A/N: Goal for new years: get this story finished! Sorry about the excessive wait time...I promise the rest won't take as long to update!

As the day drew on, Pyre couldn't get her mind off the dream. In a way, it almost seemed to be a memory, but that was impossible. She threw herself into her chores but no matter how hard she chopped wood or how intently she plucked weeds from their miniscule garden, dark thoughts lingered.

The old man had said her mother had been alive this whole time. She paused brushing her horse, a brown mare with a white stripe down the middle of her face. She had been a present for Pyre's birthday from her father; he had named it astald'er, though she was not sure of the meaning. The mare nuzzled her, trying to encourage Pyre to continue her brushing. Pyre smiled and gave the horse a final rub down.

"You are too spoiled, Astald'er...you know that?" Pyre said as she scratched the pony's nose.

Pyre's thoughts went back to the old man once again. She couldn't get it off her mind. The young woman squared her shoulders and set off to the house. There was only one way to settle this, she decided. The closer she got to the house, the more uneasy she was about asking her aunt about the strange man's stories. She entered the house and could hear the older woman in the kitchen. She dragged her feet until she was standing in the doorway. She could feel her heart trying to jump out of her chest. She wet her lips before she opened her mouth to speak.

"Keatheri," Pyre started, not exactly sure what she wanted to say. "I met an old man in the forest..."

"Hmmm...That's nice," Keatheri replied nonchalantly, not bothering to look up.

"He said he knew my mother."

Keatheri froze for a second. She turned to look at her niece still standing in the doorway. Her face held an emotion that Pyre could not precisely place. Pyre's mother had been her sister and Keatheri had taken her absence the hardest. She slowly turned to the children playing in the corner, wiping her hands on her apron.

"Jurane, Kytomi, why don't you take your play outside dears, it's so beautiful out today," she said to the twins. They shrugged, picked up their toys and headed outside.

The older lady was silent for a moment. Her eyes were filled with worry and concern. "What...err...what else did he say?" She asked finally. It was almost as though she didn't want to give anything away.

Pyre narrowed her eyes, her aunt had never been one to hide things from her, but she could tell there was something she wasn't saying. "He said she was alive."

Keatheri muttered some curse under her breath. Pyre sucked in a sharp breath and waited for her aunt to continue.

"Um, Py, sweety, you might want to sit down.." Keatheri started. She took and deep breath and began speaking softly, "Your mother didn't die when you were younger, she was a special woman. She had Talents. Back then, evil ruled the world. More so than it does now. The people were being taken advantage of and were unable to defend themselves. Your mother was found by a group of people who wanted change and, like herself, were different. She went with them for the greater good, she did not want to leave you, or any of us for that matter, but she did what she thought she must, to provide us with a better world to live in."

Pyre didn't know what to say. She was frozen in her spot by the door. Her mother had been alive all these years. Everyone had lied to her. Who could she trust now? Had her father known?

As if reading her mind, her aunt continued, "Harland wanted to protect you, Pyre. He refused to go with the others because he wanted you to have a normal life. Her leaving hurt all of us, but she made her choice, just like we all made ours."

Questions swirled around in Pyre's head, but she could not find any words. This was not happening. It must all be a bad dream, or a sick joke.

"Why did nobody ever tell me?" Pyre finally asked, fire burning in her eyes. She still could not believe everyone she knew had lied to her. The older woman reached out a hand to her niece, who recoiled at the attempt. Her aunt sighed and sat down in the small chair.

"Harland begged me not to," she replied, hanging her head. "He had hoped that if you did not know, you would not go after her. She chose a dangerous path to walk down and your father did not want the same for you."

Keatheri kept talking but Pyre couldn't hear anything. Her mind was racing. Abilities? What was her aunt talking about? Her mother AND father had them? And her? She had never noticed anything abnormal before? What was this lady talking about?

"Pyre?"

The young girl's head snapped up and her dark green eyes focused on the other woman. Pyre stood for a moment in silence, not sure what to do. She felt the walls closing in on her. The air inside the small kitchen suddenly became too hot, trying to suffocate her with its muggy fingers. "I need to go," she said suddenly, turning on her heal and heading out the front door. Once outside, Pyre broke into a run and headed straight for the forest. Her aunt followed her to the front of the house, calling her name but Pyre paid no attention. She continued down the road, not looking back. How could this happen? She didn't care where she ended up. Bolting into the forest, Pyre raced at full speed, trying to clear her mind. She couldn't see, couldn't focus. She closed her eyes and continued to run. She wanted to forget everything she had just heard. She wanted to pretend none of this had just happened. Suddenly, Pyre slammed into something solid and fell back. She landed hard on the ground, ripping her palm open on a rock.

