AN: Hello all! Welcome the second chapter of Twilight in the Mountains! I just want to state real quick that I'd really appreciate it if you would leave a review for me if you choose to read this, as I'm sure all other authors think. If you leave a review for me, it helps me understand what I'm doing right, and what I did wrong; that way I can better myself and provide a more cohesive story for you to enjoy. Thanks! And enjoy!

"Stop that! Get down from there!" Ornn was desperately trying to persuade the sporadic girl to stop what she was doing and listen... and he'd been trying to do this for minutes now. And even now, the girl seemed to choose to ignore him and keep running around like a mother's toddler on a holiday.

Ornn attempted to multitask while he talked to her, trying to put some of the tools she left lying on the floor back on the wall where he'd deemed its home. But for every object Ornn picked up, that girl seemed to relocate three more.

"How undisciplined..." Ornn grumbled to himself out of frustration and disappointment. How deep did this girl's curiosity and carelessness run? It felt like she had been doing this for a year by now, even though it had only been minutes, and he still wasn't able to capture the attention of her. He was running out of ideas to do so, and she continued to make a mess of his home. He didn't want to get physical, as his strength would surely bring more harm to his home than she could ever cause, and it wasn't something he always liked to resort to.

But then Ornn stopped and thought of something. Perhaps that could work.

He looked up towards her, where she was now hanging onto a beam, raising a small iron sword into the air like she had triumphed in a battle. Though she was causing a mess, deep down, he was sure he enjoyed the sight of a little girl enjoying herself; but on the surface, he knew that he had to stop her ruckus.

Stepping back and turning away from her, he exited the room to the neighboring one, where his smithy table rested, the sword he had been working on the night he'd found her. "Guess she only plays with finished things." He stopped in front of the smithy table, taking up his hammer once again and examining over the sword. The blade looked well carved, but it had a long way to go. He ran his hand along the blade's edge. It was dull, and needed sharpening. He grasped the handle attached to the blade. It was rough, and out of place, still needing finishing touches. He looked over the lettering he had carved into the sword himself. As it was now, it was difficult to read; still needed to be sanded.

"This shall represent the fire. The one who brought this blade life." That was what he had carved, wanting to have his own masterwork sword representing himself. Of course, in the condition it was in now, he noticed some of these qualities described him too. But it didn't matter to him.

Lifting up the hammer, he breathed a wave of fire over the edge of the blade, turning it red hot. Clang. He brought the hammer down on the edge, to try and compress it together to make it sharper and leaner, and then listened. The girl has stopped for but a second before he heard her chaos begin again in the other room. Clang. He did it again. And again, soon forgetting about her entirely as he went back to working on his sword. His thoughts now only focusing on this one thing which he loved the most.

He remembered the other swords he had made before. He considered them good and well done, but those had never been made with this purpose. Ornn now desired a sword for himself. One only he could use for his own purposes. He wanted this sword to be that sword.

"Watcha' doin'?" Ornn stopped working as he heard that soft, feminine voice above him. He looked up to see the girl sitting atop one of the torch holders attached to a beam behind him, her wrists supporting her chin as she leaned down, looking at the sword.

"Hmph, working." Clang.

"Are you going to war?" Ornn heard soft feet hit the floor behind him, before he saw her saunter into his view to his left.

"Something like that." Clang.

"You're not Pantheon are you, because he likes to fight wars himself too, but he's mean."

Ornn had no memory of someone named Pantheon, nor did he really have the want to find out, but what he was looking for was a way to turn this situation around for his objectives. Somehow he wanted to get her to answer his questions without her realizing. He thought quickly, this one named Pantheon, it sounded like she knew that person well. They must have lived in the same place.

"I don't think so no. Where is this man from?"

He saw her do a cartwheel across to his right side, before she answered. "You don't know where he's from? He's from Mount Targon of course! My home. But he's a bad person, don't ever talk to him either, because-"

He had already tuned her out after he heard the answer he wanted. She's from Mount Targon? How could she have ended up this far away? She was nearly half a world away from where she lived.

He felt a hand pat on his right arm. "Hello? Are you listening Mr. Fire Goat? I was telling you about space doggy and how adorable he is."

This girl had weird nicknames for things. Clang. "Is this space doggy also from Targon?"

"Yes. No. I mean yes. I mean no? Is he? I don't know, I see him all over the world, but I could pet him until I die he's so cute!" So she travels the world.

"Oh you do," clang, "why do you travel the world?"

"Isn't that obvious? Because I'm a messenger! I deliver secret messages to people."

"So where is your horse then?" Clang.

"Oh I don't need one. I can use cool portals!" She can use... what?

"You can?" Ornn set down his hammer, finally making eye contact with her. "Then why don't you show me."

"O~oh, is this like show and tell!?" She jumped up and down in excitement. Of course, Ornn had no idea what show and tell was.

She took off towards one of the walls behind Ornn, before she turned back to face him.

"OK, watch this!" And she started to jump towards the wall. And Ornn heard a smack as her face hit the rock and she slid to the floor. What... just happened? Ornn moved towards the girl cautiously.

"W-what?" She got up and looked at her hands, before she ran towards the wall again, but hit the rock again, falling onto her bottom.

"Is this supposed to happen?" Ornn asked, now completely curious about what was going wrong, and what was supposed to happen.

He saw Zoe begin rapidly running her hands along the wall, as if looking for a secret button to open a secret door, her face no longer reflected that of a little kid's joy, but now of someone who had lost something dear to them. Ornn saw a tear streak down her face.

"I... I can't do it anymore." Whimpers coated her voice.

Something washed over Ornn then. A strange feeling, it made him feel like cradling her like he had the night he first found her. He quickly shut that away. Instead, he moved beside her, and rested his hand on the wall the girl has been trying to break with her face.

"Solid rock. Rock carved out by myself. Whatever you were trying do little girl, you weren't getting through this." He knocked on the rock several times.

She stopped crying then, looking towards his face. "So I can't do it because... you're preventing it?"

Ornn cocked an eyebrow. "What exactly were you trying to do?"

"I make portals. Duh~h." So that's how the girl is able to travel around. Well if that's so, then why is she unable to leave that way? He knows this rock is just same old rock, the kind you'd find at any other mountain.

"Hmm... then what message brings you here?"

"I-..." The girl looked down at her hands, folded together, the thumbs spinning against each other. "I don't remember."

"You don't remember the message?"

"No, I mean I don't remember how I got here... or why." Ornn noticed that saddened expression start to return to her face. As much as he didn't like the idea of a child's tears mucking up the woodwork floors, he wasn't able to think of a way to sugar coat it. "My powers are gone..." The girl began to sniffle.

"You said you don't remember how you got here or why. Do you remember how you lost these powers?"

Another sniffle before she shook her head. "No. I don't remember that either..." A couple seconds passed, before the girl began tearing up again.

Ugh, the choices I make for others. "Stop crying will you," Ornn began, "I'm sure the answers you seek lie in your homeland."

"But I'm in Frejlord, and without my powers, there's no way for me to make it back home." She sat down, criss-crossing her legs.

Ornn grasped one of her arms, and picked her back up to her feet. "I will seek out my sister, Anivia. She should have the ways to allow you to travel back home safely."

Sniffle. "Really?"

Ornn nodded, a rough grunt coming from him as he did so.

The girl sprang to her feet then, launching herself into a hug against him, nestling herself firm against his fur. "Thank you so much! I knew Mr. Fire Goat was a nice guy! My name's Zoe! What's your name?"

Ornn sighed. Just say it so she'll stop touching me.

"Name's Ornn... no further pleasantries needed."