Prologue

The silence was so still it could only have followed a great disaster. The dust had not yet settled and vision was obscured in the gray haze that filled the air. The first thing that registered in her mind was pain. She had never felt pain like this in her body, and wished she never had. Her ears rang slightly from events that still confused her. As her mind began to fully function again and her senses continued their gradual return, she heard something. It was soft at first then picked up in volume; or was her ability to hear recovering with time? Her body sent more signals to her mind and she began to register what she was hearing.

What started as a muffled sobbing had risen to a loud wailing that was primal yet high pitched enough to be a child, female, or both. Aelith placed a hand on the stones she lay in. The rough texture and irregular shape she felt made it either natural rock or destroyed masonry. She opened her eyes and got her first look at what was around her. It was terrible.

All around was the wreckage of what appeared to be someone's home. Aelith could see broken furniture and destroyed toys as well as many things she had never seen before, likely broken as well. The roof had been completely blasted apart. Parts of the walls and a small portion of the floors above her remained in place, as if in a desperate bid for order. It appeared to her that she was in a basement of some kind. The construction style of the building wasn't anything she was used to though; even though most of it was destroyed she knew that much. Nothing here had the hallmarks of the refined construction of her home.

As the wailing continued Aelith could no longer ignore it. She pushed off the remains to get on her feet. The pain from before made itself known with interest and she winced. A short once over found a few cuts from which a little silver-colored liquid oozed and bruises that she expected, but the real pain came from her back. Positioned nicely below her shoulder blades in the small of her back sat a pair of once perfectly maintained, soft white wings. The left one was neatly folded though covered with dust and a few feathers pointed out at uncomfortable angles. The right wing however was broken and lay open limply.

Although the dust was long from being settled and vision was still poor Aelith made her way toward the sounds of crying, staggering on the way. It was fortunate that her target was close because she was not used to walking on such unstable footing. Making her way closer Aelith was able to make out the crying form for the first time. It was a girl, smaller than herself. Though she was not able to pinpoint an exact age, she was fairly certain that the girl was younger than herself. The appearance of the girl caused Aelith to recoil slightly in surprise. It wasn't the amount of dust on the girl – no, it was something much more obvious to Aelith. This girl had no wings, nor anything to suggest that she ever had them. A few of the lines on her arms oozed red. This girl could only be a young witch.

Aelith had been taught about witches. Her lessons told her much about the cruelty of witches and wizards alike. Her country had been at war with theirs off and on since before recorded time; and their records had long memories. Although there was the occasional unofficial cease fire between them, the hostilities had never stopped. Currently they were in a state of open war. Her lessons also showed images of the typical witch or wizard of the enemy nation. The outfit this child wore didn't fit in at all. In fact the clothing worn by the girl seemed more complicated than what she expected, though still far simpler than her own clothing.

The little witch was covered head to foot with dust, but some color still showed through, however subtle. Her hair was a pale blonde, slightly darker than Aelith's own platinum locks. Her skin was also quite pale, but again not as pale as her own. One color stood bold against all else though, and that was a bright red covering her hands. Aelith had heard that the life force of witches and wizards was red. Blood, if she remembered correctly. The amount of it she could see did not bode well.

Against her ingrained upbringing not to, Aelith took a few more shaky steps toward the distraught witch. She immediately wished she hadn't. The source of all the blood came into her view. It was a grisly sight. From what she could see, an adult had been severed in several places. The face of the deceased was frozen in shock and panic. Judging by sound of the child's wails, this face likely belonged to a parent. Aelith's heart went out to the girl, but many years of indoctrination of the evils of witches and wizards stayed her hand for a moment as she thought. She had been taught to be compassionate to others, but that her enemies did not deserve such a mercy. This scene though showed to her that perhaps not everything she had been taught was necessarily correct. This child was certainly not heartless. Perhaps she would become so later, but right now she was not. Eventually curiosity won out over caution and she stepped toward the girl, reaching out a hand in attempt to comfort her.

