A girl stood on the crest of a hill. No, not a girl. A woman his own age. Wild auburn hair blew in the wind and gray-hazel eyes sparked with mischief in a pretty face. Her lips were curved into a crooked smile and she had one hand in the pocket of her breeches. With the other hand she waved him to come. He recognized where she stood. On a hill near the Landerg estates in Namorn. At her side stood a great black wolf and behind her stood a large stormy gray stallion, his head resting over her shoulder.
"What's wrong Viynain? Can't keep up?" She asked teasingly, her smile turning into a grin before she swung herself up onto the stallion's bare back and set off at a gallop towards the castle of the estate, the wolf loping along beside.
Briar Moss opened his gray-green eyes and found himself staring at the shakkan on his bedside table. No mysterious girl, no Namorn, no stallion, no black wolf, no wind, and no hill. Just his upstairs room in Summersea, with his garden and his sisters. He'd had this dream for 7 consecutive nights now and was beginning to wonder where it came from. The girl's had stopped asking after the third morning when he snapped at them that he didn't know a thing about it and he would very much like it for them to stop badgering him about it. They had left it alone after that. With a sigh Briar rolled over onto his back and ran a hand through his short black hair as he stared at the ceiling. He had gotten a letter yesterday, from Sandry's cousin Ambros. Well, it had been for all of them but Ambros had asked Briar to come up and look around the fields on his estates. It appeared they seemed to be waning and Ambros needed the young green mage's opinion on what he should do. Briar had decided as soon as he got it that he would go. Not from any love of Namorn but because he and Ambros had struck a friendship and friends helped friends at times like these. Sandry wouldn't be happy, but he could explain to her that without all the pomp of traveling with a noble he wouldn't be noticed. Especially if he kept his medallion hidden unless showing it was absolutely necessary. He stood with a yawn and a stretch before heading downstairs to join the girls for breakfast. On his way out of his room he grabbed a piece of paper on which he'd written a short and succinct response to Ambros' request. It would take him a day or so to pack, which meant that the letter would get there a few days ahead of him if he sent it out today.