Autumn in Ascalon. There was no finer time anywhere. The leaves on the trees were all a molten variety of reds, oranges, and golds, littering the soft grass like confetti and swirling through the crisp air on tufts of wind like little fairy dancers. Gai breathed deeply, turning his head to the right as he walked down the white cobble path at the imposing feature that was the Great Northern Wall.

It towered over the bustling metropolis that was Ascalon City. Hundreds of feet of white stone stacked high in magnificent turrets, arches, and spires that defied the sky, tickling the undersides of the clouds. For close to two hundred years, this structure had spanned the width of Ascalon, dividing it into the Northlands and Ascalon proper. Two hundred years of defending the beautiful kingdom from its northern neighbors—the Charr.

"Something wrong?" Alianne Longbranch was looking over her shoulder as she walked a pace ahead of him. The tip of the fishtail braid she always tied her hair back in swayed between her shoulder blades with every step she took.

"No. Just thinking about the Charr," Gai answered, taking one extra long step to catch back up with her. Unsurprisingly, Alianne balled her hands into fists at her sides, stony cold look snaring her green eyes on the road in front of her.

"The Charr," she spat. "To hell with those beasts." Gai sighed and patted her shoulder comfortingly.

The pair skirted the edges of the actor's stage, sneaking peeks at the rehearsing actors and actresses up on the stage protruding into the sunken pit. Gai easily spotted his mother dancing in a ring of other actresses, red-gold locks so much like his and Rayne's sparkling radiantly in the midday sun. The stage was constantly in use, always performing tantalizingly wonderful shows for the people of Ascalon to enjoy. Gai still came to watch his mother perform from time to time.

But not today. He could only slink by, hoping that the drapes and banners fluttering in the wind would be enough to mask his presence from the accusing motherly glare of Fiona Dalca. There was little she could do to really stop him now that he was of age, but that wouldn't stop her from mentioning it if she knew.

"Don't be scared, Dalca," Alianne crooned. She had gotten ahead of him again in the short amount of time he had not been paying attention. It baffled him how someone at least a head shorter than he was could move twice as fast, but that was Alianne. He smirked with a click of his tongue, easily closing the gap between them again.

One of Alianne's numerous contacts within the Ascalon Guard, Torin, was on duty at the gate when they arrived. He placed a finger across his lips with a soft shushing noise and creaked the heavy wooden doors open for them, waving them through the tunnel in the wall to the other side. Gai's grin widened as they squeezed through the opening. The Northlands were beckoning…

It was a much wilder place than the Ascalon south of the Great Wall, the untamed battlefield between man and nature. Old roads that had been built before the time of the Charr invasions had been neglected by all but time. Walls of stone houses crumbled into the dust, broken pillars of old rolled down sculpted hills to sink into the mud of the lakebeds that dotted the land like diamonds, and creatures fiercer than any south of the wall reigned here with iron jaws. It was with care that Alianne and Gai extracted their hidden cache of weaponry from the hollow tree that served as their vault.

"I want to show you something," Alianne said casually as she buckled the strap of her quiver across her chest. The shortbow in her left hand remained unstrung, but that would not be a deterrent if the need for battle were to arise. Gai shuddered lightly at the thought as he twirled his staff in his hands.

"Lead the way."

Their path was clear enough, despite the slick moss and mounds of dying leaves that obscured the dirt. Alianne wound her way through the old ruins, often times running a hand on the decrepit stone. She led him down to the lake, wandering the wall lined trail until Gai noticed the bright white arches nestled on the water's far edge. She led him over the natural earth bridge and up to the rust bitten wrought iron vines surrounding the Fleur de Leis on the open gates.

From there, it was down the small flight of stairs to the market square encased on all sides by the same white stone that all of Ascalon had been built with. Merchant stalls that held an eerie abandoned feel from all the cobwebs and tree spawned debris lined the walls, standing guard for the stacks of wooden boxes and barrels with goods that Gai was certain were no longer good for sale. Tufts of grass poked through the cracked stones imbedded in the dirt, threatening to tickle the calves of anyone who walked by too closely.

"Welcome to Piken Square," Alianne said, raising her arms even with her shoulders, palms facing the sky as she gestured around her.

"This is it?" Gai asked, placing a hand on the ornate stone plant box that was taller than he was, set in the center of the square.

"What's left of it." Gai removed his hand and looked back at his friend still standing at the base of the entrance stairs. "Another casualty of Charr expansion. It was a merchant hub until they were forced to abandon it when the Charr made advances."

"This is where you've been living?"

