The Spirit Who Walks

[*UQT]

Cider and Lannia walked together down a game trail with the moon high on in an unnaturally clear night sky. 

"To face the darkness," Cider started, "You must be stronger, but you cannot do that as you are."

A spirit dear pranced by. A dear's gate was normally graceful but the moments of floating hesitation, and landings that never quite connected were like a dance here. All around swirls of energy and sprays of color showed the presence of lesser spirits and new spirits trying to be born. And there were shadows... Shadows in the distance.

"You have done well to show your adaptability," Cider continued, "But there is a reason a sword has never quite felt right in your hand... Why spells of destruction don't connect... You must be true to yourself."

She saw herself coming toward therm. She stared into her own eyes, and then watched herself take off toward a shadow with sword drawn, struggling to cut it down. Then luminous being appeared on the horizon. There was a crack of lightning as arrows flew past her doppelganger each hitting the shadow and felling it in seconds. More shadows appeared, more arrows split the sky. Her doppelganger fell, and the shadows converged on the light. The light split and a ray of divine light pulsed outward from it. What shadows didn't vaporize as the brilliant light passed through them, the second light seemed to rip apart like some wild beast.

She took off toward the light and cider followed. As they drew closer the light faded and a form came into view. It was her... But not her, and at her side was a Telthor wolf. The new her seemed to pulse with an inner glow, and deeply peaceful energy. The more luminous version of her, held out her hand and she took it.



She felt the light seep into her, and opened her eyes. That day she seemed to be in a hurry to go everywhere. Parts of her knowledge of magic were just... gone. She wasn't alarmed or afraid, it simply was as it was meant to be. She drilled her archery and by the end of the night was shooting better than she ever had. Maybe not with as much power or as quickly, but her arrows connected far more often. 

When she trained with Derik, he kept stopping. He looked confused by her, saying she smelt different and her stance was different. Something was not quite the same. He finally placed it.

"You smell like you used to," He said with a sort of nostalgic reverence, "When I first fell in love with you. It's like... Waking up."

Waking up... Yes, it was like waking up. Opening your eyes to the light to fight the darkness.

[*UQT]

Already having felt a bit weakened and on a new path she proceeded with the planned communion. There were many in attendance, which made her nervous. You tell people a thousand times "Don't breach the circle" and "Don't cast any spells toward us" but with every person added that chances that someone will intervene in a catastrophic way are increased. This communion was already complex as it was.

A dying curse... Each any every one of them is different and you have to fully understand each one to undo it. This communion was planned to speak to the spirits about the past, and uncover the story behind this curse. It was risky, to say the least. The curse being transferred, spread, or the communion garnering the attention of malevolent spirits were all high on the list of probabilities. 

She was the shaman... The "expert", if one can be an expert on something that changes every time you encounter it. As many times as she said, "This could go badly." She still felt like people just expected her to make it okay. These things go badly, all the time, even for the strongest and oldest shaman. They went badly in new and grim ways. No one could fully predict it, not even with a lifetime of research and training.

So she did all that she could. She trusted her inner guide, and she trusted herself. She said her prayers, she performed the rituals, and she gave the instructions. It wasn't enough.

The black... bottomless... Emptiness... It just kept going. She was nearly lost to it. After seeing Osric contort in horrific pain, limbs bending into unnatural positions, she opened the veil and stepped in to confront the spirits in their truest form. She was alarmed to find that she did not step into the spirit world as she knew it, but into pitch black. There was no up, no down, only pure, black, nothing.


She could not have told you how it happened, but just when she thought she was lost she got ripped back into the physical world. Her body took form and was flung like a doll away from Osric. Osric was thrown in the opposite direction. She heard cracks as her body met the stone wall of the cave. She felt sick and drained, but she had to help Osric. 

She opened her eyes and they focused just enough to see that people were already tending to Osric on the other side of the cave. The arm that she had lifted toward him dropped. Her force of will to help him had kept her conscious. Without that need, she simply collapsed. 

She hadn't even registered yet that she was bleeding from the eyes.

