10-19-03 @ 11:44 am EDT

Don't even bother asking where this came from. Just thoughts in my head.

And yeah, I realize that RTMI is only in its twenties, but you know how I think ahead, not to mention way off to the sides, don't you...?

I just finally decided to go ahead and put it into words. Do not worry as there are no major spoilers for the current or any future storylines here. Read and enjoy or just be bored.


If there is ever a sequel to Return To Manitou Island, I've decided it will be called Escape From Manitou Island--see the pattern here? (Any fourth story should just be called Beneath Manitou Island. It does make sense, there's plenty that's beneath it.) Here's the basic gist of it.

Charmian, now sixteen and quickly leaving her gawky early teen years behind, travels to the Island for a third time. She meets a precocious white-haired girl named Winter Born (she has her first short story forthcoming, should I ever finish it), who turns out to be the daughter Black Elk Horn and Silver Eagle Feather FINALLY have. Even though quite young (probably around ten or eleven), Winter Born is already as curious and outgoing as her mother was at her age (see...damn, what was it?..."Daughter Of The Demon" or "Demon's Seed," I can't remember which). Which means she's soon getting into all kinds of trouble and dragging Charmian along with her.

The antagonist in this story, as Ocryana was in part one and Chakenapok is in part two, is a powerful manitou named Pearl Feather (Megissogwun or Megissogwon), who caused Manabozho's family no end of trouble way back when. He has been imprisoned somewhere like Ocryana and Chakenapok were (yah, so I'm predictable, sue me), most likely in the Fairy Realm which is first revealed in RTMI. I have yet to determine what it is that sets him free, but freed he is, and of course he seeks revenge. (What else are antagonists good for?)

The primary differences are that, number one, the Pearl Feather does not anger in the same way that Ocryana and Chakenapok did/do--he hardly ever raises his voice above a dull rumbling monotone, like he's always muttering; he seems to possess no emotions at all. And number two, he is WAY more powerful than even Chakenapok is--so you can imagine he poses an incredible threat.

Charmian discovers something remarkable in Winter Born and in Page ("Sky") Dupries (probably around Winter Born's age in this story), something which she never noticed before as they are the two first (known) characters to be only one-quarter Ocryx. Even though their demon blood is weaker than that of their powerful half-Ocryx parents (Silver Eagle Feather, and Justin Dupries), their powers manifest in a different and very intense way, revealing that a lessening of Ocryx blood is not necessarily a lessening of Ocryx powers. As he was raised among whites, Sky's powers are muted (although still present), but Winter Born, living with her warrior father and medicine woman mother, of course already shows signs of an incredible force within her...if she just knew how to CONTROL it. (Remember Silver Eagle Feather's first major manifestation of power in the short story above--whichever one it is? When she left that creep curled in on himself and howling in pain? Think of that, only multiply it by a LOT.) Suffice it to say that in her present state, Winter Born has a greater potential of causing more HARM than GOOD.

So of course, Charmian and the others (some of whom I can't name) take it upon themselves to train her. Among her powers is the ability to restrain other beings by thought alone, and they seize upon this as a potential way to re-imprison the Pearl Feather. This plan is dashed when it does not work. What went wrong? It turns out that, as her powers are Island powers, Winter Born can only control those who are of the Island. Although imprisoned in the Fairy Realm, the Pearl Feather is NOT originally of the Island...thus Winter Born has no control over him.

In a moment of insane thought brought on by desperation, Charmian seizes upon a new idea. She knows of ANOTHER powerful being, perhaps as powerful as the Pearl Feather, who IS of the Island...the only problem is, that being just happens to be imprisoned...down in Crack-in-the-Island...and of course, you know who THAT being is...

Dum-dum-dummmmmmm. That's where I'll leave off. Just some thoughts for you to play around with. I don't know if I'll ever even reach that story, but I thought I'd share. If there are ever any stories AFTER EFMI, they will probably focus on Winter Born as the new protagonist, having taken Charmian's place as defender of the Island. (By a fourth part, at age seventeen, Charmian would just be getting too old to be tomboying about...she should probably have settled down with Thomas or something by then... :P )

Well, that's all I have for now. Tar...