Disclaimer: Mar! I verily have no claim on anything in this story! ^_~ You know how the disclaimer goes, ne? Many glomps to Mercedes Lackey for creating as wonderful a world as Valdemar and as mystical a race as the Companions (and the other races!)

Original Characters: Herald-Mage Taythaleiya Shadowflame & Companion Alera.

Notes: Yes, another one. :p lol. Oh, this takes place (as you'll find out) partway through Magic's Pawn (Yay!) and during the reign of Elspeth The Peacemaker. I just wanted to write a Valdemar fic that takes place in the earlier part of the timeline. I'm going to write one that takes place after Selenay's rule, too, later… Ehe. ^^;; If you've read "Blue Heart" (featured in "Sword Of Ice") by Philip M. Austin and Mercedes Lackey, you'll know where the general idea came from. I just liked it. :p lol.

Echoes Of A Memory

Echo One: Snow-Bogged Herald

:You know, I really think you're starting to enjoy this.:

Taytha snorted at Alera's statement. :Of course not. Why do you think I paint?:

Beside her in the snow, Alera whuffed, his breath frosting in the cold and the blowing away in the wind, and stamped one of his front hooves. The sound was completely swallowed by the thick white powder that they were currently crouched in. :Probably because you were an artist in a prior life. Can we go now? We've been hiding here for nearly a candlemark and my tail is frozen. I'm surprised it hasn't turned into a block of ice and fallen off by now.:

Snickering from the mental image of a Companion-cicle, Taytha nodded and stood, squinting against the blowing flakes. "Well, I guess you're right. We waited long enough… they should be gone by now. Or at least far enough away that we can head home."

He raised a mental eyebrow at the mention of 'home'. :Which one?:

"Haven, actually." Taytha told him, "I need to report to the Queen."

:Ah.: Alera sounded distinctly disappointed. But he had always preferred a more remote life.

"No worries, Brother of my Heart," pulling herself up into Alera's saddle, she settled herself and patted his neck, "we won't be there long, and then we'll go home. But you know how it is with us…"

:Of course, Chosen.:

Alera heaved a sigh and started off, leaving Taytha to her own thoughts. She closed her eyes, crouching in the saddle to try to curb the wind. Her mind wandered over the events of the past few days, beginning with Elspeth's calling she and Alera back to Haven from their remote home in Hevenbeck and running through to the present. There was definitely something happening on the border, as the troupe of men that they had just been hiding from attested to. And she knew that before long she and Alera would be chest deep in whatever trouble was in Valdemar's future.

She was Taythaleiya Shadowflame. To those who knew her, few as they were, she was simply Taytha. And to those who didn't know her she was nothing more than a vague shadow of a memory, or an echo of the past.

As a Herald, she lived even more vicariously than most. A solitary soldier was she, though soldier as a term to describe her had to be used loosely. Assassin was closer to the truth, though she preferred not to think of either herself or Alera in that light.

In truth, though, she was much more than that.

Assassin, yes. Spy, yes. Murderer… well, there was a fine line between what she did and murder. One that she walked on most active days. And she was sure that, even if she and Alera, and even Elspeth, could justify her doings, there were those in the world that would not agree. To their eyes she was what she was most afraid of becoming, and yet, at the same time, had already become.

Light and thin, as well as nimble, and with shoulder-length, brown hair and dark eyes, she hardly stood out in a crowd. Yet, as with those in whose footsteps she followed, she rarely allowed people so see herself for who she truly was. There were dangers in her line of work, and being recognized was one of them.

She often thanked the Gods, for though they had bestowed upon her many Gifts, which were part of the reason that she lived as dangerous a life as she did, one of them had been the Mage Gift. Having control of magic as she did made disguising herself easier than it could have been…

Taytha wondered, really, why she herself had been born with as many Gifts as she had been. The Mage Gift, which she used primarily as a disguising tool for herself and Alera, Healing, which had come in handy during more than one mission in the past, and both ForeSight and a touch of Firestarting.