[*UQT]

Lannia slowly regained consciousness in Derik's arms. Lannia opened her eyes slowly, the heal potion Halron gave her working through her. She stood at ground zero of the abyss and then... She jumped in. The shamaness was indeed severely weakened. Her eyes moved slowly, as if even that motion was taxing.

"There's nothing in there," she rasped out, "A layer of pain, hopelessness, and then... nothing. Infinite nothing in all directions; an endless black. Yet, there is no direction... A direction is something. There was no up, no down, no left or right. I was alone, and nearly lost myself to it."

She looked ashamed for a moment.

"I," Her voice tremored as she spoke, "Could not have known... Is Osric alright? I'll try... I'll face them again if he can tolerate it."1

She shoved to her feet and wobbled, she attempted to enter spirit form and... Nothing. She tried again... Nothing.

"No," She gasped out as she wobbled, "No..."

She looke back at Derik with panic in her eyes.

"I can't enter spirit form."

Those present could not empathize, but she had lost a significant part of herself and her power. Like a swordsman losing his sword arm, a piece of her had be lopped off. She tried to look into the veil, a critical skill to later enter it for a spirit journey, and she could not. She hit her knees.

"No..."

[*UQT]

Days of training... Night and day. Hour after hour until she collapses.

Finally, she can see into the veil with clarity. Finally, she can enter spirit form again and journey through the spirit world. 

"A failure is sometimes a blessing in disguise," She remembered her grandfather saying, "We learn the most about who we are and want we are meant to be when we face defeat. You cannot truly know a person, until you have seen them suffer in grace."

And so she suffered. Night and day, day and night. She re-trained herself in the direction she was meant to bend. Then when she called out to Cider one evening...

"Isn't he normally see-through?" Derik asked, confused.

Lannia openly gaped at Cider, who stood before her. Not even her grandfather had been able to call a spirit into physical form. There he stood... Cider in the form of a Telthor wolf. Telthor's were normally garudians, who died protecting the land. She'd heard of shaman calling upon the spirit of the land, but Naq'pote himself? The great hunter? Did this mean Cider, in his many thousands of years once died to protect something, or did it mean the spirits gave him physical form to protect her?

Cider seemed just as surprised. He smacked his fleshy lips together and shifted on his feet. It was an odd thing to watch an ancient spirit doubt his reality. Still his appearance was supernatural. He gave off a soft glow and Lannia wondered what trouble it might bring for those that did not understand to see him. Still, in a place where Celestials were pacted and came on command to a human's side, it might not be too bizaar?

[*UQT]

Restless, she set out in the early hours of the morning again. She and her merry band had bested the warsworn, the nightwave, and the ghost ship. Now they had this new evil to consider. 

The darkness is coming... And it knows my name

She ranged deep into the woods and made a fire. There she sat and thought on her many worries until the sun broke the treeline.


Cider had returned at some point. She had upset him earlier that day. She looked over and him, and he lower his head toward her. She placed her forehead against his and sighed.

"You were right, of course," He grumbled, "But I doubt that is what you are thinking on out here in the woods alone."

---------earlier that day------------------

"An evil cider," Derik teased as he cut down one vampiric wolf and then another, "Couple of them."

"Pretty sure it is comments like that that make him grumpy," Lannia scolded.

"I'm giving up," Derik grumbled, "I compliment him, he's smug. I say anything else he's offended."

"You know he is just jealous of you... right?" Lannia sighed.

Lannia then looked to her side where she could see Cider. He had not yet made himself visible to Derik. Cider Snarled and Lannia barked at him, "WHAT? It's true!"

Derik looked at her curiously, "In what way? It's not like you're the same species for that sort of thing and he's around you pretty regularly, even physically now."

Lannia rolled her eyes, "It has nothing to do with mating. He's watched over me since before I was born! Just think about it."

"Still is as far as I can tell," Derik grumbled as they fought through a mass of yeti's. 

"Like any good... Father," Lannia explained.

"You are a seer," Cider growled at her, "But do not presume to know my feelings."

Lannia looked to her side again and coolly stated as fact, "I know how you feel."

