1
The Beginning

            I waited in the trees, silent as a shadow, watching the caravan pass below me on the road.  The wolves waited out of sight in the woods beyond, just as watchful.  When the caravan was out of sight around the bend, I dropped silently to the road.  After a few moments, the five wolves joined me.
            ‘How much farther?’ Nighthunter asked.  Of the five wolves present, Nighthunter was the alpha male.  He and his mate, Lightfoot, led the pack of thirteen wolves that was now all the family I had left.
            “How should I know?” I replied.  “The least we can do is get a map or directions at the next town!  We can follow the road for a few more hours, then find a place to stop for the night.
            As we walked, I allowed myself to become lost in memories.  It has been almost nineteen years since the druid couple found me as an infant at their door.  They took me in and raised me as their own.  As I grew up, my parents Liam and Riona taught me as much as they could of the ways of the forest: how to hunt and prepare game, how to use a bow, dagger, and quarterstaff.  I learned how to stalk the most skittish animals, and to be utterly silent in the woods even when the leaves fell in the fall and could crunch underfoot.  I used to practice by sneaking up on herd of deer, the most abundant and likely to run at the slightest movement or scent.  Mother and Father taught me few things that didn’t have to do with nature, only to read and write.  Although they didn’t agree with violence, they did agree that I should know how to defend myself without a weapon.  They wouldn’t have anything to do with swords, but Father and I would entertain ourselves with knife throwing.
            Much of what Mother and Father did had very little to do with magic, but I learned all I could of the magic they did use.  When it became obvious in my younger years that I had inherited mage abilities from some parent...  well I just had to blunder through that myself, as best I could.  Mother and Father were druids, not mages or wizards, and so couldn’t teach me much of what I needed.  They did show me some runes which I learned to focus on, and the rest is like feeling around in the dark:  sometimes I latch on to something useful.
            Liam and Riona also introduced me to as many animals as possible, including the wolf pack.  I used to hunt as a pair with Nighthunter when he was a pup.  I was twelve, and Notch and Twilight led the wolf pack.  A few years later, Nighthunter became alpha male, and Lightfoot became his mate.  I learned to ride on the old plow horse we kept for the fields, and learned from the mice what an owl sounds like in its silent flight.
            My parentage was an entirely different topic.  Although Liam and Riona rarely discussed it if they thought I was listening, I once overheard them say I was a child of a rape.  They thought my father was a dark elf, for I had most of his unique coloring.  However, it was fairly obvious that my mother was human, for while I was tall and slender, I was sometimes much too clumsy for an elf.  I also had some un-drowlike qualities.  Like most dark elves, I had ebony skin, but my long, waist-length hair, except in deep shadow, shone a bright silver.  My deep blue eyes changed little, whether in normal vision or heat vision.  While hunting, I usually dressed in black, so my wolf name, Shadow, was quite appropriate, since a shadow is what I normally made myself.
            While I grew up well, every person I met thought I was drow - even the inhabitants of a nearby town.  As a result, I often stayed away from the town, and people in general.  Everyone in the town knew what I looked like, and hated me because of it.  I guess in this, my actions couldn’t outweigh the color of my skin, especially with a constant reminder of how evil those who share my skin really were.  Apparently, the area was close to an exit from the Underdark, so drow often came and raided the area.  Liam and Riona would hear rumors and get sideways hateful glances when they went into town after a recent strike.  Once spring came, the town was usually full of bounty hunters, who got paid for each drow ear they brought in.  Liam and Riona always made sure that I stayed out of sight, whether I was in the house or in the woods.
            Unfortunately, one bounty hunter came early, when spring was only a hint in the air, a month and a half ago.  In one short month, he talked the entire town into believing that I was the reason the drow kept coming back.  When the mob showed up, I was in the woods with the wolf pack.  Hearing the noise, we had crept to the edge of the woods and watched.  When the hunter demanded the druids give me up, Liam and Riona refused to even tell him and the rest where I was.  They had seen me - I was in the woods behind the mob, and they made eye contact with me.  I saw Liam motioning subtly with his head - he wanted a telepathic link.
            I hurriedly made the gesture and whispered the words that would allow me, with the help of a small crystal around my neck, to share minds with Liam.
            <What are you doing?> I asked in our thoughts.  <They’ll kill you!>
            <They would kill you as well.> He talked so calmly, in the face of the danger.  <We knew this day would come.  It was inevitable.  We have lived our lives, and would die so that you can live yours.>
            <But...!>
            <GO!> This was nearly a shout in my mind.  <Don’t let them find you!  Nighthunter will know what to do.  There is another like you, a drow ranger.  He is called Drizzt Do’Urden.  As far as I know, he lives past Silverymoon, in Icewind Dale.  Find him!>
            With this said, he broke the link.  I could only watch, helpless, as the crowd surged forward, parting around Liam and Riona, and setting fire to the house.  It was only when I saw the first person turn, and the two wolves, one small and the other huge, that I realized Windrunner and Howl had attacked them.
            I didn’t notice that I’d started forward until I felt Nighthunter against my legs.  I dropped to my knees and threw my arms around his shaggy neck, burying my face in his fur.  When I looked up again, the house was completely engulfed in flames.  The bounty hunter was standing in front of my foster parents, who were held from behind by two men.  I could just barely see Liam shaking his head, and the defiant look on Riona’s face.  At a nod from the bounty hunter, the men killed them, cut their throats.  The mob dealt with Windrunner and Howl the same way, although they did have some trouble; Howl is half worg, and stands tall enough to almost look me in the eyes.
            I hid my face in Nighthunter’s neck again, wetting his fur with my tears.
            After a while, he nudged me.  ‘We must leave; the humans will soon be searching the area.  Come with me.’
            I followed Nighthunter and the pack, and soon realized that they were leading me to The Tree.  The Tree is huge, big enough that three people with linked arms couldn’t surround it.  It’s roots can be as thick as a man’s torso, and they spread for many yards.  We - Liam, Riona, and I - often climbed it for the view, because the branches are thick even at the top and it’s taller than most trees in the forest.  At the top, you can see for miles.  It also had a secret compartment cunningly concealed in the hollow of one large root, built to look like part of the tree.  I walk over to the root and opened the compartment.
            It seemed that Mother and Father had been prepared for something like today; the hollow was completely filled with supplies.  I pulled everything out and took and inventory, starting with food.  There was enough food to last two weeks, and money to buy more.  I could also hunt food; most of the food in the hollow was dried.  There were enough herbs and bandages to last a long time, unless I was severely wounded.  I pulled out a calf length wool cloak, pants, good, knee height boots, some shirts - loose, but not too much so, gloves, socks - all of it dyed a nice earthy dark brown.  In one of the belt pouches I found leather ties for my hair.  In the way of weapons, there were half a dozen well balanced knives, an ebony quarterstaff, and a shortbow, unstrung.  In another beltpouch, I found several oiled bowstrings.  I also pulled out a quiver of forty arrows, completely black.
            Blinking away tears, I swiftly stowed away the food, herbs, and most of the money in packs that looked suspiciously like saddlebags.  I also stored all of the clothing- what I was wearing was dark brown, dark enough to blend in.  The weapons I stashed in the appropriate places - a knife in each boot, two on one wrist, one on my waist, and the rest in my beltpouch.  The bow I strung, placed in a sheath, then strapped on my back.  I also strapped the arrows on over the bow.  Then I held up the packs, completely at a loss until Longstride stepped up.
            ‘They are like saddlebags,’ he said.  ‘They go over my back and are secured in place by a chest strap.’
            “You don’t mind?”
            ‘No.’
            So I placed the bags on his back and followed his instructions to secure them.  Then I stood, picked up my quarterstaff, and leaned it against The Tree.  I stood up on the root and climbed swiftly to the top, as I had done almost every day since I was able.  At the top, I surveyed the forest one last time.  I could see the column of smoke from the house, rising high into the sky.  I climbed down slowly.
            ‘Where to now, Shadow?’  asked Solitude.  He kept to himself and rarely talked, his mottle gray and brown coat helping him blend into his surroundings.  Even now I had a hard time seeing him.
            “North.  Father used to go to the town there for supplies, so we should find someone to point us in the right direction.”  I didn’t mention Liam or Riona.
            ‘You missed something in here,’ Tangle, another younger wolf, was sniffing at the hole in the root.  When I looked, I almost missed them, they were so well tucked into a crevice.  I reached in and lifted the objects into the light to see them better.
            The first was a circlet made of what appeared to be silver.  It was molded in a wire frame crown shape and ended in a point meant to hang centered high on the brow.  The bottom point made a frame around a medium sized cut stone.  The stone was a deep purple that matched the color of my magic.  Stormwatcher was by my side in an instant.
            ‘Mithril,’ he commented.  ‘Good metal.  Never breaks.  Good for holding magic.  Try it on.’
            It was not a request, but a demand, and so I complied.
            ‘Look at yourself,’ he said, leading me over to a small pool nearby.  I obliged, bending over slightly to peer at my reflection in the puddle. 
            For a second, I thought the puddle shimmered and I had seen a light-skinned stranger for an instant.  I blinked and looked again, but saw only my own dark skin and blue eyes.  “I see only myself.”  I glanced at Stormwatcher expectantly, but he only looked back with his penetrating eyes.  With a sigh, I turned to the last object I’d found: a rolled piece of parchment.
            As soon as I touched it, I could feel the spell on it, one that kept it from disintegrating in the dampness underneath a tree root.  Still, I carefully unrolled it to see my father’s neat script.

To our daughter Alyssa, our dearest Shadow:
           As you maybe can already tell, we prepared this for you in the event that things take a turn for the worst.  Which means that we are no longer by your side to guide your steps.  Fear not.  You are a smart girl, and with the wolf pack by your side, I have the utmost confidence that you will be capable of dealing with whatever comes your way.  But that doesn’t mean we didn’t anticipate some of the difficulties you will face.  So I leave to you one last gift, and a story.
           The story starts long ago, the day your mother opened the door to find a baby on our doorstep.  Even though the baby’s skin was black as night, we couldn’t leave an infant to die in the wild.  Against most recommendations, we took you in and raised you as our own.
           By the time you were several months old (for we had judged you to be less than a week old when we found you), word of what we had done had traveled through all of the Druidic order.  Some murmurs were uneasy; others were simply curious.  After a year or two, the novelty wore off, but not before bringing us another rumor.
           It seemed that a few of the rangers had heard of you and were reminded of another drow elf in the area less than a decade ago.  He had stayed in the northern mountains with a blind comrade.  When the ranger passed on, the drop moved on, finally making his home in the inhospitable northern reach of the Ten Towns of Icewind Dale.  The blind ranger’s name was Montolio DeBrouchee, and the drow was Drizzt Do’Urden.
           I tell you all this because we fear for you.  You are most likely without a home, and without companionship of your own kind.  The wolf pack may be your family right now, as they always will be, but they cannot give you more than that.  So my wish and hope is that this man will help you to understand yourself better.  If you do not find the place where you belong at the end of your journey to him, then you will find it somewhere along the way.
           To help you in your travels, I have gathered what I believed to be necessary to survive.  That includes what you probably now hold in your hand – a Mithril circlet, set with an amethyst.  This is bound to your essence.  Once you are familiar with it, I am sure it will prove to be invaluable to you as a focus for your magic.  There is one spell already in the crystal for you to learn: a spell of illusion.  Use it wisely.
                        Our love be with you always,
                              Liam & Riona
           
            I sat down on a tree root and pulled the circlet off, mostly in shock from it all.  “You planned this?  All of you?  I mean...  the saddlebags, the food and weapons, the bandages?  And the circlet, that alone must have cost them a small fortune...  where did they find it?”
            ‘That time when Liam went on a trip, to get supplies and grain?  He ordered this as well, took a few pieces of hair so it could be attuned to you.’  Longstride sat on his haunches, the bags slipping off his shoulders a little.  I remember the trip he spoke of, and knew as well that getting a few strands of my hair wouldn’t be difficult; long hair tends to leave itself everywhere.
            “But...  how did they know?”
            ‘They could see the hearts of the people, dear.  They kept you out of sight for as long as possible, but knew that there would come a day when it wouldn’t be enough.  So they prepared:  themselves, us, all this.’  Lightfoot explained.
            I looked at my hands, then at the bags on Longstride’s back and the rest of the pack.  “I could stay here forever, you know.  Those people would never find me in this forest.”
            Nighthunter nudged me with his head and licked my cheek.  ‘But they can burn the forest, and the bounty hunter is a tracker, he very well might be able to find you.’
            I sighed, and stood.  “Then as Father wished it, we go to find this man...  the closest town is north, we can figure it out from there.”  With that, we turned and headed north, skirting the townspeople searching for me.

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            My thoughts were interrupted by a cold, wet nose on my hand.  It was Nighthunter.
            ‘We need to hunt.  There are only a few hours of daylight left,’ he said.
            “Then we might as well stop for the night.  You and the pack go hunt.  I’ll start a small fire and start some food cooking.”
            ‘You two-leggers and your fires!’
            “Well, unlike you, I can’t eat meat raw!” I retorted, grinning. 
            Nighthunter shook his shaggy head, then loped off with the rest of the pack to hunt, leaving Solstice and Equinox, the two youngest pups.  They were too young to hunt, and I often played the part of pack mother, watching them while the rest of the pack hunted.  They followed me as I walked a few yards from the road before setting my pack down and preparing a camp.
            After searching a few minutes, I soon had an armful of firewood.  Solstice and Equinox tried to help, each trying to bring the biggest stick, which soon grew to be twice their length and just as round!  I laughed at their antics, and realized it was the first time I’d laughed since leaving. 
            I sighed, and concentrated on the task at hand.  I built a frame for the fire, then stood up.  After a few minutes of concentration, when I wasn’t rewarded with the usual lick of flame and wisp of smoke, I traced the rune for fire in the air.  It glowed briefly, then disappeared, but nothing changed.  I sat down in front of the fire pit and crossed my legs.  After carefully clearing my mind of visions of the house burning, I concentrated on the rune in my mind once more, and was satisfied to see smoke curl up and flames start.
            The flames were mesmerizing, and as I stared into them I could once again see my burning house.  Mother and Father had given their lives for me, and two wolves had given their lives for Liam and Riona.  Windrunner had been the fastest runner in the pack, named because it seemed she could run as fast as the wind.  Howl was half worg, he stood almost as tall as me at his shoulder.  Because of his size, his howl was so loud it seemed to penetrate my body and make my bones vibrate.  Both of them were very close to my parents, but they hadn’t been enough to stop my parents’ deaths.
            I shook my head to clear it of the flames, and the painful memories they brought back.  By now, the fire was burning well and wouldn’t go out, so I bid the twins to stay put and grabbed my bow and quiver.  Soon I had two rabbits for a meal, hind legs tied together and slung over my shoulder.  Making my way back to the fire, I set the two rabbits on a spit.
            We had been on the road for little more than two weeks, but I had already had my share of blunders.  For three days afterwards I had walked in a fog, letting the wolves guide my steps.  Each night I have a vague memory of sleeping where I dropped, in the midst of the pack like another wolf.  On the fourth day, the fog lifted, but my heart ached with loss.  Since then, I’d been getting better at starting a fire without seeing the house burning.  Some nights I’d had trouble finding small animals, but I never truly went hungry, eating the packed food if I needed.  Often, before I tried to sleep, I would take out the circlet and put it on, trying to figure out its secrets.
            By the time the rabbits were ready, Nighthunter and the pack were back, thoughtfully bringing back part of their kill for me in several small, fist sized pieces.
            “Do you want me to dry this?” I asked.  Nighthunter nodded once.  The wolves felt that dried meat was no replacement for fresh, but it did keep the pups endlessly occupied chewing it.  While proper drying took more than one night, I could, through partially magical means, make the fire hot enough to dry meat sufficiently.
            After I ate, I built up the fire to dry the meat.  Since I didn’t feel much like sleeping, I got out the circlet and put it on as I had several nights before, closing my eyes to try and feel the magic.
            As I took several deep breaths I was aware of my magic stirring, making itself known.  There was a faint answering call from the gem centered on my forehead that I had never felt before.  In a flash of understanding, I felt how my magic should be and made it so, feeling my body tingle slightly.  I opened my eyes, but even though I’d sensed the magic settle over me, I could see no visible change.  Disappointed, I reached up to remove the circlet, frustrated enough to be done for the night.  But what I saw shocked me.
            My skin had lightened from its normal ebony hue, closer to the shade of someone who spent a lot of time in the sun and my slender fingers had shortened.  I was dumbfounded for a moment, then rushed over to a nearby stream to look at my reflection.  There I could tell my eyes were rounder than my normal almond shape, my cheeks were a bit fuller, and my ears no longer had their slight points.  My face was the same light brown color as my hand, and my hair held a blonde tint, although my eyes stayed their vibrant hue.  Amazed, I tried to think of what I had done to trigger the spell, and how I could reverse it. 
            Nightsong had heard my movement and wandered over.  When she saw me, her only comment was, ‘You look different, Shadow, but you smell the same.’  I smiled at her and redoubled my magical efforts, finally figuring out how to release the illusion.  I practiced a few more times casting and breaking the illusion by seeing the specific rune form in my mind, all while learning more about how the amethyst focused my power.  By the time I crawled under my blanket, the moon was starting to rise and I was exhausted from using magic.  I was asleep almost as soon as my head hit the ground.

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            The night passed uneventfully, other than me rolling over to make sure the fire hadn’t burnt the forest down or scorched the meat, then going back to sleep.  For several nights after we left, I didn’t sleep much, since every time I closed my eyes I saw the house burning.  If I slept at all, my sleep was plagued with nightmares.
            I got up, smothered the fire, and shouldered my pack.  Nighthunter barked, once, to signal our moving.  We were upon the road shortly after dawn.  By noon, we were skirting the forest’s edge, and soon after had to leave the forest altogether.  By nightfall, I could see the lights of a small town.  That night, we ate trail rations and dried meat, camping there while we decided what to do the next day.
            “I need to get more trail rations, and we desperately need a map,” I said.
            ‘We can’t go in town with you, but you can go in yourself wearing the circlet,’ Nighthunter was quick to point out. 
            ‘Don’t take any visible weapons,’ piped Tangle.  Tangle was young, only older than the twins by a year.
            ‘Wear something other than all black.  Complete black isn’t something a surface elf wears,’ Lightfoot advised.  Lightfoot was Nighthunter’s mate, and the alpha female.
            ‘Are you going to stay a night in the inn?’ asked Moonlight.  She was light as the moon, one of Tangle’s siblings.
            “Calm down guys!  I can’t think of everything at once!”  I laughed.  “Tomorrow morning I will go into the town.  I’ll take my quarterstaff and no other visible weapons, and I’ll wear my forest clothes.  Is everyone happy?!”  My forest clothes consisted of dark brown pants and a dark green tunic.
            ‘If you stay a night at the inn, you can inquire about directions, and you’ll meet any merchants that might have maps.  And it would look suspicious if you just came and went, since you’ll be a stranger.’ Nightsong said quietly.  Everyone turned and looked at her.
            “Since when did you know all this about towns?” I asked.
            ‘Your father and I talked a lot about it, and he used to go adventuring with Notch,’ she replied.
            “Well, do you have any other suggestions?”
            ‘No, not any that I can think of.’
            “Okay, so tomorrow morning I’ll go into town.  I’ll leave what I don’t take in the packs with Longstride so that it’s not just left on the ground.  While you wait for me, I would suggest waiting in the woods. Anything else?”  The edge of the forest could be seen from where we were.
            ‘I don’t think so,’ Nighthunter replied.
            “One last question: should I get a horse?  I think I have the money, and it’ll make the trip a little faster.”
            There was silence.  Finally, Nighthunter spoke.  ‘No horse would accept riding with us.’
            “I thought so, but I had to ask,” I was disappointed for not being able to speed up the pace, but the wolves were right.  A horse would only be spooked by the wolves, and unable to travel with them.  I went to sleep that night with that problem in my mind.
            The next morning, I was up around dawn like usual.  I packed almost all of the weapons in the packs, except for my quarterstaff, and a few of the knives that could be hidden on my person.  Bidding farewell to the wolves, I put on my circlet and turned to go.
            ‘Be careful,’ Stormwatcher called after me.  ‘The circlet can still be seen, just not your true skin color.’
            I acknowledged this with a wave and started towards the town.

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            It took me less than an hour to get to the town, but once I was there I wandered around until I found an inn.  After renting a room for the night, I discovered, through a few inquiries, that the name of the town was Ashabenford.  It was so named because of the river that flowed straight through its center.  I also learned that the best place for maps was a scribe service, and that there was one a few streets over called Irigrim’s Quill.  I decided to eat a small lunch and make my way towards it, noting the trade store on the way and resolving to stop on the way back.
            I spent most of the rest of the afternoon in Irigrim’s Quill, learning about maps.  I bought several maps that I would need, and Irigrim was happy to explain how to read them to me.  He seemed to enjoy my company, so invited me to stay for supper, but I politely declined, saying that I still had to stop for supplies.
            The sun had set when I left for the inn, stopping at the supply store on my way.  I had come out the back of Irigrim’s shop, and took the road there.  I soon realized that this road wasn’t the same road as the one I went to the scribe shop on.  Indeed, the road was getting narrower and darker the further along I went, making me nervous.  I’d never been in anything bigger than our tiny village before, hadn’t even been in the village by myself.  I may have jumped at every noise in that alley, but nothing prepared me for when I was grabbed from behind.
            “So, the little wench thinks she can freely walk through our alleys, does she?”  The rough voice behind me growled.  I was too terrified to move, much less reach any of my various daggers stowed on my person.  My quarterstaff had been left at the inn.  “Whaddya think we should do wit ‘er, boys?”  The speaker slowly turned us around until we were facing a group of two or more men, both burly and carrying long, slim daggers in their hands.
            “Le’s have some fun wit ‘er before we send ‘er on ‘er way,” one said, drawing his finger from ear to ear in imitation.  The second man just grinned an evil grin and nodded.  Fear inspired me to inch my hand towards my waist, but I didn’t have a chance to grab one before the man holding me threw me to the side of the alley, where I impacted with the wall with a sickening thud.  I managed to slide down the wall, stunned, onto my stomach so that I could grab a dagger from a hidden waist sheath.  I heard the men approaching me and prepared myself to jump and run.
            When I did jump up with a dagger in one hand and assumed a fighting position, they just laughed and moved in closer.  “We’s likes th’ ones tha’ fight,” said the one who had been holding me.  The man who hadn’t spoken yet had moved quite close, and so he reached for me, only to be met with a dagger swipe as I tried to take his hand off.  He only smiled, then seemed to sag as my other dagger found its way into his heart.  This set the other two back a little, but they kept advancing.  I rolled under the first man’s arms and came up behind him.  He was a large man, and too slow to turn to block my dagger as it plunged into his back.  I was now facing the remaining man, expecting him to act as the other two had, and keep advancing.  But he had stopped and was staring at my face.
            “D-d-d-drow!” he stammered.  I then spied my circlet lying bright on the ground at the same time he turned to run.  My heart sank.  I knew what would happen if he escaped and spread the word about a drow wearing a silver circlet that was masquerading as a surface elf.  Reluctantly, I drew out two of my throwing stars and threw them in the direction of the now running man.  He fell before he reached the end of the alley.
            Looking around, I decided that it wouldn’t do for the three bodies to be discovered.  I picked up my circlet and put it back on, becoming once again the golden-skinned, silver-haired elf that hid what I truly was.  Then I managed to drag all the bodies together, meaning to light them with magefire, which would simply burn the bodies and not light anything else on fire.  But my hands were shaking too badly to cast the spell, so I ended up simply hiding the bodies behind the refuse on the edges of the alley.  They would be discovered in several days when they started to smell, but by then I would be long gone, nothing but a memory.  I retreated back the way I’d come, to the main road, where I headed straight for the inn, not even noticing that The Trading Post was closed.  Dark had completely fallen by that time, and the only light was light from the houses of windows.  I went right to my bed and fell asleep immediately.
            My dreams were filled with rotting corpses and burning houses, and a bounty hunter with a throwing star in his skull cutting my ear off.  By the time I awoke, I was bathed in sweat and not rested at all.  There was no wolf to nuzzle me and tell me everything was alright, it was just a dream, and to go back to sleep.
            When I woke in the morning, I felt like I hadn’t slept at all, but I forced myself to get up and get dressed  I was glad to find that I had bolted the door and drawn the shutters before I had taken off the circlet but I didn’t remember it.  I packed my things and left the inn to go to The Trading Post, where I bought more rations, some actual food, and flint and steel so I could start a fire without a spell.  After paying and thanking the man, I left, heading straight out of town.
            In less than an hour, I had reached the wolf pack.  We traveled a bit, to the edge of the forest, arriving a few hours before dark, and setting up a camp just inside the tree line.  I showed them the maps I had gotten, and the route I proposed we take.  Everyone agreed, and we soon settled down for the night.  After a little while, Nighthunter came over to me.
            ‘What’s wrong?  Something has been bothering you since you got back.’  His straightforward questioning was comforting.
            “I spent all afternoon yesterday in the scribe service,” I replied, proceeding to tell him of the night’s event.  “I killed three men, and I wasn’t exactly happy about it.  I had nightmares about them.”
            ‘Be glad you are not happy about killing two-leggers,’ came his wise reply.  ‘They were trying to do you harm.  The day you get pleasure out of killing and it ceases to disgust you so, then that is the day you become like your brethren everyone hates so much.’
            “Thanks, packbrother.  You always know how to make me feel better.  I think I want to stay out of towns as much as possible from now on!”  And with that, I rolled over and went to sleep.
            My dreams were plagued with burning houses, my dad parents and packsiblings, and the rotting corpses of the three men I had killed.  But, in the middle of the night I felt a cold wet nose on my cheek and a soft voice reassured me that I was safe, it was just a dream, and to go back to sleep.  I was unaware of anything else for the rest of the night.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            Sunbeam, Stormwatcher, Nighthunter, and Lightfoot watched their half-elven packsister toss and turn in her sleep.  ‘At this rate she will never get a good night’s sleep.  I wish we could do something about the dreams, instead of reassuring her when she’s in the throes of one.’  Sunbeam spoke softly to the other three.  ‘Montolio’s grove will block the dreams because it is blessed by a goddess, but she can’t stay there forever, and neither can we.’
            ‘We can’t speed up the pace any, either.’  Nighthunter was thinking out loud.  ‘We’re wolves, though not quite normal.  No horse would suffer to travel with us unless it was not quite normal as well.’
            ‘We will just have to wait, and see what the All Mother brings.’  Stormwatcher replied.  There were nods of ascent all around, then the small group split up to sleep, all of them close to their packsister Shadow, whose two-legger name was Alyssa.  She seemed to calm when they lay down aside of her.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            The next day we set out again.  During the discussion the previous day, and while reading the maps, we had discovered our destination.  Icewind Dale was above the Ten Towns, all the way up to the Spine of the World, over three hundred miles over land.  The trip would be a long one, since there was no way to speed up the pace.  No riding animal would tolerate the wolf smell; instinct would insist that they run from the scent of predator.  Traveling by sea was out of the question, because the wolves were unwilling to leave me, and no ship’s captain would ever allow wolves on his ship, especially one that was part worg.
            That night when we stopped, I asked Nighthunter why the pack had come with me instead of saying at home.  He sat and looked at me a moment before answering.
            ‘Because we couldn’t.  The townspeople would have killed any wolf that they chanced upon, and we would not have been able to stay so close to painful memories.  Better to help our packsister find where she belongs, and then we will find a place as well, create our own niche from the wilderness.  No other packs will ever accept us as part of theirs because you and your parents have changed us too much.  We think more as a human than that of a wolf.’
            “Oh.”  I had never thought of it that way.  His long speech almost had me stunned.  In the wolf pack, emotions weren’t expressed in words, they were expressed in actions.  This was the most I’d ever heard Nighthunter speak.  “Thank you, Nighthunter.  It means a lot to me.”  He nodded once, then lay down beside me so that I could scratch his ears.  I went to bed that night in the midst of wolves, and dreamed mostly wolf dreams.
            The next day, I stopped the pack early for hunting.  I went on my own hunt, looking for a particular bird.  When I had finally killed the pheasant I was looking for, it was twilight.  I carried the bird back to the campsite, lit a fire, and spent the next few hours cleaning my kill carefully under a witchlight.  The meat I placed in a pile near the fire, some on a spit to cook.  The bones big enough to be saved I cleaned very carefully and set in a pile next to me.  By the time I was done, I had a pile of warm meat, one of clean bones, and a pile of beautiful feathers.  The feathers I wrapped in a rag and put in my pack, carefully so they wouldn’t readily break.  I cooked the meat thoroughly, wrapped the bones in a rag, and put them in my pack as well.  I kept out one slender bone about the size of my smallest finger.  Cupping it in my hands, I concentrated carefully, with a picture in my mind, and was soon rewarded with a small, bright white flame that engraved a word on the bone.  I then pulled out three strands of my silver hair and braided them together, concentrating on them as well until they grew as thick as one of the leather thongs I use to hold my hair back.  Threading the bone, which read Nighthunter, onto the braided hair, I held the ends together until they fused themselves seamlessly.  I was left with a collar-like amulet that could be attuned to the wearer, wouldn’t break, and was almost weightless.  I smiled to myself and went to sleep.
            I made an amulet every night before I went to bed, for fourteen nights, until I had enough for each of the wolves, and myself.  I made myself a bracelet, with both of my names on it, Alyssa and Shadow.  The night after I finished the last one, I gathered the pack around the fire and gave them out.  “These are for if we get separated.  They attune to the one whose name is carved on the bone, the wearer.  Each member of the pack will then be able to tell where the other members of the pack are when they concentrate.  Likewise, you will be able to find me, and I you, the same way.  They are nearly weightless, they won’t break, and they should be snug enough that the strands of hair are buried in your fur and won’t get caught on anything.”  The twins were fascinated, each trying to grab their amulet.  It was like watching a pup chase its tail.
            ‘How do we know if it is working?’  Moonlight asked.
            “Go on a hunt.  Concentrate on an individual, and you should be able to tell where they are as if they were within range.”  So they did, briefly, each coming back with tales of success.  I was pleased with myself.  Even if the wolves never used it, I now had a way to tell where each of them was in case of an emergency.

2
Shadowdale

            It took us another three weeks to get to the next town, and when we did get there, it came as somewhat of a surprise.  One early afternoon, we walked over a hill to find a town on the other side.  After consulting the maps and a few landmarks, I discovered that it was the small town of Shadowdale.  Small or not, I decided that I had had quite enough of towns for a while, and vowed not to go in.  So we skirted the edge of town and continued, only to discover an old, run down house about ten minutes walk away.  It was on the small side, smaller than my parent’s house and only one story.  A thatched roof with rotting holes in it covered four crumbling mud walls.  The entire structure leaned almost dangerously to one side as if the ground underneath had shifted after it was built.  Stranger still was that it glowed like a small sun in my mage sight.  I felt drawn to go knock on the door and was only mildly surprised to hear a voice answer me, telling me to enter.  I paused, and then beckoned Nighthunter to come with me, pushing open the door and stepping inside.
            Stepping inside was like stepping into a log cabin.  The floor was wooden planking, and, looking up, I could even see a slanted wooden roof.  To one side of the room there was a row of tall bookshelves from wall to wall, filled to the brim.  There were various piles of books and papers scattered around the room.  Opposite the bookshelves was a fire laid, but not lit.  In front of me was a young boy behind a desk that had piles of paper on it taller than he was, for he stood on a small stool to be able to see over them.  He appeared to be sorting them into various folders, drawers, and more piles.  When the door closed loudly behind me, he finally noticed us.
            Looking at me and the wolf by my side, wide-eyed and spoke tentatively.  “Mistress Zayanya isn’t here right now.  If you want to see her, you’ll have to wait.”  He pointed at the chair on the other side of the door.
            I nodded, then went to the door and opened it.  The rest of the wolves were waiting there.  “I don’t know how long I’ll be, but I feel I should wait for this ‘appointment’.  If you need to hunt, I’ll be fine.”
            Stormwatcher sneezed.  “I’ll not leave you alone in this house so full of magic.”
            I nodded.  “Then Stormwatcher stays with me, the rest of you go hunt.”  The twins rolled at my feet.  “And I guess I’ll keep the twins, since they can’t keep up yet.  Be careful; don’t let any humans see strange wolves hunting in the woods.”
            Nighthunter nodded, then turned and bounded off into the woods, the rest of the pack following silently.  I picked up the twins, who by now were getting almost too big for the task, and Stormwatcher and I went inside.  Once there, I set the twins down and warned them not to make a mess or knock over any piles.  When I looked up, the man behind the desk was watching me.
            “What makes you think they understand a word you say?” he asked.  “They’re just animals.”
            I stared at him, then looked at Stormwatcher, who sneezed.  “Just animals?  Hear that Stormwatcher?  He thinks you’re just animals.”
            ‘That is because he does not hear us like you do, packsister.  To him, like most humans, we are just animals.’  He sneezed again, then went on.  ‘To him, you may as well be holding a conversation with yourself.’
            I chuckled.  “Yea, I can see that as looking funny.  Are you alright?  You’re sneezing a lot.”
            ‘It’s the magic, it tickles my nose.  I have never felt so much in one place before.  Try this:  instead of saying things out loud to us, use your pendant, or say it in your mind, directed towards whomever you are talking to.  But not right now, I have a feeling that none of your magic will work right in this place.’
            I nodded.  Stormwatcher was right; the boy at the desk was watching us with a peculiar expression on his face.  I smiled at him, then walked to the opposite side of one of the bookshelves and started browsing the titles.  I had no intention of just sitting and waiting for this mysterious Mistress Zayanya who owned the house to appear.  When I found a book that looked interesting, I pulled it out and sat down with my back against the wall.  I was soon engrossed in the pages.
            Several hours must have gone by when Stormwatcher, who was lying beside me, raised his head.  I looked up as well, but heard nothing.  I put my hand on my pendant, and touched Nighthunter’s mind with a question.
            ‘An tall woman is coming up the path,’ he said.  ‘We are just barely out of sight on the hill.’  I could barely understand him, and figured the tower must be interfering somehow.
            <Thanks Nighthunter.  I don’t know how long I’ll be.  The twins are sleeping, but I will wake them and send them out to you.  We may as well plan on spending the night, the sun is going to set in an hour or so.>  I felt his agreement, then broke contact and stood up, using my finger to mark where I was in the book.  Bending over, I woke the twins up.
            “When the door opens, I want you two to go outside.  Nighthunter and Lightfoot will be out there on the hill; go to them,” I whispered quietly.  They nodded, and we stepped out from behind the bookshelf just as the door opened.  Solstice and Equinox made a beeline for the door, darting around the feet of the man who had just come in.
            The woman who came in watched the twins go out the door, but showed no surprise.  She had the fine, wizened lines and carriage of a woman who was well into her middle age.  On her arm was a cloth covered basket, and even though she stood tall and slender, she carried a staff in her opposite hand that was ornately carved.  Her raven black hair was peppered with whites and grays and fell past her waist.  She wore a simple blouse, skirt, and cloak in earth tones.  After watching the twins leave, she busied herself hanging her cloak on a peg by the door, leaning her staff against the stone mantle of the fireplace, and setting her basket on a shelf next to it.  Then she turned and looked me up and down before speaking.
            “You must be Alyssa.  I’ve been expecting you.  Come with me.”  She led me through only door in the room, which opened into a much larger living area.  I looked around me with wide eyed amazement; she chuckled when she saw my curiosity.  I touched the walls gently, as if I was afraid they would crumble to dust under my touch.
            “Magic.  It’s all made of magic.  No wonder it was so bright.  Who are you, that you can build a house out of magic?”
            She laughed.  “I’m just an old woman, but you may call me Zayanya.  And as for the house, I didn’t build it really.  But that’s an explanation for another time.  I would know where you’re going.”
            There was silence for a moment before I said quietly, “Icewind Dale.”
            She raised on eyebrow at me as she sat down, and gestured that I do the same.  “Icewind Dale is a cold, hard place.  Why would you wish to go there?”
            I looked at my fingers. “I’m looking for someone.”
            “Who? And why?”
            ‘This woman has many questions,’ commented Stormwatcher.  ‘She smells ancient, and of old magic.  Do you trust her with your information?’
            I glanced at him, sitting proudly next to my chair looking at me, and scratched his ears, before answering  .  “Because he’s like me.”
            Zayanya sat back in her chair, her eyes sparkling.  “Ah, you look for Drizzt Do’Urden.  What will you do once you get there?”
            Her answer left me stunned, that she had known so easily who I sought.  I had never thought of what I would do once I found this elf.  She seemed to read the uncertainty in my eyes and chuckled.  “It will come to you, I’m sure.  Just give it time.  In the meantime, do you know how you’re going to get there?”
            I nodded, then pulled the map out of my pack and showed her my dilemma.  The map wasn’t very detailed, and a little outdated, but it didn’t take much detail to show the huge desert lying between where I was and where I wanted to go.
            She pondered the map for some time before finally speaking.  “Traveling through a desert with enough food and water for you and a wolf pack would be a feat, one not so easily accomplished.  But going around would take many weeks.”
            Those words put a grain of fear in my heart.  I hadn’t told her about the pack, and we had taken great pains to stay hidden, so how did she know?  And if she knew, who else knew?  Stormwatcher edged a little closer to my legs, and I put my hand on the thick, soft fur on his neck and scratched it, taking comfort from the familiar action.  Zayanya’s eyebrow raised when she saw this.  “Have no fear, child.  None will harm you, or those who came with you, be they man or beast.  But there is very little unusual activity that goes on in this area without my knowledge.”
            All at once there was a noise from outside, barking and snarling, and through it all I heard a howl of a wolf.  Nighthunter’s howl.  “I thought you said they would not be harmed?!”  I snapped angrily at Zayanya, grabbed my pack and ran for the door, rummaging for the circlet as I went.  I found it and managed to get it on just as I made it outside.  There I was confronted with a stand off:  A farmer and his dogs on one side, the dogs bristled and growling, and Nighthunter on the other side, also bristling, the pups at his feet and the rest of the pack a few feet behind him, all of them on their guard.
            <Stop!>
            Immediately both sides subsided, although there was still wary looks between the two.
            I looked at Nighthunter.  <You were supposed to stay hidden!>
            ‘We did.  They tracked us by scent.’  He looked somewhat ashamed.  I sighed and turned to the dogs, one hand on my pendant.
            <We mean you and your master no harm.  Leave my family alone.>
            The dogs looked surprised, and one stepped forward.  ‘We do it only on order of our master, and to protect him.  If you mean no harm, then we will be still.’
            I nodded at him and turned to the farmer.  “Take your dogs and go home, these wolves are under my care.”

