He stepped back, startled at the unexpected contact, but quickly recovered his aplomb. "Greetings, ma'am," he said politely. "Have we met?"

His eyes met her surprised and slightly hurt gaze. "You don't remember me?" she asked with a sigh. "I was afraid of that."

"You have the advantage of me, ma'am," Garin said. "Please, refresh my memory."

She smiled at him, her cheeks dimpling. "You were married to me once," she said, then paused, an odd look crossing her face. "Or maybe you will be.. time can be so odd around Randara."

Garin was thoroughly entranced now. He was quite certain the woman must be insane, and a pity, too. Such a beautiful woman -- but then, insanity was no respecter of glossy red hair and sparkling green eyes. He gently asked her questions, as others began to gather, listening intently and trying to piece together her story. Her answers were confusing and sometimes contradictory, but the story that eventually emerged was this:

Her name was Chrysana Rial, and she was born and raised on Haven Island. Some years earlier, perhaps 20, perhaps 8, time flowed so oddly for her, she had met and married a young mage by the name of Randara. Randara was ambitious and eager to learn, and shortly after their marriage, he made a trip to Fayd to study with the learned mages there. A year passed with no word from him, then more months. She waited, hope dying a little more in her each day, until the day the door opened... and a complete stranger swept her into his arms! He insisted that he was Randara, her husband, and sure enough, he knew things that none but Randara could possibly know. Finally, she accepted that somehow, her Randara had become transformed, and accepted him. Some months later, she woke one morning, and he was gone. Once again, she was alone for months with no word, and once again, a complete stranger returned claiming to be Randara. Eventually, she grew used to this. Randara, it seemed, could not keep one shape for very long. She even learned to look forward a bit to his return, wondering who she would be married to when he returned. It seemed his shape-changing wasn't confined to men, or even humans..

To his chagrin, Garin found himself called away on urgent business at that point in her story. Aishua and Dawn had happened upon the conversation, and they stayed to listen and talk to Chrysana. This time, Chrysana said, Randara had been gone far too long, and so she'd set out to look for him. The problem was, she had no idea what he might look like. Aishua and Dawn offered to help her look for him, and to help her find a place to stay in town. They left the jewelers' and made their way to the center of town, Chrysana scrutinizing the faces of everyone they passed for any signs of her husband. They arrived in the center of town to find a large blue demon lounging against the fountain. Odd things abound in Fayd, but this was out of the ordinary even for this city. Even more out of the ordinary, the demon was polite, civil, a bit frosty perhaps. Dawn immediately asked him if he recognized Chrysana. The demon gave her a perfunctory glance, and shrugged.

"Never seen her before in my life," he said. Dawn appeared nonplussed, but gamely continued to quiz the demon. Suddenly, between questions, the demon seemed to melt and reform before their eyes. And then again. And again. For a moment, Randara wavered before them. He gazed at Chrysana, hope lighting in his eyes. "Chrysana?" he asked.. "Chrysana! Is it you?" But before she could even react, Randara was gone, and someone else stood in his place. Twice more in as many minutes, Randara spoke through the shifting forms, and then the demon screamed, and disappeared. Chrysana stood there, shaking her head.

"It's happened again," she murmured. The others looked at her oddly. It? She explained that it had happened once before, that Randara's shapechanging had gone into flux and he had lost control over it. By now, others had again joined the conversation, and each made suggestions for curing Randara's problem, but as Randara appeared to have vanished, the suggestions were mostly moot, and eventually, Dawn took Chrysana off to get her a room for her stay in town.