She then looked back to Derik, "You are the boy that stole his baby girl away."

Cider glared at her. It was only one of two times he had ever glared at her. She stared him down, daring him with her eyes to say she was wrong. 

"So what you're saying is I'm the disreputable thug that led his daughter astray?" Derik asked, almost amused. 

Cider snarled, disappearing into the veil beyond sight and Lannia frowned to herself. Derik canted his head, curious as he could not see Cider, "What are we frowning at?"

"He's gone into the veil," She answered, "Guess I dimed him out a little too much."

"Well, he'll be back," Derik shrugged, "He always is."

"So, cut him some slack," She rounded on Derik, "He's been watching over me since before I was born and now he suddenly has to share me, and accept that you are my very best friend."

"Alright, fine," Derik lamented, "I'm sorry."

"Make sense?" She smirked at the chided 6'6" warrior and kissed his nose from her higher vantage on the slope. Derik smiled and stucks his tongue out at her a little. 

Lannia could only smile and say, "You are my everything..." 

--------------------------------------

Lannia leaned in and hugged Cider gently.



"You were all I had my whole life until I came here," She murmured, "I don't appreciate you enough."

"You are," Cider started, for the first time ever sounding a little choked up, "The closest thing I have had to offspring. I am ancient, and I have acted as a guardian in the spirit realm as long as ancient memory can serve. Your life, from the time your energy was coming together in the spirit world until know has been but a second to me; The most glorious second I have witnessed... You will pass into my realm, perhaps in the way may spirits who walk do, or you may pass on to Chauntea, but you will eventually be beyond me... and I will have new wards to protect."

His tone was solemn, grave even, "I have never been tasked to guard just one for so long, let alone one that could see me... Talk to me... Yet... I find myself dreading that the time at the end will be too short. You are right... I... I don't want to share you, but I must. It is your nature, and a shaman's calling to give themselves to the whole of the world. I am so very proud every time I watch you fulfill your purpose. Yet... I know you need me less and less."

"I need everyone," Lannia said with a sniffle, "I need everyone right now. I keeping doing what I must but I am crumbling."

Cider became tangible, his Telthor fur was soft against her face as she began crying, "Something is wrong with Linela... I just know it. I haven't been able to help Osric. I still don't know where my one living sister is or even which sister is alive. My brother still languishes in the hands of that foul beast, Marius. That Dasha girl and Cylissa may be lost... I've no time for poor Teris, and I've not sat and talked with Aidan in ages. Can I do anything right?"

Cider whined and curled his head over her shoulder, as close to a hug as the large wolf-like beast could muster. Lannia continued, "All I can do is wait on the right opportunity. I know I am doing all I can. I know I am, but I feel the darkness closing in all around me. Now that thing is in Derik's head too! Why am I so much stronger and still feel so powerless?"

"Powerless?" Cider almost laughed, "Without your ability to weaken malicious spirits your friends would have been eaten by the nightwave, their boat split by the warsworn, or they would have sunk with the ship at the ghost ship for sure... They'd have put only minor dents in it. Without your love, I do not believe Derik would have completed his holy quests. You gave him a true purpose, and a home to come back to. So without you, the one person on that ship that could really do damage, would not have been who he is... He might not have even been sane."

She continued to weep into his fur. Cider moved his head to rest it on top of hers, "You have always been too hard on yourself. You have done so much for so many, and yet you still manage not to see your worth."

He withdrew slightly and they shoved his massive head under hers lifting her chin, "You are Lannia Ranloss... Spellbow and Spirit Who Walks. Hold your head up."

He sat back and looked into her tear soaked face. He sat erect and proud as he said, "You are... Bunnybow the vicious, bane of tasty animals and... talker to snarky spirit dogs."

She burst with laughter as he parroted Derik's title for her. If a wolf could smile, he was smiling.

"Uwetsiageyv," Cider murmured adoringly, "My... daughter... The darkness comes and it knows your name. It -should- know your name, and be afraid. For you and your husband are its end."

"You know Aidan will have kittens if you ever call me daughter in front of him," Lannia teased, "I am legally his."

