Special thanks to Myra the Sark, DragonInferno, Glowblade998, Kryst, ice wolf, Cheetha Suno, Guest and JinjaGirl25 for reviewing.

First off, Cheetha Suno I am sorry but I won't be able to write your story. I honestly thought I would have the time but, unfortunately, I got an F on one of my tests and I will have to spend quite some time on fixing that, not to mention my other studies. So I'm terribly sorry and as a token of my apology: This chapter is dedicated to you! Since I know you wanted to see Kanna and Zen, this chapter will be about how they all met!

And DragonInferno, I'll try to keep my promise, but I'm having some trouble with my Beta. And we both know my grammar is awful so I really need the help. But don't worry, I will keep updating it!

Anyway, enjoy!


The Monks of the Tebab Temple

He remembers someone leading him up the mountain, that the person's hand was soft as they held his small one. They walked through the misty, snow-covered path to somewhere high up in the mountain. They walked, but it was strange, there was no sense of time or tiredness even do it was a long and steep clime.

Finally, he and the person leading him stopped, their journey had ended when they found themselves outside a huge building, or rather the steps leading to the building's entrance.

The person lets go of Beyal's hand and turns. Without a single word he leaves Beyal at the steps of the monastery. As the figure retreated and vanished into the mist, never even glancing back Beyal feels confused by the departure but ever faithful, he waits on those steps for the unknown man that never came back.


Many hours have past since the mysterious person had left him, he can't recall how many. Beyal can only recall gazing sullenly at the snow and how it glimmered under the occasional ray of the sun that sometimes shined upon it.

Suddenly the door behind him cracks open, and the sound startles the young child waiting outside of it.

"Why, hello there." a friendly voice says. Beyal turns around to see who it is and is meet by an old but kind face staring back at him "And who might you be?" the short man asks.


Night comes ever so quickly, and the temperature drops a few degrees in the 'empty' temple. Beyal doesn't like this place, it's too dark, too cold and too empty. The old man, who Beyal now knew by the name of Master Ey said that many people lived here, but so far Beyal had't seen any. After Master Ey had given him something to eat and took him on a quick tour of the temple's library. He had left Beyal to explore the rest of the humongous building. The hallways were wide, lit only by a few torches but sometimes Beyal would come across closed door with light shining under it. Beyal could hear muffled voices behind those doors but was simply to shy to open them and see who was inside.

So he had wandered outside, or more precisely wandered to the roof - and there he saw something, a young girl sitting on the edge of the roof.

She had long, wavy snow white hair and her head was tilted back as she gazed up at the starlit sky above. She had bright brown eyes and she seemed to be deep in thought as she twirled a thread of her hair in between her fingers. She looked about seven, just like him. She didn't seem to notice him at first and just when Beyal was about to turn around and leave this stranger to her musings she called out to him to him "Leaving so soon?"

Beyal fidgeted a bit as her intense gaze locked with his.

"Um, hello." he greeted uncertainty and bowed to the cloak-clad girl. The girl gaze hardened and Beyal was surprised to find a scowl on her face.

"Don't do that." she said sternly. Her voice was quiet, soft, almost like a whisper and yet the statement was said in such an icy tone Beyal had immediately straightened himself.

"Huh?" he asked, confused. The girl's scowl vanished when Beyal stopped bowing and she turned her head to look back at the sky, the distant look in her eyes had returned.

"When you bow it's a sign of respect and you needn't respect me. You are looking for a friend, correct? You will not find one if you only show what you have learned." she said in a mater-of-fact tone. The girl lays down on the roof after that, putting her hands under her head.

Beyal looked at her questioningly "Then how will I find one?"

"Is that a question mean for me or for you?" came the reply. Again, the girl said it in that mater-of-fact voice that didn't hint a single emotion and continued to look at the stars. She looked too distant, like she was totally unaware of anything around her. A few minutes passed without either speaking, and then Beyal made a very important conclusion.

"Your a contradictory loony."

But to his surprise the girl only laughed. "See, I have not shown you my true self yet and you have already formed an opinion of me." she props herself up by the elbows and looks somewhere to her right, away from Beyal.

"Hey, Zen! Wakie Wakie, the avalanche is wild and shaky!" she says and for the first time her voice has some life to it.

"Let me sleep Kanna." Beyal hears someone say, and then the loony giggles "Ah, then I shall keep this little kid all to myself?"

That provokes a reaction from the other person and Beyal sees their third party peek around edge of the roof "What kid?" the boy asks in a curious voice. He looks a bit younger than the girl and Beyal can clearly see him under the moonlight. He has white hair, all though it has a grayish tinge to it unlike his.

The boy blinks when he finally notices Beyal and he slowly comes closer. Beyal fidgets under the intent bright-teal green eyes. Suddenly the boy grins and pats Beyal's head, smiling "Well what do you know Kanna! I finally found someone shorter than me!"

Then, before Beyal can even comprehend what just happened, Zen lifts him up and over his head. Beyal is stunned at how effortlessly Zen managed to lift him but the surprise quickly wears off "Hey put me down! I don't like heights!"

"But were on a mountain!" Zen protests, a confused look crossing his face.

"So? I like my feet on the ground!"

"But my feet are on the ground." Zen says, not at all seeing what made Beyal uneasy.

"Well mine aren't!"

"But mine are!" Zen protested again, then, it dawned on him and he put the shorter boy down "Don't you trust me?"

