Disclaimer: ...I don't own Valdemar or anything involved with Heralds or Companions, etc. They belong to Mercedes Lackey (bless her for inventing them! ^_^) and anyone else who might have a claim on them. Seraphim is a Companion, (as are Lani and Tessin, and Celeste is another character from later on...) and I made her up so I guess she does belong to me. Then again, she is a Companion, so I guess she doesn't belong to me. Hm. Now I've gone and confused myself. :p

Angel Wings

Chapter One: Prelude To Life

I've often wondered about the Gods. How could they have thought it a good idea to create a world where not everyone is equal? Where some are born with differences that set them apart from the others of their kind? Myself, for example. I can look like the others of my kind, but I'm not the same as them. That realization looms over my head at all times, though only a few others actually know how different I really am...

And so I wonder.

Yes, we are special. And yes, as our human partners are correct that we are closer to the Gods than they can every hope to become. We are privy to little-known information, but we are not told everything.

Just as we are secretive, so are the Gods who created us -- and for all the years that I have existed, they have not yet decided to reveal to me the secret of -- nor the meaning behind -- my existence and my startling differences.

I've finally come to the conclusion that I may never know, as has my Mother. She is one of only three others who know about my... quirks, and she was the first to discover them. She has always been very supportive, if somewhat frightened, and protected me when I was little. Now that I'm not so little I can protect myself, thought she still worries.

You see, we are unsure as to how the others will react when they find out about me... and so my secret is kept safe in a circle of four. Some day I may be revealed for all that I am and am not...

I was born, as everyone is, from my Mother. I was her first child, though, so she was nervous and frightened. And for some unknown reason she was sure that she did not want others present for my birth. So she wandered out into the Field and hid where she hoped no one would be able to find her.

Thus, I was born in the Grove.

No, no, not Grove born. Simply born -- from my Mother -- in the Grove. Thinking back, perhaps that is the reason behind my oddities... ah, but I digress. It was a stroke of luck that my birth was not complicated in any way, as sometimes happens with Companions. Normally a Herald is there in case something goes wrong and endangers the Mother or Foal, but Mother's stubbornness kept her far from anyone...

I have been told that she had nearly every other Companion -- and several Heralds or Trainees who had been dragged into it as well -- on a panic-stricken search for her. As a new Mother, and since I was her first child, there was worry that either one or both of us would be injured.

We were lucky, both of us...

When Gwena and Rolan finally found us, Mother was just standing to nudge me to my feet. Both were relieved to find us well, I'm told, and said as much to Mother, who at the time, ignored them in favor of me.

:You should not have hidden!: Rolan chided gently. :We were worried.:

Mother payed him no heed, and I was just opening my eyes for the first time so I couldn't respond...

:Tessin?: Gwena asked with a soft mental smile, :what is her name?:

At that, they finally received a response. Mother continued coaxing me to my feet and, without looking at them, replied; :her name is Seraphim.:

:She's beautiful.:

:Yes,: Mother said proudly. :She is.:

And at that exact moment, just as I managed to get my feet under me with Mother's urging, I tripped and fell forward to sprawl on the grass in a tangled heap of gangly legs. Gwena stepped back in shock. Mother stared at me, blue eyes wide, and Rolan regarded me gravely...

...for the instant I had landed on the ground, my sides had exploded in a mass of fine white feathers as tiny wings sprouted from my shining hide... those feathers littered the ground before the wings disappeared once again, sucking back into my shoulder blades... and they stayed there, shifting in the breeze, after the wings were gone; a testament to my differences...

:Well,: Rolan said seriously, :that was most unexpected.: