A/N: Yay! First chapter goodness! I had the worst writer's block with this chapter, too. But needs a Prologue function.

I had a request to translate the chapter title. "Devokan" means "hope" and "Tsahno" means "eternal". So, the title for the story is "Eternal Hope" (In D'ni, the adjective comes after the noun).

Oh, and I forgot the disclaimer in the last chapter headdesk Ok, Cyan owns Myst and all related characters/Ages/etc. I own the character of Cecilia. There. That's it. I hope I don't have to put that on every chapter. You smart people can figure it out, right?

Now, without further ado, I present:

Devokan Tsahno

Chapter 1

Meeting the Family

The first thing I felt was cold. Very cold. And yet, I felt smothered and constricted. In my semi-conscious state, I began thrashing, trying to get out of whatever was holding me. I heard a voice, murmuring words of comfort. Something warm was placed against my forehead. I stopped moving. I opened my eyes, but it didn't help much. The world was blurry and out of focus, but I could make out a different colored blur the shape of someone's head. As my vision cleared, I realized that I was looking at a woman.

"Hello, dear," she said, smiling warmly, "How are you feeling?"

"Alright," I murmured, "Where am I?"

"Myst Island," she said.

I frowned, then let out a hiss. The mere movement of my forehead caused stinging pain. The woman took the warm thing off my forehead, which I now realized was a damp cloth. As she was wringing the water out of said cloth, she kept talking to me.

"You hit your head rather hard when you arrived. My husband, Atrus, found you while he was out walking. You gave us quite a fright. We're. . . not used to visitors here."

She replaced the cloth, then resumed speaking.

"My name is Catherine. And you are. . .?"

"Cecilia," I said, "And do you know exactly how I got here? The last thing I remember is finding this really weird book near my house. It had a moving picture, which was really odd because all the books I've ever read never had moving pictures. . ."

My ramblings died on my lips as I looked at Catherine. All the color had drained from her face.

"Are you alright?" I asked. Catherine brought a hand to her forehead to a moment, then stood up.

"I'm alright," she said, "I need to speak with my husband. I will be back shortly."

With that, she turned on her heel and left the room.

I laid my head back down on the pillow. Catherine's reaction startled me; could I have really caused that much alarm? All I did was find a book. . . granted, it was a very odd book. . .

Well, with nothing better to do, I started to drift back off to sleep. I was just on the edge of consciousness, too, when two voices jolted me awake again.

"But Ach'nar, N-Nanna told us n-not to d-dis. . . dis. . ."

"Disturb her. But we're not gonna disturb her, Sirr. We're just gonna look!"

I turned my head slightly and kept my eyes open a tad bit, just enough to see. Two boys appeared in the doorway, one with a wide, unafraid gaze, and the other with a curious look, despite the fact that he kept checking the hallway for approaching people.

They look like brothers, I thought. Heck, they act like brothers!

The older-looking, unafraid one looked like he'd been playing outside: His clothes and hands were dirt stained, while his hair was frizzy and wild. The other, younger-looking sibling was undisturbed, except for his slightly windblown hair.

The two inched into the room. The younger one took in everything, but the other kept his gaze fixed on me. Turning to his brother, he pointed at me.

"See, Sirr?" he whispered, "She's sleepin'!"

The boy looked unconvinced

"Yeah.. . . b-but we could s-still g-get in trouble, Ach'nar. . ."

"Ach'nar" shoved him lightly.

"Oh, come on, Sirr! Where's your sense of adventure?"

"You s-stolded it f-from me, Ach'nar, renember?"

I couldn't contain my laughter. I let out a snort and a giggle. The two boys backed up, startled. Still giggling, I eased myself into a sitting position. I closed my eyes against the wave of dizziness and slight nausea. I opened my eyes to see the two boys standing near my bed, eyes wide as if they'd never seen a teenage girl before.

"Hi there," I said, "Who are you two fine gentlemen?"

I almost laughed again as the younger one scooted around to hide behind his brother, who stepped up to speak.

"I'm Achenar!" he all but shouted, "I'm seven years old!"

"Very nice to meet you, Achenar. And who are you, good sir?"

The younger one poked his head around the side of his brother.

"I-I'm Sirrus," he stuttered out, "I-I'm four."