"Excuse me. Are you hurt at all?" Aelith waited for any kind of reply, but the girl was either too focused on her grief to give one or hadn't heard her at all. Aelith could empathize with the former. Before today she had never seen a corpse. She had heard of death, certainly, and often. Wizard raids on the towns within the empire were commonplace and she had even studied some of the great battles between the two nations. Seeing it in front of her had a more real impact than hearing the reports, however. Here and in person the sight made her want to comfort the girl in her loss even if she was the enemy. Her attempt to do so was not well received.

At first the girl shrugged Aelith's hand off. When she tried to put her hand on her shoulder again the girl threw it off forcefully and whipped her head to look at her. The girl's eyes were bloodshot from weeping, but held a fire of anger within them as well. Hot tears fell from her face as the girl shouted at her in a language Aelith only had a basic knowledge of from her tutors. It wasn't hard to get the point though as tone and action have a habit of mixing easily even when actual language is a barrier. This girl blamed her for what happened. The shouting did not last long before a sharp, stinging pain came to the left side of her face. The girl had slapped her! The girl resumed yelling, this time repeated something over and over. If her tutoring was correct, she was shouting for her mother back.

Selena Lovegood furrowed her brow in concentration. The Department of Mysteries had granted permission to continue developing a new spell on her own time at home. The concept behind the spell was similar to apparition, but also combined portkey and floo travel elements. In theory, if this spell worked properly, one could use it to open a type of door or gateway in air that was connected to another one which also opened elsewhere. This would enable people to come and go as they pleased over distances greater than apparition alone allowed so long as the gateways were open. Selena was very careful throughout her study of the theories involved and was preparing to attempt crafting the spell for the first time.

"Mommy, you can do it," a little girl's voice said behind her. Luna Lovegood recently turned nine years old and Selena couldn't be more proud of her. She was looking to become a very skilled witch. Selena had been teaching her the basics of magic including a few household charms even though the Ministry was against children using magic at all outside of school. As Selena was a Spell Crafter, and did much of her work at home, there was no way for the Ministry to catch the slight against a rule few wizard families followed anyway. Selena smiled at little Luna.

"Thank you, my little Moonbeam. Mommy is going to change the world with this spell, just you watch!" Selena turned back and resumed her concentration. Her daughter gave some more encouragement from behind a desk in the basement of their home. Confident that she was prepared to make the attempt Selena waved her wand and said the incantation.

"Porta Caeli! [1]" Magical Energy shot from her wand and began to form a large circular hole in front of her. Coursing energies of red, purple and white formed around the edges and a great wind picked up within the basement room, blowing research papers and hair all around.

"You can do it, Mommy! I see something!" Luna shouted over the roaring winds. In the center of the hole an image started to appear of a tall house with a fenced garden behind it. The Weasley's home could be seen through the hole. A sudden arc of green energy shot across the image and Selena felt a strong surge of power through her wand arm. Something was definitely wrong! Selena put her other hand to her wand in an attempt to steady it and control the energy that had begun to run wild. She couldn't let the spell collapse! Not now; not with Luna only a short distance behind her! Selena struggled with all her might to keep control, but in the end it wasn't enough. Dark red energy lanced across the hole, crisscrossing like a web until, with a great bang, the spell fell in on itself and exploded outwards. Magical energy flailed wildly throughout the house whipping like panicked snakes in the air, cutting everything in its path like a sword would. Pain lanced throughout Selena's body as the vines of lethally uncontrolled magic ripped through her and everything went black. Luna! Save yourself, Selena pleaded in her mind. Then she knew no more.

Luna came to completely shocked. Her mommy was doing a great job and the spell looked very pretty. After a little time though everything started to look scary. The spell didn't look as pretty or nice at all. It started to make her tremble a little. When the red vines came out and started swinging around the room the whole house shook and soon there was a big banging and Luna fell to the floor. Pieces of house fell all around her and only the desk stood still. Luna crawled under the desk and screamed in fear. Something fell onto the desk that made her jump, hitting her head and knocking her out.

