"Arelle? Arelle? Wake up, Arelle," Moren whispered, gently shaking the sleeping girl covered with blankets awake. She yawned, looking up at Moren.

"What is it, Moren?" she asked groggily, pulling the wolf-skin blankets off of her enough to look at Moren.

"We should start early this morning, Arelle," Moren said, still speaking quietly.

"Early?" Arelle said, looking up at him, "whatever for? It's so very cold. Shouldn't we start lessons later today, once it warms up a bit?"

"Arelle, winter is already upon us," Moren said, "It'll only get more and more cold. We should try to get all the training in we can before it gets even colder."

Arelle sighed, sitting up on the mat. "Very well," she said, grumpily. He smiled at her pouting face. She noticed it and glared at him.

"Arelle, you want to be able to control your magic fully, right?" Moren asked.

Arelle's face turned serious and she stood up. "That's right," Arelle said. "That's right, Moren,"

Moren smiled at her. "Come, Arelle," he said, walking towards the forest. They walked quietly, so as not to disturb Akinen, who was asleep by the fire, or Lilliah, who was asleep in the tent.

*********

In the forest, Moren sat on a fallen tree while Arelle sat in front of him, on the ground.

"Everything has a flow..." Moren began. Arelle sighed inwardly, preparing for a long talk from her teacher. "You can feel the flow of everything around you, if you sit down and look for it with your mind. Your magic is powerful for your age, Arelle. But you can't control it. Sometimes you unintentionally send out a negative magic. It disrupts the peaceful flow of everything around you.

"See, magic is just manipulating the flow. What you're doing is you're manipulating the flow of something to change it. A good caster? can always feel the flow around him when he concentrates on it. He concentrates on an area he wants to burst in flame, and he uses his magic to manipulate the flow so that it's disrupted and bursts into flame. When a caster wants to heal a wound, he concentrates on a wound. He can feel the flow of the wound, and he uses his magic to focus on that wound, and he heals it by manipulating its flow.

"Some casters, though, have forgotten this. They've forgotten that everything has a flow, and they cast their magic differently. Even if you don't feel the flow-even if you don't even know about the flow-you can still manipulate it in some ways. Like you, Arelle. You didn't know about the flow, but you could still use magic. What you have, Arelle, is an incredible ability to manipulate the flow. Without feeling the flow, if trained correctly, some are able to cast spells by just concentrating on something, and the flow is automatically manipulated, without them even knowing what they were doing was manipulating it. But to be a true caster, to truly know what you're doing, and truly be able to use magic, you must be able to feel the flow. Do you understand, Arelle?" Moren ended.

Arelle had heard all this before. It was one of the first things Moren had taught her, actually. Yet still, she liked to hear it again. "Yes, Moren," Arelle said.

He smiled at her. "Then I guess it's time for practice," he said, getting up.

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

"Are you ready, Arelle?" Moren asked.

Arelle looked at the items Moren had placed before her. Sitting between two wooden bowls of water was an unlit candle. "What am I supposed to do, again?" Arelle asked, looking up at him.

"Light the candle without disturbing the water's flow," Moren said. "But first, you must feel the flow of everything around you."

Arelle closed her eyes. She concentrated on the forest around her. She had done this often before, but still she found it difficult.

"Clear your mind of everything but your surroundings, first," Moren instructed.

Arelle tried to clear her mind. Then she started to picture her surroundings in her head.

Suddenly, she remembered last night. She remembered it vaguely--she was still half-asleep when it happened. She had been having a nightmare... Then, there was a voice. A soothing voice.

"I will always protect you, Arelle..." she heard the voice in her mind, " I will always protect you."

Who could it have been? It must have been Moren. She remembered how she relaxed completely after hearing his words, and how she had immediately fallen into a deep slumber. It was because... because no one had said anything like that to her before. "I will always protect you, Arelle," she heard it again in her mind. It felt so reassuring. Would Moren always be with her, then? He would always be with her, to protect her? But she was leaving, going back to Felwithe, as soon as she learned to control her magic! Would he come with her there, into the city he hated? Surely not. She would have to leave him. She would have to leave him!

"Arelle!" Moren said, both strictness and concern in his voice. "Are you concentrating?"

Her eyes flew open and she looked over at Moren with a look of great distress. He was taken aback by her look, and rushed up to her to see what was wrong.

"What is it, Arelle? What's wrong?" He asked, concerned.

She didn't respond.

"If the practice was too hard, I'm sorry," he sighed. "I'm sorry, Arelle. I shouldn't have woken you up so early, then dragged you out to do this hard exercise. I just thought it'd be for the best."

"No, that's not it..." Arelle mumbled. He looked at her.

"It isn't? Than what is it?" Moren asked.

Suddenly they heard a voice coming from the direction of camp. "Moren! Arelle! Breakfast is ready!" the voice, which they recognized as Lilliah's, said.

Arelle stood up now. "Shall we go eat, Moren?" she asked.

He looked at her, wondering about what she had said, but then nodded to her. "Yeah," he said.