Beyal was complacently taken aback by the question "Trust you? But, I've just met you? I don't even know your name, I don't know who you are."

Zen blinks, and Beyal realizes he does this every time he wants to protest against something he said "So? Who said you need to know someone's name to know who they are. A name is like a label, so others can call you by it, understand?"

It was Beyal's time to blink "Um, yes?" he says uncertainty.

Kanna, who had by now risen and was standing behind Zen, chuckled "Looks like we have a deluded one here Zen." her tone was as monotone as ever, but she seemed amused none the less.

Beyal's brow furrowed "Deluded?"

"Yes. You are deluded little boy, you think as others want you to think, you act like an instrument and let others play you so easily. In a word, you're nothing but a part." she explained, but Beyal was even more confused.

"A part of what?" he queried.

"A part of what? A whole, what else?" Zen answered instantly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"A whole?"

"Uh huh, but you are not a whole. To be a whole you must have something that is not yours to complete yourself." Kanna explained "But for now, you need to find yourself. First start thinking for yourself."

"But... if I don't act like others... they won't except me..." Beyal protested weakly, his voice reduced to a mere whisper.

Kanna sighed exasperatedly at the proclamation "So many of us are born originals, why do so many die copies(1)?" she wondered out-loud.

"What?" Beyal asks, now utterly confused. Actually, all three seemed to be confused.

"You'll understand. Sooner or later, or maybe never - but I think you will." Zen said cheerfully. And right then and there, Beyal made another important conclusion.

"You two are kooky-crazy moon-gazers." he said blatantly.

Kanna and Zen exchanged glances, then burst out laughing "Yup, but I think the term your looking for is 'stargazers'."


He likes it here now, since he met Kanna and Zen. So the next day he goes searching for them. He finds them in the library, rearranging books and reading but they aren't alone. The library is full of many people of all ages, shapes and sizes. So he spends this particular day meeting everyone in the Tebab Temple.

He likes how all the people smile at him. They usually talk about things Beyal can't understand so that's why Beyal made a habit of cutting into almost every conversation the older monks had. They'd scowl at him, but they seemed amused by his curiosity and will to learn.

Yes, indeed, he likes it here now that it isn't so empty.


It's early morning and the sun is slowly starting to rise, bathing the snow in a soft crimson. Beyal was eight then and he was enjoying his life at Tebab Temple. He, Kanna and Zen had become inseparable ever since Beyal started his training and besides those two and Master Ey, there were a few others Beyal had grown fond of.

There was Trax for example, the monk who was unusually sent out on trips for needed information. He was one of the 'Seekers of Knowledge' of Tebab Temple, these people, Beyal was told, journeyed around the world in search of forgotten and sometimes unknown knowledge. So Trax and his partner, who was also his younger brother, Sky always came back with another exciting story.

And guess who were the first three monks to bother them?

Kanna always loved their stories. And it seemed Beyal's first opinion of her was right, she was an extremely contradictory person. She loved riddles and often spoke in them, which annoyed Zen to no end. Zen was an adventurer, hardly ever patient and quite impulsive but he had more empathy that Kanna, who often chose knowledge over feelings.

"Out again Beyal?" said the familiar voice "Come on, if Master Ey finds out you've been out here for the entire night..."

Beyal turns around to be greeted by the familiar sight of his friend leaning on the roof. He smiles at her.

"And where were you my dear Kanna? I haven't seen you anywhere in the monastery all night, nor yesterday." Beyal counters playfully.

She smiled back "Well, one cannot sleep with so many eyes watching." Ah, one of Kanna's many musings about the stars, she simply adored them but then again, both Beyal and Zen did enjoy the nights spent stargazing with one another.

"Why do you leave? Where is it that you and Zen go?" Beyal asks suddenly.

"Beyal, your first question is partly incorrect. You say it as though I go without the intention of returning, my legs may take me on faraway journeys but my companionship stays rooted." she said in that mater-of-fact voice "Friends are like stars Beyal, sometimes you see them, sometimes you don't - but you know there always there."

Beyal chuckled, yes, Kanna sure did have some strange musings "Then let me revise my question: Where is it that your legs take you my Moonlight Mistress."

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she said, clearly amused.

"Of course."

"But my dear, a secret isn't a secret anymore if it is revealed." she countered, a bit of her amusement seeping into her tone. This was another thing she liked doing, she never gave a straight answer.

Beyal thought for a moment, then a triumphant smile tugged at his lips "But the faith of it is solemnly in the hands of the keeper, and she should only have to keep it from those who do not need to know." And of course, Kanna laughed, just as he always did when he or Zen managed to answer her riddles.

"Your wit is better than mine, my friend."

Beyal wakes in cold sweat, looking around frantically, in search of a forgotten memory come to life. But he only finds what greeted him every morning for the past few months - his friends, all sound asleep as per usual. They had made it to the ship just in the nick of time, and much to Beyal's relief they hadn't had the time to interrogate him in the hurry to make it in time, after that they were simply too tired and forgot.

Beyal was grateful for the delay, he needed some time to sort out his feelings and reawakened memories.

The warm rays of the sun begun to filter in through the curtains, Beyal sighed, he needs some time alone.


(1) - this is a quote I read on someone's profile, but I can't remember who said it. If you know, please tell me.

And I hope everyone understood what Kanna and Zen were talking about. So, what do you think of them?