Alianne smirked, obviously proud of herself. "Yep. Here, it's easy to keep an eye on what those monsters are up to. Dunno how you people expect to accomplish anything by cowering behind the Wall. Rurik definitely has the right idea when he says to take the fight to the Charr." Gai sighed and shook his head, drawing a 'tut' from her. "I know you have to agree. Rurik is your friend and your father is a Warmaster! I know you have to already have a place lined up for you in the Ascalon Vanguard."

Ignoring the comment, Gai strode off to left, circling around the large rectangle obstructing movement in the square to amble aimlessly down the line of empty stalls. It would have been a fair of epic proportions, he decided as he looked at them. He could picture the balding old men and the plump, kind women hawking their wares in their boisterous tones.

"Hey! Don't you walk away from me, Gailardia Dalca!" Alianne hissed. She was trailing behind him, eyes wide and bright as she worked herself up into an argumentative mood. Gai continued on his way, ignoring the angry words following him until he rounded the corner at the end of the L shaped fort-like area, stopping under the leaves of the oak that had taken up residence many years previously. He heard Alianne plant her feet in the dirt a couple feet away from him.

"I don't actually have an official place in the Vanguard," he said at last, looking up the trunk of the tree to where the lowest branches split away flawlessly from the trunk.

"What?"

"I've had offers from the Academy of Arcane Arts in Nolani to join the Order of the Flaming Scepter for a couple of years now. Mom and Dad wouldn't hear of me joining until I came of age, and then I put it off for a year. They really want someone with my magic talents in their ranks and I'm running out of reasons to tell them no." Gai took the opportunity to glance back over his shoulder. Alianne was staring at him thoughtfully, facial expression refusing to express any emotion whatsoever. He chuckled lightly to himself. Same old Ali. He pivoted on his heels, question written in his eyes for her to answer.

"Nolani, huh? That's kinda far," she answered taciturnly. "Guess I'd lose my Charr hunting partner if you left…"

Gai opened his mouth to answer and promptly shut it again when the guttural growls and sound of pounding, clawed feet reached his ears. His eyes met Ali's surprised ones and the the two darted into the shadows behind the tree. Risking a glance upward, Gai noticed the group of creatures tromping past their hiding place on the ledge above the abandoned market square. Heavily armored creatures that strongly resembled very feral cats with pointed snouts that could walk on two legs and wield weapons as efficiently as any human. A Charr Warband on the prowl…

Adrenaline coursing through him, working more effectively than any drug, turned his attention back to his partner. She nodded almost imperceptibly and the two scrambled up over the nearest wall, using the broken slabs of stone as footholds. The Warband they were trailing moved noisily on ahead of them, masking any racket they made as they followed at a safe pace. Ali's fingers twitched as her right hand hovered near the string of her bow. Gai hadn't seen her string it.

As the group of five Charr rounded a bend in the road, Ali raised her bow and nocked an arrow, only to have a hand stay her string. Gai felt the boring gaze of her glower, but shook his head, gesturing to the sky. It was an ashy red, the color of blood freshly mixed with dirt. Anger was quickly replaced with puzzlement and she nodded fervently when Gai motioned that he wanted to move forward.

Gai felt the breath catch in his throat when they crested the nearby hill, overlooking the valley around them. In the very center roamed flocks of Charr—dozens upon dozens of them, swarming around a gigantic altar with a enormous basin filled to the brim with something that glowed an ethereal reddish blue.

"Gai…" The worry in Ali's voice was not something he was accustomed to hearing, immediately snapping his attention back from the Charr to her lying belly down near the edge of the hill next to him. "Gai, that's Bonfaaz Burntfur! He's a general in the Charr army."

He sucked in a great breath, whipping his head back around to get a good look at the Charr Ali was pointing out. Burntfur was dancing on the far side of the cauldron, thrusting the staff in his hand toward the sky repetitively as he did so, as if he was in the middle of performing some sort of ritual. The eerie stuff in the basin glowed brighter when his hands were thrust toward the sky, but nothing about it looked lethal as of yet.

"We have to tell Rurik," Gai said, inching away from the edge. Ali took one last look and nodded, sneaking away from the mob as silently as they could manage. I just hope Torin's still on duty on the other side, Gai thought as miserable images of the Charr having found some sort of weapon punctured his mind. This is going to take a lot of explaining…

*************

The floating bubble of water shimmered like a fragile diamond. It rotated slowly, spreading out sideways as it went, developing long wings and a thin, shapely neck that ended in a perfectly pointed beak. The mass of water shifted to accommodate the body size of the swan. The first flap of crystal wings drew cheers and gasps from the anxious audience of young girls.