When she woke up, Luna looked around. She couldn't see mommy. She couldn't see much of anything there was so much dust in the air. Luna crawled out from under the desk and started to look for signs of her mommy under the rubble.

"Mommy!? Mommy!? Where are you mommy!?" Luna called out panicked only stopping when her hand touched something soft and wet. Luna looked at it and her eyes widened. "MOMMY!"

Luna was sobbing for what felt like an eternity. She didn't know what else to do. Mommy was dead, and she was sure not even the best healers at St. Mungo's could fix her. She kept pleading to anyone that could hear her for help, and after several minutes she heard some of the rock and wood moving. She looked in the direction of the noise, still sobbing to see a shadow through the dust and dirt still in the air. It looked too small to be her daddy, and it had what looked like a second set of arms or maybe wings. Luna couldn't tell. No... Daddy said that Norfgawhumps only come to hurt people who are naughty! I didn't do anything wrong! Mommy didn't do anything wrong! Why would one come and hurt mommy! Luna sobbed harder and tried to ignore the sounds behind her. After a moment more she heard the norfgawhump behind her speak.

"Ka'lael do ka. Kori'to mitass'ki te mari?" Luna didn't understand what it was saying, but she supposed that it was norfagese or something. She didn't want to talk to it. It might hurt her next. She continued to sob loudly until she felt something touch her shoulder. She tried to shrug it off first, but a moment later it was there again. This time she turned around and shrieked her grief at the thing.

"Why did you come here!? Why did you hurt mommy!? Mommy was a good witch and never hurt anyone! No one ever! She was the bestest and made cookies and tucked me in every night with a story! You killed my mommy!" And with great pain, little Luna Lovegood slapped the norfgawhump in front of her. Tears continued to pour down her cheeks and Luna lost all the edge in her little nine year-old voice as she said over and over, "bring mommy back to me."

Xenophilius Lovegood was having a good day. He had gone to Diagon Alley to pick up a special treat to surprise his wife and daughter with as congratulations on crafting the spell that would revolutionize witch and wizard travel forever. He loved his wife dearly. It was she that had convinced him that not everything that exists in the world has been discovered, and he had taken to her ideas like a new 11 year old to their first wand. He apparated onto the path that led up to their little cottage, humming a merry tune he had learned called "Tiptoe through the Tulips", when he saw his home; what was left of it.

Xeno's humming stopped dead as he looked on at the destruction that was once the home of him and his beloved wife and daughter. The shock gave way to panic as he dropped the bags he carried and ran to the wreckage to search for his family.

"Selena! Luna! Oh Merlin, please answer me!" Xeno ran into the column of smoke that was dissipating. He could hear a wailing cry he knew belonged to his little girl, and it gave him heart that she was still alive. He couldn't hear his wife though and was still looking for her when he made out what his little girl was shouting.

"You killed my mommy!"

Xeno fell to his knees, not caring that it hurt to land like that on uneven brick, stone and wood. No... Oh Merlin, no! Please say it isn't true!

"Bring mommy back to me," he could hear Luna say in a whimper. "Bring mommy back to me." Xeno forced his grief away with great difficulty for the moment. His daughter was still alive, but if she was talking to someone she might not stay that way. The dust was clearing and he staggered quickly through the rubble until he found his daughter. She sat on part of what remained of the basement, cradling the head of his departed wife in her nine year-old arms and talking to what Xeno could only guess was an angel of death.

