A/N:  Stef's chapter!  This will be short and sweet (the AN).  We have a plot, people, and it's coming along well!!!  We own very little!!!  R/R!!!! 

~Stef

All four left Kazul thinking about the things she had told them. Shera was even more confused than she had been before.  She had the answer to some of her questions, but even more questions were brought up.  She knew she was the tool of fate, now, but what was she supposed to do?  Where should she journey to, to find out about herself? 

They came to Shiara's kitchen, and sat around the table.  Shiara was pouring tea into five cups, but asked, "So what are you lot going to do?"

"I don't know," Shera said miserably, accepted the tea Shiara handed her with a smile of thanks.  "I thought I was a regular princess until three days ago.  All this stuff is new to me."

"Me too!" Gavin said, "I came on this stupid quest because my parents told me to, to rescue some annoying, empty-headed, brunette princess, and I suddenly find out I'm some guy out of a legend, and the rock my fairy-godmother gave me is some sort of special magical talisman!"

Aerida spluttered on her tea, but Daystar quickly spoke up before the two could start another fight.  "Speaking of your stone, Gavin, I've got an idea about that.  You know what it did to that wizard's staff?"

"Yes…?"

"When did you meet a wizard?  What did it do to his staff?" Shiara interrupted them. 

"Argelfraster wouldn't work at first,' Daystar explained patiently, "And the wizard tried to do something to Shera.  Shera jumped sideways, crashed into Gavin, who dropped the stone.  It went rolling towards the wizard, touched the staff, and suddenly the staff exploded into splinters of wood.  Then Argelfraster worked, and I melted the wizard."

"Oh," said Shiara, frowning slightly.  "That doesn't sound good." 

"No," said Daystar, "but Gavin, we need to find these other two parts to your stone.  When it's all together, we can find out more about it.  And maybe we'll find out more about you two being the 'needed,' and whatever the 'Core' is, too."

"That's better than any ideas I could come up with… so long as you don't mind coming with me, of course."  Gavin agreed quickly. 

"Of course I don't mind!  Besides, if I stay at home, Mother will make me have more etiquette lessons with Willin.  And I thought she'd already taught me everything!"  Daystar pulled a face, and Shiara stifled a laugh.  

"Got to learn about kingly etiquette, have we?" she asked evilly. 

Daystar replied airily, "Oh, it's nothing compared to all the lessons you'll have to take once you leave Kazul's service.  I hear princess lessons are very hard, and I'm sure the ones on queenly etiquette are even worse.  Right, Shera, Aerida?"

"Extremely hard!" Aerida said with fervour, while Shera nodded vigorously.  Daystar laughed at the fire-witch, and Shera suddenly realised the nature of their relationship.  They evidently weren't 'just' friends. 

"Not to break the atmosphere, guys, but what should I do?" Shera asked.  "I'm supposed to go on some sort of journey, too."

Shiara thought for a moment, "Why don't we go together?" she suggested, "I know you haven't been in the Enchanted Forest long, and that's probably where you'll have to go to find out about your place in the prophecy.  I'm sure Kazul won't mind… she'll want me to help you."

"I'll come too!" Aerida said suddenly, "Dragon will want to go on an adventure. Oops, I mean Belvio.  I keep forgetting he chose his name this morning!" Then she added, "If you don't mind, Shiara.  But I'm sure it will help if we have a dragon along.  Not very many things dare to attack dragons." 

Shiara nodded eagerly, and Daystar asked who Belvio was, before Gavin could begin to say whatever he was about to say to Aerida.  Shera hid a grin, she would bet everything she owned that Gavin had been about to say something impolite. 

"Belvio's my dragon," Aerida said. 

"The dragon we travelled with when we first met," Shiara supplied.  "He finally got his first princess: Aerida!"  Daystar grinned at her words.

"Yes.  I'll go and talk to him now.  He'll say yes, I know he will!  Where shall we meet in the morning?" Aerida asked. 

"We'll meet here, at nine o'clock, I think.  Meanwhile, let's follow Kazul's advice and sleep.  I've got plenty of rooms for everyone."

~*~*~

The next morning the ever increasing group (of Shera, Gavin, Daystar, Shiara, Aerida, and the small dragon Belvio) met outside Kazul's caves.  They would have met inside the kitchen, except Belvio was bigger than Shiara and Aerida had thought, and didn't fit.  Daystar and Gavin left, to get permission from Daystar's parents, and then to search for the magical object that housed the stone.  Then Shiara, Aerida, Belvio, and Shera left. 

