There was a brilliant flash of light.

"YEOWCH! MY EYES!" I yelled, then stared at the strange person who stood before me (and my computer). "Who the heck are you?"

The flaxen-haired lady before me blinked. . . .

Wait. Calm down. Start this one from the beginning.

My name is Ethelflaed Fitzgerald. (Most people abbreviate it to Flaed . . . one person tried to call me Ethel. I attacked him with my foil . . . That must have hurt really badly, you know.)

My hair's fairly long, and a dark brown color. (Looks black, it's not black, get over it, end of story.) My eyes are blue, but I wear glasses. I take fencing and horseback riding, and I read.

I have five great passions: Reading, writing, the Anglo-Saxons, fencing, and anime. (Also, my computer. More specifically; the Internet. Even more specifically, , , and Neopets.)

I was currently researching my namesake, Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, to see if I could do an essay about her. So far, so good. Well, the web page of the moment was very strange, but still most of it was going pretty well. "Uh-huh, uh-huh . . . what?"

A little button at the bottom said, "See the Lady of the Mercians as she really was!"

I rolled my eyes, but clicked on the button anyway. Looked interesting-

There was a brilliant flash of light, and I went hurtling back about three feet.

"YEOWCH! MY EYES!" I yelled, then stared at the strange person who stood before me (and my computer). "Who the heck are you?"

The flaxen-haired lady before me blinked and said something in a language I didn't know . . . but I sure as heck recognized it.

Anglo-Saxon.

I took a long breath. "Hwelcne cræft canst thu?" [What is your craft?]

She gave me one those "You-moron-can't-you-TELL?" looks.

"Er . . . gomen nasai?" [Japanese for sorry]

She gave me a disturbed glance.

"Nev-er mind. Um . . . Thu eart . . . Æthelflæd?" [You are Æthelflæd?]

"Giese." [Yes.]

"Aiyaiyai . . ." I moaned.

"Aiyaiyai??"

"Nothing. Um . . ." I grabbed my "Guide to Old English". "Thu . . . eart . . . " I stopped. "Thu eart . . ." What was the word for future?? [You . . . are . . . You are . . .]

"Hwæt segst thu?" inquired Æthelflæd. [What do you say?]

"Nothing. Er . . . Ic eom . . . Flaed." [I am Flaed.]

"IC eom Flaed!" snapped Æthelflæd. [I am Flaed!]

"This isn't going well," I muttered.

Æthelflæd shot me a murderous look.

"Ic eom Ethelflaed Fiztgerald." I gestured for her to sit. She did so, but still glared at me. [I am Ethelflaed Fitzgerald.]

I looked at the webpage. It said:

"Ha. You clicked, your fault, now you're stuck with an Anglo-Saxon princess. I doubt you know three words of the language. :-P"

I stuck MY tongue out at it and then saw another button. This one said,

"If you want to be able to talk to her, press HERE."

I did. There was a poof of smoke, and Æthelflæd said,

"Where am I? And what did I just say?"

"You're at my house . . . and you said-"

She cut me off. I allowed it, since she is, after all, Anglo-Saxon royalty.

"What language IS this?"

"English."

"ENGLISH?? What kind of idiot do you think I am?"

"Um-"

"Don't answer that."

"Okay."

The Lady of the Mercians started to pace. "So. How did I get here?"

I took a deep breath. "Through the computer."

"A what?"

I pointed at the beige box. "That thing. It's a computer."

"But . . . what is a computer?"

"Um . . . I don't know how to explain."

Someone knocked on the door, and my Mom came in.

"Flaed, I need to-what have you done NOW?"

********

"So. You brought an Anglo-Saxon princess through the computer," said Dad.

"Uh-huh."

"And then used the website to get her to speak English."

"Uh-huh."

"And you have no idea how to get her back?"

"Uh-huh."

"This isn't good, Flaed."

Æthelflæd broke in. "What is going on?? Why am I here? What happened?"

"That's what we'd like to know."

I groaned. "Hey, Dad, can I go back online and see if there are any other sites like that? And maybe ask if some of the Neofriends that I have if they've seen something like it?"

Dad nodded, and I dashed off, followed Æthelflæd, who still wanted to know what a computer was.

