For as long as he can remember, Byron has had visions, waking dreams that sometimes proved to be visions of the future, and sometimes were just confusing interruptions into his view of the normal world. In his childhood, he was often accused of making things up & he was discouraged of ever speaking of the things he saw. And his mother also especially discouraged him from visiting the strange family that lived down the street, 'witches' his mother called them & warned him to stay away. Byron never listened to her (or to anyone, really), Serena and her mother were his only real friends in the world, the only people to whom he could speak the truth of his experiences. "You have the gift," Serena's mother used to tell him. Serena was also so gifted, and in her family, these talents were nurtured & encouraged. Growing up together in this way, their childhood friendship naturally blossomed into a teenage romance as their bodies matured, but things changed as they became adults. Serena was always meant to follow her mother's path, to train herself to use her gifts, in service of the Goddess, and she often tried to steer Byron into that course with her. But unlike Serena & her family, Byron never felt his 'gift' came with any kind of obligation to use it in service of anything or anyone other than himself. And what Byron longed to do, more than anything, was to make movies, to share his visions with the world in the form of stories told on screen. He and Serena parted ways when he went off to film school & she went on to do her thing, but they remained friends. Though they only saw or spoke to each other rarely, Byron would often feel his first lover's presence with him as he traveled, and he was quite sure sometimes, when dreamed of her, that they were not ordinary dreams, but that she had somehow entered him while he slept. As he begins production of his newest film, an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 'The Sandman: Season of Mists' comic book, he feels a strong pull to Serena's house. He's made several films now & what they all lack is real 'magic'. Special effects can do amazing things, but he wants more from his films...something only someone like Serena can provide for him. When he explains to her what he wants, Serena lectures him about his not having trained & developed his own gift & she refuses to help him.

But then she sees something in her crystal that makes her change her mind. She still won't summon him a fairy or a demon for his film, but she says she 'must be at his side' during the production. On his recent to Nepal, the sadhus he met there told him often that all things happen for a reason, there is no such a thing as 'coincidence'. Byron came here looking for help on his film, he leaves with a renewed hope that Serena will forgive him for not following her path & relent... it's the way she chose the phrase, 'at your side', because despite having taken many lovers since he & Serena parted, he's never allowed any of them to spend the night in his bed, or to stand in the circle of his arms. He's kept that place, the place by his side, for Serena alone, whether she would have it or not. (this is of course probably why his lovers never stay around very long, his odd demands were often too much for even the most ambitious young actress. And Byron never missed a single one of them when they left: all were actresses & all were there simply to play a part for him, as far as he was concerned.)

The first thing next morning, Byron has his assisstant Ruben bring a copy of the screenplay to Serena. And that evening, after spending the day wondering if she's read it yet, he decides to try something he learned from the sadhus in Nepal, something he knows Serena can & has done several times. Before he goes to bed, he meditates, focusing on the odd castle-like house in Hollywood Hills that he will be using as a location for his movie. He mentally places himself in it's grounds, & he draws Serena there with him. He focuses on this while he chants, a special mantra the sadhus gave him. When he falls asleep, he is there in his dream & so is Serena. "What is this place, Byron? Who brought us here?" she asks him with a trembling voice. Byron is suprised by her obvious fear, and he explains that it is his movie set, that they are in a dream & that he summoned her here. He assumed she'd know all that: he's always assumed she knows everything.

"How...how did you summon me, Byron? You've never studied the arts as I have...." she wants to know. Byron puts his arms around her, "Serena, I'm sorry I frightened you: I didn't think you could be frightened," he says. "I spent some time with some sadhus in Nepal, and I learned some things. I thought you'd be pleased..." She pulls herself out of his embrace then, and reprimands him with her eyes. "Byron," she scolds with a sigh, "I'm not one of your actresses to be called on to suit your whims. I'm happy you've chosen at last to learn to apply your gifts, but you must treat them seriously..."

Of course, he realizes, she's spent her whole life devoted to this, and she doesn't appreciate being summoned by someone like him, who has never practiced. And is that a note of jealousy he hears when she mentions 'his' actresses? When they were young, he found it easy to know what she was thinking: after so many years apart, he finds it more difficult. "'My' actresses don't come to suit my whims, either, Serena. They are, taken as a whole, more obstinate than even you. I think you are just upset with me that I've learned how to summon you. All these years you've told me to nuture my 'gifts', but once I do, you are afraid to be challenged," he tells her.

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