Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold

For the next hour, Kathryn mingles with the guests of the signing ceremony, meeting the people, sharing a drink or two with her friends, and spending some time with her family, who all congratulate her. Her mother Judy is still a little stiff, but it's clear from her hug that she's proud of Kathryn. But it's been a long day already, and the Fey Knight finds she's partied out with one more promise to keep, and so she seeks out Shandalar for their talk. She finds the Senior Hunter sharing a drink with Bobble and Ara.

"Hello!" she says in a merry tone. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything? I can come back later if that's the case."

"Hello, Ser Elwin. A fine speech earlier," says Ara, "But you aren't interrupting. Bobble is telling us about his new project."

The little gnome smiles up at Kathryn, saying, "BOBBLE FLOMSBY is making MUCH progress on MISS HUSH'S special GLASSES. BOBBLE FLOMSBY will call them SUN GLASSES!"

"Oh, really? You'll have to show them to me once they're finished!" Kat is suddenly reminded of something. "Oh, uh, I'm sorry to say this, but I broke the shield you modified for me while fighting the goblins..."

The gallant wizard doesn't miss a beat, taking Kathryn's hand and patting it as he says, "DON'T worry, SER KNIGHT! BOBBLE FLOMSBY will be HAPPY to fix it RIGHT UP! JUST see that BOBBLE FLOMSBY receives it BEFORE I, BOBBLE FLOMSBY, leave the PARTY! YOU'LL have IT back by morning, BOBBLE FLOMSBY SWEARS IT!"

The knight beams at the wizard's declaration and she in response puts her own hand on top of his. "Thank you, Bobble. You don't know how much it means to me." She smiles at him and Ara, happy about this outcome, before her eyes settle on the quiet Shandalar. "Oh, right, I was starting to forget. I came here because Shandalar and me had something planned. Would it be alright if I took her away from you? I'm not sure how long it'll take though."

"Oh?" says Ara, looking at Shandalar.

"Nothing to worry about," says Shandalar, "I'll catch up with you two later."

Ara smiles at her friend and says, "You don't need my permission to spend time with other people; I'm happy you are making more friends. Go on, we'll be fine."

Bobble takes Shandalar's hand and kisses it, saying, "BOBBLE FLOMSBY will still be here WHEN you get BACK!"

Shandalar grins at Bobble, saying, "I know, Bobble. See you guys later."

Kathryn giggles at the charming way the gnome says farewell before turning to Shandalar and telling her, "Let's go then. Come on."

She guides the elf through the crowd and towards one of the entrances leading into the keep, leaving the buzz of the party behind them. It takes them a few minutes before they reach the knight's room, after which she invites the Senior Hunter inside. "Please come in. You can sit on the bed if you'd like."

Kat follows Shandalar inside and closes the door behind them.

Shandalar explores the bedroom with her eyes, having literally never seen one before. She runs her fingers over the linen on the bed, enjoying the texture of it, before carefully lowering herself onto it. She finds the hay-stuffed mattress novel enough to start bouncing up and down, flashing a grin at Kathryn. "This is a human bed? It's so different than the pile of furs and leaf blankets we use."

Kat sits down next to the elf and starts bouncing up and down too. "Nice, uh? " she says with a smile. "Although, I have to say this is one of the comfiest beds I ever had the chance to sleep in. "

"What are beds usually like?" she asks, genuinely curious.

"Depends on whose it is. Back when I lived with my family, mine was stuffed with hay, and the covers were nowhere near as fancy as these ones. The really poor ones might sleep on hay directly though."

"Oh," Shandalar says, continuing to run her fingers lightly over the linen while she thinks about that. She finally says, "Why don't they make themselves a bed then?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure. Because they don't know how to? You also need materials, and you'd need to buy those too. Or have someone give them to you."

She looks genuinely puzzled, not really following that line of thinking, saying, "Are they not whole in some way?"

"Whole? Do you mean the beds? "

"No. I mean them," she says, "Can they not learn? Or hunt? Are they injured or sick?"

"Um... I guess it depends on who it is. Sometimes, they're too busy working to have time to learn anything else. Maybe other people don't want to teach them without being paid to. I've never really thought about it before..."

"Oh," she says, "Maybe someone should teach them, then."

"Oh, some people definitely do try to help them. And I will too, if I can." She smiles.

"That's good." She falls silent, wondering how to begin what they came here to actually talk about. The silence drags on.

At first, Kat waits patiently for Shandalar to broach the subject that's on her mind, but realizes she'll need some prodding before she does. "So what did you want to talk about? It must be serious if you were spacing out after Alani's ceremony."