"You are legally his," Cider agreed, "In my heart you will always be mine, but the reality is that we both must share you with the world. You belong to the whole of it. That is the purpose of your gifts."

[*UQT]

A dream... Howling... Howling in the distance...



Cider stopped howling and looked at her, only he looked more feral somehow. She was sure she started the dream as a full grown woman but suddenly her arms weren't long enough, and she was small. It went from night to a spring day. A little red-haired girl played in woods too lush for the normal vegetation of Rauthym. This was Chauntea's blessing. 

Then she began to see it through Cider's eyes...

The wolf looked at the little girl and stalked closer. He growled and she giggled. The wolf stood tall and halted its posturing. It was clear the little troublemaker would not fear him. He padded over to her. She reached up for his fur and he leaned his head down against hers. 



For a moment, their souls... Were one. 

He looked down upon the happy, squealing child, who seemed to think it was some great trick. He wasn't surprised by her jovial, fearless spirit. He'd watched her from the beginning. He'd appeared to her now, the first time, as a test. 

She passed, just as he expected. She was not as strong as her grandfather... But there was always something a little extra special about this one. This... Lannia Tannen.

He curled around her and ruffled her hair. She had already gone too far from her settlement, so he entertained her here to keep her from going further. There were darker things, deeper in the woods, that would love for her story to end prematurely. 

Lannia returned to herself, slowly rousing from her sunset vigil. This was her daily meditation, and she kept praying would bare fruit. Cider sat in front of her. As she opened her eyes, he looked into her. 

You remember...

He didn't have to say it. She heard it from his heart. She smiled and placed her forehead against his. He grunted lightly, feeling her deeper ill-ease. 

"Soon," He said, "Soon seer, be patient. The veil will reveal what you need, soon. I will be right here, beside you as always."

[*UQT]

"DONNEL!" She bolted upright hand outstretched.

Derik was up in seconds as well, drawing her in and purring softly. She sobbed bitterly into his chest. Cider appeared and crawled into the bed on her other side. Neither of the pair considered the oddity of a massive telthor wolf crawling into their over-sized bed. This was their reality. 

She laid back, Cider curled protectively around her from one side and Derik on the other. Both of them cooing and trying to sooth her back to sleep. She stared up at the ceiling, replaying the day the started so simply and ended in such trauma. 

It began like any other day. Normal morning activities... A little fishing, a little running around. Still she had a pit in her stomach and she was out of arrows. As she was preparing to travel by plant to Nashkel to pick up some nicer arrows from the gifted fletcher there, she ran into Iris. 

They laughed and joked. Their friendship had always been an easy one in spite of striking differences. Iris had beautiful, polished nails, Lannia wore rough leather gloves over her chipped and over-worked fingertips. Iris was an only child, and a half elf... Lannia was every bit of human and one of 8 siblings. Iris grew up well-mannered, and Lannia was born a barbarian. Still they had always shared a certain generosity of spirit. 

The conversation turned to family. While Lannia recounted what she could remember, a pit formed in her stomach. She talked of her mother and father, of 4 sisters and 3 brothers. She didn't say, "But all but two of them are dead... And those two? I've no idea where they are."

Conversations kept coming back to her family recently and it was like needles in her soul every time. She convinced Iris to write to her elven mother, whom she'd not seen in person in some time, and then disappeared into a swirl of leafs. She stepped out, somewhere outside of Nashkel, away from the gaurds that would like arrest her for her magic. 

She bought arrows and continued about a rather mundane day. She said hello to some friends, and checked on her consignments. 

As she was walking away from Mudds, she ran into Marnie, who was sporting yet another set of brand new clothes. She smiled at her dear friend, and he greeted her with his usual exuberance. She loved how seeing people he knew always lit up his face. He was always just genuinely happy to see you. 

It was time for her meditation. Same daily meditation, and she feared the same lack of results. She invited Marnie along. He had done some monk training, and enjoyed a good meditation too. They stopped at the Last Anchor for a drink and talked for a bit. Then Derik arrived home. It was such a normal day.

