The sun slowly slid into the Aurous Sea, the marbleized buildings glowed with an inner fire as the dying rays hit them. Alera stood and watched this sunset with a mixture anxiety and excitement. The Elders of Fire star were still in their meeting, they had been in counsel for hours. "Have you heard?" Alera did not give a start to be so suddenly joined on the secluded balcony. She turned and smiled at her caste mate. She tried bravely to hide the fear in her eyes; she then turned her aqua colored eyes back to the sunset and admired the hazy purples and blues that hung in the air. Ghallard took a moment to admire the way her silver hair glinted in the wavering sunlight. The dashes of blue and white in her hair caught the last rays of light and made her seem as if she had a halo.

"Yes," Alera said simply. "I've heard." Who hadn't heard? Zarro's call to arms had sent the entire hidden planet of fire star into a panic. The Elders had immediately cloistered themselves away, to discus with Zarro the High King of the hidden league what should be done. "So, how big a threat is this?"

"His majesty Zarro is calling for our best warrior, and Alera," Ghallard sighed, "The Elders have chosen you."

"What of Jhaymes?" Alera wanted to know. "If I am not here to protect him..."

"They just want to send him to earth, Alera The boy is soft." Ghallard was becoming exasperated

"He completed his training; he can fight nearly as well as I, do not skirt the real issue." Alera became angry. "By soft you don't mean weak, because he can hold his own against any one of us."

"Without you here to temper his presence they won't want him here." Ghallard stressed as he ran his fingers through his blue and black multicolored hair. "The other warriors will gang up on him; He'll be safer on earth. He makes the other warriors uncomfortable."

"Why?" Alera was close to tears." My twin has never done anything to warrant such ignorant behavior."

"I know. But will you train the humans?" Ghallard brought her back to their original conversation.

Alera nodded sadly. "My heart will not be in it if I am constantly worried about my brother. So he will come with me, or I'll not go. If they want to send him to earth, then to earth I will also go." Alera looked at the moon that now lighted the balcony. "But Ghallard, these are only children; I can not believe the elders and His Majesty would leave our fate in their hands.

Ghallard shocked Alera then by pulling her into his arms. A warrior only showed affection for his family, not other warriors. "No Leri. Our fate rests in how well you train them; our fate partly rests in you."

"We'll leave at dawn." Alera smiled. "And Ghallard, Jhaymes may be soft, but he sure whipped your butt, and several other warriors during our training, tell them if anything about him should make them uncomfortable, it should be that and naught else." Ghallard admired her determination and fierceness. He admired more about her, but would never say so; Jhaymes was not the only one to beat him in training.

Moriathe slowly rose to her feet. The scene before her was death. There was no other way to describe it. All the houses, once the marvel of the hidden league, were now nothing but charred rubble. The smell of burnt flesh churned her stomach, as it brought her comfort, small comfort, but comfort nonetheless. Her kind had not gone down easily. The enemy would forever remember that they had battled the inhabitants of Fire star and although they had been defeated, they were not beaten.

Hot tears streamed down her bloodied face as chanting, she looked for survivors. Alas! she gave a keening wail. "I am the only one." She sank slowly to her knees too weak with despair to stand. "But no," A thought fortified her. There were two others, the twins, the greatest warriors, of Fire Star. They were alive, on Arcadia, That great land that governed them all. In their own way Alera and Jhaymes were working to ensure that the enemy would one day be vanquished.

Until such a time as the battle is waged that will see the spawn of hell defeated, I will reside on Earth and help all that I can from there. Raising her tired, battle honed arms to the sky. She allowed her feathered flames to form wings. Once she had achieved her phoenix state she looked about and with a last mournful wail, Moriathe flew to Earth. There she would await her chance to fight beside the twins to avenge their home.

Moriathe landed in a glen of soft Grass. She went back to her shape of a young woman her clothing tattered and torn. She had landed on what the humans called Ireland. It was a land of magic and mystery, of myths and legends. It was a land that the fairies allowed the humans to believe that they owned. Moriathe then bathed in the stream that flowed quietly behind her as she sang the Phoenix song of mourning for her planet. As she lay nude in the sun she sang the song of rebirth. For as the Phoenix would be reborn in five hundred years from the ashes of its own making, so too would the people of Fire Star be reborn from their ashes and thus they would never be defeated. Moriathe smiled, Yes, she affirmed, her kind would live again.

"Sticks" Gaelynne cursed. "Punished," He muttered. "And for what I ask you?" He spoke to the nearest tree. "If that fairest of the Fae Princesses does not desire eyes upon her most beauteous self. She should not bathe in the pond where any unfortunate Fae could happen to be roaming near." Gaelynne continued to walk muttering the entire way. "oh no," He exclaimed and vigorously shook his head at the flowers." Verily did I turn my head to look elsewhere." He paused a moment, and his pointed ears pricked as he listened to a passing butterfly. "Well, perhaps that is why my punishment is so light." Gaelynne leaped into a tall tree to do his assigned punishment. "But I tell you I am not deserving of punishment."

Gaelynne leaned back against the tree and pouted. "Guard the Delvi Glen. Such a task is worthy of Fae Children, not great warriors. I am too a great warrior." He defended himself as the old oak tree laughed at him. "Or rather I should soon be. Gaelynne would have said more but a sound reached his highly sensitive ears. After but a moment of shimmering incandescence, Gaelynne vanished from mortal sight. He crept along the edge of the Delvi, on the branches of the trees.

