I know this fic is off in cannon, like Urtho having a great, great (how ever many of those) grand daughter, and the thing you'll read about Jervis, but the whole point to fanfiction is to make us weird things, even if the outcome would be really weird in the normal cannon. Please don't flame me on this, because I already know it's wrong, I'm just trying to have a little fun! Thanks!

Touse: Plus, she's really weird and likes to make that known with her fics!

Author: -glares- Well, please enjoy, and please review, I want to know what you think about this fic!

Chapter 4, The Journey Begins

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'Change comes........'

Those words stung in her head as Firewind woke with a start, sweat drenched, knowing something had either happened or was happening. Firewind sat trying to catch her breath.

It was four years since she had gotten here, and she had even aged accordingly, oddly enough, so she looked to be twenty-five instead of the young and naive twenty-one year old who arrived here. She had quickly learned how to use her skills as a Mage. She had reached Adept level a few weeks before, and was just touching up on her final skills. she trained with Urtho, and still lost more times than she won. She knew she'd never be as strong as he was when he died, let alone with what he knew now.

Firewind could feel she skin crawl as Urtho used a Gate to travel from the meeting with the Gods, to her room. Urtho came through the Gate which formed in her mist door, and stepped through quickly.

"My dear, I just came back from a meeting like talk, and we have decided to let you know that you are complete in your training, and that I think that you know more than what will be useful when confronting another mage. I have just been informed that you must leave. It is your mother's Time, and we figured that when this came, you would be allowed to go to her. Please take care of yourself, and always watch out for those you love."

Firewind's memories came flooding into her mind like water, past the dam she had built to keep them out. She remembered all of the good times she had spent with her loving mother and her eyes stung, threatening tears, her mother was dying. She nodded slowly to Urtho.

"If you ever need me, or the Star-eyed, we will always be there to listen to you. Just find the moonpaths, and I will be waiting for you. If you ever should need help with your gift, call and again I shall be waiting for you. Firewind, take care of yourself....." Urtho's voice faded as the surrounds blurred and then vanished.

Firewind closed her eyes for fear of getting sick. Her stomach felt nauseous. All of a sudden, she felt solid ground beneath her feet and opened her eyes.

Right in front of Firewind, there stood a small building. This was the house that she remembered her mother and her having so many good times. She remembered when they had first moved into the house, the first time that she had snuck out of and back in to it. Then came the question, what had happened to her brother?

Firewind walked briskly over to the house and opened the door. On the floor of the tiny home, there laid her mother. She was older than Firewind remembered, but that had been five years ago when she last saw her. She was gasping for air and there were tears in her eyes. Her mother's heart was failing, at least that was the impression that she got.

"Mother?" Firewind walked cautiously into the house and knelt down beside her beloved parent.

"Firewind, is that, you?" Her mother gazed at her with pain filled eyes and started to cry. "It is you! Firewind, we all thought you were dead." She was having trouble speaking. "Axel found Clyde when the storm was strong, He came galloping into the village and he figured that you have either been thrown or got injured some other way trying to get away from the storm. I always thought that you just got injured and you'd come back eventually, since you were always a great rider. Why did you not come back before this?" Her mother coughed so strongly, it racked her body. She was dying faster than Firewind had hoped.

"Mother, easy now. I did not die, no, but the story is more different that you think. I have been with the Gods mother, with the Gods! For the past four years, They have been training me and now They let me come back to you. They said it was your Time, mother. You must not fight death. They told me themselves that you would be alright, and that you are now going to be with them. I love you mother, I love you so much. I'm sorry I never came back, I'm sorry that I never gave you any sign about me still living. I'm so sorry mother." This time, it was Firewind who broke out into tears.

"Firewind, the only thing that would ever have made me happy, before I died, would to be able to see you one last time. I have gotten my wish, and even a blessing from the Gods, saying that They are waiting for me and I will no long have to suffer in this world. Firewind, it is not your fault, you are not to blame for anything, so do not say you are sorry, for I forgive you of all things you ever did or will ever do. Firewind, I have something that I must tell you, and a few things that I must give you. You see that cupboard over there?" She pointed to a tall wooden cupboard in the corner while breathing heavily, and letting out another racking cough.

"Yes, that is the one that you would never let me touch." Firewind looked at the dark brown cupboard in the corner of the small house through blurred eyes.

"Well, that is because it hold things that I never wanted you to have, until you were old enough to understand them. you may now open it and see what is inside. There is a box, one that has been passed down through the generations. I want you to have it now, and I also want you to try and read the scriptures on it. There is also a letter in there, from your father. I know that you never knew him, but it may tell you some things about him. I have never read it, so you will be the only one to know it's words, other than him. There is also another letter in there, one I meant to get to him, which I never succeeded in doing. I know that you will eventually go looking for him, so please take it with you and give it to him if you ever do see him. I also have a piece of parchment in there with his name and his last known position, it may come in handy. That is all I have to say to you, my daughter." She paused for a minute coughing again. "I must leave now daughter, just like the Gods told you. I am glad They were there for you." Her mother smiled and another tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek, before her spirit left her body and went to the Gods, the place Firewind had just left.

