When the sun filtered into my room, I woke up. Dark Fur was still snoring beside me. I left the bed, got a dress from the coffer and went to the bathroom. Dark Fur's Snoring stopped and she raised an ear. She opened her eyes not, until I came back to the room cleaned and dressed up.

"Good Morning." I smiled. "You slept well?"

*You're a better sleeping companion that Diam, if you ask Me.* I could not help the laugher that followed the statement. *Shall we get something to eat?* She jumped to the floor and led the way to the kitchen.

The sun had come out a few minutes before, therefore no one was awake. Almost no one. The cook and her helpers were already in the kitchen preparing breakfast. While I was there, I helped them prepare everything. Shira arrived and took me to the garden, through a glass door of which the southern wall of the kitchen was made.

"Come on," she said. "Practice is about to start and Adrian hates it when someone is late and you shall not see him mad."

Everyone was gathered around two fields that consisted of yellowy sand. In the southern part where the forest began were some hay piles and a target put in them. Bows and arrows were put in a holder next to them. To my left, were some more holders, this time containing swords. Women and men were dressed in comfortable brown trousers and white shirts. I felt a bit ridiculous with my green dress, although it was one of my comfortable ones.

"Warm up!" Adrian shouted. "Hey, Jonathan, you do it today, okay? Where is the new girl? Desdemona, please come here."

It was rather obvious that the practice had started and that everyone was under Adrian's command. Dark Fur seemed to have something better to do, because she left me there alone facing the commander.

"Good Morning." I smiled.

"'Morning. So firstly, let's warm you up. I reckon you can run a bit, so for you it's only five turns around the two fields." He left me no time to protest because he was already running. I knew that his sense of hard work was rather distorted. He glanced back checking if I was behind him and I started to move. My feet hurt terribly, but it mattered not. I kept moving, my loosened hair flying into my face. I stopped once to tie my skirt up, so I could move properly.

My muscles felt heavy when I finished the five turns. I had no idea how many times they had to do the circuit, but they were still doing it when I finished. Uncle Desdiro was next to the tables, which where between the house and the sandy fields, and talked to Adrian. A young maid was setting the tables. She had soft brown eyes and light brown hair. Shyly she approached me.

"You should tie your hair, Miss. It's better for practice. Here I brought you something to tie it up. Do you mind?" Smiling timidly and tied my dark brown hair. She finished and took a look, then quietly smiled and left.

Adrian was next to me. "Ready for the next phase of the training?"

"What exactly are we training for?" I curiously asked.

"In first place, we train so we can defend ourselves. Second place, I cannot tell you that."

I raised an eyebrow ready to ask again, but he shook his head and led me to one of the fields, the smallest one. Once there, Adrian gave me a stick on which at the ends some white things that looked like pillows were put. He started to show me some movements. When I got used to the stick, he showed me some tricks and tactics to defend myself. Sometimes he left me alone while I was repeating the movements and went to see the others. It was about 11 o'clock when Adrian said that it was enough for the day. Lucky for me. My legs felt heavy and my feet hurt so much I did not feel them anymore.

Breakfast was found on the tables and everyone served themselves. Dark Fur appeared and sat next to me.

"Thank you for gracing me with your presence." I smiled.

*I had to go to train, a different training. One of our clan gives it in the forest, he really is fond of Adrian…* I laughed at that.

"You mean he has the same teaching technique?"

*And the same bizarre of idea of taking things easy…* She too was laughing in her kind of way. I appreciated her company.

"My, my, who would tell that Dark Fur likes someone other than Diam and Shira?" I recognized the woman coming towards me as being Kyra. "May I?"

"Why not?"

*I don't like her, Desdemona.*

"Dark Fur." I warned.

*She cannot hear me, remember?*

"What did she say?" Kyra asked. I thought fast.

"She was making a comment about how weird idea Adrian has about taking it slow, she said I looked like I have been through fire."

*Liar.* Her voice sounded joyful. She seemed to smile.

Kyra laughed at my little lie. "I would not exaggerate, but you look quite tired. And here between us, he does have a different interpretation of what it means slow and easy."

I laughed. It felt good being able to laugh and make jokes without someone looking at me, as I was weird and lunatic. Later, Gwen joined us. Many experiences were shared along with laughs.

"Your family is weird. I cannot talk about mine, because I left home pretty early to join Shira. I just know that they didn't let me do what I wanted. I guess the only thing I remember is the feeling of being caged..." Gwen said.

"The same as I felt... Dark Fur has told me you moved here when you were between five and seven years old."

"Oh, she did?" Kyra asked. "It's so good she has someone to talk to besides Shira, she has been busy and Dark Fur has spent some time alone, you know?"

"Yeah, with Diam not being here, she was lonely." Gwen said.

"She also told me Diam went on a mission. Do you know something about it?"

"We have no idea. We only know that it is quite risky, for what other reason would he leave his companion here?"

"You mean Dark Fur?" I asked. The fox hadn't mentioned that Diam had a lover, but maybe he had.

Gwen seemed to understand what I was asking. "Yeah. Diam is nice and really handsome, almost as handsome as Delano, but he is different from us. He never really fit in. I may not remember how my really family was, but I do remember that they were quite rich and that when I left they searched for me. Diam's family was not so rich and he had many brothers and his parents have not even noticed he is missing. I guess that may have fated his relationship with us." Gwen explained, her expression showing sadness and pity.

*It is true. He was desolated about it. They were his parents and they did not even care if he was there or not.*

"Maybe his parents had not time to care. If they had that many children and they were not rich, they have to work hard to feed them." I considered.

"Maybe." Kyra agreed. "Desdemona, you know your parents are looking for you?"

"Yeah, Lady of the Lake has sent many people looking for you and is asking around in cities."

"I would love to see your mother's reaction when Uncle Desdiro tells her that you are under his protection." Kyra smiled maliciously.

The blood ran out of my face and I felt dizzy.

"Are you okay? Desdemona?" Gwen asked softly. "Kyra, look at what you've done!" She shouted.

I heard no more, my thoughts stuck in my mother and in her reaction. She would not accept it. She would try to get me out of here.

"I just told the truth!" Kyra argued.

She would even use force to do so. She would… My mind went black.