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            I hadn’t known what to expect when I talked to the drow girl Alyssa, but she surprised me more than once.  When I led her into the next room after meeting her at the door, she saw at once the true nature of the room.  After listening to her destination, I wondered how she had known of Drizzt.  He was fairly well known in the west, from the battles with the orcs, but in the east... certainly none of the townsfolk had ever heard of him.  Getting her across the desert would certainly be an achievement, but it was possible to Gate her.  Several times I had seen her look at the wolf by her side, and I had the impression that he was speaking to her, but she did not answer through normal means, nor any telepathic that I could sense.  She started as if struck when I mentioned the wolf pack that had come with her, so I was quick to reassure her.  When we heard the commotion from outside, however, she looked at me accusingly.  “I thought you said they would not be harmed?!” she retorted angrily, then snatched her pack from where it lay on the floor and ran for the door, looking for something in it as she went.  She had something in there magical, and when I made it to the door behind her, I saw it was a circlet, obviously magical, for it was no longer a drow girl confronting the farmer and his dogs that stood there, but a surface elf with golden skin, but the hair color was unchanged.  She looked first from the wolf to the dogs, and they seemed to speak to her, for she answered back telepathically.  The farmer managed to look confused and on guard at the same time, until she addressed him and told him to go home.
            He peered at her.  “How do I know that?    How can I be certain that as soon as I leave, they won’t be killing the livestock and chasing the chickens?  How am I able to be sure that worg is yours?”  He pointed to the one in the midst of the pack who very well could have been a worg; it at least had the size of one.  The wolf in question stiffened and growled at the farmer’s tone.  She called him over and stroked his hears.
            “Calm down Longstride, and let me do this the human way.  You are in their territory after all.”  He sat on his haunches as Alyssa picked one of the two youngest pups up in her arms.  “You wanted proof?”  She asked.  He nodded, a cautious and wary look in his eyes.  “Here.  This is Solstice.”  She handed him Solstice, who licked him on the chin.  I could see him relax just a bit, but he still looked suspicious.
            “You could have trained her” he said, peering at her suspiciously from under his eyebrows.  Alyssa sighed in exasperation.
            “Look,” she said.  “If I had wanted to harm you, or your dogs, then I wouldn’t have come out here and calmed them both down.  In fact, I would have let that half worg you speak so angrily of defend his family.”  Her tone of voice was gradually rising as she got angry.  “If you need something more, look at this!”  She motioned the tall wolf over and pushed his thick fur to the side, revealing a silvery cord around his neck.  As the farmer bent closer to look, she held her arm out and I saw there the same type of silvery color.  “This is Longstride,” she continued in a quietly dangerous voice.  “His parents were Howl and Nightsong.”  She pointed to another wolf in the pack.  “These are my brothers and sisters, and I can guarantee you that they go where I go.  When I continue on my way, so shall they come with me.”
            There were several awkward moments as they stared at each other before the farmer looked at me.  I reassured him with a nod.  “She will harm no one.”  Farmer Devyn always put on a show of being gruff, but in reality had a very soft heart.
            Finally, Devyn grudgingly nodded.  “Very well, I believe you.  She’s cute, this one is, even if she is a wolf.”  They exchanged smiles, and he handed Solstice back to her, then looked at me.    “Well if you’ll not be needing me then, Mistress, I’ll be on my way.”  I nodded at him, and the Devyn started back towards the town.  I looked at Alyssa, wondering just what kind of talent she had and how long she had had it...

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            Zayanya looked at me strangely and thoughtfully before turning back inside.  I looked at Nighthunter.  “This time stay hidden!”  He nodded, and led the pack into the small stand of trees not far off, and I followed Zayanya back inside, Stormwatcher by my side.  I got to the room and sat down again, and she looked at me thoughtfully a long time before finally speaking.
            “Perhaps you had better tell me where you’ve come from, and how long you’ve had this talent of yours.”
            “What talent?  Speaking with the wolves?”  She nodded.  “As long as I can remember.  I mean, I can’t remember not being able to understand them.”
            “Did your parents teach you this?”
            I looked at my fingers, trying to avoid the subject.  She waited patiently until I was ready to speak.  “I don’t know.  See, they weren’t my real parents, they just...  They were my real parents, but not my birth parents.”
            She nodded for me to continue, and it seemed that she was not willing to do anything else until she had heard my story.  I was reluctant to tell her of things that were so hard for me to speak of.  “My parents were two human druids, and they are the only parents I remember.  As far as I know, they found my on their doorstep as a baby.”
            She looked thoughtful for some very long moments, then asked, “How did you know of Drizzt Do’Urden?”
            ‘Are you sure you should be telling her everything about us?  She may smell ancient and of magic, but you do not know her.’  Stormwatcher trailed off a little uncertainly.  I could feel Zayanya’s eyes upon us, and she was watching when I looked up.  I sighed.
            “He asked if I should be telling you all this, because although you smell ancient and of magic, I don’t know you very well.”
            Zayanya chuckled.  “He is a very observant wolf.  Let me tell you this:  the man you seek is no longer in Icewind Dale.  If you were to go there, with or without my help, you would find cold and probably death.  Although Drizzt has established a well-known reputation for himself there, that reputation does not spread to other dark elves.”
            “So where is he now?”
            She pulled out my maps again, and pointed to a mountain above the river Surbin.  “He is now in Mithril Hall, with the dwarves.  But getting there will be dangerous.  Several years ago, the orcs came out in force, and while those in Mithril Hall managed to kill the majority, there are many stragglers that wander in the area.  I can get you closer, but you’ll still have a ways to go, and getting into Mithril Hall will be up to you.”
            I nodded, and gave another small sigh.  “I know of Drizzt Do’Urden because my parents were good friends with the ranger Montolio DeBrouchee.  We heard briefly of his stay with Mooshie, and I think part of the reason why is because I was part drow myself.  After Mooshie died, and owl showed up at our door to tell us of the news, and after that visit I never saw the owl again.  I was only a few years old at the time of his death, but my parents told me about him and his owl.  When my parents died...  my father’s last words to me told me of Drizzt and told me to seek him out.  And so I have been.”
            “Well.”  She looked down at my map and pointed to a spot across the desert.  “I am fairly sure that I can Gate you to around this area.  But there’s something that you will have to get for me, from somewhere over here.”  She pointed to another area of the map, somewhat closer.  “It’s a stone, about the size of my fist, with a rune etched in it, and will probably be guarded by something.  This stone isn’t something that should fall into the hands of the wrong kind of people.  When you come back with that, I will Gate you across the desert.”
            “Ok.  We can leave tomorrow.”
            “Good.  I’ll show you to a room where you can stay the night, but most of the wolves will have to sleep outside.  I’m afraid we don’t have the means to accommodate all of them here.”
            I nodded.  “They wouldn’t want to sleep inside a human dwelling anyway, but I think I will keep Stormwatcher with me.”
            Zayanya nodded and directed me towards a room down the hall, with a huge bed and a fireplace that was burning cheerily.  I stepped inside, wishing Zayanya a good night, and went and sat on the bed.  It came up to my waist because there were so many pillows and blankets on it.  I laid down on it and tried to sleep, but it was a soft bed...  too soft.  I finally got down on the floor with Stormwatcher and slept comfortably there for the rest of the night.

3
Cave of Dreams

             At the place on the map where Zayanya had shown us that the stone was, there was a cave.  It had taken us the better part of a week to get there, through heavy forests, and, closer, rocky, hilly terrain.  A dark and somewhat foreboding place, the mouth of the cave was twice my height and just as wide, and led deep into the hillside.  I couldn’t see more than a few feet into the entrance.  After steeling myself for face the unknown inside, I took several steps into the cave.  A yip of pain brought me to a halt, and I turned to see all the wolves still outside the entrance to the cave.
            “Aren’t you guys coming?”
            ‘We can’t, watch.’  Twilight walked forward, and as she got to the entrance, it was like she walked into an invisible wall.  ‘This is something you’ll have to do by yourself Shadow, we can’t come.’
            I walked back to the entrance, put my hand out and sure enough, there was a wall of force.  I couldn’t leave, and my wolves couldn’t come in either.  Reluctantly, I turned towards the inside of the cave, towards uncertainty.
            ‘Shadow.”  It was Nighthunter.  ‘Look at me.’  I turned back to him, crouching down so I was on his level, looking deep into his eyes.  ‘You can do this Shadow.  You’re as strong as your parents, as one of us.  Have faith in yourself.  We’ll be fine, we can take care of ourselves.’  I nodded, too nervous and worried to actually speak, before turning and making my way into the cave.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            Three feet into the cave I could no longer see my hand in front of my face, so I lit a witchlight.  The small ball of lavender-tinted light was one of the first things I’d learned to conjure when I was smaller.  The tunnel-like cave was unlike any I’d ever seen...  but then again, I hadn’t seen many.  It was straight, and tapered to be just above my height and width, without any branches or side tunnels.  Just a tunnel leading into the depths of the mountain.  There wasn’t even any kind of wildlife inside.  The deeper I headed into the cave, the more nervous I got.
            I didn’t have the best sense of time, but it felt like I walked the rest of the morning and more.  I stopped once to eat and drink, and when I did realized that what I was eating now was the last of my food.
            “Oh well, Shadow.  You’ll just have to do this quick so you don’t starve to death.”  I talked to myself as I walked; it kept things from getting boring, and took my mind off the fact that I was very alone.
            After it seemed like I had been walking forever, I thought I saw something.  Putting out the witchlight, I realized that the cave ahead was getting lighter, as if there was an exit to the day outside.  The closer I got, the lighter it got, until finally the tunnel opened up into a huge cavern, the size of a small town.  In the middle of the room was a rock pedestal, upon which was a rock, the size of a man’s fist, and deep blue.  It glowed, and all around it the cavern glowed as well.  The light reflected off the cavern walls and floor.  The clouds as well glowed, and shifted in the light, seeming to be alive.  I took a step into the room and realized that I could hear voices, talking and yelling, whispers...  almost as if there really was a town here, but no people, only their voices.  I took two more steps into the room, and the cloud nearby seemed to move towards me, winding itself around my hair and hands.  As I moved my hands, it broke through the cloud, only to slowly reform itself in a different formation.
            I took a deep breath.  There were no wolves to support me, nobody to tell me to have faith in myself now.  “Shadow, you’re not getting any older.  Best get it over with so you can keep going.  All you have to do is walk up to it and take it.”  So, steeling myself, I walked forward, towards the rock pedestal in the middle of the floor.
            It seemed to take an eternity.  Halfway to the pedestal, I paused, noticing that the glowing clouds seemed to be moving faster, and glowing a little bit brighter.  The voices were getting louder as well.  I shook my head and muttered to myself as I moved closer, “Shadow, you must be imagining things!”
            I finally reached the pedestal.  This close, I could see that the deep blue stone had milky white shadows moving in its depths.  On its surface was a rune, etched deep into the rock.  I reached out my hand to take it.
            “Alyssa?”
            I whirled around, the stone forgotten.  “Mother?”
            “Alyssa is that you?”
            “Mother I’m right here!”  All I could see what formless shapes moving through the steadily thickening fog.  “Mother where are you?”
            “Alyssa?”  This time it was my father Liam, calling my name through the mists.
            “Mother?  Father?  Where are you?  Why can’t I see you?”
            “Alyssa I’m here...”  A shape appeared out of the mist, my druidic mother.  I could feel the tears running down my face.
            “But...  you died!  I watched them kill you!”  By now I could see my father, standing beside her, his arm around her waist.
            “Oh Alyssa, this is just a dream.  When you wake up we’ll be gone.”  Mother both looked and sounded sad.
            “But I don’t want you to go!  I don’t want to wake up!”
            “Alyssa,” this time it was Father.  “Alyssa, you have a life to live, journeys to take.  You’re only halfway there, if you don’t wake up you’ll never reach your destination.”
            “But..!”  The voices from the mist grew louder, and Mother and Father looked around worriedly.
            “We have to go, child.  They’re getting closer; we mustn’t let them find us here.”  Both Liam and Riona were looking worried now, peering in shadows.
            “Who?  What are you talking about?”
            “The bounty hunters dear, you remember them.”
            “They’re not here!”
            Riona moved closer to me, as if to caress my face, but her hand went right through me.  “But they’re in your dreams, and these are your dreams.”
            This startled me.  “What?!”
            “Goodbye, daughter.  May the gods bless you.”  With that, they faded into the mist.  I looked around wildly, seeing shapes everywhere, hearing voices from every direction.
            “Alyssa...  Come here, pretty elf.”  This was followed by a snicker, and I recognized one of the men from the alley.  I turned and ran, dropping my quarterstaff, oblivious to my surroundings and unable to control my tears.  From every direction I was faced with another memory from the mist:  my home on fire, the men from the alley I killed, a bounty hunter ever pursuing me, trying to cut off my ears.  Soon, I could bear no more.
            “STOP!”  I screamed at the shapeless figures in the depths of the mists.
            “Alyssa...”  The voice of my father again, behind me.  It was different than before, a little more harsh, a tad lower.
            “Father?  Father why won’t they go away?”  I ran to him, crying, not even noticing the sword in his hand until he tried to stab me.  I stopped abruptly.  “Father, what are you doing?”  He kept moving forward, not answering me, circling me like them men from the alley did.  I took a step towards him.  “Father?  What’s wrong with you?  It’s me, Alyssa.”
            He took a step towards me as well, quick as lightning, and just as quickly threw his hand forward.  I felt my abdomen erupt in fire, so painful that I fell to my knees.  I put my hand to my stomach, looking down at it, and it came away red with blood.  My blood.  I looked back up at my father to see the sword on its way down again.  I threw myself out of its path just in time.  Instead of taking my head off as intended, it deeply scored my shoulder and neck.  I could feel the anger and shock in the back of my mind, and focused my magic, putting my hand out to catch the quarterstaff as it flew towards me.  I used it to push myself off the floor, staggering a little as I got to my feet.  Liam was still circling me, like a vulture.  The time for words was past:  this was a fight only one of us would come out of, even though I couldn’t understand why my father was attacking me.
            The two of us circled each other carefully, him watching me warily, me a little hunched over my stomach.  He was quick, moving in to strike at me with his sword.  I blocked the sword with my quarterstaff, but I missed his other hand swiping across like a claw, leaving behind three more cuts on my stomach in the shape of a claw mark.  I could feel my control slipping; I needed to finish this fast, or I was going to be the one who was finished.  He moved in for another stroke, and I countered, and then drove the butt of my staff into his stomach.  He dropped the sword and doubled over, lining his head up for another nice whack, which made him fall flat on his face.  I was breathing hard and leaning heavily on my quarterstaff.  “Come on Shadow, you can do this...  he’s not your father.”  Spending a moment on gathering my wits, it allowed the man who looked like my father to roll over and grab my feet, yanking them out from under me.  I landed flat on my back, with the wind knocked out of me, seeing spots.  When they cleared I saw him swinging at me again, a downward slash that gave me barely enough time to roll onto my stomach and protect my face.  I felt it strike my back, but the pain was a drop of water in a puddle.
            I knew that I had to get to my feet soon; otherwise the next strike would be my head.  I rolled over and looked up at him, only to see him coming towards me and landing heavily on my chest.  Claw-like fingernails and toenails latched on to my shoulders and hips, and I just barely got my arm up to protect my face in time.  The jaws that had been meant to latch on to my throat locked themselves around my forearm instead, biting deep into the muscles.  I could feel myself starting to lose consciousness, and desperately gathered my power, and tried to throw a small energy ball, only to have it fizzle out in sparks on the end of my fingertips.  However, it did distract him to glance at the sparks, so I jabbed him in the eyes and knocked him away, giving me time to pull myself up and catch my breath.  Once again, I used the quarterstaff to get to my feet, letting the man circle me while I racked my brains for the best way to get out of this smoothly.  He seemed content to simply circle and watch, so, leaning on the quarterstaff, I pulled out one of my stars and threw it at him.  He easily deflected it, laughing. 
            “Oh, so it’s like that, huh?  Well fine, be that way then!”  Talking gave him opportunities, but it also kept me focused, and sane.  He thrust at me, and I blocked him once more, much slower than the last time.  I tried thrusting at his abdomen again, but he blocked it, so I whipped up the end of my quarterstaff and hit him hard underneath the jawbone.  He staggered, and fell onto one knee, and I yanked three of my daggers out and threw them, one after the other.  I saw him jerk as my vision funneled down into a speck.  I barely felt myself collapse into a heap on the floor.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            I woke up slowly, my eyelids creaking open as if I were a hundred years old.  Almost every part of my body hurt, each nerve ending felt like it was on fire.  I couldn’t remember why at first, and then everything came back to me.  I jerked up and immediately wished I hadn’t: it hurt.  I looked around and saw a body a few feet away.  Crawling over to it, I saw that, while it was humanoid, it was not my father.  It was a surface elf, golden skinned and fair haired, barely hanging on to life with his fingernails.  My three daggers were lodged in his shoulder, below his breastbone, and on the opposite side from his heart.  None of them were killing blows, but there was an impressive amount of blood on the ground.  He moved his lips, trying to say something, so I moved a little closer.
            “Thank... you...” he whispered.
            I started to cry again.  “You were my father...  why did you attack me?”  Amazingly, my pack had stayed on my back the entire time, so I reached in and got a bandage. I carefully pulled out the dagger in his stomach and pressed the bandage to it, then placed my hand over it to try and heal him.  He knocked my hand weakly away.
            “No.  Let... me... go...  and... I’m sorry...”
            “Me too.”  I looked at him.  He smiled faintly, and died. 
            I couldn’t bear to look at him longer than a few moments before turning away.  I bandaged those of my wounds that I could reach, but even doing that exhausted me, so after drinking some water, I collapsed back into sleep again.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            This time, when I woke, it wasn’t without hurt, but I felt more like myself.  Spying my quarterstaff on the ground not far away, I reached out and grabbed it, using it to lever myself off the ground again.
            Once I stood up, I could see that the room and regained its appearance from before I stepped into the room.  I could still see the rock pedestal in the middle of the room:  the elf and I had ended up all the way to the end of the cavern, on the opposite side of the room from the tunnel entrance.  I groaned.  Getting all the way across the room wouldn’t be easy in the shape I was in.  Hell, getting all the back out the tunnel would be slow moving, with the shape I was in. 
            “Ok Shadow, let’s try this one more time and hope no other fathers jump out of the mist, because I can’t handle it again.”  I slowly made my way to the center of the room again, leaning heavily on my quarterstaff.  Sure enough, as soon as I got close, the mist grew stronger and the clouds shifted more.  I could hear things or people calling my name, but this time I ignored them.  I moved gradually up close to the stone pedestal and the blue stone, ignoring everything else, even when it sounded like my parents.  I saw the milky swirls inside the stone, the rune etched into it...  and then I reached out my hand and picked it up.
            The effect on the room was immediate.  The swirling, glowing mist died down, and I didn’t hear my nightmares in it.  The room again looked like it had before I set foot in it.  I wrapped the stone in a cloth and put it in my pack, then started making my way towards the tunnel entrance.  As I stepped into the tunnel, however, the cave shook.  I stumbled, putting my other hand against the cave wall to catch myself.
            “WHO DARES TO STEAL THE STONE OF SAGES?” A great voice asked.  As I watched, the rock pedestal unfolded into a humanoid who seemed to have stone for skin.  As I stared, speechless, he peered closer at me.  “A drow?  Don’t see your kind on the surface world long enough to steal the Stone; it’s useless to them.  What do you want here?”
            I shook my head to clear it.  “I didn’t come to steal it, I just need to use it.  I’ll make sure it comes back if you like?”
            The being chuckled.  “Even more unlike your brethren than I thought.  Still.  What makes you think you are worthy to use the Stone?”
            “I’m not going to be using it, I was just required to get it for the mage who is going to use it.  I don’t think I’d know how to use it.”
            This made him roar with laughter.  “And who, young drow, would be the mage using this stone and why send you instead of getting it himself?”
            This made me stammer a bit.  “Umm...  well sir, her name is Zayanya, and she sent me to get it because she’s going to use it to Gate me across the desert.  I guess she didn’t get it herself because...  well, she’s rather elderly.”
            “Oh ho!  Zayanya, eh?  I know her, she’s a worthy sage.  Well then, I suppose I could let you have the Stone for a short while.  However, there is one condition.”
            “What?”
            He drew closer to me, stooping a little to peer close.  “You have defeated the other guardian of this stone.  For you to take the Stone, you must leave behind one of your family as a replacement.  You will go to the entrance of the cave where they wait, if you wish to allow them to choose between themselves who shall stay.  One wolf will be allowed to walk through the shield, and when one has, only then will I allow you to leave this cave with the stone.  Do we understand each other?” I swallowed nervously, and nodded.  “Then go.”  And as I watched, he walked to the middle of the room.  I remembered something at the last minute.
            “Wait!”
            He turned and raised one eyebrow at me in question.
            “What about him?”  I pointed at the dead elf on the other side of the room.  He looked at it once, then turned and looked at me again.
            “I see.  He will be taken care of, you needn’t concern yourself about it.  I will notify his family that he has passed, and they will come to take him home.”
            “Uhh...  could you not tell them a drow killed him?  And why was he here?”
            He smiled at me.  “Oh, don’t worry child.  They would be glad no matter how he passed, it was his time many moons ago.  As for why he was here?  Well, he didn’t come for the Stone, and once in wished for me to keep him here with the shield until he died.”  He refolded himself into the rock pedestal, leaving me to puzzle over the elf while I did my best to make my way to the cave entrance.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            It seemed like it took me days to make it to the cave entrance.  I had to stop frequently to rest and change my bandages, for the constant movement kept reopening the wounds.  I traveled by my witchlight:  when I was too weak to keep it lit, I stopped and slept.
            I didn’t see the entrance to the tunnel until I ran into it.  It was dark, I wasn’t paying attention.  By the time I saw the edge of the cave, it was too late to stop myself from smacking into the shield.  I slid down it, using it as a support.  There was one wolf on guard, who yipped when I ran into the wall.  It was Stormwatcher, extremely worried.  He started to come forward, but I stopped him.
            “Stormwatcher, don’t let any wolf enter this cave.  Understand?”
            ‘Yes,’ He replied.  My worry alleviated for now, I went to sleep, exhausted.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            I woke again in daylight, to wolf barks. All the wolves were gathered outside watching me.  I blinked at them, my mind hazy from pain and sleep.
            “We have a small problem.”
            ‘You are lying there half dead, I wouldn’t necessarily call that small,’  Nighthunter said.  ‘We were worried.’
            “That’s not the problem.  The problem is this.” I reached over and pulled the Stone of Sages out of my pack and uncovered it.  “It was guarded.  I can only leave with it if I leave one of you behind.  That’s why I told Stormwatcher not to let any wolves enter the shield, because that would be the one staying behind.”
            The wolves looked around at each other, then back at me.  “I don’t want to ask one of you to stay here for me; we can just walk around the desert.  I can just put the stone back.  I hope.”
            ‘We all know that it would take many moons to walk around the desert, Shadow.  Besides, you’ve been in there three days without food, and we can’t get any to you while the shield is in the way.’  Nighthunter was right; I didn’t think I could make it to the cavern and back, again.
            We all sat and thought for a while.  Finally, Nod stepped forward.  ‘I will stay.  I have no mate or pups that need me, and unlike Lightfoot and Nighthunter I am not the pack alpha.’
            ‘Are you sure?’  Nightsong was Nod’s mother.  Nod nodded, and walked forward through the shield.  She nuzzled me once.
            ‘Goodbye Shadow.  And may the All-Mother watch over you on your journey.’  With that, she turned and walked into the tunnel, disappearing quickly into the darkness.  I reached for my pendant, and reached out my thoughts.
            <Thank you Nod.>  I felt her half smile before I broke the connection.  I heard a rumble from the inside of the cave, and the mouth of the tunnel flashed once.  I slowly pulled myself to my feet and, putting my hand out, encountered no wall.  I walked outside to a nearby tree and sat down with my back against it, leaning my head back to rest on the trunk and closing my eyes.  I could feel the tears at the corners of my eyes, and as they rolled down my cheek a raspy tongue licked it.  I opened my eyes to see Nighthunter there.
            ‘She’ll be fine, she’s a wolf.  A wolf raised with druids.’
            “I know, but it still feels like I’m leaving a family member behind...  it just doesn’t feel right.”
He bumped his head under my chin, almost knocking me over before I caught myself on one hand.  This made him furrow his brows, the wolf version of a frown.  ‘Where are you hurt, packsister?’
            “Nighthunter, I hurt all over.”
            He chuckled.  ‘Shadow I asked where you were hurt, not what hurt!  Let us look.’  He gently pushed me until I was lying down on my back, revealing the tears in my shirt where the elf had cut me.  ‘What happened in there?’
            “It was a cave of my dreams...  there was an elf that attacked me.  I thought he was Father.”
            Nighthunter pushed my shirt up with his nose, and he and Lightfoot carefully used their sharp teeth to snip bloodstained bandages.  Removing them was a little more difficult; the bandages had stuck to the wounds.
            ‘Ready for this, packsister?’  Nighthunter didn’t really give me a chance to answer before he ripped off a bandage.  My stomach erupted in fiery pain almost as bad as the original wound.  I let out an involuntary cry and curled up into a ball around my stomach.  After a few moments, the pain subsided and I relaxed, but didn’t roll back onto my back.  Soon I felt a cold nose on my cheek.  ‘You have to let us treat those Shadow, they might become sour otherwise.’  I shook my head.
            “Nighthunter, I’m so tired...  I’m tired of hurting, tired of fighting...”  I saw Stormwatcher walk up to me, put his nose on my shoulder, and push.  I rolled away from the pain, onto my back again. 
            Stormwatcher followed me, took two steps forward, and lay down with his head on my good shoulder to whisper in my ear, ‘Sleep, Alyssa Wolfchild.  Sleep and heal.’  Reassured, I let his voice carry me off into a dreamless sleep.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            When I woke, it was daylight, and I was absolutely ravenous.  I sat up and looked around, noticing as I did that my wounds had been cleansed and were no longer as painful as before, just a dull ache.  Stormwatcher was the only wolf around, I guess that Solstice and Equinox were getting to be the age that they could go on hunts.  Stormwatcher moved towards me when he noticed I was up, bringing my pack with him.
            “Stormwatcher I’m starved.  Did you guys save anything from a hunt?  I don’t have any food left in my pack.”
            ‘Yes.  But we can’t cook, you’ll have to do that yourself.’  He carried a large chunk of meat to me and laid it in my lap.  I sighed and looked down at it.
            “I suppose I could cheat, just this once, couldn’t I?”  Placing my hands on the meat, I closed my eyes, gathered my magic and focused my thoughts:  heat, but not fire.  Cooking meat until it was done, but not burnt.  The smell of cooked meat soon wafted through the air, and when I opened my eyes, the meat was cooked as if I’d done it over a real fire.  I smiled, pleased, then proceeded to devour it like I hadn’t eaten for a week.  “How long did I sleep, Stormwatcher?”  He was lying beside me, and I would occasionally feed him a tidbit of meat.
            ‘After Nod went into the cave and we started inspecting your wounds?  You slept for an entire day, and you were in the cave for three.  We could only do so much for you, you may want to wash yourself up, there is a stream nearby.’  I looked down and really saw myself for the first time since going in the cave.  My clothes were covered in blood, mostly mine but some of it that of the dead elf, and my shirt was in tatters from the fight.
            “A wash sounds like a good idea, lead me to this stream.”  I grabbed a change of clothes from my pack, and my quarterstaff to lean on, and followed Stormwatcher into the woods a short ways, where we came upon a large stream.  I waded in, clothes and all, being cautious of my tender wounds, and carefully washed myself off.  Once I was clean and the grime was out of my hair, I felt much better.  I washed my clothes out as well, so that maybe sometime I could stitch up the holes.  Until then, they were really only good as rags.  The wolves came back from hunting shortly after I finished.  We waited for a few hours, long enough for my wet clothes to dry, before we started the slow journey back to Zayanya’s.

