A/N: welcome to my first Pathfinder fanfic! you'll all probably hate me for what i did, but i did it. you'll see what i'm talkin about if you read this chappie through. i don't own Pathfinder or anything associated with it. Panther is mine, though.

Chapter 1: Rescue

She shook with the cold as she hid under a tree, the rain pouring around her and soaking her through. Her soaked, black, elbow length hair stuck to her face and neck as her bright, sapphire blue eyes shot around the dark landscape of brush. She had managed to escape, but there was no telling if he would come looking for her, or if he was just around the corner, waiting for her already. Some rustling over the rain caught her attention and she held back her gasp as she shot her gaze around the dark brush.

A hand suddenly clapped itself over her mouth, muffling her startled squeak and making her eyes shoot wide in terror, her heart thumping in her chest. She sensed a face come up next to hers and shut her eyes tightly as the hand remained over her mouth.

"One of the Dragon Men is following you," a man's voice spoke softly in her language, something she hadn't heard in what seemed like years. "Stay here. Whatever you hear, do not move."

All she could do was nod as his hand fell from her mouth to allow her to breathe through it. In another instant, his presence was gone and she felt herself alone again, but she could hear the rustling around her and a mumbling voice of the Dragon Man that was following her. Her gaze darted around the brush again and she gasped when she heard an agonizing cry of pain, but she stayed where she was.

She heard nothing else but the rain but gasped when a hand gripped her arm and pulled her up to her feet. It was so dark all she could see was the outline of a man as he led her by the hand through the woods, the rain still pouring over them.

"We're not far from my village," he called over rain. "Did you see any more of them?"

"No," she gasped, stumbling a few times, then couldn't hold back her curiosity any longer and asked, "Who are you?"

"My name is Ghost," he replied, still walking and not looking at her.

"I was known as Panther before I was taken," she replied.

"And what did he name you after he took you?" he asked.

"Something strange I could never pronounce," Panther shuddered at the memories. "He…did things…"

"You don't have to tell me," he assured her as he still pulled her through the rain soaked forest and not looking at her until she stumbled, making him stop and whirl around, still holding her wrist. She stumbled in her place as she placed a hand on her forehead and he frowned at her in wonder.

"I think I…n-need to lay down…" she breathed, stumbling again as Ghost's frown deepened but it disappeared and he caught her when she started falling and he lifted her with a slight frown. Ghost sighed in exasperation before turning and heading toward his village.

Panther groaned and stirred as she lay on her back, lifting a hand to place it on her forehead as it throbbed. She sighed as she turned her head slowly to look at her surroundings. She found herself on the floor in a tent with a small fire beside her and a blanket over her, pulled up to her chest with her arms laying outside. She remembered what had happened, and the man that had saved her, and tried to sit up slowly.

"You shouldn't try to move yet."

She gave a small gasp and looked up to see Ghost sitting on the other side of the fire, staring at it for a moment before looking up at her.

"You haven't been fed in some time," he guessed. "You'll be too weak." He shuffled to the left of the fire and pulled something from a small sack before shuffling toward Panther. "Have some of these berries. It should give you some energy."

"Thank you," Panther said in a raw voice as Ghost handed her a handful of berries, which she instantly shoveled into her mouth as he shuffled away with a small scoff. "He never fed me. I was lucky when I found scraps from his table every once in a while."

"How did he capture you?" Ghost couldn't help but wonder. It had been on his mind from the moment he'd rescued her. Why would one of the Dragon Men capture her and keep her when they were killing the Braves?

"My village was raided by some of the Dragon Men months ago, before they started fleeing back to their home," Panther explained through a mouthful of berries. "He managed to survive and kept me as his hostage."

"How did you manage to escape?" he asked, sitting across the fire from her again, one knee up as he set his wrist on it, reclining back slightly as he watched her with a smirk of amusement at her devouring the berries.

"I got so thin that my wrist slipped through the chain he had me attached to," she replied. "Once he was asleep I slipped through and ran away as fast as I could for at least two days."

"So it was you I was tracking for the past two days," he smirked, something else he'd been wondering since he'd found her.

Panther shot her wide, blue eyes at him in surprise, her cheeks puffed up with berries, a small drop of juice at the corner of her mouth and the sight made him give a slight chuckle of amusement.

"You were tracking me?" she wondered and swallowed before saying, "I had no idea."

"That's the idea," Ghost nodded, then continued his interrogation by asking, "You are a Brave, aren't you?"

"I am…not full blooded," she replied hesitantly, almost ashamed as she wiped her mouth and bowed her head slightly. "My mother was a Brave, but I never knew my true father."

"Your eyes gave away your foreign blood," he explained.

"They always do," she muttered, bowing her head fully and causing Ghost to frown in wonder before she shot her gaze back at him and said, "You do not have the look of a Brave about you."

"No," he confirmed with a slight yet confident shake of his head. "I was born to the Dragon Men, but I was found alone when I was very young. My mother took me and raised me in her village."

"And were you treated differently?" Panther wondered in a low voice as she stared at the fire, the light dancing in her eyes in such a way that it entranced Ghost for a moment before she began speaking again. "Did the children your age keep their distance because they were afraid you might attack or harm them? Did they stay away from you because you were different?"

Ghost didn't respond, only staring at her as she stared into the fire, lost in memories, he guessed. After another moment, he shuffled closer to lift a water bowl toward her around the fire. She glanced toward it but didn't move for a moment before she took it and started to gulp the water down. She was nearly dying of thirst as well as hunger. Ghost moved the sack of berries closer to her and stood, catching her attention and making her frown in wonder at him.

"Stay here," he instructed, pulling a wrapped bundle of furs, a bow and arrows and a sword from beside the fire as he turned toward the entrance of the tent.

"Where are you going?" she wondered, worry thick in her tone.

"I'm going hunting," he replied, not turning from the entrance as he stepped out. "You're safe here. We're in my village."

"But-"

"Trust me," he cut in, turning to give her a small smirk of assurance. "I'll be back soon. You can walk around the camp if you'd like. My son may come in here, though."

"And your wife?" Panther wondered. "Will she be in?"

"No," he replied, solemnly. "She made her crossover journey some time ago."

"I'm…so sorry," she breathed, lowering her gaze again.

"Stay here," Ghost repeated, and Panther nodded this time as he turned and headed out, leaving her alone to gaze around the tent and sigh.

She swallowed the lump in her throat but it did no good to fight against the tears that were welling in her eyes. Her stomach growled for more food and she looked to the sack of berries through tears that began to roll down her cheeks. Sniffling, she reached for the sack and dragged it in front of her to unenthusiastically pick some out to eat.

Panther knew she shouldn't be crying. She should have been dancing with joy that she was away from her captor and free again, but she didn't feel free. She still felt trapped and alone. Her family was dead, and now she was in a village where she knew no one save the man that had rescued her, and she had no where else to go. That was what frightened her the most. She had no where else to go.

She knew that if she left the tent, the people would all look at her the way they always had: As if she didn't belong there. And she knew she didn't belong there.

A/N: short, compared to some of my other chapters in other stories, but you can't make 'em all five pages or more. lol! reviews?