8x17: "The Wren"
(commentary by Jet Wolf and Novareinna)
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[ Download Clip #1 ]

Jet Wolf: I'm going to make a concerted effort to not say "uhm" quite so much this time. <Novareinna laughs> It was every other word. "Uhm, uhm, uhm." And it's like, can I possibly repeat the- the vowel 'i'? "I- I- I- I-" ... Sound like a freakin' idiot.
Novareinna: Or "Er, er, er".
JW: Yeah. Jesus christ. Okay. Uhm ... <Nova laughs> So what's the first word out of my mouth? "Uhm." Good god. Shoot me in the face. All right. UHM. <more laughing> This would be Jet Wolf. <laughing continues> Can you stop laughing to speak? <still more laughing> Apparently not. All right.
N: Oh, is it me?
JW: <laughing> Yes. All right. We will start again.
<file is paused and restarted>
JW: Okay, we're coming into this after a ten minute giggle fit, so, uh, this is Jet Wolf ...
N: And this is Nova.
JW: And she's leaning to the microphone.
N: Sorry, won't do that again.
JW: No, it's all right. So, we co-wrote "The Wren", which turned out to be oddly popular while not being popular, so how that worked, I don't quite understand. Uhm, so let's see. I asked you to do this one ... way back when I first started. Right?
N: And I can't really remember why now.
JW: I- I think ... I think you were showing interest in doing one. I think you were kinda like, "Oo! I can do an episode!" Uhm, but you wanted to do something that was different, you didn't want to do the regular kind of—
N: Yeah, right, cuz I didn't- I didn't think I could- I could quite match up with the way you did things, so we sort of had to take it out of the regular- the regular scene.
JW: So I-I— And you wanted to, uhm, do something a little bit different. Uhh ... A-And this one, this- this episode didn't turn anything out— Didn't turn out to be anything like what it was originally planned to be. Cuz it was gonna be just a random, alternate reality kind of funky—
N: The only thing that really stayed was the fact that it was gonna be concentrated on Dawn.
JW: Right, we knew it was gonna be a Dawn episode. But I think when I pitched it to you, I'm like, "It's an alternate reality: GO!" And—
N: Yeah, but then you wanted to know, did I actually want to do it, because I'm not that fond of Dawn.
JW: Right, right. Uhm, though you said she grew on you.
N: Yeah, she did, she did.
JW: Uhm ... So, uh ... <Nova starts laughing> Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up! Uhh ... dammit. I'm having "UH" issues. Uhm ...
N: Instead of "uhm" issues?
JW: SHUT UP. Uh ... ERG! Now I'm self-conscious about the "uh" thing. Christ. So I asked Nova to do this one, and I asked her back around ... I wanna say around the second or third episode. I-I think I said, "Hey, do you wanna do this one?"
N: I don't think it was that early.
JW: Wasn't it?
N: I don't think so, no. No. I think it was ... I think it was maybe after I'd done some work on "Waxing and Waning"?
JW: I don't know. Cuz that was— No, cuz you were sending me stuff for "The Wren", like early drafts? You were sending me stuff for that really early on. I thought.
N: Maybe so. I know it was before Tara came back.
JW: Yeah. Yeah. Well I guess it doesn't matter.
N: I don't really remember, to be quite honest with you.
JW: Well whatever it was, it was— This was pitched to Nova and the original concept for it was ... Very loosely, I'm like, "It's gonna be like a big parody thing! It'll be some, you know, big parody of the show and all of its conventions", and of course as- as you know, it didn't turn anything out like that at all. That's largely thanks to- to Nova, who took it with the whole Renaissance Festival thing. And that was totally her idea, I had no plans to go there at all.
N: You were- I think your original concept was gonna be like "Dawn the Vampire Slayer".
JW: Right, which was hinted at in the very first episode, which I think I knew at that point, but it was- it was kind of— The first scene, the dream sequence, where it's Dawn instead of Buffy, in the very first episode. That was sort of like a—
N: Oh, yeah, okay, I see.
JW: —a foreshadowing thing of- of this alternate reality situation. But it never even got close to that, because I handed it off to you, and you came up with something completely, utterly different.
N: Yeah. I don't even really know how I came up with that, to be quite honest with you.
JW: I don't remember either. I think you just—
N: I know it wasn't originally that. It was originally— It was always gonna be a Renaissance Festival thing.
JW: Well it wasn't when I was gonna do it, but when you took it.
N: No, no.
JW: When you decided to.
N: Yeah but we- we talked about it first, though. It wasn't even a Renaissance Festival at first. I wanted to do some stuff, and you said, "Well it's gonna have to be— You're gonna have to verify it. It's gonna have to be explained as to why." And you said the only way you could get around that is to but it in a whole alternate reality, otherwise it's not gonna work. But if it's in like a- a dreamy-type state or a fantasy-type state, and then it doesn't HAVE to be verified, then I could go ahead and do it that way. And I think that's what we went with.
JW: Yeah. So uh—
N: And then of course "wren" and "ren" is a play on words.
JW: Yeah. THE "wren" and "ren" fest, of course. And that was- that was you also. I didn't come up with that at all.
N: Quite possibly.
JW: No, no, I didn't come up with that at all, that was you. So- So that was the concept for it, and from there, uh, Nova wrote most— Nova pretty much wrote everything that happens in the actual Renaissance fair that Dawn goes to. And I wrote the beginning part, uhm—
N: I did write a beginning part, but you changed much of it.
JW: Yeah, yeah.
N: And the end part that I had, you pretty much totally changed.
JW: Yeah, yeah. Uhm, which we thought worked out better, because her writing style and my writing style are not necessarily the same. They have commonalities, and they can be melded together to make something that's similar, but, uhm, with me doing the beginning stuff made ... made it a bit more, "this is the way it normally is", then you go over to the- to Dawn's Renaissance Festival world and if things feel a little bit different description, that works out okay because you're in a different place. Sorta like, you know, black and white and colour in a "Wizard of Oz" situation.
N: And I had this beginning part, uhm ... I had this beginning part too much thought ... inward thought.
JW: Yeah, yeah. That was a big problem for a while was— Cuz of course, we're doing it like a television show, and in a TV show, you can't get inside a character's head. So you can't know what they're thinking, it's very much you have to show what's going on and- and this was a way she had never written before. So that was a— I don't wanna say a PROBLEM, but it was something you had to kind of break yourself out of.
N: I did better later, but I did that an awful lot at first.
JW: Yeah. So.
N: And then the end was just way too dramatic.
JW: Yeah, the end was a bit ...
N: For the death of a bird that nobody really knew about.
<laughing>
JW: But a lot of it came out of it. A lot of the- the stuff in the beginning— Well I guess we'll get to the— We'll explain who did what when we get there.

Teaser

The sun shone happily on Willow and Tara as they moved down the streets of Trillium's shopping district. While there could be no denying that the two women were, indeed, walking together – they maintained the same pace and were more or less side-by-side – a generous helping of personal space had been established between them. Not enough room for a person to step between the witches, but several inches that prevented hands from accidentally brushing and making a slightly awkward situation more so.

"This is good," Willow declared, looking at the stores around them. "This is nice. You. Me. Sunny day. An afternoon's pleasure in the purchasing of fine wares from local vendors."

Nodding, Tara expressed her agreement at the statement. "Thanks. For coming with me. Though I'm sure I could've found it myself."

"Well sure – Trillium, not exactly Los Angeles, you know?" The redhead considered this for a moment. "Which wouldn't necessarily be bad, since we'd have Angel and Cordy and Fred and everything, though the weather's completely wrong for L.A., and this is so entirely not the point." Favoring Tara with a small smile, she assured, "I wanted to come. Plus, I gotta admit – ulterior motive."

[ Download Clip #2 ]

Jet Wolf: So this- this teaser ... I think I wrote. This is Willow and Tara?
Novareinna: I- I think I put it in that scenario and you fiddled with it. I had the idea for them seeing the Ren poster. The poster for the Renaissance Festival. But I had them, uhm ... I think I had them way too chummy.
JW: Yeah, that was actually a bit of a problem, because when we conceived of this episode, the- the Willow and Tara relationship, from the point where they came back, went through so many changes. Because when I- when I first started outlining this, they were together a lot sooner than they ever were when it came out into being. Cuz it didn't feel right, it felt too rushed.
N: Yeah, and they were also, uhm ... They also got— They were also back together pretty much by this point originally, too.
JW: Yes, yes.
N: Whereas as it turned out to be, that wasn't— This didn't turn out to be the case.
JW: Right, right.
N: So I had them way too chummy.
JW: So at this point we still had them very estranged, cuz this is ... This is really close to after everything kinda got sorted out. So, uhm ... So this was, like I said, I think- I think I wrote this stuff. I mean, it's really ... There's not a whole lot to say about it specifically. It's just very much, you know, uhm ... Willow and Tara trying to find their ... find a middle ground for the two of them. Things are very odd between them at this point. Uhm, I think someone mentioned at the time about the- the throwing in the names of Angel and Cordy and Fred, if that meant I was getting ready for some sort of an Angel crossover, and I'm not. That's not where I was going with that. Just that, as I've often said, the dialogue just kind of goes where it will sometimes, and for whatever reason, Willow felt the need to mention Los Angeles, and, of course, any mention of Los Angeles is instantly going to bring into mind, you know, the other- the other show. The Angel program. So. That's really all there was to- to that.
N: All that front— All that beginning bit's yours.
JW: Yeah.

At the questioning eyebrow, Willow produced a slightly crumpled piece of paper from her pocket. "Book list," she explained. "I've been doing some research on our ... our ‘problem'. With the powers?" At Tara's nod of understanding, Willow stuffed the page back into her coat. "I've got some new leads."

Tara dodged around a couple moving swiftly in the opposite direction and glanced at the other witch. "Mr. Giles has been working with me, seeing what's different? I think he's right, I think that spell you did to ... to save me? It's ... There's something there now. Between us. I can feel it." A moment of contemplative silence passed. "I think I could use some of your power now. I-If I had to."

Neither responded to this statement, and they continued onward without comment, the tension causing both women to fidget uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry," Willow apologized in a quiet voice.

Clearly not understanding, Tara frowned and shook her head. Willow attempted to explain. "You shouldn't have to ... I mean, I don't want to deal with it most of the time. And now here you are, pulled out of—" The redhead glanced over nervously. "Forced to go through who-knows-what, made to think you had to do terrible stuff, and what's your big reward at the end of the day?"

"I'm alive."

Willow blinked at Tara, unsure of how to respond as Tara met Willow's gaze.

"And that's something. Right?"

"It's everything." As soon as the words had left Willow's mouth, she appeared to want nothing more than to snatch them out of the air and stuff them back into her mouth where the traitorous things should never have escaped in the first place. Unable to do that, she settled for turning away as a flush crept its way up her neck. Consequently, her eyes lit upon a flier displayed in the window of a record store, its vibrant colors causing it to stand out among the dozens or so others that coated the glass.

Immediately interested, Willow came to a halt. "Oh, neat!" she exclaimed.

Having stopped just a pace or two after the redhead, Tara stepped closer and followed Willow's pointing finger. "Renaissance festival?" Tara read, casting a dubious glance at the still-bare trees that surrounded them. "Now?"

Willow was undaunted. "This is so great! I've always wanted to go to one of these things! Everything so ... chivalrous and medieval, with- with knights and armor and fair damsels all flowing and chiffony." Her expression lit up like someone in Willow's brain had just flipped a switch, and she spun to regard Tara. "You would look so good all flowing and chiffony!"

"Oh, would I, now?" contested the blonde in a flat tone that was entirely betrayed by the amused glint in her eye.

Immediately flustered, Willow's previously rampant enthusiasm began to fizzle uncertainly. "O-Or shiny and armor-y. Being a ... a bold, independent woman of today, there's absolutely no reason why you have to be a fair damsel ... Not that you aren't! I mean, even in chainmail, you'd be a damsel, in the base definition of the word, and the fairness of you – well, that's just a given, so—"

Tara cut in, still highly entertained judging from her smirk. "Will. Breathe."

"Breathing good. Yes." Willow nodded with much gusto. "I'm in support of oxygen. Go oxygen."

Shaking her head, Tara turned her attentions back to the flier. "Hey, look, they still have booths for rent."

Hopefully but tentatively, Willow ventured, "You wanna maybe get one? You an' me?" As the blonde looked uncertain and leaning toward the ‘I don't think that's such a good idea' response, Willow hastened to add: "Just a fun thing, in a nice, safe, entirely platonic sense. We can sell little charms and some potion stuff in pretty bottles – all harmless, of course." Her eyes began to shine again with the possibilities. "It'll be like the- The Magic Box! Only, you know, not a box. A booth. A stall. ‘The Magic Stall'?" Her face crinkled in disapproval. "Nnn."

"Maybe ... all of us?" Tara offered.

But Willow was still deeply pondering naming options. "‘The Magic Shanty'?" She bopped her head back and forth, seeming to consider the suggestion had potential, then focused once more on the blonde. "All of us?" she repeated.

"You, me, Buffy, Xander ... Dawn. I think this could be good for Dawnie. Help get her mind off stuff." The witches resumed their walking, and Tara's eyebrows furrowed. "I'm worried about her."

Willow seemed quite amenable to this idea. "Yeah. Be good for Buffy, too. I haven't seen her this stressed out since ..." Glancing up, she searched her memory. "Well, just a couple weeks ago, but still. We could all use something light and fun and brightly colored." Her lips pulled back in a challenging grin and she leaned toward Tara. "So, you in?"

"I'm in," Tara agreed with a smile.

Beaming happily, the redhead gave a nearly imperceptible skip. "This'll be great. Bright gowns, fake royalty, way too many ‘Wilt thou's and ‘Forsooth's, a disturbingly vast array of food items on sticks ..." She smiled and spread her arms wide. "It'll be like a whole ‘nother world."

[ Download Clip #3 ]

Novareinna: Then the Renaissance Festival thing, that- that comes into where possibly some of mine might've stayed.
Jet Wolf: It was of course important to establish that there was really a Renaissance Festival going on, because that's what- that's what Dawn ... The- The ... This is going to be hard to talk about, because we don't want to spoil anything that hasn't been resolved yet. So if we sound silted, it's not because we're idiots, <Nova laughs> we're just trying not to spoil anything.
N: Of course, the idiotic thing could possible come into it too.
JW: That is possible. BUT! But. Point. Uhm, so the- the Renaissance Festival was necessary to establish as being a real thing that was really going on, so that it gave a reason why the place Dawn goes to is a Renaissance Festival. I mean, I guess we can..? The Renaissance Festival, the thing that Dawn goes to is a sort of self-created place—
N: Yeah, if somebody's been there, if somebody's to one, they will know how- how you almost feel as though you can be back in the medieval-type times. And they usually have them in places where you can't hear traffic, and, you know, they don't have electricity and you eat everything on a stick. You know.
JW: But I mean- I mean that it's actually, in this episode, where Dawn goes. She goes to a place that, in a way, she's kind of created.
N: Yeah, but- but this gave her the spark. This sort of set it for her. This was someplace where- where she could ... she could associate with. It wasn't completely out of the blue.
JW: Right, it- it was on her mind. Cuz everyone was talking about it. So this is something that was on her mind, which is why she goes to wherever it is she goes, uhm, i-i-it's a Renaissance Festival. And, of course, in order to have that happen, we had to have it established ahead of time that there was a Renaissance Festival coming to town, otherwise it was completely out of left field. It's like, "Why is she doing this?" So this is why. It doesn't mean anything. Did they ever go to the Renaissance Festival? I have no idea. If you wanna pretend they did, feel free. Uhm ...
N: It's almost like when- when within a dream, if you hear a noise that's going on outside the dream, the dream tends to go ahead and- and make a reason for that noise within the dream.
JW: Right, something that makes sense within dream logic.
N: It's kind of- It's kind of like that. Only reversed, maybe.
JW: Uh, and that's really all that's going on here is we're establishing- establishing that. Why I had it be Willow and Tara? I don't even remember. I- I can only assume that I think your original outline had it being them.
N: It was them. Why it was them ... Uhm, I don't really know.
JW: I don't remember either.
N: I don't know why it was them.
JW: But this was good because it was— The- The problem, if I remember correctly ... The problem I had with this episode— "Problem"'s too strong of a word really, just that things were— Things had kinda settled down at this point. But there were a lot of kinda dangling plot threads that had to be moved forward. But the bulk of the episode occurred around Dawn in a place that was not this. So I had some issues with trying to make sure we continued to advance some of the little subplots that we had going. In this case, particularly the Willow and Tara situation. With the little bit of time that we had before we popped over to this other world.
N: Plus, I think we also thought that they were probably the two – or at least Willow, anyway – would be the one most interested because she'd want the little magic shop and, you know. It sort of fell in more ... You know, what would Xander ... I mean, it's more logical for them to wanna get a little booth there, because they do the magic stuff. You know. What would Xander do there? Yeah, he could go build stuff, but it didn't seem to have the same impact. And Buffy probably wouldn't be interested at all.
JW: A-And Willow is trying, of course at this point, is that she's wanting something very specific that she and Tara can do together. Because Willow's very much wanting that connection back again. Uhm, that she had with Tara. Which, of course, Tara at this point is- is kind of not comfortable with that. She's wanting to— She's got a lot of— As we learn later, an awful lot of crap going on in Tara's brain, uh, that has nothing to do with Renaissance Festivals. But Willow wants to get past all that, she wants to get back to how things were.
N: Right, but she also doesn't want it to be anything too intimate to begin with. Something more on a friendly level.
JW: Right, which is why she's saying this, and it's like, "it's gonna be platonic, it'll all be good", and Tara of course, not comfortable with it, and is like, "well why don't we make it everybody as opposed to just you and me." And if I remember correctly, this "it'll be all flowing and chiffony, you'd look so good all flowing and chiffony", that was you, I think.
N: Something similar to that. I think you changed it up some, but I did have the "chiffony" and stuff like that in there, yeah. And then of course the booths thing, I know that was my idea.
JW: Right. An-And this teaser ends very tellingly, where Willow says, "It'll be like a whole 'nother world", and of course that's—
N: You put that in there.
JW: That- That's very specific, because Dawn does, for all intents and purposes, go to a whole 'nother world.
N: Yeah. That was- That was you. That wasn't me. I don't know where I— I don't know if I ever got to the end of this.
JW: I don't think you had ... You- You weren't ... The structure is still something that- that Nova's not too comfortable with because it's a completely different kind of way of doing things. So I think yours was—
N: As I recall, I did finish it, but I don't know ... I think I finished with- with somewhere in the middle of like act one.
JW: Yeah.
N: I think was where my teaser finished. Something like that.
JW: Yeah, it was very strange. You just kinda had it all as one big chunk and I was- I was breaking it up from there, so ... Uhm, so! I guess that's it for the teaser.
N: Yeah, there's really not a lot more to say about that really.

"The Wren"

Story by: Jet Wolf, Novareinna and Ultrace
Written by: Novareinna and Jet Wolf
Edited by: Jet Wolf and Novareinna
Original Airdate: Tuesday, 26 October 2004, 8pm EST

[ Download Clip #4 ]

Jet Wolf: So the uh, the poster on this one—
Novareinna: And I pulled the graphics!
JW: Yes, the- the poster is actually ... I-I made it, but I made it completely from a mock-up demo version, if you will, that Nova had sent. And she was like, "I like this! I want it to look like this!" And so, I just took it. And it looked very good, it just wasn't much in the style ... Well I shouldn't say much. It wasn't completely in the style of the ones that had come before, and I wanted to make- to make sure it blen- it blended well the others.
N: Yeah, well I didn't have any of the blending, I just kinda threw it in there.
JW: Yeah.
N: But I found the pictures.
JW: Yeah, all the pictures came from Nova. Uhm, and the general layout came from you as well, for the most part.
N: Pretty much, yeah.
JW: Uhm, one thing that I always do find hilarious – the- the picture behind Dawn, of course ... The- The thing that looks like a map IS in fact a map. It's a Renaissance Festival map, from the Renaissance Festival we used to go to, actually. Uhm, and what always makes me laugh is you can see over here ... On the parchment, if you look you can see a little "ATM" bubble. <Nova laughs> And that, for some reason, just really amuses the hell out of me. That, you know, Dawn goes to this other world, and yet there are ATMs. Uhm, so yeah, so I gave Nova top billing on this one because I felt she did more work on it than I did. Uhm, when all was said and done. So. So I think that was the only time that happens, I think I took credit for everything else. Everything else is MINE.

Act One

In a slightly busier, more bustling section of town, the two witches chatted amiably, each carrying several books. Tara had selected a small volume of poetry and an old novel whose title was impossible to discern, while Willow had settled on four over-large, ancient-looking texts with foreign titles. The blonde laughed at something Willow had said, then tilted her head to one side as she watched a tall brunette cross the street with a big bag in her hand.

"Is that Dawn?" Tara wondered aloud as the girl moved further away from them.

Willow studied the figure as well then, after sharing a glance, both women called out, "Dawn!"

Several yards away, Dawn jumped – as did several other nearby pedestrians – and looked around in confusion. She soon spotted her friends, however, and rapidly approached, swinging her bag happily.

"Hey guys," she greeted. "Out and about, huh? Snagging some quality time?"

The question was innocent enough, though tinged with the faintest hopeful note, and the meaningful lift of Dawn's eyebrows added a layer that caused the witches to share a quick embarrassed and absurdly guilty look.

Raising her purchase slightly, Tara replied, "Just checking out an old book store. You guys've had almost a year to get possessions and stuff, I feel all behind."

"Hey, don't have to justify shopping to me," dismissed the teenager, turning and heading back in the direction she had been walking before her detour. Tara and Willow followed, exchanging a concerned glance.

"How y'feelin', Dawnie?" queried the redhead.

"Better now I'm out of the house for a bit." Her eyes rolled dramatically. "I swear, it was starting to feel like Oz up there. As in, ‘Penitentiary of', not ‘Wizard of'," she clarified.

"I'm surprised Buffy let you out of her sight," Tara admitted.

Audibly huffing, Dawn let it be known that she felt much the same, but with less wonder and more irritation. "Well she's gonna have to do it eventually, right? I mean, I've had, like, every test known to man, and a few that I swear came from this demon dimension I read about one time. And nothing. The doctors give me a clean bill of health." She laughed, but it came out a tight and bitter sound. "And it's not like doctors can be wrong, right? So I must be fine."

Another look passed between the two witches, and their shared thought was clear – Dawn was anything but fine. Neither seemed certain of what to do, when Tara spied the answer across the street in the form of an ice cream shop. Smiling, she threw an arm over Dawn's shoulders. "You know, it just occurred to me that I must owe you something like 50 shakes. If I'm ever gonna break even, I should probably get a move on."

[ Download Clip #5 ]

Novareinna: I think this was mostly you with some editing by me.
Jet Wolf: I don't recall. It all melds together.
N: Yeah. I know I had Dawn, uhm ... I know I had Dawn coming out of the pet shop with all the stuff.
JW: Right, I remember that.
N: And I know it was me that said, you know, "Is the bird in there too?"
JW: Yeah, the bird in there, yeah. Uhm ...
N: And you had the headache thing in there.
JW: Well yeah, cuz we— I had to ... That was the other plotline we had to pick up that this point, because we ended ... Of course, the last episode, the last time you'd seen Dawn, she'd just passed out and woken up from this big headache, so of course we had the big "Is it a tumor?!" thing going. So we had to pick up on that a little bit and show what had happened in the in-between time.
N: I didn't have any of that in there. But- But at that time— When I originally did this, none of that had transpired.
JW: Right, we hadn't ... Cuz, uh, when we do these, when we get the original ideas, a lot of times the things that we throw in later ... It's not originally planned for, it just- it just works out that way. I mean, I think I always planned for Dawn to have headaches, but honestly, I can't even remember if I did.
N: I know I certainly didn't include it. When I did it. I just had her out there.
JW: Mm-hm.
N: But you also thought it was a good tie-in to her having watched the wren, because Buffy would've had her caught up in ... You know, holed up in the room for a while.
JW: Right.
N: So she would've had more days to watch the wren from her bedroom.
JW: Uh-huh. And, if I remember correctly, your original version— This whole shake thing, Tara going to get the shakes with Dawn came out of the fact that I thought that your act one, when you first wrote act one, was too short.
N: Yeah. Too short, yeah.
JW: And we needed to pad it out so I- I suggested, "Why don't we have Tara—" Cuz Tara does, at this point, owe Dawn like a thousand, you know, milkshakes. "Let's have them go over there and they can chat for a little bit and we can kinda get focused and centered on where Dawn is emotionally at the moment."
N: I think in act one, I already had 'em back at the house.
JW: Yeah, I think act one almost entirely took place in the house, apart from the very end when she pops over to—
N: Yeah.
JW: —to Funky World.

Dawn's expression was equal parts delight and gratitude, and she willingly allowed herself to be steered back across the street. Hanging behind, Willow took in the conflict of emotions Dawn continued to exude, and seemed to reach a decision.

"Oh, hey!" she announced brightly. "Th-There's this fabric shop, just a few stores down. I'm gonna head on over, see what I can find to fill all our Renaissance-y needs."

"You don't want anything?" The mere notion of someone turning down a frozen treat was clearly outside of Dawn's capacity to reconcile.

"I think I'm gonna pass. You get a double and drink some for me, ‘kay?"

The redhead grinned assuredly, and Dawn nodded. As she moved into the store, Tara threw Willow a ‘thank you' look that Willow returned with a smile. Handing over her books, she left Dawn and Tara to have a good talk and bonding session.

Heading immediately for a table by the large window facing the street outside, Dawn situated herself comfortably in the chair and handed Tara a menu as the blonde joined her.

After a few moments, a young man dressed smartly in the traditional "soda jerk" outfit without all the embarrassing extras greeted them. "Good afternoon, ladies. What can I get for you?"

Still buried in her menu, Tara was reading through her choices. Finally she came to one that gave her serious pause. "Vanilla Coke?" she questioned, clearly unsure where she stood on the matter at first glance. "That's new."

"It came out a couple years ago," Dawn explained easily, then her eyes widened and darted fearfully to the patient waiter. "You ... must've missed it. Being ... overseas."

Peering at the teenager over her menu, Tara replied, "Yes, what with my hectic secret double life and all."

Embarrassed at the gentle poke, Dawn dove back into the safe depths of her menu as Tara placed her order. "I'll try a vanilla Coke. It sounds ... interesting."

"It's a true flavor sensation," he replied dryly, then grinned to take the bite out as he turned to Dawn. "And for you, ma'am?"

"I'll take a large chocolate-raspberry shake," she ordered with authority, then added, "Can you make it with banana too?"

The waiter blinked.

"Speaking of flavor sensations ..." Tara commented.

"I think the guy in the back will balk at the idea," confessed the waiter, "but I'll make sure it's done, just for you."

Dawn beamed sunnily as the waiter left to place their order, leaving her and Tara alone.

"It's scary, huh?" the blonde finally broached.

Shrugging, Dawn replied, "Not really. I like banana a whole lot."

"The other thing," smirked Tara, before continuing in a more serious tone, "The head thing."

With a small nod, the teenager allowed her gaze to drift out of the shop window. "Sort of." She paused then, and Tara continued to wait patiently. "But at the same time? Not really." Turning back to the witch, Dawn sounded less introspective and more like herself. "I mean, it's scary because Buffy's so obviously freaking out, which I totally knew was gonna happen. And it's like ... Wow, hey, now I know what a CAT scan is, and I could've lived my whole life with that big question mark."

Once again, she became silent, attempting to gather her thoughts. "I dunno," Dawn shrugged. "It doesn't feel ... bad? Apart from the pain, that's bad. The rest though? It's weird. But not scary."

And with that, she seemed to be at a loss for what else to say. Tara absorbed Dawn's words silently, allowing the teenager to pick absently at one of the napkins she'd tugged free of the nearby dispenser. The waiter arrived with their drinks, and Tara smiled her thanks, but still Dawn remained locked in contemplation. The tall, frothy shake went untouched.

Tara regarded Dawn for a moment longer, then claimed one of the straws that had been delivered to their table. She peeled it free from the wrapper, placed it in the drink and sipped, all the while watching as Dawn's hands deftly mutilated the napkin. The taste of the vanilla Coke was obviously a surprise to Tara, and she started at the flavor. After a moment's consideration, she shrugged and sipped some more. Dawn, meanwhile, had barely moved.

"So, what's in the bag?" inquired the blonde, clearly having decided that things had gone on long enough.

Dawn blinked, her confusion plain now that her reverie had been disturbed. ‘What?"

With her head, Tara indicated the package that was resting at Dawn's feet. "The bag. The big ol' bag of surprise and intrigue."

"Oh!" Finally the teenager smiled again, and she seemed to notice for the first time that her shake had arrived. Devoting the bulk of her attention to the ice cream, she responded simply with, "Birdcage."

This answer obviously made little sense. "With Nathan Lane?"

"No, silly," corrected Dawn with a chuckle, working enthusiastically on the drink before her. "A birdcage. The kind that houses actual birds?"

"You're getting a bird?" Tara asked, still perplexed.

Dawn opened her mouth to answer, but was suddenly distracted by a movement outside of the window. Both she and Tara turned to behold Willow standing on the street, holding up a large bolt of nauseatingly bright bubblegum pink material. She'd unraveled one end and was holding it out, presenting it with great enthusiasm. Eyes wide, the redhead grinned and nodded to the fabric as if to say, ‘What do you think?' Ever so slowly, Tara's eyebrow crept upward, and she shook her head. Willow's face fell, just a little, and she headed back toward the fabric shop.

"What was that all about?" inquired a highly amused Dawn.

"Willow wants to go to this Renaissance festival that's coming to town, and have us all get into it, with a booth and costumes and everything. She seems ... very enthused."

A laugh in her voice, the teenager glanced back in the direction Willow had taken. "How did she get the fabric, did she just walk out with it?"

"I think some questions are best left unanswered," Tara chuckled. "So what now, you're getting a bird?"

"Kinda." Pulling her straw free from the thick mass of shake, Dawn messily slurped on the bottom, completely ignoring the spoon that had been provided for that exact purpose. "There's this baby bird, in the tree outside my room."

Tara regarded her with some surprise. "Dawn, you can't keep a wild bird as a pet."

"No, I know that. I don't want it as a pet, I want to help it."

