Before all of this, I was a normal eighteen year old girl living small village life. I remember clips from my past. The

smell of baking bread. The sound of children's feet on the beaten dirt road that cut the village into fourths. But do you

know that every time I start to think back, I inevitably begin to remember the night my life changed forever. The scent

of flames and the clash of swords attach themselves to my every pleasant memory. And then the questions bombard

me. Why me? Why am I the one who is sought after? There are surely prettier women, and if someone was looking

to make me a bride I don't think that I'd be imprisoned. Dart says we're going to find out.. but maybe I don't even want

to know.

These are the thoughts that are running through my head as I'm stumbling mutely through the prairie. Dart is talking to

Lavitz about possible escape routes, but me? I'm just concentrating on standing up. I'm a tough girl and I'm mean with

the bow and arrow that I confiscated from Hellena, but I'm not used to all these new experiences. Killing. Getting hit.

Running… for your life. When the arrows start flying, that's when I wake up. I keep telling myself

"This is real. This is real life. To survive, you have to pay attention."

Lavitz collapses onto one knee in the grass. To shoot someone in the back is disgraceful, but I'd do it too if it meant

survival. Dart helps him up and we run up the path. I stumble a few times, but they can't see me.. I'm a step behind --

as always. Finally, we found refuge in a small shack down the path. Lavitz sat on the dusty wooden floor and I

surveyed his wound. The arrow just grazed him enough to cut his side open and make him lose a lot of blood. Lavitz

is trying to suppress his agony but I can still hear him groaning and panting. After I've bandaged the wound, he turns

around to me.

"Just try to get some rest," I say, "Take it easy."

The sun is filtering through the caked dirt on the window and it hits his blue eyes, making them glitter and squint a bit.

"You'll make a good wife some day."

He glances at Dart, but I'm not noticing. I'm busy staring at the dirt and sweat smeared on his sun-bronzed face.

Here's a real man. Right in front of me. Ten years older than me, easy.

"Let's go see about crossing the river," Dart spoke.

I must have been blushing as we set out to find something to use as a bridge.

Twenty minutes and one log later, we're headed out through a cave where we get in a few useless fights. Leave it to

Dart to pick a fight with a giant snake. He's always been a stubborn pig. Unfortunately.. he's also always been the

strongest guy I've ever known.

'Shana,' he would say, 'You should stay in the village while I go hunting with your father. I don't want you getting hurt.'

Or, 'Watch out for that jump, Shana. It's pretty steep. You might get hurt.' He's never let me do anything by myself.

But for some reason I've never told him off. I've hinted that I was a big girl. All I could ever do is just sigh and stare at

him lovingly. All my life I've been forcing myself into this frame of being his wife. I knew that one day we would be

together. But now I'm beginning to have second thoughts. Just watching Lavitz move is exciting. I barely know him

but I feel drawn to him. As we emerged from the cave, the sun was beginning to descend upon the flatlands and we

headed for the gates of the capital. Lavitz turns to look over his shoulder and flashes a smile at me. His muscular jaw

is outlined in gold by the setting sun.

"Wait until you see my house!"

I have no idea what's ahead of us. Hell, I have no idea what's behind us. All I know is that I'm beginning a transition.

In as little as an hour my entire world has been tipped over. My veiw of myself has been skewed. The return to Seles

seems less likely with every step I take, and freedom has never seemed closer.