The Portal of Lok'Telor

Chapter One: The Girl Who Died

Silence held the air. The dust finally settled around the three people who occupied what was left of the home they stood, sat and crouched in. No one had any idea what to say. The shock held all three of them in place for different, though related reasons. Aelith looked up to see a fully grown male wizard had entered the wreckage. She presumed this was the father. Aelith's eyes widened at the thought of what an upset wizard would do to her. Before the thought caused her to completely panic the little girl started pounding her chest weakly with her fists. The pain she felt from the feeble strikes was not physical. The child barely hit hard enough to adjust her stance. Aelith looked from the girl to the girl's father. The wizard stood and began to walk toward the pair of girls, causing a rise in Aelith's panic levels.

"I'm sorry about all this. I don't know what happened or how." Aelith gently grabbed ahold of the little girl's shoulders and push her lightly towards the man. The man took her and wrapped her into a comforting embrace; his eyes never leaving Aelith. She was uncomfortable under the scrutiny. The wizard spoke after a moment. Aelith was glad it was one of the phrases she knew. She hoped the rest of her tutoring would come back to her, or it would be a very tense and difficult time. Looking up in thought she realized it probably would be a long and difficult day regardless.

Xenophilius looked at the strange being that stood before him. It was small, appearing to be no older than his daughter was. It was clothed with shredded rags that might have been nice clothing once. Long hair blew lightly in a breeze that on happier days would have been dazzling with the sun reflecting off its almost white hue. It had a small frame like an adolescent, and pale pink eyes. In fact it looked very much like a human child with albinism, except for the great wings that were on her back. One folded up, the other limply open. Motion caught his attention.

His daughter had started to pound with no real strength against the chest of the strange angel. As he made his way to the pair of them the angel-like creature looked up at him. For an Angel of Death, it looks completely lost. Can it perhaps explain what has happened? The creature put its hands on his daughter's shoulders and he tensed. Xenophilius still wasn't convinced that this thing wouldn't intentionally harm them. He relaxed only barely as he saw his daughter gently pushed in his direction, as if the thing was asking him to take her. He did so and wrapped Luna into a warm hug, one hand on the back of her head as she continued to weep onto his girth. The creature looked up for a moment then spoke.

"Kor tomath sho do ka. Wis ki lik kor tomath shimalu nae ka."

The voice was gentle and sounded feminine so he supposed it was a girl, but Xenophilius had no idea what the words meant. If she couldn't speak or understand English then this was going to be very difficult. His wife is – was – the linguist of the family. Thoughts of his wife caused his eyes to tear up but he forced them away. He had to be strong at a time like this. He would grieve later, he knew. It was enough that Luna could grieve now. He needed to know what happened, so he made an attempt, starting with her.

"What are you?" He wanted to be more polite about it, but he was still an emotional maelstrom. All thoughts of politeness had shattered with the sight of his home and wife, and he struggled to regain his poise. The being looked almost pleased at the question and put a hand to her chest.

"Archon."

Xenophilius would have smiled if he could. This at least was some progress. He didn't know what an 'archon' was, but at least he knew what to call her. He pointed to himself and opened his mouth to speak, but the archon, pointing to him also, beat him to it.

"Wizard."

Xenophilius did smile this time. It was even better that the archon knew what he was. Before he continued the awkward conversation he looked down to see Luna had fallen asleep leaning on him. No doubt she'll have nightmares. Well, we can't have her sleeping here. He motioned to the archon to follow him which she did hesitantly and made his way precariously out of the wreckage.

In the back garden there was a small wood and iron bench that Xenophilius had once bought from a muggle shop. It wasn't fancy, but it was comfortable and he tenderly placed his sleeping child upon it. He turned back and found the archon standing a cautious distance away looking at her.

"Poor girl is exhausted," he said more to himself than to anyone else. The archon nodded. Knowing she was an archon was helpful, and the clothing she wore suggested a civilized community life, so he assumed if he was going to get the information he wanted he would need to follow proper protocol. He pointed first to himself then to her, saying 'wizard' and 'archon' appropriately. He then pointed to himself again, saying his own name. When he pointed at her, he was not disappointed.