Once more the conversation was interrupted as Willow could be seen running into view. In her arms was another atrociously colored material, this one a hideous radioactive green. Whatever region of the redhead's mind that dictated good sense had clearly checked out for the day, and she smiled expectantly at her latest discovery. Tara's eyes widened at the sight, and she shook her head back and forth in tiny, almost fearful motions. Her bottom lip jutting out, Willow visibly deflated but hurried back to the shop.

"Whoa," Dawn breathed, "bridesmaid flashback."

But the momentary disruption had already passed, and Tara focused on more important matters. "What's wrong with the bird?"

Returning to work on her shake, the teenager explained, "I've been watching it for days. Not a whole lot else to do under house arrest, you know? It's up in the tree outside my room, and ..." She glanced up at Tara, simultaneously certain and unsure. "... and it needs someone to take care of it."

"Well that's what mama birds are for," the blonde replied with a gentle smile. "She'll take care of it."

"That's just it, she's not." There was the faintest hint of accusation in Dawn's voice. "I keep watching and waiting, but the mother's not coming." Her expression became one of determination. "It's crying for her and she just won't come back. Someone has to help it."

Both pairs of eyes drifted back to the window as Willow reappeared. This time she had two bolts of material, one in each arm. She nodded to the first, a sky blue color, then motioned with her chin at Tara. The second was a dark purple, and after lifting this fabric, she raised her eyebrows. Her meaning was clear – ‘this one for you, that one for me'.

Dawn watched Willow's pantomime then, tucking a stray lock of her hair behind her ear, leaned over to enjoy more of the shake. "We all need a little help sometimes, you know?"

Tara tilted her head to one side and, with a smile, nodded her approval at the selections. Willow's face split into a grin, and she hurried back toward the fabric shop. The blonde watched her leave, still smiling, then regarded Dawn once more. "But the mama bird might come back for it, Dawnie," she pointed out.

The possibility was given due consideration, but Dawn eventually shook her head. "I don't think so," she replied. "When moms leave, they don't come back."

[ Download Clip #6 ]

Novareinna: Most of this is yours, actually.
Jet Wolf: Yeah, I think- I think this was ... this was mine. But it came out of—
N: Because you put it in there. The fabric shop and— I had— Well no, you had the idea for the fabric shop.
JW: Did I?
N: Yeah, you had— Because you had to have somewhere for Willow to go.
JW: I knew Willow had to go somewhere. Yeah. Cuz I wanted it to be ...... My dog is destroying the futon! Jett! Stop that!
N: I have to sleep there!
JW: Uhm ... So we had to have, uh ... Had to have Willow go somewhere. I could've had her with Dawn and Tara, but it felt- it felt more like it was a ... a Dawn and Tara moment, and uh, that Dawn might respond a little bit better with just having Tara there. Cuz of course, Tara's newly-back as far as, you know, the characters are concerned at this point. Uhm, so I mean, Tara's been back for about two weeks, I guess, at this point? Maybe going on three? Not for a very long time at all. So, uhm, a good chance for Dawn and Tara to- to rebond. And Willow needed to go somewhere. But I couldn't see her just, you know, callousedly being like, "I don't care, I'm going home now, I'll catch you guys later." She would be concerned, but she had to be somewhere doing something.
N: And then of course, she's still very much into the, uhm, the Renaissance Festival concept, so she's gonna go look for fabric for costumes.
JW: The vanilla Coke thing, I don't know where that came from. It amused me, but uh ...
N: Doesn't mean anything specific.
JW: No, it's nothing special here. Of course, we're not into symbolism at this point.
N: No.
JW: We get into that <laughing> much, much more later. At this point, this is really doing little more than just—
N: Setting things up.
JW: —establishing where Dawn is. Because, of course, a lot of this episode is about where Dawn's going. So—
N: And of course, you have to explain, you know, why she's so intent about the wren. Why the wren— Why the fact that the bird is stuck in the, uh, the little nest and why the mother isn't coming back, you gotta establish all that stuff too.
JW: Exactly.
N: So this was good, uhm ... Good way to do it. Some of this was mine.
JW: It came out of your stuff, I think. Yeah, I- I thought you did the fabric thing.
N: No.
JW: Huh. All right. I was brilliant this day!
N: I did about the mama birds and the ...
JW: Baby birds.
N: That was- That was mine. Yeah the, you know: "They come back." "No they don't, not always." That was where I had the teaser end. With Dawn saying— With- With Tara saying ... No, with Willow saying ...
<laughing>
JW: People are saying things
N: SOMEBODY saying something about, you know, "You have to leave it where it is cuz the mama bird'll be back for it," and Dawn saying, "They don't. They don't always come back." THAT was where I had the teaser ending.
JW: This— <chuckles> Willow's choice of fabric was a constant struggle. We- We couldn't ... We must've changed what colour Willow wore, like, fix or six times. Cuz—
N: Tara was always blue.
JW: Tara was always blue. Uhm, I don't ... Willow was like ...
N: Willow, uhm ...
JW: ...was yellow for a minute.
N: Yeah, she was yellow for a while. Until we realized the conflict later.
JW: Right, yeah, which we can talk about when we get there. But uh, and then after that— A-And Nova will have to talk about this. She- She put ... Even I don't know half of what she put in this. You know, every tree that people stand by MEANS something specific, and the flowers that are at their feet MEAN something specific. I don't know what that is. <laughs> So she'll have to tell us when we get closer. Uhm. But yeah, but I remember the chore of Willow and the frickin' fabric.
N: Yeah. And dark ... We went with dark purple, uhm, because of the meaning of the colour, which is ... escapes me, for the moment. Uhm ... I can't remember. But blue, of course, is like- like peace and—
JW: Tranquility.
N: Tranquility and everything else. And uhm, we were gonna go with Willow as yellow because we'd seen her wear yellow— <the sound of jingling> Your dog just took off.
JW: Yeah.
N: We'd seen Willow wear yellow a lot. You know, like, she wore it in "Restless", I think?
JW: She wore it in "Restless". I can't remember her wearing yellow a whole lot.
N: And it had a sun on it or something?
JW: Yeah. She wore that in "Restless". I can't remember her wearing yellow a whole lot else besides that. But Willow's outfits tend to be very garish and unpleasant, so ...
N: And we thought it was very symbolic of ... of, like, earth stuff. You know, the sky is blue, the sun is yellow, you know. Things like that. It didn't work. It didn't work because it- it looked like it was going to be confusing later.
JW: Right, right.
N: So we had to change it.

[ Download Clip #7 ]

Jet Wolf: This- This next scene, with ... the guys in li— the guys in the living room, I really like this scene an awful lot. It's- It's very rare to find, I think – and I do the same thing – group scenes where they're just kinda being themselves. Half the times when you've got them together, they're trying to— When you've got everybody together, they're trying to solve some horrible monster thing, you know. A-And there's not a whole lot of time for them just to be chilling out and being themselves. And this one was largely for exposition purposes, but nothing critical was going on. There was nothing, no big monster to fight, nothing bad was coming. So they could kind of just hang out and be themselves. Uh, so this scene was a lot of fun.
Novareinna: Some of this came from me, a great part of this came from you. Some of it I already had in there—
JW: Yeah.
N: —and then you took a lot of it and—
JW: Xander taking over ...
N: —changed all my stuff.
<laughing>
JW: I was trying to make it good! Uhm, Xander and the birdcage. Xander taking over the birdcage was, I know, yours.
N: Yeah. Uhm ... Giles heading the paper.
JW: Yeah.
N: I actually had in there originally, uhm, Xander holding up the instructions and saying something about how he was saving it and if those—
JW: The dryads.
N: If the dryads ever come back, "See? See? It was me! I didn't throw it away! I kept it!"
JW: That's why- That's why I know it must've been around episode two, because—
N: Yeah, otherwise ...
JW: —because in "Human Nature", I had— Because I already read some of what Nova had written for THIS episode, which at the time was number 16, it wasn't 17, but I'd already read some of what she had sent for "The Wren" back when I was writing "Human Nature", and as a result I intentionally worked in Giles kicking, like ...
N: Oh yeah, that's right.
JW: A fruit punch bowl, I think it is, in "Human Nature". When he- he's kicking it at the dryads and he kicks it like a football. And that- The reason I got that idea was because of this. So it must've been around "Human Nature" I pitched this episode idea to you.
N: I guess so. Hm.
JW: That was a hell of a long time ahead of time.
N: Yeah. I didn't realize I came in that early.
JW: It was like fourteen episodes ahead of time, so. You must have though, because I remember specifically putting that in for that purpose and you were fixated on the dryads, so that's why you had a dryads reference, you know, fourteen episodes later.
N: Yeah. It's cuz I was saying, "If those pleasant— If those nice ladies ever come back, tell 'em, you know, look look, I'm saving trees."
JW: But we cut that out in the end because it felt kinda weird. It didn't work with the flow.
N: Yeah, yeah. It- It was ... Well, it was, for one thing, it was too far removed by that point. You know. This thing got changed, like, three or four times before it's—
JW: Oh, pretty heavily changed too.
N: —quote "airdate". I meant, you know, it was first fifteen, and then it became sixteen and then it ended up at seventeen.
JW: Yeah. This one was moved around a lot. It was hard to find the right place to put this. It was originally going to be sixteen, but I think the problem was we didn't want to end it— We new were gonna hiatus on sixteen, and we didn't want to end ... end it with this because it didn't lack— I-It lacked the kind of punch that I like for the hiatus.
N: And then I didn't really want it starting off the next one either.
JW: Right, yeah. She had HUGE psychosis about, uhm, coming back off hiatus on this episode. I mean, it was REALLY bad. It was, you know, like therapy sessions on the phone. "It's gonna be okay!" Uhm, so—
N: I just didn't think it was- it was ... It didn't seem to me to match up to what they usually came back with.
JW: Well of course, because it's a different kind of episode. But anyway. Point being, yes.

Giles observed Buffy as she lay sprawled out on her couch, one arm thrown over her eyes. He leaned forward in Xander's chair, looking for the moment not unlike a psychiatrist with a patient. Certainly, his concern was similar.

"You should relax. Too much stress is bad for your blood pressure." Mostly to himself he added, "Believe me, after eight years of dealing with you lot, I've become something of an authority on the matter."

Raising her arm, Buffy rolled her head to one side, regarding Giles with a flat expression. "Relax. We have unknown people out there somewhere trying to kill Willow. We have absolutely no idea who they are or how to make them stop. There are super-strong girls just waltzing in the front door and continuing with our ‘who the hell are you?' theme. We get our asses handed to us by a block of concrete with feet and when we go back to dish out some serious payback, we find he's already dead, so I don't even get that satisfaction. And to top it all off, my little sister has mystery headaches without an apparent source and I can not stress how much I hate mystery headaches." Obviously feeling she'd said all she needed say on the matter, Buffy allowed her arm to fall again, shielding her eyes from the outside world.

The Watcher took in all this impassively. "Yes, well, I did advise against too much stress, I didn't suggest you eliminate it entirely."

Drink in hand, Xander entered from the kitchen. "We'll sort it, Buffy," he encouraged. Without looking, Buffy raised her feet from the end cushion, and Xander settled into the now vacant spot. Almost immediately she plonked her feet back down again in his lap, remaining otherwise motionless.

Xander took this in as par for the course and he smoothly continued in his efforts to improve Buffy's dark mood. "We just gotta take it one step at a time. It's like building a house, or a new high school on top of a Hellmouth. Sure, it all looks really scary and imposing at first when you just look at it big picture, but when you break it down, it's not so bad." He shrugged before adding, "Well, apart from the Hellmouth part. That pretty much stays scary."

"What I presume Xander's trying to say," Giles translated with a sigh, "is that while there are some undeniably worrisome issues at hand, fretting over all of them constantly only muddies the waters."

Buffy gestured with her hand, although her arm stayed in place. "So un-muddy them. I'm all for clean, suitable-for-swimming waters. Make me fret-free, please."

"Well, there's ... there's the mark," began the Watcher, forcing his tone to become light and almost optimistic. "The eye marking that was present on both Tara and Judith. We have some more information on that front."

Peering out from underneath her limp appendage, a pleased Buffy regarded Giles hopefully. "You know what it is?"

"No, not at such," he confessed. As the blonde groaned lightly and her eyes disappeared from sight again, Giles hastened to put a positive spin on the information. "B-But we do know that there is no mention of it at all in any texts both the Watchers Council and the Covens have researched."

"And that's yay?" inquired Xander uncertainly.

Settling back into the chair Giles answered, "Well it helps narrow the field somewhat. Given the amount of power clearly at their disposal, it's extremely unlikely they are new. We've thoroughly researched back through the past 500 years with no success, and between the two groups, we're covering remarkable ground. So this person or- or persons is—"

"Is really powerful and really old," Buffy summarized in her own words. "That's always a recipe for fun. Oh yeah, feelin' better already."

The Watcher appeared slightly crestfallen. "We're still looking," he pointed out in meek defense.

Not much in the mood for the giving of comfort so much as the receipt of same, Buffy moved to the next item on her agenda of disquiet. "What about Power Girl, anything?"

Quiet fell over the room as Giles and Xander exchanged a glance that Buffy was voluntarily too blind to see.

"Since her attack," Giles began with some reluctance, "there's been no sign of her. Anywhere. It's as though she disappeared."

If the news was meant to be reassuring, it failed miserably. "But she said she'd be back, right?" The Slayer didn't wait for an answer. "And when bad guys say that, they have an alarming tendency to mean it."

"So we'll be ready for her," responded Xander without hesitation, then hastily amending, "Or, well, you guys'll be ready for her. I'll be ready with quippy remarks and upbeat commentary." Grabbing one of Buffy's feet in both hands, he gave it an enthusiastic and encouraging shake. "But here's a thought that'll lighten the Buffy brainload: Dawn's headaches. Have you considered that maybe they're just ... y'know, headaches?"

The blonde lifted her arm and leveled a dubious look at her friend.

"I'm serious," he defended. "You insisted the doctors do every test under the sun ... I think we have roadmaps for every inch of Dawn's brain now. They didn't find anything wrong. The Wonder Wiccas did their magickal vanderwhatsit test—"

"Ven Dentro," Giles corrected with a long-suffering sigh. "Honestly, I do wish you'd at least try to remember these things."

Not bothering to correct himself, Xander was content with waving in the Watcher's direction. "They did that thing, and still nothing."

Jumping in, the Watcher added, "Should Dawn experience another headache, we'll want to cast the spell at that time." More gently, he again tried to quiet his Slayer's anxiety. "However it's been over a week and she's had no more attacks."

"Which brings us back to the ‘just a headache' theory," reinforced Xander, resuming control of the conversation. "My cousin Carol, her second ..." His brows furrowed in thought. "Or was it third?" Shaking his head, he dismissed the detail. "Anyway, one of Carol's extensive trail of in-laws has headaches too. Really bad ones, knocks her out of commission for a day or two at a time. But they're just headaches, that's it."

Buffy continued to fix Xander with an unblinking gaze. "When has ‘that's it' ever explained anything that happens to us?"

Neither man seemed to have a response to that, and both were saved from trying by the front door opening and a conversation-in-progress drifted into the living room.

[ Download Clip #8 ]

Novareinna: And all this first lot's pretty much yours, I think.
Jet Wolf: Yeah. And this- this whole conversation between Buffy and Giles and later Xander when he comes in, is me just sorting out and saying, "Okay, these are all the plot lines we have going." I'm just touching base, I'm just taking time to touch base with all the things— These are the things that we know. So we've had the Super Slayer come in and we don't know anything about her, and we had this guy from "Jigsaw" who had kidnapped us and he's dead and disappeared, so there's that to touch back on. So this was just us taking ... taking a moment to take stock of where we were, in terms of the overall arc.
N: Refresh, really.
JW: Right. Which was important to do, because you can't have the characters ignore all these big plotlines you've got going for as long as they did. I mean frankly, I think we kind of pushed it in some cases with some of the stuff we had going. They should've probably figured things out a lot sooner than we had it. But noone seemed to complain about it, so I guess ... maybe it's just me.
N: That's all what- That's all what this is.
JW: So we have here ... This is us making sure that we've said what Dawn's headache is NOT.
N: Yeah.
JW: Which- Which, you know, it's not something medical we can find, it's not something magickal that we can find. Ergo really, the only option left at this point is that it's Dawn herself. But no one's really making that connection, so at this point it's just a big query. What the hell is it? And they've stopped at this stage as well.
N: Yeah.
JW: If I remember correctly, we've said that they stopped.

"—little bits of parchment a-and – oh! Amulets! Little fake ones, with faux-mystic symbols! We can make up stuff that they mean an' everything!" Willow eyed Dawn enthusiastically as she slipped out of her coat.

Dawn's own excitement was building to match the redhead's. "This'll be so cool!"

Upon hearing Dawn's voice, Buffy leapt to her feet and quickly appeared in the entranceway. She gave Dawn a quick but thorough mental evaluation as the three women deposited bags – including one rather large one from "Fabric World" that Willow was carrying – and their other items by the door.

"You okay?" Buffy asked her sister, unable to entirely hide her concern.

Dawn rolled her eyes a little, but smiled regardless. "Yeah, just fine."

"No pain?"

"Nope, none at all."

"She didn't even get an ice cream headache," Tara supplied. She nudged the teenager playfully with her shoulder. "Though I think I got one just watching her."

"It was good, okay?" retorted Dawn. "And Willow did say to get two."

Reclaiming her bag, Dawn entered the living room. She smiled greetings to Xander and Giles, then settled on the floor with her purchases. Buffy followed and hovered nearby, reaching out to stroke the teenager's hair. "Good," she said affectionately. "I strongly cast my vote for no pain."

"Mm, me too," Dawn readily agreed.

Reaching into the shopping bag, Dawn extricated a box containing the birdcage along with a package of seed, some plastic cups, a little mirror and assorted bird toys.

Resting his forearms on his knees, Xander looked at the array of items littering the carpet. "I miss the meeting where we inducted a new Scooby?"

"It's for the baby bird outside," was the simple reply.

Buffy exchanged a look with Giles. "Dawn," she began gently, "you can't—"

"—can't keep a wild bird as a pet. I know." She critically examined a string of beads designed to hang from the ceiling of the cage as she further explained. "Its mom abandoned it, so I'm going to help it get strong, and then I'm letting it go free."

Glancing over to Tara, seated on the opposite end of the couch from Xander, Dawn received a proud smile and nod. Happily, she pried the cage box open and began pulling out assorted bits of plastic and wire.

Xander's eye lit up with delight. "Oo! Some assembly required! My favorite words. Right up there with ‘no payments for 90 days' and ‘now in a fresh pine scent'." He quickly got to his feet and joined Dawn on the floor. "Mind some help?"

Scooting back out of the way, Dawn gestured at the messy pile. "All yours."

Grinning like a little boy, Xander began happily sifting through the pieces. Willow joined the group, her laptop tucked under one arm, and after a glance at the couch, settled on the safety of Xander's recently vacated cushion. She balanced the laptop on her knees and waited semi-patiently as it began to boot, drumming her fingers lightly on the keys.

Tara spied a sheet of paper on the floor by her feet and leaned over to pick it up. Glancing at it curiously for a second, she then handed it to Xander, who examined it scornfully. "Instructions?" he scoffed. "We don't need no stinkin' instructions!"

With that, he wadded up the page and tossed it over his shoulder, where it sailed right for Giles. Bobbing his head back and forth, Giles lined up and then, with expert skill, hit the paper ball precisely sending it flying through the air before landing cleanly into the discarded bag nearby.

"Yes!" the Watcher hissed, then abruptly straightened as he realized he'd attracted the attention of the entire room – save Xander, who was frowning in confusion at the birdcage pieces. "I'm not supposed to engage in any physical activities outside of being a punching bag for Slayers?" he asked defensively.

Xander ignored the question as he tried to smoosh together a couple of errant parts without success.

Rather than the expected mocking, Buffy seemed to regard the older man with a new respect. "Nice shot, Giles."

"Way impressed," agreed Willow. "Didn't touch the sides or anything."

"I bet you play soccer really well, Mr. Giles," Tara smiled supportively.

Puffing up just a tad, Giles responded, "Well, I don't like to blow my own trumpet, so to speak, but back in my Oxford days I—"

A piece of birdcage fluttered in front of his face, cutting off any further reminiscing. "Man at work here, people!" Xander exclaimed. "Could we cut the chit-chat?"

[ Download Clip #9 ]

Jet Wolf: This was just a fun scene. I felt very comfortable writing this at this point. I was much more in the grove of the characters, so it- it all came very easily and was just a nice, relaxed, fun kind of scene. You got to see them being a family for a little while.
Novareinna: And then I had ... I think I had Giles going on a bit further about the, uhm, the fact that he played English football. And you cut some of it out, you thought it was too much. If I remember correctly. Cuz I think I had him saying something like, "Well you know, back at Oxford I used to, you know, play this and that."
JW: Yeah. I've got him mentioning that he did play back at Oxford, but ...
N: But I think I had it going on much further. Which is probably why you've got Xander cuttin' him off.
<laughter>

Giles huffed loudly, but Willow soon reclaimed the group's attention. "I've been looking up some stuff, on rehabilitation?" she began. "What kinda bird did you say it was, Dawnie?"

"I did some checking." Rising from the floor, the teenager relocated herself to the couch between Willow and Tara. She leaned over to see the computer screen properly. "I'm pretty sure it's a wren."

Surreptitiously, Xander fished the balled-up page of instructions out of the bag. As nonchalantly as possible, he smoothed it out, then glanced around, pleased that no one had spotted him. No one besides Tara. His expression registered panic for a second, then became sheepish and he shrugged. Tara grinned in response before shaking her head and directing her attentions to the ongoing quest for knowledge. Deeply engrossed, Willow continued typing away as Dawn leaned over her shoulder. Even Buffy approached, curious to learn what would be uncovered.

"Wrens, wrens ..." The hacker muttered to herself, as her eyes scanned the screen. "Oh, hey, look, that's interesting." Everyone, except Xander, waited for the inevitable follow-up to that statement. "Lot of stuff on the wren here ... There's a- a legend and a rhyme and everything."

"A legend?" Tara inquired with interest.

A response was not immediate as Willow continued reading for several seconds. "Yeah ..." she finally replied, dragging out the word. "'Hunting the Wren'. Apparently they ... ew." Crinkling her nose in disgust, the redhead shot an accusing look at an innocent, unsuspecting Giles. "What is with you?"

Giles could only stare in confusion. "I'm sorry?"

"You English, with- with your hanging and your quartering, and your big chopping block, and- and I'm sorry, but dunking witches is just plain wrong!"

A long moment of silence passed. Everyone joined Giles in staring at Willow now. Even Xander, his project momentarily forgotten.

Willow's gaze darted from one person to the next. "And I clearly have some underlying issues which are irrelevant at the moment, so moving on," she declared, busying herself with the laptop.

Dawn, too, was ready to return to more important matters. "What was that about hunting a wren? They're so cute. Why don't they hunt vultures or something, cuz ... hello, vulture."

So eager was the teenager to see the information Willow had retrieved, she was practically crawling into the redhead's lap. "Okay, crowded now," announced an obviously uncomfortable Willow as she shoved the computer into Dawn's awaiting hands.

[ Download Clip #10 ]

Jet Wolf: I think that was your line: "Okay, crowded now."
Novareinna: Yeah that was mine.
JW: I know that made me laugh.
N: Yeah that was mine, because you said— Cuz I said, "I think that sounds pretty Willow." It was really the first thing that I'd done that I felt sounded 'her'.
JW: Uh-huh.
N: And you were like, "Yeah, yeah, that's really Willow!" And I also had her in this, I remember having too many, uhm ...
JW: Too many "-y"s? Too many create— Too many words with an "-y" on the end?
N: Yeah, probably so. I had too much. You took a lot of that out.

Meanwhile, Buffy had drifted back to Giles' side. "Do you think this is a good idea?" she asked in a low voice. "I mean, a wild bird belongs in the wild, right?"

"Ordinarily I'd agree, but if its mother truly has abandoned it, we may be its only hope for survival."

"Our booth!" Willow's sudden outburst to Tara interrupted Giles and Buffy's quiet conversation and they both turned toward her. "We haven't told you about our booth! There's a Renaissance festival coming, and we were thinking about all of us getting a booth, where we could dress up and sell little baubles and trinkets and Tara's gonna wear this big princess hat with long ribbons and—"

"I am?" Tara questioned with a quirked eyebrow, her tone indicating this latest costume development was clearly news to her.

Yet another conversation was brought to a screeching halt as Xander leapt to his feet. From the hanging loop at the top, he held the birdcage aloft triumphantly. "Behold!" announced the carpenter in a bold voice. "Man once again has conquered his natural enemy: the instructions written only in Chinese."

Xander awaited the inevitable high praise and accolades with calm, patient certainty. The tiny swing fell to the bottom of the cage. A perch soon followed it. Then the entire bottom fell off. Xander stared at the half-cage still in his grasp. "Excuse me one moment," he requested, dropping once more to the carpet.

Seemingly unphased, Dawn poked at the monitor screen. "Guys, listen to this: ‘As little Jenny Wren was sitting by the shed, she waggled with her tail, and nodded with her head.'"

"Oh, I remember this!" Buffy returned to the edge of the couch as the memory resurfaced. "‘She waggled with her tail, and nodded with her head ...'"

Both Summers sisters joined in for the final line. "'As little Jenny Wren was sitting by the shed.'" Their recitation complete, Buffy and Dawn shared a broad grin.

[ Download Clip #11 ]

Jet Wolf: We worked a lot more on this. Uhm, the— In the original version. The "Jenny Wren" connection. Which, of course, "Jenny Wren" meaning Jenny Calendar.
Novareinna: Yeah, yeah.
JW: That was a connection that was in there. And we made that REALLY, REALLY, REALLY obvious in the beginning.
N: Yeah.
JW: Almost too much- too much so. Which is why we cut a lot of it out. Because it was taking ... It was taking on kind of this life of its own. It wasn't about Jenny, and it was becoming about Jenny at that point.
N: Yeah. Because I had, uhm ...
JW: Dawn like says, "I'm gonna call it—"
N: Buffy was frowning and- and, you know, Dawn was like, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories", and it all got just a bit too heavy-handed.
JW: Yeah.
N: Though of course the connection— The two Jenny connections are there.
JW: Yeah, the J— The connection remains, but you can kind of read into that as much as you want to.
N: Right, yeah.
JW: But yeah, at first it was- it was very obvious.
N: Cuz I think I had her say, "I'm gonna call it Jenny." And, "Well why Jenny?" and all that kind of stuff, and it just went on too long.
JW: Uhm ... But uh, the ... Naming it Jenny, it does come from a nursery rhyme. We didn't make that up.
N: It just fit nicely.
JW: It was just another one of those where it made us think you know—
N: Yeah, it fell into place nicely.
JW: —with the wren and the Ren Fest, and then Jenny Wren, it just all worked out, just clicked very well.
N: Which is why later we kept it when we noticed the horrible faux pas.
JW: Yeah, which we'll mention, just for fun. Uh, and of course, very very important that we get in here this stuff about hunting the wren and the Wren Boys.
N: Yeah.
JW: And needing to get that out in the beginning so that- that Dawn could hear that and of course us as well, the reader. So the reader is aware of this, you know, very charming British event. <Nova laughs> With your hung and drawn quarters and your dunking of witches!

Willow was less impressed. "Sorta repetitive there," she critiqued.

"But nice," Tara quickly added. "What's it from?"

"It's a nursery rhyme. Mom used to read it to Dawn when she was little," the Slayer explained.

A frown appeared on Dawn's features. "I don't remember," she confessed.

"You were really little," responded Buffy, attempting to alleviate any guilt on her sister's part. She happily pointed out, "You liked it a lot, though. That one was your favorite. That, and ‘Ring Around a Rosie'."

"Ah. Happy little rhyme, fun with the Black Plague." Willow shot another accusing look at Giles, who rolled his eyes and didn't bother to dignify the implied charge with a defense.

"What else does it say, Dawnie?" Tara prompted before Willow could lay further blame for England's dark history on the Watcher.

"Well there's this ‘Hunting the Wren' stuff, which is ... really not as fun." Dawn readjusted the laptop comfortably and began to read. "'The Wren Boys. Youths in England who armed themselves with birch rods to hunt down and kill a wren, whose little corpse was then paraded through the local village while the boys sang: ‘We hunted the Wren for Robin the Bobbin, we hunted the Wren for Jack of the Can, we hunted the Wren for Robin the Bobbin, we hunted the Wren for every man.'"

A thick silence blanketed the room.

Tara spoke first. "I-I liked the first one better," she admitted.

Thrusting the laptop back at Willow, Dawn rose to her feet. "Well no one's hunting this wren, and that's that," she decisively declared. Taking Buffy by the hand, she tugged the Slayer toward the door. "Now come help me find the ladder."

The group had reassembled on the back porch, partly enjoying the pleasant day but mostly gathering to watch Dawn's rescue techniques. Buffy stood at the closest edge of the porch and looked none too happy to be there, judging by the restless manner in which she constantly fidgeted. Her arms were crossed and her eyes locked unflinchingly at something in the distance. Dawn herself was nowhere in sight, however the sounds of metal clanging and scraping against something in the yard indicated the ladder had been found and was being put to good use.

Giles stood nearby, leaning back against one of the support posts. Nowhere near as apprehensive as Buffy, he alternated his attentions between Dawn's tree-climbing adventures and this latest manifestation of his Slayer's protective streak. Tara also watched Dawn's progress while swaying back and forth gently on the large swing. Laying claim to one of the patio chairs, Willow continued to search for information on her laptop, while Xander had procured the other, as well as the table. The birdcage, still stubbornly refusing to remain assembled, was scattered across its surface.

Now feeling much less jovial about his wire-and-plastic nemesis, Xander grumbled darkly to himself. "Stupid thing. I could've built one from scratch by now." He snorted bitterly. "'Some assembly required'. For a birdcage."

Next to him, Willow continued reading her computer display. "It'll tick ya off if I take it an' put it together, right?" she asked without glancing over.

"More than words can express," he confirmed.

The redhead nodded. "'kay then."

"How's the research?" asked Tara, dragging her feet backward along the ground then forward again.

"Coming along. If it's really little, though, seeds won't do it much good. We'll need to get an eyedropper, and here's a very appealing baby food/dog food/bug paste we can feed it."

The blonde wrinkled her nose. "Yum."

As the sounds of Dawn making her ascent reached Buffy's hearing, she shifted nervously. "I wish she'd let me get it."