Then her eyelids grew heavily. Moving felt like wading through mud. The feeling of exhaustion was so sudden she instinctively reached for the bar to steady herself, even with Derik already standing behind her with his arm around her. 

"It's only midday," She yawned and leaned heavily into Derik's arms.

The conversation continued aroudn her, but is seemed to blur with her vision. She caught only pieces. Derik and Marnie picking on each other as usual. They were like a pair of squabling... brothers...

"Cider, did you let her dig into fields of weird flowers again?" Derik joked with the Telthor

"Didn... do... any-thing," She mumbled and became dead weight in Derik's arms.

She was vaguely aware of the concern that surrounded her. Cider pacing. Derik inspecting her. Marnie confused as to weather she needed help or if this was some human thing. He eyes rolled toward Derik, her eyelids felt like they weighed a ton " Just going... To close them... A minute... So... Heavy..."

She was complete out and unaware of the shimmering light that enveloped her. She awoke standing on a beach at spring time. Derik, Marnie, and Cider were there. She looked down the beach and her jaw dropped. She knew this beach, and she knew the two children playing on it. The group watched in awe as a very young little Lannia frolicked on the shoreline with a brother whose head with shaven.

That's right... They had lice that year. Somehow she'd not managed to get them. Her grandfather said it was part of her gifts. She teared up as she watched her and her brother play. Her brothers looked a lot alike except for their hair and it was shaven off. She struggled to remember which brother she gave a shell necklace to, trying to pull the name from the foggy memory of a 6 year old. 

The kids ran back toward the mainland, disappearing before Lannia could give chase. She felt her will returning, she could leave this vision, but she refused. The scenery seemed to blur in certain directions, so they followed in the direction that seemed clearest. They were attacked on the way by lesser spirits. 

Lannia was baffled... Why were they attacking? Had they not called her here and even brought Marnie and Derik with her?

Smoke rose in the distance and a chill ran down her spine. She knew this was the past. She knew she couldn't doing anything and still she ran toward the flames. Derik and Marnie were right on her heals. 

She came to a halt at a familiar scene. Her grandfather... Her... Marius... 

Marius dominated her grandfather with a spell, trained his eyes on little Lannia, and then turned back to her grandfather. " ... Kill her."

She made herself watch again, as her grandfather attacked her and then incinerated himself to make it stop. She did it to honor his sacrifice, clutching her arm where a scar still marked his cutting blow to her. This time Derik witnessed it, and Marnie with him. They saw with their own eyes the horror of that day. They saw her terrified six year old face. They saw it... And some part of her was ashamed, naked.

"Oh dear gods...." Derik breathed out.

Little Lannia and the grown woman watched her grandfather die together in horror. Then little Lannia turned to face the drow. 

"So does a brave man pass," Derik murmured, watching Lannia's grandfather pass into dust. 

" ... you did that to grampa? You ... you did that to him?" She shrieked.

Marius scowled as he realized his prize is lost. He ignored the girl before him, turning instead to his enchanter, barking at him, "How could he resist my spell?"

" ... No one could have predicted --" Zachary started.

Little Lannia would not be ignored. Her eyes alight with fury as she summoned the spirits of fire. Older Lannia watched sadly and narrated her own capture, "It was way more than anyone my age should have been able to do."



The area lit with flame. She could still remember the remarkable heat. But the girl, little Lannia, was untrained, and the effort took too much. She collapsed, looking to the distance. Lannia stiffled her tears and explained, "... and I... Couldn't sustain it..."

"You were a child," Derik reassured. 

They watched the figures collect the little girl, broken and bloody, and then dissolve from sight. They remained there a moment, confused. Where was the brother? Why had the spirits chosen to show her this scene again. Then they saw movement to the west and followed, only to be attacked again by spirits. Still, Lannia would not be denied. 

Voices echoed as they dispatched their attackers stopping Lannia in her tracks, "The Darkness is coming... And it knows your name."

Derik spat venom back at them, "Then cower from it! COWER BEFORE IT!"

She smiled, remembering Cider's words and now Derik's equal confidence. She bellowed, "I am Lannia Ranloss! It should know my name!"