4
The Curse

             I didn’t dream that one night I’d stayed at Zayanya’s, probably due to the magical nature of the place, and as a result, my dreams on the way to the Cave of Dreams were minimal.  But two nights after we started back, they started again, worse than before.  I was starting to feel better, less sore and less as if I’d rolled down a rocky slope.  We didn’t have to stop as early from me being tired.  I drifted off into sleep in the midst of wolves.
            I was back in the cave, the fog and clouds thick as soup, standing by the rock pedestal.  The fear inside me grew until it was overwhelming.  I heard a noise from behind and turned to see my father charging out of the mists at me with a sword drawn.  Too terrified to even move, all I could do was watch as his sword pierced my heart.
            Flash
            I was home again, standing at The Tree.  Mist was gently creeping through the trees.  I heard voices, shouting and yelling, and remembered, horrified.  I sprinted for the house, reaching the edge of the tree line and yelling for Liam and Riona.  Halfway there, it burst into flame, and I could hear them screaming inside.  I dropped to my knees, crying, feeling as if something had broken inside.  I hadn’t been able to save them...  All of a sudden I felt a hand on my head, and then a sharp pain.  I turned and saw the bounty hunter, holding my ear in his hand and laughing maniacally.  A hand to my head came away covered in blood and I began to feel light headed...
            Flash
            I was back in Ashabenford, in the alley behind the scribe shop.  I heard a noise behind me and jumped, shaking.  The next thing I knew, there was a dagger at my throat and an arm around my shoulders.  The man who was holding me was saying something, but I couldn’t hear it, could only hear the sound of my own scared breathing.  He slowly turned me around until I could see his two friends.  They were talking soundlessly, and I could see them laugh.  All of sudden I was thrown to the side, into the alley wall.  I felt a crack and a pain in my side.  Looking down, I could see a rib sticking out through my diaphragm, and touched a shaking hand to it in disbelief.  In shock, I didn’t even see the dagger that took me in the throat.
            Flash
            A black horse appears out of nowhere in the middle of the grove we’re staying at.  He has flaming hooves, mane, and tail, and the breathe coming out of his nostrils is steaming hot with little tongues of flame.  He’s rearing on top of the wolves, stamping them to death under his hooves.  I scream at him in fury, waving my arms and rushing in, hoping to scare him away.  He turns on me with intelligent eyes, and rears above me to dash in my body the same way.
            Flash
            A drow standing across from me, circling me, with two scimitars in his hand.  My staff is glowing purple; we cross weapons once and I explode through my staff, the magic coursing through me so that I have no control over.  The drow is thrown across the clearing, laying still as death in a contorted position.  I look at him in horror, then turned and ran blindly, not even noticing the cliff edge until I run straight off it.  I impact at the bottom of the ravine.
            I sat straight up, breathing heavily and crying involuntarily.  All the wolves were ringed around me, looking at me worriedly.  Nighthunter was sitting at my feet.  ‘You were screaming and crying in your sleep; are you alright?’
            I hugged him tightly.  “I was having nightmares, the worst in a long time.”  Stormwatcher brought me a waterskin in his teeth and I took it gratefully and drank deeply. 
            Nighthunter licked my face.  ‘We will guard your dreams better, packsister.  Try to go back to sleep.’
            I shook my head.  “No, I don’t think I can sleep now.  If you guys don’t need the rest let’s just keep moving.”  It didn’t take us, or rather me, long to gather my blanket, so we started once again back to Zayanya’s to give her the stone.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            Two days travel away, the kemenia looked up from his watch and cocked his head as if listening to something far away.  He looked startled for a second, feeling the unbalance on the surface, then melded into the earth and disappeared.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            Night had fallen, and the wolves were looking at their dreaming packsister in dismay.  Shadow was screaming, both in pain and rage, and tears were running down her face.  The noise echoed through the forest for miles.  The wolves started to back away slowly as her screams turned to growls.  Her lower jaw and nose thrust forward and lengthened into a snout, and teeth grew and sharpened to fit.  Bones crunched as her knee joints reversed themselves.  Arms and legs shortened until they were the same length, and her spine lengthened into a tail.  Hands and feet melded into paws and grew long claws.  Muscles developed where they didn’t normally exist, and existing muscles expanded to twice their size with sickening squelches.  Her ears slid up her head, and grew slightly longer, and the tips more pointed.  White hair grew on her body, while her existing hair shrank into her head until it was the same length as the rest.
            When it was over, standing in the middle of the circle of wolves was another wolf, pure white with a pitch black blaze on half of her face, from the tip of her nose to the back of her head.  She was almost as tall as Longstride at the shoulder, and stood with all four legs stiff, hackles up, snarling at anyone who dared get close.  Nighthunter took a few tentative steps forward.  ‘Shadow is that you?’  She lunged at him, catching him with a claw on his side and throwing him several feet away.  He got back to his feet slowly.
            ‘This is not good,’ Stormwatcher commented.  ‘She’s tainted, I can smell it.  How did this happen?’
            ‘It must have been in the cave,’  Moonlight replied.  ‘The question is what do we do now, none of us can really stand up to her except for Longstride.’  The ground was rumbling under their feet, but nobody noticed.  ‘Even he can’t keep her in one place for the entire night.  It’s not even the full moon, why did she change?’
            The ground between the wolves and Shadow suddenly erupted, a wall of rock rising to surround Shadow, leaving only a small hole at the top.  The wolves could see the dome shake as if something had thrown itself against it from the inside, but the rock was as stable as if had been there for eons.  A figure detached itself from the rock, forming into a humanoid who seemed to have stone for skin.  He bowed to Nighthunter.  “I’m sorry, true hunter.  I did not know she was injured when she left this cave.  I felt her change and came as quickly as I could.  My name is Sagais, I am the kemenia in charge of guarding the Cave of Dreams and the stone it contains.”
            ‘Injured?  She was half dead!’  Lightfoot retorted.  ‘What does that matter to you?’
            “Quite a bit actually, but it’s also a long story, one I’d not rather tell twice.  The short version is that it’s my job to protect the other Guardian, as well as the stone, and that includes making sure the affliction the previous Guardian had does not wreak havoc.”
            Nighthunter and Stormwatcher were glancing worriedly at the stone dome.  Every so often there would be a thump; the dome would shake and the wolves would whine uncomfortably for their packsister.  Sagais noticed their actions.
            “It’s the best thing I can do for her, for now.  If I had let her free, she might have killed one or more of you in her rage.  By morning she will have changed back, and then we can begin teaching her how to control it.  Because if she doesn’t, some ranger will put run her through with silver for stealing cattle, or killing a family.  In fact, she will want to know this as well, so maybe I should wait until tomorrow to tell it.  Sleep, hunters, and I will keep watch.  I have already rested all that I need for now.”  He looked at them until they lay down, although they did not sleep well that night.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            Morning dawned, and the wolves were already up, pacing nervously.  Sagais was nowhere to be found, but the stone dome was still up.  Nighthunter was sniffing at the edge of the dome where it met the dirt.  ‘How are we going to get her out if Sagais doesn’t come back?’  He wondered out loud.
            “You wouldn’t.”  Nighthunter looked up to see Sagais striding out of the forest, some herbs in his hand and a bag slung over his shoulder.  “It would disintegrate over time, of course, but it is solid rock.”  He twitched his hand, and the rock parted at the top and slid back into the ground, leaving no sign that it had ever been there.  Shadow was lying on the ground it had covered, unconscious.  Nighthunter went over to her, sniffing anxiously to make sure she was alright.  She stirred when he licked her cheek, but did not wake.  Sagais took his waterskin out of the bag and splashed some on her face.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            I woke to the splash of ice cold water on my face, and sat up.  My whole body ached, and my right shoulder hurt almost as if I’d dislocated it.  The pack was gathered around me, looking at me with concern, and the stone man from the cave was there.
            “You?!  What are you doing here?  Nighthunter why do you look so worried?”  Nighthunter and the stone man looked at each other, then back at me.
            ‘Shadow what do you remember of last night?’  Nighthunter asked.  I thought a bit before answering, but the whole night was a large black spot in my memory.
            “Absolutely nothing.  Does it have something to do with the reason my entire body aches?  And what happened to you, something clawed you bad on your shoulder!”
            Nighthunter sighed, and was about to answer when he was interrupted by the stone man.  “That was you.  I am Sagais, by the way.”
            “Me?!  How could I...  I would never do that!”
            “I’ll explain that, but let’s get you something to eat first, and treat both yours and this true hunter’s wounds.  Then I will tell everything.”  He helped me to my feet, and I rummaged around in my backpack.  Pulling my hand out with the few bandages I had left draped over my fingers, I looked at them and sighed.
            “I’m pretty much out of bandages and other healing stuff.  I didn’t start out with much of anything except simple bandages, and most of the herbs here are unfamiliar to me.  Plus I haven’t exactly been focusing on replenishing supplies, I’m pretty low on everything.”  I shook my head, ashamed.  “I did everything my parents taught me not to do.”
            Sagais emitted a noise that sounded much like rocks grinding together.  “We can fix all that.  For now, it looks like you’re just badly bruised and sore, that will take care of itself by the time a few nights have passed.  Use this for the true hunter’s wound, it will prevent against infection.”  He handed me a small jar of a pungent smelling lotion, which I tried to apply to Nighthunter’s shoulder, but he dodged my efforts.
            “Nighthunter!”  I looked at him sternly.  “This will help!”
            ‘Wolves do not need salves.’  He sat on his haunches a few feet away and simply looked at me, but allowed Lightfoot to lick the wound clean.  I glared at him, and touched my pendant.
            <I did this to you, at least let me help make it better!>  I projected my thoughts to him forcefully.  Sagais winced.
            “Add that to our list of things to learn, you need to control your thoughts a little better.”  I glared at Sagais too, then turned back to Nighthunter, who grudgingly allowed me to smear his wound with some of the salve.  That done, I handed the jar back to Sagais and went to rummage in my backpack for food, only to come up with just a couple of rations and some dried meat.  I shook my head at the carelessness, and ate what I had left, before turning back to him.
            “Now what would you have me do?  I’m out of food and bandages, the only thing I have in abundance are weapons.  And while I am bruised and sore, I feel stronger than yesterday, but I don’t think I’m strong enough to use them.  Not to mention that I have this… thing that turns me into some thing, and I can’t even control it!”
            Sagais looked at me for several minutes before making the grinding noise again.  I think it was the equivalent to a grunt, or a sigh.  “You really are naïve, aren’t you?  You have no clue what you are.”  He shook his head.  “Now?  Now you come back to the cave with me so that I can teach you what you need to be taught.  On the way, we will remedy your more immediate problems, while I tell you how you came to be a werewolf.”  He started off through the forest, leaving me to stare at him in disbelief.  He was almost out of sight when I got over my shock and had to run to catch up with him.  The wolves had already scattered, lurking in the underbrush and investigating the shadows.
            “Werewolf?  Are you sure?  I mean…”  I trailed off, still in shock.
            “Yes, I am sure,” Sagais replied.  “If I had seen you were injured, I would never have let you leave the cave in the first place.”
            “But…  how?”
            He stopped and turned to look at me, cocking his head to one side.  “Let me tell you from the beginning, then you will understand everything.”
            “I was created not long after the stone was, set to guard it in the very cave where we were both shaped.  The sorcerer that created the stone set magical protections on the cave to deter other mages from using the it.  You see, most wizards are so arrogant that they only train themselves to use their magic to defend themselves, neglecting to learn how to fight with a normal weapon.  There is magic woven into the cave, magic that senses the fears of the one from outside and brings them to life.  More weaves of magic dampen any magic that the outsiderr would use, forcing them to survive without it.
            “My master, Del’thero, used the stone he created in his magics, usually to power any magical gates he created.  Secluded as he was, rumors about it still traveled, and a few people wanted to take the stone and use it for their own.  The first petty thief scared off quite easily by the dream weave.  Whatever he saw, it must have truly been frightening, for he ran out as if his pants were on fire.  However, the next was not so easy to dissuade.  An orc shaman, he came while I was away on an errand.  Without me, the Primary Guardian, to protect Del’thero, the shaman overpowered and killed him.  I felt his death, and that was when I discovered how to become one with the earth, to travel swifter than any bird could fly to my destination, rising from the earth on the other side.  By the time I arrived, Del’thero was dead, and the orc shaman was outraged, but would not tell me why.  When I insisted that he leave, we both discovered that he could not.  The magical barrier at the entrance to the cave prevented him from leaving, just as it prevented you for a time.   At the time, I was so distraught over my master’s death that I didn’t care about the orc.   I carried Del’thero’s body deep into the depths of the cave and laid him to rest by a small waterfall, from an underground stream that came to the surface for a time, falling to create a pool of water.  There I used my earthen abilities to create for him a tomb, surrounding him with the rock he had loved so much.
            “For several days I became my rock form, trying to forget, or maybe hide from the events.  After that, I was brought out of my stupor by a pounding on my stone skin.  It was the orc, and he was hungry.  I guess for you mortals, not eating for several days is a great discomfort.  So I grudgingly turned to my humanoid form, and went to get him some food.  Once among my master’s possessions, I noticed a rock on his desk, shaped like a cylinder.  That shape is a very uncommon one in nature, so my curiosity got the better of me.   Once I held it, I knew what it was, and moved the rock to reveal a piece of parchment.  It was a letter, for me from Del’thero.  It told me what would happen should he die, and that was when I discovered why the orc couldn’t leave.
            “The letter told me that there was a curse that Del’thero had set up, so that if he should die an unnatural death, it would be cast upon the killer.  The orc was cursed to guard that which he had wanted to steal, until he was killed by another, in which the curse would be passed down to that killer.  That is how the first of my fellow guardians came to be.  Should the Guardian die a natural death, the next creature to enter the cave would become the Guardian, and the cave’s magic would make them stronger if it was needed.  I learned how I could control the magics of the cave, and the magical barrier.  Even if a Guardian somehow managed to make it through the barrier, they would feel compelled to return.  I left Del’thero’s living area a little heavy of the heart, for I knew that I would be spending a long time with people of questionable nature, who didn’t share my interests or even care.
            “Looking back, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, leaving the room that day.  The orc, of course, was quite disgruntled, but after a few weeks he came to terms with it.  His name was Bigshadow, and he had no family, and few friends.  He’d come searching for power, just as all the rest of the Guardians would.  Eventually, someone did come along who was more powerful than Bigshadow, and the curse was passed down.  So it was for many Guardians.  It’s been several hundred years, and I’ve lost count to how many there were over that time.  Risaen, though…  Ris was different.
            “Of all the Guardians there were over that time, Risaen was one of the few that didn’t really care about the stone, who wasn’t there to steal it for power.  There were a few Guardians who died a natural death, so the next one was some squirrel, or badger.  That was when I figured out how to use the cave’s magics to modify the current Guardian if they needed to be stronger.  But Ris stumbled into the cave on the night of the full moon, fully transformed and in a blind rage.  Nysim was the current Guardian, a female yuan-ti priestess who had wanted to use the stone to help her people conquer.  It was an impressive fight, but Nysim’s poisons and dagger had no immediate effect on the enraged werewolf, and he killed her.  When he showed no sign of his rage lessening, I surrounded him with a dome of rock, just like I used for you last night.”  Sagais stopped walking abruptly.  The wolves had gathered in closer to hear the story, and night had just fallen.  “Don’t you need to sleep?”
            I shook my head.  “Normally, yes, but…  after last night, I don’t think I want to sleep right now.”
            He raised a stony eyebrow at me.  “You have to sleep sometime, but ok.  At the pace we’re going, we should make it back to the cave around noon tomorrow.”
            “As long as you keep telling your tale, we’ll keep walking,” I said, somewhat jokingly, but looking forward to the rest of it.
            He chuckled.  “Very well.  Risaen spent most of the night throwing himself against the stone, but towards dawn, all was quite.  When the sun rose, I let the dome down to see what kind of creature his humanoid form was, and discovered a golden haired, golden skinned elf.  In the few hours that it took him to wake up, I buried Nysim outside like she had requested.  When he did wake, it was with pain and confusion.  He had no memory of the night before, and it upset him.  We exchanged names, and I explained to him what had happened.  He made me swear not to let him out during the week of the full moon, but aside from that accepted the responsibility of the curse without a complaint.  We became fast friends, and he was better company than any other Guardian I had ever had.  Together we learned about his lycanthropy, how to control it and subdue it when needed.  He made me promise that if someone should come that could defeat him, and in the fight he bit them, I would teach them everything we had learned.  Which brings me to my obligation to you, Alyssa.  I was foolish to let you leave, foolish to think that you could have defeated Ris and be uninjured.  I felt the disturbance you made in nature when you transformed, and that is why I came after you.  Even if you are not the current Guardian, it would be foolish to leave your lycanthropy uncontrolled.  So you will stay with me until you have sufficiently learned to control it, then you may continue your quest.”
            We walked in silence for a time before I worked up the courage to ask him something.  “Why me?”
            “Hmm?”
            “Why did you let me, of all people, have the stone?  Isn’t it supposed to be guarded?”
            He smiled.  “Because of your reason for it.  You came because Zayanya sent you, not because you needed it for overpowering others.  Besides, Zayanya is very renowned in the realms, a great power for the gods.  She is an honorable woman, one of the most honorable I have ever seen among the humans.  We’ve known each other for a decade or so, and I know that if she needs to use it, she will give it back when she is done.  On the other hand, now that I need to teach you things, maybe I will teach you how to give it back.”
            I smiled.  “You make me feel special, thanks.  This means I’m a werewolf…  “
            “As opposed to a was wolf?”  Sagais interrupted, laughing at my expression.  I looked at him for a minute before bursting out in laughter.  “Sorry I couldn’t resist, please continue.”
            I rolled my eyes.  “I guess you’d better start telling me what you’ve learned with Risaen.”
            He was still chuckling.  “Ok, werewolves.  The lycanthropic virus is usually contracted through a bite.  If you had gotten away with just the clawmarks on your stomach, you would most likely have been fine.  But it was the night of the full moon, and Ris lost control.  He transformed during the fight and bit you.  There’s three phases to the full moon, and each one usually causes the change.  That night you were at the cave was the last phase, or you would have seen it for yourself sooner.  Extreme negative emotions can have the same effect:  hatred, anger, fear, and the like.  I’m still puzzling over why you transformed last night… nightmares?”  I nodded.  “Ah, that explains it.”
            “So this is going to happen every night?  Because I have nightmares almost every night.”
            Sagais shook his head.  “Not if I can help it.  There are ways to control it, and I mean to teach you everything Ris and I found out.  But first there is one thing you should watch out for:  any were creature’s greatest weakness is silver.  Touching pure silver will cause you discomfort, and ingesting it will kill you, as well as being hit in a vital organ with a silver object.”
            “Well I guess it’s good that I don’t have anything silver with me.”  I had a sudden thought.  “Oh no…”
            “Hmm?”  Sagais stopped at looked at me.
            “Oh gods.  My circlet is mithril, is that bad?  And my pendant… I don’t know whether that’s silver or not.”  I slid my backpack onto one shoulder and started digging in it for the two.  My circlet wasn’t hard to find, so I looked at Sagais before putting it on.  He shrugged at me.  I finally found my pendant in the bottom of the bag, pulling it out by the chain.  It was a quartz crystal, wrapped with a silvery wire.  When I wrapped my hand around it, purple fire started to seep out through my fingers.  Startled, I let go, and they disappeared with a few lingering flames dancing on my fingertips.  Once I was no longer focused on the pendant, I realized my head was itching badly where the circlet was, and my head was starting to heat up.   “Oh Gods!”  I yelped, reaching up to take it off, but once it was in my hand, it itched there as well.  I quickly let it fall to the ground.  Sagais stooped to pick it up, and I handed him the pendant as well.
            “This one is wrapped in silver,” he said, indicating the pendant.  “I’ll fix it for you so that the silver won’t be next to your skin.”
            “Stormwatcher said the circlet was mithril, he could smell it.  Magic scent runs in his family.”
            “Well he was partly right.”  Sagais held the circlet up close to his face, as if he were smelling it, or sensing it in some way.  After several minutes, he opened his eyes, putting both circlet and pendant in a belt pouch.  “The circlet is a core of steel, plated in mithril.  You say your father bought it for you?”  I nodded.  “Then he was probably charged as if it were full mithril, or part silver and part mithril.  Either way, he was overcharged.  But the magic on it is fairly powerful, especially since it is attuned to only work for you.  It might have some other abilities besides the appearance one, but I would have to take longer to study it.”
            “Ok…  I guess you may as well keep them.  I can’t exactly use them anyways.”
            Sagais winked at me.  “Oh, there are ways I can fix that, just you wait!”  We traveled in silence for a time, except for the rustling of the underbrush as we walked.  Finally, Sagais spoke.  “Tell me about yourself.  Why did you come here?”
            I looked at the ground, trying to swallow the lump in my throat.  “I guess because I didn’t have anywhere else to go, I didn’t know what else to do…”  I trailed off into a long silence.
            “No worries.  You will tell me when you feel ready.”  He smiled at me, then indicated the mouth of the cave we had finally arrived at.  I sighed and went into the tunnel, with Sagais and the wolves following behind.
            The walk into the cave seemed much shorter than before, and I mentioned as much.  Sagais chuckled.  “Part of the Cave’s magic.  You only saw part of it as well, here, look at this.”  He led me over to what looked like a niche in the wall.  It turned out to be a doorway, opening into a small library.  The library had special, curved bookshelves around the entire wall, and each was filled to the brim with books.  When Sagais saw my wide-eyed stare, he chuckled.  “What can I say?  I like to read, and I’ve got lots of spare time.  Besides, Del’thero thirsted for knowledge, so he collected all the books he could.”
            “Have you read them all?”
            “Most of them.  It’s always nice when I come across a new one.  Would you like to see the rest of the rooms?”  I nodded.
            He took me through all of the rooms, each one astounding in its own way.  It was a comfortable, yet practical home built out of a cave network.  Some of the rooms had obviously been sculpted.  Even their arrangement spoke of as being modified; they were arranged in a semicircle on the outside of the central circular room that held the Stone of Power.  The kitchen and the meadow were on the outsides, with the bedroom and library sandwiched in the middle.
            The bedroom was larger than the library right next door.  There was a bed at one end, with the head against the wall.  On one side of the bed there was a nightstand, which seemed to be melded with the stone wall.  The room was decorated with rugs, blankets, and pillows, all as soft as rabbit hair.  While it was nothing like the room I used to have, somehow it still felt welcoming.
            My favorite was the meadow, which was this huge cavern on the other side of the kitchen.  It was a stone cavern, of course, but there was a large hole in the top that allowed the sun to shine in during the middle hours of the day.  Off towards the wall, away from the hole to protect it from weather was a small barn.  The entire place had me in awe, but the barn made me ache with longing for a home long gone.  Sagais kept animals:  chickens, a few black goats, two sheep and a ram.  I almost tripped over a rabbit in the high grass as well, only then noticing the hutches along another curving wall.
            After I’d seen them all, Sagais and I ended up back in the central room, where the Stone of Power usually sat on its pedestal.  The wolves were all in a pile on one side, in various stages of sleepiness.  Sagais looked from them to me, nodding off as I stood still for too long.  He chuckled.  “You need to sleep.  Come, the bedroom isn’t being used by anybody, it’s yours for the taking now.”
            “But…  if I sleep, I will dream, and the nightmares will make me into a werewolf…”  Much as I wanted to sleep, I wanted to not turn into that more.  But Sagais shook his head, taking me by the hand and leading me to the bedroom.
            “There are ways of suppressing the Change for one nights sleep.”  He held out a dark bottle full of liquid.  “Drink this.  It may not keep you from dreaming, but it will keep the werewolf from coming out.”  I looked at him for a moment, then hesitantly took the bottle and uncapped it.  Sagais nodded at me to drink it, and so I upended the bottle before I could change my mind.  The initial taste was semi-sweet, but then the aftertaste hit, so bitter and vile that it felt like I had swallowed soap.  I made a face before handing the empty bottle back to Sagais.  He motioned to the bed, and I reluctantly sank into the soft mattress and was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