Giles smiled, though whether at Dawn's stubbornness or Buffy's behavior remained unclear. "She seems quite determined to do as much of this as she can on her own."

"Great. I'll be proud of her when she's back on the ground without a broken anything."

"Well I'd say she ..." The Watcher's words trailed off and he blinked at the large tree dominating the yard. A shimmer had appeared around the crown of the tree, a sort of whitish-green glint reminiscent of heat radiating from a stretch of desert highway. Tugging off his glasses, Giles squinting at the branches, but he could no longer see anything out of the ordinary.

"Did you see that?" he asked Buffy.

"See what?" the blonde replied in distracted tone, her entire focus still locked on Dawn.

"Hm." Giles replaced his glasses and scrutinized the tree once more, but still could see nothing peculiar. "Must've been a trick of the light," he concluded to himself.

Buffy didn't respond, she simply continued to watch. Then suddenly her eyes widened. "She's gonna fall." There was no question in the Slayer's voice, it was a certainty, and without hesitation, Buffy took off at a dead run toward the tree. Giles was but a few moments behind.

Tara stood from the swing as Willow and Xander looked up, alarmed. The blonde witch's eyes became distant, as she moved to the edge of the porch. Her gaze locked on the tree as her eyebrows furrowed questioningly at surrounding shimmer.

"I see it too, Mr. Giles," she whispered.

[ Download Clip #12 ]

Jet Wolf: This was a scene I felt was really, really cute. Was just this bit between Xander and Willow. I don't know why.
Novareinna: You put that in.
JW: Yeah. It didn't- didn't MEAN anything in particular, I just found it very cute.
N: Yeah, mm-hm.
JW: But I—
N: Just something you could see them doing.
JW: Yeah, I- I love writing Xander and Willow anyway, so this was just a neat little moment.
N: I always liked that: "I could've built one from scratch by now." <laugh> "'Some assembly required' ... FOR A BIRDCAGE!" And uhm ... I don't know- I think you looked up the components of feeding a baby bird would be, didn't you?
JW: Yeah, I think so. I think so.
N: I don't think I went into it that much. I don't think they ever found anything in mine, I think they were still looking.
JW: Yeah, maybe so. I can't remember, but yeah, I think I looked it up online. But they were all much the same – baby food and bugs.
N: I think you put on this bit about Buffy letting her do it on her own, I think. Or maybe that was something we did together. It seems that maybe we both worked on it.
JW: Yeah, cuz a lot of this, it kind of had three ... three divisions. It had the stuff that I did, the stuff that you did, and the stuff we did together.
N: The stuff we did together, yeah. When we looked at it, we just kind of merged it.
JW: Well I think we had a very long phone conversation, if I recall correctly, where we sat down and we hammered out a lot of the details. Cuz we did the- the plotting, the breakdown of the episode on the phone.
N: Yeah, this took a lot more time than ...
JW: Yeah, most of them do.
N: Yeah, yeah, cuz— Yeah, well, that whole ... The whole thing anyway, going back to the beginning again, the whole thing where, you know, only certain things could happen if this was in like a fantasy-type setting. You know, so. And then of course this end bit went on too long as well.
JW: Oh, with the ... What are we talking about, this down here?
N: No, I'm talking about, you know ... Uhm, this- this stuff.
<points to the bit about Dawn falling>
JW: Oh yeah, yeah.
N: I had it going on much too long.
JW: Yeah, you had it kinda— It was getting kinda overly dramatic. Which works out very well, cuz sometimes I have a tendency to write things very ... "bland", I think is the wrong word, but kinda hold myself back dramatically sometimes.
N: Yeah, well you're usually so anxious to get to the dialogue stuff.
JW: Yeah.
N: You know. "Okay, let's move on. Okay, people know what's going on. You know, she ran. So let's go back to what she said when she ran." You know, that's- that's the thing. And then I tend to ramble on a little bit too much. You know, "The tree was waving", <JW laughs> and you know, "And the leaves were starting to rustle and the sun was peaking through as Buffy sprinted delicately..." You know. So together, it probably works out pretty well.
JW: And Giles of course being ... one of the only two people who see the shimmering shiny whassaname. Uhm, which is of course, as I think should be- should be quite obvious by this point – and if not, then I guess you get a hint – Uh that- that's Dawn at that point. Dawn is doing this whatever it is she's doing.
N: Not consciously.
JW: Not consciously. No. She doesn't realize she's doing anything at all, but this- this whitish-green energy – which I thought EVERYONE would be like, "It's the Key!!"—
N: Nobody seemed to.
JW: —and like hardly anyone seemed to pick up on that. They were just like, "What the hell happened?" I thought it would be quite obvious, but uhm, obviously was not. But yeah, that's—
N: But since we intended it to be blatantly obvious, I don't think it takes any harm now in saying.
JW: No, I mean, it's okay. Well at this point, I think if you've read the last episode – and if you haven't, why are you listening to this? – uhm, then it's pretty clear, I think, that Dawn is the Key. The Key energy has NOT gone, it's just ... It was laying dormant for a while, and now it's waking- waking up again. So this- this- these headaches she had and this thing she's doing right here are all part and parcel of the same thing. It's her Keyness coming back to the forefront.
N: Right, and I think I had Tara more fearful about it and I had Willow rushing over to her—
JW: Right.
N: —and in the meantime Buffy was rushing out to try and save Dawn and you figured that all that just took too long, it couldn't happen.
JW: Yeah, it- Buffy should've gotten there by then.
N: Yeah, right.
JW: Uhm, a-and for Tara to be afraid of it makes it seem like it's something bad.
N: Yeah.
JW: And she's just kinda like, "Oh, I can see it too." As to why Giles can see it—
N: And Tara, I was gonna say, I don't ... Did we ever figure that out?
<long pause>
JW: Why GILES can see it (we'll avoid why Tara can see it)— Why Giles can see it, uhm, largely stems out of the fact that ... As we'll talk later about, you know, a little more about what's going on in the- the Ren World, I guess I will say, uh ... Giles is, uhm ... The- The only people in the Ren Fest World that are real are Dawn and Jenny Calendar. And Giles can see this, uh, this light due to his connection to- to Jenny. And that's why it's him that can see it.

Dawn hit the ground with a sickening thud and waited for the world to stop spinning like the wheel of a demented hamster. Gingerly, she probed the lump forming on the back of her head and breathed a sigh of relief. No blood and, as far as she could tell, no broken bones either. She sat immobile for another moment or two, expecting Buffy's "I told you so," at any minute, but it never materialized. Dawn breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, they didn't see me fall."

She scrambled to her feet, brushing twigs and stray leaves from her jeans, and trod carefully around the area, growing increasingly worried as she searched for the nest. She peered up into the tree and cocked her head, listening intently for the sound of chirping but none came.

"Maybe it managed to fly away," she muttered, then raised her voice and called over her shoulder, "Did anyone see where it went?" She waited for the expected chorus of responses, but there was only silence. Irritated, she spun around on her heel. "I said—"

The words died in her throat. No house. She blinked and rubbed at her eyes. Still no house. "Weird," she whispered, looking around. "Where'd the house go?" She stood, not moving, as if waiting for it reappear when her ears caught the sound of a small chirrup.

[ Download Clip #13 ]

Novareinna: Okay, this is pretty much where I took it over.
Jet Wolf: Yeah. Mom's come in at this point.
N: Why she, uhm, had no particular panic at not seeing the house, we didn't really ...
JW: Well the reason I think was that in this ... as I mentioned, Dawn's kind of unintentionally created her own little world here. She's- She's fallen into a little ... kind of, for lack of anything better to call it, little pocket dimension that she herself has created. Uhm, so the people that you see here are ... largely Dawn's representation of them.
N: Yeah.
JW: Which is why in some cases they're very two-dimensional. They're very— They have their roles to fill.
N: It's how she- how she perceives them in their most basic of characteristics without too much adornment.
JW: Right. Uhm, which doesn't mean that there's nothing else there, because they tend to talk about things that Dawn herself may not think of or be aware, but it-it's a complicated thing that even I think we didn't fully—
N: No.
JW: —go into. It's- It's sort of like, whatever it is that's created this world, uhm and taken the characters in there, has taken Dawn's template, but at the same time they're- they're ... Not real in the sense that they're really there, but it's sort of drawn upon the people themselves.
N: It's a very difficult thing really to try and describe, and even as we were doing it, things got in there that we didn't have any conscious knowledge of doing.
JW: Yes, exactly. It's this- this is—
N: It's very strange.
JW: —largely very subconscious. A lot of what we did here as well was not intentional.
N: No.
JW: Comes OUT very well and—
N: It does, it does. And one can only hope there was maybe something there behind it. And I think there must have been ...
JW: I think there was in some of the stuff that we did, certainly.
N: But some of it ... Some of it, I-I really don't ... really don't know WHERE it came from.
JW: Yeah, it just came.
N: It just came. It was very surreal. It was surreal DOING it.
JW: Creating it was very surreal. Very sort of stream of consciousness almost.
N: Yeah.
JW: You just sort of sat down to write a scene ...
N: Yeah, yeah, you almost had to just let it go without really thinking too much about it because if you thought too much about it, it didn't work.
JW: It would've come out very forced and very- very, you know, hackneyed. Cuz it didn't now! <Nova laughs> Uh, so the reason Dawn doesn't freak out is because in Dawn's mind, because of where she is at the moment, it's kind of like it's supposed to be. It's- It's a very— It's not a DREAM, it's- it's REAL, she really is there, uhm, but it's kind of a dreamscape in that, you know how in a dream you accept things are the way they are. Maybe you really KNOW it should be a different way, but you go with it. "Oh, this is the way it is. Okay, fine." So like, you know, for example when she sees Xander later and he has two eyes, she recognizes that he should only have one—
N: But it doesn't freak her out or anything.
JW: Right.
N: It's not like, "Oo, how did you suddenly get your eye back?" or anything like that. She just accepts it.
JW: Yeah. It-It just, it is. It simply is. So the reason she's not freaking out about the house is because, "Oh, the house should be here, it's not, okay."
N: But it's not.
JW: Yeah. "Nevermind."

Dawn whirled and scanned the nearby trees, but the sun hung low in the sky and cast shades of gray, which made it difficult to see. She concentrated upon the ground at her feet and focused all her attention on the noises surrounding her. Leaves rustling in the light breeze, the ripple of a small stream somewhere nearby, a vague faraway tune being strummed upon some type of stringed instrument. And a tiny cheep. Then another, but growing fainter now as though its owner were moving on.

The soles of Dawn's shoes crunched on the gravel path as she quickly followed the chirping. A figure, indistinct save for the scarlet cap that stood out against the dark green foliage, emerged between the trees some distance away. Dawn realized it was from this shadowy form that the melody carried by the breeze earlier had originated. Stepping forward, Dawn opened her mouth to address the musician, but he then appeared to blend into the wooded backdrop and vanish from sight, although the lilt of his strings lingered a while longer.

[ Download Clip #14 ]

Novareinna: And then, of course, she gets all concerned about "Where did the wren go?"
Jet Wolf: And Dawn as was very ... obvious, the wren of course is Dawn herself. So Dawn is looking for herself throughout the entire course of- of this episode. Uhm, the music— Of course, the bard is Oz. Comes and goes. Different hats.
N: Different coloured hats. At first I had him singing.
JW: Right.
N: Originally he was singing. He was singing, uhm, "Learning to Fly".
JW: "Learning to Fly" by Pink Floyd.
N: Originally. But we figured that didn't really work too well.
JW: No i-it felt strange.
N: Yeah. And as Oz rarely sings anyway, at least not ...
JW: That we see.
N: Prominently. So we cut that out. Took a while for some people to realize that was Oz.
JW: Yeah, that was weird.
N: Which was strange. I thought that would be the first one they'd pick up on.
JW: Yeah. I mean, people got CORDELIA before they got OZ. So how the hell that worked, I have no idea.
N: So and then of course she thinks she se- she recognizes him, but he doesn't acknowledge her.
JW: Right. I mean the reason- the reason Oz doesn't acknowledge her ... I can't even say we HAVE a particular reason.
N: No.
JW: Except perhaps—
N: Oz doesn't really acknowledge anybody throughout the whole thing.
JW: Except for Willow.
N: Except for Willow, right.
JW: Except for the fact that at this point, I mean, Oz ... Oz and Dawn, except for in "Waxing and Waning", never had a contact.
N: Right. And as far as she was concerned, I'm sure it was very much, for her, concentrated around Willow's relationship with him.
JW: Right, this is Willow's Boyfriend Oz. You know. And he's a werewolf. That would be about all there is to it. Uhm, so there wasn't ever any kind of connection and it sort of, indicative of Oz himself, he- he's THERE and he's AROUND, but he's very much in the background for her. He- He never has a particularly large part to play, an-and like I said, she never met him. Apart from in our episode. She'd never actually—
N: And she never had much interaction with him even then.
JW: Exactly.
N: She was all over Toby.
JW: <laughing> Yeah.
N: So anyway. But anyway, we wanted to bring in, uhm, as many people as we could.
JW: Yeah, this was our cameo episode.

A sharp tweet caused Dawn to turn her head and she looked around hopefully, but it was not the little wren. Instead, a bright-eyed robin regarded her cheekily from atop a signpost. Pecking at the wood until it managed to break off a sizeable splinter, it then took flight. "Slayer Bird," Dawn reflected. "Probably off to stake a bat or something." As she watched the sky, several more birds flew from the treetops, in the direction the robin had taken. The teenager nodded her approval. "Just as well there's more than one. Robin needs to roost and the bats are so much bigger these days."

[ Download Clip #15 ]

Novareinna: And of course the robin is the Slayer bird, which was ... my first, uhm ... Was my first kinda sorta attempt to bring Wood into it.
Jet Wolf: Yeah, an-and I- I completely missed it. Utterly.
N: Yeah. So did everybody else, apparently <laugh>, so you know.
JW: So that's why we put Wood in there later actually.
N: Nobody caught it, I don't think.
JW: No, I don't think so.
N: Nobody caught when Wood actually did appear.
JW: But apparently no one seems to care about Wood at all, <Nova laughs> so I guess that's all right.
N: But you know – robin, and he's pecking at wood and ...
JW: Yeah.
N: I just thought it was cute.
JW: Yeah, well if everyone had—
N: And of course, it's the robin that— Robin and the wren are very much in a ... in the- the mythology. Of the wren. The robin is very much in there with it, you know.
JW: So if anybody missed out that that was supposed to be Robin Wood, don't feel bad. I missed it too.
N: Yeah, it was very obscure.
JW: Yeah, so I- I took it to mean what it looked like to me, which was when I think I tweaked that a little bit to where it was— The robin was a Slayer. And that was it. And of course, suddenly there's— At first there's one Slayer and now suddenly there's a whole bunch of them. And- And Dawn is happy for this, because it means that Buffy doesn't have to do stuff by herself.
N: Mm-hm. Yeah.

Turning her attention back to the signpost, she peered more closely at the message carved there. "This Way to the Renaissance Festival," it read. The arrow only pointed one way and seemed to offer no other choice. She frowned at the direction for a moment, casting a dubious glance down the path, when a small and almost imperceptible tweet beyond the sign cemented Dawn's decision.

She shivered slightly as she moved deeper into the forest. The sun, such as was, barely penetrated the thick ceiling of leaves and heavy boughs. Even the path was steadily becoming obliterated in a tangle of sinewy vines and curling tendrils. "Guess nobody's ever come this way before," she murmured to herself.

As though in answer, the strains of a now-familiar melody reached her ears. Looking up, Dawn caught a flash of buttercup yellow in the distance – a cap perched upon the head of an otherwise indistinct figure. "Hello?" the teenager called. Her voice echoed back to her in an eerie fashion. "Who are you? Do I know you?" But the musician had vaporized without so much as a word. She stuck out her chin defiantly. "Fine, be like that. I know me."

Determined, she scaled a fallen log blocking the pathway. Once across, the vines before her grew thinner and the gravel peeked through in a comforting manner. Within a few yards, Dawn found herself at the brink of a clearing. A cheery banner floated just ahead, suspended between two tall, upright poles. "We bid you welcome to the Renaissance Festival," the message announced. Someone had scrawled, "Huzzah!" along the bottom in felt-tip pen.

Dawn skipped with excitement to be almost out of the woods and hurried toward the entrance to the festival. "Maybe Willow's booth is up. Willow and Tara will help me find the bird. I bet they know just the right spell to make everything better."

Reaching the turnstile, she pushed hard but it stubbornly refused to budge. She tried again.

"Hey!" challenged an indignant voice from the nearby kiosk marked 'Pay Here.' "No getting in without a ticket!"

Backing up, Dawn peered into the depths of the dark little cubicle. A finger emerged and jabbed pointedly at the sign above the kiosk. "Look. See? It says 'Pay Here,' and that's what you do. Pay. Here. No getting in without paying." An upturned palm was then extended, followed immediately by a frowning face.

A curious expression crossed Dawn's features as a glint of recognition appeared in her eyes.

The figured smiled broadly, but with no indication of likewise awareness, simply the joyful anticipation of monetary gain. The palm was extended further. "We also take MasterCard and Visa," Dawn was informed brightly, followed by a purse of the lips and a heavy sigh. "Oh, sorry." The tone, however, was far from apologetic. "I'm supposed to say 'Master of the Card' and 'Lady Visa'." Eyes rolled in Dawn's direction, but still the expectant hand did not waver.

Dawn continued to simply stare in disbelief.

"Well?" came the demand, accompanied by an annoyed shake of the outstretched – and as yet, still notably empty – palm.

Something was wrong. Horribly wrong. The teenager's pale face spoke volumes.

"Feeling sick?" came the hopeful query. "We've got wonderful First Aid facilities. Inside. Just look for the Apothecary Shoppe. All you have to do is pay to get in." The figure nodded encouragingly.

Dawn swallowed hard and somehow managed to get her vocal chords working again.

"A- Anya?"

[ Download Clip #16 ]

Jet Wolf: Anya. We knew Anya was gonna be in this ...
Novareinna: Yeah.
JW: ...from the very beginning. And of course as the ticket taker, who I think was your ... That was your assigning her a role.
N: Yeah to money. Had to be associated with money.
JW: And if I had one big regret, it's that I was really happy to finally get to use Anya, but I always kind of regret that we never go the opportunity to give her ... We- We kind of turned her into a caricature of herself. Which WORKS, cuz it's Dawn's perception again, and as we said earlier, it's very barebones. This is very simply, you know, "I've latched on to your most overt character trait, and this is- this is who you are." And Anya and Dawn, for as long as they may have known each other, never really were all that close. I mean i-it seems half the time that Anya didn't like Dawn. <Nova chuckles> Uhm, so i-it worked okay, it's just ... for it being the only time we got to use Anya in this season, it would've been nice to have been able to give her more than just her generic "I'm money-hungry" sort of thing. But nothing else would've worked in this place.
N: No. What else would she have done?
JW: Right. And this is actually Dawn's only real acknowledgement at any point in the- in the world she's in that something's not right. She accepts everything at face value, but when she sees Anya, she freaks out a little bit.
N: Yeah, yeah.
JW: Uhm, I'd like to say there's a huge good reason for that. There really isn't. It was a better way to end it.
N: Yeah.
JW: To end the- end the act. As a result, it kind of breaks it a little bit, because Dawn takes everything else so much in stride, but suddenly she sees Anya and it's like, "Whoa, now I'm freaked!"
N: But it's the first dead person she sees.
JW: Yeah but I mean, if- if the house had suddenly gone, I mean <laughs> that's gonna be pretty weird in itself too. It breaks it a little bit, but it was good for the act break so I- I mean, I'm not gonna ... freak out over it. It was just, uhm ... It just—
N: I then of course, I think most people got pretty much from the get-go that that was Anya anyway before we said.
JW: Yeah, I don't think that would've been difficult to figure out. But even if you didn't get it, then of course we come out and tell ya, so. Uhm.
N: And then of course, the Master of the Card and the, uhm ...
JW: Lady Visa.
N: Lady Visa is what they actually say at the Renaissance Festival.
JW: Right. So this was ... I think I- I was adamant that this be our first act break. With her saying Anya's name.
N: Yeah.
JW: I think you had it actually had it partway through act two.
N: Possibly so. I had the acts all totally screwed.
JW: In your original conception. And I'm like, "No no! It has to end with- with Anya!" With us realizing it's Anya.
N: Because you said that's how a scene would act. That's how you'd see Anya.
JW: That's- That's how it would end in my head, so that was- That was my big foot putting down. I'm like, "No! It will end with this!"

Act Two

Anya eyed Dawn with much suspicion. "Just because you know my name doesn't mean you get in for free," she told the teenager sternly. "You could have read it in the program: 'Anya, Keeper of the Coin and Lady-In-Waiting to the Queen'. Not that I'm too happy about that last part, nice as the Queen might be." Suddenly, Anya's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Wait, you have a program? Did you pay for it?"

[ Download Clip #17 ]

Novareinna: And then of course this starts off with Anya. And me <laughing> trying to get Anya's voice as best I could. And this was the first mention of the Queen. Which at this point— Well not at this point.
Jet Wolf: In it's original conception.
N: In its original conception meant nothing.
JW: Right.
N: It's just that every Renaissance Festival has a queen.
JW: Right. The Queen at first was not Joyce. The Queen obviously, as determined, I assume ... I think everybody pretty much picked up that the Queen WAS Joyce.
N: Yeah, cuz you said to me, "Well who's the Queen?" I'm like, "Well the Queen isn't ANYBODY, it's just that every Renaissance Festival has a queen." And you're like, "No no."
<laughing>
JW: <snooty voice> "No no! Nononono."
N: You're like, "Well wait a minute!" You know.
JW: Yeah, we're— I think you mentioned the Queen a couple times when I read the first draft – or the stuff that you had so far. And I think- I think you sent me up to about mid-point of act two.
N: Possibly so.
JW: And then you were having some trouble. You were kind of losing cohesion and we decided at that point to sit down to break it. Uhm, to do an actual scene-by-scene which was—
N: And I'm like, "I don't really know where it goes from here." <laughing>
JW: Yeah. "I'm just kinda goin' with stuff. What am I showing?" Uhm, so we sat down and we- we broke it out. I-Individually into scenes and acts. And, uhm, we mentioned- you'd already mentioned the Queen once or twice at that point, and we were going through and we're like, "Okay, this means this and this means this and here's, you know, we're being symbolic and sneaky over here" and I think I said to you, "Who is the Queen?" You said, "The Queen's nobody" and I'm like, "No, the Queen's SOMEBODY." And I'm like, "The Queen is Joyce." It just clicked and it made sense. So the mentions of the Queen in the very beginning, in the first draft, were not anybody. But of course, as we wrote it later we realized—
N: But then who knows subconsciously again?
JW: Yeah, exactly.
N: I don't know. I can't say. Unfortunately my subconscious doesn't ...
JW: Communicate with you very well?
N: No.

With a brisk shake of her head, Dawn denied the very suggestion and spread her arms wide, showing them to be empty and program-free. "Well then," Anya continued, gesturing grandly to the stack of booklets on the narrow counter, "you can purchase one here. When you buy a ticket." She smiled brightly in anticipation.

Dawn's mouth opened and closed silently, unsure of how to respond, when a figure suddenly appeared from around the side of the entrance booth. "Giles!" Dawn exclaimed with a sigh of tangible relief.

"Anya," stated Giles reprovingly, tucking his clipboard under one arm, "didn't we discuss how to be courteous to patrons?"

"They're only patrons when they pay," she pointed out, glaring at Dawn.

Giles shook his head in desperation and turned to the teenager with an encouraging smile. "Have you come to enjoy an afternoon of medieval delight? O-Or are you here to sign-up as a performer?" He held up his clipboard and ran a forefinger down the list held there. "Several people haven't checked in yet. Perhaps you're one of those?"

"I'm Dawn," the teenager replied simply.

"A volunteer, perhaps?" Giles continued. Taking note of Dawn's confusion, he flipped to another page and scanned the length of the list. "No ‘Dawn' listed here," he regretfully informed.

Anya beamed and once more thrust out her hand, jerking her head at the ‘Pay Here' sign.

At Dawn's deflated expression, Giles stepped between the teenager and Anya, blocking the latter from view and ignoring the irritated "Hey!" that followed. "Perhaps you'd like to take a look around inside?" he suggested. "A brief tour? Help you decide whether you'd like to take part?"

"She can take a look around when she pays!" an indignant voice came from behind him, causing Giles to shoot a glance of pure irritation over his shoulder.

"You know the Queen wouldn't want to charge for a brief tour," he insisted, his tone of voice making it clear the matter was closed. There were bitter, unhappy rumblings emanating from the booth, but no further complaints, and Giles turned back to the teenager with a smile.

"I'm looking for the wren," Dawn told him. "I think it's lost."

Giles nodded encouragingly. "Many birds to be found in the Sherwood Forest area," he suggested. "Perhaps you'll find it there."

With that, Giles buried his head once more in the clipboard and returned the way he had appeared from around the corner of the booth. Dawn took one step after him, then cast a worried eye at the kiosk. She needn't have been concerned, however – Anya was holding the money pouch next to her ear and jingling it in time to a beat heard only in the woman's head. Her eyes were closed in an expression of pure pleasure, and she no longer seemed bothered with, or even aware of Dawn's presence.

[ Download Clip #18 ]

Jet Wolf: Giles with his clipboard is just indicative of him always having his nose in a book. His clipboard is just his source of information, so in Dawn's mind, that's- that's sort of the image she has of Giles a lot of the times. You know, he's- he's—
Novareinna: He's Information Guy.
JW: Right, exactly.
N: And then of course Giles chastising her like he used to in the shop.
JW: Yes.
N: Anya. Not Dawn. That- That was your line: "They're only patrons when they PAY." <JW chuckles> And then of course, then I think at some point the Queen comes in here too. Her saying that she— Oh, that's further down.
JW: The Queen doesn't charge for brief tours.
N: And then of course Giles trying to find out why Dawn is there. You know.
JW: Yeah. "You're, you know—"
N: "Did you come to take part because, you know, you don't seem to be on my list here." You know.
JW: Mm-hm. Giles' need to classify everything. You know, everything has a very particular place and should be easily definable in some way. Which, now I think about it, is quite interesting because it's really Giles who she gets all the information from when she finds out who she really is and WHAT she is, because Giles is the one who's classified her, and she goes and reads his diary and gets that information. So that's quite interesting.
N: <laughing> Another subconscious thing, no doubt. And then of course her saying "I'm Dawn," which is how she- what she feels is all she needs to say. "I'm Dawn."
JW: Yeah, and that's pretty much all she says throughout the whole thing. Whenever anyone asks her about herself, she just says "I'm Dawn." Which is, of course, large part of this is Dawn's quest herself to find out who she is.
N: Yeah.
JW: Yet Dawn always seems to KNOW who she is. Like, "This is who I am", and her name is sufficient. But everyone else tries to give her assignments, give her roles. "You're a volunteer," "You're a performer," you know ... "You're a cook," "You're not in the right uniform, you need to go over here and get this costume" ... Everyone tries to keep on putting ... assigning some—
N: Putting Dawn into a slot.
JW: Assigning some sort of uh, uh label to Dawn that she consistently rejects throughout the course. Except for the circlet. That's the only thing that she'll take throughout the course of the thing.
N: Some of the stuff here, I can't even explain. <JW laughs> But it seems as though it means something.
JW: Mm-hmm.
N: But some of it I- I can't—
JW: No no no! See we're- we're too knowledgeable. <Nova laughs> Everything, we KNOW what it means. If we're not TELLING you—
N: We can't say! We can't say!
JW: Yes yes, that's it. If we're not telling you, then it's because it's far beyond your ken. You see, you can't comprehend our genius. NOT because we have no idea what it means.

The teenager seized the opportunity to slip through the small gap at the side of the booth.

"Which way is—" she began as she emerged on the other side, but Giles had disappeared, presumably having gone through one of the three arches cut into a rampart of granite. A trio of heralds sat atop the lofty wall. They appeared bored and their clarions dangled idly in their hands, as though waiting for the command to blow a trump. They ignored Dawn as she entered the festival's marbled forecourt through the center arch.

She was immediately met by a combination of intriguing sights and delicious aromas. She noticed the Apothecary Shoppe mentioned by Anya on her right, but a sign on the door informed her that "The Doctor Is Out." Directly across from the Apothecary Shoppe was the Sheriff's Sentry Box. Several of the guards, dressed in bright navy doublets and sporting crossbows, lounged outside. The group stood to attention and saluted as a tall, dark-skinned man rounded a corner. None of them paid Dawn any mind.

[ Download Clip #19 ]

Jet Wolf: Here we have our brief mention of Wood we put in here. Him at the Sheriff's Sentry Box. Very very brief moment— Mention. But uh, poor Wood. We left him out of this too. This was- This was like thrown in—
Novareinna: At the end.
JW: Almost literally like a-an HOUR—
N: Almost didn't make it.
JW: —an hour before it went up, I think. When we suddenly realized "Oh crap, we never put Wood in."
N: Yeah. You had mentioned it earlier and then you forgot again.
JW: Yeah.
N: And with the final read-through I'm like, "Wait a minute, weren't you gonna put Wood in here?" And you're like, "Oh shoot, yeah." So you shoved that in. But nobody picked up on it as far as I know.

She stared at all the hawkers peddling their wares: a baker with a large tray of sultana muffins hanging around his neck; a youth offering spiced doughnuts which he held out on a sturdy pole; and a young woman, her blonde hair arranged in tight ringlets and attired in a low-cut gown which showed far too much of her ample bosom, apparently willing to sell kisses if the price was right. Dawn blinked at the confusion and seemed to be wondering which direction she should take. Then, she noticed a signpost at the far edge of the forecourt that read: "This Way to the Market Square." The arrow pointed toward a planked sidewalk. It appeared to be the only choice available to her.

Dawn meandered along the wooden street of makeshift stores displaying their merchandise. With wide eyes, she maneuvered through the sizable crowds, admiring the almost innumerable treasures available at every turn. She peered with wonder at stained glass light catchers, accepted free samples of roasted nuts, and politely declined an offer extended by one merchant to enter his establishment and fondle his baubles.

