with you,” he said.

“Ethically!” I shouted. “I want people who know how to play with me in Make-Believe.”

“So, there you have it then,” he said. “You have your Newsletter, your book, your Story, your… Dungeons & Dragons Quest Game. Your Nerd Club –”

“That is only accessible to those who complete the Quest!” I said.

“Your classroom,” he continued. “And your newsroom.”

“Ooh! And my Genie Bottle with Anna’s Lounge!”

“Yes, that also. Ooh! Can we do Open Mic Night and Karaoke Night over at The Wandering Wench!?”

I thought on this.

“Yes!”

“I’ll go pin this over on Bergen’s Blog,” he said, and sauntered on over to his Blog.

I looked at Under Earth. Everything that was. Anna’s Playground was already well underway.

And just like that, it all came together. It was complete.

***

A moment later, Bergen was back.

“So now what are you going to do?” he asked. “With your Contenders or Challengers or… whatever it is you’re doing?”

“I don’t know yet… but also… I do know. I can see it and also it hasn’t come to me yet. Not enough to make sense of. But it will.”

“You’re sad,” he said, suddenly.

“I am.”

“Why?”

“I’m afraid… I know… I know how popular I’ve been all my life. And how easily people like me. But they like my Energy and hate my Story. They never want my Story. And only my Story is available. So I’ve had people want me, claim me, keep me for my Energy and for my Body. But none of them ever wanted my Story.”

I was feeling hope drop while sorrow plummeted my spirits.

“I am worried with rising fame that will all just happen all over again as it always does… But this time, I’ll… I’m very precise about who I allow near me. Who I allow…” I was now thinking about my Circle of Trust. I was realizing just how much it was inadequate for where I was going.

“People always say, ‘Trust The Universe.’ But when the Universe waits on you to make a Decision and it’s all on your shoulders to decide, “Trusting the Universe” doesn’t quite work that way for me. She waits for me. I don’t know — I doubt — it is that way for others. But it very much is that way for me. Nothing happens until I decide it to. And only after I’ve decided does it happen when the Mathematics deems it ready.

My deciding and wanting it is just my “putting in the queue.”

I want to play with them. I want to play with them so badly… That’s why I left them all the games scattered about all over.”

“You’re afraid it will be like last time,” he said.

“It will be with some people. It will be genuine with other people. Knight Training. Bard Training. Druidic Training…” I laughed. “It’s for real,” I said.

I suddenly felt it.

“I don’t want to teach like… anyone else. “I want to TEACH like a Bard. I want to TEACH like only an Ashavana knows how. I want to throw this world on its ass and “but” fuck it with my dildo while I show it how its really done… I’m afraid the closer I get to the Archetype, the further away I’ll get from Humanity.”

I want to be the female version of Puck and Bacchus and Loki. If I had my way… I would show the world truly how to live.

And I’m feeling it, Bergen. I’m feeling the Play and the Sexuality come back to me again. And in so many ways… that scares me. Because I want my Story. I am Story.”

I was feeling myself tear up again.

“I’m all of the things,” I whispered. “I cannot choose. I am all of the things. Deamon.”

“Divide,” he said.

I nodded.

“I cannot Deamon. I am Solomon.”

I blinked.

“Oh!” My Ancient Greek was paying off. “Deamon! Solomon! Salmon! They make sense now!”

I was tempted just then to run into my “Not-So-Secret Secret “Top Secret” Room.”

I decided instead to save that for later. I was getting ready to make dinner and I was wanting to take the rest of the night off.

I pulled out my little notebook and scribbled down :

“Not-So-Secret Secret “Top Secret” Room”