Four Gifts, especially with three – Mage, Healing and ForeSight – at an equal strength, was almost unheard of. But then, there had been more and more children with multiple Gifts coming to Haven in recent years…

In fact, she was sure that one of the Trainees, whom she had only met once, and while in the guise of a Bard, would be trained as her replacement for the unfortunate day when she was struck down during a mission. And that was the way she would die, she knew. She Felt it, almost as if her Gift of ForeSight was working, but not quite the same…

And when she was gone, and Alera had followed her to the Havens, she was certain that the boy she had met so many months ago would be the one to embrace the loneliness of the shadow's life.

"Tylendel?" She asked herself, making Alera cock an ear back.

He had been listening as her thoughts drifted, and now Spoke again. :Yes, that's the one, Soul-Sib. Savil's protégé. Gala's Chosen, I believe. With four Gifts, and all at near-equal strength, he's the best candidate for the job.:

:But could he handle it emotionally?:

Alera was silent, contemplating.

Both of them knew, as Lancir, through Taver, had been keeping them informed, of the goings-on in Haven. That included, unfortunately, the unpleasantness between the Frelennye and Leshara clans, and the effect it was having on the heir to her – ahem -- legacy.

:I don't know.: Alera told her finally, :he's a very friendly sort, and he might not do as well with isolation as you and I. Still, he'll be considered. I think in the end the choice will be given to Gala. She is the one who could best estimate her Chosen's abilities.:

Taytha nodded, agreeing.

It was the isolation, as Alera had mentioned, that had her concerned. The Shadow-Heralds, or simply Shadows, as she had begun calling herself and her predecessors, had always been a less-sociable kind than most. The Higher Powers seemed to plan it that way, as they knew the kind of lifestyle that would be required of them.

She was no exception, though she certainly wasn't typical for a Shadow.

Aside from Gifts, Shadows were Chosen and trained based on life experience and combat abilities. Usually they were plucked off of the streets, from lives of hardship and abuse, and, most often, thievery. Pickpockets and thieves, already trained in the arts of stealth and bare-bones survival, and used to being alone, were perfect for the job of a Shadow.

Taytha, though…

I may have come from a well-to-do House, but I certainly wasn't well-to-do. She snorted, even as her thoughts drifted to the many cold and sleepless nights she had spent, huddled in the branches of the willow tree that grew in the backyard, hiding from the man who insisted that she call him Papa. The bastard. It was all a sick game to him. "What did I tell you to call me?" "Papa! You're my Papa!" The sonofabitch got off on it.

She preferred not to think about her childhood, which involved things she wanted to put behind her and completely forget about. A mother that had forsaken her, an older sister lost to the slums of the city and selling herself to avoid coming home and a step-father who…

He had a taste for young girls, that's what he had.

A shiver, and beneath her Alera's hide twitched. He was still following her thoughts, and the memories she was currently visiting were bringing an unhealthy rage to the stallion's Mind.

:No worries, Brother of my Heart.:

:If he wasn't already dead, I'd kill him myself.:

She had no doubt that he was dead serious about it, and Sent a wordless pulse of love and gratitude down their Bond. It had been Alera who had rescued her from her life of abuse, and at that moment, when he stepped up to her and she drowned in the sapphire of his eyes, the nightmare had finally ended.

He who was shining silver, the same as any other Companion, but to her eyes shone more than the rest of the Herd. He, who had become her Knight In Shining Armor when he whisked her away from her Papa. He who was sarcastic and teasing, with a wonderful sense of humor and too much concern for things he couldn't change. He, who's twin sister, who had yet to Choose for herself, had become a playmate and second guardian. He who was to become her whole life in less than a minute.

Now, she didn't know how she ever survived without him.