[ Download Clip #20 ]

Novareinna: Let's see ... The baker was nobody. The youth was nobody. The blonde was Harmony, but nobody got that, so nevermind.
Jet Wolf: Oh.
N: Probably was very obscure. Could've been any blonde really, but it— I did have Harmony in mind when I put that in there. But the Muffin Man and the ... and the, uhm, guy selling doughnuts was no one. And then of course I had a boy with a hoop and a stick and everything running past there, but he was nobody either, so Nikki took that out.
JW: Well I— The- The only reason I— I didn't mind him being in there, but there was so much attention, so much description paid to him—
N: And he gets in Dawn's way and she has to jump back, and you figured that would—
JW: It LOOKED like it should mean something and it didn't.
N: And the uh, "enter his establishment and fondle his baubles", that was actually something somebody said to you at a Renaissance Fair.
JW: Yeah, I got- I got assaulted by a shopkeeper with that phrase at a Renaissance Festival, which always just amused the ... amused the heck outta me. So, yes, Dawn had to get accosted in much the same way.

Deeply engrossed in the marvels of the festival, Dawn nearly collided with a man in feudal costume, obviously meant to be some type of peasant. A brown rat was perched on his shoulder, twitching its whiskers curiously. Dawn was equally as curious and wriggled a finger in the rodent's direction. The twitchy creature scrabbled around the serf's neck and perched warily on the other shoulder. Startled, Dawn took a step backward as the man offered the rat a wedge of cheese. The peasant regarded the teenager from behind his thick spectacles.

[ Download Clip #21 ]

Novareinna: Oh yeah, and then the little peasant guy, with the rat on his shoulder? The rat, I think some people figured out was Amy.
Jet Wolf: Yeah, Amy's the rat.
N: And uhm, the little man- the little peasant man, I kinda had in mind is the Cheese Man.
JW: And- And had I realized that at first— Cuz I think, I-I don't— I think I just brushed over it. Had I realized it, I would've taken it out. Uhm, but I didn't realize it until after it'd gone up.
N: Yeah, right, because. Yeah. Because she wouldn't have known. About that.
JW: Yeah, but besides the fact of whether or not she would've known, just it- it makes it ... It makes it intentionally very dreamlike.
N: Yeah.
JW: Uhm, and just I have this thing with the Cheese Man, to where it's very clichéd. A lot of people who write fanfic tend to include him.
N: But as it is, it didn't come across like that in any event.
JW: No. I think- I think someone did mention, "Is that the Cheese Man?" and I think I <laughs> didn't answer the question. Uhm ...
N: But yeah it's, of course, the rat is Amy.
JW: The rat is Amy, and that was intentional. I think you had him with a pig at first, didn't you?
N: Yeah, because that was what— When the Renaissance Festival that I went to ... Yeah, he did have a little black potbelly pig.
JW: Yeah and I- and I was like, "Oh, it should be a rat!" So it was another cameo.
N: We were gonna have the rat originally in the magic shoppe.
JW: That's right, that's right.
N: And we moved her out here. And then of course, you mentioned that she didn't care much for cheese. Which is where the ...
JW: Yeah. <chuckles> That just amuses me. That-That's like a ... Cuz Elizabeth Anne Allen, who plays Amy the Rat, is lactose intolerant and can't eat cheese. And that was just a personal thing that I find amusing, so.

"Can you aid me, fair lady?" he questioned. "This used to be my daughter until she was turned into a rat by an evil sorceress." He blinked back the tears. Shaking her head apologetically, Dawn was nearly sent sprawling to the ground by the sudden appearance of a figure shrouded in a heavy cloak of black wool.

"Looking for help, mate— I mean, my good man?" inquired the new arrival. The teenager turned and then gaped as the hood slipped to reveal a shock of platinum hair. A hand thrust past bearing a small card that read: 'William, Seeker of Fortune. Have halberd will travel. No job too small or too large.' The blond mercenary winked at the teenager before turning his attention to the peasant. "Come on. Wossit gonna be? Got places to go."

The man beckoned the blond to one side. "It's all part of the act," he whispered, indicating the rat, which was now squeaking repeatedly – either with delight or disgust, it was difficult to tell – as it sniffed at the cheese held between its tiny paws. "This isn't really my daughter."

"Really," William replied in flat voice. "Because the resemblance is uncanny."

He snatched the card from the serf's fingers and began to saunter away, his long cloak dragging in the dust. He crossed to a tavern, presumably known as 'The Shining Son' given its swaying sign, and disappeared into the sea of bodies milling around the entrance.

[ Download Clip #22 ]

Novareinna: And then of course the heavy-cloaked guy, I think everybody got him.
Jet Wolf: Yeah, we knew that- that was Spike. Uhm, why we never called him "Spike", I don't even know if I could say. I don't know why we didn't have him be "Spike".
N: Because I think because we felt that "William the Something-Or-Other" was much more Renaissancy.
JW: Yeah, no, I'm thinking from Dawn's perspective. Why ... Cuz I mean, you'd think—
N: She never calls him anything, does she?
JW: No she doesn't, but it's Dawn's perception of him. Dawn CREATED him.
N: Oh, yeah.
JW: In her mind. So why she created him as William and not Spike, I really don't know. If I had to make up something (which I'm about to do, so everyone sit tight), uhm ... Is because Dawn- Dawn has rejected Spike in her own mind. When she found out what he nearly did to Buffy, she rejected the notion of Spike, but she still has ideas of- of an idealized Spike in her mind, cuz of course she and Spike were very close at one point. Uhm, so to my mind, it's sort of an idea that, you know, taking away all the badness— If you take away everything that's bad out of Spike, you're left with William. And that's what- that's who she's seeing. And I just made that up. But it sounds very impressive, so we're gonna go and PRETEND that that was what we were doing at the beginning.
N: Originally we did have her calling— I had her calling him "Spike". Originally. Remember?
JW: Mm-hm.
N: Cuz, uhm, he says like, "Have halberd, will travel." And he goes past her and she says "Spike?" and he comes back with the card and says, "No, I haven't used spikes in years, I use halberds now," or something. You remember? That was how I originally had it. And you didn't like that, so.
<laughing>
N: So that came out because you didn't like it.
JW: All the reason anyone ever needs. Things get edited because I do not like them.
N: "No, I- I don't like that." <laughs> I'm like, "Okay, take it out then." Other than that ...
JW: Yeah.
N: You changed some of his dialogue. You worked on some of his dialogue. There's really just more about the—
JW: I think I named the tavern.
N: You named the tavern. I had it- I had "The -Something- Dragon". The Dragon's ... Dragon's Blood or something? I think is what I called it? And you changed it.
JW: Yeah, a-and "Shining Son", I don't know where that came from. That was just, when I thought of it, that was what made sense. It's- It's a reference to Spike and I realized that in my head, but I couldn't tell you what it means. I've never sat down to- to figure it out. But that's ...
N: I think I had it "The Dragon's Blood" or something like that, I think is what I had called it.
JW: Yeah I- I have it— And I can tell, I can feel it in my head, "The Shining Son" is very definitively I'm saying it's something to do with Spike, but I can't remember what.

With an expression of total confusion, Dawn looked up and down the wooden walkway. Her eyes widened with appreciation when she noticed a beautiful square-necked dress of dark green velvet suspended from a hook outside one of the stalls. Peeking inside, she was greeted with a magnificent array of appropriate clothing – gowns with flowing trumpet sleeves and waistcoats sporting elaborate embroidery. Noting her interest, the proprietress stepped forward. She herself was attired impeccably for the period, even down to the tiny red rosebuds woven into her dark hair. With a bright smile, she unhooked the green gown and held it up in front of Dawn. "Absolutely perfect," she murmured with confidence. "With this dress, you'll have every boy falling at your feet."

Dawn admired her reflection in a nearby mirror. "You think so?" she asked hopefully.

"Trust me," the brunette assured, "I should know. You'll have to chase them away."

Running a hand down the rich material the teenager beheld her image, clearly liking what she saw. The indulgent moment was soon over, however, and Dawn's expression crumpled. "I don't have any money," she told the shopkeeper with deep regret.

Instantly, the gown was whipped away and the women returned it to the hook. "It looks better on me anyway," she said scornfully, and then busied herself with ignoring Dawn's presence altogether.

[ Download Clip #23 ]

Novareinna: And of course she moves on to the dress.
Jet Wolf: Right. Which is Cordelia which- which people got, which did surprise me.
N: Yeah, you- you changed her, uhm, what she said up a little bit.
JW: Mm-hm.
N: For it- To make it a little more plain. Cuz I didn't have her— I had her much more valley girl.
JW: Yeah and- and Cordelia is actually not particularly valley girl. Uh my only, my big hint here being where she says, "You'll have to CHASE them away." Uhm, of course that was our big "Hur-hur". Uhm, and Dawn- Dawn's dress. Dawn is consistently attracted to green things in this.
N: Yeah. Because she's the green light.
JW: Uh, which of course, because she's the Key, which is green. Uhm, and that was actually part of our problem too, because we were gonna put Willow in green at one point, and we realized we couldn't because green is Dawn's colour.
N: And she likes the dress, uhm ... And then there was the money thing came into it, but we'll go into that later, I guess. She likes it. She doesn't necessarily, uhm ...
JW: It's forced on her and she's saying it's pretty, but she's—
N: She doesn't necessarily ever, uhm—
JW: Accept it. I mean, if it was given to her, I think she'd take it.
N: Yeah.
JW: But it's, you know ... It- It's the closest she kind of comes to taking a costume of sorts. Uhm, but again, it's sort of like, if they were gonna thrust it on her, then she'd take it, but ...
N: I think it's because she thought it enhanced her in some way.
JW: Mm-hm.
N: You know, so she- she admired it, she thought it would look good on her, but when Cordelia says, you know, "It'd look better on me," Dawn doesn't argue.
JW: Yeah.

Dejectedly, Dawn slunk out of the shop and resumed her walk. She soon came to a colorful tent positioned atop a tiny hillock in the middle of the common ground. There was no sign by the entrance, although she could hear a vague melody being played by violins emanating from within. Crossing the grass, she lifted the flap and looked inside. A crystal ball sat in the center of a small table, together with a deck of tarot cards. A small kettle bubbled cheerfully upon the hob. A curtain of sparkling glass beads separated the front of the tent from the rear and Dawn frowned. The size of the interior seemed to belie its outward appearance. She ducked back outside to check on the dimensions.

"That's where the fortune-teller will set up," Giles told her, appearing suddenly at her side. "But she – or- or he, I suppose," he added as an afterthought. "I've never actually met them, and men and women aren't quite as constrained as they once were, are they?" He chuckled at the thought, but quickly moved on. "At any rate, the fortune-teller hasn't arrived yet."

"But," protested Dawn, pointing at the tent, "they must have. There's a kettle boiling in there."

"Are you sure?" asked Giles, pulling back the flap to check. He glanced at the interior. It was woefully bare. No crystal ball, no deck of cards, no bubbling kettle, no beaded curtain – no anything.

The teenager blinked as she stared at the empty tent. "It was full of stuff just now."

Giles lowered the tent flap without further consideration. "Have you found your bird yet?" he inquired.

Dawn's eyes grew wide. "I ... I forgot I was looking for it."

Giles nodded sagely as he polished his glasses. "The memory is a tricky thing. Not necessarily reliable." A crease formed on his forehead as he watched Dawn hurry away. "Don't get lost," he cautioned, replacing his glasses firmly upon his nose and marching off again, studying the clipboard intently.

[ Download Clip #24 ]

Novareinna: And then of course he asks her, "Have you found your bird?" and she's forgotten about the bird at this point because she's gotten too caught up in other things.
Jet Wolf: Mm-hmm. Dawn spends pretty much the entire episode forgetting about the damn bird.
N: Yeah. Which is ... weird.
JW: It is weird. And ... it's one of those things where again— And I'm afraid that people are gonna be let down by this, because I have no great insight to offer you for that. Except for, it kept coming up that way, that Dawn kept forgetting the bird. And it's one of things where I feel like I should be able to tell you and say that it means something wonderfully insightful, and I have nothing. Except—
N: But it keeps coming.
JW: It keeps coming. And it KEPT coming out. Every time we wrote it, we'd have Dawn forget about the frickin' bird. And the bird is HER, we KNOW this, but why does she forget to— Again, I can sit here and I can try and make somethin' up, but it's not better than, like, what you could make up.
N: Right, and it was not anything that was put in there because that was what we were trying to imply.
JW: Right.
N: It just came. It just kept happening, you know. She would- She would get wound up in other things and she would forget, and then she would be horrified when she realized she'd forgotten. And that would be her first thought: "Oh god, the bird. I've gotta go find the bird." But why, I- I don't know.
JW: The best I— Actually, you know—
N: It was something subconscious that was—
JW: Now I'm- Now I'm thinking about it, I'm thinking it probably was because Dawn isn't there to look for the wren. She's there looking for answers about something else, but she doesn't need to find herself because she identifies herself the whole time. She KNOWS who she is. She's gone into this— She already knows. She THINKS she doesn't, she thinks she's looking for something about herself, but she's not. She's looking for other things as they relate to her. And she's looking for her answers in these other things—
N: There was an awful lot in this that came out very subconsciously. That like I said, if you'd've sat there and really concentrated and tried to work these things in—
JW: It wouldn't have worked.
N: —I don't think it would've come. It was again almost like the character was doing it. You know? It- It was very strange. Like I say, it was very surreal. It was a very surreal kind of thing.
JW: But I- But honestly, now I'm thinking about it – and that probably makes me sound pretentious as hell – <Nova laughs> But now I'm thinking about it, I think it's because the reason she- she forgets is because she's not- she's not looking for her. She's found her. She knows who she is, she tells who I- who she is. But and the wren- the wren has little significance outside of being Dawn herself. So why WOULD she be looking for it?
N: Yeah.
JW: Besides the fact, as Jenny tells her later, it's always been wherever you are. So you have nothing to look for.
N: It's just one of those things that, it was a theme that ran through, and it seemed right every time it happened, so it was kept in. Though we really couldn't pinpoint—
JW: Why.
N: —at the time why. But I think if we'd have tried to, we'd have lost it.
JW: Yeah. I-I think it would've- it would've come across ...
N: Some things we just had to let go. We're like, "I'm not sure what this means. I know it means something, I'm not sure what. But if we're gonna try and get too deep into it, we're gonna lose it." So we had to just let it- let it fly.
JW: Well I think it would come—
N: <chuckles> "Let it fly."
JW: Ha-ha. Uhm. I think it would feel very forced. It would feel—
N: As it is, it came across quite flowing.
JW: Mm-hm.
N: But I think that's because we let a lot of it just sit without trying to analyze it too deeply.

Dawn's search was interrupted by the sounds of vigorous hammering. The worker whistled happily as he plied his trade and a sigh of relief escaped Dawn's lips as she recognized the carpenter.

"Xander," she called delightedly as she hurried toward him. He turned and treated her to a broad grin. She returned his smile and looked into his eyes. There was a brief moment of confusion as she realized there were indeed two of them but the puzzlement was fleeting and slipped away as quickly as it had arrived. "What you doing?"

"Building a stage," he told her, fishing out another nail and banging it into place. "It's for the dancing troupe, so gotta be solid." With his fist, he pounded on the planks he'd nailed together and nodded with satisfaction when they held firm. "Can't have it collapsing, ‘specially not while the Queen's in the audience."

"The Queen?" queried Dawn. "The Queen's coming to watch?"

"Oh, yeah," confirmed an enthusiastic Xander. "She's a great lover of the arts."

"I'd like to meet her," the teenager pondered thoughtfully. "Maybe I could wait here? Until she comes?"

The carpenter shook his head ruefully. "Sorry, no performance today." With that, he returned to the stage, glancing over when he noticed that Dawn hadn't left yet. "So," he broached in a casual, friendly manner. "You're part of the festival?" Tipping his head to one side, he considered her with some curiosity. "Just a visitor?"

"I'm Dawn," she responded.

"Ahhh," replied Xander, nodding sagely. "I should've known that." He contemplated this new information for a moment and smiled at the teenager. "It's a nice name," he concluded.

Dawn looked a little embarrassed, but pleased. Still, Xander wore a puzzled expression. "Not sure why you're here, though," he confessed. Then a thought occurred, and he snapped his fingers together. "You're one of the serving wenches, right?" When Dawn didn't immediately disagree, Xander took this as confirmation. "Thought so. ‘The Food Court' is over that way—" He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "—an' you can pick up your costume there too."

Dawn gazed in the direction he indicated for a moment and then her attention returned to Xander. "I'm looking for the wren," she informed him.

The carpenter had returned to his hammer. "Got some nice pieces of wood left over," he mumbled through a mouthful of nails. "Be happy to make a cage for your wren – if you find it, of course. Just let me know."

[ Download Clip #25 ]

Novareinna: And then of course she sees Xander.
Jet Wolf: With both eyes, because that's Dawn ... Dawn in— Xander in Dawn's brain, that's how he is.
N: Would be a perfect Xander.
JW: He's—
N: He would be, yeah. An unmarred Xander.
JW: Right.
N: And then of course there comes back the queen again.
JW: Right.
N: You know. And uhm, "a lover of the arts" was the reference to uhm ...
JW: Her being a curator.
N: Yeah, Joyce being that. Uhm, and then of course, this is the first time really that Dawn indicates a desire to meet her.
JW: Right.
N: And of course she offers all these- these things that she could do and- and they're all turned down. There's— She's told no. Not- Not unkindly, but ... They're very valid reasons. But, you know, they're not what she wants to hear. <JW chuckles> And then you put this in, so perhaps, you know, you'd best, uhm, describe that one. Where, "Ahh, I should've known that."
JW: Yeah, that was just uhm—
N: That was something you put in.
JW: Yeah, where Dawn again says—
N: "I'm Dawn."
JW: Explains herself purely by her name, and Xander's saying "I should've known that." It's because I think that ... In Dawn's mind, of everybody who knows her, probably the ones who know her best – outside of everything else she CAN be – are Xander and Tara. And they're the ones who relate to her the most in this.
N: Mm-hm.
JW: Uhm, but with Xander, Xander has an understanding of Dawn that nobody else quite possesses. That he kind of knows who she is, outside of anything else she- she thinks she SHOULD be, or possibly even could be. And that's really where that comes from. The idea that Xan- the Xander that Willow— Excuse me, the Xander that DAWN has created a-and put into this world ...
N: Should've instinctively known who she was.
JW: Yes. Yes.
N: But he didn't.
JW: He didn't, no. Because only—
N: But something about it tells her— Though there's an indication, there's ... I guess to satisfy her, there's an indication there that he should've.
JW: Right.
N: You know, but that sort of satisfies her. Her need— "I SHOULD'VE known. Sorry."
JW: Right.
N: "I should've known."
JW: "If I'd thought about it, I could've got that."
N: And then of course he thinks she—
JW: But then he- But the he immediately turns around and tries to put her back into something else. Some other ...
N: Wants to send her over to the food court where he thinks she's some kind of serving wench.
JW: Right.
N: But still, he says it's a nice name, and that's good enough for her for the moment.
JW: Right, right.

The conversation apparently at an end, Dawn wandered off in the direction she had been pointed. Around the construction area, the crowds had been thin, but the closer Dawn came to ‘The Food Court', the greater the throngs of people. Picnic tables had been arranged in the center of a giant ‘U'-shape, where food items of all types were being sold from vendors singing out their wares and trying their utmost to be heard over the excited, noisy chatter that infused the area.

"I want one as big as what everybody else got," whined a young blond man standing in front of a stall labeled 'King Henry's Drumsticks.' Dawn stared at the man's back and frowned as he waved a turkey leg in the air. "Or a refund," he persisted. "I shouldn't have to pay the same for something smaller." His objections were obviously falling on deaf ears, and he began to pout in a disgruntled and thoroughly ineffectual manner.

Nearly overwhelmed, Dawn looked anxiously around the area. Her discomfort lessened as she spied a girl pushing her way firmly through the crowd while balancing four half-coconuts in her hands. "Meghan," breathed Dawn as she followed the figure to a sturdy table flanked by two wooden benches.

"Could've died of thirst while you been gone," griped Jackie as Meghan delivered the drinks.

"Then you go next time," replied an irritated Meghan. "The line was about a zillion miles long."

Brenda slowly dragged one of the coconuts toward her and peered inside.

"Piña colada," Meghan told her. "But don't worry, it's the non-alcoholic kind." She winked at Jackie and grinned mischievously.

Ginny stuffed a generous piece of funnel cake into her mouth and watched Dawn's approach. She waved a greeting and Dawn smiled happily.

"I saw you talking to that cute carpenter," Ginny remarked as soon as Dawn was within earshot. "What did he say?"

"Xander?" queried Dawn.

Ginny sighed. "Is that his name? It sounds so romantic."

"He's building a stage for the dancers," she told them. "Then he said he'd build me a birdcage." Her eyes grew wide. "The wren," she muttered angrily to herself. "I forgot again."

Turning, she hurried away. The girls watched for a moment.

"Takes all sorts, I suppose," commented Meghan with a shrug.

"I hope she finds what she's looking for," remarked Brenda, watching Dawn's retreat with some concern.

Jackie, meanwhile, was glaring bitterly at the empty plate sitting in the center of the table. "You ate the last piece of funnel cake," she accused, scowling at Ginny.

Ginny looked guilty, even as she tried without success to clean her dress of any evidence.

"So you get to get some more," Jackie declared, pointing toward the appropriate booth.

Ginny stared forlornly at the huge line in front of the 'Queen Anne's Lace' stall, where a young blond man was complaining bitterly about the abundance of powdered sugar that had been sprinkled on his confection.

[ Download Clip #26 ]

Novareinna: So off she goes to the uhm ...
Jet Wolf: The food court.
N: The food court. Which I had called something else, I believe. Like "King Henry's Banquet".
JW: <laughs> And then I'm like, "No, it's a food court."
N: "It's- It's ... It's too much." And then of course that's when she sees her friends for the first time. Oh no, well ... I guess she sees Andrew first. I guess people figured that was Andrew.
JW: I would imagine people thought that was Andrew. <laughs> Mom hates Andrew, so, like, the uh—
N: Andrew constantly whines.
JW: Yes.
N: You know, so ...
JW: Andrew has no redeeming features whatsoever. I actually had thought at first that he should've been some— A guy working one of the food booths. Not ordering— Constantly ordering from the food booths. But uh, you had that in there, and I felt like it was a cathartic thing for you in some manner. <Nova laughs> So I left it in.
N: And of course he always gets the short end of the stick.
JW: No pun intended.
N: No pun intended, right, yeah. He never gets what he wants. It's always smaller than anybody else's, or—
JW: And he's always- He's always whining.
N: Yeah, he's always whining.
JW: I can't say this is the BEST characterization of Andrew ever, <Nova laughs> but again I think that Nova felt very uh, very gratified by it and I- I was feeling generous that day, so ...
N: And I don't know how Dawn feels about him anyway. She might regard him in the same light I do.
JW: <laughs> That's very true. You can get out- You can get out of a lot of things that way, by this being Dawn's ... Dawn's world.
N: So you know, so anyway, that's Andrew whining, which I think most people picked up on.
JW: Probably.
N: Probably just simply because he was near food and he was a blond. You know.
JW: And he whined.
N: And he whined, yeah. So. And then of course that's where she sees her friends for the first time.
JW: And her friends went through an awful lot of changes.
N: They were originally gonna be like a Greek chorus.
JW: Yes.
N: And, uhm ... I don't know ... Why did we drop that?
JW: We dropped it ... I THINK ... I th— Gosh, why did we?
Ultrace (in background): Doesn't really fit in with the Ren Festival, does it?
JW: Well it kinda could.
N: Well neither do their— Neither do they just being there, really. It was more than that. There was more to it than that. Uhm, there was a reason why. There was a reason why we dropped that. And I don't remember what it was now. And so they acted more as like ...
JW: Yeah, I can't- I can't remember the reasoning behind it. I mean, I know why we have them the way that they are right now, but I can't remember the reason we went from—
N: The Greek chorus.
JW: The idea of the Greek chorus to this. I- I can't remember. Something very specific caused it, but I forget.
N: Yeah, I don't remember what it was now.
JW: But I DO remember that we decided to have them be this way uhm, because this would be, again, how Dawn sees them. Cuz her friends, she LIKES her friends an awful lot, but ... they don't really have any idea of what her w— What SHE is really like, what her world is really like. And as a result they come across here very very clueless and very simple.
N: Yeah.
JW: You know, they're interested in the pretty things, the tasty food, the cute Centurion.
N: Yeah.
JW: That— Those are the things that they are interested in. As it gets into much later when they're— Dawn's asking about the wren and they keep thinking she's talking about the Centurion. They keep turning it back to the guy all the time. Because that's- that's sort of the world that she ... that they inhabit which is a world they can't relate to.
N: And that's sort of really the world that- that, uhm, that they represent to her, because it's the typical teenage world.
JW: Yes.
N: You know, so it's- it's sort of like it's- it's the outside reality of ... Away from all the Buffy and all the intense stuff. This is the fluffy.
JW: Mm-hmm.
N: This is the fluffy— This is the teenage girl side.
JW: Right.
N: You know, the slumber party side. So. Uhm, but we felt they had to be there because they- they would be.
JW: Well Dawn would create them, because they are a part of her life and they're an important part of her life. They just aren't the REAL part of her life.
N: They just aren't that side of her life. They're the other. They're the social fluffy kind of side.
Ultrace (background): They're a part of the "Real Her". <JW chuckles>
N: An- And then of course we tried to make 'em as in char- in character as I could do them. I don't think you did much with any of this.
JW: No, well it didn't matter if they weren't 100,000% in—
N: Right, we just didn't want to change their basic character from how people knew them to be.
JW: Uh-huh.
N: That was all. Like we didn't want to suddenly make ... Ginny the bossy leader because she's not.
JW: Right, right.
N: But other than that there was, uhm ... And just things. General things you would complain about really is all they're doing.
JW: It- It's just again, it's—
N: The lines are always interminably long to get ANYthing.
JW: Mm-hm. It's really- It's really just- just fluff. I-It's, "Here we are, and these are the things that are interesting us."
N: Yeah.
JW: It's about, you know, Queen Anne's Lace and Xander.

Dawn had only just cleared 'The Food Court' area when she found herself back on the wooden walkway of the market square once more. A brightly painted banner to her right, decorated with small potion bottles and tiny spell scrolls, cheerfully announced that she had arrived at 'The Magick Shanty.' A hopeful smile crossed her lips as she entered the booth.

[ Download Clip #27 ]

Novareinna: Okay let's see, where does she end up then?
Jet Wolf: She goes to Willow and Tara's.
N: Then she arrives at Willow's and Tara's.
JW: And we had- We had a bit of a problem for a while about the idea that it would be called "The Magick Shanty", because Dawn actually wasn't there for that conversation. Uh, where Willow is trying to come up with a name for it. That's in the teaser.
N: Yeah. And she never did actually come up with a name anyway. And you didn't really care much for "The Magick Shanty", you were the one who gave it that. I actually cal— Had it, uhm ... I think I actually, "Waxing and Waning" was its original name.
JW: Yeah, that's right, that's right.
N: But we used that for a title, so it had to be changed.
JW: Yeah, it wa- it was "Waxing and Waning" for a minute. And then I, I remember I called you up on the phone and I'm like, "I- I know- I know I suggested that name for their place? I really wanna use that for a title, is that okay?" So we had to, had to change this, so ...
N: And I think I came up with a couple others that you didn't care for. Like uhm, what was one of them..? It seems like one of them was like ... I don't remember. It was something that was real cutesy that you didn't like.
JW: <laughs> Yeah, I'm kind of anti-cutesy.
N: I forget what now. It was- It was something, I dunno, like ... Not- Not THIS, but something like, you know, "Wizards and Weaponry" or you know. But it wasn't that. It was something kind of cutesy that matched like that, but you didn't like it. So it ended up "Magick Shanty". That was really just a temporary name until we could come up with something better.
JW: Yeah, I don't remember- I don't remember—
N: Obviously we never came up with anything better, so.
JW: It served its purpose, it was close enough..
N: And we figured that at the end of the day, it didn't really matter what it was called.
JW: Yeah.
N: It stayed.

At the counter, dressed in a long skirt and ruched blouse of purple, Willow was sorting through a box of assorted stones. "Tiger-eye," she murmured, checking the item against her inventory before moving on. "Malachite ..." She glanced up to see Dawn hovering in the doorway and, smiling, gestured for the teenager to enter.

"Looking for an amulet?" Willow queried with a twinkle. "Or maybe a little enchantment?" She waved her hand around the shoppe. "Something to bring you good luck? We can help with that. Our motto is: ‘If you're lookin' for luck, then today's your lucky day!'" The redhead frowned as soon as the words left her mouth. "Which, upon reflection, is a pretty stupid motto, so best to just ignore it. I'll come up with another in a minute."

Tara was unable to suppress an amused laugh. Wearing a flowing blue gown complete with cone-shaped princess hat, she was deftly removing a small black-and-white kitten from a shelf where beribboned circlets had been stored. The cat took a final swipe at one of the headdresses and meowed its protest. Tara smiled indulgently as she placed it gently on the ground. It promptly pounced upon a cardboard container of parchment scrolls and began to paw at the silk strings with which they had been tied. Willow rolled her eyes, but grinned at the kitten's antics.