"It's so pretty, Cale!"

"You're amazing."

Caleb Kohlman bobbed his head appreciatively at the high praise, twiddling his fingers expertly to make his swan perform for his captivated viewers. It stretched out its shimmering neck, tucking its little feet in close to its body as it glided soundlessly around their heads, drawing excited giggles from everyone of them.

He had closed his shop early, finding the task of staying on top of selling next to impossible with three young girls bombarding his shop in their quest to amuse themselves. Rayne, Gwen, and Aika had jumped up and down when he had told them he was going to take them back to Ashford for the rest of the afternoon. The three of them had raced down the road, leading their unwitting chaperone to his doom in the pool formed by the waterfalls trickling down in misty rainbows on the east side of the small town.

Thoroughly soaked since tripping down the ledge of the highroad and rolling downhill all the way, he was now sitting cross-legged on the little island in the center, creating glass-like animals from the water to amuse his young captors.

"Cale," Rayne said inquisitively as her bright blue eyes followed the path of the swan. "You're an elementalist, right? Like my brother?"

"More or less." The swan flapped its wings as it climbed above their heads. In a whirl, the water creature disappeared to be replaced instantly by a pointy star amid claps of awe.

"Are you a member of the Order of the Flaming Scepter?"

"Me? No… No, I'm not. I'm not quite talented enough to go to a prestigious place like the Academy of Arcane Arts. Why do you ask?" Rayne looked down at the ground between her folded legs, twiddling a piece of grass that she had plucked from the sandy shore between her fingers.

"I was just wondering," she mumbled, "because I wanted to ask you to tell Gai not to join them." With a snap of his fingers, the star exploded, showering the squealing girls with tiny droplets of water.

"Your brother loves you, Rayne. Regardless of how far away he goes and how things change, he will always be your brother and you will always be his sister. And don't you ever forget it." Rayne wrinkled her nose as though she smelled something vile, scowling deeply when a chuckling Cale shoved her lightly on the arm. "So, I hear you're getting old. Fourteen is it now?" Her expression changed faster than a storm could change its winds, sudden elation at the shift in topics shining through. She nodded vigorously to which he clamped a hand onto her head, ruffling her hair. "Thought of a profession you'd want yet?"

"I…" Rayne began.

"I want to be a warrior, just like my daddy," Gwen piped up, picking up her flute now that the water show seemed to be over. "But the mesmers outfits are so much prettier. And if I was a mesmer, I could be like Lady Althea and Rayne's mom!"

"Well, Master Nente has taught me how to use a bow. He says I'm really, really good at it," Rayne said quickly to prevent any other interruptions, using her arms to act out drawing the string back to her cheek while sighting down the shaft of an arrow. "I haven't missed a target yet!"

"A ranger, huh?" Cale said, scratching the tip of his beardless chin. "I dunno, Rayne. Could just have been really good luck, you know," he continued, sarcasm oozing from his tone, earning him a shove back from the younger girl.

"Nuh-uh!" she said. "It's not luck! You'll see. Someday, I'll be the best ranger in the whole world!"

"Sure thing, kiddo," Cale replied, stifling a yawn as he looked up at the distant horizon. The last golden light of the sun was fading, turning the sky into a painter's palette of crimson, persimmon, and amber mixed with the pale velvety night blossoming overhead. "Only someday though. Right now, you three need to be getting back to town before your mothers worry."

The three girls groaned at the indirect order, but did as they were told, shambling away from the cave and pool that had become their playhouse castle and moat of the afternoon. Rayne led the way, daring Aika and Gwen to race her home.

"Rayne, wait!" Gwen said just before the older girl shot off running. She stopped, toe of her right foot twitching in the gritty dirt. "Thanks for being my friend!" The younger girl thrust her hand toward Rayne, dangling something in front of her face. Rayne tentatively reached up and took it from her, turning it over in her hands. It was a shred of thick cloth with the elaborate embroidery of a red iris flower on it, outlined with flashing red sequins that sparkled in the dying light of the sun. "That's my most valuable treasure in the whole world. I want you to have it."

"Aww…thanks, Gwen!" Rayne answered, hugging the fraying scrap of cloth to her chest. "I'll take really good care of it! Always! I promise!" Gwen smiled, her chocolate eyes closing in her glee.

"I'll see you tomorrow, right, Rayne?" she said as they sauntered back toward the village under the supervision of Cale. The three would part in the center of town like always to go to their separate homes for the night.

"Of course! I'll see you tomorrow! That's a promise."