"It's good to meet you, Sirrus," I said, grinning. "My name is Cecilia, and I'm sixteen years old."

Sirrus' eyes widened.

"Y-you're sixteen? T-that m-means you must k-know as much as F-father and M-mother!"

"No one knows as much as Father and Mother," countered Achenar swiftly, "'cept Nanna."

"Uh-hunh," nodded Sirrus, "N-no one knows as m-much as N-nanna."

He turned to me, saying, "N-nanna knows everything."

"I'm sure she does."

"Sirrus! Achenar! What did I tell you about disturbing the poor girl?"

I looked up. An old woman had appeared in the doorway. She was wearing a faded dress of bright cyan and her long grey hair was braided down her back. Her face was alight with a smile despite the scolding she was giving.

"We're sorry, Nanna," said Achenar softly, looking at the ground. Sirrus mearly nodded. "Nanna" sighed.

"Alright then. Why don't you two go off and play while I speak with the young lady."

The two scurried out of the room without a word. The woman chuckled and watched them go. Turning back, she sat in the chair that Catherine had vacated earlier.

"How are you feeling, dear?" she asked. I was just going to say "fine", but something in her face made me stop. I felt as if I could never lie to this woman.

"Not too great," I admitted, laying back down on the pillow, "My head hurts and I feel a little ill."

"That is to be expected. You have a rather nasty cut across your forehead where you hit it as you Linked in."

"Linked in? Wha-?"

"You found a book, yes?"

"Uh-hunh. It was old and it had a moving picture."

"That, my dear, is a Linking Book. A long time ago, a race known as the D'ni wrote many Books that led to fantastic places beyond all imagination."

"Was that their language I saw in the Book?"

The woman nodded and smiled.

"Yes. The language, the paper, the ink. . . it is all very important to Book writing. But I have forgotten my manners. I am Anna."

"I'm Cecilia. I'm from Earth, which seems very far away at this point."

Anna's brow furrowed.

"Earth? Where, exactly, on Earth?"

"New Mexico. . . I found the Book in the crater of an old volcano."

Anna inhaled sharply in surprise, then relaxed.

"Was there a cleft there?"

"No, there isn't a cleft that I've ever seen, and I've lived there my whole life."

"I see."

Somehow, I felt as if I had disappointed Anna, and I felt sad at the thought. I decided to ask a few questions. Perhaps that would cheer her up.

"So. . . were those two boys your grandchildren?"

Anna laughed.

"No. Those two little dears are my great-grandchildren. I have but one grandchild: My beloved Atrus."

I pondered this a moment. Anna didn't look that old, but I guess she was one of those people who aged gracefully. I was about to open my mouth to ask another question, when two more people wandered into my room. One of them was Catherine, who still looked pale and. . . afraid? The other was a man, who was just as pale but much less fearful.

That must be Atrus.

"Ah, Atrus," said Anna, confirming my thoughts, "I was just speaking of you. This is Cecilia. She is from Earth. She found our missing Myst Book."

Atrus noticeably relaxed. He turned to me with a warm smile.

"Thank you, Cecilia. You have eased many of our fears by finding that Book."

Now I was really confused. I felt as if I had picked up a new book and just read the last few pages. There was defiantly something I had missed here. But before I could ask any questions, he and Catherine were gone again. Dejected, I closed my eyes and sighed, as did Anna.

"So hasty, my Atrus. Even as a boy, he would never sit still for anything."

I laughed quietly under my breath. Atrus sounded a lot like me.

"Is he a scientist?" I asked.

"Is he?" said Anna with a laugh, "Oh, he is very much a scientist. He is a scientist, an inventor, artist and writer. He loves the world and everything in it. So much, in fact, that he will stop at nothing to understand all of it."

Definitely like me.

"But now is not the time to talk about Atrus. Now is the time for you to sleep, Cecilia. We wouldn't want you to become ill."

She stood up to leave. But I had one more burning question, one that I had to know now before I did anything else.

"Anna?"

She paused, turning back to me.

"Yes, my dear?"

"Can I get back home?"

She hesitated, then, "I do not know, Cecilia. I do not know."

Yes, I know, another chapter that doesn't help the plot in any way, shape, or form. But I needed to introduce everyone. Hopefully, there'll be some plot type things in the next chapter.