5
Lessons Learned

            I woke the next morning, free of the usual aftermath of nightmares and feeling well rested.  The wolves had inserted themselves wherever possible, a few on the bed and the rest all curled around each other on the floor.  I gently shifted myself to a sitting position, coming face to snout with Solstice.  Equinox was lying next to me and Lightfoot over my feet at the foot of the bed.  I looked around and giggled; half the floor looked like a living carpet of fur, undulating slowly as the wolves breathed in and out.  Nudging aside Solstice so that I could push back the blankets and get up, I stepped carefully around the wolves, trying not to wake them.  Having no such luck, I scratched ears and jawbones before heading out to the central room.  It was deserted.  Hearing noises off to one side, I made my way towards them and found myself in the kitchen, where Sagais had his back to me.  Unsure of what to do, I stood awkwardly in the doorway.
            I hadn’t stood in the doorway for half a minute when Sagais spoke.  “Are you going to come sit down?  There’s breakfast if you want it.  I don’t require it, but I know you fleshy people do.” He grinned at me, and then sobered as he peered over my shoulder at the line of wolves.  “Sorry guys, I don’t have food appropriate for wolves.  I assumed that you would prefer to catch your own.”  Nighthunter nodded, and headed out towards the entrance, the rest of the pack following him.
            I gratefully accepted a piece of bread and sat down at the table.  Sagais sat down across from me.  “How did you sleep?  I didn’t hear any screams, howls or growling wolves.”
            I smiled shyly.  “It worked just like you said it would; I didn’t even have any nightmares.”
            “Good!  Now pay attention.”  He set two different glass bottles on the table.  One was a short, squat, square dark bottle, and the other was slenderer with a bulb on the bottom, filled with a green liquid.  “This one,” he tapped the brown bottle. “is the one I gave you last night.  It will suppress your lycanthropy and put you to sleep.”  He motioned to the green bottle.  “This other one is used to strengthen your will so that you can control your lycanthropy.  It’s not a guarantee that you will be in control of yourself, but it’s a pretty good chance.  I’ll teach you how to make them, so that you can do it when you’re on your own.”
            “So…  that’s it?  That’s all it takes to control this?”  It seemed easy beyond belief.  But Sagais shook his head.
            “No.  These are backup, things to be used in time of need.  The reason for that is that the main ingredient in both of them is a poison, prepared very carefully.  Take too much at once and you could die.  Take either of them consistently for a long period of time, and a dependency will be created.  Not a great problem in itself, but if you then decide to not take a potion, the abrupt withdrawal of the poison from your body could kill you.  No, the best way to control your lycanthropy is up here.”  He leaned forward and tapped my forehead with his finger.  “Meditation is the biggest thing we found to help.  The more you meditate, the more you will be in control of yourself, not just your lycanthropic side.  Oh yes, I forgot to tell you this earlier.  Werewolves have an increased regeneration rate, which is why it’s so hard to kill them without silver.  Since it’s already been four days, you should be pretty much healed from your wounds.”
            I pushed up my shirt to look at my stomach, and he was right.  The claw marks there, and the teeth marks on my arm had healed well.  The only trace that they had ever been there were small silvery scars.  I smiled to myself, and then looked back to Sagais.  “I guess there’s perks to this werewolf thing after all.”  He laughed.
            “So once you’re finished with that,” he motioned to my bread.  “Then you will help me with the animals, and I will teach you how to meditate.”
            I followed him into the meadow and helped him feed the animals.  “Sagais?  You don’t really need to eat, right?  Or sleep?”  He shook his head.  “Then why do you keep animals?”  He smiled.  We were filling the food and water bowls for the four rabbits, and he lifted one from its hutch to carefully cradle it in his arms.
            “If it were just me, I think I’d just keep the rabbits, for company.  But while I don’t need to eat or sleep, the Guardians do.  The rabbits and chickens provide meat, the goats, milk for butter and cheese, and the bees have excellent honey.  The sheep are partly to keep the goats company, but they also provide wool that we can sell to a nearby town.  They have short lives, in comparison, but they are good company.”  He put the rabbit back, peering at the sky through the hole.  “It’s sunny today, perfect to do this.  Sit down here, cross legged, with your hands on your knees.”
            I did as he told.  The grass was long, coming up to just over my knees when I sat down, but it was cool and soft.  “Ok, now what?”
            “Close your eyes and think of nothing.  Feel yourself as the center of the world, but with roots extending everywhere.  Tune out all sounds until you are just floating in a sea of nothingness.”
            I closed my eyes, trying to do what he described, but having some difficulty.  I could feel Sagais’s eyes upon me, and finally told him to go away so I could do this without interruption.  At some point, the noise of the wind, the crickets, the animals, all just faded away until I really was floating in a sea of nothingness.
            By the time Sagais came and got me, night had fallen.  “You’re a natural,” he said. 
            I got to my feet and stretched.  “I feel…  peaceful.  Calm.” 
            He smiled.  “Here, help me with the animals.  They get fed twice a day.”  I busied myself with the fodder while he explained more.  “Eventually, you will focus, instead of just meditate.  In theory, the more focused you become, you should be able to decide which part of your lycanthropic side surfaces.  Like bringing forth just the wolf speed so that you can run faster in your humanoid form.  But it takes much strength of mind, focus, and practice.  In the fifty years that Ris was here, I think he was maybe on the brink of being able to do it, but he was still uncontrolled at times.”
            “That would be really cool, complete control over it.  I wouldn’t have to worry about hurting anyone…”  I trailed off, then shook my head to clear it.  “Well what about tonight’s dreams?  I don’t think I’ve learned nearly enough to control it, and it doesn’t sound wise to take another potion to keep me from dreaming again.”
            “Well there is a fast way for you to learn what you need…”
            “What?”
            “Well to a certain point, meditation can take the place of sleep, and you usually don’t dream when you meditate.   So if you were to meditate instead of sleep, it would solve two problems at once”
            So that night, and every night afterwards, I meditated.  Most days, too, I spent in meditation.  It unsettled my magic, and me, to go so long without using it.  I was bored.  Then one day Sagais stopped me from assuming my usual position in the middle of the cave to meditate.  “Not today.  Tonight is the first phase of the full moon, we have preparations to make.”
            My heart jumped.  “Really?!”  That’s good, this is… well I’m bored.”
            He laughed.  “Ah, the young.  But yes, we need to go gather herbs.  These two potions Ris and I developed can only be prepared on the night of a full moon, so this will be your first test.”  Sagais led me out to the entrance of the cave and into the woods beyond.  When I paused at the shield, he turned and looked at me.
            “Are you sure this is wise?”  I asked.
            “Is what wise?”
            “Leaving the Cave unguarded.”
            “Oh yes, it’ll be fine.  I’ll lower the shield for us to leave, and it’ll be in place while we’re gone.”  We walked into the woods, passing a small meadow with a stream running through it.
            “Sagais if you can keep people out with that shield, then why bother with the whole Guardian thing?  Why not just keep everything out?”
            “Because it takes too much power.”  He brushed aside a tree branch.
            I stopped, astounded.  “You’re kidding, right?”  He shook his head.  “But you’ve got a Stone of Power!”
            He stopped and motioned me closer.  “The Power Stone can supply a burst of power, but not a constant source.  The power has to come from somewhere, and in this case it soaks up energy from the earth.  Once it’s used, it takes time to build up again.  And it doesn’t power the cave, most of that is shaped latent magic.  Look, normally, the cave shield works like a sort of funnel.”  He put his hands together in a v shape.  “You can go in,” He motioned to the tip of the v, “but you can’t go back out again unless the shield is lowered.”  He opened his hands so they were parallel to each other.  “That’s just the way Del’thero made it.  Now, pay attention.”  He squatted down by a small plant at the base of a tree.
            We spent the rest of the day finding plants for potions.  Sagais made me memorize ingredients and their descriptions until I could recite them in my sleep.  That first plant was nightshade, highly poisonous and to be handled with the utmost caution.  Most of the plants we gathered seemed to be poisons.
            In the suppression potion, it was wolfsbane, nightshade, valerian, and yarrow.  Wolfsbane was a tall plant with clusters of pretty flowers along the stem, most of them blue and white.  The flowers looked like little robed people with cone-shaped hats on.  Nightshade, with its dull green leaves and bell-shaped flours.  I really hate that one – it made my hands itch.  Valerian, as a hypnotic, looked like small clusters with fat fern-like leaves.  And yarrow, last but not least, with large white flowers that stood at knee height.
            The control potion shared on the wolfsbane in common.  It also had starwort, a plant with slim, oval shaped leaves and small star-shaped white flowers.  Calamint was also used, it was where the green color came from.  It was a short plant with fat leaves and lavender flowers, and when picked, smelled like the name suggested:  like mint.
            By late afternoon I had six medium sized bags full of herb parts:  leaves, roots, and flowers.  We headed back to the cave and sat down in the kitchen to sort them all out.  Sagais checked the sundial in the meadow.  “You’ve got about three hours till dark, so let’s get started.  Since none of these plants grow in the winter, I usually make the potions out of the dried herbs so that the amounts are always consistent.  Usually medicinal herbs like this are more potent when dried.”  He took the herbs from me and arranged them on drying screens set up as shelves next to the stove.  “The trick with these potions is that they have to be prepared when the moon is full.  So tonight, if you can keep from transforming, I will show you what to do.  If you can’t… well we have two more nights to try it.  We need to shut down all the doors so you can have the main room.”  I helped him close the big stone doors to the meadow which kept the heat from the kitchen stove from escaping.  I made the wolves goes outside.  It was either that or the meadow, and at least outside they could roam as they willed.
            Sagais poked his head into the main room from the kitchen just as I was ready.  “Good luck,” he said.  “If you can keep from transforming, you know where to find me.”  Then he withdrew, shutting the door behind him.  I tried hard to swallow the lump in my throat, then sat down cross-legged on the floor.  Two hours left.  I closed my eyes and started my meditation exercises.
            After a while I felt a pressure on my mind.  It kept getting stronger, almost to the point where it hurt.  The pressure spread from my head to the rest of my body.  My skin started to tingle, as if I was being pricked by a million pins and needles.  I could hear my bones crunching and it felt like my knees were being broken.  Soon, my entire body was in pain, and it felt like I was on fire.  Maybe I screamed, I don’t remember.  What I do remember is falling into the darkness of my own mind, blissfully cool darkness where I felt and knew nothing.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            I woke the next morning to the gradual lightening o f the cave and an aching body.  There were deep claw marks in the floor, some on the wall.  The doors were all open, and I wandered around looking for Sagais.  I found him in the meadow, feeding the animals.  I silently helped him.  When we were done, he spoke.
            “Don’t be so hard on yourself; it was your first time.  Everyone fails the first time.  What counts is that you tried.”
            “But you said… well it seemed that you expected me to succeed.”
            He smiled.  “It doesn’t mean I wasn’t hopeful.  There is a first time for everything!”
            “Now what?  How do I keep myself from changing?”  It was frustrating not to be able to control myself.
            Sagais made a noise that sounded like rocks grinding together.  It was his way of thinking.  “Ris used to describe that there was this core piece of himself that he could hold on to.  Maybe that’s what you need to focus on, who knows?  Everyone is different.  But I would try meditating more, every little bit helps.”
            I sighed and reluctantly went to my spot in the middle of the meadow to meditate for the rest of the day.  A few hours before dark I roused myself.  Once again, I helped Sagais close the doors and went about getting myself ready.   As I sat back down to meditate in the central room and wait for the moon to rise, Sagais came in and handed me a potion.  It was the green one, the one that gives control.
            “You’ve felt how it was with no control, now feel what it’s like with good control.  Then tomorrow night you will try again with nothing, after you know the feeling of control,” He said as he handed me the potion.  I nodded and took it from him silently, watching as he headed back to the kitchen.   I could feel the Change pushing against my mind and my skin was starting to tingle. So I quickly uncorked the bottle and upended it down my throat before I could change my mind.
            I thought it would taste like the other potion, but I was wrong.  It both smelled and tasted like mint, with only a faint bitter aftertaste to tell that it was medicine.  It was cool, and as I drank it, I could feel it spreading through my body.  It was this green glow, isolating my mind from the blind rage of the wolf, keeping it from being overwhelmed.  Distantly, I could feel the pain as my body changed and shifted, but it was far away, as if I was floating in a void.  The void I recognized, for I had reached it in my meditation; it was a refuge deep in my mind that held the center of myself.  It was my anchor.  I let the potion carry my mind along, as it merged my center, hovering in the nothingness, with the here and now in my shifted body.  It was a wonderful feeling, to be in a different body with a firm mind, definitely my own.  I understood then, how I was supposed to control myself by anchoring my conscious mind in that refuge while my body changed around it.
            I shook my head to clear it, then walked towards the kitchen door, pushing it open to see Sagais sitting at the table with a book.  He looked up when I entered and chuckled.  “You won’t be able to mix potions like that!  Look at yourself.”  He motioned me over to the table.  As I jumped up on a chair, he made a motion with his hand and the surface of the table became reflective enough for me to see myself.  When I looked into the makeshift mirror, I saw a white wolf looking back at me, with a black blaze on one side of my face, and dark markings around the opposite eye and ear.  I tried to say something, but all that came out was barks and yips.  Sagais laughed at my bewilderment.  “Calm down.   They don’t call you a werewolf for nothing.  Now, stop trying to speak vocally, and try to speak telepathically.  Think at me.”  I gathered my thoughts around my center and tried to direct a question at Sagais.  He leaned closer to me.  “I can’t hear you.”  I concentrated harder, trying to push my question at him with my magic.
            <WHY?>
            Sagais cringed.  “Well now I hear you.”  He sighed and shook his head.  “We have got to work on that.  Think of it as if you have a tendril of your thoughts extending to me.  Why what?”
            I looked inside myself again, centering my thoughts.  As I did, I noticed that the outside of my center seemed fuzzy, or foggy.  The fog was purple.  I suddenly realized that it was my magic.  An idea occurred to me, so I acted upon it, extending a tendril towards Sagais.  Not just of thought, as he suggested, but of my magic as well.
            <Is this better?>
            “Yes, much.  Now, why what?”
            <I…  I don’t remember.  I was going to ask you something, but I don’t remember what.>
            Sagais roared with laughter.  “Spent too much time just trying to think at me, hm?  Ok before the potion starts to wear off, I want you to try and change back to your human form.”
            I stared at him.  <How am I supposed to do that?>
            He shrugged.  “I don’t know, that’s not something I’ve experienced.  Ris never really described how he figured it out.”
            I sighed and tried to think.  When I had changed earlier, I had held on to the part of me that was my consciousness.  So maybe… maybe I could force that change again.  I took a deep breath and tried to make myself change, tried to will myself to go back to my own half-elven form.  At first, there was nothing.  Then I remembered how my magic helped me talk telepathically.  I tried pushing the Change with not only my mind, but my magic as well.
            Somewhere inside, I felt a click, and I held desperately on to the center of my consciousness as the Change rushed around me.  This time, the pain was not so distant, and I almost lost my hold several times.  But finally it was over, and I looked at Sagais for approval.  He had a hard time keeping the smile off his face.  “Nope, not quite.”  He motioned to the table again.  I looked in it, and could understand his mirth.  This time, I saw a creature that was a mix of humanoid and wolf.
            I sighed and tried again.  It was easier, I guess because I now had some idea of what I was doing.  I pushed, and felt my body settle, as if it had reached a comfortable, familiar form.  I opened my eyes to see my dark-skinned self looking back at me from the polished table.  I looked at Sagais, and he smiled at me.  “Very good.  Now go get some different clothes on, those are quite tattered.  Then I’ll show you how to make this schmutz.”
            By the time I cam back, he had two cast iron pots of water boiling on the stove.  “Come with me,” he said, grabbing one and motioning me to take the other.  I followed him as he led me into the meadow.  The full moon was high in the sky and shining brightly through the partial roof.  Two carefully prepared fires were set up, and Sagais set his pot on one as he gestured for me to set mine on the other.  There were two baskets nearby, one beside each fire.  He picked one up.  “Obviously, the number of herbs and amount of water depends on how many potions you want to make.  Tonight, we’ll make about twelve of each, that’s pretty much a batch.”  He showed me the herbs and how many to put in.  We started with the suppression potion; I named each herb as I dropped it in while Sagais was stirring.  When I was done, I moved to the second pot and basket, repeating the process.   Like earlier in the day, Sagais made me recite the ratios of each potion over and over again, until I made no mistakes.  Once I added the last herb to each pot, I could tell that the water took on a certain quality.  It no longer appeared to be just water, but seemed to become thicker, not quite as thick as syrup.
            “Now what?”  I asked as I peered into one of the pots.
            “Now we leave it for the night, to sit and steep in the light of the full moon.  Tomorrow night we will bottle it.”
            I made a face.  “Does it have to be at night?  Why can’t we just bottle it during the day, when I don’t have to worry about fighting the Change?”
            He laughed.  “Yes, it all has to be done under a full moon.  Be grateful, at least we don’t have to pick and dry the herbs under the full moon!”  We both laughed at that.  “So, to bed with you.”  He made shooing motions with his hands.  “Tomorrow I have more for you to study.”  I yawned and nodded, then made my way to the back of the cave where my bedroom was.  Most of the wolves had already fallen asleep in varying sized heaps of fur all over my bedroom floor.  I slid under my own blankets and was soon fast asleep, my only dreams being full of the moon.
            I woke the next morning to the gradual lightening of the crystals, which coincided with the rising of the sun.  As I wandered into the kitchen to break my fast, I saw the pile of books and scrolls that Sagais had left out for me to read.  I heaved a big sigh, almost a protest, but took them outside the Cave to read them under a tree.  They all had to do with certain aspects of magic, shape shifting, or specific herbs.  There was even a section or two on lycanthropy, but it didn’t tell me anything that Sagais hadn’t already.  I finished by midafternoon, and wandered back into the Cave to get something to eat.  Sagais had been noticeably absent all day, but after an hour or so of puttering around doing nothing, he appeared like a whirlwind in the center room.  He went into the kitchen, with me following behind, and proceeded to empty his pockets of what appeared to be small rocks.  I picked one up, but couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary about it.
            “Sagais, why were you gone all day just for rocks?” 
            He looked playfully offended.  “For all you know they could be my cousins.”  I stared at him, astonished, until he grinned.  “Lucky for you they’re not.  Well not technically I guess, I do feel a kinship for all rocks.  But these are just for selling.  You wouldn’t believe how well some people will pay just for a rock.  I guess they use them in jewelry, or magic, or something.”  He took the rock from my hand and made a fist as he closed his eyes and concentrated.  When he opened both his eyes and his hand, the rock had been transformed into a flawlessly polished gem.  I picked it up, amazed, and inspected it.
            “Sagais is this… ?”
            He nodded.  “A diamond, although it is somewhat imperfect deep in the center.  It’s something that can’t be seen with just your eyes.”
            I laughed.  “No wonder they pay you so much.  It’s huge!”  The diamond was the size of a small marble, fitting perfectly into the palm of my hand.  “Mages use such things in their spells I believe, and diamonds such as this are fitted into the trappings of nobles.”
            He gathered the rest of the stones and put them in a jar on the counter.  “Time for you to start meditating, the moon will rise in a few hours.  Are you taking a potion tonight?”
            I shook my head.  “Now that I know how to keep my head about me, I want to try it without tonight.”
            He nodded.  “Well you know where to find me if all goes well.”  I nodded back, then got up from the table to go settle myself in the center room to wait for dark.
            Once I started meditating, dark did not take long to fall.  Or rather, from my perspective, it only took a few minutes.  I could tell without even opening my eyes that the moon had risen, for the answering prickle in my skin was now a familiar sensation.  Control was hard this time, without the help of the potion.  I didn’t even try to stop the Change, for it would have been like trying to dam a large, fast river.  It took all I had to cling to my center with teeth and fingernails as it rushed around me.  I was barely aware of the changes in my body, only the pain.  But somehow, I was still conscious, still me, as the haze cleared and I was looking down at paws instead of hands.  I smiled a wolf smile wearily, then went searching for the bowl of water I’d put out earlier.
            The water restored some of my strength, and I steeled myself for the mountain of shifting back into humanoid form.  When I felt suitably ready, I gathered my magic with my thoughts, and then tried to push the backwards Change as I had the night before.
            It was like trying to move a mountain.
            I might have given up.  I’m still not sure why I didn’t, except that I felt so strongly that I needed to do this.  I couldn’t even let it enter my mind that if I didn’t force this change now, I would turn back in the morning when the sun rose.  So I strained and pushed, until finally I felt a response.  The mountain had moved an inch and it sent a thrill through me; I redoubled my efforts.  Soon I could feel tingling in my skin again, but this time from hair shrinking instead of growing.  A pause, and then a settling, just like last night.  When it was all over with, I lay on the cool stone floor, exhausted.
            After an hour or so of dozing, I didn’t feel quite so spent.  I dragged myself up off the floor and went to the meadow, where I knew Sagais would put me to work bottling potions.  When I got there, his head turned and I could see his broad grin.  “Tiring, isn’t it?”  I nodded, feeling drained.  “Ris said it eventually got easier, so maybe you can take heart in that.  Here, let me show you how to bottle these.”  He got out some little bottles, and a small funnel.  “The potion for suppression goes in the brown bottle.  The brown helps keep the sun out and the potion from degrading.  The potion for control goes in the clear bottle.  Then we seal them with these stoppers.”  He demonstrated, using a ladle to pour some liquid into a brown bottle, covering it with a stopper that seemed to be wood.  I picked one up, amazed at how it could look so much like wood, but still be soft.  I looked at Sagais with a question in my eyes.
            “Yes, they’re wood, but from a special tree.  Somehow, the inner wood stays soft like that.  It’s perfect for capping a bottle, because you soak them in water to get them in the neck, but once it dries, it expands.”
            I giggled, feeling a little strange from all the shifting.  “That’s pretty neat!”
            We bottled the rest in silence, Sagais taking the suppression potion while I bottled the control potion.  When we were done, we had twenty four little bottles set neatly in a small box.  Sagais saw my need for sleep and made me go to bed shortly after we were done.  I stumbled to my bed, where I fell into a dreamless sleep.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            After that week, I settled into a routine that consisted mostly of meditating and reading.  I had never seen so many books as Sagais had in his library, and most of them were on magic, so I devoured them with my eyes as quickly as I could.  I still helped with the animals, and I enjoyed taking a book out to sit near them and read.  The wolves were gone more and more each day, hunting and exploring the territory near the cave.  Nighthunter had said that there was little competition for it; they had been driven away long ago by those that came to steal the Stone, or they had become one of the Guardians themselves.  Occasionally I took my bow and went hunting, just to be by myself.  It was just as relaxing as meditation to hear the wind in the trees, to be still and listen to the wildlife.  Each full moon, I had more control over my changes without having to use any potions.  Soon, I was running alongside the wolves in my own wolf form, and not always on the full moon.  They taught me to hunt with the pack as if I was a pup, the same age as Solstice and Equinox.
            I soon began to lose track of the days as I became more content.  The spring flowers bloomed and passed by, giving way to others.  The weather got warmer, and sometimes in the afternoon of humidity you could feel the approaching thunderstorm in the air.  Midsummer’s eve, the longest day of the year, came and while I studied and ran free.  Eventually, the trees started to turn colors and the air was cooler.  Days gradually grew shorter, leaving me more time on the night of a full moon to enjoy my wolf form.
            Sagais had left to go barter with the village nearby, and I was left to care for the animals.  Shortly after midday I went hunting for dinner, and soon came back with a pair of rabbits tied to my belt.  Sagais had never had visitors, so I walked confidant that I would take the rabbits into the kitchen and prepare them to cook.  I was whistling softly as I walked, and I was completely unprepared for the arm that grabbed me, spun me about, and held me while the other arm of my unknown assailant held a knife to my throat.  “What in the nine hells are you doing here, drow?”  The voice growled in my ear.
            I suppose that a veteran fighter is never afraid when surprised by an attacker from behind.  But for any who is not trained and experienced, there is that moment of petrification.  I had frozen, and now I had to remind myself to breath, will my galloping heart back to its normal pace.  The stranger cursed under his breath when I didn’t answer, but I barely noticed.  Instead, I was focusing my thoughts to reach the wolf pack.  <Nighthunter, I need you at the Cave.  There’s someone here.>  I sent him the few images I had seen: a flash of hands and a blur of a face.
            “Answer me, drow!  Why are you still here?!”
            The knife pressed harder into my throat.  I could feel the skin under it start to itch and burn, and almost panicked.  I took a deep breath.  “I am here to guard, and to learn.”
            “And the one before you?”
            My throat closed.  “Gone.  I had to kill him.”  The voice in my ear chuckled softly.  The knife felt like a blade of fire now, and the instinct to survive kicked in.  I started to inch an arm up between my neck and the knife, but before I could get there, I was let go.  I sensed the wolves slipping in to the tunnel, felt Nighthunter take a place near my side in the shadows even as I turned around.
            My attacked was a tall surface elf with golden hair.  His face seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place where I’d seen him before.  He didn’t speak after I turned around, just watched me.  There was a silence for a time, the only noise being soft wolf growls that could only be heard if one listened very closely.  Finally I worked up the nerve to ask him, “Why are you here?”
            The stranger smiled a half smile, and said, “Unfinished business,” in a lilting musical voice.  He brushed past me and tried to go through the hidden door to the kitchen, but Stormwatcher and Nod were blocking the way.  He looked at the hackled, growling wolves, then back at me.  Another moment of silence, then: <Let him go.>  Reluctantly, the wolves let him pass.
            ‘Why did you let him go?  We are supposed to be guarding the stone!’  Nod asked.
            “But he wasn’t after the stone, he went in the kitchen door that can’t be seen from here.  Besides, my instincts say trust him, even though we don’t know him.  Maybe he knows Sagais.”  I went in the kitchen myself and found it empty.  I wanted to go get Sagais, but didn’t think it was a good idea.  Getting to the town where he was wouldn’t be too difficult, but I could just see myself accidentally turning back from a wolf in some not-so-private place.  I sighed.  “I guess we just wait until Sagais gets back.  But just in case, don’t let him go in the central cave.”  The wolves scattered to go guard the entrances, two to each doorway.  After examining my throat to see the damage the silver knife had done, I decided it wasn’t that bad, and put a cooling salve on it.  I went to go take care of the animals, then sat in the meadow and meditated.
            I must have meditated for several hours before I felt a nearby presence and opened my eyes.  The stranger was sitting a few yards away, watching me.  I said nothing, closing my eyes and tuning him out.  I knew when Sagais came home because of the wolves.  They came out of the shadows to greet him, after letting me know he was there.  I opened my eyes and stood up, briefly glancing at the stranger in front of me.  He seemed to be doing his own meditation, so I shrugged and headed for the kitchen.
            Sagais was putting away some of the food he’d gotten, so I sat down and told him about the stranger.  After showing him the burn on my neck, he looked grim.  “He held you at knifepoint, but didn’t even go in the central cave where the stone is?”
            I nodded.  “He didn’t even go through it to get to the rooms behind.  He used the kitchen door between the kitchen and the tunnel instead.  I had the wolves guard the entrances to the central cave, but when I went to the meadow to meditate, he followed me!’  I was a bit unnerved by that.
            “What did he look like?”
            “Taller than me, and slender.  Elvish, blonde hair, tan skin.”  I blushed.  “He was rather handsome.”
            Sagais grinned at that, then sobered.  “Well, let’s go look for him and find out what he wants.”
            As it turned out, we didn’t have far to look.  As soon as Sagais stood up, the person in question came through the kitchen door.  Both Sagais and the stranger grinned at seeing the other and embraced like long lost brothers, while I looked on, confused.  After they exchanged pleasantries, Sagais caught sight of me feeling sullen at the table.  He glanced between me and the stranger, then remarked to him, “She doesn’t remember you, does she?”
            The stranger shook his head.  “I assume that if she had, she would have said something to me instead of just trying to ignore me.
            “Why would I remember him?!”  I burst out in frustration.  A memory flashed into my head of a golden elf lying dead on the ground, my three daggers lodged in his chest.  I took a closer look at the elf in front of me.  “Oh my gods!  Ris?!”  I sat down to steady myself from the shock.  “I thought I’d killed you!”
            Ris smiled suddenly.  “You might have, if I had been anyone – or anything – else.  But your knives weren’t silver, so I healed pretty fast.
            I was silent for a moment.  Then realization sunk in, and I rounded on Sagais, hurt and angry.  “You!  You knew I didn’t kill him!  You let me believe for five months that I took his life!”
            Sagais held up his hands to defend himself.  “Whoa, girl, calm down!  We had our reasons.  You had to believe he was dead, because if you didn’t, then the guardianship wouldn’t pass on.  Besides, if you had really thought about it, you might have come to this conclusion.  You just didn’t think about it after I told you all that stuff about werewolves.”
            “And we didn’t expect you to stay this long.  I thought Sagais and the Guardian would be the only ones here,” Ris said.
            “How did you know to plan this?!”  I was in a sort of shock.
            Sagais looked a little sheepish.  “Zayanya told us someone was coming for the stone.  The rest we figured out off that.  Ris has been wanting to set some things straight with his family, but the compulsions wouldn’t let him get far enough away.”
            “Compulsions?”
            “It’s part of the curse.  You can only get a certain radius away from the cave before it starts trying to pull you back.”  He and Ris had taken seats at the table as well.  Sagais sat across from me, while Ris took the seat next to me, making me a little uncomfortable.  Sagais continued, “So once we knew you were coming, we planned.”
            “But we certainly didn’t expect you to be drow,” Ris interjected.
            “Well I suppose you didn’t expect this to happen either!”  I snapped back at him as I pushed up my sleeve so he could see where he had bit me.  I stood up from the table and stormed out of the kitchen, out into the night.  After laying my clothes carefully by the entrance, I concentrated hard and transformed into my wolf form.  Then I ran, mostly just for the joy of running.  But part of it was also venting my frustration and rage, letting it flow into the earth that blurred under my feet.  I found myself on the edge of one of the mountains surrounding the cave.  From the steep drop, I could see the forest for quite a ways.  I lifted my head and howled to the crescent moon, high overhead.  In the distance, I could hear wolf voices join mine, and for a second, I was solely the wolf.  Only the forest, the moon, and the other wolves existed.  Then a twig snapped behind me, and I was myself again.  I whirled around to find a large tawny wolf behind me.  I knew who it was instantly, because aside from the wolf pack and myself, there were no other wolves in the area.
            <What?>  I asked sullenly.  <Come to insult me here too, even as I try to get away?>
            Ris heaved a mental sigh.  <It wasn’t an insult, m’dear.  Only a statement of fact.>  He came and sat on his haunches beside me on the cliff edge in silence.  I wasn’t really in the mood to talk, and he seemed lost in his thoughts.  I watched the moon set on the horizon in front of us, and the first soft rays of the sun coming up over the mountains behind.  Finally, he spoke.  <I am sorry.>
            I started, not expecting the sound.  <For what?>
            <Biting you.>  His mind voice was so soft I had to strain to hear it.  <I thought I could control it that night, but it turns out I was wrong.>
            I smiled slightly.  <Actually…  I kind of like it.  I’ve been with the wolves a long time, but now…  well you’ll see.>  Ris looked a little surprised as I turned and bounded down the mountain trail.
            The wolves greeted me at the entrance to the cave, antsy and anxious to get moving.  By the time I had exchanged hellos and rubbed noses, Ris was coming down the path.  I looked to Nighthunter.  <Are we ready?  I feel like hunting this morning.>  Nighthunter answered by leading the pack out into the woods at a lope.  I turned to Ris and spoke.  <That first month was hell, and the first time I transformed and hurt a wolf, I felt so bad.  But I wouldn’t change any of it, because now, I really am part of the pack, and I can run with them when I want.  We can hunt together as wolves, not as them flushing game for me to kill.>  I turned and followed Nighthunter through the underbrush, leaving Ris to his thoughts.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            The rest of the week was an awkward one.  I stayed away most of the time, avoiding Sagais and Ris.  I felt like to some extent, I couldn’t trust Sagais like I used to, and I just felt strange about being near Ris.  So I stayed out with the wolves, hunting.  At night, I curled up on the ground in my humanoid form with them, just like it had been before the cave.
            But eventually, I had to go back to the cave.  The full moon was coming up, and even though I felt I had good control, I wasn’t confidant enough to spend it outside.  I found myself, two days before the first phase of the moon, sneaking into the entrance of the cave.  I wasn’t very successful, of course.  I entered the meadow and Sagais was there, keeping the goats company while apparently waiting for me.
            “I figured you’d come back now, when it’s near the full moon,” he commented.
            I shrugged and smiled tentatively.  “I needed some time away, but didn’t want to be outside for the full moon.  Yet.”
            Sagais nodded, then looked piercingly at me.  “We had good reason for planning things the way we did.  You realize that, right?”
            “Yea, I know,”  I sighed.  “But it’s still a bit of a shock to grasp.  Especially Ris being alive.”
            “You aren’t glad?”
            “I am glad, but it’s still…”  I blushed.  “I mean, I killed him!”  Sagais let out a laugh.
            “Oh, I see what it is!”  He chuckled again, making me blush even more.  For me, it means that most of my skin darkens.  But on the tips of my ears where the skin lightens, it turns a dark red.  Sagais stopped laughing at me just before I was about to get angry.  “Well, Alyssa Wolfchild, I think I know how to help you two be less awkward.  Just wait and see this evening.”
            So that evening, he had us both in the meadow, the wolf pack gathered around.  Then he left, saying he had to get something.  There was an uncomfortable silence while we sat, before I asked softly, “Would you like to meet the wolves?”  Ris nodded, so I introduced him to everyone, starting with Nighthunter.  Moonlight liked him so much that by the time Sagais got back, she had curled up next to Ris.  Sagais had brought back some flat bread and goat cheese.
            While we munched on the food, Sagais said, “Both of you have heard my story, and how I came to be here.  I have heard a little bit of each of your lives, but I think it’s appropriate for you two to tell the other about yourself.”  Ris looked a little shocked, and I felt cold to the bone.  Sagais half smiled at our reactions.  “We can stay here all night if we need to.”
            Ris looked at me, and I shook my head.  “You go first.”  He looked uncomfortable, but nodded.  “It was near Midsummer, a time of great celebration in my city of Shoendroth.  I was the son of one of the lords of the court, and therefore my friends were also lords’ sons.  The day before the Midsummer feast, we all thought it would be grand to go kill a nice fat stag or boar.  So we gathered up our hunting bows, a few extra horses, and went in search of game after our noon meal.
            “It didn’t take us long to find a few stags.  We had always made sure not to over hunt the forest, and we were fairly secluded from any humans who might do so.  By early evening we had one stag lashed to the back of an extra horse.  We were about to head back when we saw wild boar tracks in the dirt.  Killing a wild boar is considered a great honor among us.  Not only does it take much skill, but it also feeds a great number of us.”  Ris sighed.  “We were only forty years old or so, fairly naïve.  None of us had ever killed a boar before, and we all wanted to.  So we left the horses and tracked the boar to his hole.  He was good, that boar, because we tracked him for hours through and around the underbrush without ever seeing him.  We saw one of his sows, but she had piglets, so we couldn’t kill her.  By the time we gave up the hunt, the sun was starting to set.  Nobody gave any thought to the full moon starting to rise on the horizon, even before the sun had fully set.  Were creatures were unheard of; I don’t think we even studied them too closely.
            “Anyways, we were heading back to Shoendroth with our single stag when I spied fresh tracks of more of the deer.  I told the others to go back ahead of me, intending to follow the tracks for a short ways.  If I found the herd quickly, I would try for another stag or doe and bring it back with me.  So I separated myself from my friends and started following the tracks, leaning over on my horse so I could see them better.
            “I recall a large shadow darting across the deer tracks directly in front of my horse.  The horse shied and reared, dumping me on the ground as he took off at a gallop.  I remember something heavy on me, but I must have passed out shortly after because it’s all a blank spot until I woke up the next morning.  My friends told me that they’d heard animal growls and snarls among my screams.  They arrived in time to scare off the animal, but I had already been badly mauled.  I was hoisted up in front of someone and they galloped back to the city as fast as they could.
            “I awoke the next morning, extremely sore, in my own bed.  A young elf in the robes of a healer was dozing in a chair next to my bed, and I took the opportunity of privacy to find out just why I was sore.  There were fresh wounds on my arms, legs, and shoulder, but the worst was my throat.  Apparently, my friends had arrived just in time to keep the animal from ripping my throat out completely, but there was still a great deal of damage done.  The priests had healed the most serious to keep me alive, but the most healing would happen now that I had woken up.
            “I was well enough to attend the Midsummer Feast that evening, and it was as fun as any I had ever attended.  The animal that attacked me faded from the minds of the elven court; nobody had seen it clearly enough to even distinguish what kind of animal it was, much less to track it and kill it.  Life settled back to normal after the Feast.
            “It was a full month before the full moon rose again and shone its curse on me.  That night, I went out with my friends just like I did almost every night, carousing and socializing.  I started to feel truly terrible, and excused myself to go find a sink to hang over.  It felt almost as if I was turning inside out right there on the spot.  I don’t think I yelled, but a servant appeared in the doorway, presumably to get water.  I didn’t know him, but I remember his face:  he was old, even for an elf, and his face had fine lines in the corners, framed by short white hair.  The last thing I remember was that face contorted in fear before me.
            “The next morning I woke outside the city walls, just on the edge of the wood.  I was covered in blood, but I was unsure whether it was my own, an animal’s, or someone else’s.  There was a stream nearby where I washed myself off, and then I managed to sneak back in to the city without being noticed.  As I was in my own room toweling dry and changing my clothes, I heard the servants talking in the corridor outside my door.  They were gossiping about an elf who had died unnaturally in the Lower City, where my friends and I usually made our rounds.  It made me feel cold inside, because I felt the only possible explanation for the servant’s death was that I had killed him before fleeing the city.  I didn’t even bother to step outside and ask the servants for more information; panic had taken hold of my actions.  I swiftly packed a few changes of clothes, some food, and a few other necessities and snuck out of the city the same way I had come in.  I don’t think I even had a specific destination in mind, except to just get away.
            “By the time I made it all the way down here, I had been traveling at least a month.  I don’t really remember how much time passed, but it seemed like endless nights of blackness and never-ending days of bright sun.  I lost my supplies that first night out.  I had already camped for the night, but once I transformed and was overwhelmed with the rage, I traveled fast, but without bothering to take any of my things.  I woke the morning after with shreds of clothes on my back, no shoes, and no food.  Some of the days are thankfully blurred after that, but some I remember vividly:  after days of traveling barefoot, my feet were cut and bleeding.  I didn’t have any weapons on me, so food consisted of the few plants I recognized as edible.  My stomach was always growling.  When night fell, I dropped where I was and slept like one dead.  Sometimes I would wake up after a night of blackness with blood on me, and I wasn’t quite as hungry.  I hoped it was some poor animal, and not a person.
            “The night I stumbled upon Sagais and the Cave of Dreams, I think it was my third night of blackness.  When I woke up in the morning, I was sore, and later I found out it was both from fighting Nysim, the yuan-ti guardian at the time, and from throwing myself against the stone dome half the night.  Sagais had plenty of food for me, and I must have eaten enough for three people in just that one sitting.  He told me of the night before, and after I was done eating I told him of the month I’d spent wandering the wilderness.  He knew what I was, because he’s got all those magic books back in the library and had read almost all of them.  We became fast friends after that, and spent years figuring out how I could control myself on the nights of the full moon.  That was about fifty years ago, near as I can figure.”  Ris looked at Sagais, who nodded confirmation.  I almost choked with surprise.
            “You’re ninety years old?”  Both of my parents had only been in their fifties when they had been killed.
            Ris nodded.  “Yea.  How old are you?”  I told him, and he laughed.  “Full blooded elves live a very long time.  I’m not even middle aged yet.  I’m not sure how half elves age, but I think that in human terms I’d only be maybe five years older than you.”  He sighed.  “But sometimes, fifty years still seems like an eternity.  After you showed up, Alyssa, and set me free of my restrictions,” he coughed delicately.  “I went back to Shoendroth to set some things straight.  My father was pleased to see me, and when I inquired about that death fifty years ago, he barely remembered it.  All he could tell me was that it seemed the old servant had drunk himself to death, an unusual fate for an elf.  He wanted to know where I had been for the past half century, but I was so relieved that I hadn’t killed someone that I merely told him I’d been soul searching.  It was true, in a way, but I wasn’t going to tell him everything.”
            “So why exactly do you carry around a knife that is deadly to you?”  I asked.
            Ris smiled grimly.  “I got that when I went back to Shoendroth.   Only the blade is silver, the rest is steel.   The smith must have thought I was crazy, but he made it for me anyways.  I thought it would be a good idea to have a weapon that could hurt me if I get out of control.
            We sat in silence for a time.  I was putting off having to tell my story, but finally Sagais looked at me.  “Your turn Alyssa.”  I sighed and began.
            “I was raised by two druids, Liam and Riona… “ I started, and then continued to tell them everything.  The pack drew closer to me for comfort, and when I told about Howl and Windrunner, we had to pause.  Nightsong howled, and soon had the whole pack following suit.  It echoed eerily off the stone walls, and I let it die down before continuing.
            When I finished, there was silence for a time, just like after Ris was done.  Then Ris, “Wow, no wonder you’re so touchy about being drow.”  He directed a long look my way.  “Have you ever even encountered one of your own kind?”  When I shook my head, he seemed incredulous.  “You would understand if you knew…” he trailed off.
            “Tell me.”  My voice was unsteady, but I wanted to know what people thought of when they saw me.  Ris looked up, surprised, then glanced at Sagais.
            Sagais shrugged.  “It is a night for telling stories, and if she wants to know, I guess you should tell her.”
            Ris nodded reluctantly.  “The drow was what the mothers in Shoendroth used to frighten children: ‘You’d better behave, or the drow will come for you!’  When we got older, we learned a little bit more about them.  The drow thrive from chaos, so even if two are best friends, one might kill the other for rivalry, or spite.  Or maybe just for fun; the drow kill merely for the joy of killing.”
            As Ris continued on, describing the race of drow in detail, I grew more shocked every minute.  By the time he was done, all I could utter was a small, stunned, “Oh.”  Nighthunter pushed his head against me, and I automatically put my hand on the nape of his neck to scratch.  His eyes looked into mine, and I saw in them the willingness to follow me anywhere, to help me find a place to call my home.  I smiled, feeling blessed.  “Well I’ll just have to convince people that I’m not like that!” 
            Ris smiled his own half smile at me and nodded before slipping off to his bed.  Sagais patted me on the shoulder.  “Atta girl.  Keep your head up.”
            I looked after Ris sadly.  “It was difficult for him to leave his home, wasn’t it?  Hard for him to leave here and go back to his city, but harder to come back here and find it taken over by a stranger?  Especially since that stranger was a drow…”
            Sagais smiled.  “I don’t think it was as hard as you think.  Besides, as soon as he came back, you pretty much moved out.  Sleep here tonight; he doesn’t bite.”
            “Yes he does,” I almost laughed as I said it.
            Sagais did laugh, softly.  “True.  Ok, he doesn’t bite on purpose.”  I nodded as Sagais headed to the central cave for his own meditative form of sleep.  I was left with the wolf pack in the middle of the meadow.  I hugged Nighthunter and Lightfoot.
            “Thanks for coming with me guys.  I wouldn’t have made it here without you.”  I whispered to them.  They looked at me, smiling a wolf grin, and licked my cheek.  I settled down in the middle of the meadow and fell to sleep, surrounded by my wolves.