Derik and Lannia looked at each other, smiling. They drew strength from each other as they always did, "I am Derik Ranloss... I am the Blade that Burns! I am the Bullwark! I stand in the Middle! Come and perish!"

"I am Lannia Ranloss!" She echoed, "I am the spirit who walks!"

She did not finish her title, spotting more movement in the distance, "There!"

The scene shifted again and they were on the shoreline. A drow carried a struggling boy. Derik looked at him hard, trying to gauge the boy's age. 

"10," Derik said, "Which brother was 4 years older than you?"

They watched the boy, beaten and roughly loaded into a rowboat. Lannia was too shocked to answer Derik at first. Her powers trembled inside her and Cider faded from view. 

"He's about 10 there," Derik said again, "So, that should tell us which brother... You were 6."

"Oh gods," She breathed out in horror, "It's Donnel."

Once more, the scene changed around them. 

"Oh gods... Gods... It's Donnel...," she repeated. 

Of her three brothers the most tender-hearted, the weakest by northman standards. Her father was constantly vexed and worried that he would not grow to be much of a man. Her mother was always hiding him behind her apron strings. 

"He was such a sweet boy," She felt tears falling again, "Barely every left my mother's side except to play with me."

The looked around, and Lannia instantly recognized the scene as one of Marius's satellite fortresses. She felt the blood drain from her face. Her stomach twisted. She wondered if you could vomit in spirit form. 

"He must have... Seen her die," She said somberly of Donnel and her mother. She then forced herself forward. As they navigated the corridor, a spirit converged upon then again, but this time, it did not attack.

"Darkness comes and it knows your name. Turn back, Spirit that Walks. Turn back."

They argued, Lannia made herself vulnerable opened her arms as she attempted to bargain with the spirit in a non-threatening way to be allowed to continue. Marnie and Derik were not ready to show such trust. Their weapons remained at the ready. 

"You do not understand. This path shall only lead to sorrow. Darkness comes and it knows your name. Turn back. Turn back."

It echoed again and a again.

"Darkness comes and it knows your name. Turn back. Turn back."

Derik lost patience, barking at the spirit to help or get out of the way, the ground shook beneath their feet and they were attacked. No matter how many spirits fell to them, they kept coming in an infinite storm. 

"ENOUGH!" Lannia roared and took spirit form, breaking away. 

"Lannia, through the door!" Derik ordered behind her and through the door she went. Curiously, the spirits stopped attacking as soon as they were through, but Derik slammed it shut behind them anyway. 

There a new scene unfolded. Her brother was full grown now, bloodied and tied to a post. A mountain of a man wielding a vicious whip stood over him. Marius watched on cruelly demanding her brother pay for his insolence. She covered her mouth at the scene before her and forced herself to watch the torture unfold. Around her brother's neck still hung the seashell necklace. 

When Donnel passed out finally from the torture, the torturer complained that it was too soon and walked off. Derik fixed on the man with a strange fascination, but Lannia was too fixed on Donnel to notice. 

She placed her forehead against Donnel's, weeping for him. Weeping that he was languishing in this way and this was just a vision... There was nothing she could do. 

" ... sister?" Donnel asked suddenly.

Lannia nearly tripped over herself with surprise. Tears streamed down his face. His expression was one of aching agony and shame. 

"Save me, please," he begged. 

Lannia placed her forehead back against his and began to sob pitifully. Derik moved up and placed a hand on her shoulder, "She is safe, Brother."

"I'm coming," She pleaded desperately, "I'm coming as fast as I can!"

Derik nodded, "We come for you. If we have to tear this place apart with our bare hands.... we come for you."

The sound of an arrow loosing reached her ears just as the arrow itself slammed through Donnel's chest. Marnie looked around in confusion trying to see the unseen archer. Lannia's eyes went wide in shock. Donnel's eyes bulge and his mouth opens wide in a silent scream as his body goes still. Derik whirled, warwake slinging into his hand from its scabbard. A figure fled out the door, somehow unseen.