[ Download Clip #28 ]

Novareinna: And you- you did this bit. With Willow looking for an amulet. I didn't have that in there.
Jet Wolf: Did I? I don't remember.
N: The good luck stuff and all that? "If you're looking for luck, today's your lucky day"? <JW laughs> I didn't have any of that. I don't know that I had her doing an- doing much of anything. Let's see. You had all that stuff with Willow, you put that in. Let's see, uhm ... And then of course we confirm the fact of the— She was wearing the hat.
JW: Yeah, that- and that was your idea, I think.
N: Yeah.
JW: If I remember correctly. Having Tara wearing this absurdly huge Rapunzel-esque hat. Uhm ... Which cuz I think you had said at one point, you had the idea of her- of her putting that on, I think. Cuz we mention that way back in the first act, I think. Where she says she's gonna be wearing that hat. And you said- you said you were gonna have- have Willow be like, "Oo, and you can wear this hat!" and then I immediately turned around and had Tara go, "I AM?" <Nova laughs> Uh, just cuz the idea of Willow's— We had it ... It was gonna be much more drug out to where every time Willow talked about Tara's outfit, it got more and more elaborate.
N: And I don't know whether this stayed in or not, but originally you had Willow saying something like, you know, "But not the witchy hat because that's too like stereotype"—
JW: Yeah, stereotypical, yeah.
N: —but I think you took that out. If I remember correctly.
JW: I don't remember. But uhm ...
N: But anyway, so she has the hat.
JW: Yeah, so the hat was very important. Just because- Just because I found it funny.
N: And then of course I threw uhm ...
JW: Miss Kitty.
N: Miss Kitty Fantastico in there.
JW: Which- Which thrilled me to no end. Because I'm all, "Yay, Miss Kitty! Squee!"
N: And then of course it's being a bad little cat.
JW: Of course.
N: But they're very nice with it anyway, because they love it.
JW: Of course. Uh well this- this is really of course just in ... Dawn's mind this is their perfect little lesbian household. You know. This is the way things should be.
N: Yeah, this is— And in this, Tara and Willow are pretty much ...
JW: They're as they—
N: —as they, you know, in their heyday.
JW: Yeah. Uhm ... Which would be how Dawn would see them. Whether- Whether or not they're together in the real world, doesn't really matter in Dawn's mind, you know, Willow plus Tara equals yay.
N: And this- And this is the way she'd always wanna see them, because this is the way she'd want them to be. So of course you know, in order to complete the picture, the kitty's there too.
JW: Right.
<howling outside>
JW: Have we got a werewolf outside? What the hell is that?
<laughter>
Ultrace (background): I was just wondering that. I don't know what that is.
JW: I'm like, "Okay, we're under attack."
N: And then of course the uhm, and the- the kitten was also a good way to uhm, ruin one of the headdresses so that Willow and uhm Tara couldn't sell it.
JW: Uh-huh.
N: So therefore to give it to Dawn. And there was a purpose for that. Oh! That all came about so she'd have a ribbon to give to Grip. <laughs>
JW: Yeah, boy, talk about circ— Like, wheels within wheels within wheels. Yeah, we had to have Ribbon— Ugh. "Had to have Ribbon." <Nova laughs> Grip's new name is "Ribbon", look for it next season. We had to have GRIP get a ribbon uh, so he would have a favour of Dawn's to wear in the fight. So yeah, that was really convoluted.

"May we help you?" Tara asked Dawn pleasantly. She moved to stand next to Willow, allowing her fingers to slip across the other woman's shoulder as she did so and earning her a fond smile in return.

"I think so," the teenager replied, then frowned. "I hope so."

Willow nodded her approval at the statement. "You should. Hope is good. Without hope, what've you got?"

"Despair," Tara replied.

"And where's the fun in that?" questioned Willow.

Glancing from one to the other, Dawn stated, "I'm looking for the wren."

The redhead looked up from her examination of a bright green polished stone with blackish green streaks. "Sounds dark," she observed with disapproval. "It's not dark, is it? Cuz we don't do dark here." She dropped the stone in the sorted pile with the others. "Big no to dark."

[ Download Clip #29 ]

Novareinna: And then of c— And you had them touching. I don't think I had them touching.
Jet Wolf: Just more to— Just to make it—
N: Just to reinforce.
JW: —more clear at this point that- that they're ... they're in Smoochie City.
N: And then you had the "Without hope what've you got". You had all this bit. "Despair", "And where's the fun in that?"
JW: Yeah, I don't know where that came from. <Nova laughs> I really don't.
N: And then- And then I had- Then I pick it back up— Well, don't pick it back up, but you LET me carry on again ...
JW: <laughing> I ALLOWED you.
N: "I'm looking for the wren." Then you came in again with, "This sounds dark. Big no ..." I don't know where that came from either.
JW: I-I don't know if I really particularly— I mean, obviously I did to a point with this Willow and Tara stuff, but it's ... it's ... It's about as much as you'd look under the surface to find. It's just Willow being very, you know, "I'm staying away from this dark stuff," and- and Tara of course looking at it in more of a positive light. There's not a whole lot extra there to find. It's- It's pretty much what you would assume it was.

"I don't think it's dark," stated Tara with moderate assurance. "I think we'd know."

"Maybe, baby. Y'can't always be sure, though. Dark's a crafty thing. If you're not careful, it'll sneak right up and eat your soul." Willow rolled her eyes, obviously finding the prospect tedious as she added, "And those are so hard to replace."

Dawn shook her head, denying the conjecture. "It's not dark. It's just lost, and I have to find it."

Holding the unwieldy hat in place, the blonde tilted her head to one side and studied Dawn with interest. "Why?"

"It needs me." The reply was likely meant to be confident, but came out uncertain.

"Are you sure?" asked Tara in a gentle tone that suggested she already knew the answer.

Unflinchingly, Dawn stared, almost daring the blonde to refute her words. "Someone has to take care of it. It's just a baby."

Tara's answering smile was indulgent. "That's what mama birds are for," she countered.

"But it doesn't have a mom," insisted the teenager.

Chuckling, Willow glanced up from her inventory list and waved her pencil in the air. "Silly. Everything has a mom."

"Maybe the wren went to see the Queen?" suggested Tara, looking to Willow. Willow nodded a 'perhaps' and then glanced out to the crowded walkways. She wiggled her fingers in greeting at the young man standing there. He was holding a mandolin and sporting a cap of bright orange. He responded with a small smile, although he didn't return the wave.

Dawn, who appeared to have been ready to pose another question, changed her mind as she followed Willow's gaze. "I've seen him before," she said, her eyes darting from the musician to Willow. "Or, at least, someone who looks like him. His hat keeps changing."

The redhead nodded. "It's always him. He's the local bard. He comes and goes, but never really leaves." She grinned affectionately as the bard continued on his way. Her attention returned to Dawn and she frowned.

"You don't have a costume," she observed with some concern. "Maybe that's the problem. You stick out like a sore thumb."

Ruefully, the teenager agreed. "I found a really nice dress in a shop not far from here." She paused. "At least I don't think it was far from here. But the owner wanted me to buy it and I don't have any money." She grimaced at the recollection. "She said it looked better on her anyway."

Willow winced in sympathy. "Sounds about right."

Tara offered Dawn one of the circlets. It was adorned with emerald ribbons and tiny sprigs of lavender. "Here, take this so you won't feel so out of place," she urged. "We can't sell it now anyway since little miss kitty there destroyed some of the flowers." Willow nodded at Dawn encouragingly.

"Thanks," acknowledged Dawn with a smile. She glanced around, but was unable to find a mirror.

"I'll put it on for you." Willow beamed as she stepped from behind the counter and adjusted the headdress, fiddling with the position until she got it to her liking. She glanced at Tara and shot her a devilish smile. "Thirsty work," she said meaningfully.

Tara smirked at the complete lack of subtlety. "I'm not quite sure, but I'm guessing you want something?" With a toothy grin, Willow nodded rapidly, causing Tara to laugh aloud. "I'll be right back." she promised.

The blonde almost made it to the exit when Willow loudly cleared her throat causing Tara to turn around. "I think you're forgettin' somethin' there, missy," Willow chastised, very pointedly puckering her lips and jutting her chin forward.

Shooting Dawn a wry grin, Tara complied – dutifully but happily.

Willow gave a contented sigh. "I am fortified with goodbye smoochies," she proclaimed.

"Oh, good. Can't come back to find a wilted Willow," the blonde smirked from over her shoulder.

Dawn followed Tara as she left. The instant the blonde had safely passed out of Willow's sight, she ripped the hat from her head and shook out her hair. Breathing a huge sigh of relief, she dangled it by the strap.

"Don't you like wearing it?" asked Dawn.

The reply was a definite one. "No. I only do it to keep Willow happy." She smiled at Dawn and shrugged, as though to indicate a lack of any other viable option in the face of such things.

The teenager watched as the pale blue streamer attached to its apex trailed in the dust. "It's getting all dirty," she noted.

Tara glanced down. "Good excuse not to wear it," she replied before sighing deeply. "Though Willow will probably just want me to cut off the dirty part and put it back on." With a fond smile, she added, "Wouldn't do it for anyone else but her."

Together, they walked toward 'The Food Court'. The crowd had thinned since Dawn was there last. There was no sign of her four friends, although the blond man from earlier was now standing before the 'Sausage-On-A-Stick' stall, bemoaning the fact that his bratwurst had landed in an ant pile after the stick had unexpectedly broken before he'd even taken a single bite. Nobody seemed inclined to be sympathetic to his plight and the pair treated him to only a cursory glance.

With the reduced crowds, Dawn was able, for the first time, to get a decent look at the entire set-up. Almost immediately she noticed a darkened region beyond the perimeter of the banqueting area. Nothing could be seen beyond – no trees, no sky. Only a smoky black that appeared simultaneously to be both solid and tangible, while remaining indistinct and immaterial.

Only barely repressing a shudder, Dawn leaned toward Tara, who was studiously inspecting various menus in her pursuit of the perfect beverage. "What's out there?" the teenager whispered, as though raising her voice might somehow attract unwanted attention.

Tara followed Dawn's gaze. "I have no idea," she admitted casually. The fact didn't seem to worry her.

"Don't you ever leave?" queried Dawn, confused by Tara's lack of both reaction and information.

"Oh no," responded the blonde. "Why should I? Everything I need is right here." She smiled affectionately and then thought for a moment. "I believe the Queen sometimes leaves though."

The teenager's eyes grew wide. "You've seen the Queen?"

Tara nodded affirmatively. "Many times."

"Think I could get to see her?"

Tara's expression was tentative but Dawn pressed the point.

"I'd really like to meet her. Do you think I could meet her?"

"That's not for me to say," Tara told the teenager kindly, "but you maybe could find the answer there." She pointed over Dawn's shoulder. Glancing behind, the teenager spied the fortune-teller tent. She turned back to Tara, but the blonde had vanished.

Hesitantly, Dawn made her way to the small pavilion. A wooden sign driven into the ground was now displayed next to the flap. It was decorated with tiny horseshoes and four-leaf clovers and bore the title: 'Madame Kalderash'.

[ Download Clip #30 ]

Jet Wolf: And here we have for the first time, Dawn accepting ... Somewhat accepting of a costume.
Novareinna: Yeah.
JW: She takes a circlet from- from Tara and Willow.
N: And here I was— I thought you should have like uhm ... Well what I wanted to put in, but you didn't like—
JW: <laughing> So this- this commentary's all about the things I denied you, is that how this is working?
N: No, no. But you got, "She grimaced at the recollection, 'She said it looked better on her anyway.'" And I was gonna have Willow say, "Hm, that strikes a chord."
JW: Oh, "Cordy", yeah.
N: But you said <grumbles>. <JW laughs> I'm like, "Okay, all right." Anyway, uhm, so Tara gives uhm— I don't really know ... Like I said, we had her accept it because she had to have a ribbon to give to Grip later, but whether there's more to it than that, I don't really know. I noticed that we have Tara giving it to her and not Willow.
JW: Uh-huh. But Willow puts it on her.
N: But Willow puts it on her, yeah. I dunno. I think it was another one of those things where I got a feeling it DOES mean something—
JW: Yeah.
N: —but again, some of this analysis stuff, if we tried to got into it we- we lost it along the way.
JW: Yeah, we would've. I don't have ... Nothing immediately to my mind. We didn't have anything— I guess the best we can say is we didn't have anything specifically in mind when we did it.
N: But it just seemed as though that's how it should be.
JW: But it feels right. It feels very right.
N: For some reason. And she can't find a mirror to see herself which is why Willow does it. You know. Anyway. Dunno. Some of this stuff, unfortunately, if people expected huge revelations ...
JW: Yeah, we have some, but we don't have everything. I mean, I can't tell ya, "Every single line means this."
N: And there's no point in trying to say, "Oo, well this meant ..."
JW: Yeah.
N: When it really didn't. We don't know. But it did seem ... But I will say it did seem as though it meant something, it felt right.
JW: Yes. It felt right.
N: It felt right, and it felt as though it did mean more than- than on the surface. It's just that we don't really know what it was. Maybe they do. Maybe we should just, you know ... Maybe we should hop over to the Renaissance Festival and say to Willow, "Why did you put that on there?"
JW: Yeah, exactly.
N: But anyway. Uhm. Let's see ... And then of course really the only reason why uhm ... The only reason Tara is leaving to go get something for, uh, Willow is really because we wanted to get Dawn and Tara alone.
JW: Yeah, we wanted to have that—
N: There's really nothing else to that. Uhm, and then of course she's got to go back in and give her smoochies.
JW: Yes. Which was again an indication that in this world, in Dawn's view, this is how they are. Uhm, and ... the "can't come back to find a wilted Willow" line ... came to me without a thought, but upon reflection I think is very appropriate. You know, because Tara did, in her own way, come back and found a wilted Willow. Just one of those things where I hadn't intended for it to be that way, but works ... works very well.
N: Again, it's just— Some of this just worked like that, it just happened that way. Some of the things we went back later and were like, "Oo, wow, cool."
<laughter>
JW: "We are so clever, are we!"
N: And then of course the instant she's out of Willow's sight she wants the hat off because she never wanted it on to begin with.
JW: Yeah, the hat's—
N: She's only wearing it because Willow wants it.
JW: But again that's very ... telling.
N: Yeah.
JW: In and of itself. An-And it trailing in the dust.
N: Yeah.
JW: And cutting the- Cutting that part off and putting it back on again. I mean, when we wrote it, I can attribute any one of a number of things that it means NOW, but at the time it was written, it didn't MEAN anything it was just, it felt right.
N: Again, it was another one of things that just came. I'm like, "Hm, yeah, this is what would happen." It would get dirty, but, you know, Tara- Tara would say, "Well Willow'll just make me put it back on anyway and just cut off the dirty part." You know. I mean, I don't know, it was just right. Like I say, this was a very surreal thing. It really was.
JW: We were on lots of drugs when we wrote this one!
N: And then of course Tara saying, "I wouldn't do it for anyone else but her."
JW: Right, you know. But you— So we can ... You can prescribe, in your own way, anything that works for you as to what that means. What is the hat, what is the streamer, you know. Why will she only wear it here for Willow. You can make it be anything you want. Uhm, and- and it's one of those kind of things where I think, as long as you had a reasoning for it, it would all work.
N: There was something ... There was something definitely behind it. Like I say, it was very strange. This was very strange really, when it was being done, because a lot of it was coming out of left field, but it was obviously so right. Let's see. And of course the girls have gone when she gets back. Just simply for the reason that we didn't want any other distractions, it was just ...
JW: Right. Tara and Dawn.
N: There's no significance to 'em being gone. They, I dunno. They all went to the loo, I dunno.
<laughing>
N: Let's see. Although, okay, Andrew is still there. <laughs> Because I wanted to humiliate him even more.
JW: <laughs> "I want him to drop it into the sand!"
N: Went into an ant pile. Before he even took a bite. <cackles evilly>
JW: Good lord.
N: "Nobody seemed inclined to be sympathetic", least of all me. <JW laughs> Let's see ... And then of course that was, uh, where we ... This- This is where now we're starting to indicate it's in a kind of bubble.
JW: Right and we're- we're starting to get a feeling of foreboding now. Everything up to this point has been very confusing but, uhm ...
N: But doesn't seem to harbour any kind of threat.
JW: Right. There's no threat at all. But now for the first time, Dawn's seeing what's beyond the Renaissance Festival and she's, like, doesn't like it. It's very- very— But only to Dawn. No one else- No one else pays any attention to it. Uhm, it doesn't bother them in the least. Uh ... It being that they aren't really real, is the reason. Because they're only constructs in Dawn's brain, an-and they ... they aren't aware that there's anything outside of this world that is being constructed because that's all that they inhabit. That's their only purpose for being there. Uhm, is for Dawn. But of course Dawn is- is really in this- in this place. So that's the scary unknown out that way. And it's frightening.
N: Yeah, and we were also trying – whether we succeeded or not, I don't know – but trying to get the ... put across the idea that if you kept on walking you- you'd go in a circle. It was just like a constant circle. There was- there was nothing beyond. It was ... It was—
JW: I wouldn't even say that it was a constant circle. That's not how it was in my mind. Out there was just ... question.
N: No, I mean where she was.
JW: Oh. Oh yeah.
N: Where she was in, she could walk around and ...
JW: Things moved.
N: Yeah, things moved, but it eventually she'd come back to the same place again, because it wasn't ... It wasn't like, you know, you could go off on a tangent. She was enclosed within this capsule and there was ... That's where she was.
JW: Mm-hm.
N: Though things did move around within it. You know. They didn't necessarily appear in the same place. But that's the- that's the ...
JW: The nature.
N: The nature of that kind of thing, you know. They don't. You know.
JW: Uh, and Tara of course has seen the Queen, as has everybody who is not Dawn. And uh, Madame Kalderash, for those who might've missed that little detail, of course, that's Jenny Calendar's real name. Jenna Kalderash. A-As revealed in the- in ... season 2. I didn't make it up.
N: And I had "Shuvani" after it, but she took it out.
JW: Well it looked like it was part of her name.
N: Oh. <JW laughs> Well it's gypsy for "witch".
JW: Thank you.

Act Three

Lifting the flap of the tent, Dawn peered inside. The kettle had now been removed from the hob and two steaming mugs sat invitingly on the table. The tarot cards had been fanned out and there was a warm and expectant atmosphere. The teenager was about to enter when a head thrust itself through the opening and turned toward her.

"What are we looking for?" asked Buffy.

"The fortune-teller," replied Dawn without thinking.

There was a sharp, disdainful exhalation. "Fortune-teller?" Buffy repeated, withdrawing her head. "I don't believe in that stuff." She lifted an eyebrow at Dawn. "You shouldn't either. Fortune is for other people."

Dawn also emerged from the tent. "But fortune's also luck and stuff," she pointed out.

"Maybe that's for other people too."

"I don't believe that."

Buffy nodded, taking the teenager's denial in stride. "You get that purgative."

"Prerogative," Dawn corrected.

Nodding again, Buffy simply accepted the rectification, along with the scrutiny under which she now found herself. Dawn surveyed Buffy from tip to toe, checking out the gleaming armor of golden chainmail and the equally gleaming cap of blonde hair, which had been braided and coiled tightly around the skull. The teenager stifled a giggle.

"And what are you supposed to be?"

With a great deal of pride, Buffy puffed out her chest. "I am Buffy the Bold, Buffy the Brave. Protector of the Realm and Queen's Champion." Her pontification complete, she regarded Dawn coolly. "And you are ...?"

The teenager ignored the question, asking instead, "The Queen? You know the Queen?"

"Intimately," affirmed Buffy.

"Could you take me to see her?" asked Dawn hopefully.

Shaking her head, Buffy rejected the proposition. "Sorry, can't arrange that."

With a sigh, Dawn glanced over and noticed a figure hovering a few yards away. Enveloped in black steel plate, only his brooding eyes were visible through the visor of his helmet and they were focused intently on the blonde. Dawn frowned and motioned toward the loiterer.

"Who's that?" she queried uneasily.

Buffy turned. "Oh, that's the Dark Knight," she informed Dawn. "He likes to watch out for me, help protect me from stuff." She leaned closer and confided, "I don't need it, but I don't have the heart to tell him. Besides," she added with an excited grin, "isn't he a hottie?" Buffy waggled her eyebrows and straightened, once more regaining a semi-dignified air.

"Why is he all covered up?" asked a confused Dawn.

"He burns easy," replied the blonde with a shrug. She slipped an arm into the crook of Dawn's elbow. "Why don't you come and watch me fight over on the Dueling Mound? It's really fun. There're lots of challengers, but I always win." Once again, she puffed up with pride. "Nothing defeats Buffy the Bold. Not forever."

Dawn shook her head. "There's something I need to find right now, but maybe I can come by later."

"That'll work," Buffy told her cheerfully. "Just listen for the herald. The bugle blows every hour or so to announce the beginning of a new tournament. I'll see you there. We can wait for you if you like."

She sprinted toward the nearby trees, the Dark Knight following in her footsteps. Dawn blinked as they both disappeared and the bard made yet another appearance, strumming tunefully. This time, he sported a cap of russet brown and Dawn lifted her hand in greeting, but the musician had already blended into the undergrowth before she had a chance to wave.

[ Download Clip #31 ]

Novareinna: Okay, uhm ... Then of course now there's more inside the tent now because it's forming itself, ready for— in readiness.
Jet Wolf: Right.
N: So there's more now. Two cups, which indicates that there's a visitor expected.
JW: Right.
N: Uhm ... The "warm and expectant" all means the same thing. And she was gonna go in, when ...
<laughter>
JW: Buffy shows up and ruins everything! Uh, we pretty much had the idea for that from the very beginning, when we were doing the breakdown.
N: Yeah, and- and Buffy uhm ... Most times, unless Dawn goes looking for her, Buffy just appears. She's just there.
JW: Right, Buffy's always there.
N: Buffy's always there.
JW: And she's the only one who initiates, in her own way, a- a pleasant exchange with Dawn. You had Anya who did, but Anya doesn't really count, it's—
N: Yeah, but of the- of the closest circle to her uhm, she's really the only one that seeks— She's not necessarily SEEKING out Dawn, but she's the only one that approaches Dawn. Other than that, Dawn approaches everybody else.
JW: Right.
N: She's the only one because ... because of the tie. She's gonna be there looking out for her.
JW: Right and whether Dawn wants her there or not, Buffy is always there. It's a given.
N: Yeah. Which again comes in later. Uhm, then of course, this was your idea. That Buffy wouldn't believe in fortune tellers or stuff like that.
JW: Or- Or luck even. Just, Buffy's rejecting the entire notion. Which is just- just a Buffy thing to do. Uhm ... The "purgative" and "prerogative" thing, of course, from "Tabula Rasa". I put that in, I just thought it was funny. Uhm, i-it means nothing more than me being amused at my own Buffy knowledge and taking pleasures in myself.
N: And then of course—
JW: Which sounds a lot dirtier that I meant it to, by the way. <Nova laughs>
N: And then Dawn of course looks at Buffy and finds her whole outfit extremely amusing.
JW: Yeah. But what I find very funny about that right there is that Dawn's laughing and she's almost kind of mocking Buffy, but she put her in it!
N: <laughing> Yeah.
JW: That's just really funny. It's like, you know, Dawn is simultaneously being like, "Ha ha, look at you, the big protector" and "You're my big protector!" Which I think sums up their relationship, really. You know. Dawn's gonna view Buffy this way, but she's gonna mock her for it at the same time.
N: And then of course that's where the golden chainmail came in and that's the point where we had to ...
JW: It was- It was later where we have—
N: Later, yeah.
JW: The pro- The problem was we had Riley—
N: Well we'll come to that maybe when we get there.
JW: Yeah, alright. Don't whack on my microphone!
N: Sorry. Uh, and then "What are you supposed to be?" And then Buff- And then Buffy of course in her ... An exaggerated Buffy.
JW: Well right, of course, because she's every quality ...
N: Yeah. "I'm the bold, I'm the brave", you know. "Queen's champion" and yadda yadda. And then the Queen and then Buffy says, "Yeah, of course."
JW: And of course Buffy can- Buffy in this world can see the Queen because Buffy is false also.
N: Yeah.
JW: Uhm, Buffy is not really Buffy.
N: Yeah. She's a caricature almost of herself. So of course she can see the Queen, which might lead some people to wonder why the statement at the end, because why wouldn't Joyce be as close to Buffy as she is to Dawn, ergo could not be seen. But the real Buffy would not be able to see her.
JW: Exactly. The- The— And this again, making quite clear, this is NOT the real Buffy, this is Dawn's creation—
N: Conception.
JW: —of Buffy. And uh, Angel lurking around, if you didn't get that the dark knight was Angel, that's who he is.
N: And then of course your funny little thing about, you know, "He burns easy" or something. "Why's he all covered up?" "He burns easy." You know, uhm ...
JW: And him being a hottie?
N: <laughs> Yeah. And uhm, and then of course Buffy saying, "Why don't you come watch me fight?" Well she would.
JW: Yeah.
N: THAT Buffy would. You know.
JW: That's what she does.
N: Yeah. "Hey, come watch me!" You know. "Nothing defeats Buffy."
JW: This- This Buffy at this ... I mean, this Buffy is a- is a caricature but, she's simultaneously a caricature but she's very likable at the same time, which again is ...
N: Oh yeah, she's very likable. You don't dislike her for it.
JW: No, she- she's got a bit of a pompous attitude to her but she's still quite likable. And it's because Dawn, for however irritating she ever finds Buffy, of course loves Buffy very much. So. It's gonna come out this way.
N: And then again, does Dawn ... Back it back up a little bit. Again, does Dawn forget she's looking for the wren?
JW: No. I don't think— She says she's looking for something, but she doesn't get all upset about it.
N: Yeah, okay.
JW She just says, "There's something I have to find" and she wanders off again.

Becoming increasingly despondent, Dawn continued her search for the wren. Birds chittered merrily from the overhanging boughs but none of them proved to be the fledgling she was seeking. Without realizing where she had been wandering, the teenager suddenly found herself in a completely different area of the park. It was serene here and the gentle breeze was considerably warmer. The area was devoid of trees, except for one lone sapling located in the center of the clearing. Willow sat nearby, cross-legged with palms upward on her knees. A fast-melting frozen mocha had been laid atop linen napkin at her side.

"I thought you wouldn't need this place any more," commented the teenager, picking a spot on the grass next to the redhead and joining her on the ground.

Willow slowly opened her eyes and regarded Dawn with a self-effacing smile. "Habits are hard to break," she mused.

"I can't seem to find the wren," Dawn told her ruefully. "Couldn't you cast a spell or something so I know where it is?"

"Can't help you with that," the redhead replied with a sorrowful shake of her head. "Takes more power than I can use."

Dawn blew out a frustrated puff of air and cast her gaze around the clearing. Just beyond, she spied the ever-present darkness, and noted with a shudder that it appeared even gloomier than before. "What's out there?" she asked nervously.

Willow didn't even follow her gaze. "Can't say," she replied, reclaiming her mocha. She took a huge sip and licked her lips. "Want some?" she offered the teenager with a bright grin. "Very yummy."

But Dawn wasn't to be so easily deviated. "Can't say or won't say?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes.

Willow shrugged as she rose to her feet. "You get the same result either way."

Craning her head back, Dawn looked up at her. "Have you seen the Queen?"

The redhead nodded emphatically.

"Today?" asked Dawn hopefully.

Willow shook her head. "Oh no, not today."

"Do you know where I can find her?" Dawn persisted.

"Where's the wren? Where's the Queen?" she echoed with a mournful sigh. "I don't have those answers. You'll have to look somewhere else."

"But I thought you knew pretty much everything," challenged the teenager.

Willow agreed. "That's a popular misconception." She held out her hand to help Dawn up. "Have you considered maybe asking me something else? Like square roots, maybe? I'm good at square roots, and those answers never hurt anyone."

"Wait." Concern bubbled to the surface and Dawn affixed Willow with a worried frown. "Something's going to hurt me?"

The redhead's expression melted and she regarded Dawn with great sympathy. "The truth always does." Then her face lit up with the brilliant glow of a new idea. "Oo! I know what you need! How about I take you to get some cotton candy!" She obviously found the thought absolutely delightful, and did her utmost to infuse the teenager with her enthusiasm. "There's this place I know – best stuff around. You can eat all you want, and it'll never fill you up. Whadda ya say?" Willow nudged Dawn encouragingly with her elbow. "My treat?"

"I need more than that," Dawn attempted to explain, but Willow waved her hand dismissively at the statement.

"You shouldn't pass this up," she advised with an air of authority. "It's never the same twice."

Dawn opened her mouth to respond, but the sound of a bugle being blown echoed in the distance and she cast a hurried glance over her shoulder. "I don't have time," she apologized, beginning to jog away, toward the sound.

"You'll change your mind!" Willow called after her, but the teenager had already disappeared from sight.

[ Download Clip #32 ]

Novareinna: Then she ends up in a different area, and I've forgotten what happens here.
Jet Wolf: She's at the sapling.
N: Ah, okay, yeah. She's at the sapling. And that's where she finds Willow.
JW: Willow, right. And we needed to make sure— This- This wasn't in our original outline but then we realized that of all the people that Dawn met up with, of all the main characters, there was no Dawn and Willow independent scene.
N: Yeah.
JW: And we realized that that was an unintentional leaving-out. So we had to make sure we put one in.
N: Right. And this Willow of course is a ... strange kind of Willow.
JW: Yeah, this is a very odd Willow. And if I remember correctly, I wrote this scene.
N: Yeah, you did write this one.
JW: And this is a very odd Willow, even I'm not sure— This- This one was- was me very stream of consciousness as well.
N: You wrote it, and then I ... I think I looked at it and said, "She's coming across to off-hand with her."
JW: Yeah.
N: Uh, you had something in there that really indicated she could really care less. And I'm like, "I don't think she'd be like that with her." And so you went back and you- you rewrote—
JW: I made her more personable. But- But just all this stuff— And I think I started doing it when she's ... I just added a couple little tiny things, but for the most part, this remains unchanged from how I wrote it, just that looking at it, this is a very weird ... conversation that they're having. Uhm, and it's one of those thing where even I'm not entirely sure what was going on here. <chuckles> Which seems to be the comment du jour for this commentary. "We don't know what we're doing!" Uhm, except for this is- this is very much a case of where ... What's- What's basically happening here is that Dawn is looking for information about herself, and Willow is trying to convince her not to go find it. Is really, when you get down to it, what's happening here.
N: And also the fact that- that Willow's enforcing the point that she will not use darkness to help her.
JW: Yes. That she- she's rejecting ...
N: "It's too dark, I can't do that."
JW: She's very- very definitively, throughout this Willow is- is definitively rejecting the dark magic, and that's less Willow herself of course, because she's not real, and Dawn not wanting Willow to go there again. So the- the Willow in Dawn's mind wants nothing more to do with anything dark and evil and will make her scary and, you know, kill people.
N: And maybe threaten to kill her.
JW: Yeah, exactly. Uhm, but this- this is mostly ... I think a little bit of this, for whatever purpose when I wrote it, a little bit of like enhanced-knowledge Willow is coming through here. This is more than just Dawn— As- As are they all, I suppose. But this is definitely more than Dawn's perception of Willow talking here.
N: Yeah.
JW: There's a touch of the real Willow in this. But it's not really her, so don't anyone thing that somehow or another Willow bridged this gap, because she didn't. She's not more or— She's not more than anybody else that's created in this world ...
N: But somehow or other, a little of the real Willow leaked through on this.
JW: Yeah, uhm ... And it-it's— And like I was saying, it was very much a case of where Willow is trying to convince Dawn not to go looking for the answers. That when she finds it, she's not going to be happy with what she finds. To- To try to hold on to being a child—
N: A child, maybe.
JW: —ignorant, more than anything else. Because of all of them, Willow is the most child-like, and Willow has lost that along the way. She can be that way every now and again, but it's never really Willow any more, because she lost all of that. And she's wanting Dawn to try and hold onto it for as long as you can. Cuz she- Cuz no one knows quite what it's like to lose that than Willow does.
N: Yeah. And then of course the offer of cotton candy, which was originally something else. Was it ice cream?
JW: Ice cream, maybe?
N: I think it was ice cream. But cotton candy seemed better, because it was more indi— indicative of fluff.
JW: Yeah. I mean it's- it's less than nothing.
N: Mm-hm, yeah.
JW: You know, which is why we have here, "You can eat all you want and it never fills you up." It's ...
N: She's offering her nothing, is what she's doing.
JW: Yeah, basically. It's the kind of knowledge that she's saying that Dawn should look for. So yeah, this was- this was a weird scene. Very odd scene.