"Good-bye mother. I will never forget you." Firewind whispered while holding her mother's body in a tight embrace for the last time. 'From now on, I must remember that she is always with me and that she would never leave me.'

Firewind laid her mother into a peaceful position and stood. She said her prayers and knew that her mother was watching her from above. She thought good and hard about what she had said about the mysterious corner cabinet and soon decided that if she did not open it now, she would probably never open it.

Firewind walked to the cupboard and opened it sliding doors. Like her mother had said, it contained four things. Two letters, addressed to two different people, a small black box with writing carved in it's sides, and a piece of parchment. She took the box out and turned it, so that she could see the beginning of the writing. the writing was in the language which Urtho had taught her, well, copied into her mind. She set the box down onto the small table which sat three people, or it had in the past. She then grabbed the two letters and the piece of parchment, and set them carefully down on the table, and closed the cupboard doors.

She turned to face the table and the items, and realized that there were three letters now in her pile, rather than two. She read the quickly scribbled name, and realized that it was addressed to her mother, from her brother. Firewind cursed herself for her stupidity about not asking her mother about him, and wondered if the letter would tell her about his where-a-bouts.

Firewind opened the letter and noticed that it had probably been read many times before.

Dear Mother,

If you are reading this, then you can probably see that I have left home, and I wanted to tell you that you shouldn't worry about me. I found the letter from dad in your forbidden cupboard, and I'm sorry for intruding on your private area. I anted to tell you that I have gone to see my father, and I'll try to be back as soon as I can.

Love, Your son, Axel.

So, her brother had gone to see their father. At least that answered one of her questions. she folded up the letter, and placed it on the left side of the table, as to not mix up what she had read, and what she hadn't.

Next, she picked up the piece of parchment from the table, and read it's contents. there were two lines of words, and Firewind read them a few times over.

Jervis

Forst Reach, Valdemar

The first name was completely intact, but she couldn't seem to make out the last name, which had faded. Forst Reach, Valdemar. This was the place where she would find both her brother, and her father. She knew she had to find out where this Valdemar place was, and fast. She needed to tell Axel that their mother had died, and she wanted to meet her father.

She set the page down on the left side slightly higher than the first letter, marking it as something she should bring with her on her travels. Next, came the letter from her mother to her father, knew she shouldn't read it, so she put it in the same pile as the piece of parchment, to take with her.

Firewind reached over, and grabbed the letter from her father, and figured that it was long, after feeling it's weight and thickness, and decided that she should get out of the village before anyone found her and considered foul-play with her mother. she placed it on top of her mother's letter, and decided that she would read it sometime in the near future.

There was one final thing on the table which was still on the right side. That was the black box which had the old language written on it. Firewind picked it up, and Felt the magical power flow from it through her hands. She turned the box until she found where the message started.

If you are reading this, you are of the lineage in which Urtho, the Mage of Silence was once part of. He left this box to you, and you only, so read carefully to find the way to unlock it's power inside.

Firewind read on carefully, taking in each bit on information o how to open the black box. As she finished each line, she did what it asked her to do, and each line light up in a bluish colour to signify that she'd already completed that part of the intricate spell. when the last line filled with the blue coloured light, the box shook slightly, and grew so hot, that she dropped it with fear of being burned. the box cooled, and the top popped open, and it folded out to reveal a small ball of fluffy something.

The ball wriggled, and began to form itself into something recognizable. The thing became so bright, that she had to shield her eyes, and when she felt the tingle of magic around the room, and felt the light disperse, she removed her arm from in front her eyes. She looked down on the creature that had been small enough to fit in the hand held box a few moments ago, look up at her in the form of the creature she had seen so many times in her dreams over the past few years.

:It feels good to be out of that tight space! I was starting to think that Urtho would never let you come back here to unleash me!: The dog stretched it's body and gazed up at with his ice blue eyes. :I think that we should get going. Your people will come looking for your mother soon, and you don't want to be here when they do. Get together some camping supplies, and some food, and we'll be on our way.:

"To where? I don't know the land beyond these plains! I know nothing about cultures, languages, maps or anything about the 'outside world,' as my mother called it." Firewind questioned the dog while she automatically got ready her supplies, and enough food for her, the dog and a horse for about a weeks time.

:I know you nothing about those lands, but I am full of information about this time, and times to come, even near a thousand year beyond this time, I know what the land will look like, who will rule what and what will have happened, though I am not to let you know those things. Urtho placed this information in my head so I could cope with life, and the information may change on it's own as people do certain things to change what he thought was most likely at the time he made me. I am to place into your mind maps, languages and culture information when night comes, so you can sleep the headache away. But we need to get moving right now, so get that horse of yours, and lets get going!: The dog left the house, pushing the door open with his black nose, and walked quickly to the stables.

'Ths is certainly going to be an interesting life Firewind!' With that, she followed in the dog's wake, ready for her long adventure.