"I don't know what to do," she says, "Yorenan found me while I was training, said some weird things, and invited me to join the Rangers in Fallcrest. Except how can he be right if I leave Ara and everyone to do it?"

The white-haired woman jerks her head back and raises her eyebrows in surprise when Shandalar tells her about Yorenan's offer. "Wait, he said he wanted you to become a Ranger? Anything else?"

"That I'd be stronger if I did," she says, like that explains it all.

"Hmm. It kind of makes sense."

She tilts her head like a confused wolf, saying, "What do you mean?"

"Well, you can only get stronger by fighting repeatedly, and Rangers see combat all the time, right? But the Moondancers will soon be focusing all of their efforts on rebuilding their tribe, not fighting our enemies."

"I know that. But then I'd have to leave Ara," she looks sad and torn.

"Oh." Kat finally realizes the dilemma Shandalar is facing. "Yeah, that's a tricky one..." Not sure what to say to that, she puts her hands on the bed and looks up at the ceiling to consider the many facets of this problem. Some time passes, and then she says, "You love them a lot, don't you? Like they're family."

She blinks several times before saying, "They're my pack. The first one I made on my own."

"And you want to help them?"

"Yes. They are why I want to get stronger," she says, "I won't let them die like the Iron Arrows did." She makes a fist and holds it up, without even thinking about it.

Kat nods gravely at that. "I understand that. I want to do the same thing for my family. You saw them today, didn't you? A bunch of kids running all around me and my parents."

"Yes. You all smell very similar," she says. "Like the Wold."

The corner of Kat's mouth curls into a lopsided smile. "Yes, I imagine we do." She looks out the window. "They're also the reason why I'm leaving Harkenwold. Because I want to protect them from Shadowmire and his armies."

"You want to get stronger too?" she asks.

"I guess you could say that... But there are also many other ways to get stronger."

She looks at Kathryn carefully, waiting for her to elaborate.

"Like, knowing how to live in other places, like Harken or Fallcrest. Understanding how to talk with people of power, so they can lend some to you. Or just learning how to fight with people who are completely different from you. I think all of that could be very useful to you later on. Especially once the Alliance really gets going."

"And learning all that will let you defeat a dragon?" she asks, "Or that hobgoblin mercenary?"

Kat smiles and nods at Shandalar. "Yup. Because we're always stronger when we work together. After all, we defeated Mozeric with your pack's help, right? I doubt we could have managed that if I hadn't tried to learn more about your people and your customs."

She looks away while she thinks about it, finally nodding to herself. She says, "Then I will learn these things and become stronger. And then I'll teach our enemies why you don't mess with the Moondancers."

The young knight puts her arm around the elf's shoulders and happily says, "Of course you will! And if you ever need help with that, don't hesitate to ask, okay? We're friends now after all. Or soon will be."

She chuckles.

"Yes, friends," says Shandalar smiling, her pointy teeth showing.

"What is Fallcrest like, Ser Elwin?" says Shandalar, as both women walk away from Kat's room and towards the tower staircase leading back to the first floor of Castle Stockmer and back out to the Signing Ceremony Party.

"Oh, I've only been there a few times," Kat replies. "With my parents. We occasionally went there to sell our crops and buy some supplies we couldn't find in Harken. It's probably the largest town you'll ever have seen, but it's nothing compared to some cities down south. At least in Fallcrest, there aren't too many people."

"More people, " she says in surprise, her eyes bugging out a little, "How does anyone eat? " They reach the threshold and pass into the stairwell.

"Hmm? By farming the land, of course. And raising cattle too. My family has a farmstead not far from here. We feed many people living in Harkenwold.

She is thinking about this revelation when the two women meet an unexpected person on the stairwell: Alexander, Kat's ten-year-old seer brother. He nods at them as he stops his climb, saying, "Hello, Kat. Miss Shandalar."

"Alex! " Kat exclaims, a huge smile on her face. She immediately goes for a hug before she turns towards Shandalar and introduces him to her.

"Shandalar, this is Alexander, my brother. Alex, this is Senior Hunter Shandalar, of the Moondancers tribe. "

Alex returns the hug, saying cryptically to Shandalar, "It's nice to really meet you. " This brings pause to the Senior Hunter as she extends her hand to shake his offered one, but it lasts only a moment as she finally takes it.

"It's nice to meet you. " She blinks and adds, "What do you mean by really meet me? "

"Our brother Brian has told me stories about you, the Wolf of the Moondancer tribe. His words don't do you justice, " he adds, too young to mean anything sexual by it.