As she hurried toward the Tournament Grounds, Dawn suspiciously eyed the tall figure of a young man leaning casually against the trunk of a sturdy apple tree. Arms folded across his chest, he wore the uniform of a high-ranking Roman Centurion. Bronze studs decorated his leather breastplate and his helmet sported a stiff brush of bright blue. He pushed away from the tree as she approached and fell to one knee in her path.

"Ah, beautiful damsel." Dawn blushed as he gazed up at her adoringly. "Please honor this, your humble servant, by bestowing upon him a favor so that he might fare well in the battle ahead."

Dawn stared in confusion while the gallant Centurion shifted uncomfortably as a sharp stone jabbed into the flesh of his kneecap.

"A favor," he insisted. Dawn continued to be perplexed. The Centurion struggled to his feet. "A scrap of fabric," he suggested, "or a ribbon?" He grimaced as he rubbed his knee.

Dawn's face lit up and she pulled the circlet off her hair. "What about one of these?"

He nodded enthusiastically and Dawn tugged at one of the green silks until it slid free. With a happy grin, the young soldier wrapped it around his arm and motioned for Dawn to secure it. She tied it neatly into a bow and then stood back to admire her handiwork. His grin broadened. "Cool," he told her, all pretense of formality discarded. "Gonna come watch me fight?" She nodded enthusiastically and, with a pleased grin, he hurried away. The summoning bugle sounded a second call as Dawn followed.

[ Download Clip #33 ]

Novareinna: And then of course, in comes Grip.
Jet Wolf: Yeah. And we ...
N: The apple tree is indicative of youth.
JW: Is that what it is?
N: Yeah. It's youth. So that's why he, you know. I-It's youth, it's the young love thing.
JW: I don't know what any of the trees mean.
N: So that's why he's beneath an apple tree. I forget what I had him underneath originally, but it doesn't matter. I changed it to an apple tree. Because it's youth, so it was really indicative of the young love, her first love, that kind of thing, you know. And then of course Roman Centurion obviously because "Agrippa".
JW: Yeah, that was- that was because of his name. I think- I think I did very little with this scene. I think I was quite pleased with how it came out.
N: And then of course the bright blue because of his hair.
JW: Right. But you had him going on and on about—
N: Yeah, I had it going on a bit too much.
JW: No no no no! I mean, I don't think I changed hardly any of this, is what I'm saying. But you had him going on in this like, you know, very formal tone—
N: Oh, antiquated, yeah and he changed it, yeah.
JW: And then it cracked me up when he broke it. He's like, "So, cool! Gonna come watch me fight?" I thought that was pretty neat. It made me laugh.
N: And uh, and then of course she gives him a— The only thing she has is uhm ...
JW: Green ribbon.
N: Is a ribbon. The green ribbon, yeah. The green ribbon from uh, from the circlet.
JW: Of course green again.
N: Yeah.

She soon reached the Tilting Yard where two jousters balancing heavy lances faced each other from either end of the course. One she recognized immediately – it was the Dark Knight mounted, not surprisingly, upon an ebony horse. The other, she hadn't seen before, but he was apparently the antithesis of his opponent, astride a white steed and decked out in shiny silver chainmail. Both had a strip of gold braid fluttering from their helmets. Searching out higher ground to watch the upcoming confrontation, Dawn found a nice spot beneath a nearby alder. William the Seeker nestled comfortably in one of the low-lying branches, resting his back against the trunk.

"Couldn't hit the broad side of a barn," he heckled, following the jibe with, "Betcha my lance is twice as long as either'a yours." He grinned down at Dawn and pulled a tin of tobacco and packet of rolling papers from a pocket inside his cloak. He tipped a goodly amount of the shredded dried plant onto one of the thin papers, spread it evenly and then ran his tongue along one side before rolling it between his thumb and forefinger. He tucked it behind his right ear and then repeated the process.

"Can I bum one of those?" asked a passing duelist wearing a very nice armored suit of black leather. A small knife was fastened at her belt.

William considered the request. "It'll cost ya."

The female fighter appeared put out at the response. "Any idea what 'bum' means?" she queried sarcastically.

William nodded. "Still gonna cost ya," he smirked.

"Screw you," responded the fighter with a scowl as she stomped away.

"You wish," taunted William. The only response he received was a rude gesture.

Dawn watched the exchange with some interest and chuckled. She cocked her head. "Don't suppose you've ever met the Queen, huh?" she asked, not really holding out much hope.

"Sure have," answered William. "Lovely lady. Always ready with a nice hot cuppa and a chocolate biscuit or two – and some decent conversation to boot. Don't minding listenin' to your troubles neither."

"Does she ever come to the Tournament?" the teenager queried expectantly.

William thought for a moment. "Sometimes," he admitted. "Violence ain't really her thing though, y'know?"

"Suppose she'll be here today?" asked Dawn.

"I wouldn't think so," he pondered. "Why? You wanna see her?"

Dawn nodded emphatically.

"Could be arranged. Maybe. If you got the coin." As though he didn't much care one way or the other, William cast the teenager a sideways glance.

Ruefully, Dawn shook her head.

He gave a resigned sigh. "Oh, well. Probably couldn't have set it up anyway."

Hiding her disappointment, the teenager regarded the two jousters. "Who do you want to win?" she asked.

William shrugged. "Suits me if they finish each other off, to be honest, pet. Last thing I need ‘round here's extra competition."

Dawn gave the statement some thought as she eyed the two jousters speculatively. "The dark guy looks more determined."

"He's not half the bloke he used to be," scoffed William, "and the other one, well he's nothing but a poor man's Sir Galahad." He jumped down from the tree branch. "I don't think I'll bother to watch. It's a foregone conclusion, ain't neither of 'em gonna be there at the finish line." He sauntered away, pulling the hood over his head.

"Wait," called Dawn. "Do you know where I can find Buffy the Bold? I promised to watch her fight."

William stopped mid-stride. He pulled a flint from his inside pocket and struck it against the bark of a nearby tree, using the spark to light his cigarette. Taking a deep pull, he turned and faced Dawn with a sneer. His words were interspersed with wisps of gray smoke.

"Buffy the Bloody Irritating?" He jerked his chin past the Tilting Yard. "She'll be down there at the Dueling Mound." Shaking his head scornfully, he swaggered in the opposite direction, boot heels leaving deep grooves in the soft earth. "Always gotta have an audience," he griped as he walked away.

[ Download Clip #34 ]

Jet Wolf: This is Riley and Angel, if that wasn't clear, who of course are both being watched and heckled by Spike.
Novareinna: And then of course they're both wearing the gold braid favour, Buffy's favour, which we realized uhm then would conflict, possibly, with Willow if Willow was in yellow.
JW: I think the problem actually was when we got to Kennedy.
N: Yeah, that's what I meant. But if she was wearing Willow's favour, which was yellow—
JW: Right.
N: —and we wanted to make it perfectly clear that it just wa— that we weren't just using another word for gold.
JW: Right. Well like I said, I think the problem— By this point, it wasn't a problem. We had— It hadn't occurred to us.
N: No, but it became later. A problem. Because she was wearing yellow, and we're like, "Well people could just think we're substituting yellow for gold."
JW: Right, right but I—
N: Of course gold is Buffy because Buffy's in gold armour.
JW: She's a gold- the gold knight, yeah.
N: So, you know, so that's why they're both wearing gold, because you know, they're both her knights.
JW: Right.
N: And then of course uhm, Riley on a white horse ...
JW: Angel on a dark.
N: That's obvious stuff. And then of course Spike not liking either one of them. You know. And I had Spike much more vicious.
JW: You ... It wasn't at this point. You had him much more vicious toward Buffy.
N: Yeah.
JW: When he was walking away.
N: And then I just saw Spike rolling his own cigarettes. He should really have been smoking a pipe, I suppose if we were gonna be ... One of those clay pipes if we were gonna be in time—
JW: Did you say "a gay pipe"?
N: CLAY.
JW: Oh.
N: <laughing> Clay! Clay!
JW: Spike smoking a gay pipe, ooo.
N: No, clay pipe. If we were really gonna be in time with the ...
JW: Oh. Well.
N: But then of course you couldn't have Faith asking to bum one. Which is who that is.
JW: Yeah. If that's not clear, that's Faith. The knife of course being her ... her favourite knife.
N: And why Dawn doesn't recognize some of these people, I really don't now. We can assume that she did, she just doesn't say their names.
JW: Yeah. Yeah. Faith. She should recognize Faith, she should recognize Kennedy. Uhm, I- I don't think there was anything much more to it than the fact that we didn't want to be so blatantly obvious. "This is so-and-so, and this is so-and-so." Uhm, just leave some stuff to where it'd be fun for ...
N: People to try and figure it out.
JW: People to try and figure it out.
N: But if anybody thought that was Faith, that WAS Faith. Going by there, in the black leather. And that's where I had him going on a bit too much about Buffy.
JW: Yeah, I think it's when he jumped down. You had it after "Buffy the Bloody Irritating."
N: Oo, and the tree he was on, that meant something too, what kind of tree he was on? Was it a Hawthorne?
JW: Did you say?
N: I thought I did. I did originally. It may not have made it to the final cut.
JW: Oh, an Alder.
N: Alder. Yeah, that's- that's a uhm ... That's of course a tree of darkness. And then, "Buffy the Bloody Irritating". I think that was actually your line.
JW: Uh, but you had him really—
N: I had him going on much too much. I had him really digging in. And you took a lot of that out. He sounded a bit to uh ...
JW: Violent, almost. Violently malicious.

Dawn stared for a moment and then headed off in the direction William had indicated. As she passed a small field, she noticed the Centurion standing toe-to-toe with a hulking Barbarian-type swinging a wickedly spiked club. Although he was giving away a good few dozen pounds, the Centurion had the advantage of speed and agility on his side – not to mention a superior level of intelligence. Dawn watched proudly for a second as the green ribbon, still tied in a neat bow, fluttered gaily each time the Centurion bobbed and weaved, wielding his broadsword with elegant grace. A besotted bevy of young girls had gathered by the fenced area and exhaled deeply with admiration each time the Centurion executed the slightest move.

Dawn scowled at the group until she heard one of them ask the other, "Whose favor do you suppose he's wearing." Another one sighed heavily. "Dunno. I just wish it was mine." A smirk of immense satisfaction plastered all over her face, Dawn moved on.

[ Download Clip #35 ]

Novareinna: And then of course she comes across Grip and his little fan club. Which irritates her at first, but then she noticed that he's— hears the girls talking about the green ribbon and she's, "Mm."
Jet Wolf: Yeah, and the reason that being, of course, in Dawn's world, you know, not only does she think Grip's really cute and he's really awesome and he's the most beautiful boy in the entire world, but ah, that ideally others would think the same thing, and they would be jealous of her because she has his favour and they don't. Uhm, and that- that's just a little shallow thing there that she's doing.
N: And she doesn't wait to see him win. It's ... She really gathers that he will and at this point she's on her way toward the mound.
JW: And again, it's not why she's there.
N: Yeah.
JW: He- He- He is—
N: It's a passing thing. He passes through.
JW: Grip, as with Dawn's friends at this stage of the game, are- is very ... is very much the same sort of situation that they play. They're not part of what's REALLY going on and what's REALLY important.
N: Just that in her world, he would be there.
JW: He WOULD be there. Uhm, but he- he's not part of it.
N: He doesn't have a major part to play.
JW: Cuz what she's there for is something larger than just, you know, going out with a cute boy.
N: Yeah.

The Dueling Mound was a mass of activity, although nobody was actually on the mound itself apart from Buffy who was overseeing the surrounding low-lying area like a general. Pairs of paladins, weapons gripped tightly in fists, attacked each other with ferocity. Among the combatants was the female who had asked William for a cigarette. She was locked in a particularly intense showdown with a woman wearing a suit of forged bronze who sported a ragged strip of purple fabric tucked into her gauntlet. The pair surveyed each other cautiously as they warily circled.

"You know that's not yours," accused the one in black leather, jabbing disdainfully at the favor with the tip of her sword.

"Not really anyone's right now, is it?" the other retorted, nimbly evading an openly telegraphed lunge. "And you know I hate losing."

[ Download Clip #36 ]

Novareinna: And then of course Buffy above the others. That's the superior Buffy coming across there.
Jet Wolf: Well I think even less than it's a superior Buffy, that's the way that Dawn views her.
N: Yeah.
JW: There's nobody who's better than Buffy. That's why Buffy ALWAYS wins. So Buffy WOULD be above everybody else. Not even that Buffy herself would put her there, but Dawn certainly would.
N: Yeah.
JW: But this was- this was the thing we've been talking about repeatedly with Willow and her damned yellow thing. Was that when I was giving this a read-through, the first thought— Even knowing Ken- that that was Kennedy – who it is. Faith is the one in the black leather is fighting against Kennedy — uhm ... Where she's got the- the strip of fabric, when I first saw it, my thought was that it was Buffy. Was the first thing to pop into my head. And I'm like, "Okay, if I've made that connection and I KNOW who it's supposed to be, then that's gonna come across bad." So that's when we realized we had to change—
N: Had to change it.
JW: —Willow's outfit.
N: And then the green didn't work because that's, uhm ...
JW: Dawn.
N: Dawn. So we found a darker colour, a colour that was just a darker side of- of uhm ... That also meant, like, not DOOM exactly, but something darker. Something not so light as Tara, because Tara is- is light.
JW: Mm-hm.
N: And Willow is the dark.
JW: Right.
N: That's really all that was. And we didn't go with dark purple, we'd already established it was dark purple, so we just made it purple on this one.
JW: It was- It was— As long as it was close enough to know who it was.
N: And I don't know if anybody actually picked up on that.
JW: I think they did, I think someone said that, if I remember correctly.
N: And then of course Faith saying, "That's not yours." Which is not— We're not talking about the fabric anymore now, we're talking about the person.
JW: Well the favour of the person that- that she's talking about.
N: And then the rest, it's pretty much self-explanatory once you know that.
JW: Yes.
N: Once you know that's what she's referring to.
JW: And I think— And to me, it- it's interesting that the idea that Dawn in her mind would even ... This sort of indicates that Kennedy has a chance.
N: Mm.
JW: With Willow, romantically speaking. And that's kind of funny to me, because in Dawn's mind, she didn't and she never did. But I think this is a little bit of Dawn's uncertainty at this point coming through, because she of course, you know ... Dawn is the biggest Willow and Tara 'shipper EVER. She beats out anybody else who ever posts anywhere. But uhm, there's a little bit of a question, because it should've already happened and it hasn't so she's sort of like ... I-It's her own little insecurities there for her, you know, surrogate Mom and Dad to get together again. Uhm but- but Kennedy is still hanging out there and is this big nebulous question mark. And so it's her- her uncertainty coming through. But yet at the same time she's validating by having someone else say, "That's not really yours."

Swords clashing fiercely, the two women were locked in a moment of intense battle, the attacks and counter-attacks coming so quickly they appeared to Dawn as a blur. In the wake of the frenzy, neither seemed to have gained an advantage, though the leather-clad warrior shot her opponent a cocky grin.

"Better start learnin' t' love it. You an' losin' are about to have a whole lot in common."

Rolling her eyes, the other woman blocked a sword swing aimed for her head. "You know, maybe if you'd try shutting up now and then, you'd actually hit me."

The squabble-slash-battle continued, but Dawn's attention was diverted by Buffy, waving from atop of her tiny hill. "Hey, glad you could make it," she called out. "Stick around. I'm fighting the winner of all this. Maybe if you watch, you can learn something."

"I already have," Dawn confirmed with a smile.

"Doesn't mean I don't still have a lot to show you," countered Buffy assuredly. Crossing her arms, she peered down at the dozen or so battles raging around her. Before long, her face assumed a somewhat bored expression and she shrugged in Dawn's direction. "Might take a while though," she admitted. "If you maybe got something else you need to do in the meantime ..." Her voice trailed away, lost in the depths of a yawn.

Dawn looked back toward where the group of girls had gathered to watch the Centurion, but they had vanished so, presumably, that altercation was over and done with. She glanced around, looking for something to occupy her attentions while she waited for Buffy's turn at battle. Her eyes widened in surprise as she took note of the fortune-teller tent suddenly behind her.

Mouth agape, she pointed an accusing finger toward it. "That wasn't there just now, was it?" She half-turned for Buffy's confirmation – or otherwise – but the blonde seemed to have dozed off while standing upright, her chin drooping down to her chest. With a halting stride, Dawn approached the small pavilion, just as a gypsy emerged from the side of the tent. The dark-haired woman struck an exotic figure dressed as she was in a multi-colored, multi-layered skirt and white muslin blouse. There were gold hoops dangling from each earlobe and a she wore a shiny silver chain around her right ankle. She lifted the flap and then paused, glancing pointedly at Dawn before entering. The teenager's pace quickened.

[ Download Clip #37 ]

Novareinna: Uh, the falling asleep. Uhm ...
Jet Wolf: The meaning I- I have subscribed to this is—
N: I don't- I don't see it as the death thing. Some people seemed to put some significance on the death. I didn't see it like that.
JW: No I don't— It's— I don't see it as any kind of death situation. To my mind it's just— It's again, the almost constant duality that Dawn has with Buffy. I think they have ... Dawn loves Buffy a lot, she worships Buffy in many respects, but no one is more aware than Dawn of Buffy's failings.
N: Yeah.
JW: And Buffy is not perfect, despite however idolized Dawn occasionally can make her. And so in this instance, how I took this, uhm ... Was that Dawn has something very important, but ... Buffy sometimes just can't keep up.
N: Yeah.
JW: You know. Buffy is very locked into this sort of a world. And what Dawn has to do, in- in this world that she's in right now, she really has to do it on her own. And Buffy can't help her. So it's sort of like Buffy ... Buffy has to be removed from the situation, she has to be in a place where she wouldn't ... she wouldn't directly refuse to help Dawn, I don't think Dawn's mind could reconcile that sort of an idea.
N: No.
JW: That Buffy would say, "No, I will not help you." But Buffy HAS to be taken out. So that she can't help her. So it makes sense in Dawn's world to where, sort of like, "Great. When I REALLY need ya, ya fall asleep." Uhm, and it— That- That's really about as much as I put into that.
N: Yeah. But it had nothing to do with the death thing. Some people seemed to think it had to do with like, you know, the dea— Her being having died twice and that—
JW: Yeah, that had nothing to do with it.
N: It had nothing. That didn't come into it.

The gypsy was already seated at the table when Dawn arrived. The woman's smile was warm, and it was reflected in her brown eyes. "Sastipe," she greeted. "Welcome, please do come in." She motioned toward the chair across from her. "Would you care for some lemon verbana tea?" The spout of the kettle was poised over one of the already steaming cups.

With a tiny murmur of, "No thank you," Dawn shook her head and curiously inspected the interior of the tent.

A small bookcase had materialized since the teenager's last visit, some of its shelves lined with volumes which had no titles displayed along the spine. The remainder of the shelving was littered with an odd assortment of seemingly unrelated items, including a little bowl of acorns, a pewter shaker of salt, an eel skin, an owl's tail feather, and a pair of bone dice.

"You come in search of answers?" asked the gypsy gently, although it truly wasn't a question.

Dawn glanced at the sign suspended above the glass bead curtain. It read: 'Cross my palm with silver.' She perched on the edge of the chair and twisted her hands in her lap. "I don't have any money," she admitted.

The woman laughed and the sound was reminiscent of tiny tinkling bells. She waved a dismissive hand, laden with heavy rings, toward the monetary demand. "That," she confided, "is reserved for non-believers." She smiled encouragingly. "No non-believers here today."

Dawn returned the smile shyly and took a deep breath before beginning. "I'm looking for—" Her eyes opened wide in horror and she pounded on her thigh with a tight fist. "God, I forgot again! I'm supposed to be looking for the wren." She cast a frantic glance toward the exit.

Reaching across the table, the gypsy took Dawn's wrist and carefully pried apart the tense fingers. Holding the teenager's hand in her own, she gave it a comforting squeeze. "That's an easy one," she told her soothingly. "You'll find it right where you left it. It can't go anywhere without you."

Dawn regarded her quizzically, but the woman merely nodded wisely as though there were no more to be said.

"Oookay," muttered Dawn, apparently not truly understanding at all. She blew out a puff of air. "Then there's the Queen. She sounds really cool, then there's the added bonus of being, you know, the queen, so I'd really like to meet her." Her voice took on a note of frustration. "Only nobody will tell me where she is, and every time I want to wait for her they make up some excuse, and it's, like, everyone in the world can see her but me!"

The gypsy stifled a small chuckle at the petulance, but then her expression grew sad. Her eyes traveled beyond the confines of the tent as she glanced through the opening. Dawn's head turned in the same direction. Giles was strolling past in the company of an athletically built blonde, her authoritative attire indicating that she was a member of the Sheriff's Guard. The blonde had her arm tucked into the crook of Giles' elbow and she chatted intimately as she looked at him. His face broke into a huge grin and he shook his head in disbelief at whatever she was saying. Then, he blushed slightly and settled his glasses on his nose. The woman threw back her head and laughed as she led him away.

The gypsy's smile was melancholy for a moment and then she brightened as she returned Dawn's inquiring glance. "There are people in our lives," she explained, "to whom we will be so closely attached that, even with passing, the cord cannot be severed. The one who has passed remains ever near to the one who is so cherished. Although still existing on the physical plane – still breathing, still functioning – a part of the living essence is absorbed within the spirit of the one who is gone. Such an established bond is infinite in nature. A living entity cannot perceive their spirit while life is present in the body. Likewise, they are unable to perceive the spirit of the one who has departed because the two spirits are intermingled."

[ Download Clip #38 ]

Jet Wolf: And this—
Novareinna: And Jenny really knows why she's there.
JW: Yeah, Jenny knows- knows the actual answers. And of course this- this was the like HUGE turning point, like the pivotal moment in the episode, was getting this message across. Which- Which I will say straight up, I didn't write it. Nova wrote it.
N: Well ... You tweaked some of it.
JW: Only a little tiny bit. Uhm, but for the most part, this was all you. A-And I thought you did a great job in getting ... Cuz this is a hard— The concept and the reasoning behind what's going on here is very hard to get across.
N: Mm-hm.
JW: It's a very— It's almost kind of an abstract thing that you kind of take for granted. So to be able to get it in some sort of a succinct, non-preachy way that works a-and actually is understandable, I thought was a- was a good thing. Was a very good thing.
N: Oh, well, thank you. Kudos to me. <JW chuckles> And again right now, she's forgot she's looking for the wren, but she really hasn't forgot she's looking for the wren.
JW: No. It's—
N: At this point. I mean she- she's— What she's forgot she's supposed to be looking for is the bird. She really hasn't forgot she's supposed to be looking for the wren, because this is the whole purpose of the thing. But the- But the physical- the physical body she's put that in she keeps forgetting. You know, that she's gotta look for. And then there's the Queen. And then of course we come to the big thing which, uhm ... And then of course in order to try and uhm emphasize that point, you know that's when we went to her seeing Giles, but Giles can't see her.
JW: Right.
N: And then of course the blonde is—
JW: Hannah.
N: —Hannah. And you know, a-and she's sad, but nonetheless, she's glad he has somebody.
JW: Yeah, I don't think she would begrudge ...
N: No.
JW: Begrudge him.
N: And- And we probably ... We probably maybe leant more to their relationship here than might've been indicated, but we never really knew how she felt about him. Jenny.
JW: About Giles?
N: Yeah.
JW: Well I think that- I think she quite liked him and awful lot. I mean—
N: Yeah, but I mean, this seems to indicate, like when she's saying here you know, "I was so close to him."
JW: Oh, I see what you mean. I see what you mean.
N: We kind of— We're inferring maybe something that wasn't particularly indicated. But you never really knew truly how she felt. So it's possible he could've been the love of her life.
JW: Well but it— The question I think— I actually took it in a different respect. That it wasn't so much necessarily how she felt about HIM, so much as the way HE felt about HER.
N: Yeah.
JW: That's actually kind of how I took it. Was that, you know, whether it was mutual for her or not, in its own way kind of doesn't matter.
N: Yeah.
JW: It's sort of like, what he's sort of ... The status he's attributed to her. And so his connection to her won't let her go. Cuz she's already gone. But she- she's at this point, this is- this is where she- she stands. And I think we have to- would have to assume that it's ... it's sort of one of those things that would be forever. You know, that bond. Even if time tended to fade it a little bit, it would still remain that way.
N: Yeah. But in any event, it- it amounts to the same thing. Sometimes you're so close to somebody that you're really still there, even after you've gone. Which is what we were trying to convey. And that's why Dawn can't see the Queen. She can't see her mother because she- she's a part of her. You can't see yourself, you know. And of course Dawn doesn't understand.
JW: No, Dawn doesn't understand. Cuz she's ... this is what she's—
N: She's looking for something much simpler than that.
JW: Yeah. Well this is what she's come here to learn. Whether she realizes it or not, this is what she's looking for. And she's been told, basically, "You can't find it." She doesn't want this answer.
N: Right. It's not what she's looking for.
JW: She wants to be able to- to see what she wants to see. And a lot of this came out of sort of ... We didn't ever specify, but kind of ... Dawn's feelings that, you know, "I lost Buffy, and Buffy came back. And I lost Tara, and Tara came back. I lost my mom and I never got my mom back again." And that's sort of the reason why this came out- came about now. Which we were sort of lax in properly articulating within Dawn, which I think ... I think this worked for everybody anyway.
N: Yeah.
JW: But I think it would've worked better if we could've worked in that feeling that Dawn had. Which was just an idea that, "People leave and they come back and that's wonderful, but why doesn't my mom come back too?"
N: Yeah. Mm-hm.
JW: And I kind of wish we had worked it out – not even in this episode, but previous to this point, somehow in "Jigsaw". There just was never the time. Uhm, we were running out of time at this point to- to make this tr— to make this come about. Because uhm, you know we're- we're ramping up towards the end of the season at this stage and we don't have a whole lot of time left for these issues. But I wish we had, I think it would've made it resonate a little bit better.
N: But as it is, most people seemed to get this and they seemed to be able to relate to it pretty well.
JW: Yeah, yeah. I think they did and I'm really happy with that. I just would've liked to've made it a little more refined to the reason why it's coming out NOW, you know uhm, three years after Joyce's death. The reason we're here right now is because Dawn's having these questioning issues. Like I said, "People leave and they come back, but why doesn't my mother?"

Dawn frowned and tears of frustration prickled her eyelids. The legs of the chair scraped harshly across the wooden floor as she stood up and balled her hands at her sides. "I don't understand," she accused. "I thought you were going to explain it to me, to make it all make sense, but—" Angrily, Dawn gestured toward the sign hanging in the rear of the tent. "Is it because I can't pay?"

The gypsy rose and placed a consoling arm around Dawn's shoulders as she steered her toward the exit. "It's not easy," she admitted. "Sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees." With an encouraging smile, she advised, "Think about it. Eventually you will understand." She lifted the flap and gently pushed Dawn through the entrance. "If nothing else, remember that such a connection makes a person stronger. Love, regardless of the source, is a great comfort and security."

Her arms crossing, Dawn stood on the threshold for a moment. "I have one more question," she began, turning around and raising the flap. "I keep running into dead—" She gazed into the tent but the interior was empty. No table, no chairs, no bookcase, no enigmatic gypsy, no anything. Slowly, she let the flap fall back into place. Even the sign had disappeared into oblivion. She shivered as a sharply cutting wind blew in from the north.

Within the darkened area bordering the clearing where the sapling was located, the darkness loomed. Its substance – or lack thereof – did not change, however from deep within appeared a soft slowing light. Closer it moved, soon joined by another light, and then another. Slowly and methodically, the lights approached, until finally piercing through the black veil and emerging into the clearing without a sound. Six hooded figures, all young boys, moved as one, their torches held aloft.

Dawn appeared frozen, lingering fearfully in front of the tent and seemingly unsure as to where she should go next. She turned her head in the direction of the sharp and chilling breeze, straining to hear the lilting chant it appeared to be conveying: "We hunted the wren for Robin the Bobbin ..."

She shook her head. "It's just the wind," she told herself firmly as she ran in the opposite direction. "It's only the wind."