I moved the cursor. Her eyes grew wide, she grabbed my fencing foil . . .

"AACK! DON'T KILL IT!!" I yelled, stopping her. "Look, try it."

She tentatively moved the mouse. Then moved it back. And forth. And back. And forth.

"Æthelflæd, I'm sure this is very interesting for you, but I need to check up on this."

To. And fro. Back. And forth.

"Come ON, Æthelflæd!"

She sighed and relinquished the mouse. "What other things can you do on the computer?"

I grinned. "Lots of them. Just watch."

I accessed Neopets and noticed a Neofriend, ryanitenebrae, had neomailed me. I clicked on the message, and after scanning it, replied,

"Oy!! Ryani, please watch out for websites that say see _____ as they really are!! Tell me if you find one, and spread the alert, okay?"

********

Ryani smiled smugly to herself. She had now beaten Flaed in seventy five straight games of Armada. Mmm-mm. Life was good.

"New event! Neomail from the_one_flaed!" read the line at the top of the screen. She read the short excerpt included . . .

And vanished.

********

I sighed and relaxed. Now someone else knew-

POOF! Æthelflæd and I went flying about three feet . . .

And a girl I hadn't seen, but could definitely guess at, blinked and looked around.

"Um . . . You would by any chance be Ethelflaed, would you?"

"I would," Æthelflæd and I said the same time.

"CLONES!!" shrieked the girl, diving behind a chair.

I knew it then. That HAD to be Ryani.

"Hi, Ryani!" I said, hesitantly. "What's up?"

"Do you have a clone?"

"No."

"Then . . . who is SHE?" asked Ryani, coming out from behind the chair.

"Er . . . Æthelflæd. The original Æthelflæd."

"Waaaaaait . . . the original? The ANGLO-SAXON PRINCESS??? CLONE!" she yelled again, diving back into the safety of the chair.

"Oh, puh-lease, Ryani."

"CLONE!!!"

"You have clone paranoia, you know that?"

"CLONE!!!!"

"I'm Flaed. This is Æthelflæd. There's a difference. For one thing, she's older."

"What's a clone?" asked Æthelflæd.

"CLONE!!!!!"

"Not now."

"CLONE!!!!!!"

"Ryani . . . STOP. SAYING. CLONE."

"CLONE!!!!!!!"

I looked around for my foil. As it turns out, it wasn't necessary.

"I, ÆTHELFLÆD, LADY OF THE MERCIANS, DEMAND YOU STOP THIS SHOUTING AND TALK SENSIBLY!!" boomed the princess.

"Whoah," I said, impressed.

Ryani stuck her head out. "Is it safe now?"

"It's always BEEN safe, you weirdo."

"Heh. Oh well . . . What happened?"

I explained, while Æthelflæd went back to playing with the mouse.

"So . . . two people have just been zapped here," said Ryani.

"Yup."

"By the whole, 'See Blank As They Really Are' idea, I guess."

"Looks like it."

Æthelflæd was bored. The mouse contained no fun anymore. Then . . .

"New event! Neomail from Mouself!"

She blinked, then clicked on it. The message read . . .

"I shall find you!! (runs off in Sherlock Holmes outfit)"

Æthelflæd blinked, then slowly typed (as she had seen Flaed do, only at a greater pace);

"What manner of enemy are you?"

My friend Mouself, in her house, checked her neomail, and saw that.

"Wha?"

********

Ethelflaed: First chapter. Whew! Tiredness. Well, please tell me what you think, or even if you think it isn't really worthwhile. And remember . . . Ryani of the Panther helped me!!

Ryani: (bows) Actually, I practically am writing this . . .

Ethelflaed: (angrily) YOU ARE NOT!!! (hits Ryani with foil)

Ryani: (dodges)

Ethelflaed: And . . . my name's not REALLY Ethelflaed Fitzgerald. (grin) Away, stalkers, away! (sticks out tongue)

Ryani: (sweat drops)

Ethelflaed: There WILL be references to websites, TV shows, books etc. but since this is not based on them, I do not think this counts as fan fiction. But I don't own them, anyway.

The Anglo-Saxon I have used is terrible, but it will do for now.