Author's Notes: First of all, I do not own any part of Legend of the Seeker; it is all the property of Seeker Productions, Disney and ABC Domestic Television. I am grateful for the opportunity to dabble in a world I have come to love!

Secondly, I welcome any reviews, constructive criticism and comments. I am a newbie, but I'm no stranger to having my work reviewed. However, I do ask that any words you have for me be civil, not degrading or rude in any way. Civil and friendly is how I like to interact with my fellow writers, and I expect to be treated in kind!

Next, I am very aware of how many liberties I take in this tale. I'm not an expert regarding the series, and it definitely shows! However, I have done my best to remain true to as much as I understand. My main characters' abilities are meant to "stretch the limits," if you will. If I continue to write more stories centered around her, things will be more focused, I promise.

With the exception of the three main characters from the series (and a few names tied to them), every character and place is my own creation. Much of the magic, including spoken spells, is my own as well; anything that isn't will be quite obvious to anyone familiar with the series.

I do include some subtle references to the books the series is based off of. It's nothing blatant, but if it's an issue, I will deal with it promptly.

Now without further ado, I'm pleased to introduce you to Eylara Bardehaven, a new adventurer in the world of the Seeker!

World-Walker

based on the television series Legend of the Seeker

1 - Wild Magic

The three travelers had set up their camp in the midst of a dense pine forest, a few hours' ride from a swiftly rushing stream that lay to the east. They had been sleeping since the earliest hours of the morning. Now, as the sun was barely hinting at its arrival with a pale wash to the eastern sky, the wizard awakened. Slowly, he sat up and glanced around, adjusting his eyes to the dim red embers of the long defunct fire and then peering beyond, into the trees. He felt he ought to be looking for something, but wasn't certain what. He could feel something coming, but it wasn't from his gut or his reason. No - whatever it was, he perceived in the depths of the magic that flowed through him, inside and out. His eyes flicked to the sky, scanning. Ah yes. That was closer to the source.

The Seeker and the Confessor woke at nearly the same instant. He lay still for a moment, blinking as he focused on the dimming stars overhead. She saw the wizard and sat up as well, glancing upward before looking to him. "Zedd . . ." she started, her voice carrying more than one question.

"I'm guessing you both feel that, too," the wizard said, his gaze still turned skyward.

"I feel . . . something weird," said the Seeker, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head. "Nothing bad, is it?"

"Remember what you've learned about magic, Richard," Zedd told him, standing up. "You said it yourself: magic isn't good or bad; it's the person who wields it that determines what it's used for. In this case, it's neither. It simply is."

"Well, can you tell where it's coming from or what it could be?" asked the Confessor.

The wizard shook his head. "I'd have told you already if I knew, child." His eyes found their focus on something in the sky, and he knew he had discovered the source of what had awakened them. "All I know is that it's causing some big ripples in the flow of magic - and it's coming closer."

Richard huffed a sigh and stood up, helping the Confessor to her feet before stooping to pick up the saddlebag that had been pillowing his head. "Well, let us know if you figure it out, Zedd." As he straightened again, he looked up, squinting as he noticed what the wizard had spotted. It didn't look like any shooting star he'd ever seen. "Kahlan, look at that!" The Confessor glanced up from what she was doing at her horse's saddle, her eyes following the line from where Richard was pointing to the sky. Her brow furrowed when she saw it: a glowing orb that was now quite a bit bigger than the other stars. It almost looked as if it was pulsing as it dropped. The larger it became, the faster it seemed to move.

"That's it, isn't it?" Kahlan questioned. "The reason we're feeling those 'ripples' in magic?" The wizard gave a single nod, his eyes still fixed on the orb, which now looked as though it were made of balled up lightning.

"We're not in its way, are we?" asked Richard, shifting warily from foot to foot.

"No, but I think it'll end up somewhere not too far from us," replied Zedd.

Kahlan watched as the sparking, pulsating globe became roughly the size of an apple and disappeared behind the trees in the east. A muffled crack and concussion followed shortly thereafter. As if on cue, the edge of the sun peeked over the mountains. "Why do I have the feeling we're going to end up wherever that came down?"

"Because we are," said Zedd. Richard cast a questioning glance his way as the wizard stomped out the remaining embers and took up his own saddlebags. "It's extremely powerful; we all know that, because we all felt it. And since it isn't defined, we have to determine what it is and what it can do before Darken Rahl gets interested. If it turns out to be something he can use, we'll have another issue to deal with."

"It looked like it landed near the Edden Falls," Kahlan observed. "That's about a three hour ride from here. We can go right up to the river and follow it north. That should give us a good starting point."

Richard nodded. "Let's get going, then."