The archon puffed her chest up slightly. "Aelith," she stated as though it were a noble name. If she has a name and wears clothing like that, then she must also have a culture at least comparable to ours. She is no simple creature then. Before he could delve any further, there was the sound of shifting rubble from back at the house. Xenophilius' heart skipped a beat, but nothing more was forthcoming from the ruins. Or was there? A moment later what seemed like a ball of light the size of a bludger came zooming over and halted floating just above the archon. It began to pulse different colors, and then pressed itself against an odd jewel-like thing Xeno hadn't previously noticed on the archon's head. Aelith looked startled for a moment, and then excitedly dashed back toward the remains of the home.

"That was odd," Xenophilius said aloud to no one. He looked again at the retreating archon and nodded. "If their running is anything like a human's then I'm right. That is a female archon."

Aelith felt elated. Finally there was a piece of good news to the day. Her Wisp, Maelor, had somehow made it there as well! He revealed that there was some kind of explosion in the palace followed by an implosion within its center. A hole opened in the air within her room at its center and had sucked her in. The hole was still open! Her bedroom was demolished in the explosion (which didn't do anything for her mood) but knowing that there was a way back home lifted her spirits greatly. She followed Maelor through the rubbish to the hole he described and her spirits dropped. The hole was there as he had mentioned, but it was so small that only Maelor and other creatures no bigger than her head could fit through it. To make matters worse, when Aelith tried to toss a rock through it, the edges, which fluctuated with little red tendrils, caught on the rock and where it touched the rock was sliced clean.

"Flame and Thunder," Aelith muttered to herself. Maelor pulsed lightly at the cursing to show his disapproval of her language. "I'm sorry, Mael. I'm not sure what to do. I can see through this into my bedroom, but that's about it." She paused. "Can you get through this thing?" Maelor pulsed - a confirmation to her and she smiled. "Would you please go tell my mother what has happened? She must be very worried about that explosion." She paused again. "And please get a few more wisps to come back with you. I think I might need them."

Maelor departed slowly through the hole and Aelith sighed. She turned back towards where the wizard and his daughter were and stood up. She felt it was best to do what she could to help them. They may be wizards, and therefore the enemy, but there was no way to learn anything about them if they were angry with her. She knew that a single fully-grown wizard would likely win a fight with her, but she wasn't certain that this one wanted to fight at all. This was something to be thankful for, but not assumed to be accurate. With these thoughts in mind she returned to the garden bench.

The wizard was crouched beside his daughter, stroking her hair with tender care. This surprised Aelith a little. She had been taught that wizards were bred to become cold killers and merciless opponents by the time they were fully grown. This wizard didn't seem much different than Aelith's father. It was easy to see that he loved his daughter very much, another thing she was taught witches and wizards didn't do. There was such gentleness in his touch, as if he were careful not to break a delicate object with his caress. Aelith cleared her throat, getting the attention of the wizard – Zeenofilias? – whom looked up at her. Although she opened her mouth to speak, she remembered that she knew very little of wizard language, especially any kind of comforting words, as her people were taught wizards didn't know how to speak words of that sort. Searching her memories one word finally came up, so she tried that one.

"Sorrow," Aelith said, one arm pointing to the girl, and one to the rubble. It seemed to have the effect she was hoping for. The man smiled and stood up. He spoke slowly and clearly, though only the second word he said was known to Aelith. Thank you. Maybe not all wizards are bad. Aelith knew this was a dangerous thought however. There was never a way to tell on the battlefield that was a 'nice killer' and a 'mean killer'. She still battled between wariness and curiosity. The wizard's eyes softened a little more. He pointed to his daughter and said, "Luna."

Aelith walked quietly over to the little girl and crouched next to her. She looked so much more peaceful asleep as opposed to the distraught little beater she was attempting to be before she fell asleep. Her eyes were still puffy from the tears and she sniffled a little in her sleep.

