Disclaimer: I DO NOT own the characters that you recognize. They belong to J. K. Rowling. ^^

Two to One

Prologue

A warm breeze fluttered through the dense foliage. Scattered moonlight littered the footpath winding beneath the trees. The crickets softly sang and lightening bugs danced in the darkness. Small night creatures fled the path as a girl tread softly on the worn grass. Her smooth, dark curls, dappled with moonlight, lifted with the breeze as she primly walked through the night.

Silvery music pushed through the air as the pathway wound by the stream.

The path ended at a spring, but the girl did not stop as earth rose to support her; as she passed, it sifted silently back into the frothy water. The girl stepped onto the small island in the middle of the spring where the old weeping cherry stood; the dark trunk stretched gracefully upward, the branches flowing down, laden with small blossoms. The girl silently knelt underneath the canopy of blooms.

Time passed before an ethereal figure shimmered into the girl's view. Her head slowly lifted, taking in the fabric flowing around shapely, diaphanous legs in the light breeze. Her eyes traveled to a smooth waist, an ample chest, and a face almost too beautiful to look at. The spirit's hair, a mirror of her own, flowed with its raiment, almost concealing the metal piece holding the stone that signified its place in the worlds: Winona, the first born.

The divinity smiled indulgently at the budding girl. It was her sixteenth year and she would be leaving. She would travel over many waters to reach her place of providence. Now the time was pertinent to give its gift of knowledge.

"Faine, my young child," said the deity, " tomorrow is the beginning of your sixteenth year and your new life. You will be traveling far to cultivate your unique gifts. But there is one last thing that you need before you go."

A kiss was lightly pressed against Faine's smooth forehead and she felt as though her heart was gushing over with warmth; the figure tilted before her. As the dizziness disappeared her eyes found a small ball of fur in her lap. She looked quickly up at the divinity before her; but, on seeing Winona's intent gaze on the ball, she slowly looked back down. After a moment the fur ball moved. It extended and stretched to reveal a miniature Siberian tiger, no bigger than a house-cat. It stretched again and yawned, looking up at Faine with HER green eyes. It purred softly and sat down in her lap.

Faine looked back up at Winona with amazement lying over her face and found the deity's eyes looking at her with merriment.

"Ora will be your companion."

"What, exactly, IS Ora?"

"She will tell you later, but now is not the time. It is time for you two to leave. Morning approaches and you need to return to school." And, with that, Winona vanished.

(A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first fan fic, so please R & R. Some name help: Winona was a legendary American Indian princess, from the Dakota tribe I believe. The name means first born. Faine is an Irish name (pronounced Fen-yah) and I'm not exactly sure what it means. I found it in Juliet Marillier's Child of the Prophecy and I just fell in love with the name, but my character is not Juliet Marillier's Faine. They are DIFFERENT. And Ora means aura in Japanese.)