[ Download Clip #39 ]

Novareinna: And then she's trying to tell her it's- "It's comforting to know that. You may not realize that now, but it's comforting to know she's always gonna be there." You know. "She'll always be with you."
Jet Wolf: "One day you'll understand that." But- But of course Dawn- Dawn is still very young. And that's not what she wants. She's been through so much, she wants to— She wants her mom back too. "I got my sister, I got ..." Whatever the hell Tara- Whatever you wanna classify Tara as. You know, "Why can't I have her too?"
N: Mm-hm. She even looks a little bit like that in 7. When ... she sees Joyce.
JW: Uh-huh.
N: And she's like, "Leave her alone!" You know.
JW: Yeah, yeah. Well Dawn has Mommy issues. Uhm, and then at this point we get our first glimpse of the Wren Boys. Uhm ...
N: And even prior to that there's the money issue again.
JW: Yeah, the money- the money issue. A-And I wish I could say what the money thing means. We- We've actually sat down and talked ourselves before the episode went up about the money thing. Cuz we noticed it. We noticed- We noticed the constant reoccurrence of money. And I can sit here and I can come up— I can tell ya, you know, things that I'm making up ...
N: But we really don't know.
JW: But we wrote it without any reason.
N: We just know that it kept coming up. This issue of money with Dawn kept rearing its ugly head.
JW: Mm-hm.
N: And it just seemed right. Again, it was one of those ones that just seemed right. It seemed like she would do that. But we really don't know why.
JW: The- The best I was ever able to come up with was that largely, money is in and of itself is a kind of independence. If you have the money – or at least in Dawn's mind – if she had the money, she could do these sorts of things. But that even feels weak, it doesn't feel it's quite right.
N: I think it's more that that. It- It's more than that. But I don't know what.
JW: Yeah.
N: So it's one of those things that ... It's there for a reason, but we can't come up with the reason. <JW laughs> It was just there. It just kept coming. Every so often the money thing came up. "Is it because I can't pay?"
JW: Yeah.
N: You know. And it seems— And I could hear her saying it so clearly. "Are you not telling me because I can't pay?", "Can't I have that because I can't pay?" You know, it was ... I dunno. An insecurity, maybe? A juvenile thing? I don't know.
JW: Which leads back to adulthood and independence again.
N: Yeah. You know. So. Anyway, it doesn't bother Jenny. <JW laughs> "It's time for you to go anyway, I've done all I can do."
JW: "Go away now!"
N: "We all must move on." You know. And then, like you said, the first hint of the Wren Boys are on their way.
JW: Right. Uhm ... <long pause>
<laughter>
JW: And that's all we're gonna say about that! Thanks for watching!
N: Uhm, and of course she feels them coming, and of course her first fear is that they're gonna go after the wren, because that's what the rhyme says. So of course now she's REALLY worried.
JW: And now we move on to act four!

By the time Dawn arrived at The Food Court, her breath was coming in huge gasps. Meghan, Jackie, Brenda and Ginny were seated at the same table they had occupied before and each now had their own individual funnel cake, although Jackie's was about gone and she was eying Ginny's platter. Dawn hurried toward them.

"Have you seen the wren?" she puffed anxiously.

Ginny shook her head. "I saw you watching that cute Centurion fight though." She smiled wistfully. "Was that your ribbon he had round his arm?" She pointed to the circlet on Dawn's hair. "I see one's missing." She sighed and clasped her hands together. "You are soooooo lucky."

Meghan leaned forward and frowned. "Not all the flowers are there either. Did you lose some?"

"It was like that when I got it," Dawn replied impatiently. "The only thing I've lost is the wren. Are you sure you didn't see it?"

"Nope," Meghan told her briskly as she slapped Jackie's fingers, which were snaking toward her funnel cake.

Jackie scowled and then turned to Dawn. "I think he was looking for you earlier."

"Who?" asked a confused Dawn.

"The Centurion," said Jackie with a roll of her eyes. "Get with it."

"Maybe he could help you find what you're looking for?" ventured Brenda.

"Who?" asked Dawn, confusion still reigning.

Four faces stared at her in amazement.

"Oh," muttered Dawn in realization. "I don't have time to find him." She surveyed the area with some desperation. "I gotta find the wren before it's too late."

"The Parade will start soon," Jackie pointed out, trying to be helpful. "He'll probably be in it. Just wait somewhere along the route."

With a laugh, Meghan gestured toward the 'Ear-On-A-Stick' stall. "Look, there's that whiney blond again. He's gonna get himself thrown out if he's not careful."

The whiney blond in question was demanding more butter for the corncob he held in his hand but the kiosk had been abandoned.

"Dunno why he bothered to come," commented Jackie wryly. "He's done nothing but complain since he got here." She looked at Brenda, who was chuckling mirthfully, and seized the opportunity to sneak a piece of funnel cake. She stuffed it in her mouth with great satisfaction and licked her fingers.

With narrowed eyes, Dawn scrutinized the darkened area beyond the Food Court. The bard had appeared on the horizon, sporting a violet cap. His mandolin was suspended over one shoulder and his hands hung idly at his sides. She watched the figure become swallowed by the gloom.

"Is this place getting smaller?" she queried nervously.

The four girls appeared unconcerned. "Means you won't have so many places to search," Ginny told her with a comforting smile.

Dawn's eyes brightened. "For the wren?"

"For the Centurion," snorted Jackie. "Jeez!"

Throwing her hands into the air, Dawn spun on her heel without another word and took off in the opposite direction.

"Good luck," Brenda called out.

Meghan frowned as she looked at her platter. "Did someone steal a piece of my cake?"

Jackie whistled innocently.

[ Download Clip #40 ]

Novareinna: And then back in come the four friends again. And what are they talking about?
Jet Wolf: They're talking about BOYS.
N: They're talking about Grip this time.
JW: It's all about boys! Uhm, so again this is- this is even more of an indiciation of the separation between Dawn and her friends. Because Dawn now has a real, genuine anxiety and a true fear of something that's- that's going on, but her friends are completely oblivious to anything. Which is just— Which is the- the way things are in the real world. They don't have a clue what- what the world's really like and what Dawn really has to do. Uh, and so as a result they keep focusing on these trivial matters. And every time Dawn tries to steer it back to something that actually is important, they- they all- they think she's talking about the cute guy. And that's really about all there is in this scene.
N: Yeah. Apart from that weird thing I put in there about the flowers.
JW: Yeah. Not all the flowers are there.
N: And I have no idea what that means. But ... again—
JW: It sure sounded neat!
N: Yeah. I- I don't know. I'm like, "Hmm. I think she'd mention that." And then a voice said, "Why?" And I said, "I don't know, but I'm putting it in there anyway."
JW: <laughing> "Don't ask me questions! Don't question me!"
N: And Dawn saying it was like that when I got it. That- That means SOMETHING. <JW laughs> It does. I just got a deep gut feeling that you know, "Not all the flowers are there either, did you lose one?" "No, it was like that when I got it." But I dunno.
JW: That would've been a lot funnier if you could've seen her face when she said that.
N: Okay, so uhm. And their bundt cake and the Centurion, and that's really all there is to that.
JW: This is fluff. But it's meant to be. It's fluff plur— "Fluff plur a prm pm." Fluff pure and simple.
N: And of course back comes Andrew again.
JW: Yeah, yeah.
N: And this time he's got a corn cob. And ... I don't think he's got enough butter on it. Is- Is that the one...? Yeah. But of course, now people are starting to disappear.
JW: Yeah, people starting to disappear. Cuz- Cuz the bubble world is collapsing.
N: Yeah.
JW: At this point.
N: And the first one to go is- is ...
JW: Oz.
N: Y— Well no, actually. The first one to actually go— The first one of SIGNIFICANCE to go is Oz.
JW: Yeah.
N: But the uhm, the- the first one to actually disappear is the people within the food court, minus themselves. Because that's the closest area. So that's starting to collapse because it's starting to come apart. And then of course Oz appears and that's the last time we see him. He doesn't- He doesn't come back any more. He's- He's gone too. Now uhm ... And then of course my uhm, that's me coming through here with uhm, with Andrew. "He's done nothing but complain since he got her, he's gonna get himself thrown out." WISH WISH. <JW laughs> Wish somebody would come along and grab him by the seat of the pants, you know, and just—
JW: Such venom.
N: —hoist him out. I know.
JW: Such hatred.
N: I don't like Andrew. Sorry. I don't like him. He should never have lived while Jonathan died.
JW: <laughing> So you have Jonathan issues.
N: Well no, Jonathan ain't around, so I've got Andrew issues.
JW: You have unresolved Jonathan issues.
N: Yeah. Yeah, I guess. I liked Jonathan a lot better than I liked Andrew. Shit, I even liked whassisname better than I liked Andrew.
JW: Warren?
N: And he shot Tara! Yeah.
JW: <laughing> "Warren's a frickin' MURDERER and I liked him better!"
N: But I will say that having seen the uhm, the outtake things? He DOES look like he's s a nice guy.
JW: Tom Lenk?
N: The guy himself? I mean, you know, he does look like he's a nice guy. I just don't like Andrew. Luckily I don't have to put up with him very much, so that's okay.
JW: Oh didn't I tell you I'm gonna be giving you the "All Andrew" episode?
N: Oh yeah. Yes, right. Yeah. Like that's gonna happen.
JW: It MIGHT. See, it's gonna be the all-Andrew, all-Wood hour.

"You can't go that way."

The athletic blonde woman who had been with Giles earlier effectively blocked Dawn's path by standing directly in front of the teenager and extending her arms wide. "It's reserved for the performers." She motioned toward a sign reading, 'Authorized Personnel Only'. The blonde surveyed Dawn with a critical eye. "You're not dressed like a performer." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "Try down there."

Becoming increasingly distressed, Dawn fled in the direction of the blonde's thumb, but had only traveled a few yards when the woman appeared again. "Can't go that way either," she stated firmly. "This is roped off for the Parade. The Queen doesn't like her visitors wandering around inside the Parade route. They could get trampled by a jouster's horse or nicked with a duelist's sword. She's very particular about the safety of her patrons."

At the mention of the Queen, Dawn opened her mouth to ask a question, but the blonde was already moving away. "Down there," she shouted over her shoulder, indicating the gravel path to Dawn's right.

[ Download Clip #41 ]

Jet Wolf: And this, of course, is Hannah. Uhm, there isn't a whole lot of value in this scene and there's no particular reason that it's Hannah either, uhm ... It just is.
Novareinna: Except that it might as well be somebody that they could recognize as opposed to just some ...
JW: Some random person, yeah. It's just ... Dawn is obviously ...
N: And she sees Hannah in a position of authority
JW: Yeah.
N: As such. So you know, it might just as well have been. But other than that, it has no significance.
JW: But like I said, what's going on here is little more than Dawn having to go a particular way. There's only one way that she can go.
N: Yeah.
JW: She's being herded in one direction.

The teenager glanced fearfully over her shoulder. In the distance, the darkness was inching ever closer, and she could see the faint glimmer of torchlight. "We hunted the Wren for Jack of the Can ..." floated eerily on the breeze and Dawn's breath caught in her throat.

"No," she muttered with gritted teeth before quickly taking the sole avenue that remained open to her. Her feet pounded along the ground, soon echoed by the stamp of boots at her side and a flash of golden chainmail. Dawn didn't question the sudden appearance and Buffy offered no explanation.

Standing amid a small bed of marjoram at the side of the gravel path, Tara watched the pair rush past. She no longer wore the princess hat and had cut away the bottom half of her pale blue gown. She held a small embroidered purse in one hand and swiftly fell into place behind Dawn and Buffy, matching them stride-for-stride.

Willow had likewise disposed of the lower portion of her skirt, but the hem was now ragged as though it had been sawed off with a serrated knife. She had a leather satchel thrown over her shoulder and emerged from a patch of purple hyacinth. She closely followed Tara along the avenue.

Xander loitered beneath the spreading boughs of an oak. With an expectant smile, he held out an exquisitely crafted birdcage as he saw Dawn come closer, but tossed it aside upon noticing the girl's expression of grim determination and the protective attitudes of her companions. He asked no questions as the smile faded and he assumed his place behind Willow, long legs easily covering ground.

Anxiously flipping through the sheets attached to his clipboard as though searching for information, Giles' gaze alternated between the fast-approaching group and the fluttering pages. His eyes glittered like steel behind his glasses as he waited by the trunk of an ash tree until Dawn was level with his position. Then, almost in disgust, he hurled the clipboard to the ground and followed Xander's flying heels. His pace was not as swift as the others. He seemed to be deliberately moving slower, his eyes constantly watchful as he scanned for any threat that might attack them from the rear.

Lounging upon an outcrop of rocks, one arm supporting his head, William the Seeker puffed on a cigarette and watched their approach with much interest. "What's up?" he shouted, but received no answer. "Rumble?" he queried hopefully. Still nothing. He stood up and waved. "Halberd for hire here ... if the price is right." The only one to acknowledge was Buffy, who quickly shot him a sharp look and shook her head as the group raced past.

William frowned as they retreated. He shrugged and ground his cigarette against the stone. "What the hell," he muttered as he jumped down and sped after Giles. Raising his voice to ensure it carried to the entire group, he announced, "I'm bored, so this one'll be a freebie ... but don't expect it every bloody time."

[ Download Clip #42 ]

Novareinna: And now of course the darkness is creeping in because the world is collapsing even further now. But she can now see the Wren Boys coming.
Jet Wolf: Yeah.
N: And hear 'em.
JW: Right, right. It's getting increasingly creepy. And I think actually, if this could be filmed, it would be very creepy.
N: Yeah, probably so. And of course she's getting determined too. Now she's scared, but she's determined too. She's not gonna let this happen.
JW: Right, this is Dawn— What we're seeing here is largely Dawn maturing before our eyes.
N: Yeah.
JW: She's taking a very definitive—
N: Yeah, she's not gonna—
JW: —direct route.
N: If she can help it, this ain't gonna happen.
JW: Right. Which of course what she- she's protecting is herself at this point. Uhm, so uh, we have ... We now have Dawn marching a-and taking a very- very definitive role, as we just said, and of course when she does this, suddenly Buffy is there.
N: Yeah.
JW: And uhm, Buffy is the only one of the group that doesn't join up with Dawn, so much as the fact that it's almost as though Daw— Buffy always HAS been there. Uh, which- which makes sense.
N: She's the only one you don't see come from anywhere. She's just there.
JW: She's just there. Uhm ...
N: Which was intentional.
JW: Right. Uhm, all of this was intentional. There's an awful lot to discuss in this very brief scene. But there's an awful lot going on here, so I guess we'll start off in the- the marjoram. What's up with that?
N: Now I may not fully remember all of them, but marjoram, I do know, is very indicative of the type of- of maternal love. It also means peace, it means clarity, it means truth.
JW: Okay.
N: Uhm, let's see, and of course that's where Tara is.
JW: Right.
N: And Tara is the first because we felt as though ...
JW: Well the- the thing is— What- What's happening here, and I think ... I think this was largely me saying it would be this way.
N: Yeah. And I verified whether or not I thought that was how it should be.
JW: What I have— What happens here—
N: And dare I not, you know, deny that I would not, of course, say "Oh no, I don't think that's how it should be." Because it wouldn't matter, because that's the way it was gonna be anyway, so.
JW: <laughing> You make me sound mean!
N: But no, but that's the way it SHOULD be, if you think about logically. It's the only way it could be.
JW: My thought process here: Of course the people that we have at the end, uhm, this group of people are the people who defended Dawn against Glory. Uhm ... Buffy, Tara, Willow, Xander, Giles, Spike and Anya, who comes in later. Uh, they're the group that- that are Dawn's protectors, really. And—
N: Certainly how she would view them, anyway.
JW: How she would view them, yeah. Of everybody else, these are the ones she— That's the way she would view them. And ... They join up in the way that, to my mind, would be the ones that Dawn would instinctively assume would be her protectors. The way in which they would come together. And Buffy of course being the instant choice. Buffy is always there, Buffy is Dawn's protector first and foremost. Uhm, Tara comes next because ... Not only of the connection between Dawn and Tara, but because of all them, Tara gave up the most in Dawn's defense. Uh, Tara allowed Buffy to— <laughing> Not Buffy. Yeah, Buffy the Brain Sucker. Tara allowed Glory to, uh, to suck her sanity out rather than give her up. Uhm, an-and that- that for Dawn of course, was the biggest thing that anybody could've done really, save die. Which is what Buffy did. So Buffy died for her, but Tara went insane for her. Uh, which is why Tara comes next. Uhm, so then we move on to Willow. Uhm ...
N: And she doesn't question. She doesn't really question any of them joining her. The reason why it says, you know, "Dawn didn't question the appearance of Buffy", it's really that Dawn didn't question how suddenly Buffy was there but she didn't see her come.
JW: Right.
N: But she doesn't question any of them joining her.
JW: No, no. But it was very important— We thought it was very important to make it as though ... I really can't think of any better way to say it. Buffy was just there.
N: Uh, and then of course she's got rid of the hat, because the hat—
JW: The hat was no consequence.
N: And uhm, the bottom half of her gown because she could also be able to run easier, and it's also significant that she cuts hers away very carefully because she's a very precise, and her magic is very precise, very controlled. So the fact that hers is CUT away ...
JW: As opposed to Willow's, which is kind of ...
N: ...very neatly, is significant because it's indicative of the calming type of magic that she uses. And the small embroidered purse, that's just another thing. It's peaceful as opposed to ... It conjures up a- a peaceful type of picture. A pretty kind of picture. And she had to have something to carry because they have to get stuff out of what they're carrying later. Uhm, so that's why she's next.
JW: And you have Willow in hyacinth?
N: Yeah, purple hyacinth. Again, which is the- the darkness. It means, you know, "I'm sorry." Particularly what purple hyacinth means is, "I'm sorry, please forgive me." Is specifically what that means. I-It's, you know, "I've done wrong, I want forgiveness." So that's why she comes out of hyac— purple hyacinth. And her skirt is cut away ragged because of course she's more into the dark. She's more affected by the dark magic. So she just rips hers away, she doesn't take the time to cut it carefully. She's not careful, she's just random. Willy nilly. You know.
JW: It has to be gone, so here it is.
N: It has to be short so I can run so let's just grab a knife and cut the sucker away. And the uhm, and the leather satchel because it's not quite as ... It's more uhm, it's more ulitarian— utilitarian than a little embroidered purse, which is what I saw Tara more carrying. But Willow would be more inclined to just grab whatever was close, stuff in whatever she needed and take off with it.
JW: And I had Willow come next for uhm, the sense of ... Willow- Willow was probably the next to have sacrificed the most in the battle of Glory. Whether she did it FOR Dawn or not, it's still— Because of Glory, Willow came up, you know, gave up the most for Dawn and it made sense in Dawn's mind, that wherever Tara would go, Willow would follow.
N: Yeah, right. I think that pretty much covers that one. Uhm. And see, Xander's beneath an oak. Well, most people know what an oak signifies. It's strength, it's— That was what the first human man was apparently made from, was from an oak. Uhm, it's just very— It's indicative of Xander. He's strength, you know. He's the human. So that's why he comes out from beneath an oak. And of course they're not all out from flowers and trees, it's one or the others.
JW: Right.
N: You know. You can't ... You can only use so much symbolism.
JW: <laughing> Can you?
N: So the uhm, so the girls came from flowers ...
JW: "Can you?" she says, asking <laughing>, "I see that Tara's off of a gravel path, what is the gravel significant of? What does that mean?"
<pause>
N: Huh?
<laughing>
N: Oh, no! That didn't mean anything.
JW: No, I'm being sarcastic.
N: Oh, okay.
JW: Sarcasm was on.
N: Yeah, so anyway, that's what- that's what Xander's is. Because it's presumably the first man was made from an oak and it's strength and it lasts forever. It's you know, an oak. Speaks for itself. He's holding the birdcage because he thinks of course that's what she's looking for, because he thinks she's found the bird. And then of course he realizes she doesn't. So it's useless, it's a useless object, it serves no purpose now. There's something more important at stake. So of course he throws it away.
JW: Uhm, and uh ... I lost my brain! One moment, must find it. It fell out of its hole. Uhm ...
N: But it's also indictive that he finished the birdcage. The birdcage was ready, if she wanted it. If needed, he had it ready. He was ready for her. But it wasn't what she needed at that point. So he discarded it.
JW: So yeah, so he becomes what she DOES need. Uh, and then with uh, with Xander, again it kind of a case of "Where Willow goes, Xander goes."
N: That was pretty much that with that.
JW: Yeah.
N: Because in Dawn's mind, if she was in danger, and Willow— Though not that Xander wouldn't ANYway ...
JW: Xander would come to Dawn's aid. I don't wanna make it sound as though we're saying Willow only goes to help Dawn because Tara's going to help Dawn, and so on.
N: That's not the case.
JW: That's not the point. It's just, what was important— They ALL would've gone to help Dawn, but the ORDER in which they joined up, uhm, just in Dawn's mind, to form ... To form, if you will, a line.
N: Yeah. A line of defense.
JW: The line of defense. And this is- this is the- the reasoning.
N: And that's just how she would see it. You know, if they got through Buffy, then they have to deal with Tara. If they got through Tara, then they'd have to deal with Willow. If they got through Willow, then they're gonna have to deal with Xander. It's just the logical way she sees things falling into place, that's all. She can just see, in terms of helping her, she can just see Buffy, Willow and Tara being of more aid to her, just simply because of what they know, then Xander would. You know, but Xander would be the last- the last portal of, the last port of—
JW: "You're not gonna get to Dawn as long as I'm here."
N: Yeah, so he's im— He's still important, even though he falls further back. It's just that he, unfortunately, doesn't have as much to offer that would protect her in this kind of situation, that's all. But he would nonetheless be there.
JW: Yeah, he's absolutely be there. I just don't want it to sound like we're saying Xander as no point.
N: No.
JW: That's not at all- that's not at all the case.
N: It's just that there had to be ... We felt there had to be an order.
JW: There had to be an order, and there had to be a reason.
N: And there had to be a reason for the order. And that was, you know, maybe not everybody would agree. But. That's the way we saw it.
JW: Yeah.
N: Okay uhm ... And then of course, you know, still looking for information in the midst of an emergency is good ol' Giles.
JW: Right, and we have Giles- Giles continuing to look for information on his clipboard up until the last moment. When he therefore realizes "This doesn't have anything for me," and he throws it away.
N: Right, and he is under an ash because an ash is wisdom. So that's why he's under an ash.
JW: Uhm, a-and so, he just, "This is useless to me," and he throws it away. And we have- we have Giles bringing up the rear.
N: Yes.
JW: And sort of protecting everybody's back.
N: Right, exactly. He- He's the one that— He's kind of like the last bastion. He will ... If anything is coming from behind, he will be the first to go.
JW: Right.
N: He puts himself in that position. Because he would protect the others above everything else. So that's why he is last. Well, last in this particular scenario. There is two more that have to join, but they are not ...
JW: They're not the core. They're not the core of what's going on. And now once upon a time, Spike, in Dawn's mind, would have put Spike right up at the front. She would've put him probably with Buffy.
N: Yeah.
JW: But Spike has lost a lot of credibility with Dawn. And he never reclaims ... You know, once Dawn finds out that Spike tries to rape Buffy ... They have that one conversation in like very beginning of season 7, and that's really the very last time they speak to one another.
N: But nonetheless, in her mind, he did try to save her once.
JW: And that means something. And that's why he's there. But that's- that's why, the way that Dawn's mind currently thinks of Spike, is why he is not at the front and he's at the very back. And apart from Anya, he's the last one to join up.
N: And Anya doesn't really even actually join.
JW: She's there, and it's important that she's there, and that doesn't mean anything negative about Anya necessarily. Just that, you know, to Dawn- to Dawn's mind, Anya's there and she's part of it, but Anya never really— Anya and Dawn were never really close. Uhm, in any kind of grander sense.
N: But Of course, you know, and then given that, that's why Spike is on the rocks. It's a barren thing.
JW: Nothing grows there. It's a nothing.
N: It's a barren thing. He's there, but he's there almost by chance.
JW: Yeah.
N: And he's puffin' on a cigarette, he's doing what ... He's doing a typical Spike thing. He's watching them come, he wants to know what's going on – Spike always did want to know what was going on – you know. And then of course a fight, Spike was always interested in getting into a fight.
JW: And then he wants money, for helping.
N: And then he wants money. You know. But ...
JW: But when there's no money coming, he still helps anyway.
N: And he tells 'em, you know, it's a freebie. "Don't expect it every time." But that's just typical Spike.
JW: Mm-hm. He'll do it ...
N: Banter.
JW: He'll do it, but he's gonna, you know ...
N: And he wants everybody to think he's only doing it cuz he's got nothing else to do. Which may or may not be the case. You never really could tell with Spike.
JW: Yeah.
N: You know. It could still be out of the goodness of his heart, and I think that's part of the, uhm ... part of the thing. DAWN's not sure. You know. That's why he says, "It'll be a freebie, but not next time." She doesn't really know. She's not sure. So HE's not really sure, and THEY're not really sure. It's just that, you know, Buffy lets him know, "You're not gonna get anything for doing this. So don't expect it."

Anya pushed open the door to her kiosk, sharp eyes peering suspiciously into the dusk that had descended. Her expression became infuriated as she spied six cloaked figures vaulting over the turnstile.

"Hey!" she yelled. "You! No getting in without paying!"

As the youths continued walking away, paying her no attention, she frowned to herself. "Though I suppose you were getting out, not getting in ..." A flash of inspiration. "No getting out without paying!" she demanded, but none of the figures spared her even a glance as they continued their inexorable push forward.

Her face crinkling with belligerence and outrage, Anya ran to the turnstiles and dragged a wooden barrier across the path. Racing to her kiosk, she rummaged under the counter until she found the sign she was looking for. In an untidy scrawl it read: 'Keeper of the Coin on break. Absolutely no admittance without prepaid ticket. Wait.' Beneath those words, someone had printed in a neat and precise hand: 'Thank You. The Management.'

She quickly hooked the sign to one of the barrier's upright posts and then hurried back to the booth. Scooping all the money into two canvas purses, she tied the strings together and then slung the entire bundle around her neck like a packhorse. Locking the door behind her, she followed in the wake of the interlopers. They were a good distance ahead by now, but easy to spot given their flickering torches.

Despite her anger, a smile of satisfaction crossed Anya's lips at the cheerful jingle of the bags as she ran. All in all, it had – financially speaking – been a very prosperous day.

[ Download Clip #43 ]

Novareinna: And then we go— And then of course that's continuing on, then we go back to Anya, who is actually really the first to see the Wren Boys.
Jet Wolf: Right, right. Which is sort of odd. Puts the oddness of where everything is occurring, cuz it's sort of like, you don't see Dawn and the others go out through kiosk, yet the Wren Boys do. And yet the Wren Boys are behind ... It's just the weird kind of geography of the world.
N: Right, and the way it's collapsing in on itself and things are shifting.
JW: Yeah.
N: So uhm, and then of course she's, you know, typical Anya. You can't go in without paying, and then she realizes they ain't gettin' in, they're gettin' out. But nonetheless, you know.
JW: Yeah. "Still pay me anyway." Uhm ...
N: This is really just pretty much Anya ...
JW: Just- Just us having fun with her, really, is what this is.
N: Yeah.
JW: A-And this actually all came about for the most part because you wanted her running in later saying, "Giles, Giles, they didn't pay." Uhm, that was really where this came from.
N: Yeah.
JW: But it was important that Anya be there at the end, because it was sort of a reenactment, again, of them fighting Glory. Uhm, and so Anya had to be there, but there's not- there's not a whole lot of anything hidden in this. This is—
N: No. This is the Anya stereotype, all about the money thing.
JW: Yeah. This is- This is Anya at her base—
N: And it's light comedy. A little bit of comedy relief.
JW: But this is a complete stereotype of Anya. There's no depth to this Anya at all. Which, like as I said, was the something that I regret, but you couldn't get into depth with Anya right here because—
N: Because she didn't have any big part to play.
JW: A-And as far as Dawn is concerned, there IS nothing else.
N: Yeah.

Dawn stumbled as she crashed through the undergrowth. Immediately, Buffy reached down and, grabbing a handful of shirt, hauled the teenager to her feet. Dawn's gaze instantly traveled upward at the sound of a plaintive chirp and she could see the vague outline of a nest within a crook of two boughs.

As Dawn raced toward the tree, Buffy positioned herself upon a small hillock, feet astride. Pulling a long-bladed dagger from the top of her boot, she tossed it toward Xander who was standing on her right. He caught it deftly and held it aloft. She then glanced at Giles on her left – the direction of the tree. He was gripping a thin rapier, slashing the air in front of him with considerable skill. She looked over at William, loitering in the shadows by the clearing entrance with a length of wire coiled around his gloved hands.

"What happened to the halberd?" she challenged.

He shrugged. "Must've left home without it."

Buffy nodded curtly and withdrew her sword. Grasping it tightly with both hands, she held it out in front of her, poised and ready.

Tara and Willow had already claimed a spot on the grass. Sitting Indian-style across from each other, they had emptied the contents of their bags onto the ground between them and, with fingers extended, were circling the immediate area. The all-encompassing arc sparkled with bright twinkles as they chanted:

"Morrigu of Raven Forces,
Bless us with your vast resources.
Give us strength to turn the tide
And stand in battle at our side."

Dawn began to scale the tree. It was far from easy – no ladder to lend assistance this time – but she managed by leaping for a low branch and, with some effort and much kicking of feet, pulling herself up. She frowned with concentration as she climbed, stopping only to glance over the treetops, where the flickering torchlight was now at the edge of the clearing, as were the six boys. She squeezed her eyes closed as she heard the lyrics of the foreboding rhyme: "We hunted the Wren for Robin the Bobbin ..."

The sounds of a scuffle quickly followed; weapons being wielded with ferocious efficiency. Dawn scrambled ever higher and stretched out an arm to drag herself closer to the nest. She could almost see the bird now, just another few feet to go, but then, she nearly slipped at the furious voice that sharply penetrated her absorption.

"Giles! Giles! Stop them! They didn't pay!"

Still the sounds of battle covered the area, until Anya's voice once again reached Dawn's ears, this time in the form of a strangled yell of warning. "Xander, watch out!" It was followed by a soft thud and a moan.

Fearfully, Dawn peered down, a look of horror crossing her face. "No!" she yelled defiantly, as though her protest alone had the power to alter the image before her.

Xander was on his knees, hands covering his face, blood spurting from between his fingers. Dawn choked back a sob. Blinking through her tears, she followed the trail of coins that had spilled across the floor of the area. They led her to Anya's fallen body. Cleaved at the neck, she still clutched one of the canvas purses. Dawn darted a quick glance toward the six hooded figures, straining to catch sight of their faces but to no avail. They seemed impassive to the carnage and, as far as the teenager could tell, had progressed no further into the clearing.

"Move it ... now," Buffy hissed in Dawn's direction as she jumped down from her hillock. Although the blonde was dozens of feet away, Dawn heard the words as easily as if they had been whispered directly into her ear. With a deep, steeling breath, Dawn blinked away her tears, set her jaw in a firm line, and inched further along the bough.

A sudden burst of white-hot heat brought the teenager up short once more. Almost too afraid to look, she turned her head to see William engulfed in a blazing inferno. The flames licked hungrily at his thick black cloak and traveled rapidly upward.

Frozen in panic, Dawn stared at the surrounding darkness. It was invading the area, slowly and methodically, gradually drawing a veil over the teenager's vision. William's still-burning body was consumed not only by fire but also by the somber shades until not even a spark remained. Anya was also swallowed with horrifying swiftness. In a flash of gold, Buffy then vanished into the gloom, closely followed by Tara and Willow, eyes closed with hands extended toward each other and fingers intertwined. And still, it seemed as though the hooded figures had not moved so much as a single muscle.