6
Love Gained & Love Lost

            I woke Nighthunter in the middle of the night, very carefully so that I wouldn’t disturb any of the rest of the pack.  I was full dressed, with my bow on my back.  He looked at me with a question in his eyes, and I smiled eagerly back.  “Let’s go hunting, just the two of us like we used to,” I whispered softly to him.  As Nighthunter got up, I saw a glint of light coming from Stormwatcher’s eyes.  Meeting my eyes to his, I knew that he would inform the pack in the morning.  Nighthunter and I silently made our way out of the cave and into the depths of the dark forest.
            We lost ourselves to the hunt.  It was so much like when I was young that if I forgot about the events of the past months, I could almost imagine being able to go home to my parents.  Nighthunter and I hunted for hours, filling my pack with a few rabbits and a squirrel.  We flushed a few deer, but since we were hunting mostly for fun, we simply ran alongside the scared animals.  It left me flushed with adrenaline even as I caught my breath.
            After my breathing had calmed, I turned to Nighthunter with a twinkle in my eye.  “Want to try something new, packbrother?”  I asked him as I carefully laid my bow and pack in a neat pile.  My clothes followed shortly after, and soon I was seeing through wolf eyes, the burning tingle from the Change fading rapidly away.
            ‘You are getting very good at that,’ Nighthunter remarked.
            <That’s because I love it!>  I danced around him eagerly, ready to be moving.  Nighthunter nipped at my tail once before exploding into a run.  I took off after him, adjusting my stride until I kept pace neck to neck with him.
            The sky was just beginning to lighten when I caught the scent of deer in my nostrils.  A glance at Nighthunter showed that he smelled it too, but he bowed his head to me to indicate I should lead the hunt.  I felt elated and nervous at the same time, for I was still fairly new to hunting.  But I put my nose to the ground and eagerly tracked my quarry, Nighthunter following silently behind.
            It didn’t take me long to find the deer I was tracking.  I snuck up on the doe and her two companions carefully, my blood pounding in my ears.  I gathered my back legs under me and leapt out of my hiding spot to land in their midst.  The deer took off running, and Nighthunter and I ran after them gleefully, reveling in the thrill of the chase.
            After a long run that left even my boosted stamina exhausted, Nighthunter and I slowed down to an effortless lope, letting the deer bound ahead and away from us.  We stopped to drink from a tiny spring before meandering into the clearing next to it.  I basked in the light of the moon, two days away from being full.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            I awoke with a start, and the pain instantly made me regret my sudden movement.  My skin felt strange, as if it was pulled taut over the bone, and one side of my face and shoulder felt like they were burning.  I ran a tentative hand over my face and head, feeling the raw skin, the shorn hair.  Then I looked at my hand and saw the mottled, burned skin, the base of the last two fingers fused together.  I put it back on my lap in shock, staring straight ahead.  When Ris finally came into the room, I was lost in my fears and barely aware when he sat down at the edge of the bed.  He pulled the burnt hand gently off my lap and started applying a pungent salve to it.  It was then that I realized I was shaking like an aspen tree during a windstorm, but at that point I didn’t care.
            “Shadow.”  He used my wolf name, and habit made me look into his eyes.  “Shadow, what do you remember?”
            I stared at him blankly, then the dam of my memory broke and everything came rushing back to me…

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            We had wandered into the clearing to lie out and relax.  There had been a couple of rocks, and we thought the huge one with a flat top would be perfect to sit on and watch the sun rise.  We had even started to reminisce a little when I heard a noise and turned to look upwards.  All I saw was a flash of wings and a black liquid shooting towards us.  I tried to warn Nighthunter, but in my panic forgot that I was in wolf form, so all that came out was a yowling yelp.  I was almost halfway off the rock when the black stream hit, so it only reached half of my body.  Nighthunter, however, got the full brunt of it.
            Then the liquid started to burn, almost as soon as it hit.  The clearing was filled with the howls and yelps of a wolf in dire pain.  I tried to get up, tried to get closer to Nighthunter.  I had just gotten to wobbly feet when a black shadow dropped out of the sky onto him.  Rage lent me strength, and before I could think I had launched myself at the winged shape perched on top of the rock.  I failed to see the writing tail until it snapped against my chest, throwing me across the clearing.  I impacted hard against the trees on the edge and lost consciousness.
            I remember only bits and pieces after that.  The first bit, I heard crunching and slobbering as the beast devoured his meal.  Another flash of voices, then someone carrying me.  A cold nose pressed to my cheek.  A head rested on my good hand.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            When I cam back to the present, I was crying.  Ris carefully put his arms around me and gathered me into his lap.  I turned my head into his shoulder and sobbed.
            After a time, I raised my head from Ris’s shoulder.  I felt numb inside, as if I had no more emotions; they had all been cried out with my tears.  I took a shaky breath and met Ris’s eyes.  “What was it?”  I asked softly.  My voice was hoarse from crying.
            I saw the compassion in his eyes as he answered me.  “It was a black dragon.  Sagais thinks it’s a fairly young one, just starting to search for a place to nest.  He attacked with acid first, then landed for his meal.”
            I turned my head away, choking back another sob.  Apparently I had some emotion left after all.  When I had composed myself again, I turned back to Ris.  “How long?”  I demanded.
            He sighed.  “Five days.  We had to give you sleeping potions, especially through the full moon.  You were so badly hurt, when I carried you back here I couldn’t see how you were still alive.  Luckily, those nights of the full moon, even though you didn’t Change, some of your regeneration abilities helped.  As it is, that first day and a half, you stopped breathing three times.  Somehow, Sagais brought you back each time.  But none of us have gotten much sleep lately.”  He nodded towards the door.  I looked and saw both doors crowded with wolves peering anxiously in.  Turning back to Ris, I saw that his eyes were bloodshot and his face drawn with exhaustion.
            I grabbed his shoulders.  “Sagais brought me back, what about Nighthunter?!”
            Ris was sympathetic.  “I’m sorry Alyssa, by the time we found you, there were only a few small pieces left and some bones.  Our first priority was to get you back here…”
            I stared at him, then sat up, inspiration coursing through me.  “The Stone can do it, it can bring him back!”  I struggled to push myself off his lap, somehow managing to avoid his clutching arms.  Putting weight on my right foot hurt as if the skin was being stripped off and I was stepping on long thorns, but I ignored it and stumbled towards the central cave.  The short hair on my right side fluttered gently against the side of my face, but even that light touch felt like I was getting stabbed with those long thorns.  I somehow made it to the stone pedestal, and even managed to grab the Stone of Sages before my leg gave in and I collapsed in a heap at the base of the pedestal, my cry of pain echoing around the walls.  My vision grayed out and as I hovered on the outer fringes of consciousness, I heard the heavy steps of Sagais approaching and the murmur of voices as he spoke with Ris.  There was a clink, followed by cracking and squelching sounds that made me curl in tighter on myself, reliving Nighthunter’s last moments.  Then a clawed hand softly stroked my cheek, and I was gently lifted and carried.  My vision cleared long enough to see a half wolf face with Ris’s coloring as he placed me back in the bed.  Suddenly, I wasn’t on the gray fringes of consciousness anymore, but being carried away by the blackness.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            When I woke next, it was more gradual.  I remembered everything this time, and curled up in a corner of the bed to cry.  The crystals gradually lightened to reflect the sun, so by the time it was bright enough to read by I had more or less stopped crying and was simply staring at a single thread in sheets next to me.  Now I truly did feel numb as I allowed the world to pass me by.  I could care less about the sun rising or setting, and wished it could take me with it.  All I could think of was that it was my fault; I should never have suggested we go hunting.  It should have been me that died, not Nighthunter.  Subconsciously, I had made up my mind to lay there until I really did die, from starvation or thirst.  Ris came in after a few hours with a plate of food and a pitcher of water.  He lingered, but when I didn’t move at all, he sighed and left, closing the door behind him.  It was then that I noticed all the doors had been closed, presumably to keep me from trying to use the Stone and hurting myself again.  I sighed.  It didn’t really matter anyway.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            I don’t know how long I stayed in that state, not caring about anything or anyone.  I slept when I felt like it, and when I was awake, I just stared off into nothing.  Sometimes I would nibble on a piece of bread, but I was never really hungry.  I was grieving.  It must have been painfully obvious to everyone else as well, because they left me alone, with the exception of Ris bringing me food every day.  Eventually, I heard the meadow door open and someone padded across the floor.  I was curled up on my good side, so I didn’t see who it was until Lightfoot came around the corner of the bed, jumped up on it, and crawled up so that she was inside my arms.  I buried my nose in her fur, tears coming to my eyes at the thought of Nighthunter.  She licked my face and whined softly.  ‘We all miss him, Shadow.’  At this, I broke down and sobbed hoarsely, holding her tight to my chest like a blanket on a cold night as I cried myself to sleep.  I hadn’t remembered dreaming at all since before Nighthunter and I had gone hunting together, but this night I dreamed the hunt all over again, the joy as I ran alongside my brother.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            This time when I opened my eyes, the entire pack was in the bedroom with me.  Solstice and Equinox had climbed up to sleep on the foot of the bed.  Lightfoot hadn’t moved from my side, and when she saw I was awake she licked my chin.  I lowered my eyes from her gaze.  “I’m sorry Lightfoot, this is my fault.  I shouldn’t have suggested we go hunting alone.”
            She nosed me.  ‘And what good would the rest of the pack have done?  It would have just made more injured.  It isn’t your fault Shadow, so you have got to stop trying to wish your own death.’
            In the silence that followed, there was a loud gurgle from my stomach and I realized I was ravenous.  I stroked Lightfoot’s ears carefully with burnt fingers and put my forehead to hers with a sigh.  “Ok Lightfoot.  I don’t want to be miserable anymore.”
            Lightfoot bared her teeth at me in a smile.  ‘Nighthunter wouldn’t want you to lie around and wallow.  He’d want you to make friends with that cute elf and finish what you started!’  I blushed as she scrambled to her feet, then blushed even more when I realized the entire pack had been watching me intently through the whole conversation.  I sat up carefully and spied the food and water Ris had so diligently replaced twice a day.  Before I knew it, it was gone and I was looking for more.  Seeing none, I swung my feet off the bed and lightly placed one foot on the floor.  It hurt, but not as bad as it had the last time I had tried to walk.  Longstride materialized at my side for me to lean on, and so with his help I was able to slowly make my way through the library and to the kitchen.  Sagais was cooking something on the stove, and Ris was sitting at the table.  Their conversation stopped abruptly as they caught sight of me standing in the doorway.  Then Sagais smiled broadly and greeted me.  “Well, look what the wolves dragged in!”  Ris just looked deep in thought.  I sat down on the table next to him.
            “I’m starving,” I said, my words punctuated by another growl from my stomach.
            Ris smiled suddenly.  “As well you should be, after ten days with no food and little water.  Will you let me treat your burns now?”
            I met his eyes steadily.  “I didn’t stop you before.”
            “No, but you didn’t want me to.”
            I lowered my gaze, knowing he was right.  Sagais plopped a bowl of liquid down in front of me and handed me a spoon.  I accepted it and took a bite from the bowl, closing my eyes in pleasure as it slid warmly down my throat.  “This is good, what is it?”
            “Chicken soup,” Sagais replied.
            I choked on the soup.  “Not one of ours, surely?”  Sagais chuckled at me and shook his head.  Reassured, I finished the bowl and started on the bread. 
            I would have eaten anything they gave me, but after a bit Sagais wouldn’t let me have anymore.  “You don’t want to eat too much too fast, your stomach has to get used to food again,” he said.  “You can have some more in a bit after we look at your burns.”
            They made me stand up so they could inspect every inch of me that was burned.  Sagais shook his head over my hand.  “I’m afraid I can’t fix that one.  It’s too far damaged, and too far healed afterwards.  You’re just lucky that more of that acid didn’t reach your face, or you’d have gone blind in one eye.  There’s not much more that can be done except for lots of rest, more magical salve, and maybe a transformation or some healing with the Stone.  You’ll be right as rain in a few weeks.”  He smiled at me.
            I walked around the cave, partly because Ris and Sagais insisted, partly because I was restless.  Longstride and Lightfoot accompanied me everywhere.  Nothing had changed; the animals in the meadow seemed happy to see me, and I was comforted by the mundane way they wandered.  Through the skylight, I could see the sun almost directly overhead.  Noon, but already I felt exhausted, tired enough to head back to the bed and fall asleep.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            Ris saw Alyssa lay down to sleep and exchanged a silent look with Sagais.  They had both agreed that a restless sleep would do more harm than good, so he crept silently into the bedroom after her.  Standing over her, he felt his heart ache for her loss.  Rightfully ignorant of all but her own pain both physical and emotional, she couldn’t see how it had torn him up to see her so broken.  He sighed and held his hands over her head, drawing on his own small reservoirs of power to nudge her mind toward a deep, healing, and most of all dreamless sleep.  Maybe now he could get some restful sleep of his own.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            The room was dark and empty when I opened my eyes.  My rest had been blissfully free of nightmares and I felt much refreshed.  I wandered into the meadow, trying to walk off the restlessness I felt.  The wolves were slumbering peacefully in the long grass as I padded silently around the outside of the cave wall and into the central room.  Before I consciously knew where I was going, I was standing outside the tunnel breathing in the fresh night air as my mind did its own wandering.  Sagais and Ris had said there had been barely bones left by the time they found me, but I had to see for myself.  I slipped into my wolf form – remembering bitterly that the last time I had done so, I had been running my last with Nighthunter – and lengthened my stride until I was chasing the wind.  Sometimes, it seemed if I ran fast enough, I could forget everything and just live in the moment.  But then I always had to slow down…  and this time when I slowed down it was at that clearing.
            The clearing looked like a small battle had taken place inside it.  The ground was raked and torn, the trees on the edges broken and splintered.  The rock in the middle was almost half its size, pitted and scarred from the acid breath of a black dragon.  I sat next to it, numb.  <What do I do now, Nighthunter?>  I spoke into the empty air.  <Forget it ever happened?  Or try and avenge you?>  I shook my head at the thought.  I remembered the lessons my parents had given me, including those on dragons.  There are few who can hope to defeat a dragon, and blacks are among the more vicious.  <What am I supposed to do?!>
            <Remember him, and let the hurt heal on its own.>  Ris’s voice came floating over my shoulder, and I turned to see him sitting a few feet behind me.
            <You followed me?>  For some reason, I didn’t feel too surprised.
            <Of course I did.  I didn’t want what happened last time when you tried to slip away from me happen again.  So when Lightfoot woke me and told me that you were leaving, I tracked you.  I’ve started weaning myself off the control potion, so I had already taken one anyways.>
            The revelation struck me.  <You were the one that carried me back to the cave.  And when I tried to use the Stone of Sages, you carried me then too.>  I knew how hard it was for Ris to control his changes.
            Ris nodded.  <You and Nighthunter were gone when we woke in the morning.  Stormwatcher mentioned seeing the two of you slip out, so we weren’t too concerned.  But the further along the day got, the more worried we got, so when you weren’t back by nightfall we came looking for you.  Sagais had his merge-with-the-earth transportation, but I figured the best and fastest way to track you would be by smell.  By the time we actually found you, the first control potion was wearing off, so I took another to allow me to get you back to the cave.  Sagais stayed for a bit to determine what had happened, and to look for Nighthunter.>
            I was silent for a bit, somewhat awed by the enormity of the sacrifice he had made for me.  <Thank you,> I whispered softly.
            We traveled back to the Cave in silence, allowing me to mull over things in my mind, trying to decide how I felt about everything.  When Ris had first come back to the cave, I was intimidated, but now I had feelings that I didn’t know how to describe.  And the hardest part was that I didn’t know if he returned them.
            When we arrived at the Cave, I tried to give Ris the single bed, which I felt was rightfully his, but he refused, disappearing into the meadow to stem any further protests I might make.  So I was left sitting on the bed, the furs and blankets tucked around my knees which I pulled up to my chest.  I wrapped my arms around them as I thought, unable to sleep.
            Days passed, and the tension between us became almost tangible.  Sagais never said anything about the way we avoided each other, or how accident-prone I became when Ris was in the room.  I’m sure he must have noticed, however, because he soon announced to us that he had to make a trip to a few towns to trade.  He planned on being away for a week.  The wolf pack too, decided to go range the borders of their territory.  At the time, I could have killed them for leaving the two of us alone together for that long.
            Ris and I saw them off, one sunrise apart.  I wished Sagais good luck, and forced a smile as I hugged the wolves.  As I pulled away from Lightfoot, she whispered to me, ‘Stop making it awkward, Shadow.  Feelings like that should be obvious!’  I shook my head at her mischievous smile.  We watched until we could see them no more, then I turned to Ris.  But my brain seemed to freeze and I couldn’t think of anything to say, so I just turned and went back inside the Cave.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            Another couple days went by in silence, both of us avoiding the other, getting our own meals.  I spent most of my time reading one of the many books in Sagais’s library and trying the things suggested in them out with my magic.  But at some point I got hungry for fresh meat.  While I could eat raw meat like the wolves, I still preferred it cooked.  My new werewolf blood just meant that I preferred it a little rarer than before.  I took my bow and went hunting rabbits.  I soon had three back in the kitchen, skinned and gutted.  I had just crouched down and put them in the oven.  I rose, intending to stake the rabbit furs on frames so they could cure, but as I turned I almost ran headfirst into Risaen.
            He had been standing so close behind me that the back of my neck prickled.  Ris stands almost a full head taller than me, so I found myself looking up into his expression, a strange mix of tenderness and something else I didn’t recognize.  We stood silently for a moment, each of us barely breathing until he lifted his hand and gently traced my cheekbone.  His hand was warm and sent shivers racing down my spine as I swallowed.  In that instant, I too had mixed emotions: part of me, my heart, was thrilled to know Ris shared the feelings I’d developed for him.  The other part, the logical part, panicked and threw reasons of wrongdoing at me.  I gave in to the panic and its predominant instinct: flee. So I was caught completely unprepared when Ris’s hand smoothly followed the line of my cheek to bury itself in my hair, and he leaned in and kissed me.
            My heart pounded and I almost gave in to the thought that Ris and I could have a relationship.  Then logic and panic broke in, and I pulled away from Ris.  He had this serene look in his eyes, but I’m sure I had that wide-eyed look of a deer when caught unexpectedly in a mage light. I was frozen for a second longer, then I turned and ran out of the room.
            The meadow was where I felt the most at home, so it was here that I stopped and sat in the shade of the overhanging roof.  I sat cross-legged in the long grass trying desperately to meditate.  But all I could think about was that kiss.
            I had gained some semblance of my composure back when the hair on my arms rippled and I knew Ris had entered the meadow.  Not wanting to confront him, I shrank into the shadows and held my breath in an attempt to hide.  No such luck.  Ris saw me after a few moments of looking and came over, sitting down cross-legged in front of my like he had the first day I had really met him.  I refused to look at him, instead studying the grass surrounding my feet.
            “You saved my life, you know, Alyssa Wolfchild.”  He spoke gently, quietly, as if talking to an animal that spooks easily.
            I uttered a small, bitter laugh.  “You mean, when I thought I killed you?”
            He nodded.  “I foolishly thought I would be free, that I could pick up my old life where I’d left off if I wished.  Then I actually got home, and everything just seemed so…” he hesitated.  “Shallow.  Hard to say for an elven city, but I soon found myself wishing for damp cave walls again.  And I knew that the city was ill-equipped to deal with a werewolf within its walls.  So I returned, expecting you to have been long gone.  Imagine my surprise to find you still there.  And you!  Such steel in you!  Yet you sat and meditated almost as if you were one with the earth.”  He shook his head ruefully.  “I have never been more unsure of my feelings around any other person.”  He put his fingers up under my chin and tilted my head up, forcing me to look him in the eyes.
            “What would your people say?!”  I asked him, feeling horrified, scared, and hopeful all at the same time.
            Ris shrugged.  “I really don’t care.  I’m not living with them, and I probably won’t ever go back to Shoendroth.”
            “But your family!  What would my parents say?”
            “Your parents were druids, and perhaps understood more about the ways of nature than you think.  What did they tell you before, when you were growing up?”
            “To follow my heart…”
            “And what is your heart saying right now?”
            “But I’m too young!  What would your people say?”
            He sighed.  “Sweetie, we defy the norm.  I don’t really care what my people think because I never intend to go back there.  That’s why I returned to the Cave, because life in an elven city was too petty for me.  Elves can be very vain, you know.”  He winked at me.
            “Lightfoot thinks you’re cute,” I smiled timidly.
            “What do you think?”
            My heart reacted before my mind had a chance to stop it.  “I think you take my breath away,” I said, and blushed.
            Ris chuckled.  “Well don’t be shy.  But think about things,” he said, smiling.  With a lingering glance to me, he stood up and left, leaving me to the turmoil of my thoughts:  logic or love?
            I wasn’t used to thinking so much on my own, without being able to get advice from what I saw as my family: the wolf pack.  I suppose that is why Lightfoot led them on a journey of several days.  I sat for the better part of the day agonizing, but eventually I realized one thing.  If I chose to listen to my mind and allow our differences to keep us apart, it would mean leaving the Cave, and Ris.  I couldn’t imagine, at this point, life without Ris.  I loved him too much to live without him, no matter the differences in our race, upbringings, or age.
            I went to search for Ris, silently.  I found him in the very back of the Cave, where Sagais had wanted to put two new rooms in.  He was facing the two fist sized holes in the rock, his brow furrowed in concentration.  He was whispering something, his hands flashing, and as I watched one of the holes slowly grew to the size of a large melon.
            In the shadows, I smiled.  Sagais had shown me a little earth magic.  Ris must know quite a bit; he had been here so much longer than me.  I closed my eyes and let my consciousness sink deep into the earth until I could feel the holes in the rock in front of me.  A rune sprang into my head unbidden, and I could feel the power behind it as I sketched it in the air, letting my vision and the rock become one, convincing the rock that it wanted to be a room.  I opened my eyes to see the hole Ris hadn’t expanded widen, the rock inside it melting and turning into a sluggish liquid.  I directed it to coat the passageway deeper into the mountain as far in as it needed to go to leave a two inch layer on everything.
            Ris turned, alarmed, but relaxed when he saw it was me.  “Show off,” he teased me with a smile.  I shrugged.  We both stepped inside the crude but now completed room.  It was small enough that I could spread my arms out straight and touch the walls and ceiling with my fingertips.  Ris looked around and said, “Well, what do you think?”
            I stepped in front of him, ignoring my fatigue, and looked up into his eyes.  “I think I want to continue to defy the norm,” I said, and kissed him
            It didn’t take long before my stomach started to growl like a moving mountain, and I was reminded how much stone I moved.  I lifted my head from where it had been cradled against Ris’s chest and wondered out loud about the rabbits I had put in the over earlier.  Ris smiled.  “I took them out before going to look for you.  They were almost done.”  I made a beeline for the kitchen, my stomach protesting every step of the way.  Twice I stumbled on invisible rocks in the path, only to have Ris catch my arm. 
            When I got to the kitchen, the rabbits were cold.  I sighed, put my finger on it, and extended my magic once more.  Steam rose from the rabbit, and when I took a bite it was every bit as tender and juicy as I had imagined it would be when I went out this morning hunting it.  The juices ran over my fingers as I devoured the breast and thigh.  Savoring what seemed like the taste of bliss, I opened my eyes halfway through the second thigh to see Ris sitting in front of me.  Sheepishly, I pulled the half-eaten bone out of my mouth and offered it to him.  He laughed and shook his head.  “I think I’ll just have this one,” he chuckled as he reached for another rabbit and heated it in a similar fashion.
            I ate until I was content, sitting back with a sigh as I licked my fingers.  Getting up to go get one of Sagais’s books, everything went dizzy and I saw black spots.  “Whoa,” I said, putting my hand out to catch myself on the table.  Ris was at my side in an instant. 
            “Too much magic so soon after a serious wound, shame on you,” he said seriously with only a hint of teasing.  “You should be resting, not reading!”  He swept me up into his arms against my protests and carried me into the bedroom to gently lay me down on the bed.
            “A girl could get used to this,” I giggled.
            Ris smiled at me.  “Go to sleep, m’dear.  You’ve had enough excitement for one day.”  He held a hand over my forehead and I felt myself falling into a black well of sleep, absent of all dreams.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            I woke from a sound sleep, the furs piled around me nest-like.  There was a warm comforting presence at my back, and I vaguely remembered being partially awoken in the middle of the night to Ris crawling into bed beside me.  I carefully rolled onto my other shoulder, the one that was still tender.  Ris was asleep next to me, so I put an arm on his shoulder and watched him breathe.  After a bit, his breathing sped up, and the corners of his mouth curved up as he opened his eyes and turned to look at me.  “You know, you have amazing eyes,” I said to him.  Ris had light pastel lavender eyes, but there was a ring of gold on the inside that gave him a little bit of a feral look. 
            Ris chuckled at my scrutiny, then sighed.  “We have to go hunting today.  We ate all the rabbit yesterday.”
            I sat up, a grin stretching across my face.  “Let’s go then!”
            Ris groaned.  “You are too enthusiastic.”
            “Oh come on, this’ll be fun.  We can hunt as wolves!  I’ll get a potion.”  I swung out of bed and ran to get a control potion from the kitchen.  When I came back and offered it to him, Ris looked at it a long moment before wrapping his hand around mine.
            “I want to try changing without the potion,” he said, looking into my eyes.
            I sat down beside him.  “Are you sure?”
            He nodded.  “That’s what those new rooms are for, Sagais and I were talking about it while you were recovering.  If there are two of us, we can’t both be in the central cave.  If I can’t control it, I’d rip you to pieces.  The opening you left in the room you finished should be narrow enough that it’d be difficult for the wolf to find.  And I do need the practice.  I’ll be right back.”  He got up and padded out of the room. 
            A few minutes later, I heard him start the change – grunts of pain and bones crunching.  Then, a second later, a bone-chilling scream that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up let me know that he’d lost control and the inner beast had taken over.  I dropped the pillow I was holding and rushed down the passage towards the sound, only to find Ris stalking towards me, snarling and growling, all his hair standing on end like a wolf in full defense.  I could feel a sense of dread in the pit of my belly.  I wasn’t strong enough to wrestle with a half rabid wolf, maybe not even if I had been at my full strength.  I tried talking to him:  “Ris?  Ris, it’s Alyssa.  Now would be a good time to take control.  Come on Ris, I know you can do it.”  But to no avail, he kept moving towards me.  I had less than a moment’s notice of a crouch when he sprang at me.  Somehow, I barely managed to keep that mouth away from my throat, all the while trying to keep up a running dialog, hoping that Ris would be able to recognize me and take control of the beast.  At some point when I was pinned to the ground I saw the control potion on the ground close to me, and after stretching for it managed to grab it and pull the top off with one hand.  I didn’t know if it would work since Ris had already changed, but it was worth a try.  My other hand had his bottom jaw, trying to keep him from either chewing my hand off or laying my throat open, so I held on as best I could and stuck the whole vial in his mouth, emptying as much as I could into it.  He paused for a moment, as if the taste had struck something within, then his jaw crunched down on my hand.  The vial shattered, I heard a crack from my hand, and the bits of glass dug into the tender new skin.  I gasped involuntarily as the pain shot to my elbow, and blood started dripping down my forearm and out of Ris’s wolf mouth.  I was yelling at him now, feeling my strength start to wane quickly, afraid of what would happen when it was gone.  But something seemed to go through Ris, and he froze.  I pried his jaws open to get my hand out and cradling it against my chest as I scooted back from him a little bit. 
            As I watched him, Ris seemed to shiver, and slowly he resumed his elven form to collapse face down on the floor beside me.  He was shaking, and it took me a minute to realize he was crying.  A small sigh of relief escaped me as I sat next to Ris and awkwardly tried to gather him into my arms, making soothing sounds and telling him it was ok.  After a few moments, he pulled himself together and laid his head on my shoulder as he gently inspected my hand.  “Gods Alyssa, I’m so sorry…”
            “It’s ok.  It wasn’t really you.  But you’re probably going to have to set that… ah!” I gritted my teeth as he pulled another glass shard out.  “I think you broke my hand when you broke the vial.”
            He looked at me, and I could see the depths of his pain and remorse in his eyes.  “I can’t tell you how sorry I am.  Let me go get some bandages.”  He returned shortly with them and some flat pieces off wood to set the bones, but I wouldn’t let him use them.
            “Just stop the bleeding.  I still mean to go hunting today and that should regenerate most of it.”
            Ris looked at me.  “You’re crazy!”  He gently rolled my littlest knuckle between his fingers and I felt my muscles tense and the blood drain from my face as the pieces of bone ground together.  “Your knuckle is shattered!”
            “The wolf should regenerate that.” I gazed at him steadily.  “But I just got up and I’m not going back to bed so soon!”
            Ris went pale.  “You don’t mean for me to try the Change again, after what just happened?”
            I nodded.  “You have to learn sometime.  Stop looking on it as a curse.  You weren’t in your center because you let the pain get to you.  Besides, you still have some of that potion in you.”  I didn’t tell him, but if he got out of control again I intended to be ready for it.  He seemed at a loss for words, simply got up and headed towards the back of the cavern again.  I didn’t stop to listen for him this time, instead closing my eyes and starting my own meditation exercises.  Within a few minutes I felt the changes within my body.  It was a little different this time – hard to ignore the throbbing pain shooting up from my hand.  When it was done, I stood up carefully on legs slightly longer than my own.  I was in a form I hardly ever used, the one that was halfway between wolf and human.  It felt strange, and walking was awkward, so when I started making my way towards where Ris was, I stepped carefully so I wouldn’t trip over myself.
            Ris was sitting in the middle of the room I had made, cross-legged with his eyes closed.  I was as quiet as possible, not wanting to interrupt his meditation exercises.  All went well this time, and soon it was his tawny wolf looking back at me from the doorway.  <Thought you’d come prepared this time, hm?> he thought at me almost teasingly.  I nodded with a feral smile.  The true werewolf form – mix of both humanoid and wolf – was stronger than my half elven body.  Had Ris lost control, I’d have been able to subdue him much better than before.
            <Look,> I said, bending down to show him my hand.  <I was right, the knuckle’s fine.>  My whole hand was sore, and the puncture wounds were only half healed, but at least I’d be able to hunt.
            Once I was settled comfortably in my own canine form, we started looking for prey to hunt.  Ris had never hunted as a wolf before, so he had no experience hunting with others.  It took a bit of coordination because I was so new to it myself.  We finally managed to get a large rabbit for each of us and we were heading back to the cave when we passed a stream.  The reflection that caught my eye was strange, so I stopped for another look.  The wolf that looked back from me was almost a stranger.  It still had the black half-face, and the markings around the eye, but the rest of my body was no longer white.  Where I had been wounded with the dragon acid, and would be forever scarred had made the hair grow black.  It was one long streak down my right side that made me stare.  When Ris didn’t hear me following, he stopped and stood beside me.
            <Why didn’t you tell me?>  I was both awed by the change and sad.
            <What, about that?>  he shrugged, a strange gesture to see in a wolf.  <Because it didn’t seem very important.  I was more worried about you.>
            I looked one last time at the black marring the majority of my fur from my shoulder to my back leg, sighed, and turned back towards the cave.  When we got there, I let Ris cook the rabbits while I took a look at myself in the polished surface of the table.  My hair was still ragged on the right side where the acid had burned it off.  It looked strange to have part of my hair end just below my ear, and the rest of it down to my waist.  I went hunting for a sharp knife among all my things, finally settling on a throwing knife.  After carefully inspecting my hair some more, I trimmed the burnt edges of the short side off, then cut the long side so that it was all even.  Seeing a pile of my silver hair on the table brought to mind Nighthunter, and I didn’t realize I was crying until Ris sat down beside me and wrapped his arms around me.  We sat there, not saying anything while the rabbits cooked.  When they were done, he got up to take them out of the oven, and I gathered up my loose hair and took it outside, letting it blow away on the wind.  The short ends of my hair bobbed gently against my jaw line as I closed my eyes remembered my packbrother.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            “There.”  Sagais added another blanket to the rest of the gear on the pile and stood back with Ris and me to survey our progress.  It had been two weeks since Sagais and the wolf pack came to the Cave and I had been slowly accumulating my gear to continue my trip westward.
            “Are you still sure you want to do this?”  Ris asked me.
            I nodded.  “It was Father’s last request.  And I do feel as if he’s the only one who may ever be like me…”  I trailed off.
            Sagais gave the piles on the table another look.  “Well, you’ll have to keep an eye on your food supply.  With the warmer clothes and blankets we had to add, it doesn’t leave room for much else.”  We had scrounged and bartered heavier woolen clothes, instead of the linen I had, and two blankets to add to my bedroll.  I started packing it into my backpack and the two saddlebags I had.
            Eventually, Ris and Sagais wandered off, to do chores or hunt, or something else to keep themselves busy.  Several hours went by as I packed and repacked my three bags.  Finally I sighed and dumped them out again.  “It doesn’t fit!”  Snowdancer raised his head from his paws at my outburst, looking at me unblinking.  I paced for minutes, thinking, until finally an idea occurred to me and I raced out of the kitchen to go find it.  I passed Sagais in the meadow, and Ris was in the bedroom when I finally found what I was looking for – a bag I had used for gathering herbs that slung over the shoulder.   With it, I was finally able to fit everything.  It was dark by the time I set all my bags by the door with an exclamation of triumph.
            “You’ll be leaving tomorrow, then?”  Ris was standing in the opposite doorway, leaning against the frame.
            I nodded.  “I don’t want to wait too long or it will be too late to leave.”
            He walked over and put his arms around me.  I let out a small sigh as I leaned into his chest.  I didn’t want to leave Ris behind, but he didn’t want to go.  I was almost reluctant to leave at all, but if I didn’t, it felt too much like quitting.
            In bed that night with Ris’s arm over my shoulders, I couldn’t bring myself to sleep.  I listened to his breathing gradually slow until I knew he was asleep.  After a little bit I decided there was no point in waiting any longer.  I gently slipped out from under his arm and padded silently to wake the wolves and grab my things.  I had made it around the bend in the tunnel when a figure materialized from the wall.
            “You’re going to leave without saying goodbye?”  Sagais asked.
            I looked at my toes sheepishly and nodded.  “I don’t’ know how, especially to him.  That’s how he’ll know that I’ll be back, at least.”
            Sagais smiled, then pulled me into a bear hug.  “Take care of yourself, Alyssa.”
            I hugged him back, unable to say anything even if I knew what to say.  When we released each other, I adjusted my straps and turned to go, but Sagais stopped me.  “Wait, I almost forgot something.”  He pulled two items out of a bag that I hadn’t noticed he was carrying and handed them to me.  I had completely forgotten about my circlet and pendant, the two items Sagais had taken from me months ago because they burned my touch.  Now, however, I could see that the silvery metal of both of them was covered with a thin clear layer of rock.
            “Sagais, this isn’t diamond, is it?”  I knew he was capable of covering it with something so precious as that.  But he shook his head.
            “No, just simple quartz.  But you’ll be able to touch them now without getting burned.  And the quartz will help you use them a little better as a focus.  This one,” he touched the crystal pendant.  “The original stone is quartz too; it’s not real powerful, good for not much else than what you’ve been using it for.  But the circlet is attuned to you.”  He took it from me and turned it gently over in his hands.  “That means you can probably use this amethyst for a focus, and maybe manipulate the inherent magics.  You’ll have to try it out.”
            “Thank you so much!”  I threw my arms around his neck, almost giddy with joy.  Sagais chuckled at my enthusiasm as he handed me back the circlet.  I stowed it away in my pack carefully before hanging the crystal back around my neck.  I then made my final farewells to Sagais and turned and walked away, feeling as if I was leaving my home all over again.
            When I got to the mouth of the tunnel, Nod stopped.  ‘This is where I stay.  We promised.’  I nodded and smiled.
            Take care of them both, Nod.”  She licked my cheek as I bent down to hug her.  The pack filed by her, rubbing a chin, touching a muzzle, saying goodbye in their own fashion.  And so we started our travels once again, eastwards back towards Shadowdale and a mage.

7
The Unexpected

            It was several months before I was able to return to Zayanya.  I knocked on her door, and once again had to wait most of the day for her to show up.  Once again, Stormwatcher came inside with me while the rest of the pack waited outside.
            “I swear, Stormwatcher, next time I’m only going to come here in the evening.”  He smiled a wolf smile, and we both settled down to wait.  Zayanya showed up around dusk, looking unsurprised to see me.  She beckoned me to follow him further into the house.
            “I had almost thought you weren’t coming back,” she said as she led me into a room that had no furniture.
            “I...  had some issues to deal with.”  Sagais had said that most people weren’t very accepting of werecreatures, and that I should be wary of those I told of it.  Zayanya simply raised an eyebrow at me.
            “Take care to keep those potions safe,” she commented.  Taking the portal stone from me, she contemplated it for a few minutes.  “You should go get the rest of your pack, this is where I’ll open the portal for you.”
            “Don’t you need to prepare the spell, with a ritual or something?”
            She chuckled at me.  “Nay, child.  ‘Tis a simple spell, the stone is merely for the length in which it will cross...  and a test of your dedication and intentions.  Sagais would not have let you take the stone if you had shown a likeness to the black hearts of your kin.”
            “Did I pass?”  I asked softly.  She turned and raised her eyebrow at me.
            “He spent many months with you, didn’t he?  Teaching you how to control something that can take others years.  He could have killed you outright, or kept you to replace the one you killed, instead of one of your wolves.”  She turned back to the center of the room and started chanting, so I quickly left to get the rest of the pack.
            “Come on guys, she’s making the portal now.”  They followed me back to the house and through the door, past the assistant at the desk.  His eyes widened as every wolf came in the door – I think he hadn’t known how many there were.  We filed into the room just as Zayanya finished casting the spell, the circle shimmering open in the middle of the room.
            “This portal will take you across the desert and put you near the Coldwood.”  I nodded, then turned to my wolves.
            “Go, I will follow last.”  They filed, in ones and twos, into the portal and disappeared.  “Thank you Zayanya,” I smiled at her.  “I don’t know how I can repay you...”
            She smiled back.  “Find your home, whether it be with Drizzt Do’Urden or not.”  I nodded and moved toward the portal, grabbing the Stone of Sages so that I could return it as Sagais had bid.
            Then I stepped into the portal, never looking back.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

           As I stepped out of the portal and looked around, I surmised that this wasn’t the Coldwood.  I had never been to the Coldwood, and Zayanya didn’t tell me about it, but it was still a forest.  The place I now stood was barren and dry, a literal desert.  The sun was about to set, which was thankful, because the heat was almost unbearable.  The wolves had to be in constant motion so that they wouldn’t burn their pads on the sandy ground littered with rocks that had spent all day being heated up by the sun.  There were some ruins nearby and I swiftly ushered everyone towards them, inside the outer wall where ground had been partially shaded.  We gathered in a circle to discuss.
            “This isn’t the Coldwood, it’s a desert,” I remarked.  “We should stay the night and tomorrow we can go...  wherever it is we need to go.”
            ‘Providing you can find us on those maps of yours, you mean?’  Lightfoot said worriedly.  ‘What if you can’t?’
            “Then maybe I can scry the direction the edge of the desert is in.”
            ‘Maybe you should do that first,’ remarked Stormwatcher.  ‘To look for landmarks that might be on the map.’
            I pulled out the largest map I had.  “Look.  Here’s the Coldwood.  The closest way to get to the desert is almost due east.  It says there’s a city here, called Hlaungadath, that has to be somewhere in the vicinity.  Zayanya’s portal couldn’t have been so wrong as to land us on the other side of the desert.”
            Lightfoot sniffed the map, as if to smell out where we were.  ‘So in the morning we will set out for this city.  Are you sure, Shadow, after what happened in the last city?’
            I sighed.  “No, I’m not sure.  But we don’t have a choice, Lightfoot.  I’m not well off for supplies, and I doubt you’ll find much prey to eat in this desert.  That is what we must do.”  I put away the maps, and the wolves and I lay down to sleep.

