Author note: Second Chapter of my very first attempt at a Fan Fiction story, please read and review, all comments gratefully accepted. I don't own any of the Broken Sky Characters, nor any of the themes depicted in the Broken Sky series, they belong to Chris Wooding.

Chapter 2

It was early morning in the Dominions and on a small hill above an idyllic valley two figures could be seen moving about a small campsite, doing chores and mundane tasks. If a wandering traveller took their time to get a good look they would notice a smaller third figure that walked on all fours, a dog, and they would also note that the two figures were a man and a women. Not wanting to intrude on the couple the traveller would move on through the valley heading north towards Tusani City passing a group of long destroyed buildings that were slowly being covered in the foliage of a small forest.

At the campsite the two figures had got a fire going and the man had produced some meat, which he proceeded to cook. The women glanced at the man with a slight look of dismay on her face as if to say 'this is one thing I may never get used to,' but she continued to chop the few roots that she had collected form various plants. The man noticed her glancing at his cooking and grinned.

"Not to fresh for you I hope?" he said still grinning. The female just continued chopping the roots in silence as if he had said nothing, "Not very chatty either." He continued to cook the meat and prodded it to test whether it was cooked, when he felt it was done he removed it from the fire and set it on a rock beside the fire to cool a little before tearing it into three pieces, passing one to the dog and tossing one to the woman, he kept one for himself. The female looked down at the meat and gave a little sigh before tossing her companion a bowl full of pealed and prepared root vegetables, which he himself eyed suspiciously. Pondering for a bit, he began to eat the meal they had prepared he noticed that his companion had not yet touched her meal.

"If you didn't want that..." he said, "I'm sure Blink will happily take care of it." the dog at hearing the mention his name perked up and brought himself over to his master, he sighed and ruffled the dogs head and again looked at his companion who still having not touched her meal, "Hello? Anyone home?" he asked his brow creasing in a look that could have passed for concern.

"Sorry, I just drifted off," Came the half-hearted response from the female, she turned to look at her companion before continuing to look down the valley, "This was where they lived... right here in this valley."

"Who ya rattling on about now?" Came the disinterested reply as the man steadily began eating his meal again.

"Oh no-one... it doesn't matter much anymore." Came the reply. She continued looking down the valley, as if to visualise the desolated buildings, whole again. Slowly she turned away and began to eat her meal. As the two finished their meal the female began to take down the two-person tent. She motioned to her companion to help her instead of just drift around lazily, "Come on Whist, we need to start if we are going to walk back to Tusani City."

The dog looked up and barked at the mention of his master's name, "Alright, alright. I'll just get our stuff together." She looked at him and the dog and gave them a funny look.

"I still don't get that connection you have with that dog." She commented to him. While Whist ignored her, Blink came up to her and looked at her in a way that gave her the feeling that the dog was intelligent. She tried to shake the feeling and continued packing up the tent. Whist however had finished and had put out the fire. No more conversation came between them when they had packed up. They gathered their entire luggage together, placed one hand on the dog and the other on the pile of luggage. In a blink of an eye all three figures were gone along with the bags, leaving no trace of their being there behind.

The countryside around Tusani City hid many things, just one of those things was a medium sized, squat house. The house had an attached garden that looked like all the landscaping was either natural or done by a master crafts-person. Birds fluttered from tree to tree, while a small stream flowed from up in the mountains down towards the city. All was peaceful.

"Peliqua? Peliqua? Where are you Peliqua?" Came a voice through open windows. From outside a figure could be seen dashing along the corridors that circled the house's edge. In a room a little distance form the running figure, another taller figure waited in both darkness and silence, she turned and waited to hear if she was called again. "Peliqua?" came a shout.

"I'm in here," "Where?" "Here," the figure said with a sigh; the anticipation of when the girl would arrive started to make her fidget. "Stop fidgeting," someone beside her scolded, "You'll give us away too soon." She tried to stop fidgeting and she only managed to fidget more.

The foot steps of the teenager came closer and closer making the figure hold her breath, the voice beside her didn't say anything in fear of giving itself away. When the girl finally reached the door, she peered in, her silhouette framed by the gardens beyond the window on the far side of the corridor. She reached for the glowstone cover to allow her to see inside the darkened room, as she did so the group clustered inside took a collective breath, and light flooded the room.

"Surprise!" shouted the clustered figured as they were exposed. The girl's eyes flew across the figures in a state of complete surprise, her eyes rested of one figure though. The girl surprised expression slowly changed to a smile and tears came to her eyes.

"Happy Birthday, Cousin." Said Kia.