The crash of waves on the rocky coast roared in her ears when she first regained consciousness. She coughed, hacking out some of the salty water she had swallowed before blacking out. When she first lifted her body off the sand, she yelped, the pain of her throbbing, probably broken ankle catching her by surprise.

Must've hurt it when the wooden door I was floating on hit that cluster of rocks… She thought as she slid her leg forward to examine the damage. Her ankle was a rather nasty shade of purple, and swollen, but did not appear to be bent at any odd angle. Perhaps only sprained, or...fractured. She amended, looking around for the door she'd been laying on, hoping the bundle she had tied to it remained attached.

The splinters of wood cast about her on the sand dashed that hope though, so she looked instead for a stick she could use to support her weight. About twenty feet away lay a long straight limb. Perfect. She thought, and tried to stand up so she could hop to it.

Her good leg wobbled beneath the weight as sand fell away from her, and she lost her balance, landing on her knees in the sand once again. Okay, maybe crawling would be better. She thought. She continued forward on her hands and knees, trying to be careful not to bump her swollen ankle as she moved, until she could reach the branch.

When she did, she discovered that it was the perfect height, and had a split at just the right height to put under her arm. She lifted herself once again and pushed the split of the limb into her arm pit, and leaned on it. Although it shifted in the sand, it was sturdy enough to support her. I'll just have to go slow. She thought as she turned to look at the water's edge. Wonder if anything else washed up with me….She trailed off. Or anyone else. She added as an afterthought.

Nothing caught her eye, though, so she looked back toward the forest behind her. There appeared to be animal trails, and she could hear the squawk of some large sounding bird, and the twitter of smaller ones. She needed fresh water, food, and shelter from the frequent storms of this time of year.

I wonder if anyone lives on this hunk of rock. She thought. To either side of the forest were tall cliffs- she had been lucky to land where she did. Anywhere else and it looked like she would have been dashed against solid rock. She started to hobble inland, away from the shore in hopes of finding fresh water.

The further she travelled, the more her ankle hurt. After an hour of trying to walk inland, she'd made very little distance and her ankle was twice the size it had been when she woke. She had not found fresh water, but had managed to find a small cave. The cave was big enough for her to walk five paces across, and twice as tall as her, and about ten paces deep. Big enough to be comfortable.

There was some evidence of an animal having lived here recently, and she hoped it did not still, because the evidence was bones that had been picked clean. She could hear the dripping of water nearby, but could not find any puddles where it would have collected. By the time she reached the shelter of the cave, wind was starting to push against her, and she was getting cold. Soon, rain would beat down, and she was happy enough with the shelter. She wondered what she could use to catch the rain water for drinking. She looked around and some large leaves with smooth edges.

Thinking quickly she sat on the ground outside the cave and began digging with the end of her stick, until she had a depression big enough to hold a good amount of water, and lined it with the large leaves, overlapping them with multiple layers, and hoping they would provide enough of a barrier to hold the water until she could drink some.

That done, she went into the cave and lay down against the back wall, farthest from the wind and rain that would soon be howling and drumming outside. Huddled there, she fell into an exhausted slumber.

There were shouts from outside the cabin that woke Lissah as she was tossed from the soft mattress onto the rolling floor. "Papa!?" She hollered as she fumbled to her feet and worked her way toward the door. "Papa!?" She called again out the door and up the stairs as she heard the call for "all hands on deck!" and stepped back to allow the handful of rough looking seamen rush passed. She was thirteen, and she and her father were sailing to new land, hoping for a new beginning, away from the death and destruction of the war they had left behind.

When she reached the deck after the sailors, she searched for her father's scruffy face. Just as she found his frightened eyes in the crowd of men trying to raise sails and secure the deck against the storm, there was a sudden lurch, and everyone was knocked off their feet, including Lissah. A crack and an ear splitting roar, and she heard her father calling her name as the deck beneath their feat split apart. "Papaaaaa!" Lissah cried out before she felt his arms around her. Before she could hug him, the deck fell beneath them, and they were thrown into tossing water. She clung to him, terrified.

Water pulled them away from the ship as it began to sink, and her father swam with the pull of the water, knowing that those next to the ship would go down with it. He held her up as best he could above the tossing waves, until nothing could be seen of the vessel that had carried them this far. The water was cold. She shivered as her father pulled her along. "Liss, swim!" He yelled, but it sounded as if he was far away, as if they were in separate worlds.

She felt him push something against her. "Climb on, Lissah." He ordered, and she found herself clinging to most of a cabin door, a solid hunk of wood oiled and sealed against moisture. He clung to the handle as waves churned them up and down. She closed her eyes, too cold and tired to fight the sapping of her strength, and when she opened them, he was gone.

"Papa!" She called out to him. "Papaaaa!"

Suddenly she was huddled against the cold stone of the cave once more, and shafts of light spilled in through the opening around a shadowed mass.

She blinked rapidly to clear the sleep from her eyes, trying to focus on the figure that stood between her and the opening of the cave.

She heard a hiss, and the click-clack of nails on the stone floor before her eyes focused. Finally, she was able to make out the scaly skin of the creature, and pointy things that seemed to come out from the lizard-like head. Sharp claws reflected the light from the opening, and steam seemed to puff from the creature's mouth.