            I woke in the middle of the night, freezing cold and surprised.  I hadn’t expected a place that got blistering hot during the day to get so icy cold at night.  The wolves were comfortable with their fur coats, but I needed warmth.  I dug my bedroll and some extra clothing out of my pack, shrugging on the clothing as I rolled out the bedroll.  Stormwatcher curled up beside me when I crawled in, and I fell asleep like that.  The only dream I had was a sensation, a feeling of always chasing something and never being able to reach it.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            I woke to the sound of a hiss and a yelp.  Looking in the direction of the noises, the scene I saw made me spring into action.  “Wake up, wake up!  We’re being attacked!”  I shouted as I scrambled over to the injured wolf.  It was Sunbeam, and the spear had gone through the fleshy part of her leg, pinning her to the ground.  I pulled it out as carefully and quickly as I could, more spears falling around me as I pressed my hand to the wound to try and stop the bleeding.
            ‘Leave it, we can treat it later,’ Sunbeam half-growled at me.  She awkwardly got to her feet, favoring the wounded one.  We followed the pack further into the ruins, finally finding one with a partial roof.  All of us huddled under it.  Peeking out, I got a glimpse of one of the spearthrowers.  It seemed to be a lion, but had the upper torso of a man.  It was one of the weirdest things I had ever seen.  When I shared this information with the pack, they had never heard of this type of creature either.  One thing was sure: they seemed intent on killing us.  I strung my bow and notched an arrow, then carefully looked out until I could see a good shot at one of the strange lion-men.  Ducking out from under our meager cover, I took aim and fire, then quickly ducked back underneath it.  The strange creatures responded by throwing another spear at us, but it didn’t manage to fully pierce the roof.  I heard a whoosh, and a fire ball hit the ground right outside our shelter, accompanied by a wild, maniacal laughter.  We all pressed back into the corner a little tighter.
            “Great.  A mage.  Okay, Sunbeam, stay here with the pups.”  I silenced the protests of Solstice and Equinox with a look.  “Lightfoot, take some wolves and get that mage, Stormwatcher, Longstride, Snowdancer and I will go after the rest.”
            We all split up to deal the strange creatures.  My group of three wolves headed for the first one, just around the corner.  He tried to keep us at bay with his long spear, jabbing and sweeping with it.  But once one of my throwing knives buried itself in his heart, he collapsed in a heap.  I didn’t stop to see if he was dead, just grabbed my knife and went on to the next one.
            The next one wasn’t so easy.  He had only a dagger in one hand, but the other was moving, gesturing.  All of a sudden, Longstride turned against us, hackles up and teeth bared.  “Longstride?!”  I shouted at him, but he didn’t seem to notice.  I glanced worriedly at Snowdancer and Stormwatcher. 
            Stormwatcher sniffed the air.  ‘I smell magic other than yours,’ he commented.  My eyes narrowed and I tried to reach Longstride’s mind with my own.  Nothing.  I could feel that he was there, but he seemed distant somehow.
            I came back to reality with a thud as another spear sideswiped Stormwatcher, knocking him aside.  While he and Snowdancer dealt with the new addition, I made my way to the dagger-wielder, blocking Longstride’s forceful attacks with my quarterstaff.  “These are my wolves,” I said through clenched teeth.  “And you’ve no right to hold their minds.”  I put all my strength into the strike I aimed at the man-beast’s temple.  My quarterstaff sailed right through the attempt he made to block and struck right where I had aimed.  He dropped like a stone into a heap, and Longstride was himself again.
            In the brief respite I had, I looked around.  The mage had Lightfoot, Tangle, Moonlight, and Nightsong ringed in a shrinking circle of fire.  Stormwatcher, Snowdancer, Longstride and I had managed to take down two spear throwers, but three or four still remained.  One of them was fencing with Lightfoot, who was trying to protect her pups.
            “Stormwatcher, we have to get out of the ruins.”  There was an open area near us where the mage was, but several spear throwers were on the walls, where it was next to impossible to reach them.  “You guys help Lightfoot with that one, I’ll go help with the mage.”  I turned towards the mage and cleared my mind as I walked slowly towards her.  Nightsong was howling, but I brushed it aside.  I concentrated on the rune for fire, on making the ring of fire mine.  The flames slowly turned a deep purple, and as I called it to me, it created a line of fire from the circle to my hands.  The ball of purple fire that formed I threw at the mage.  As it hit her face and shoulder, Moonlight, Lightfoot, and Nightsong sprang at her.  Both hamstrings and throat – the mage went down on her side as Lightfoot’s sharp teeth severed her jugular.
            I realized something was missing:  there had been more than three wolves in that ring of fire.  “Lightfoot, where’s Tangle?”  I spied the still form on the ground even as I asked.  His fur had been burnt away and the skin underneath was black and blistering.  His eyes were clouded with pain and death.  When I looked at Lightfoot, I could feel the tears starting.  She looked back at me sorrowfully.
            ‘He tried to jump over the fire, but the flames leapt up and enveloped him.’
            I shook my head to clear it.  “We need to get out of these ruins.  We’ll mourn Tangle later.”  Still, I passed my hand over his body.  The purple flames sparking around my fingers caught, and the mage fire consumed him in seconds until there was only ash left.  “Be at peace, packbrother,” I whispered as I turned, the wind lifting the ashes to spread them over the sands.
            By that time, the other half of the pack had taken care of the spear thrower threatening the pups, so we ran, out the way we’d come into the ruins last night.  I was the slowest runner of all of us, but fear and adrenaline can lend one wings.  However, I noticed Sunbeam lagging behind; it’s hard to run on three legs when you’re so used to four.
            I heard the thunk, the strangled yelp, and turned to see Sunbeam trip over her own feet and fall in a heap on the sand.  By the time I got to her, she was dead – the spear had gone between her shoulder blades and pierced her heart, killing her almost immediately.  I could feel the scream of rage building within me, rage at the strange creatures that had killed two of my family.  The Change was pushing to get out, to wreak my vengeance on these things, and then Stormwatcher was there before me.  At that point, I was so focused inward that I barely saw him, and didn’t see his paw fly until it struck me across the face.  I was brought back to reality by the pain, focusing on Stormwatcher.
            ‘No!  Not here, MOVE!’  He growled with all the authority of the pack leader, then nipped at my heels until I stood and ran, out the entrance of the ruins to the open sand.
            The wind was blowing, and there was sand and hair in my eyes and mouth.  I had to clear my throat before saying something.  “Stormwatcher, I don’t think that this was as good of an idea as I thought it was...”  The strange creatures were now spreading out to circle us, revealing five of them.  I hadn’t thought there were still so many left.  The wolves and I formed a circle, with me, Solstice, and Equinox in the middle, and the adults of the pack facing outward.  As the monsters circled us, I prepared for the worst, whether it was the fight, or the aftermath.
            Off to my left I heard a howl, then a black streak flung itself at a monster.  When it stopped, I could tell that it was a dog.  The monster turned its attention to the new threat, and almost simultaneously, I saw an elf materialize out of thin air and attack two monsters close together.  They both turned to attack him.  I notched an arrow and fired at one of the two remaining.  As I did, an arrow trailing blue sparks went by my shoulder and struck the other monster.
            I shook my head at our luck.  “Saved by the gods own luck, Stormwatcher!”  With the other attackers distracted, the pack and I had only a little trouble finishing off the one left.  It did get a little hairy when we all started for it, only to have Snowdancer stand in our way.  He had his ears back and teeth bared, growling at us as if we were the enemy.  Longstride took a step towards the man-creature, but Snowdancer leapt at him.  However, while the two were rolling around in the dirt, it allowed us to get to Longstride’s original target.  With a wolf for each hamstring and one for the throat, the strange beast was swiftly dealt with.  We moved on to help our saviors with the remaining four, not having a problem sneaking up on them while they were focused elsewhere.
            Once the creatures were dead, the charms wore off.  The two elves sat down to drink from their water flasks, and I went around checking on every wolf.   None had been seriously injured, and the pups were already back to playing with each other.  I kneeled down by Stormwatcher, and hugged him.  He nudged me with his nose.  ‘It wasn’t your fault, Shadow.  Things like this happen.  It was their time, or they would not have been called by the All Mother.’
            I sighed.  “I know, but I still think I could have done better.  If I had healed Sunbeam when she was wounded, she wouldn’t have fallen behind.  But what’s done is done…  all there is left to do is mourn.  And now I’m left at the end of the fight facing two elves who probably think I’m the root of all evil, just like everyone else.”
            I heard a noise behind me, and turned to see the elves had gotten to their feet.  I took a moment to study them before trying to approach them.  Both had pointed ears, and stood about the same height, but there the similarities ended.  The one with a blue tint in her pale skin kept the black dog by her side.  She had long, deep purple hair, and her eyes were a baby blue so vibrant they seemed to glow.  She had tattoos around her eyes, like red faerie wings, and was wearing black chain mail armor.  A long bow was slung over her shoulder, elegantly curved and wrapped with vines.  She carried a curved blade on each hip, and both glowed a subtle green, something you only noticed just when the light was right.
            The other elf had short, dark blue hair, cut off right below her ears.  Her eyes were the same shade as that of her companion, and her tattoos were more delicate.  More like butterfly wings, and a richer, deeper red color.  She wore leather armor, and carried a curved sword in one hand, a regular broadsword in the other.
            The elf with the purple hair noticed me staring, and looked back just as openly before asking, “Do we meet with your standards?”  I could feel my cheeks heat up, and looked away, then made my way over to them warily, unsure of what to expect.  “Sorry, I’ve never seen elves like you before.  Thank you.  I thought that was the end there, for a minute, until you guys showed up.  We owe you our lives.”
            To my surprise, the paler skinned one laughed.  “Not a problem.  We were in the area and saw your troubles.”  She extended her hand.  “This is my sister Lariana.  I’m Stormwatcher, but everybody calls me Storm.”  I must have started, for she looked at me a little weird and asked, “What’s wrong?”
            “You’re name is Stormwatcher?”  She nodded, and I laughed as I led them over to the wolf pack.  “Stormwatcher, meet...  Stormwatcher.  It’s a good thing you have a nickname, because wolves only go by their full name.”  I crouched down on my heels and held my hand out to the dog at Storm’s side in greeting.  “Who is this?”  I asked, as I let it sniff my fingers.
            Storm smiled and pulled a piece of meat out of her pack, handing it to the dog as she answered.  “This is Quittapahilla, more fondly known as Quittie.  When we’re not hunting, she’s a real attention hog.”  Upon hearing her name, the dog in question looked up and licked Storm’s face.  I stood up and introduced them to each of the wolves.
            There was an awkward silence, until I broke it with my question.  “You guys wouldn’t happen to know where Hlaungadath is, would you?  I’m a little low on supplies, and I have to buy stuff for the wolves now too...  that was the closest town on the map.”
            Storm and Lariana looked at each other and laughed.  “That is Hlaungadath,” Lariana said as she pointed to the ruins.  “You won’t be getting any supplies from there, not unless you try and rob the lamias.  That’s the only thing that lives there now, trying to get the portal to work.”
            “Lamias?  That’s what those things are?”
            “Yea, there’s a whole huge group of them living in the inner ruins,” Storm sighed.  “It’s a good thing you didn’t end up stumbling into there, it would have taken an army to get you out.  Tell you what, why don’t you come back to where we live, and we’ll get you some supplies, and you can stay as long as you want?”
            I was hesitant.  “Are you sure?  I mean...  won’t whoever you’re living with...”  I was unsure of how to put it into words, and motioned to my face instead.  “Nobody can ever see past this, I guess it’s a mark of evil.”
            “You mean because you’re drow?  Well we didn’t freak out, if that’s what you mean,” She smiled impishly at me.  “Besides, if you were evil, the wolves wouldn’t be with you, and you would have tried to kill us already.  That fight, we couldn’t have done that without you.  Even if the only reason we got involved was because of you.”  She winked.  “So consider your trust earned, and our family knows us enough to trust those that we can vouch for.”
            It seemed too good to be true.  I put a hand on my pendant.  <Lightfoot, what do you think?>
            ‘Remember what you said?  We do not really have a choice.’  I gathered my backpack, and Longstride’s saddlebags, then took a deep breath.  “Ok.  I’ll try it.”  Storm nodded, and whistled for Quittie, who was playing with Solstice and Equinox.  I looked around, swiftly realizing what was missing.  “Where’s Lariana?”
            Lariana materialized a few feet away.  “I was scouting.  Are we heading home?”
            Storm nodded.  “May as well, although we shouldn’t go back with nothing.  We’ll stop on the way back.”  She turned to the southwest and pointed.  “Our home is at an oasis on the edge of the desert, over there.  We should probably get going before the lamias come back.”
            I nodded, and we started off towards the tree line.  “What do you guys need to bring back?”
            “Food,” Storm replied.  “We’re pretty much self-sufficient.  Everybody contributes to the community.  During the day, our little village is empty because everyone is out.  But in the evening..., that’s when it really starts to fill up!”  She paused by a tree to pick up an herb.  “There are some things we have to buy, but the rest we can make.”
            We arrived late in the afternoon, walking in through the houses as the sun was beginning to set.  I saw a few people, who smiled and waved, calling a greeting to Storm and Lari, who smiled and waved in return.  They led me over to a small house set back under the trees.  Quittie bounded up to it and nosed the door open, disappearing inside.  Storm and Lari were only a few steps behind her, but I hesitated, still unaccustomed to generosity of people who were almost strangers.  By the time I’d worked up the courage to push open the front door myself, everybody else had disappeared.
            I stood in the door awkwardly, unsure of what to do.  Storm appeared from another room with a basket in her hands.  “Come in Alyssa, what are you waiting for?  And bring your wolves, we can feed them when we feed Quittie and Star!”  She had taken off her mail and was dressed in a simple linen shirt and breeches.  I noticed then that Quittie was with her, as well as a black panther with faint white spots.  Both were sitting staring at the basket in Storm’s hands with such intensity that it made me laugh.
            “Ah, the begging look.  Universal no matter what the animal, I see.”  It was the look I had seen before on the twins when they wanted food.  “Actually, if there is wild game around, the wolves would probably rather hunt their own food.”
            “That should be ok,” Storm replied.  “Just have them do it a ways from the village.”  She fed Quittie and the panther chunks of meat from the basket.  “Alyssa, this is Starshine.  She’s called Star or Kitty by everybody here, and is very friendly.  Don’t let the friendliness fool you though, because in a fight she’s deadly.
            “You… actually take them hunting with you?”
            Storm nodded.  “Yea.  Isn’t that what you do with your wolves?”
            “No.”  I shook my head.  “They will fight with me if I need it, but they are still wild wolves.  I guess its just that I’m considered one of them.  Besides, it’s more fun to hunt by myself.  Between the entire wolf pack and me, it’s easy, not interesting.”
            Storm laughed.  “Yes, I can see that.  I only take one of these girls out at a time.”  She hugged Quittie and Star, then stood up quickly.  “It’s almost time for dinner.  We’re having a sort of festival tonight.  Everyone pitches in for food, and there will be a bonfire and games.  You should come and meet everyone!”  She glanced at me.  “You’re covered with blood and muck, let’s see if we can get you cleaned up a little, and I’ll see what I can do about those scratches.”
            Half an hour later, I felt clean for the first time in a while.  It’s amazing what a quick wash and a clean pair of clothes can do.  Storm found me some salve for the clawmarks on my cheek, but I refused anything further.  I knew that by tomorrow they would be mostly healed.  She shrugged.  “Well if you want, one of the priests would be happy to heal them later.”  By then, the wolves had returned from hunting, and Storm was coming from the kitchen with a basket of food.  I peered inside, smelling the amazing aroma of cooking.  Storm inhaled deeply.  “Mmmm… brownies and chocolate chip cookies!  These are always popular.  Hey, make sure you bring anything that you would use in a fight.”
            “Why?”
            “Because we have sparring matches.”
            “Oh.  Ok.”  I went to the room where Storm had shown me I was to stay and gathered up most of my stuff.  Circlet, knives, bow; I’d seen Storm with her bow and assumed it was ok to bring it.  Last, my quarterstaff.  I met Storm at the door.  “Ok let’s go.  The wolves don’t want to go anyway.”  She nodded and led me out the door towards the center of the village, the three wolves trailing behind.
            As we got closer to the center of town, I saw more and more people.  Gnomes, dwarves, humans, elves…  some with wild hair colors like Storm’s.  “Storm, how did you guys get such wild hair colors?”  I asked quietly, hovering at her elbow.
            She laughed.  “Dyes, m’dear.”  She smiled that impish smile.  “We already use them for making other things, so it’s personal preference for someone to use it on their hair.  I prefer purple myself.”  She pointed to a gnome on the other side of the large dirt area in the center of the village that served as the square.  “That’s Xiral, although we normally just call him X.  He prefers green.”  Sure enough, X’s short spiky hair was dyed a bright green.
            Storm set her basket of goodies on a long table and led me over to Xiral to introduce me.  I shyly shook his hand, as more people started to fill up the square.  The long table of food filled up as Storm led me around to introduce me to everyone else.  There were so many people, so many names, I didn’t think I could possibly remember them all.  Mages, priests, warriors…  a variety of professions to go with a variety of races:  gnomes, dwarves, humans, elves, even a strange race that Storm said was a variety of planetouched.  They looked like a mix between a satyr and a moon elf:  horns, and double jointed legs of a satyr, but the legs were smooth and hairless instead, and I saw many shades of blue skin.
            After eating, and lighting the bonfire, the games started:  horse racing, archery, and all sorts of sparring.  I stayed and watched, learning what I could of these people.  I participated in the archery contest and did fairly well, but Storm still beat me.
            The festivities continued long after dark had fallen, but I slipped away unnoticed and walked back to Storm’s little house.  The wolves were spread out on the ground outside the door.  I remembered the day’s events with a pang of sorrow.  “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”  Lightfoot nodded once after I spoke, then I went inside to put away my weapons.  Storm had given me a small room on the second floor with a few windows, and these I threw open to the night air after closing the door.  Then I stripped, folding my clothes carefully and set them on the bed, until I was wearing only my crystal pendant and my woven bracelet.  The bracelet was flexible enough to keep, so I took off my pendant and stood in the middle of the room.  I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, gathering my thoughts around me like a cloak.  I remembered the seemingly unending rage and sorrow that came when Sunbeam died, almost releasing the wolf within.  Now I let it out, holding on to my consciousness while it rushed around me like a river.  I felt my skin start to prickle as hair grew, and I resisted the urge to scratch.  Ears slid up a head that was growing longer as my nose and jaw formed themselves in a snout.  My arm and leg bones shifted, and I could feel my knees reverse themselves, forcing me to fall forward onto my forelegs.  Muscles grew and shifted as a tail sprouted from the bottom of my spine.  Finally it was over, leaving me shaking from the strain suddenly released.  My sharpened sense of smell told me that Storm had not returned yet, the house was still empty.  I carefully made my way down stairs more suited for two legs instead of four, and went to join the wolf pack outside.  Lightfoot understood what I intended even as I lifted my head to scan the hills surrounding the village.  Still in silence, I started off for a suitable peak, the wolf pack following behind me in that ground-eating lope that takes very little effort.
            The site I had chosen was the tallest hill close to the village.  We gather around on its crest while the lights from the village shown below us.  The moon was half full; next week I would prepare myself for the urges that come from a full moon.  As I looked around at the wolves surrounding me, I saw understanding in their eyes.  Wolves cannot cry, but at that moment of remembrance, I would have if I had been human.  Instead, I lifted my head and howled my sorrow to the moon.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            In the village below, Storm raised her head towards the direction of the wolf howl.  A faint white figure could be seen in the distance with its head raised in song.  After a minute, more voices joined it, harmonies in a song of sorrow.  She didn’t notice Baldwyn beside her until he spoke.  “Are you sure she is all you think she is?”  She understood his concerns.  After all, he was the village leader.
            “Yes,” She replied.  “Canines do not tolerate evil.  And even if her own were evil, Quittie would have picked up on it.  Yet she plays with them as if they were any other companion in the village.”
            He nodded.  “I still reserve the right to ask her to leave.”
            Storm laughed.  “You always did say I seemed to pick up the strays,” she smiled teasingly.  “But give her a chance, she’s young.”

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            I was woken the next morning by the sun shining though a window.  The house was quiet and peaceful.  Restless, I pulled my clothes on and padded silently down the hall to find the wolves.  I passed Storm’s bedroom – her purple hair was fanned on the pillows, and Quittie and Star were curled up on either side of her.  I found the pack piled on top of each other at the bottom of the stairwell.  Picking my way among them, I found a spot against the wall where I could sti with my legs stretched out.  Solstice was snug up against one leg, and Moonlight put her head on the other.  I found myself dozing off in the midst of scratching Solstice’s head.
            “You didn’t sleep there all night, did you?”  I opened my eyes to see Storm at the top of the stairwell, clutching a blanket around her.  The sun had just started to burn the mist off and the small house still held the night’s chill.
            I shook my head, and Storm smiled.  “Good!”  She disappeared back into her room, and when she came out again she was fully dressed, her armor slung over one arm.  She opened the door for Quittie and Star, and then started buckling on her armor.  “Are you going to come hunting with us?  I’d love to see your wolves in action.”
            I thought about it for a second, then agreed.  “Yes.  And I am curious to see how you hunt with those two.”
            Storm laughed.  “Oh they get along great at home, but out in the field… well I guess they always try to prove they are better than the other.  I usually only take one at a time when I’m hunting.”  She went into the next room and I could hear the sound of a blade being drawn from its sheath as she inspected her swords, then belted them on.  She came back into the front room with a bag slung over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow at me.  “Are you going to hunt with your bare hands?”
            My mind snapped back to reality and I bounded up the stairs to grab my bow and daggers.  When I came back downstairs and announced I was ready, Storm gave me a look of disbelief.  “Don’t you have any armor?”
            “No… besides, it’s just a hunt.”  It had never occurred to me that having armor would be beneficial.
            Storm looked at me thoughtfully.  “Hm.  Habit for me to wear it whenever I’m away from town, I guess.  Out here, with the lamias unpredictable at times, it means I’m never caught unprepared.”  She opened the door and motioned for me to go first.
            We had only gotten as far as the tree line when a dark shape leapt from the undergrowth and knocked Storm over.  The wolves growled and I drew my daggers, but she was laughing as the dark cat on her chest licked her face.  After a few minutes it got off her, and she rolled to her feet, still chuckling.  “Where were you last night, Ciri?  You missed a good time!”  She addressed the cat, who stood up carefully on his hind legs.   There was a soft whoosh and it shifted into a tall elf that shared the same pale skin as Storm.
            “Business,” he said with a smile.
            Storm nodded.  “There will be other times.   This is Alyssa, Lari and I picked her up near Hlaungadath yesterday.  Alyssa, this is Ciridan.”
            “Call me Ciri,”  He took my hand and gave a small bow over it.  “And now, ladies, I have to run.  Nice meeting you, Alyssa.”  He smiled.  “And you wolves, whose names I don’t have time to learn.”  He bowed in the general direction of the wolf pack, then with a poof he shifted back into a cat and raced off through the trees.
            “He noticed the wolves… not many people do, at least not with the courtesy he showed them.”  I stared after him through the trees.
            Storm shrugged.  “He’s a druid.  Of course he would notice the animals.  Lately he seems to be always busy, although he has always lived on the outskirts of town.
            I gave a small start.  “He’s a druid?  I didn’t know druids could shapeshift.  My parents were druids.”
            “I guess it depends on the druid,” Storm commented as she headed deeper into the forest.  Soon we were creeping quietly along in the underbrush.  I saw Star’s ears perk up just as Storm whispered, “There a herd of elk just over there.”  She pointed past some dens underbrush.  “And a straggler has wandered into those trees.”  She glanced at Star and something I almost recognized passed between them.  Then Star started moving nearly unseen through the bushed towards the straggler.  Storm started creeping the same way, but not before motioning me to stay put: “You wanted to see how I hunt.  Well, here’s your chance!”
            When star moved, it was with an explosive motion.  She had climbed up into a tree and at some unseen signal from Storm she dropped onto the back of the animal, jaws locking onto its neck.  Storm swiftly drew an arrow and loosed it.  The arrow trailed the same blue sparks before burying itself in the creatures shoulder.  The fight seemed over within a few seconds, so smoothly did the two work together.  Storm went and retriever her arrows, then went about gutting the animal, rewarding Star with the liver, which was promptly gulped down.  As I approached, Storm must have given Star another unseen command, for she loped off in the direction of the town.
            “She’ll go to Lari, who will bring a horse and a few others to help bring back our kills.  The nice thing about stragglers is that they don’t startle the entire herd.”  She motioned to the rest of the herd, grazing contentedly in the clearing.  “You want to try for a kill?”
            I grinned suddenly.  “Hell yes.”  I strung my bow as I asked Lightfoot, <Think we can take one of those elk?  Might be strange trying to do this with a full pack, but if you guys single one out I should be able to drop it.>  Lightfoot returned my enthusiasm and with a short yip from her the pack spread out around the herd.  I notched an arrow, took a place at the edge of the field and waited.  The tension was palpable as muscles tensed, the wolves waiting for age-old instinct to determine the proper moment.  Their timing was perfectly simultaneous, all of them streaking out of the woods at once.  The elk herd, of course, stampeded.  I watched carefully as the wolves separated an elk from the herd and hamstrung it.  My arrow took it through the heart a split second later.  I ran over to the corpse, looking first at my wolf brethren, then at the elk herd.  A feral grin spread across my face and I felt the urge to run between wolves and elk, to feel the pounding of hooves through my paws.  I shook my head to clear it; it would probably turn out bad if I just shift to a wolf right in front of Storm.  Looking after the last of the elk herd vanishing over the hill, I saw a figure materialize next to an elk that dropped a split second later.  Turning, I saw Storm and several horses, along with a couple of the larger planetouched.  They wrestled the corpse of Storm’s elk onto a sled that was harnessed to one of the horses.  They left the horse standing next to Storm and led the other two horses towards me.  After my kill had been loaded onto another sled, two men took the last horse and sled out to where I could barely see Lariana standing next to her elk.  When hers was loaded up we headed back to the village where others made short work of skinning, gutting, and cutting the meat off the bones.  Storm came over balancing a large basket on her hip.
            “This is only about half of the meat from your kill.  How do you want the rest?”  She asked me.
            “They’ll prepare it for me?”  I was so used to doing everything myself that the concept seemed foreign.
            Storm nodded.  “Someone will.  We’ve got some pretty awesome cooks.”
            I contemplated my options for a moment.  “If they could salt it and dry it, it would be great.  That’s the best way to carry it, I’ve got pretty limited space.”
            “Why don’t you take this to your wolves while I go tell them that?”  She handed me the basket and pointed me in the direction of her house.
            By the time I’d given the wolves their hard-earned food and turned back, Storm met me halfway.  “Am I correct when I think you have no armor?”  She questioned.  When I nodded, she turned and motioned me to follow her.  “I thought so.  You won’t want to go west without any, there can be all sorts of nasty creatures you might run into.”  I followed her into a building in the center of town.  Inside, she pushed me forward to the counter and called out, “Hey Gwny!  You here?”
            I heard an affirmation shouted out from the back of the shop, and a woman pushed through the curtain behind the counter.  “Hi Storm.  What do you need?”
            “This is Alyssa.  Think you can whip her up some leather armor by tomorrow?”
            She eyed me up and down.  “Maybe.  What did you have in mind?”
            Storm looked thoughtful.  “No hard leather.  Not the studded stuff Lari wears either, I was thinking more the soft pliable armor you make for the druids.”
            Gwny came out from behind the counter with a measuring tool and started measuring me, a calculating look on her face.  “Yes, I will see what I can do.  Come by tomorrow and I should have it ready.”
            “Great!”  Storm gave her one of her dazzling smiles.  “Thanks Gwny!”
            I was stunned.  “What do I owe you for this?”  I asked.  “Surely you don’t just give everybody who comes through here gifts like armor…”
            Gwny spoke quietly, but with authority.  “No.  But we don’t expect payment, either.  More like a return of services.  I could use some new leather, and I heard that you just killed an elk.”
            “It’s yours,” I said with a smile.  “You’ll make better use of it than I will.”
            “You know you can always have mine, Gwny.”  Storm chimed in from behind me.  “I leave that stuff to you guys that know how.  And you know to come see me if you ever need herbs or potions.”  Gwny nodded and disappeared into the back of the shop as Storm pulled me outside with her.  “I just have one more thing I think you can use,” she said as she led me back to her house.  She left me in the kitchen and started rummaging in the back of a closet.  Finally I heard a muffled “Aha!” and she emerged clutching a faded dark purple backpack.  “Here!”
            I turned it over in my hands and inspected it.  “But I already have a backpack.”
            Storm chuckled.  “Right, but do you have a backpack like this?”  She giggled as she opened it up, unbuckled one of her swords, and, peering inside, put the sword in the backpack.  Taking it back from her, I looked inside and saw it had different size pockets inside.  Plus, like Zayanya’s house, it was bigger on the inside than the outside.  Wide-eyed, I reached into the backpack and pulled the sword back out.  Storm laughed at my face as she belted the sword back on.  “It’s kind of like a limited bag of holding.  Some of the mages make them.  I think it’s got something to do with extra-dimensional space, but all I really know is it will hold a lot of your stuff.  It should help with the space problem.”
            I could feel the smile on my face growing.  “Thank you!  That will be so useful!”  Like a child with my new toy, I ran upstairs to see how much it would hold.  I was delighted to find that it held all the things that previously caused my bags to overflow before.  When one of Storm’s friends came by late in the evening and brought by the meat they’d salted and dried for me, I was pleased to test just how much the bag would hold.  Longstride would be traveling with a very light load – my spare weapons, and some extra clothes.  Everything else fit inside the new backpack Storm had given me.
            The next morning, I went with Storm back to Gwny’s shop.  Gwny brought out a leather jerkin and had me try it on to make sure it fit.  “That should last you quite a while, dear.”  Gwny commented.  “I didn’t make you any bracers or greaves because the druids don’t normally wear them.  That chest piece will boost your strength, and your magic too, if you have any.  It’s made from the lion skin of a lamia.”
            “Thank you,” I said softly, overcome with gratitude.  “There must be some way I can repay you for everything.  I don’t even know where the skin from the elk I killed went.”
            Gwny smiled.  “The skinners set it aside; Storm told them you had promised it to me.”  She waved goodbye to me.  “Luck be with you where ever you go, Alyssa Wolfchild,” she said as she disappeared into the back of the shop.
            Outside, I felt strange in the leather armor.  While it was soft and pliable to the touch, it didn’t seem as supple when I was wearing it.  It would take some getting used to.  The wolf pack was waiting for us a short distance away, gathered in a group in the shade of a tree.  Someone had carried down my new backpack and the bags for Longstride.  They were as anxious to keep moving as I was, so I shouldered the backpack, adjusted the bags on Lonstride’s back, and turned to Storm.  She smiled and pulled me into a sudden hug.  “I don’t think I can thank you enough for all the help you’ve given me,” I said as we pulled away.
            “I enjoy helping people,” Storm said.  “I like to see them smile.  But I hate goodbyes.  Just come back and visit us sometime, tell us tales of your travels.”
            “I will.  And trust me, I’m sure I will have plenty,” I laughed.  I turned to the wolf pack to nod that I was ready, and they rose from various reclining positions and started to move towards the forest’s edge.  I took a few steps, but when I turned back to wave to Storm, she was gone.  But by the time we got to the crest of the hill just outside of town, I could see her and Lariana silently watching me from Storm’s house.  I lifted my hand in one last salute, and smiled when it was returned.