Gaelynne gasped, for there lying nude upon his very favorite bathing spot was a girl. Her hair fell in ebony waves over her alabaster skin. Her hair was so dark it appeared blue and silver in certain spots from where he sat in his tree. "Yes lovely," he agreed. She sang a song that pulled at Gaelynne, making him feel sad and hopeful at once.

Briefly Gaelynne wondered what had caused her sadness. He scanned the surrounding woods and searched for her clothing hoping that it would give him some clue as to who this enchanting young woman could be. He frowned as all he found were a few odd bits of burned and tattered rags. What damnable human hell or torture had brought this magnificent creature to this Fae Glen deep in the heart of Ireland?

Gaelynne huddled in his tree vowing to discover her secrets. And maybe, he smiled revealing dimples to those fortunate enough to see him; He could one day be of some help to her. Another sound drew Gaelynne attention. His ears flattened against his head as he placed an arrow in his bow ready to protect the young woman that had wandered into his glen. Sensing no danger, Gaelynne relaxed against the tree. There was only a man cloaked in a green cape rambling through the brush collecting odd bits of this and a few pieces of that. "Pretty much harmless" Gaelynne told the tree. And a few birds that perched near him watching the fair maiden as he was "Worry not."

Aidain sighed and looked about, this was the twenty first century? It sure looked the same as the fifteenth. Oh well, he hoped his house was there as per his instructions passed down from generation to generation of his servant's family. He had specified a three story dwelling with a fence of trees guarding it from onlookers. It should also be standing in the exact same spot as his old home which was built in the year fourteen hundred and ninety two.

Idiotic people he fumed about an hour later. The house stood as he had instructed, but there were no herbs in his cellar. He would have to collect them on his own. He had not become a top notch Mage by not knowing how to forage for himself. He could travel through time; the least he could do was get his own herbs. Aidan spent the entire day collecting bits of plants and shrubs, never taking enough to do them any real harm.

Aidan climbed an old oak tree intent on collecting a few leaves before he returned to his house for the evening. Aidain pulled on leaves and after a moment the consistency of the leaves changed. It felt as if he had grabbed a hand full of silk. Aidain nearly fell from his precarious perch as a face seemed to appear before him. He stared for a moment into a pair of dew bright green eyes. He paused, hair, he had a handful of this person's hair. Aidain released the hair and gasped as the person vanished.

Those eyes, Aidain mused as he wandered around the woods and returned home, those eyes are remarkable. Even though he had stared into them for only a moment, it felt as if he had looked into them for an eternity. "Those eyes will haunt me," Aidan sighed and leaned against his house, "Who was that?" He wondered even as he spotted a swath of dark blue cloth that lay in his garden.

Aidain moved the tattered garment and found a young woman underneath it. She was wounded and lay unconscious on the grass. Aidain Picked her up and headed inside noting that her hair was three colors, black that gleamed in the fading twilight, Dark blue and silver that sparkled when he moved her. As Aidain laid her on his bed, and patched her wounds, he hoped that when her eyes opened they would perhaps be green.

"Where am I?" Moriathe thought as she awakened and took stock of her surroundings. Slowly she moved her hands over the bed in search of her weapons.

"Looking for these?" Aidain stood in the doorway admiring the carvings on her double edged fire star daggers, while her sword leaned against the wall beside him.

"You undressed me." Moriathe frowned, she was not comfortable with him viewing this body, she could feel her nares fluffing.

"Why do you blush little one?" Aidain smiled trying to reassure her as he sat beside her on the bed she clutched the blankets to her breasts and stared at him in wide eyed wonder. Aidain sighed in disappointment. Her eyes were no where near green. They were instead a deep clear blue, "Here." Aidain pressed her daggers against her hand. "It's alright; don't be afraid, I only bandaged you. You look as if you have already been through hell, I'd be an ogre to bother you more."

Aidain's large honey colored eyes widened as she dissolved into tears. "They're all gone" Moriathe sobbed. "They've all gone." She clung to his golden hair and seemed to cry that much harder.

"Were you left behind?" Aidain asked as he gently patted her back.

"Left for dead," was her muffled replied as she sniffled and showed him her daggers, "This is all I have left of my home, and my sword there, they're all I have."

"Who are you?" Aidain set her away from him and went to get more chamomile to calm her nerves. "What name belongs to you?"

"I am Moriathe C'Nid of the Phoenix caste." Moriathe felt saddened as she realized that there was now only three of her kind. She accepted the glass of water he offered and felt sleepy after a moment. "What have you done to me?"

"Just white poppy and chamomile, you need to rest, fear not, you are safe here, I will not harm you and neither will I allow any one else to harm you." Moriathe did not hear the rest of what Aidain could have said, for she was asleep.

Aphrodite smiled as the pawns moved into place. It was indeed sad and not of her doing that the Inhabitants of Firestar had been devastated. But now she could play. Hmmm, The Fairy should love the phoenix, the mage should love the Fairy and the Phoenix should in turn love the mage. What a tangle, perhaps she should check on them later.

Aphrodite remembered when she was both loved and feared by mortals and immortals alike for the power she weilds, now, no one paid her any mind. Well every now and then she liked to amuse herself. No one would be hurt, she promised herself as she looked once again at her three playthings. They would all just have to learn to live together. Who Knows, they may just end up happy; if they can all learn to love each other equally. "I have but put them in place, it is up to them now," Aphrodite thought as she looked at them and headed back to her perch in the tree where she had witnessed the Mage's befuddlement as he had stared at the Fairy and her great idea had formed. "Love well children," She admonished, "in this world love is all that is left to keep us alive."