Kat looks at her brother with a puzzled look on her face, but quickly shrugs it off and asks, "So what are you doing here, Alex? Were the others asking for me?"

"I actually came to find you," he says, turning his attention from Shandalar, who looks flattered at his compliment, "I'm hoping we can talk more about my training."

"Your training...? What do you—oh, right! That training. Sure, we can talk about it." Kat looks at her elven friend and says, "I'm sorry Shandalar, but I have to go for now. Do you think you can find your way back to the courtyard? I can take you there if you need to, no problem."

"I can find it," she says with a sharptoothed grin. She points at her nose, "I'll just follow the smell of grass and trees. If I don't see you again have a goodnight. You too Alexander."

"You can call me Alex," he says.

She nods and tries it out, saying, "Alex then. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Shandalar!" The knight happily waves goodbye to her elven friend until she disappears behind one of the stone walls. She then turns to her younger brother and asks him, "So, was there some place in particular where you wanted us to speak?"

"We have a good view of the village below from on top of the wall." He points up the stairs, continuing, "We walk up these stairs past the second floor and on to the guard tower. We can cross to the wall from there."

"Mm-hmm. Let's go then." Kat puts a hand around Alex's shoulder and walks with him up the stairs, following his directions. It doesn't take long before they're greeted with said view of Harken as well as the many twinkles of fire burning in the makeshift elven camp. "Ooh, you were right. We have a pretty view from here. Although, it's a lot better from high up in the air..."

"You've been high up in the air?" he says, bemused. "When did that happen?"

"Ah ah! So there are things that you don't know. Hmmmm!?" She looks at Alex with a grin and then ruffles his short white hair. "Let's just say I've made a friend who likes to take strolls high above ground."

He frowns at her as he fixes his hair and says, "I don't know everything, no. In fact, I only dreamed we talked here, I have no idea what happens after. I think that's up to us."

"Well, maybe we can start by these visions of yours. When did they start?"

"A few years ago, on my birthday," he says. "They weren't as strong back then. Sometimes it would just feel like we'd done everything that day already. Like we were repeating things. Mr. Thatcher just said I was bored and needed to vary my routine more, but it started happening more and more and with greater clarity."

"Hmm... Was it before or after I left Marl?"

"It was a year after you left on my eighth birthday," he says, quickly doing some mental math, "So two years ago."

Kathryn gazes at her brother for a long time without saying anything, thinking about what to make of all of this. Until finally, she steps closer to him, puts a hand on his shoulder and says, "Listen to me closely, Alex. I don't want you to tell anyone else about your visions, okay? Not unless there's a really good reason to."

"Why?" he asks, "It's a gift. I can help people."

Kat knits her brow together, debating how best to explain this to him. Until finally, she sighs and asks him, "Do you know Lady Eninahes? I think Edith said you mentioned her before, right?"

"I do. She dances in the moonlight when others aren't looking, hoping that her mother will come and visit her again," he says, wiping away a tear, "She's the saddest person I've ever dreamed about."

Kathryn feels the pain of it from her link with Eni as Alex's innocent words cut through her patron's emotional defenses.

She raises her eyebrows in surprise when he mentions this unknown detail to her, but her expression quickly softens and she nods at him. "Yes, she doesn't have an easy life—that's why I've sworn to free her from her curse, so she could visit other places and be with other people... But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about." Her gaze hardens. "Eninahes is a very, very old Archfey, Alex. And a powerful one at that too. She knows many things about not just this plane, but other ones too. And she was astonished to hear about your power. Do you understand?"

Alex leans onto the crenel and looks out over the village while he tries to ponder out what she's implying. He finally begins thinking out loud, saying, "So it surprised her. Even though she knows a lot about a lot of things I still surprised her. What would others think, I wonder? The ones who understand?"

His sister stays next to him while she looks at the view below. "Nothing good, most likely... That's why you have to keep it a secret. At least until you've mastered it and are able to defend yourself. Not before then. If you tell someone else and they try to use you... well, I'd rather not think about it."

He sighs and says, "I understand. But if I'm going to defend myself, I need training, Kat. Will you help me?"

"Of course! What kind of big sis would I be if I said no, hmm?" She smiles confidently at him, at least until she remembers something else and winces. "Mom is probably gonna throw a fit though..."

"I know," he says, looking at the Tower of Green Flame in the village. "Did you want to know a secret?"

"I'm too curious to say no."