8
Yahn

            I could tell that the days were getting much shorter, and the nighttime chill no longer melted away when the sun was at its peak.  It had been several weeks since I left the desert, and the more I traveled the more winter made itself known.  I was already wearing the wool clothing from my pack; soon it would be time to pull out some of the heaviest clothing I’d packed.
            In the late afternoon, the pack and I found a nice grassy clearing in which to spend the night.  After some careful exploring, we found the ruins of several buildings among the roots of massive trees.  One of the ruins must have been an armory, I discovered, for amidst the debris I found a pile of rusty weapons.  The scabbards must have long since turned to dust.  However, there was one that shone as bright as the day it was made, and when carefully tested on a finger, was just as sharp.  It was a shortsword, not much longer than my lower arm, and I carefully wrapped it in my spare cloak and stowed it inside my backpack.  This clearing, I realized, must be the grove of Montolio DeBrouchee, the ranger my parents had told me about.
            The grove brought with it a sense of peacefulness, one last connection to my parents so long after their deaths.  I had been happy at the Cave of Dreams with Ris, but this had a subtle difference.  For once, I slept by myself and went to sleep with the feeling that both Liam and Riona were with me.
            I woke in the middle of the night to a screaming, snorting shadow plunging down on me.  I rolled quickly to the side, then to my feet, calling a witchlight that lit the entire grove in a brilliant, slightly lavender-tinted hue, allowing me to observe whatever monster was in our midst.  The wolves had retreated to the very edge of the glade, where I caught glimpses of eyes and silver fur, and heard soft growls all around me.  I turned to watch as the horse-shaped shadow had a kicking, bucking fit in the middle of the grove.
            After several moments, it stopped and stood, snorting small puffs of steam coming from its nose.  After finally looking around a bit, it shook its head.
            ‘Oh!’ Came a voice that resounded in my head.  ‘I thought they were sending me someplace else!’
            I stayed silent and invisible in the shadows, watching and observing.  The wolves were doing the same; I could no longer hear faint growls, yet I sensed their waiting patience.  After scrutinizing the creature in the middle of the clearing, I could see that it looked like a horse.  In fact, it looked like a very well-bred horse.  At its shoulder, it was about as tall as I was, which isn’t very tall.  It had a beautifully arched neck that ended in a head that only seemed a little small.  Its mane and tail matched its coat in the darkest shade of black, as black as my own skin.  The eyes were black as well, with a lighter color center, and small puffs of steam or breath came from its nostrils.
            After several minutes went by with no movement from either me or the wolves, the horse looked around again, and uttered something not unlike a human sigh.  ‘Mortals! Always skittish!’  With that, he shook his head, folded his legs underneath his body and lay down.  From there, he laid his head on his knees and for all appearances went to sleep.
            I sat down as well, and watched this horse.  Other than the flick of an ear, he gave no indication that he was paying any attention to all of us.  After half an hour had gone by, I decided it was time to do something.  Stepping silently to the edge of the clearing, I found Stormwatcher with my mind and made hand motions for him to stay where he was.
            I slowly walked across the clearing, silently as the shadow which was my wolf name.  I was soon standing next to the horse, who had given no indication that he had noticed me, or that he was even anything but asleep.  I stood next to him, unsure of what to do.  I finally reached out my hand and put it on his neck, when I did, he opened one eye and looked at me.
            ‘What’s the matter, haven’t you ever seen a horse before?’
            I shook my head silently.  This close, I could see his eyes were really black with a center that seemed bottomless, filled with small flecks of many different hues of orange and red which seemed to move slowly of their own accord.  His skin under my hand was warm; not uncomfortably so, but warmer than any horse I’d ever ridden.
            He scrambled to his feet quite gracelessly.  ‘Are the rest of your friends going to keep cowering in the shadows?’
            My eyes narrowed.  “They’re not cowering, they’re watching.  But you are a horse, and they are not; they will come if I am hurt.”
            He looked at me.  ‘Really? How very heroic. Now if you mortals are done bothering me, I would like to go back to sleep.’  He trotted to the edge of the clearing and laid down again, once more appearing to fall deep into sleep.
            I regarded him warily before retreating to the edge of the grove as well.  I could feel the wolves’ restlessness.  I touched the bracelet on my wrist which was attuned to each amulet the wolves wore.  The advantage for me was that it also enabled me to share minds with each wolf, much the way my pendant worked.
            <Stormwatcher, I don’t trust him.  We should watch in shifts.  I have a feeling that neither we nor he are going to be very rested come tomorrow.>
            The night went uneventfully for the most part.  When I went to sleep for the first watch, I could hear the heartbeat of the horse slowing as he fell deeper into sleep.  I took the third watch with Nightsong, and the strange horse only stirred once during that time.  He shook his head and uttered small noises as if in the throes of a nightmare, at which point I took pity upon him, touched my pendant, and gently nudged his mind away from the subject that made him so unrestful.  But come morning, most of us were somewhat rested, while the horse looked as if he had suffered those nightmares throughout all five watches, getting his only real sleep when I touched his mind. 
            Once the horse got up, he took off running, galloping away, but always seemed to be just within hearing distance.  He came back just as I was trying to start a fire unsuccessfully with flint and steel.  He stood and watched over my shoulder, distracting me from starting the fire with magic.  Finally, I got fed up with him, and vented my rage.
            “Do you mind?  Or do you purposely stand there watching smugly to distract me?!”
            He looked at me in amusement.  ‘You mortals! Always so jittery!’
            “I don’t suppose you would like to try starting the fire with flint and steel using your hoofs?!  And stop calling me a mortal, I am only half so!”
            He looked at me smugly.  ‘Me?  Start the fire?  Why certainly, I’d be delighted!’  With that, he walked up to the fire ring, took a breath, and breathed a stream of fire on my unlit fire, setting it nicely ablaze.  I was momentarily taken aback, but just as quickly had my bow drawn and aimed between his eyes.
            “There is only one horse-shaped creature in this world that breathes fire like that.  What do you want, nightmare?”
            ‘Hah!  If only!  You said it yourself, you’re only half mortal.  What do the purebloods think of you?’  He said the word purebloods like it was a curse, spitting it in my direction.
            I lowered my bow, understanding dawning upon me.  “You’re only half nightmare.  In a full blood society... they threw you out.  Exiled you.  You thought they were sending you somewhere deserving of a half-blood, in their eyes.”
            He sneered at me.  ‘And why should you think any different?’
            I threw back my head and laughed.  “Horse, in this pack, we don’t treat half-bloods any different.  Everybody has their talents; half-bloods have some of the most unique because of their mixed blood.  There are a few of us in this pack with mixed blood, some not as obvious as others.”  The wolves were returning from the morning hunt, keeping cautiously to one side of the clearing.  “If you’re going to run with this pack, I can’t keep calling you horse; you need a name.  And since you refuse to share yours, I’ll just have to give you one.”  I thought for a minute, then spoke again.  “Yahn is a good name for you.”
            He threw up his head, seeming startled and angry at the same time.  ‘Yahn!?  That’s the name you’re giving me?!  It’s a horrible name!’
            “Well unless you choose to tell me your name, then you’re just going to have to be stuck with it,” I said, chuckling.
            The next few days went fairly uneventful.  The wolves hunted, and slowly taught Solstice and Equinox how to hunt mice.  They went with the pack for true hunting only once, where their childish play and eagerness made it unsuccessful.  In the meantime, I had another job.  I had realized that the reason we traveled so slowly was because, in my humanoid form, my two legs couldn’t keep up with the four of the wolves.  Trying to spend all my time in my werewolf form was exhausting, and the more strained and tired my mind became, the greater the chance I lost control.  So our pace each day was dictated by how far and fast I could walk.
            I brought this up to Yahn one morning.  “Yahn, I can’t keep up with the wolf pack, we travel too slow.”  He looked at me uncaringly.  “We would travel much faster at your pace.”  He looked off into the distance, half ignoring me.  I wasn’t sure if he was purposely avoiding the subject, or if he hadn’t caught on yet.  “If you would allow me to ride you, our pace would be much better.”  His ears pricked up and he snorted; I had his attention now.  “Yahn, I’m sure it wouldn’t be too difficult to…”
            ‘No.’  He interrupted me before I could finish voicing my thoughts.
            “What?”
            ‘You heard me.  I said no.  Absolutely not.  You would yell at me and pull my mane.  You’ll just have to walk.’
            I silently let it go for the night, but brought it up every single night afterwards.  The answer was always the same: no.  But I persisted, and finally after almost two weeks of bringing it up, I was rewarde3d.
            ‘If I say yes, will you shut up about it?’ Yahn asked in exasperation.
            “Yes!”  A grin snuck its way across my face.
            ‘And you promise not to pull my mane?’
            “Yes!”
            ‘Then I’ll let you ride me.  Now leave me alone.’ He was sitting by the fire and turned his head away from me.
            I couldn’t contain my excitement any longer.  “Thank you!” I all but yelled, throwing my arms around his neck and giving him a hug.
            Yahn ignored me.  He’s good at that.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            Once I did convince Yahn, it was a completely different story to actually do so.
            We started first with just sitting and not moving.  I used a dead tree stump at the edge of the clearing to get on Yahn’s back.  ‘You’re sitting all wrong, it’s uncomfortable.’  He complained.
            “Well than tell me how I should sit, you overgrown goat!”
            He heaved a sigh, but complied.  ‘Sit up straight, just behind my neck.  If you’re sitting on my rump, you’re just going to fall off as soon as I move.  Grip with your knees to keep yourself from falling off.’
            “Where do I put my hands?”
            ‘As long as you don’t pull my hair, I don’t care.’
            I looked at him, exasperated.  “Yahn, I need a bridle.  This isn’t working, I have to hold on to something.”
            He shied, nearly throwing me off him.  ‘I will not wear one of those abominable things!  They put metal things in your mouth and haul your head around!’
            Sliding off him, I patted his neck.  “It won’t be like that, trust me.  I don’t have any metal for a bit.”  I worked for the rest of the day on it, using a concept similar to the charms each of the wolves had.  In the end, I had a silvery halter with reins, soft and supple, and not a piece of metal on it.  The next day, I had to convince Yahn to hold still while I put it on.
            “Damn it Yahn, hold still!”  I had managed to get it on his nose, but he threw his head around, preventing me from putting it on his ears.  Finally I yanked it off his nose and threw it at him, storming off to calm down. 
            When I came back, it was to a comical sight.  When I had thrown the halter, it had landed around his ears, and instead of shaking it off, he had simply lain down that way.  I walked up to him and laid a hand on his neck.  “Please Yahn, let me try it.  If you don’t like it, that’s fine, we’ll get rid of it.”  He looked at me and rolled his eyes before getting to his feet.
            ‘Fine.’
            I got the halter on him, then climbed back on his back from the stump.
            ‘You’re still sitting all wrong.  Haven’t you ever ridden before?’  He said this with exasperation.
            “Of course I’ve ridden before,” I retorted.  “I’ve just never ridden a talking horse, and I’ve always ridden with a saddle.  I’m sure I could find one for you if you really wanted me to be half decent?  Maybe you’re just not used to carrying people on your back!”
            That quieted him for a bit, but not before he answered me.  ‘No saddles.  You want a saddle, go find yourself a packhorse.  I’m already lowering myself to have you on my back.’
            The next day we made more progress, but not without him trying to throw me several times.  Some of them, he succeeded.  By the end of the week every muscle protested my movements, but Yahn no longer tried to throw me and I had learned to ride him without pinching or pulling the wrong way.  By the end of the third week, I could ride and use my legs and body to tell Yahn where I wanted to go, and the halter was no longer needed, much to Yahn’s relief.  Yahn himself wasn’t quite as testy as the first day, and he seemed to be warming up to us.  At least, he no longer complained every time I called him by the name I had given him.  He still had told us nothing of himself, or his true name, but I let him keep that decision and did not bother him about it.
            By the middle of the fourth week, Yahn declared that I was as good a rider as he could make me, and that he was getting bored.  I took two days to get stocked up on food and dried meat, and to say my goodbyes.  There had been many times where I had felt eyes upon me from the trees, and I gave a silent thanks that they had chosen not to bother us.  But the morning of the last day I had an encounter that somewhat unnerved me.
            Not far from the grove was a shallow pool fit for bathing, especially when one knew how to warm the water through magic.  I was in the middle of washing my hair when I felt the eyes again, and looked up to meet the gaze of a surface elf across the pool.  He made no move towards me, nor I him, and we held the look for several minutes.  When Solitude came up beside me, I looked at him, and when I looked back for the elf, he was gone.
            ‘Shadow I have to tell you something,’ Solitude said.  I looked up back to him, somewhat surprised.  Solitude was shy, and always hung on the edge of the wolf pack, rarely speaking.  ‘I’m staying here when you leave.’
            I reached over and stroked his neck.  “Why?”
            ‘Because I found a mate, and another pack.’
            Chuckling, I reassured him.  “Good for you!  Are you going to say goodbye to the rest of the pack before we go?”
            He looked shyly at the ground before answering.  ‘Yes I suppose they would like that...’  He trailed off uncertainly.
            “Of course they would!  And Solitude,”  I paused to look in his eyes.  “If you ever need me, you know how to reach me.  I wish you good luck with your new family and mate.  Now why don’t you go back and tell them, I’ll be there in a minute.”  He nodded his thanks at me, then turned and walked back the grove. 
            I stood up and shook my hair out, using magic to dry it, then walked around to the other side of the pool to where the elf had been.  I stood in the same spot he had been standing, and closed my eyes and expanded my consciousness, finding my answer only a few yards away.  I looked at the lower branches of the tree next to me, then vaulted lightly up into it.  After climbing up a few branches, I turned to what I had felt, and there was the elf, looking back at me, seeming a little startled that I had found his hiding spot.  “I assume you wouldn’t have let me see you if you hadn’t wanted me to, although from the look on your face, you didn’t expect me to find you here.  I am also assuming that it’s been your eyes I’ve felt on us for the past weeks, always watching but never harming, so you must have decided I was no threat.”  I told him.  “So you should be pleased to know that we’re leaving tomorrow, with the exception of one wolf who is moving on to a mate and another pack.  And if you harm a hair on his head just because he was traveling with me, I will hunt you down and kill you like the wolves I run with would.  Understand?”
            He seemed momentarily taken aback, then said something in a foreign tongue.  I shook my head to tell him I didn’t know what he was saying, and he looked thoughtful.  “You do not know the language of your own race?  You puzzle us still more, drow, even with the words you just uttered.  Yes, I understand.”
            I nodded at him.  “Good.  Stay and watch, I care not.”  With that, I dropped from my tree to land softly on the ground, and made my way back to where everyone was gathered and ready.  I put the bags on Longstride’s back, for Yahn refused to carry them, then hugged Solitude once more before jumping on Yahn’s back.  We made our way out of the grove, and I turned once to see Solitude sitting on the edge of the clearing, a soft grey female sitting by his side.  Facing forward once more, I grasped my pendant and reached for the mind I knew was still there by the pool.
            <Remember, elf.>   I felt his humor in my mind, accompanied with a faint surprise that I could talk in his mind, then the acknowledgement that he wouldn’t harm the single wolf that had chosen to stay behind.
            With that, I looked only forward, to the west.  Towards uncertainty, but surrounded by my family.

9
Moonwood

            We stood at the entrance to the Moonwood.  Since leaving Mooshie’s grove, we had made amazing time because of Yahn.  His four feet had allowed us to almost double our speed.  So now, we gathered around, starting at this seemingly impenetrable forest.  The trunks were densely packed together, making me realize that unless the Moonwood decided we were not a threat, it would not allow us to pass into its depths.  I could almost hear the whisperings coming from among the leaves.  I swung my leg over Yahn’s back and slid off him.  All eyes of the wolf pack turned to me, and Lightfoot spoke.
            ‘I hope this works, Shadow.’  I agreed with her, remembering the words Ris had helped me compose.  I took a deep breath and faced the trees to speak.
            “I am Alyssa Wolfchild.  I come bearing the name of Risaen Eldathorme of the House Eldathorme of Shoendroth, and Sagais Theriakim, Guardian of the Stone of Sages.  I ask permission to pass through these woods on my journey.” 
            The whispers had ceased while I was talking, and when I finished, they continued, louder than before.  I waited for minutes in a breathless silence that seemed to go on forever.  Then a voice spoke.  “You carry the Stone of Sages, do you not?”  It sounded like soft music, carried from the deep forest to my ear.
            I nodded in reply.  “I do.”
            The voice rang out again, not so quiet this time.  “What proof have we that you have not stolen the Stone of Sages, and are using these names in vain?”  Both Ris and Sagais had said to expect something like this, and I was prepared with my reply.
            I motioned the wolves to move back from me and dug the Stone out of my backpack.  After unwrapping the rag from around it, I held it out from me at waist height and closed my eyes.  I softly started the deep chant Sagais had taught Ris and I, feeling the earth respond to it.  I let go of the Stone; it stayed motionless, suspended by air as I continued to chant.  I could feel the earth magic slowly moving, as if it were stretching legs long unused.  I took it and showed it the form I wanted, the form that was fixed in my mind.
            At first, after I opened my eyes, nothing happened.  The forest and those in it, was silent now, watching.  I continued my chant as a hum, and slowly the earth below the suspended stone began to move.  Stone, brought up from the depths of the earth, started to reach long fingers up from the ground, eventually forming into a pedestal.  The Stone of Sages floated down an inch or two and came to rest in a depression on the top of the pedestal.  I let my chant fade away, and the stone solidified from its half liquid form.  A man’s voice spoke into the stillness.  “Friend or foe may use this Stone for power, but only a true Guardian and ally may call forth its true forms.”
            I let the pedestal stand for a minute, then spoke the words to return it to the earth, awaiting the judgment of the wood while I returned the Stone to my backpack.  Several uncomfortable minutes went by in silence as I stood waiting for an answer, and when none came, I looked at Lightfoot and shrugged.  “How long should we wait, do you think?”  She didn’t answer me, for she had no answer to give.  I sat down on the ground, tugging on Solstice’s tail.  Solstice turned around in high spirits and nipped at my hand, so I kept my fingers dancing as she and Equinox chased them.  By the time half an hour had gone by, they flopped on their sides, panting heavily as my laughter died down.  Even Yahn grew bored and impatient, laying down the way he always does, tucking his legs underneath him.
            We waited almost an hour more until the wood creaked and parted, and a single being stepped forward.  She had skin the color of the deep sky on a clear day, and her hair was bluer still.  Her slanted eyes were the bright green of a tree’s new growth, and she was slightly built.  “You have been granted passage through our forests,” She said, her musical voice a feminine version of Ris’s.  “My name is Cyriala; I will be your guide within our borders.  Do not stray from the path, or I cannot guarantee your safety.”
            I stood up and offered her my hand.  “Hello Cyriala.  I’m Alyssa…”
            She interrupted me before I could finish.  “Wolfchild.  Yes, I know.  Daylight is wasting and we would like you inside our lands for as little time as possible.”  She spun on her heel and seemed to stalk into the forest on a path that had not previously been there.  I glanced at Lightfoot, shrugged, and followed Cyriala into the woods, the pack trailing along behind me.
            I found Cyriala a stoic traveling companion, one who did not wish to engage in pleasant conversation and only spoke when absolutely necessary.  Which wasn’t very often.  When night fell, she drew to a stop where the path widened, and vanished into to trees.  I shook my head and remarked to my wolves, “At least their giving us passage, I guess.  But they’re certainly very cold about it.”
            ‘It is more likely that they do not like your kind,’ Lightfoot remarked perceptively.
            “Well then they didn’t have to offer us passage at all.  It would take longer, but we could have gone around.”  I busied myself with building a tiny fire, thinking.  “I mean, I sure appreciate it, but she didn’t even want to be introduced to you guys.  I thought elves had a different attitude towards animals and nature than humans did, but I haven’t been seeing much of it, except towards their own precious forest.”
            ‘Don’t insult them,’ Stormwatcher remarked, a half smile on his face.  ‘They can still refuse us passage, and then were would we be?’
            I chuckled, and slowly coaxed the small wisp of smoke rising from my pile of wood to blossom into a fire.  I sat back on my heels to observe my work.  “I don’t feel comfortable using magic in here, it’s like their waiting for me to make a wrong move so they can discipline me.”
            Lightfoot raised her head from where she and the pack had laid down to rest.  ‘Yes dear, but remember what your kind is usually like?  Perhaps they are just expecting the same from you.’
            “I guess.”  I sighed, then dug in my backpack for food, realizing that I had built a fire for nothing.  I wouldn’t be catching any meat in this forest to cook.  All I had in my pack was dried meat, bread, some fruit gathered along the way, and rations.  Pulling out the meat, I held it up for Lightfoot to see.  “I don’t think you guys will be able to do any hunting in here.  Do you want some of this, or something else I have?”  She nodded, so I dumped dirt on my fire to put it out and brought my backpack with me as I sat down among them, handing out strips of dried meat to each wolf.  I shook my head as they devoured it and remarked, “You guys can’t survive on dried meat every night.  When I see Cyriala next I will ask her about a deer every few nights.  Maybe she’ll actually answer me.” 
            Yahn was grazing a few feet away, and when I looked up after rooting through my pack, he commented, ‘Don’t worry too much about me.  I can survive on grass every night.  But the wolves won’t make very good pace if they’re starving.’  I sighed and nodded in agreement with him.  The wolves were already asleep, so I followed suit, my head pillowed on Stormwatcher’s shoulder.
            The sound of music woke me from my slumber the next morning.  The sun was lightening the sky, probably just peeking over the horizon I couldn’t see.   As we sat up in wonder, Cyriala appeared from among the trees, waiting.  “Are those your people, Cyriala?” I asked her as I gathered my bag and motioned to the wolves to start moving.
            “It is the forest,” she said.  “Together with my people.”  She got a thoughtful look on her face, then as quickly as it had come it went away, hidden behind a mask of indifference as she turned and continued on the path.  I sighed and started after her.
            “Sometimes I wonder if she has a heart,” I remarked to Stormwatcher, making no efforts to keep Cyriala from overhearing.  “Maybe I should have worn the circlet; they treat me as if I’m the plague.”
            ‘Your people are known to be evil in their ways, and the few that are not have a hard time for themselves.’  Stormwatcher replied.
            “And so they can’t see past the color of my skin, no matter what I do?”  I shook my head sadly.  “I don’t think I’ll ever understand.”
            Cyriala whirled around and stalked up to me, anger evident in every movement.  “There are few things in this world more evil than your dark skinned people.  Most of us in this forest have lost at least one dear one to a face like yours!”  She gestured furiously at my face.  Her words hit me somewhere deep inside, making me both angry and sad.
            “Fine.”  The chill in my words could have frozen water.  I swung my backpack off my back and rummaged inside it.  When my hand came to rest on the object I was searching for, I pulled it out and plopped it on my head.  “There.  Happy?  Now my skin is a different color.”  I ignored the stunned look on Cyriala’s own face and stalked past her, the wolves following slowly behind.
            When she got over her shock, Cyriala turned and shouted after me, “You can hide your skin color, but you cannot cover up your evil heart!”  I whirled around as she walked haughtily up to me.  “You are evil, and always will be,” she almost sneered at me.
            I sighed and reached up to remove my circlet, the desire to fight with Cyriala leaking out of me when I realized that it would do nothing..  “Cyriala, I was raised by two human druids.  I have never met another drow, and I expect I never will.  I don’t even know what their language sounds like.  Even if I did meet one, I would at least give him the benefit of the doubt, and the moment I found him to be evil, the wolves and I would kill him.  As a matter of fact, if I were to become evil, the wolves would kill me too, even if it broke their hearts.  Because wolves don’t tolerate evil.  Isn’t that right guys?”  I directed my last question at the wolves, who nodded in reply.  This did nothing to cool her ire, in fact probably only served to infuriate her more.  But I ignored it and continued down the path.  After a while, she had to follow me, trailing several yards behind us.  I mulled over things in my mind.  Obviously she was assigned to guide me by her elders and resented it.  Maybe they thought she had some lesson to learn, that we both had to learn.  Or perhaps she was just in their disfavor, assigned to do something viewed equally disfavorable by all of them as punishment.  I got the impression she was very young, but that was in human terms.  I still had difficulty grasping the rate at which elves matures, so for all I knew she was older than Ris.
            We walked in silence for the rest of the day, until a few hours before dark when Yahn planted his feet and refused to move.  I was on foot, but when I heard the clip-clop of his hooves stop, I turned to investigate.
            “Yahn, what’s wrong?”  I asked him quietly.
            ‘Solstice and Equinox need food.  I am not moving until Cyriala agrees to let the pack hunt.’
            “Well why don’t you tell her that yourself?”  I retorted back to him.  “She doesn’t want to talk to me, my skin is the wrong color!”  I couldn’t keep the bitter resentment out of my voice. 
            While we stood, Cyriala had caught up to us.  “What’s wrong with your horse?” she asked, arrogance and disdain dripping from her words.
            I looked at Yahn and shrugged.  “I lie.  Seems Her Haughtiness saw fit to ask me after all.”  He shook his head and whickered strangely, almost as if he were laughing.  Meanwhile, Cyriala had her hands on her hips and her face in a scowl.  I swallowed my anger, trying to be serene like my parents.  “Yahn says he refuses to move until you agree to let the pack hunt.  The two young ones can’t go without food at this pace for as long as the rest of the pack, and even their pace will slow without food.”
            Cyriala gave a piercing glance to the wolf pack, then back to Yahn.  “Well than maybe we should leave him here.”  She made as if to turn and continue down the path.
            “No.”
            “Excuse me?”  She turned back to me, looking at me with contempt.
            “You heard me, I said no.  If you wanted to leave him behind, he’d probably burn down your precious forest.  But I won’t leave him, and he’s right.  Nobody can survive without food while they’re traveling at the pace you set, and unlike you we can’t go back to our nice cozy home every night and get some.”  I smiled bitterly.  “Mostly because our home got burned.”
            ‘And I got thrown out of mine.’  There wasn’t a trace of wistfulness in Yahn’s voice.  I could tell he had let Cyriala hear him by her face.  She was unsuccessfully trying to look confused and aloof at the same time, and I found myself amused by her unsettlement.
            “I will have to ask the elders…”  She trailed off uncertainly.
            I gave her a brittle smile.  “You do that.  I’m going to go hunt with my pack.  If the forest is as sentient as you think it is, then it should be able to read the intent of my heart well enough.”  I turned my back on her and motioned my wolves to gather round.  “I think only half of you should go at a time.  Bring me back a chunk or two so I can eat, and I’ll dry some more as well.  Ok?”  They nodded, and half branched off to disappear into the trees by the side of the path.  I worked on getting a small fire built, and the remaining wolves relaxed around it.  Cyriala was still standing on the path, looking torn.  I sighed, meeting eyes with Stormwatcher, who looked stoically back at me.  “You are welcome at my fire, Cyriala,” I said in a resigned voice.  She wavered indecisively a moment more, then sat down hesitantly across from me.  After a long silence, I gave voice to the question that had been on my mind.  “Why were you chosen to be punished with this?”
            Cyriala stared sullenly into the fire as she answered.  “I disobeyed the elders of my clan and went out on my own.  They keep telling me I’m too young to leave the forest without being accompanied by someone older.  But I got tired of being cooped up, there’s only so much of it you can see, so I snuck out… but I didn’t get very far.”
            I stared at her, then laughed.  “How old are you?”  I asked, still chuckling.
            She looked up at me, eyes wide with anger.  “I’m over half a century old!  I should be old enough to take care of myself!  But no!”  She drew the word out with a sneer.  “You’re barely half a century old, Cyriala!  You’re too young, Cyriala!  You mustn’t do this, Cyriala!”  She mimicked what I assumed to be her mother in a high pitched voice.  By then I was all but rolling on the ground with my mirth and wiping my eyes of tears.  Cyriala glanced at me ruefully.  “I don’t expect you to understand, you’re probably almost two centuries old.”  I laughed even harder.
            I finally wound down to see her looking sullenly into the fire.  “Cyriala, I’m only twenty years old.  But I’m half human, and I guess circumstances required me be an adult earlier than my parents probably would have liked.”  Lightfoot padded up from out of the shadows, a chunk of meat in her mouth.  As I took it from her I could see the rest of the wolves that had gone hunting behind her.  I turned to Stormwatcher.  “Your turn.  I think I only want one more piece this size.”  The one Lightfoot had gotten me was slightly larger than my hand.  I pulled out a knife and started cutting it into strips on a flat rock nearby as the other half of the pack vanished into the woods.  I went and found some forked sticks in the woods for a spit, and by the time I got back to the fire to set it up, Cyriala had disappeared as well.  I shrugged and built up the fire to dry the meat.  She’d return in the morning, if not sooner.  When Stormwatcher brought back another large chunk of meat, I cut it in half and added it to the spit.  I offered some to Yahn, but he declined.
            The wolves grouped around the fire fell into the deep sleep of having a full stomach, but I couldn’t seem to find the same peace.  I stared into the fire with my arms hugged around my knees, thinking.  Cyriala’s words had cut deeper than I thought they would.  It seemed that almost every time I ran into a human or an elf, it ended badly because my skin wasn’t the same color as my heart.  People who had just met me couldn’t judge my character on actions they never knew about.  Some didn’t care to find out, like the villagers from close to my home.  They believe what they wanted to believe – that I was a drow, through and through.  It hurt, and for the first time I found myself cursing the unknown drow who had raped my mother.  So I dwelled on the things Cyriala had said.  I didn’t know Yahn had been watching me until I felt a warm nose on my neck.  ‘You can’t take all the ills done by the entire race of drow onto your shoulders.  You are not them.’
            I turned around and stared at him.  “How did you know what I was thinking about?”
            He shrugged.  ‘The look on your face, with all that the elf wench said today.  I figured it was the only thing that would keep you up like this.’  He laid down beside me and tucked his legs underneath him.  ‘What she said, all of it, she’s right.  But none of it pertains to you.  The only part of you that can tie you to the drow is your skin.  When it comes to actions, you’re human.  You get angry like a human, you love like a human, you cry and feel pain like a human.  And I’m sure that the elves in this forest would realize that if they stopped to think about it.  I’ve known some drow, and they aren’t the kind to ask for permission for anything.  Crossing a forest like this, they would have gone around it, entered it without permission and killed anything that tried to stop it, or burn it down.  That’s just the way they think.’
            I settled myself down into the space next to his ribs.  “Thanks, Yahn.  But that doesn’t make it any less frustrating when they treat me as if I’d sooner kill them than look at them.”
            The singing and the first rays of the sun woke me sooner than I’d expected.  Sleep pulled at me, but Yahn dislodged me by getting to his feet.  The wolves, too, were up and about, anxiously milling about waiting move on.  The fire was still barely lit, the meat strips dried.  As I put them in my pack, the growling of my stomach reminded me that I hadn’t eaten last night before falling asleep.  I pulled myself up on Yahn, chewing on a piece of meat, then looked around to see Cyriala coming out of the trees leading a pinto horse.  It threw up its head when it caught the scent of wolf, but she pulled it down and whispered in its ear, calming it, before swinging up much more gracefully than me.  She rode over to me with a small smile. “The elders granted you permission to hunt when you need to.  But we should be out of the forest soon, maybe one more day.”  I nodded at her as I pulled the rest of my things together and slung the backpack over my shoulders, glancing for Yahn’s allowance to climb up onto his back.
            The trek that day with Cyriala was almost pleasant. There were no snide remarks or bitter comments, only a comfortable silence.  Towards evening, she asked about my parents which led us into an engaging conversation.  I found out that she thought her parents overbearing and extremely protective, treating her as if she couldn’t make any decisions on her own.
            I couldn’t help but smile.  “You know, they’re only trying to protect you.  If you didn’t rebel, they might trust you by now.”
            Cyriala gave me a wry look.  “Right.  And pigs might fly, too.”  Her voice dripped with sarcasm.
            ‘At least they don’t hate you and treat you like you’ll never amount to anything,’ Yahn’s comment took us both by surprise.
            After I recovered from my shock, I looked at Cyriala and teased her.  “You must be gifted!  I could never get Yahn to talk about his background before.”  There was a hint of seriousness to my voice.  “Anything else you want to tell us, Yahn?”  But try as I might, he remained tight-lipped as he plodded along.
            When we stopped that evening, Cyriala did not disappear into the trees to go back to her village.  As the rabbits cooked, I asked her, “Are you sure they’re not going to think I killed you or something?”
            She shrugged.  “I don’t know.  But it’s nice to have somewhere else to go besides home.”
            “You should at least go check in.  By the time you get back, the rabbits will be cooked.”  My reasoning behind pushing her to send some sort of notice back to the Elders was partly selfish; they didn’t exactly have a kind viewpoint of me, and the last thing I wanted was one showing up demanding to know where I’d killed their guide.  Finally, reluctantly, I managed to convince her to make the short trip home to let her parents know of her plans.  And I was right – by the time she arrived back in the circle of firelight on her pinto pony, the rabbits were done and we settled down to a nice juicy meal.  To my surprise, when I laid my head on Yahn’s flank in preparation to sleep, Cyriala vaulted lightly up into the fork of a tree and carefully arranged herself on a branch.  I smiled at the strangeness of this even as I dropped off to sleep.
            Midmorning the next day saw us at the edge of the great forest.  I thanked Cyriala for her guidance and wished her luck with her parents before traveling towards the mountains on the horizon.  Yahn tossed his head and danced in place underneath me, making me grab for a handful of mane to steady myself.  ‘Too long underneath close knit trees and at a slow pace for my liking!’  He exchanged a look with Lightfoot and Stormwatcher, and I got the impression something passed between them.  ‘Let us be off!’ he snorted, giving me only that moments notice before launching himself into a gallop.  Wind rushed through my short hair as I tightened my grip both with my legs and my hands, stretching myself out along his neck.  I had a feeling that if I fell off, he wouldn’t stop to pick me up.  By the time he slowed and stopped, I was breathless with excitement.  We turned around to see the wolves catching up, and behind them stretched the Moonwood.  A pretty place, I thought as I reflected.  But not somewhere I would choose to go again soon, not with the feeling of unkind eyes always watching.  When the last of the wolves loped up, we resumed a more sedate pace towards the northwest through the grasslands.