"No... no no no..." Lannia cried impotently. She tried to grab the arrow and her hands passed through it as she continued to mutter in shock, "No... No no... Donnel? Donnel?!"

"Save me, sister ... before it's too late ..."

His voice echoed in her ears as he faded from view. 

"I'm coming, don't die!" she wailed at the emptiness and fell against the wooden post, sobbing into it. 

"Gods... please don't be what I think just happened..." Derik muttered and gave chase with Marnie after the footsteps down the hallway. 

She pushed up off the post rubbing her eyes furiously and took off after them with a feral growl. They all skidded to a stop at the exit. Lannia stared... Stunned... Into her own eyes. Derik cursed, he seemed to almost expect it. He would, he would know the accuracy of Lannia's arrows. Marnie watched in shock and horror. 

"No...," She breathed out. She drew her bow and trained the arrow on herself howling, "NO!"

The clone looked back at her, voice is filled with sorrow as she spoke, "Darkness is coming ... and it knows our name."

"I will NOT allow this to come to pass!" She howled at herself, "I will NOT!"

Derik growled at the vision, "Darkness is coming... and will have to get through me to get to her."

he vision merely stared at them. Rage filled Lannia at the vacant, hopeless stare she wore. She shook all over. Finally she snapped and roared, she loosing the arrow upon herself, missing the vision as it faded from sight. Everything started to peal away. 

Her eyes flew open, but she did not move from where she had been laid on the couch at the anchor. She stared at the ceiling, willing it to be a dream. Derik spoke, dispelling her notions. 
He remember it too, so a dream it was not. John told them they had settled over there only moments ago...

Here she was, woken up again that night. Her mind did love to torment her... It played over and over. She fell back to sleep whispering again, "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

It began like any other day. 

[*UQT]

Lannia rummaged her old storage and found it; a set of armor designed after her grandfather's ceremonial gear. She'd worn it once to confront Uther, and now she felt compelled to wear it again. 

I'm coming Donnel.

She also pulled out an amulet she'd found and saved for the sea beasts. It was every bit as useful now. She clasped it around her neck and looked in the mirror. 

She had faced the beast alone, she had stood in the front, she had found forgiveness and she had recklessly thrown her life in harms way to save friends... None of it had terrified her, and she thought maybe she had conquered her fear but now...

She saw the terror in her own eyes, she felt the twist in her stomach. All at the thought of going to that place where she might see him.

Marius...

He was a outcast of his race. A male who dared to lead his own house. He lived on the ragged edge with his patchwork army. His had his slaves, a few male drow tired of being beneath matrons, and alliances with the Zhents? She was still trying to digest that. The torturer in her vision was in Copperglen all those years ago. Derik was sure of it. She would have been 13... Maybe 14? Which made Donnel 17?

Gods... Donnel could have helped destroy Copperglen...

She shook her head and wiped a few tears away. She and Derik made light of all the strings their fate shared. This was not a string she wanted to share. 

She still didn't know why Donnel was taken in the first place. Marius wasn't in the business of taking children normally. They required too much work, so he only took the exceptional. Why? Why did he take a timid 9 year old who was always hiding behind his mother? Why not the able-bodied warrior, Connor, who was almost a man? Why not the sly and crafty Feris? Donnel had to have some talent they'd missed, but Marius had not. 

She went to rescue Donnel tonight... Likely she would face him under Marius's spell and she had no idea if she would face a strong sword or intense magic? Was he a shadow walker? Would she even see him coming? This could be a trap... It probably was.

Her grip tightened on her favorite bow, and she sheathed her favorite sword. 

But that changes nothing.

She set out for the day, freezing in the doorway at what she could have sworn she heard. She forced herself to start moving again. She had work to do.

Darkness is coming... and it knows your name... It echoed again.

[*UQT]

Lannia does not leave Donnel's side, nor does she sleep that night. As the members of the halls tend him, she does not impede them, but she is never far. Her eyes are always on him, as if she expects he will evaporate. Her heart remembers the boy he was...