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

Weeks Later

Arelle and Lilliah stood next to each other, the fire in front of them, both wearing warm fur clothing.

"Moren and I are finished with our lessons, now," Arelle said. "I'll help you make dinner, ok, Lilliah?"

"Ok, Arelle, I'll be glad to have the help!" Lilliah said cheerfully.

"Let's make rabbit stew tonight," Arelle said. Lilliah looked at her.

"Rabbit stew? We had that last night! Let's have fish tonight, instead." Lilliah said.

"Let's have it again tonight. Rabbit stew is good in winter. Grandmother always said 'on a cold winter day, stew warms the body and the soul'," Arelle said.

"Yes, but stew twice in a row isn't so good. You should vary what you cook. Therefore, we should have fish tonight," Lilliah replied.

"You always choose fish!" Arelle exclaimed, now somewhat frustrated.

"And you always choose rabbit stew!" Lilliah snapped back.

"But Moren likes rabbit stew!" Arelle said. Lilliah looked at her, and Arelle blushed under Lilliah's gaze.

"Oh, so that's how it is, is it?" Lilliah said jokingly, smiling at Arelle's blushing.

"Oh, and like you don't constantly vote for fish because it's obvious it's Akinen's favorite!" Arelle shot back, and now Lilliah flushed slightly.

Out of the corner of her eye, Arelle caught sight of two men quietly stalking into the forest.

"And where are you two going?" Arelle shot at them, hands on her hips, with a stern glare on her face. Akinen and Moren paused and turned to her, guilty looks on their faces.

"We were going hunting..." Moren began.

"Really? And you weren't planning on leaving me behind, were you?" Arelle said, walking up to them.

"Arelle," Moren said, "you should stay by the fire and cook! It's so cold out there—wouldn't you rather Akinen and I went hunting alone? And you could stay by the fire? Besides—it's dangerous!" Moren said. Akinen was silent, but he nodded, agreeing with Moren.

They both backed up slightly as she glared at them and reached for her bow, which was leaning on the tent. "I'm going with you," she shot at them, simply but forcefully.

They nodded to her in confirmation. "Ok!"

Arelle, Moren, and Akinen stalked off into the forest. Once they were gone, Lilliah

sighed, picking up a metal pot used to cook stew in.

"How old is Arelle anyway?" Lilliah said out loud, "She looks so young! She certainly has a will of her own. Arelle's too mature for her age... it's abnormal!" Lilliah said to herself, smiling. "It sure is amusing to watch her boss Moren around all the time, though." Lilliah chuckled.

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

That night, Arelle, Moren, Lilliah, and Akinen sat beside the campfire, eating their rabbit stew for dinner.

"I want to thank you again, Arelle and Moren, for letting us stay with you for a while," said Akinen. Moren smiled and nodded to him, and Arelle nodded to him slightly, too.

There was a silence as they all ate their food.

"So, Arelle, how are your lessons going?" Lilliah asked Arelle, braking the silence.

"They're going pretty good," Arelle replied.

Moren smiled happily as he said, "What she means is, they're going wonderfully, Lilliah! I'm so impressed with all Arelle can do! She's a natural—I've never seen anyone like her."

"Arelle is different, isn't she?" Lilliah said, smiling. Arelle looked up at her.

"She certainly is! Who would've thought that out in the middle of a forest there lived a talented, cute, powerful, wise young maiden High-Elf?" Moren said. Now Arelle flushed deep, and looked down at her feet.

"She's so mature!" Lilliah said, "And so young!"

"How old are you, Arelle?" Moren asked.

"I'm thirteen." Arelle said, after pausing briefly.

Suddenly, there was a loud howling in the distance, and the party immediately dropped their conversation.

"That's an odd-sounding wolf...it's not a normal wolf." Moren said, looking towards the direction it came from.

Suddenly, there was another call. And more and more answered it. Howling filled the air. Arelle unconsciously stepped to Moren's side. Moren drew his sword, and Akinen and Arelle also drew their weapons.

"Wait!" said Lilliah. They all looked at her. She stepped out in front of them.

"My friends, I am here!" Lilliah said. Suddenly, Arelle was aware of black forms coming out of the dark forest. Suddenly, one lunged at Lilliah.

Lilliah toppled over laughing as the wolf began licking her face. Soon the rest of the wolves were out of hiding, too. There must have been at least ten of them! All of them circled around Lilliah, rubbing against her legs and licking her playfully. Lilliah continued laughing as she petted them fondly. All the while, Arelle, Moren, and Akinen stood a little ways off, watching the scene.

"These your friends, Lilliah?" Moren said, smiling.

Lilliah smiled back. "Yes, they are. My guardians and friends," she replied. Then suddenly the wolves came over to the Akinen, Arelle, and Moren, sniffing them all.

"Do you remember Akinen, my friends?" Lilliah said, pointing at Akinen. Suddenly all attention was on Akinen. All the wolves now circled around Akinen's legs, licking his feet. Akinen laughed as he reached down to pet them.

"Apparently they do, lass!" Akinen laughed.