It was quite warm by the time they reached the river, which was somewhat swollen from the spring thaw and rushing by with noisy strength. The forest sloped shallowly down to the gravelly banks, and they stopped a moment to water their steeds. Kahlan suggested they follow the river on foot from that point forward, since the trees were thick enough to complicate a trotting pace. They walked for another hour before coming to a meadow that opened to a wide bend in the river. They could hear the rushing of the falls up ahead and were about to press on when Zedd held up a hand. "It's here," he said, just loud enough to be heard over the rapids. After taking a deliberate look around, he started out into the meadow.

Richard and Kahlan went forward as well, both glancing all around them and wishing they had at least some sense of what they were searching for. It was Kahlan who noticed the figure in the water first. She wasn't certain what she was looking at initially. As Richard and Zedd continued forward and slightly west, she walked out toward the eastern edge of the meadow. They hadn't gone far when she recognized the distinct form of a person in the river. "Richard!" she cried, breaking into a run. The Seeker spun around and looked after her. His sharp woodsman's eye spied what she was heading for, and he followed at a sprint. Zedd turned as well and let his legs lead him toward the river as he tried to see.

There was woman clinging to a log wedged into a submerged pile of boulders at the outside of the current closest to them. She was caught on the deep side; the water was shallow enough on the other side for Kahlan and Richard to run through it to the pile and climb over, where they could then reach her. Searching forward with his magic to discern whether or not she was alive, Zedd suddenly stopped still, a look of utter shock passing over his face. Not only was she alive, she was the source of the magical disturbance! It wasn't truly her fault, either, as he could tell from the untamed energy that was emanating from her. And if Kahlan and Richard got too close, it would be like a shock from lightning, since they both used or were sensitive to magic. "Wait!" Zedd shouted. "Kahlan, stop!"

Kahlan, being further ahead, approached the rocks first. The moment she set foot on them, an invisible explosion sent her flying backward through the air, clear back to the bank and straight into Richard, who had been several paces behind and coming quickly. Both of them crashed to the ground. Richard was dazed, but Kahlan didn't move. When his head stopped spinning and he noticed her lying immobile near his feet, he panicked and gathered her into his arms, trying vainly to rouse her. Zedd, coming as fast as he was able, stopped beside them and knelt, placing a bony hand on her forehead. He was quiet as he searched through her with his magic, trying to discern what had happened.

"Zedd, what was that?" Richard asked, the pinnacle of worry coloring his voice. "Is she alright?"

The wizard took his hand away. "Yes, she'll be fine," he answered, nodding. Richard was nearly the picture of relief, although he wouldn't be completely at ease until she woke up. "The magic overloaded her, and would have done the same to you if you'd gotten any closer. She just needs a little time to bleed it off; then she'll wake up."

"Magic from where?" Zedd looked out at the woman in the water, who was still hanging on to the log. She was clearly weak, probably drained within an inch of her strength. "From her?"

"Yes, but I don't think she has any choice in the matter," Zedd said, standing up.

"No choice? How can she not . . ."

"There's still much you don't understand about magic, my boy. You're just going to have to trust me on this. Now I'm going to go get that girl out of the water and bring her over here, and when I do, you'll be perfectly safe. I promise." Richard looked somewhat doubtfully out at the river-captive woman, then up at Zedd, and gave a nod. The wizard nodded in return and headed for the rocks.

As he came close to the water, he pressed his palm to the air in front of him. A sort of bubble formed around him, invisible until he stood upon the boulders. The magic pouring off the woman below suddenly became visible as it battered against Zedd's shield, causing the air to ripple like a taut sheet in the wind. Zedd knelt, and the woman slowly raised her head to look at him. Her skin was white with cold, her eyes red from exhaustion and exertion. With her last ounce of strength, she stretched out her hand. "Wizard . . ." she rasped weakly, her voice barely reaching him over the sound of the water, "help me . . ."

Zedd caught her hand just as her fingers slid from the log, and she slipped into unconsciousness. He pulled her from the rushing river and picked her up. Then, uttering an ancient incantation, he lightly grasped her forehead at the temples with his fingers, held the touch for a moment, and let go. He carried her to where Richard was in the meadow. Kahlan still had not come around, and they knew that they couldn't remain out in the open; they needed to go back into the woods to avoid being seen by any allies of Darken Rahl. Zedd watched both women as Richard fetched timber to fashion a couple of simple stretchers. It was nothing new for him; he had had to do the same thing when Zedd had been knocked out near the boundary at the start of their journey. After an hour, they were on their way, with Richard pulling Kahlan behind him and Zedd towing their anonymous guest.

It was late afternoon by the time Richard decided to stop. "We'd better set up camp here," he said. "I don't know about you, but I'm hungry, and they probably will be too, once they're up."