Donnel, the brother that was always hiding behind their mother. The northman's son that didn't like to fight or pretend to sword fight with sticks. This was Marius's berserk Tannen enforcer? What had Marius seen in him that everyone in his family had missed?

She sniffled a bit... She couldn't blame him for not remembering her, but she'd hoped the boy that spent year 10 years hiding behind their mother, would recognize her spitting image. The first time Lannia remembered her mother it was chilling. Every pane of glass she walked by, every puddle she looked down into, she saw the spear wielding ranger... Imogen Tannen. 



She could feel her jaw muscles flex with frustration. Couldn't that work for her? Just once? Couldn't someone recognize her and help her in some way because she was so clearly Imogen's daughter... Her mother was a great ranger that passed miles healing the sick and tending the elderly, not with magic, but with natural medicinal skill. Lannia longed for that skill now, as she watched on. Oh sure, she was more skilled than most, but her mother was sought even where magic failed. 

Marius stole that training from Lannia, the shaman training she'd have gotten from her grandfather, and the warior training she'd have gotten from her father. She'd always stumbled toward the future that was stolen from her blindly, and could not help feeling she was not half the person she was meant to be. 

She had Donnel back at least... Her senses still tingled at that. It was too easy. It was just too easy...

She pulled out some ceremonial beads and started tying them into her hair. Her mother used to try to weigh down her wild hair with beads, small bones, and feathers. Her mother's hair style, and her grandfather's ceremonial armor. Something had to jog his memory.

She sat by his bed again and as poor as her singing skill was, she sang to him, his lulaby. Imogen was always singing it to him. Admittedly her voice was probably worse than normal for lack of sleep... But this was all she had for him right now; a song.

She sang it, even as the attendants began to shoot annoyed glances they thought she would not see

[*UQT]

She watched Donnel, still locked in his unnatural slumber. She had her brother back after 17 years... But she really didn't. 

Connor and Feris were dead. She could say that now. They were dead. She knew which brothers to lay to rest, but she still could not answer which sisters to lay down. She had made up her mind. Once Donnel was awake and well so he could stand with her, she would plan the anchors next event; A rauthite funeral. 

She and Donnel would set two empty funeral rafts into the harbor at Ulgoth's. They would raise their bows together (assuming he could fire a bow), and they would set the rafts ablaze and watch them until they were no more. Then they would drink, eat, and celebrate the dead with what stories they could remember of Connor and Feris. 

She caught herself crying again. Gods she was insufferably emotional at times. There was a time she thought them all dead, and shed no tears for them... Somehow knowing made it different. Cider placed his head in her lap, and when she looked at him, he licked her tears away. She smiled gently and hugged him fiercely.

"My parents wouldn't want a funeral until all my siblings are laid to rest," She told Cider, who nodded solemnly.

"Your sister is safe," Cider said softly, "But... If there is no reason important to the realms for you to know her, the spirits are not likely to just reveal her. I know how unfair that must seem."

She looked into his eyes that used to seem so ancient and neutral, and noted the softness and humanity settling into them. She looked down at her hands and said, "I know... And perhaps that is best. She has built a whole new life. She escaped and is safe. Perhaps it is best left that way though my heart aches to meet her. I have decided I will look for one year. If I do not find her... I will lay all my sisters to rest and then my parents. When all their fires have burnt out, I will erect a small stone alter to them by the anchor."

Cider closed his eyes and nestled closer, "So it shall be so, as the wise seer says it shall be."

She stroked his fur, eyes again falling to Donnel, "I wonder if he will want to come work as security for the Anchor or something. I would love to have him close... I feel the time is drawing in. I will face Marius soon, and I will kill him."

She left those words on the air for a moment then continued, "The time is close for the darkness to bow and the light to shine."

The hair on the back of her neck rose as whispers flooded her ears, "The darkness is here... It's here... And it knows your name..."

Cider's ears twitched as though he heard it as well. He looked up at her, she closed her eyes and said, "I'm ready."

In her mind she dreamed of the end to all this running and fighting. Her, Derik, the inn, her family (adopted and otherwise), and future children... For some reason she felt like Derik would want a daughter instead of a son. What a sight.