Aelith was brought out of her focus on the girl by an intense pain lancing into her back. She squawked and leapt away, falling into a defensive combat stance. She stared wide-eyed at the wizard who had frozen in place. His arm was stretched out and it was apparent he had touched her broken wing. She whipped her head to look at her wing. It was still there and still broken. He hadn't tried to tear it off then. She had seen archons who had met that fate. She was about to speak, part in anger and part in fear, when Maelor returned. Five more wisps had come with him.

Xenophilius was mentally beating himself up. How could he have done something so careless? He had even been teaching Luna that you had to be very careful around creatures not used to their surroundings, and the same often applied to people. Yet here he had made the mistake of trying to touch Aelith whom obviously wasn't ready for it. She stood before him with a look of intense focus and in some odd stance that he had heard muggles call 'marital arts' or something like that. What marriage had to do with it, he wasn't sure. Perhaps, for archons like this one, wings were something only your spouse touched? He was going to ask when that ball of light came zooming back and stopped again before Aelith.

As it changed color a few times Xenophilius saw 5 more similar balls approach. Each one glowed softly, though oddly no two were the same color. Each of them had subtle differences. The one that was 'talking' to Aelith was a pale blue, but the others ranged from orange to purple. He noticed Aelith stop and look at him as the blue one moved to rest just above her right shoulder. Aelith pointed to it.

"Wisp. Maelor." Xenophilius nodded. Aelith struggled with the next word. "Ter… ans… late?"

Part of Xenophilius became very excited! He would be the first wizard ever he was sure to learn about these strange creatures, the archons. Another part of him, however, was a little apprehensive because he wasn't sure he was ready to find out what happened here today. There was no way it wouldn't come up. He formally introduced himself to the wisp and watched in fascination as its color pulsed a few times next to Aelith. She nodded, then touched the wisp with a finger and closed her eyes for a moment. The wisp moved forward and with an unrecognizable noise something small popped out and floated above it. It was like a miniature Aelith standing right there in the air! Even more surprising was when it spoke.

"I greet you with one wing open, Wizard Xenophilius." He was surprised slightly at such formality. This was a manner of speaking he rarely heard, and even then it was generally from the Ancient and Noble houses when they were at their most formal. He looked over and saw that Aelith had folded her good wing up and held a palm out in some semblance of formality. "I am sorry about what has happened here. Maelor has informed me of how it occurred as best we understand it. Will your daughter be okay?" As soon as the question was asked the tiny figure popped like a soap bubble and was gone.

"She is very shaken, as anyone would be considering the circumstances. So am I. I don't know how she will be when she wakes up. Something like this isn't commonplace among our kind."

Maelor again floated over after Aelith touched a finger to him, eyes closed. It looked as though this would be the way of things for the time being.

"Yes. I could imagine. In regards to what happened this is our best guess: A sort of dimensional tear opened between our Realms which exploded into both your basement and my bedroom. Maelor and I were sucked through it. Do you have any idea of what may have caused this tear to open?"

Xenophilius frowned sadly. He knew the dangers of crafting spells. The Department of Mysteries typically held a tight rein on all attempts at spell crafting done by witches and wizards employed at the Ministry of Magic, but on their own it was just too difficult to monitor every witch and wizard who thought they could make a new spell of their own. Selena Lovegood had been given special permission for this project to be done at home.

"Yes, my wife was attempting to create a new spell for transportation. It had to have failed, or this wouldn't have happened."

Aelith began to speak very animatedly to the wisps around her. Judging by the tone, she was arguing with them about something. Whatever it was, it looked like Aelith lost the argument. Xenophilius watched, fascinated by the wisps as they congregated around her broken left wing.

"Can you fix it?" Aelith looked up at the question, then at the blue wisp who translated.

"It will mend on its own if I'm very careful, but it will take weeks," the miniature said sadly.