She was no thief, when he'd brought her to the Collegium, but she'd known how to survive, and during her final year as a Trainee, Queen Elspeth had requested an audience with her.

Because of her specific and special skills, and the magnitude of her Gifts, they wanted to give her a special assignment. A Shadow-Herald, they called what she was going to become. A Herald that, by everyone's recollection, did not even exist, and never had. Every Monarch of Valdemar had one, just as every Monarch had a Monarch's Own. And when she had agreed, the Companions of the Field had all pulled, removing all recollection of her from the rest of the Collegia, and she had been forgotten about…

It had been hard, at first, not existing. It was as if she had never been born, and strangely, after a few days, Taytha herself began to feel almost as if she was only a ghost of a person. But the Queen remembered, as did the Queen's Own, Lancir, and her most senior of Heralds, Savil. All of the Companions, as well, though most of them did not speak to her.

It was those people, as well as Alera, who kept her grounded to reality.

It was a lonely life.

:On the plus side,: Alera interrupted, trying to brighten her mood, :we get all of the leave-time that we want.:

She chuckled. :That's true, Love. You know… once we leave Haven, we should spend some time with Lirr and the Clan. We haven't been to Sing with them in some time and I'm told that they miss is dearly.:

:And who told you that?: Alera sounded amused.

:Lirr, of course.:

:Of course.:

Lirr was a kyree of the Clan that neighbored their home in Henenbeck. They had a good rapport with the kyree, and it was a friendship that Taytha treasured as it was one of very few for her. She and Alera had, in the past, spent many wind-blown winter nights snug and warm in the Clan caves, listening to the oddly hypnotic sound of the kyree Songs. They were not Songs as Humans would think of them, but more of a mental humming… they lulled the heart and soul and set the mind at ease.

Taytha and Alera both thought that, perhaps, the kyree were Singing specifically for them, as Lirr had mentioned offhand that they rarely Sang when the Herald and her Companion were not present.

It made he happy, to think that they were Singing to calm her and her Soul-Brother. Having someone care about her that deeply was a new sensation, and one that she liked, though never allowed herself to get used to.

She never knew when it would all be over…

:You're slightly cynical, Chosen.:

:Thanks for pointing that out.:

:Oh, and sarcastic. I almost forgot.:

Taytha laughed out loud, forgetting for a moment about the driving snow and wind that was pulling at them from what seemed like all directions. Then, Feeling Alera's amusement as well, she patted his neck affectionately and glanced at the horizon and the falling globe of sunlight.

:What say we stop for the night?:

Alera flicked an ear, pausing in his steps. :Is there anywhere nearby?:

She shrugged and Reached with her Mind, Searching through the nearby nodes and energy trails of the forest and mountains. There were a great many trees, and several systems of caves. She searched until she found one that was, for the most part, blocked from the wind, and Sent Alera directions as she continued to follow the magic of the-

:??:

A blink. :Hello?:

:??:

"Oh." She felt silly, and gave the friendly neighborhood vrondi a sort of psychic tickle, making the little elemental giggle happily and go on it's merry way. When Alera Sent a questioning Feeling, she shook her head. :Just a vrondi. Keep going stright, the cave is just up ahead.:

:Hm.: Alera gave a mental nod, :trusting little critters, aren't they?:

:Too trusting.: Taytha agreed grimly, :I'm afraid for them, sometimes.:

Alera said nothing, but she could Feel that he felt the same as she did. Closing her eyes against the biting wind, she sighed and wished, not the first time, and only half-seriously, that she had remained in the life of a Normal Herald.

:Sometimes I'm afraid for us, too.:

Alera whickered softly. :So am I, Chosen, so am I.:

They slept soundly that night, despite the raging snowstorm outside.

Tomorrow would be another long day.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Me: Um, it may seem like it, but this is not over. A lot of background and character development with Taytha. Please don't yell at me for starting another fic! ^^;; *cowers* I've just got too many good ideas to wait until my others are finished…