They decided to take the long route to the Enchanted Forest, because some of the more trustworthy princesses had gone missing in the Caves of Chance, and Kazul had placed a ban on them until she had found out what was wrong. 

The walk to the bottom of the mountain was uneventful, surprisingly enough.  Shera had been expecting another unpleasant wizard to turn up, but none had come by nightfall.  Meanwhile, she had become good friends with Aerida and Shiara.  Shiara told her, as she had already guessed, that she was a firewitch (most of the time), and betrothed to Daystar.  Aerida said that she had just become Belvio's princess, as she didn't want to have to marry Gavin. Belvio then informed Shera that he had captured her entirely by his own skilful dragon prowess and that she had in no way 'allowed herself' to be 'captured' . Aerida had rolled her eyes and smiled affectionately at the dragon, and Shiara just grinned. 

Halfway through the day, Suz had caught up with them, and asked to come along.  The trio (Belvio had gone off ahead to search for a meal) accepted readily, but whenever they asked him why, he politely refused to tell them.  Shera also noticed he kept a distance away from Shiara, and that the firewitch pointedly ignored the little lizard.  When they were setting up camp for the night, a make-shift tent between two trees and spelled by Shiara to be waterproof, Shera asked Aerida why Suz and Shiara didn't seem to get on.

 "It's Shiara's cat, Nightwitch," Aerida explained.  "Nightwitch pounced on Suz once, when he was meeting with Kazul, and made Suz lose his tail.  Suz was very upset… and Shiara had to give her cat to Morwen to look after, after that.  Neither will talk to the other, until one of them apologizes, which isn't going to happen soon."

Apart from that, the day was uneventful.  In fact, it wasn't until mid-afternoon that anything interesting happened at all.  In the middle of the forest, the group came across a glade.  A big glade.  A glade of brown, dead moss.

~*~*~

Shera was surprised, Aerida looked faintly puzzled, but Shiara and Suz reacted strongly.  Suz said a string of not-so-polite words, muttered something that, to Shera, sounded like 'sneeze,' and then ran off into the trees, and Shiara turned completely white. 

Aerida immediately asked Shiara what was wrong, but it was a while before she had recovered enough to speak.  At last, she said, "Wizards do this.  They suck up magic from the forest, and it goes into their wands.  But it's never been this big before!  And it hasn't happened for ages, either.  Not since… well, not since King Mendanbar made it really hard for wizards to get into the Forest."

"You're right," said a whispery voice from behind Shera.  The three of them whirled, to find an old woman standing there, leaning on a cane.  "The time has come for the Guardians to do their work.  When the Trinity is restored, the Guardians will protect the fate of the Forest."

The three stood with open mouths, staring at the woman who had so casually stated a part of the prophecy they had just learned about.  Shera suddenly remembered her manners.


"Excuse us, mistress, we did not see you there.  I believe you startled my companions and myself.  Whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?" 

The old woman laughed.  "You don't fool me, girl.  You're no empty-headed princess… none of you are.   I am Darella.  The three of you, I believe, are trying to find out about the prophecy?"  

"We are.  What do you know about it?" Shiara asked brusquely. 

"Much more than you.  My father made the prophecy.  Of course, I can tell you little of it… you must learn of your place in legends yourself.  Perhaps when matters become a little clearer I can give assistance.  In the meantime, there is perhaps one thing I can do… give me your hand, child."  This last was directed at Shera, who obeyed without hesitation. 

As soon as Shera's hand touched Darella's, she felt a strange shock go through herself.  She suddenly had images running through her mind, Gavin, Suz, Gavin's stone, the brown clearing, Darella, herself, a sword-sheath, a book that she vaguely recognised, and once more, a lasting vision of Gavin.  She stood back shakily.  Darella was frowning. 

"I did not think that would happen- but perhaps it is for the best," Darella said.  "Would the group of you like to stay with me for the night?  My house is in that direction, and even with a dragon it is not wise to travel in the Forest at night.  Yes, I know who your fiancée is," Darella said, correctly interpreting the look on Shiara's face, "that does not mean that evil cannot befall you, especially here, in the company you are keeping.  I invite you all, even the Dragon, back to my house to rest the night." 

The three girls exchanged a glance, and then Shiara smiled.  "Thank-you, Darella.  We would be happy do accept… if it is of no inconvenience to you."

"None at all.  And perhaps tomorrow you would like to meet someone interested in your cause- a student of mine."  She looked them over again, her eyes lingering for a moment longer on Aerida, and then she led the way to her house, across the clearing of burned moss.  She moved quickly for all that she used a stick, and they were soon standing in the front of a house next to a stream.