"If you'll let me, I could fix it for you now…" Xenophilius said tentatively. Aelith's eyes opened wide at the translation. She nodded, but the wisps again swarmed around her and even to him were obviously arguing this. This was an argument that, after a few minutes, she seemed to win. The six wisps surrounded Xenophilius, buzzing slightly as he stepped forward and Aelith turned to bare her broken wing towards him. He had the impression that they would attack if he harmed her. To keep himself safe, he took his time and kept his movements deliberately slow.

It took no time at all to find the breaks in the girl's wing. Twice broken, but both breaks looked clean enough for his skills, which were meager at best when it came to healing spells. When he reached for his wand the wisps buzzed about a little more tensely. He very slowly took aim then paused.

"The wand movement is going to be a little fast, okay?" Aelith nodded at the translation. Xenophilius returned his focus to the two breaks. I'll get them both with one shot. "Ipisky," he incanted and made a movement with is wand that was sharp and quick. There was a crunching sound as the first break mended itself. He was suddenly encased in some strange bubble. The wisps spun madly around him, each one glowing red. He could see Aelith screaming, but couldn't hear a thing from the barrier he was confined to. I should have mentioned that it will hurt briefly, Xenophilius thought worriedly. He turned toward his daughter to see the noise had woken her up and she was staring at him in horror. This isn't good.

Luna was dreaming. No, this wasn't a dream. It was a nightmare. She dreamed that her mommy had been broken into pieces by red vines in the basement. Then a norfgawhump appeared, holding the vines that had hurt her mommy, and grinned evilly at her. It spoke in a mean voice and said it would get her and her dad next. She screamed.

Luna jerked up with a start, the scream still fresh in her ears. It didn't sound like it came from her at all. She saw movement to her left and looked to see what made the noise. Terror filled her tiny frame as she saw her nightmares made real. There was the norfgawhump grinning and looking sideways at her daddy. Daddy was surrounded by the red vines, spinning wildly. He looked scared and had his wand out.

"No! Don't kill my daddy too! STOP!" Luna cried out. The norfgawhump had its mouth open as if to laugh when it stopped and the vines disappeared. Six little balls of light zoomed to their master and spun around it as if on guard. Her daddy dropped to the ground and panted a moment before turning to her.

"Luna, don't be scared. This is Aelith. She is an archon." Luna was not convinced.

"No, she killed mommy! She killed mommy and she is going to kill you and me too!" Her daddy winced like he felt bad.

"She isn't going to hurt us, Luna. She wants to help."

"No! She is a bad person!" Luna's eyes widened. "She is using some magic to make you think she is good! She took control of you! You are not my daddy anymore!" And Luna, eyes wide with terror, ran towards the woods.

Aelith stared at the retreating form of the wizard's daughter, Luna. However she looked at it, the wizard had failed to get his point across, whatever that point was. As the wizard hadn't been talking directly to her, Maelor had not bothered to translate his words. Nor could he when she asked, because he wasn't paying him any mind. The condition of his mistress was a much more pressing matter for him and the other wisps.

Their defensive attitude only stopped when Luna took off running for the wood line. As they were less concerned now with any possible further harm, the wisps had taken a look at her wing. Aelith tested out the limb the wizard had cast a spell on. It was no longer broken, but she could feel muscle damage from when it was. A few days of careful rest and rehabilitation and it would be good as new, which was much better than the several weeks she'd expected it would take to heal on its own.

Realizing she was now alone, the wizard having run off after his daughter, Aelith looked around. There was very little she could do at the moment since she still had no way home, and now the only ones she had to talk to were the wisps, all of whom were still upset with her. She shrugged it off as their choice. They were servants of her family, but Maelor was also her guardian and companion. Since he was assigned to her their relationship was unique. She commanded him like a servant, but similarly he ordered her around when she was out of line. For Aelith it made them almost like equals though in the end she had the final say. Aelith and Maelor both knew this, but Maelor had much more life experience than she, whom had lived her life in the palace. This alone commanded respect and consideration to his advice. Most of the time he let her do as she pleased, so when he voiced opposition to her desires it was rare that she didn't acquiesce.