"Mom was an adventurer too. She was an acolyte of Pelor, training to be a priestess. She'd sneak out with her friends and help people. They killed a few monsters, even fought some bullywugs." He looks up at her to see what she'll say.

Kathryn stares at Alex slack-jawed, rendered speechless by this revelation. It takes a while before she recovers her ability to speak. "M—Mom? An adventurer?"

He nods, "I dreamed about it. They all died, over there." He points to the Tower of Green Flame, keeping quiet vigil over the village of Harken. "They entered during the new moon, when the Tower burns in magical light. The Tower's defenses tore them apart when they failed to activate the third seal. It's why she's so scared to lose anyone."

Kat leans on the crenel next to her brother and follows his gaze. "That explains a lot of things... and I can't really fault her for that." She sighs. "But it'd probably be a lot more dangerous for you if you didn't get any training, Alex. I think we can make her understand that."

He says, "How? She wants everything to be a certain way, Kat, and it's not. None of it is except dad."

"Don't underestimate her, Alex. She loves us, and if we really try, I think we can change her mind. And if we can't..." Kat frowns and shakes her head. "I really hope it doesn't come to that. Just know this; whatever happens, you'll get your training. "

The silence stretches on from the other side of the merlon, with Alex finally saying, "Okay."

"We should go back to the others soon. But before we do, there was one last thing I wanted to ask you." She turns away from the view and looks at her brother instead, the hesitation apparent in her eyes. "You said that none of our brothers and sisters were... ‘normal’. What did you mean by that?"

"You won't like it," he says, with some apprehension.

"Maybe. But I need to know. Come on, tell me."

He sighs and looks down at the ground, not wanting to meet her eyes. He says, "They all died, Kat, Mom and her friends.  When grandpa had her resurrected it came with a price. The gods have a task for us, all of us, all our brothers and sisters. You are doing it right now without realizing it and so is everyone else. It's no coincidence that you were drawn back home, just as it's no coincidence you've founded an alliance that will change the Vale forever. Meanwhile, Griffin is instrumental in the inner workings of Harkenwold and is married to the next court wizard and spy just as our lands have been thrust into their worst crisis in a hundred years. Yes, even Willow. Willow's husband is next in line to be Elder of Albridge, just as it's poised to become a real town with your alliance and the war efforts drawing all kinds of folks to Harkenwold.

"Big or small, we are the Guardians of the Vale and that is our burden and charge. It's not just me that needs training, Kat, so does everyone else left at home."

The more Alex talks, the more Kathryn's eyes widen as realization slowly sets in. Until finally, she puts a hand to her mouth and staggers backward, almost falling to the ground. Her other hand grabs the parapet however and she manages to keep her balance, now staring at the courtyard down below.

Alex walks towards his sister and hugs her, holding her tight, while crying into her shoulder.
His tears cause her to let out a sob, and she asks, "Did—did Mom know?"

He nods into her shoulder.

A whimper escapes Kat's mouth, and although she tries to hold them back, tears begin to flow down her cheeks. She holds her brother tightly against her as sobs shake her chest and a painful lump forms in her throat. They stay like this for a very long time. Kathryn can sense the warm presence of Eni through the mental link, who's doing her best to comfort her friend by sending her feelings of love and courage.

It takes a few minutes before she regains a semblance of composure, although her face is still wet with tears once she lets go of her brother. She clumsily tries to wipe her face with her sleeve, but doesn't have much success. She sniffles a few times and then says to the young white-haired boy, "I'm sorry, Alex. You shouldn't have had to learn about that at your age."

"I know," he says, having as much success with his own sleeve and his own tears as she is, "I'm not a kid anymore, Kat. But I'm not an adult either."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right." She helps wipe her younger brother's face, forgetting about her own state. "Here. That's better..." She forces a smile. "You'll be a great man one day though. I can already tell."

He blinks at her and puts both hands on her shoulders before saying, "Kat, you are the bravest person I know but you don't have to put on a face for me."

Her expression wanes for a bit, until it is replaced by one of sadness and she says, "Right again." She grabs one of her brother's hands and rises to her feet. "I have no idea what to do..."

He squeezes her hand and says, "Just do what you always do. You don't help people because of fate and destiny, you do it because you're you."

She stares at Alex for a moment as she considers his words, and this time, a true smile begins to form on her face. "Thank you."

"Yup," he says, just like their dad.

She ruffles his head again before setting her gaze at where the party is taking place. "What do you say we go back there? I think we could use the distraction right now..."

The two of them agree to leave the wall and go somewhere where they might hopefully think about something less painful.