"FIRE AND LIGHT!" Pyre hollered, holding her hand close to her chest. Her hand was throbbing and blood began pouring from the open wound. She looked up to see what she had slammed into and saw the old man she had met earlier. She tried to scramble away, wincing as she put weight on her injured hand. Artok crouched down and took her bloody hand in his. He put his other hand over top of it and closed his eyes, muttering softly to himself. Pyre tried to pull her hand away, but she found that she couldn't move. Her entire body was frozen in place, except her eyes, which flew wildly back and forth. After a few moments, he dropped her hand and Pyre could feel that she had control of her body once more. She tried to jump up but in her rush, she fell awkwardly again, landing hard on the ground.

"Please, calm down," Artok sighed. "You're going to injure yourself again and I don't have enough energy to keep healing you."

Pyre looked up at him in surprise. He nodded towards her hand, which she had totally forgotten about. It was still covered in blood, but it was no longer throbbing. Pyre dabbed it lightly, in order to assess the damage and realized there was not a scratch. She wiped her hand on her britches to clear away the blood. Still, no scratch. It was as though she was covered in someone else's blood and not her own. Pyre looked up in astonishment. She realized her mouth was hanging open and snapped it shut.

"How...how did you do that?"

"There are a many number of things you do not know about this world, Pyre."

Pyre glowered at the older man. "What do you want with me?"

"I would just like to talk if that is acceptable," he replied calmly.

Pyre eyed the man, and then nodded slowly. He held out his hand to her and she grabbed it, pulling herself from the ground.

"You left in such a hurry, child, you forgot these," Artok said, holding out her hunting knife and bow. Pyre murmured thanks and replaced her weapons to their homes. She opened her mouth to speak but the old man silenced her with the wave of his hand. "Now is not the time for questions," he said calmly. "You are in grave danger and we must leave now."

Pyre shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere with you until you explain what the hell is going on here. How do you know me? How do you know my mother?"

The old man turned quickly and looked into the distance. "We must leave, child. There is no time for questions now," he said again. He grabbed her wrist and began to run deeper into the forest. She followed his awkwardly for a moment, then pulled her arm free and stopped.

"I am no-"she began to say but was silenced by the sound of horses behind her. She spun around just in time to see an army of soldiers in red coats. Pyre cursed under her breath and ducked into an overgrowth of brush. She watched as they passed her without a word. There had to be at least one hundred men, all in the satin red coats with embroidery on the chest and right sleeve. There were few with horses, but all were decorated with the same red plumed face masks. One near the front carried a flag with a symbol she had never seen before. They were all armed with swords or crossbows. Pyre wondered where they were headed when she caught a glimpse of the dark man again. His dark cloak hung around his body and trailed off the back of his great, black mount. He eyed the trees like a hawk, looking for anything and everything, it seemed. He scanned the area where she was hiding and Pyre ducked out of sight quickly. She tried not to breathe. After a moment, she glanced up to see if he was still watching and saw him staring directly at her. He sat atop his stallion, not moving a muscle. Like a perfect statue again. The soldiers continued to follow their path, but he, as well as his horse, were now stationary. Pyre met his eyes and could not move. She wanted to run but was unable to. Dommerth narrowed his eyes and his mouth only just twitched enough that Pyre was unsure whether it actually had or not. One of the soldiers came to his side and began speaking quietly to him. Dommerth slowly pulled his eyes from Pyre's and spoke with the other man, still not moving from his spot. Pyre ducked down as low as she could and watched the captivating man through the leaves that were concealing her. The soldier turned his mount back towards the front of the column and Dommerth looked back to where she had been. She could see his face tighten only slightly. He took a step in her direction when the soldier called him. Glancing once more into the trees, Dommerth turned his mount and galloped to the front of the marching soldiers.

As the last soldier passed, Pyre felt a hand on her shoulder. Another hand covered her mouth just in time to stifle a scream.

"Please," she heard the old man whisper in her ear, "We need to go now!"

Pyre turned slowly and Artok put a finger to his lips. She nodded silently. The old man turned and started walking up the hill. Pyre took one last look towards the soldiers, now disappearing into the trees, then turned and followed the old man deep into the forest.