10
At Long Last

            A week had passed since we left the Moonwood and traveled into grassy hills with small stands of trees dotting the landscape.  We traveled leisurely, but cautiously, for we were now close to where Mithril Hall lay, according to Zayanya.  I could see the mountain cliff, and the valley as she had described it, I just had to figure out how to get in.  Zayanya also mentioned that the area had recently had trouble with orcs, so we all kept our senses alert for any kind of trouble.
            We stopped about midday to eat and drink, on the top of a cliff overlooking a valley.  The view was spectacular, and standing on the edge with the wind in my face was something that I’d never experienced before.  But by the time we were all content and the twins -- who may be old enough to keep up, but still young enough to play -- were romping in the sparse grass, I could tell we were being watched.  I caught Yahn’s eye.  <Do you feel it too?  That we are being watched?>
            He nodded, and Stormwatcher did as well.  Very carefully, I let my mind wander until I found the watcher, then gently touched her mind with mine.  <I would rather have you come out than watch me from the shadows, sister.  Will you come where I can see you?>  I felt a confirmation in my mind, and as I watched, a huge, beautiful black panther stepped to the edge of the shadows, and sat on her haunches there.  The wolves, of course, all bristled and growled at her.
            “Calm down guys, she’s just curious.”  I got up and went over to her, let her sniff my fingers and hand as introduction.  When she shoved her head under my hand, I took it to mean she wished her ears scratched, and did so, all the while admiring her.  She stood slightly taller than my waist at the shoulder, but shorter than my chest, and gleamed a glossy black that showed she was well fed, rested, and exercised.  “What’s your name, pretty panther?”
            She looked at me with large green eyes, and blinked once before answering.  ‘Guenhwyvar.’
            I nodded.  “Thank you, Guenhwyvar, for the visit, and not letting the wolves deter you.  I think we need to be on our way though.”  As we left, I could feel her eyes watching us, even after we got out of sight.
            We made it as far as the next clearing before I felt her again, but this time she wished to stay hidden, for she did not answer when I brushed her mind.  I was puzzled, and the rest of the pack turned to see why I had paused.  I cocked my head and listened, but didn’t hear anything.  <Something feels...  not necessarily wrong, but different.>  I saw the pack tense up, and just as quickly felt the cold blade against my neck.
            “Tell me, dark elf, why I shouldn’t slay you here and now.”  I couldn’t turn to see my attacker, but could only feel that he was taller and stronger than I.  The wolves looked ready to fly at his throat, and even Yahn seemed to be steaming a bit more than usual.
            “No Stormwatcher.  Let me do this.  The human way.”  I sensed his displeasure, but he let my judgment stand.
            “What do you tell them, drow?”  I didn’t answer, rather closed my eyes and concentrated on gathering all the power in my body, and discharging it at once.  The effect was a small explosion, knocking the man backwards.  I could feel where his blade had dragged lightly across my throat, and the small beads of blood that welled up.  I touched my hand lightly to my neck, willing myself to be calm.  My heart sank as the tell-tale itching starting, spreading outward from my neck to my shoulders, and further as blood carried the taint of silver throughout my body.  I turned and faced my attacker uncertainly, staff and magic at the ready.  But when I got a clear look at the stranger, I almost dropped them both, staring wide-eyed.
            He was a dark elf.  The man I had spent almost a year searching for, and here he was trying to kill me.  Now what?  Zayanya had asked what I would do once I found Drizzt Do’Urden, but I didn’t expect he would try and kill me.  He was taller than me, with the grace and speed of a full-blooded elf.  His shoulder length white hair was tied back from his face, and he wore the leathers of a ranger.  He carried two curved, silvery blades in each hand which glowed in my mage sight, and he seemed very intent on killing me.
            “Stormwatcher?”
            ‘Yes Shadow?’
            “No matter what happens you must not touch this man or those who are with him.  Please.”
            Drizzt looked somewhat puzzled when I said this, but seemed to shake it off as he circled me.  I could feel myself losing control of my power; I had trained it to light fires, not be controlled as long as this to fight battles.  I had never expected to need it this way.  But now it was filling me, making my staff glow purple.  Drizzt attacked, and I blocked, palms sweaty and hands shaking.  He attacked once more, and that’s when I completely lost control.  The surge of power ran down my arms and into my staff, exploding when it came into contact with one of the curved blades Drizzt carried.  It knocked us both back, me a few steps, him almost clear across the clearing, where he lay still as if dead.  I stood still, shaking.  What if I had killed him?  I’d never seen my power do this before, but I had also never been in this kind of situation.
            When I had pulled myself together and stopped shaking, I went over to where Drizzt lay.  He was breathing, but appeared to be unconscious, and I could feel nothing wrong in his body except for a small cut on his head where he had hit it on a rock.  I bent over him to look at it, than gathered my power carefully and healed it.  When I looked at his face again, his eyes were open, and the last thing I saw was his face before everything went black.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            When I awoke again, it was night, and there was a fire burning a short distance away.  When I sat up, head throbbing, Lightfoot and Stormwatcher were beside me, and I could see green eyes and a black shadow from across the fire.  I hugged the two wolves.
            “Where is the rest of the pack? And where is Drizzt?  He’s ok, isn’t he?  I didn’t hurt him?”
            Stormwatcher smiled.  ‘Are you a pup again, to ask so many questions?’ he said jokingly, then sobered.  ‘The rest of the pack is hunting, even the twins.  And as for that man,’ he said it as if it almost burned his mouth. ‘I don’t know where he is, nor do I care.’
            “Interesting to know you care for my health.  Most drow don’t.”  His voice came from my side, behind Lightfoot, and Stormwatcher backed up a step, growling.  I laid my hand on his neck, and he calmed, but I could still feel his distaste.  “You were lucky this time, Guen wouldn’t let me kill you, even if I had been able to get through your circle of wolves.”
            “Guen?  She’s your cat?”
            He laughed.  “She doesn’t belong to me, but she is my companion, yes.”
            I looked at the green eyed shadow across the fire, and touched her mind with my thanks, then addressed Drizzt.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.  That’s never happened with my power before.  And the only reason the wolves didn’t hurt you was because I told them not to.”
            He nodded.  “Yes, I wondered about that.  A dark elf who travels with wolves and a seemingly ordinary looking black horse.  And you healed me, which is unusual as well.  But how am I supposed to believe you didn’t mean to kill me?”
            I stood up carefully, using Stormwatcher as support, and looked around, searching with my mind for a specific being. 
            “If you’re trying to call your horse, don’t bother.  I hobbled him for the night.”
            I looked at him and blinked.  “If you think you can hobble Yahn, you are sadly mistaken.  He has a thing for bindings:  he doesn’t like them.”  At that moment, Yahn trotted up to me and put his nose in my chest, shoving gently.  I hugged him, grateful that everyone was okay, ignoring the tiny purple sparks that appeared briefly on my arms and fingers where I touched him.
            ‘Foolish elf.  You can’t hobble a nightmare, even a half-breed.’  We all chuckled at that, though Drizzt looked at us suspiciously.
            “I think you’d better explain yourself, drow, and quickly.”
            I sighed.  “I do have a name, you know, and since I know yours already, mine is Alyssa.  Or Shadow, that’s what the wolves call me.  Why would I want to kill you, when I’ve spent the last year looking for you?”
            “Why would you have done that if not to kill me?”
            I could feel my eyes growing heavier, and sat down before I fell.   I was exhausted, and having to argue with the man I had set my hopes on didn’t help.  “Because I didn’t know where else to go.  Everyone else tries to kill me, just as they did my parents.  Because my father’s last words to me were to search you out, as you were like me.  Why would I kill such a man when it would set his magnificent companion against me?”
            Drizzt glanced at Guen as if reminded that she was there, then walked over and scratched her neck before pulling something out of his belt pouch.  I could just barely make out what he said to her.  “It’s alright Guen, she’s awake.  I won’t harm her until I get some answers, and that won’t happen until morning.  Go home and rest.”   As I watched, the green eyes turned to mist and disappeared, and the object in his hands flared blue for a second.  He stood and looked at me, and I blinked back sleepily.  “Sleep, we’ll talk more in the morning.”
            I read the intent in his eyes.  “Only if you do too.  The wolves can keep watch.”
            He stared at me long and hard before nodding his agreement and laying down to sleep on the side of the fire where Guen had been.  I lay down as well, rolled on my side and was asleep quickly.
            I dreamed again that night, the first dreams in a while, since before the grove.  I dreamed of rotting corpses and burning houses, a bounty hunter with a throwing star in his skull cutting my ear off, and the last sight I had of my parents.  Then at the end, one more sight: that of a dark elf with shoulder-length white hair, a curved blade in each hand, flat on his back, his sightless eyes staring at the sky.  I awoke crying, and Sunbeam was there to comfort me as I cried myself softly back to sleep.
            When I woke, it was already midmorning.  I was sore and tired, as if I had never gotten any sleep at all.  I got up and followed the twins to the nearby stream, where I rinsed my face, watching the twins splash water on each other and play in the stream.  Eventually, after finding no solace in my contemplation, I called them to me and started back.  When I got there, I found Drizzt rooting through my pack. 

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            I kept watch over my packsister for the night, sharing shifts with Moonlight and my mate Stormwatcher.  Shadow tossed and turned most of the night, for the first time in moons, waking at one point crying.  Moonlight comforted her, but she still cried herself to sleep.  In the morning, I watched as she went with the twins to the stream, and while she was gone the man who had hurt her picked up her pack and started looking through it. 
            ‘She won’t be happy about this when she gets back,’ I commented to Moonlight.  She agreed, and the two of us waited.
            She was indeed not happy about a stranger going through her bags without her consent.  “Hey!  Who gave you permission to go through my pack?!”  This was angrily said from the edge of the clearing, as Shadow got closer.
            Drizzt looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.  “I’m your captor, that gives me the right to find out what you are carrying.”  He held up the shortsword from the grove.  “Where did you get this?”
            Shadow looked at her feet and didn’t answer.  He wasn’t so calm the next time.  “Where did you get this!?”  He commanded.  “Tell me!”
            “The grove of Montolio DeBrouchee,” She said, so quietly it was barely audible.
            “You dared set foot in that sacred place?”
            She looked up sharply, eyes flashing.  “Dared?  I, sir, was given permission by my father, who was as holy as any!  And if you don’t mind, I’ll take my pack back!”  With that, she stormed over and tried to grab the pack from him.  But the moment she did, there was a flash of purple light, and the man was thrown across the clearing, as he had been yesterday.  Shadow looked at where he lay in horror, then turned and ran, her bag forgotten on the ground where she had dropped it.
            ‘Stormwatcher and Moonlight, follow her, make sure she doesn’t run off the cliff.  When she stops, one of you come back so we know where she went.’  I commanded.  I walked over to the man and inspected him.  He was still breathing, and nothing seemed to be broken, he had just been knocked unconscious from the fall.  I sat on my haunches and waited for a few minutes, till Moonlight came back.
            ‘She ran all the way up to the edge of the cliff, and that’s where she stopped,’ Moonlight reported.  ‘How is the elf?’
            ‘He is fine, I was just waiting to try and wake him.  We can not talk to him either, so I think we need Yahn’s help.’  I called Yahn over and explained our problem to him, and he agreed to help as long as I could wake the elf.  I stuck my nose in his ear and sniffed, and he woke quickly, rolling to his feet and looking around him as if expecting an attack.  When he saw it was just us, three wolves and a horse, he seemed to relax a bit, then tensed up as if looking for something else.  I nodded to Yahn, to tell the man where Shadow was.
            ‘Shadow ran up to the edge of the cliff.  That is where she is now, and if you like, we can take you to her.’  Yahn spoke in his unusual way, understandable by all.  The elf looked, startled, at Yahn before speaking.
            “What happened?”
            Yahn chuckled at his look before answering, ‘She lost control again, and she must have thought she’d killed you, for she ran.  Moonlight knows the way.  If you insist, I will let you ride me.’  He didn’t seem very happy at the notion, but we all knew that if he had not wanted a rider, he wouldn’t take one.  However, it turned out we did not have to worry about it.
            Drizzt gathered up Shadow’s pack from the ground, along with the short sword that had been knocked from his hands.  He looked Yahn up and down before answering, “No thank you, I would prefer to walk.  Lead the way.”
            Moonlight stood up and turned towards the cliff, and when he did not follow, turned and yipped.  He looked surprised, but followed her, and the rest of us followed the two of them.  When we reached where Shadow was, we stayed back at a distance, and let the elf go forward by himself.  Shadow was sitting on the edge of the cliff, her arms wrapped around her knees, which were tucked up to her chest and her head buried in her knees.  When Drizzt approached her she looked up to glimpse who it was, and I could see that her eyes were streaked with tears.  When she saw who it was, she turned her head away and rested her chin on her knees.  Stormwatcher was sitting beside her.  I saw Drizzt reach out his hand as if to put it on her shoulder.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            When I stopped running, I found myself on the edge of the cliff, so I sat down and wrapped my arms around my knees, buried my face in my knees, and cried.  I felt a cold wet nose on my cheek, and when I looked up Stormwatcher was there, understanding in his eyes.  I leaned against him and wrapped my arms around him instead.  Just like before, I felt the magic discharge from me into him, singeing some hair and causing him to yelp.  I jerked back, feeling even more depressed.  “Stormwatcher, how many time is this going to happen?  What if I really do kill him, like in my dreams?”
            ‘I don’t know, packsister.  But it can’t go on forever, and I think he’s a lot tougher than he appears.’
            I stared out over the cliff, not comforted at all by his words, and became absorbed in the rocks and sky, trying to forget all that had just happened.
            I heard footsteps approach, and when I turned to look, it was Drizzt.  I turned back to my contemplation of the cliffs opposite, my chin on my knees.  I felt rather than saw him start to put his hand on my shoulder.
            “Don’t touch me.”  He paused, and withdrew his hand.  “Don’t you remember what happened the last time I touched you?  This time, the only place for you to go is off the cliff.”
            He sighed, and sat down beside me, appearing to contemplate the same rocks I was, as if they held many memories for him.  He finally held up the shortsword again, and asked quietly, “Where did you get this?”
            I looked at him.  “I told you already.”
            “Than tell me again.”
            “From the grove of Montolio DeBrouchee.  We stayed there for almost three months, it’s where Yahn appeared.  And the elf watching us never protested to us being there, or me having the sword.”
            “How did you know who’s grove it was?”
            I managed to chuckle softly.  “It was the only place in the area that would have an armory.  I found that among the ruins of some buildings, and it was the only one there that hadn’t rusted and gone to pieces.  I figured that meant it was magical in some way since it has been years since anybody actually lived in that grove.  And it glowed blue.”
            His brows knitted together in puzzlement.  “Glowed blue?”
            “My mage sight, magical things glow blue.”
            “How did you know about Mooshie?”
            “My parents told me about him, and about you.”  I spoke very quietly.
            He nodded in understanding.  “Tell me about your parents.”
            So I did.  I told him about what they taught me, and about life each year.  About my childhood with them and the wolves, and climbing The Tree to watch the storms.  I told him about the bounty hunters each year, and how this year had been different.  When I got to the death of my parents, Stormwatcher moved closer, and I put my arm around him for comfort.  When I was done, there was silence as he absorbed it all, and I realized that the entire wolf pack was there, and Yahn as well.
            “Do you dream like that every night?”
            The question startled me.  “Like what?”
            Yahn answered for me.  ‘Stormwatcher says she used to dream almost every night like that since leaving home, especially after the first town.  They stayed a while in a Cave,’ his brow furrowed in puzzlement. ‘Of Dreams?  While they were there, she didn’t have any nightmares, but once they left, they started occurring infrequently.  Except when in the grove, she didn’t dream at all there.’
            He glanced at the circle of wolves as if seeing them in a new light, then looked back at me.  “You went to a town?”
            I nodded, and reached for my pack, carried unknowingly with me when I ran.  I pulled out my circlet and handed it to him carefully, and he took it, still looking puzzled.  “What does this do?” 
            I took it from him, careful not to make contact, and placed it on my head.  He looked at me a long time before answering.
            “I see.”
            “It’s not perfect, but it helps when I needed to get supplies.  But after that one visit in town...  I didn’t use it again because I didn’t go into town.”
            “Not perfect?”
            I tipped my head to the side, and the circlet slid off my head to rest on the ground between us.  “Not perfect.  In a fight, I found out, you’re in much bigger trouble when they find out you’re really a dark elf.”
            He picked it up off the ground and tried it on his own head, but it didn’t have the same effect for him as it did for me.  “It’s attuned to me.”  I pointed to the amethyst in the center.  “The illusion spell is focused through that stone, which is why the spell is broken when the circlet isn’t on my head.  I found it in the secret place with all the other supplies.  The wolves told me that Father bought it because he knew I would need it soon.”
            He put the circlet back in my pack.  “So you came all this way on just the last words of your father?”
            I nodded.  “I had help, though.  Before the desert, a mage helped me.  She made me a portal across it, and told me you where near a place called Mithril Hall instead of in Icewind Dale.  It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a year since…  since I left.  I’ve killed man and beast, and had good luck and bad, but I don’t think I would change it.” I thought of Ris and smiled.  “No, I defiantly wouldn’t change it.”
            Drizzt’s expression didn’t change.  “And I don’t suppose you could explain to me why you can’t touch me?”
            I sighed.  “It’s not just you, look.”  I extended my hand slowly towards Stormwatcher.  When I was a few inches away from his fur, my fingertips started to spark slightly.  The closer I got, the more sparks and tiny fires there were.  “I’m not sure why it’s so violent with you, but I have a couple of ideas.  I’m losing control of my magic, which is why it sparks at all.  The wolf pack is my family, and so is Yahn.  I’m comfortable around them, and when I’m around them I feel calmer.  My magic is tied to my emotions, and since you can be so intimidating…”  I blushed.  “Well it seems to be making it react violently.”
            Drizzt directed a long look my way, but waited another long moment before he spoke.  “Why are you losing control?”
            I rummaged in my pack before answering “I’m not sure.”  I finally found the tiny mirror Sagais had provided me with.  I looked in it, and what I saw made my heart sink.  <Oh Stormwatcher, I’m so foolish.>  I could see the small cut where Drizzt had held a blade to my throat yesterday.  My wild run had opened it again, and the edges were an angry, swollen red.  I wiped the small trickle of blood away with my hand and held it up in front of my eyes as I heaved a sigh.  “One of your swords is made of mithril, isn’t it?”  I asked as I put the mirror away.
            His eyebrows furrowed together in puzzlement.  “Yes, why?”
            I held up my bloodied hand for him to see, then bared my neck so he could see the cut.  “That’s why I’m losing control.  Because I’m allergic to silver, and mithril is pretty much just enchanted silver.”
            “I see.” 
            There was a long silence, neither of us really knowing what to say to each other.  My mind was running around in circles, seeming to think of everything but not really getting anywhere.  Eventually, the rumbling of my stomach and the aching of my legs caused me to stand up and reach for my pack.  Once it was in my hand, I realized that a mess I’d left:  my circlet, mirror, shortsword strewn on the ground around me, my armor back at camp where I’d dropped it, my bedroll near the campfire.  I bent over to pick up my belongings near me, but when I stood up again the world spun around me.  Confused, I tried to get my bearings, and took a step back towards camp.  It wouldn’t do to leave my detritus scattered everywhere.  I was dimly aware of voices asking me if I was ok, then a sudden cramp in my stomach doubled me over as I dry heaved at the base of a tree.  This disoriented me even more, so I put my hand against the tree to support myself.  The instant I did, there was a flash of purple and the side of the tree I had put my hand on turned black.  As I stumbled towards the camp, I looked at my hand in wonder.  <Magic!  I can do magic!>  The thought raced through my mind, and my craving for more intensified.  The world was no longer spinning, more like not staying in one place like it should.  I tripped, and had a flash of remembrance: the Stone of Sages, fully charged, wrapped in a rag inside my backpack, carried in my hand.  I reached for it, hungry for power, but…  No.  A part of me put my foot down.  Sagais said not to use the stone unless it was truly, direly needed.  Another memory flash, then a whole rush as I remember the death of my parents and wept anew for it.  Cold, so cold…  I moved closer to the fires to warm up.  And thirsty.  I found a water skin full of water, but my hands were shaking so badly I couldn’t get it open.  A dark, slim-fingered hand appeared at the edge of my vision to take it from me, open it, and hand it back.  I emptied it, but it did nothing to quench my thirst.  Another rush of memories, like someone hitting me in the temple.  I dropped the waterskin and fell to my knees, clutching my head and dry heaving into the dirt as they flashed before my eyes:  the bounty hunter and the mob, the thugs in Ashabenford, the lamias, Ris dead, Sagais, Ris alive, and Nighthunter.  I felt every emotion again – depression, anguish, pain, anger, loss, rage.  The pain became real, and I howled my rage to the evening sky.  The cut on my neck felt like it was on fire, but the rest of me was so cold.  Someone put a hand to my forehead but immediately snatched it away with a curse as purple lightning arced to it.  My vision suddenly cleared.  Not with the sight of my normal eyes, nor that of heat vision, but with the sharp detail of wolf eyes.  Stormwatcher was in front of my, and in my peripheral vision I could see Drizzt clenching and unclenching his hand.  I could feel my organs slowly rearranging themselves, and my fingers were gradually shortening and growing claws.  The inner wolf was making its presence known, and it hurt more than I could remember it ever hurting.  After the next cramp in my stomach subsided, I looked at Stormwatcher and tried to tell him what I wanted, but couldn’t.  I finally managed to gasp out, “Stone…  get it…  Sagais…” before another cramp in my chest choked off my words.  Beneath the haze of pain, my mind could barely focus on one thing:  magic would make it go away, keep the wolf from taking hold.  I could feel the power of the stone calling to me as Stormwatcher brought it closer.  When he dropped it in front of me, it rolled out of the rag to rest between my paw-like hands, the rune glowing a cool blue.  I touched it, and felt the magic wash over me.  As the pain faded away, I stood up.  There were a few moments where the magic felt like I was wrapped in furs, never to be cold again.  Then it started to burn, along my skin, through my veins, and arc between my fingers.  Even my delirious mind quickly realized that with no control over my own magic, I also had no control over the magic I drew from the Stone of Sages, or the earth.  I saw a lightning bolt discharge from me to a nearby tree, and it seemed my vision went white with the flash of light and stayed that way.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            Sagais was feeding the animals when he felt a sudden wrench and the drain of power from the Stone of Sages.  He rushed into the library where Ris was reading at the table.  “Got to go on a trip.  Alyssa’s triggered the Stone and there’s a massive power drain from it.  Don’t know when I’ll be back, I suppose when things are straightened out.”  He barely gave Ris enough time to look worried before melting into the rock and disappearing.  He didn’t even have to look hard for Alyssa, he only had to follow the energy being drained from the earth.
            He arrived at the edge of a previously wooded clearing.  The wind and the lightning had knocked over some of the trees.  Alyssa was in the center, head back and arms outstretched while lightning bolts arced from her to the clouds and trees.  She was standing, but only because the force created by them wouldn’t let her fall.  He looked around and spotted the wolves in the shadows, but didn’t have to ask before Stormwatcher appeared at his side to fill him in.  ‘Shadow got sick.  We think it is because she got mithril in her blood.  She was starting to turn into a wolf when she touched the Stone.’
            Sagais nodded and spoke hurriedly.  “Find me her pack, and if you can, the potions.  If that’s the case we’ll need them.”  He started towards Alyssa, ignoring the lightnings that struck him and splayed on his skin.  He was stone, he barely even felt them.  When he reached her, he only had to take the Stone out of her hands to break the flow of energy, and she collapsed into his arms.  Her eyes were open but not seeing, and her breath came in ragged gasps.  All of a sudden she arched her back, one hand gripping his upper arm with an almost unnatural strength.  He could see her nose start to extrude and her teeth elongate.  Once again, before he had to ask, Stormwatcher was there next to him with her pack; he upended it on the ground next to him to find the potions he’d sent with her.  After finding the right one, he opened the stopper with his teeth and poured it in her mouth, stroking her throat so that she swallowed it.  Slowly, the wolf changes reversed themselves, and when he was confidant she wouldn’t explode again he laid her gently on the ground and stood up with the stone.
            With a sign, Sagais summoned his own power and delicately went about setting the weather to rights and repairing the trees as best he could.  When he was done, he found a rag nearby, wrapped the stone in it, and laid it carefully on top of the pile that had come out of Alyssa’s backpack.  The evening sky was now clear and the last rays of the setting sun were reflecting off the departing thunderheads as the wolves, a black horse, and a dark elf slowly emerged from the trees.  He looked at Alyssa, unconscious at his feet,  and contemplated his options.

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            I woke slowly to the murmur of voices and a massive, pounding headache.  The voices stopped when I stirred and sat up, clutching my head, only to find that the rest of me ached as well.  When my eyes had adjusted to the light, I found a familiar hand holding a water skin for me to drink.  Groggily, my eyes connected hand to face.  “Sagais?  What are you doing here?”
            Sagais gave me a long look with his dark gray eyes.  “You don’t remember?”
            I  thought for a minute before the fragmented memories started coming back to me.  “Oh.  Oh no.  I didn’t hurt anybody, did I?”  I shivered, partly with horror.
            Sagais shook his head.  “Only yourself.   They were all smart enough to get out of the way when you started discharging lightning bolts into things.”
            I tried to get up, but he wouldn’t let me.  “I don’t think so.  You’re still pretty sick.  Tell me what happened.”  He stood up and got me another blanket.
            “He cut me.”  I bared my neck so Sagais could see the cut.  “Drizzt cut me.  I could feel it start to itch and I lost control of my magic, but I didn’t think it would get this bad.  His swords are mithril.”
            “Its poison to you, kiddo.  Sounds like it started with your magic and went from there.”
            “Yea.  Every time I touched him…”  I pulled a shaking hand out from under the blanket and put my hand on Sagais’s arm.  The nimbus of purple fire sprung up where we touched.  “Like that, but much worse.  And then we were talking, and I got up because I was hungry… it’s all fragmented from there.  I remember trying to throw up, and being real dizzy.  And I had like a waking nightmare, so that’s why I started to change.”
            Sagais nodded.  “So you touched the stone because you thought it would stop the change.  Which it did.  But I’m guessing since you had no control over your own magic, you didn’t have any over what you drew from the Stone, either.  Your body just kept channeling massive amounts of power.  That’s why you hurt, sweetie.  No more magic for you, not for a while.”
            I nodded slowly, gripped by sudden exhaustion.  My eyelids became heavy and I let sleep overcome me.
            My next few days were dotted with brief periods of waking.  Some were lucid, only moments where I somehow struggled up out of the deep well of sleep to groggily eat and drink something placed in front of me before dropping off to sleep again.  Others are remembered only as a feeling: trembling like a tree in a storm, so cold that I felt I would freeze, yet drenched in sweat.  And Sagais, always was Sagais there to care for me.
            At some point I awoke, clear minded and wrapped in blankets.  It was evening, and the only wolf in sight was Solstice, sitting not far from my side.  She raised her head from her paws when I sat up.  I felt relatively normal until I tried to talk to Solstice telepathically.  The headache exploded behind my eyes and I almost fainted.  Warm rough hands were on my shoulders then, helping me lean forward to put my head between my knees.  “Didn’t I tell you no magic?”  Sagais asked as I clutched my head.
            “I never considered that magic before,” I said when the throbbing had subsided enough for me to talk again.  I gladly accepted the waterskin he offered me as he shrugged.
            “Innate talents are still magical.”  He handed me food almost before I realized I was starving.  As I took it, my hand brushed his and it was hard to miss the spark of purple lightning between us.  I caught my breath when I saw it and slowly raised my eyes to his.  He motioned for me to eat, his stern visage showing he wouldn’t answer any questions until I did.
            I was too hungry to be stubborn, so I took a bite out of the bread he gave me.  I waited until I’d taken another before voicing my worry.  “How long am I going to be doing that?”
            Sagais sighed, and in his eyes I saw concern.  “I don’t know.  From what Drizzt has told me of your symptoms before I arrived, you’ve been doing it for five days now.  But the only other lycanthrope I’ve dealt with is Ris, and he never had the presence of mind to get himself severely poisoned by silver.”  He grinned slyly at me, intentionally trying to lighten the mood.  “I think the worst is over, but I had to keep pouring sleep and wolfsbane potions down your throat, not only for the poison, but for the full moon.  For all I know, you could be losing control of your magic like that for another week, or a month,” he hesitated.  “Or it could be gone tomorrow.”
            I swallowed, the bread forming a hard lump in my stomach.  I tried to wash it down with the second waterskin Sagais passed to me.  After I drained it and started in on the rest of the food Sagais gave me, I got my first real look at the clearing where the campsite had been set up.  I winced at the sight of burn marks and jagged trunks.  Under the fire Sagais had lit was a large patch of scorched earth radiating out from the center.  The contents off my packs were scattered a short distance away as if someone had quickly rooted through it.  The clearing was deserted except for the three of us.
            “Where is everyone?”  I asked Sagais.
            “Out hunting.  They’ll be back shortly.”
            I raised an eyebrow in surprise.  “Together?”  He shrugged but wouldn’t elaborate.  I made my way to my feet with Sagais’s support and Solstice’s anxious hovering.  At one point we brushed, fingertips to ears, and I was pleased to notice only a small spark jumped between us.  So small, in fact, that Solstice grinned at me and turned to lick my hand, resulting in a few more tiny sparks.  By the time I had walked around a bit and discovered that my entire body was sore, I heard rhythmic hoof beats.  A few moments later, Yahn appeared, snorting and tossing his head with contented pleasure.  When he saw me standing near the fire, he trotted over and pushed his nose into my chest, nearly knocking me over.  As he ambled away in search of grass, my stomach turned over from the jolt and I grabbed the nearest tree for support as I heaved up all of the bread and water I’d eaten.  Sagais heard and rushed over to help guide me into a sitting position a few feet away.
            He pressed another waterskin on me.  “Too much, too soon.  I should have realized and said something.”  I eyed the waterskin dubiously, my stomach threatening to mutiny if I tried to fill it again.  But Sagais motioned for me to drink.  “Little sips, slowly.  You need to keep something down.  The water will help flush out your system.”
            I nodded and took a sip, suddenly too tired to even speak.  Then I leaned back and closed my eyes, seeking that inner peace that comes when I meditate, taking an occasional drink.
            Although I could practice calming breathing exercises, the meditative calm eluded me for only the handful of minutes it took for me to fall into a light doze.  Eventually I was startled awake by the soft noises from the trees and the rustle of the underbrush.  Soon afterward, I could see Stormwatcher and Lightfoot emerging, followed by the rest of the wolf pack in ones and twos.  Lightfoot caught sight of me and bounded over happily, and soon I was all but buried in wolf fur.  I grinned and hugged each of them, ignoring the faint purple lightings.  Guenhwyvar pushed her head under my hand, not willing to suffer a hug but wanting her ears scratched instead.  I looked up to see Drizzt striding in to camp.  Guen swung her head to watch him as he crossed the campsite, then abruptly left my side and bounded over to intercept him for attention.  He smiled and obliged before reaching into his belt pouch for something that he rolled across his knuckles.  He murmured something – I was too tired to try and catch what.  Guenhwyvar, sitting patiently on her haunches, slowly turned into mist and faded away into nothing.
            A loud clinking interrupted my thoughts and I looked over to see Sagais stacking empty bottles.  I struggled to my feet and made my way over to ask him what he was doing. 
            “You’re out of suppression potions,” Sagais calmly pointed out.  “I’ve got a fair supply of this tea left; drink at least a cup of it once a day, but no more than three.”  He handed my a packet of herbs and showed me how much to make tea with.  “The worst part is over and there’s not really anything else you need me for.”
            “But…”  He didn’t give me a chance to voice my opinion; instead, he smiled briefly at me before melting away into the earth.  I wish somehow he could take me with him.
            That random, almost idle thought startled me.  When I analyzed it, I realized that while I had wanted to find Drizzt, I no longer knew why.  I missed being at the Cave of Dreams with Ris and Sagais, where I actually felt content.  The revelation made me look at Drizzt in a whole new light.
            Abruptly I snapped back to reality with the realization that the object of my focus was actually saying something.  “I’m sorry… what did you say?”
            “I don’t want to delay here much longer,” Drizzt said patiently.  “I was patrolling for orc bands when I came across you.”
            I shrugged.  “I’m not keeping you here, and I won’t keel over anytime soon.”

                              -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -

            I drank as much as I could of Sagais’s tea before sitting down to meditate.  I hoped that having a full night of meditation would help purge the last of the silver from my blood.  It felt lonely to not be able to talk to any of the wolves or Yahn.  But halfway through the night, my tired body demanded real sleep, so I curled up on the ground and was oblivious in moments.
            When I woke, Drizzt was gone.  Perhaps he felt as uncomfortable saying farewells as I did, or maybe he simply got restless to be on his way.  I wasn’t upset’ I’d discovered that we weren’t alike as I’d originally thought.  I packed up all my things, still strewn around on the ground from the night my magic had gone haywire.  Then I called Yahn and the wolves over to me.  “I’m ready to move on, how about you?”  I asked them, not expecting to hear their reply.
            There were nods all around.  ‘Back to the Cave?’ Equinox asked.
            I couldn’t stop the huge grin from spreading across my face.  “I heard that!”  I exclaimed excitedly.  “Just barely, but still!”
            Yahn stuck his nose in my neck and snorted.  ‘About time,’ he grumbled.
            Still ecstatic, I pulled myself onto Yahn’s back.  Faint purple sparks flew where I gripped his neck, but nowhere else.  I leaned down, eyes shining, but didn’t have to say anything for the wolves to start into a lope.  I simply pointed so Yahn could see they were already outdistancing him.  He launched himself into a gallop and passed them.  Our first steps back to the east were at an exhilarating breakneck speed.

11
Homecoming

            I made it back to the Cave of Dreams in one piece.  It took us almost three full moths at our fastest to get there even with Yahn to speed up my two legs.  It was a fairly uneventful trip.  We skirted town, and when I needed food I simply slipped into my own wolf form and hunted with the pack.
            Ris was waiting at the entrance to the cave when we arrived, sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, the wind blowing gently through his long silky blonde hair.  Sagais said later that he’d been doing that every day for the past two months, sitting vigil awaiting my return.  I think it was one of the most welcome sights I had ever seen.  Yahn made his best efforts to pad as silently as the wolves up to the entrance, and he wasn’t half bad.  I slipped off his back and tried to sneak up on Ris, but as soon as I crept within two feet of him, he broke out in a huge smile and opened his eyes.
            “You’ve gotten rusty, Alyssa m’dear.  I heard you!”  he teased me as he got to his feet and opened his arms wide.  I stepped into his embrace and hugged him hard, feeling the warmth fill the spot in my heart that had been missing these many months.  After several long moments, I pulled back with a sigh.
            “This is Yahn,” I said as I pointed to Yahn.  He nodded in greeting to Ris.  “Yahn is half nightmare.  He was real callous when he first arrived, but he turned out ok.”  I winked at him.
            Yahn rolled his eyes at me and snorted.  ‘Well if she hadn’t insisted on learning to ride me,’ he made it sound like a great insult.  ‘I might have been nicer sooner!’
            Ris looked a little stunned.  I chuckled and patted his arm.  “Yahn has that effect on people, dear.  I think he’s telepathic.”
            Ris nodded.  “Well, that ought to be interesting.  Why don’t you come in and met Sagais and the rest of the animals?”  This directed at Yahn as he started inside the Cave.
            Sagais was feeding the animals as we came in.  He looked up in surprise, but broke out in a huge grin when he saw who it was.  After embracing, I introduced him to Yahn as well.  Sagais took a long look at him and the wolf pack, then winked at me.  “Well I see you must have plenty of tales for us!”  I laughed as I nodded.
            Life settled down into a routine again.  The wolves made their own den a short ways away.  The area around the cave became their territory, and it was a large one.  Sagais, Ris, and I carved a tunnel out from the meadow to the outside so Yahn could come and go as he pleased.  We ended up having to put a short fence in front of its opening after the goats escaped three times.
            The Stone of Sages was placed back on its pedestal in the central cave.  Nod was the only wolf that stayed there with us, and the guardianship was shared between Ris, Nod, and me.  Sagais used the magic of the cave on Nod, and she started changing subtly.  She grew taller and bulkier.  Nod said that she’d noticed better hearing, clearer eyesight, enhanced sense of smell, and a stronger jaw with sharper teeth.  By the time Sagais said he’d done all he could, Nod almost looked like a werewolf herself.
            Ris and I are starting plans to build a small cabin somewhere near the entrance to the cave.  We haven’t yet decided whether we should place it between the main entrance and the meadow tunnel, or directly in front of the main entrance.  But we both agreed wholeheartedly that we wanted to live outside.  But that will have to wait.  The trees outside are just starting to turn the brilliant colors of fall.  Soon, the wind will blow colder, and animals have started to prepare for the winter months.  Snow will fall, and perhaps the wolf pack will den with us until the weather clears.
            There is talk of children.  I smile when I think of small ones underfoot.  I learned to walk clutching the fur of a wolf; maybe they will too.
            Ris and I are happy.  He is happier than he would be if he had lived in his city.  And while I remember the memories of my childhood with great fondness, I have finally realized something.
                        I am home.

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