"I can never pass up food," said Zedd, "and I'm sure you're right. Go do what you need to do; I'll get a fire going and do what I can to make these two more comfortable." Richard cast one more concerned glance at Kahlan and then disappeared into the trees in hope of finding forage or game.

Early evening had set in when Kahlan finally wakened. Richard was by her side in an instant, helping her to sitting. "I'm fine," she told him. "Just a little bit of a headache."

"I'm not surprised," said Zedd, passing her a bowl of soup. "Any closer to such unbridled magic and you might have been under for good."

"But where did it come from?" Kahlan asked. "All I saw was the woman in the water, nothing else." The wizard pressed his lips together and glanced over at their peacefully sleeping charge, who was stretched out beside the fire.

He'd been watching her for the hours they had been at their present camp, learning her appearance in the process to see if he could discern something of her origins. Some color had returned to her skin, and her long, dark blonde hair had dried into gentle waves. She was tall, around Kahlan's height, with a strong frame that was neither slight nor heavy. Her clothes seemed normal enough. She was carrying a small travel pack filled with some odd contents, which Richard had laid out so that they could dry. There were a couple of apples, but no other food to supplement a long journey. There was a quill, a bottle of black ink, and a leather-bound journal with a tie closure. She also had a small silver dagger. There was nothing to show that she had been traveling for a long time, and nothing told them where she had come from.

On her belt had been the oddest thing of all. At first, Zedd had thought she was carrying a sword, but once she was clear of the water, he saw that it was actually a long dagger. The surprise had come when Richard pulled it from the scabbard to let it dry out. The blade, issuing from a hilt and pommel of shining black steel etched with gold, was not metal. Rather, it was made of what they could only guess was a sort of crystal. It was so clear that, had it not been for the sharpened bevel of the edges and blood groove, one would not have been able to tell it was there. It gave a pure, almost musical ring when it was unsheathed. Richard and Zedd had both been able to tell that it was imbued with some sort of magic, but neither of them could tell what that magic was. They had simply laid it beside its owner and waited.

Kahlan noticed the strange weapon, looked at the woman for a moment as Zedd thought, and raised her eyebrows. "From her? That magic came from her?"

"Not on purpose, but yes," answered Zedd. "I don't think she was able to control it."

"Why not?"

"I've been thinking about that," said the wizard. "There's something very complicated about this girl, that much is certain. She's like a magical lightning storm: wild, unpredictable, incredibly powerful . . . Too powerful, in fact. The amount of magic flowing through her isn't something a normal person should be able to handle, even a gifted one. Humans have their limits." Zedd's face became grave as he looked up at them. "Assuming she is a normal person, the magic will kill her in little more than a week."

Richard's eyes went wide and turned to the woman. Kahlan frowned. "But if she's human," she asked, "why didn't the magic kill her a long time ago?"

Zedd shook his head slowly. "I don't know. It should be impossible. But here she is."

"Well . . . can't you do something to help her?" questioned Richard.

"Perhaps," Zedd answered. "If we can find a couple of quillion artifacts, we can drain the excess magic from her."

"We do have one," Kahlan pointed out. "That thing your old student tried to use to take away your powers."

"Yes, we have one," the wizard confirmed, "but we'll need at least one more to help her. Two more would be a safer bet. That's how much of a magical mess she is." Kahlan looked over at the woman and shook her head incredulously.

"I'm still confused," said Richard. "When someone is born with magic, do they start life with the magic out of control, like hers?"

"No," said Zedd. "The control is innate. Their Han extends outward to a range that's dictated by the strength of the magic flowing through given channels in a person's being."

"Then what would make the magic so wild?"

"She's got it flowing through every conceivable channel with unheard of intensity, not just a few," the wizard explained. "In a sense, her Han is overextended, stretched so thin that her entire being has to exhaust itself to keep her alive physically as well as magically. Granted, some of those channels are where they should be, but the rest are flaring like a million watch fires with no one to put them out. No person's life force is meant to balance such power. That's what's killing her."

Kahlan looked startled. "But if that's the case, then . . ."

"There's no telling what she's capable of," Zedd finished.

"Might be easier to think of what she's incapable of," Richard muttered, running a hand through his hair. "By the way, how were you able to get to her without getting blown off your feet?"

"I knew how to properly counter the magic she was exuding," the wizard replied, as if dealing with such a thing was something he did on a regular basis. "I put a caging spell on her power when I touched her. It's a temporary fix, one that I'll have to make more powerful if she needs it again, and it'll stop being effective altogether at some point. It'll keep her from exuding the magic, but it won't prevent her from using it. However, while it is working, you two should be perfectly safe."

"Where do we need to start looking?" asked the Seeker.

"I know a few places that might have some," said Zedd. "But we're not going anywhere until she wakes up. She needs to answer some questions for us before we can be on our way."