Seeing as she had nothing else to do, Aelith departed toward the forest in the same direction as the others had gone. She didn't expect to catch up to them, but a forest was a familiar setting and after everything that had happened any sense of normalcy was welcome. It was comforting that Maelor continued to accompany her, even though the others refused to follow. Maelor was young for a wisp, but prior to becoming Aelith's companion he was assigned to one of the Sentinels on the front-lines and had become quite skilled. They knew she was well protected.

As luck would have it, or not depending on your view, the pair of dimensional travelers did not encounter the two others in the forest. Aelith was glad of that for her safety, but at the same time she'd wished she were able to talk to the wizard. He intrigued her because of his attempts to come to an understanding. The girl she had no real opinion of at this point because she'd only seen her while consumed by grief; not the greatest moment to judge any person's character.

They wandered near aimlessly in the forest until night fell. Aelith had no idea herself where in the forest they were. Maelor assured her that they were near the middle of it when he flew above the trees to look. By his report there was another home on the opposite side of the forest they entered. Neither of them was sure how it stood; the construction looked impossible to hold. Aelith teased him playfully about his declining vision in his old age, never mind that she was older than he by a good 20 years. With the darkened sky visible through the canopy they decided to settle in for the night.

For Aelith this was a very new experience. The term 'camping' was something she heard only when near the barracks of the palace guards. The idea of sleeping out in the open air with little more than a cloth covering to protect you was something she had dismissed as silly even though she knew the Empress herself did it when she visited the front line. Because of this the night did not go well. Maelor was not prepared for what he called a 'Field Night', so they made do with what he had with him.

Aelith looked appreciative at her little companion. The thing about him that fascinated her the most was how wisps had the ability to store things within themselves that were bigger and heavier than they were. Maelor boasted the ability to store almost 500 kilograms in weight though he very rarely had more than a tenth of that stored at a time since he joined his new mistress. She smiled as he expelled a spare set of clothing and several sitting pillows. She once asked him what it was like taking something into his own self and he compared it to how some animals ate food, only he swallowed it whole. The idea of him vomiting up a clean set of clothing amused her to no end.

Aelith smiled at the large nest of pillows and spare clothing that had been created for her. It looked very comfortable and she carefully laid down in it, mindful of her mostly healed wing. A breeze blew over her and her skin shivered slightly. It was cooler here than where her home was. Draping a few articles of clothing over her body to act as a blanket she closed her eyes in an attempt to sleep. After the experiences she'd had today, sleep did not come easily, but it did come with nightmares. Nightmares of a young witch's heart-wrenching face as she stared tearful and hopeless at her with tiny fists balled against her chest. Nightmares of a face dead of any happiness due to loss. Nightmares of the girl who died.

Author's Notes:

Thank you for revisiting my story if you have read my original, and for taking the time to read it if you are new. This is a story I started many years ago and hit a long period where I wasn't working on many stories at all. I like how much my style has improved, but I still find it funny that I have to review it several times to simplify and eliminate a lot of unneeded filler. I'm glad I have a good beta. For those who are interested in Aelith's language, here is a key for every word.

Language Translations by word:

Kori'to - Pain

Ka'lael - Pardon

Mitass'ki - Experience/have do (action particle)

te mari - Are you

Ka - Me

Kor - Today/Now/This

Wis - What

Tomath - Event

ki - or

Sho - Sorrow

Lik - How

Shimalu - Understand

nae - (negative previous word)/not

La - (possessive)

taenar - home

Nal - 'is'

go'rak - far

Takke - return

komai - You

Daen - stop/prevent/bar

shishi - girl

Lanlan - boy

pela'te - cause

Spell Translation: [1] Porta Caeli "Heaven's Door"