Dawn looked to Giles, who motioned with his head for her to keep climbing. He reached out for Xander, now unconscious upon the ground, but could do nothing to halt the steady march of the encroaching murkiness and the carpenter slipped away. Dawn clung to her branch, her eyes fixed with horror on the scene below, when she heard Giles' voice.

Quickly, her eyes darted in his direction, but he was not facing her and his mouth was not moving. Nonetheless, she heard his voice. "This is how it must be."

He stood alone against the six boys who regarded him solemnly. "We hunted the Wren for every man," they chanted softly.

Giles probed the darkness with his rapier, eyes straining to focus upon the figures in front of him, but the image was wavering. He moved closer and, as a petrified Dawn watched, was devoured by the enveloping fog. Now, only the boys remained – the boys and their flickering torches. And Dawn. Until the youths too faded into oblivion, leaving the fluttering flame of one lone torch, which soon sputtered out of existence.

Dawn gritted her teeth and lunged for the bough above, where the wren was waiting. Her fingernails scraped against the branch and she scrabbled with her feet to maintain balance but her efforts proved fruitless. With arms and legs wheeling wildly, she toppled into the void below as a shimmer appeared around the crown of the tree – a sort of whitish-green glint reminiscent of heat radiating from a stretch of desert highway.

[ Download Clip #44 ]

Novareinna: And then of course she races toward the tree and the others take up ...
Jet Wolf: Defensive positions.
N: Yeah.
JW: They're gonna- They're gonna hold off the badness.
N: Yeah.
JW: So that Dawn can do what Dawn needs to do. Is there a reason – you wrote this, so I'm wondering – is there a reason that Spike doesn't have his halberd?
N: No. It just sounded funny for him to say, "Must've left home without it."
JW: Okay.
N: I mean, that was all it is. But he never had one all the way through.
JW: Yeah, that's what I was wondering.
N: He never DID have one. So I don't really— Again, I don't really know.
JW: I guess it could be Spike with a bigger bite than he actually has. His kind of posturing.
N: He never had it to begin with. He never had it when he first came into the thing. But he SAYS he has it.
JW: Yeah.
N: But that's typical Spike. He always says he's got stuff he doesn't have.
JW: Yeah, that's what I mean. Kind of a- a posturing, "I could hurt you, but I really can't."
N: Same thing. Uhm ... Again uhm, Xander didn't have anything so she provides him with something. Giles DOES. Don't really know where that came from. Uhm. He just suddenly has it.
JW: Mm-hm.
N: Uh, there's no indication that he has it ...
JW: When he's coming.
N: When he's coming. But somehow or other, he has it. I know I queried that with you, and you said, "I think that's okay."
JW: Yeah, I was okay with that. It's, again, dream logic.
N: Yeah.
JW: Again, not that this is a dream, but it's the same kind of logic we're applying.
N: And then of course uhm, Spike in the shadows of course, which is how Dawn would see him. And he's being very assassin-like with the wire and stuff like that, instead of the halberd. Uhm, let's see ... And then of course Willow and Tara are gonna do the magic.
JW: Right. And this was originally a much longer spell.
N: Yeah, it was like three verses long.
JW: Yeah.
N: And we cut two of 'em out. Well, YOU cut two of 'em out. <JW grumbles> And I agreed. It was too long.
<laughter>
N: They could've got their heads chopped off by the time these two had finished. You know. So anyway, but uhm. But anyway, it was a neat little rhyme.
JW: It was, it was a nice poem. I liked it. But yeah, it was just a little bit too long. Three years later, they're still chanting.
N: Uh, and then she begins to go up the tree. Uhm, of course. Slowly making her way up, bit by bit. It's difficult, but she's doing it, she's managing it. And then uh, and then of course now the Wren Boys are getting closer and closer. And they uhm ... And she can hear sounds of a fight and everything going on behind her, though she never actually sees it happen.
JW: Yeah, I was about to point out that what's interesting here with this fight is that there are always SOUNDS of fights, and there are RESULTS of fights, but you never SEE any fighting. At any point in this.
N: And uhm, okay so uhm, Dawn's on her way up ... And then in comes Anya. And of course her first- her FIRST instinct is, "Stop 'em, they didn't pay."
JW: Right.
N: That's her first instinct. And then of course ...
JW: Her SECOND instinct is to try and save Xander.
N: Uhm, but it's all in vain.
JW: Yeah, it's too late. Xander's ...
N: Because of course, the- the world is collapsing, reality is—
JW: Reality is reasserting itself.
N: —coming back, so therefore Xander has to lose an eye. Uhm let's see. Dawn of course doesn't like it, but she has- there's nothing she can do. That's the way it is.
JW: The way it should be. And uh, quickly on the heels of Xander losing his eye is Anya dying.
N: Yeah.
JW: Anya getting cleaved in a nasty fashion.
N: Same way as she did actually die.
JW: Right.
N: She drops the money. Uhm. The six hooded figures are— She's now trying to see exactly who they are. But she- she can't. And then of course Buffy telling her to go, as she would.
JW: Yeah. You know, "Don't worry about what's going on down here, this isn't important."
N: Yeah. "Go."
JW: What- "What's occurring in this fight is not as important as you doing what you need to do."
N: Okay so again, Dawn moves on. She does what she's supposed to do.
JW: Next up comes Spike burning, which is of course what uh ... Again, reality taking into place. Spike is dead as far as our guys are concerned.
N: Yeah. Spike is gone. So uhm, the same way. It's similar, anyway.
JW: He burns. That's really all that's important.
N: 'Course she's not happy about it, but ... She keeps- She keeps going, but the further up she goes, the more the darkness draws in and the less she's able to see. And people are now starting to disappear in front of her. Uhm. There is no particular significance to how they disappeared.
JW: Yeah. I know a lot of people were attributing ... something very important to how they- how they disappeared here, and I can't say there really isn't—
N: It isn't. It went in terms of logic. Uhm, Spike was closest to the perimeter, so Spike went first because it's collapsing in.
JW: Yeah.
N: Anya was also close to the perimeter because she'd just burst through, so she was the next to disappear. It's getting closer to the tree.
JW: Yeah, it's collapsing in towards Dawn. Uhm, and Buffy- Buffy having going in first, because Buffy would be the first to fall. Nothing is gonna get to Dawn as long as Buffy is there, and she's not gonna let her friends go first. So that's the reason Buffy goes down first. Uhm, Tara and Willow have the most power, uhm, certainly after Buffy's gone.
N: Plus they had set themselves apart from the others, joining hands. So the darkness just reached them before it got to anybody else. And Giles uhm ... 'Course Giles is telling her to keep going. And Xander is unconscious. He tries to get him, but he can't. He slips away before he has a chance. And then of course the only one left is Giles.
JW: Right. And then Giles is gone too.
N: Yeah, and then Giles is gone.
JW: A-And with that left, it's really, it's just Dawn now and the Wren Boys. Who ... interestingly enough, you can still SEE the Wren Boys, despite the fact that they are, presumably, standing further back and SHOULD be consumed by darkness and yet they're not.
N: But they're not. But they do too eventually. The further up she gets, then they too start to disappear. Until just the- the torches are left, and now she's pretty much there.
JW: And so she tries ... What she was doing in the first place, when we came in, which was trying to reach for- for the bird. There's the flash, and then she's gone.

Buffy's eyes suddenly widened. "She's gonna fall." There was no question in the Slayer's voice, it was a certainty, and without hesitation, Buffy took off at a dead run toward the tree. Giles was but a few moments behind.

With arms outstretched, the Slayer caught Dawn before she hit the ground and the teenager blinked at her sister in confusion.

Giles stared at the motionless body of the baby bird laying in the grass. Its tiny beak was open, as though it continued to search for food. The demolished nest had fallen a few feet away – a pitiful pile of dried mud, broken twigs and twisted straw. He shook his head sadly. "I couldn't save it," he whispered.

Xander, Tara and Willow rushed past the Watcher in their anxiety to check on Dawn, who was now standing somewhat unsteadily on her feet and being supported by a diligent Buffy.

"You scared the you-know-what outta us," Willow chastised as she gathered the girl into her arms and held her tight. Xander's addition made the group hug official.

Gently, Tara smoothed Dawn's hair back from her forehead. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

The teenager nodded and then glanced over Willow's shoulder at the little wren. Her lips trembled and she closed her eyes as a tear trickled down her cheek. Tara followed the gaze and then looked at Giles, moving to lay a comforting hand on his arm.

He looked toward her, then his eyes were drawn back to the tiny bird. "I couldn't save it," he repeated, lifting the body and reverently placing it in his hand.

"You tried, Mr. Giles," she told him softly. "It wasn't your fault."

With a deep-rooted sigh, he tugged off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I was just too late."

[ Download Clip #45 ]

Jet Wolf: And then we come right back where we left off, with Buffy saying "She's gonna fall", and now— Whereas before, the first time through, we stayed with—
Novareinna: Dawn.
JW: Uh, well no, we stayed with Tara and Willow ...
N: Oh yeah, yeah.
JW: ...when- when Buffy ran off. And this time we're following Buffy as she runs. And of course Buffy's there and Buffy catches her. Uhm, and Giles tries to catch the bird, and fails. And that of course is ... A-At this point, the wren is less about Dawn, just for this brief moment, and is Jenny instead.
N: Right.
JW: And he fails to save Jenny, and he fails to save the bird. And the bird dies with a broken neck. And that's just a little ...
N: Just as a little something.
JW: Just as a little throwing-in thing. It's— Don't- Don't think that the wren throughout the course of this has been Jenny, because it hasn't...
N: It's just that at this point he— I-It's just that at this point, Giles is .... It's a double whammy for Giles at this point. You know, he- he was too late to save the bird, he was too late to save Jenny.
JW: And even more than that, it's ... it took on to mean, it's the innocence that he can't save too. Giles has seen a lot of innocence ... be lost. In the course of what he's done and what he WILL do. In- In the upcoming episodes as well. It's sort of a- a death of something very innocent and pure that he can't avoid.
N: Yeah.
JW: That he can't save. But- But in a very LITERAL sense at this point, it- it's very literally Jenny that he couldn't save.
N: So, and that was just a little something we threw in because we thought it was cute.
<laughing>
JW: Well not CUTE.
N: We thought it was neat.
JW: Neat.
N: Because it's a Jenny Wren, and ...
JW: Not so much "cute" though.
N: No. No "cute" was the wrong word. But you know, it was kind of neat.
JW: Yeah. Though I mean, that- <laughs> that killed me when I read that, though. The first time. "Its tiny beak was open, as though it continued to search for food." First time I read that, I'm like, "OH MY GOD!" <Nova laughs> "This is so HORRIBLE!" A-And I nearly cut it because I thought it was so bad, then I'm like, "No, but it's really good. But OO, it HURTS."
N: Yeah I know. Poor little thing. You know.
JW: You bird killer.
N: Not me!
JW: You did!
N: Well Dawn should've got it earlier.
<laughter>

Kneeling on the ground, Dawn carefully patted the tiny mound of earth, nestled protectively within the gnarled roots of the large tree that dominated the backyard. The others stood vigil around the teenager, solemnly silent as they paid their respects.

"It'll be okay, right?" asked Dawn with undisguised anxiety. "Nothing'll dig it up, like ... like a stray dog or a weasel or something?"

"I think we're pretty safe from the weasels," Xander assured. "But I'll find a nice heavy rock and we can put that on top. Should keep out any digging scavenger-types."

Dawn glanced up at the carpenter with a hopefully expression. "You will?"

"Just as soon as we're done here," he promised with a sad smile.

This was all the guarantee Dawn needed, and she turned back to the little grave. Behind her, looks were exchanged and a general feeling of ineffectiveness shrouded the gathering. Nobody seemed to know what to say, but then Dawn broke the silence.

"I killed it," she muttered in a broken voice.

Immediately, a chorus of protestation filled the air, each person quick to refute the words.

"I killed it!" Dawn insisted from between angry, clenched teeth. Silence once more prevailed, and it was a long moment before the teenager further clarified. "If I hadn't gone up there, it would still be alive."

"Yeah. Maybe," Buffy replied in a gentle, but undeniably factual tone.

As Dawn's head slumped even further, Willow and Xander turned on their best friend with horrified expressions.

"Buffy!" exclaimed an appalled Willow.

"Wait, hold her down, Buff – I'll twist the knife some more," snapped Xander.

Buffy's voice overrode them both. "It's true, and I won't lie to her." Her expression softening, the Slayer placed a hand on her sister's head, and Dawn glanced up with tears brimming in her eyes. "Maybe it would still be alive," Buffy told her. "And maybe it would've lived for another day, or two, or maybe it would've died half an hour from now. But it was abandoned, so the only thing we know for sure is that it would've died." Stroking Dawn's hair, she gazed down at her with a proud smile. "Without you, Dawn, it would've died anyway."

Catching on, Willow nodded her head. "Yeah. Yeah, you tried, Dawnie," she echoed supportively. "A-And that's the true Scooby way: to try, no matter what."

Dawn smiled, just a little, then turned back to the mound, contemplative. Everyone continued to watch her for a minute, lost in their own thoughts.

Buffy was the first to turn away. She placed one hand on Willow's shoulder and the other on Xander's, urging them both to come with her. Without a word, and sparing one final sad glance at Dawn, they followed. As they approached the house, their conversation drifted back to the burial site.

"I-I don't know if I can handle this whole animal responsibility thing," said Willow, clearly frazzled. "The repeated fish deaths, Miss Kitty ..."

Xander was quick with the attempt to cheer her up. "If we ever get a puppy, we'll teach it to attack you on sight so you can't infect it with your wacky pet vibes, okay?"

"You have strange solutions." Willow pointed out.

"Well you have strange problems," Xander counter-pointed.

Only Giles and Tara remained. Giles stepped forward, a mournful and oddly guilty expression marring his features. "Dawn. I'm sorry."

Sniffing, Dawn glanced up. She was still quite obviously upset, but her smile was genuine. "You tried," she stated, no hint of blame in her words. "And that's the true Scooby way."

Giles gazed at the young girl with extreme fondness, then regarded the small grave. "Alis volat proprii," he whispered.

Confused, Dawn turned to the Watcher, but he didn't explain. He simply turned away walked toward the house, fishing in his pants pocket for a handkerchief.

Dawn turned her puzzled frown to Tara, shaking her head. "I don't understand."

Lowering herself to the cool ground, Tara joined Dawn, sitting cross-legged before the tiny mound. She reached out and took one of the teenager's hands, inspecting the broken fingernails and particles of embedded brown dirt.

"It will always need its mother," Tara began in her soft voice, "but it no longer needs its mother. Does that make sense?"

"Kinda," Dawn replied, though she sounded far from sure. Glancing back over her shoulder, she watched as Giles climbed the porch steps, his shoulders hunched and hands thrust deep into his pockets. "At least it was in English."

"'She flies with her own wings.'"

Dawn turned back at those words, and the blonde offered her an understanding smile. Saying nothing more, Tara stood again and followed the others, leaving Dawn kneeling before the little grave.

[ Download Clip #46 ]

Novareinna: And you pretty much took it over from here, because I got WAY too dramatic.
Jet Wolf: Yeah, i-it was- it was ... it was pretty ...
N: I had 'em virtually on point of suicide <JW cracks up> over the death of the bird. I had 'em way, way too—
JW: You see 'em off the side wailing, slitting their wrists, blood soaking the ground ...
N: I had way too ... It was just way too much. It was way over the top. So. <laugh> And you called me up and said, "It ... It's just a BIRD."
<laughing>
N: And I'm like, "Yes, BUT!!"
JW: "But look, its tiny beak is looking for food!"
N: And that's about the only bit you left in. I ... But the people themselves I had them uhm ... I had them way too over the top.
JW: <laughing> That was funny. "On the verge of suicide."
N: I mean, Willow runs away with her arms flapping. <JW cracks up again> You know. In sheer desperation. You turned all that down. I had poor Giles virtually on his knees, you know. With his hands— his head buried in his hands.
JW: <laughing> It wasn't that bad! Good lord! It wasn't that bad.
N: I had Xander offering to go, you know, to Stonehenge and bring back <Aaaaand there goes JW again> a huge block to put over the grave—
JW: <laughing> Jesus christ!
N: —so nothing would get it.
JW: You did not!
N: But anyway. It was— Suffice to say, it was just too much.
JW: It wasn't THAT too much, but yes. Uhm. Mm. So anyway yeah, so I- I've taken back over at this point.
N: And then, did we finish that bit? Now we're—
JW: We're at the little funeral part now.
N: Yeah.
JW: Yeah, there's not a whole lot else here. Just you know, Tara ...
N: The Scooby stuff. "That's the Scooby way."
JW: Yeah. In the previous scene, we have just Tara say "You tried, which was the important thing," but of course Giles doesn't—
N: No.
JW: —feel that.
N: That's not enough for Giles. So now the actual funeral thing, which- which again was lighter than I had it.
JW: Yeah, mm-hm.
N: Just her concern that nothing's gonna dig up the wren. It's gone and she wants it to rest in peace.
JW: Right, right. Uhm ... And yeah, the whole, "I tried, and that was the important thing." Cuz I- I think it is. A lot of the times, this is ... This is a very adult lesson for Dawn to learn at this point. That, you know, you can't save everything, you can't save everyBODY. But you— But she tried, and that was what made the difference.
N: It's like Buffy says.
JW: Yeah.
N: You know. Buffy doesn't try to gainsay what she says.
JW: Right, and this was- this was, I also thought, a very important thing between the two of them too, because Buffy's not gonna coddle her. Which is the instinct, you know. When you've got the kind of relationship that they have. Because a lot of the times, Buffy DOES try to coddle Dawn.
N: Yeah.
JW: DOES try to kinda keep her from things. But in this- in this moment, she— This is the most grown-up she's probably ever treated her before. Where she's like, "I'm not gonna lie to her." You know. "You're right, it DID, but ..."
N: Yeah.
JW: "Here's- Here's the plus side." So I thought this was a really- a really good ...
N: You wrote this.
JW: Yeah, I know.
<laughter>
JW: And I think- I think it's an important moment towards where I want their relationship to be going at this point, where Buffy IS gonna allow Dawn to grow up. She may not- She may not always want it to be the case, but she's gonna— accepting that it's going to happen.
N: Yeah.
JW: So she's gonna be there to make it as good as she can. <laughs> When she feels like it.
N: And then uh, and then of course the others reaction to it. Uhm. Willow and ...
JW: Xander.
N: Willow and Xander. Xander saying he'll find a stone. And then Willow saying how she just can't seem to get along with animals. <JW laughs> And then poor Giles, who just doesn't seem to be able to get over this particular little hurdle very well.
JW: This, we managed to turn this very nicely into setting up, again as I said, the stuff for the rest of the season. The- The- The kind of darker turn that Giles took at the end of season—
N: Pretty much began here.
JW: —started here, with the death of the bird. Which is kind of funny, I suppose, because, "It's just a bird!" <Nova laughs> But uhm, but it— But of course it's not just a bird to Giles, it's just ... just something else that he's unable to do. So he- he goes to a dark—
N: This is really when his dark mood starts to set in.
JW: Yeah, he goes to a dark place here, and he never really gets out of it for the rest of the season. He's ... He has moments where he kinda flashes out of it, but for the most part, he goes there and he stays there for the rest of the season.
N: Yeah, he never really ... A-And it- And it has nothing to do, truly, with the death of the bird.
JW: And it's nothing to do with Jenny either.
N: No.
JW: Really.
N: I-It's the whole- It's the whole symbolic thing to him. It's- It sends him to a pretty dark place. And he, like you said, he never really truly comes out of that. Uhm. And then of course my little Latin that I had to throw in.
JW: Yeah. Mom threw in her little Latin. And of course it seemed right that it was Tara at the end—
N: Yeah.
JW: —who would- who would—
N: Yeah, who would be there. The rest would go, but Tara would stay. That again just felt right.
JW: Yeah, well, it's the kind of relationship that they have, and Tara has that kind of a ...
N: She has that empathy.
JW: And she has a way of looking at things that's much different from everybody else. A- A kind of ... can see through to what's really going on, outside of things.
N: And then there- Then there was my, "It will always need its mother, but it no longer NEEDS its mother."
JW: No, I thought that was very good. I-I hones— I do. I think that's one of the better lines in the episode. I don't, uhm, I- I don't think I could've done that as well as you did. I thought that was very good. I liked that a lot.
N: So. Which is- Which is very Tara-ish.
JW: Yeah.
N: That's probably the most Tara-ish thing I've ever written.
JW: <chuckling> Well you haven't written her a whole lot either.
N: Uhm. <laughs> And I liked that. "Kinda. At least it was in English."
JW: That was me, I think.
N: Yeah.
JW: Because of course you've got this thing that's nice and touching and meaningful, and then I undercut it with, you know, "Use some English!"
N: And then of course the explanation of what it means. And uhm, and that was really it.
JW: Yeah.
N: We just left her there at that point. Sort of ... Just mourning. Just ...
JW: Yeah, just Dawn, you know. An- And of course, she's mourning, in her own way, her- her childhood at that point. Her own innocence. Really is what she's mourning for here.
N: And uh, and that's it. She- She's left alone and everybody else goes back in and ... who knows? Perhaps they go play Uno.
<laughter>
JW: And Xander loses by two Draw Fours.
N: And Xander loses this time to Willow.

"Separate Tables"

Story by: Jet Wolf, Novareinna and Ultrace
Written by: Jet Wolf and Novareinna
Premiers: Monday, 1 November 2004, 8pm EST

Next week, on an all-new episode of The Chosen ...

The things that keep us together ...

At the Vortex. All the girls are sitting at several tables that have been squished together. They're laughing and clearly having a good time.
Dissolve to Xander Giles, Wood and Andrew at a table in a sports bar, chatting animatedly.
Dissolve to Buffy, Tara, Willow, Kennedy and Faith standing shoulder-to-shoulder, all ready for a fight.

... and the things that keep us apart ...

Cut to a shot of Xander and Giles on a dark street. Xander grabs Giles' arm and Giles cocks his fist back as though to throw a punch.
Cut to Willow and Tara having an intense conversation. They both look up as Kennedy appears, grinning down at Willow meaningfully.
Cut to Buffy and Xander at home, exchanging harsh words.
Cut to a shot of Giles sitting on the floor of his loft. He's obviously been drinking.

... aren't always different. The present ...

On the second floor of the Vortex, Buffy, Kennedy and Faith look out over the crowds of people below.
Dawn and Hazel sit at their own table, watching the others from across the room with some animosity.

... meets the future ...

Tara sits at a table alone, looking down at the floor below, where Kennedy and Willow are dancing. Her expression becomes angry.
Xander watches as Giles turns and walks away from him without looking back.
Buffy (V.O.): It's the Giles thing.

... and the past.

Cut to the Vortex. All the girls are huddled around and focused intently on Hannah.
Faith: C'mon, Mrs. G. Enquiring minds wanna know.
Hannah grins.

The Chosen: A Buffy Virtual Season 8. Because the story's not done yet.

[ Download Clip #47 ]

Jet Wolf: Yeah, so that was really all there was on that. Did you wanna look at the promo for next week? We did for the other commentary.
Novareinna: Yeah, okay, that's fine. I'm easy. Oh yeah, oh god no. <JW laughs> I forgot that was the next one.
JW: "Separate Tables".
N: Yeah. Yeah, not uhm. Uh-uh. This was not ..
JW: We have issues with "Separate Tables".
N: Yeah, we have some bad issues with "Separate Tables".
JW: So yeah, I just- I don't even really know why. This one just didn't turn out at ALL like I wanted.
N: Didn't gel. Didn't gel well, this one.
JW: Didn't happen at all the way I wanted it to.
N: The best part of this episode, in my opinion, was the three Slayers in the, uhm, in the Vortex.
JW: The four Slayers.
N: Yeah, when Hazel joins them later, yeah. That to me was the best part of the whole thing. <JW chuckles> I liked that. But, I dunno. This just didn't work. This didn't work like we hoped it would.
JW: Yeah, an-and I couldn't even tell you why.
N: No.
JW: But the problem is too, I can't figure out if it's something I find intrinsically wrong with the episode, or it's the crap that went on around it. Cuz like this was when—
N: It shouldn't be for me. Cuz I couldn't give a damn who won.
JW: No, I think it could be for you. Because you- you ... No, you got funny too with certain ... Just with things. You know, you get fixated on something, like something that happens around that time period ruins, like, everything else that is unrelated that occurred around the same time.
N: Yeah, but I didn't really care who won the election though.
JW: No no, I know. I know that. Uhm ...
N: There's something— This should've worked a lot better than it did.
JW: Yeah.
N: There was something ... I dunno. It went a little ... We lost something along the way with this one. I don't know quite what. God knows I put enough research into making sure all that stuff was accurate. And set in the right— I mean, you know, the right times in terms of months and stuff like that. I dunno. This- This went awry somewhere. Uhm, I don't know. I wasn't happy with this one.
JW: No, I wasn't happy with this one either.
N: I'd venture to say this was probably my least favourite of the lot.
JW: Mine too. Mine too. But I don't know why. Again, i-it's nothing I can say concrete why.
N: No, I don't know. But I didn't like this.
JW: Cuz I've written worse.
N: Yeah, and it was well thought out and it— But there was something about it, I dunno. It just didn't— I don't know if it was the flow or— I dunno what it was. I have no idea what it was. But I didn't ... I ended up not liking this.
JW: Yeah, yeah. Alright, so we—
N: I think it was good that we found out more about Giles.
JW: Yeah, it had its good points. It had good bits in it.
N: Yeah, but on the whole it was ...
JW: But as a whole, it didn't work out right.
N: On the whole, I'd have to put this down the bottom of my list.
JW: Yeah. And that was "Separate Tables" we're talking about now, not "The Wren".
N: Yeah.
JW: Of course. Just- Just to reclarify. I liked "The Wren" a lot.
N: Yeah, "The Wren" was okay. I was nervous about "The Wren", but I— That came out okay. But you know, "Separate Tables" was uhm ... Was something of a disaster.
JW: Yeah.
N: If- If I could go back and help rewrite one, it would be this one. But I really don't know what I'd do differently, that's the problem.
JW: Yeah, cuz I don't even know why it doesn't work.
N: No.
JW: For me.
N: But it doesn't. It doesn't work for me either. And I have no idea why, but it don't. There's something radically wrong with it. And I don't know what. I don't know what it is. There's- There's something not ... It doesn't fit. Doesn't even seem to fit with the rest of it.
JW: Yeah. I dunno. We'll not dwell on that.
N: So anyway, yeah.
JW: So we didn't like "Separate Tables", so I guess we won't talk about this part much. So but anyway, so "The Wren"! Great episode, "The Wren".
N: Yeah, yeah, that was a good one.
JW: Yeah, that one—
N: Huzzah!
JW: <chuckling> Huzzah. Yeah! So uh, that's about ... about all we have to say on that, I suppose.
N: 'Bout all I got to say.
JW: Not like we haven't been talking for two and a half FRICKIN' hours.
N: Yeah. But uhm ... Well, we're sorry if we ... didn't bring in as many—
JW: Yeah.
N: —insightful things as maybe people were hoping for. But uh ...
JW: Yeah, I dunno. I don't— I'm not "you people", so I don't really know, do I?
N: But then, you know ... You wouldn't want us to just lie and make up stuff as we went along and say, "Oo, well, you know ..." There are some things in that uhm, we couldn't say.
JW: Yeah.
N: Let's just put it that way. Yeah. Well we COULD, but we're not gonna.
JW: Well no, we could, but then I would kill us.
N: Yeah, well, that's true. So. She would plant a bomb on my plane in two days, <JW chuckles> so I better keep my mouth shut.
JW: Yes, I become a terrorist.
N: But uh— And- And the people who didn't care for it, maybe find it very interesting a little later on.
JW: In hindsight. Yeah. Uhm.
N: But that's all we can say.
JW: Yeah. Uh ...
N: If you wanna make somethin' outta that, feel free.
JW: Oh, I'm sure they will. Uhm, so yeah, so hopefully it was- it was more interesting than anything else. As long as, uh ...
N: It was meant to be surreal and fantasy-related. I think it's a great compliment that some people have compared it to "Restless".
JW: Oh! Oh, oh yeah.
N: Which is nowhere near as good as, but to say it's the "Restless" of this season, I still think pays it a high compliment.
JW: Oh yeah, well, you know, that's my favourite episode ... EVER. So ...
N: "Restless", not "The Wren".
<laughing>
JW: Yeah. "My stuff's better than Joss! I know better!" No no, "Restless", my favourite episode. So.
N: So I think a comparison to that means that you know, on the whole, people ...
JW: Yeah, well I thought it would be.
N: And it made a change.
JW: Well I told you it prob— I thought it would be.
N: I thought it'd bomb horribly.
JW: Well see, you were wrong.
N: I thought people would just hate it. But uhm, it went across better than I thought it would. And it was some fun to write, and there's some stuff in there that even we don't really ...
JW: As evidenced.
N: Yeah. That even we can't really say. But we just know it feels right and it should be there.
JW: Mm-hm. Yeah. Which makes me feel like I'm a bit of an idiot, honestly. But uh ...
N: I just think we're more, uhm ...
JW: We're just—
N: Enigmatic than we know.
JW: That's it. We— It's just our brilliance. Our brilliance is so great, even we cannot comprehend of it.
N: Even yeah. You know. Even the subconscious is just so superior—
JW: Oh, and the conscious. Every bit of it. <Nova laughs> It's all just- just perfect. Just absolutely perfect.
N: But anyway. I guess that's all I gotta say.
JW: Yeah, I guess me too, and it's only like one o'clock in the morning, so.
N: Yeah, so ...
JW: Alright. So we're going now.
N: So byyyyye.
JW: Bye.
<sounds of microphone fumbling>
JW: <in faint background> I can't stop it.
<laughing>
JW: I'm so lame! Mike left and I don't know how to hit stop!
N: Is it the red?
JW: Uhhh....
<laughing>
JW: It's the square. Good god.
N: This one?
JW: No, square, square.
N: Oh, square. This one.
JW: Yeah.
N: The one that has four equal sides, right?
JW: <laughing> That'd be a square.
<pause>
JW: Push it! Pus—