A girl no older than sixteen walked down the snow covered road, her face was covered by a hood and framed by long fiery red hair that tumbled in waves to a point just beneath her shoulder blades and had bangs on the right side of her head. Her eyes were bluer than the apparent color of ice, framed by long black lashes and had fairly tan skin, considering that it was winter in Tortall.

Her two swords clinked together as she walked down the path to the palace, a place she had so longed to see since she was a child. Now here she was, climbing up the hill that led to the place of legends. She took a deep breath and opened a mage link, her gift glowed an ice blue that faded to grey. Not many Shang warriors had the gift but hers proved more than useful in many situations.

The Shang Warriors don't normally take students with the gift but Lia was an exception. The teachers found the small girl curled up in a cave bleeding and half frozen but she was holding on. They took her in and prayed to the gods what to do, and several days later when she was up and able to move she was learning by just watching the older men and women, and quickly was correcting their stances and grips.

From then on Lia trained hard, determined to be the best she could be to help those who couldn't defend themselves. The teachers became attached to the small ten year-old, and she to them. They made her train harder, gave her more complex drills, harder academic work and worked her from sun up to sun down. The gods had hands on her life, giving her great things.

Lia went on several trips during her training, to Scanra, Yamani Islands and the Copper Isles. She learned ancient techniques and languages and used them to her advantage. She learned how to spy and create a character and story in minutes and, she was good at it. The teachers were impressed of course of which they moved her on quickly to the next thing and then the next. It went on like this for years, Lia didn't make many friends but those she did she would write to forever she told herself.

The Shang made sure not to disappoint the gods who watched her closely. The Great Mother wept with joy when she made the status of the new Shang Dragon. Mithros smiled and punched the air with glee, Gainel's eyes crinkled with mirth. And while in the realm of the black god, Liam Ironarm smiled at the new Shang Dragon and was happy that, not only did she excel at martial arts but everything, sword, axe, bow, dagger, staff and magic, though still scared of magic he was happy and at peace. The similarity between names was a plus.

Lia sighed at the memories, smiling at all the fun she's had over the strenuous years. She looked down at herself and cringed at the many scars, cuts and bruises she acquired. She looked at her right arm, that's where she got her first scar. She was about eleven and a half; they were doing one of the most dreaded exercises of the day. They would stand on one foot on a post of a nearby bridge and after a while they would switch to the other and then take brakes and stand on both. While others hated it Lia thought of it as a game, and she never wavered or wobbled or fell. Except for the day she got her first scar. A boy of thirteen, Ranel didn't like Lia and for reasons he thought obvious, she was a girl, she was favored by all and was so darned good at EVERYTHING she did. So one day he pretended to be very ill and waited until they left for the exercise and ran to the bridge and pushed her off the post. Now mind you the posts were about five feet tall and ragged. She fell and smacked the ground as they had taught her, splitting her forearm open. The memory was not a pleasant one but reminded her of how far she had come.

A deep sapphire blue magic showed and King Jonathon smiled at her.

"Hello," he greeted

"I presume you know who I am?" she asked, he nodded in reply.

"Then I guess I should tell you I'm almost at the front entrance of the palace."

"Oh, I'll be down in the entrance hall shortly. We shall talk then."

And with a curt nod the link ended and Lia continued up the hill through the snow.

Kel stood by a window in the entrance hall fumbling to undo the clasp of her cloak, and watched as her friends worked to do the same. Kel had a surprisingly large group considering the war, Kel and her squire friends were here for midwinter and their ordeal. Kel shuddered at the memories of her visit nearly four years past. Their group consisted o Kel, Dom, Neal, Merric, Owen, Seaver, Raoul, Alanna, Roald and some men from the Own.

Surprisingly the big redhead Cleon of Kennan was here and shaking snow out of his curly hair. His somber expression worried Kel; he was normally smiling and calling her flowery names. He always seemed sad during midwinter if he didn't think anyone was looking.

Cleon was on a surprising break from border duty up north and was excited to see his friends be knighted but midwinter was never the same without Lia. It's been too long and she ran away during the winter. There was no way she would have survived. That very thought had haunted him for the last six years. She was ten; she wouldn't have known nearly enough to survive a week. Cleon hated himself for not doing more.

What could he do now?

Kel sighed and looked out the window and saw a hooded figure coming up the steps. Kel scrunched up her face trying to figure out who the stranger when the king came down the steps.

"Is something wrong Your Highness?" Said Alanna and Raoul almost simultaneously, he waved them off and opened the large oak doors welcoming the stranger in. The stranger kept their head down as they pulled off the hood, revealing a head of red hair. The stranger removed her cloak revealing light brown breeches that were a little loose on the legs but barley, and they clung to her hips and her deep blue shirt was tucked into her pants had a slight v at the top with the long sleeves buttoned at the end. The girls blue eyes scanned the room, her eyes widening at the sight of Cleon. Her face had a dusting of barely noticeable freckles.

"Who is this, Jon?" Raoul asked, clearly puzzled.

"This is Lia, she is the, um, the ?" Jon asked not knowing the proper title.

Lia sucked in a deep breath, well here goes nothing.

Cleon oblivious until that moment stood straight and looked hopeful then defeated. So what she had the same name as your little sister a part of him said, but the other half truly hoped it was her. He wanted his favorite sibling back and he wanted to hold her and never let go.

She shook slightly at the fact that she was just revealing in front of her brother that she wasn't dead all those years. She didn't know how he would react, if he would hate her or just be glad she was alive. "I'm Lia," she paused "I'm Lia of Kennan, The new Shang Dragon."

A/N Thanks to LadyKnightAllayia for correcting my spelling of Cleon's name I revised the chapter for the spelling!