Chapter One:
Nader

The raven and the horse
The girl and the dream
It is how you chose to say it
One thing remains unseen

It was not anyone's business who the strange girl was.

But, of course, in Solace everyone must know everything, and that included finding out who she was and what she was doing in the city with her conspicuous bird and a horse that followed her around everywhere she went.

The first few weeks that she stayed in Solace, no one could figure out even the smallest bits of information – just that she wore a large black cloak and had a pair of scaly boots. They were unusual boots; shiny ones that were colored dark green. All of the children said they were dragonskin boots, but nobody ever listened. The girl was strange, but not that strange.

Somehow, whenever the girl was around, the atmosphere changed. Even at the happiest of times, people quieted as she passed. It wasn't just the black cloak or the boots, either. There is something about seeing someone with a bird on their shoulder and a scarred horse walking behind them that sends out a mysterious aura to all standing near.

The horse was different than the ones that the rich people rode. It was, first of all, a mare – most rich people rode stallions or geldings and left the mares behind. Not only that, but she was scrawny. Her ribs looked as if they would poke right through her coat. The hair on the coat was polished gray, but it was speckled with dark flecks, making her appear somehow smaller and less important than if she had been a polished gray.

Eventually, the gossips grew impatient of hearing the same things over and over again and began to investigate. More things were discovered – simple things, but things that the people of Solace pondered over for weeks.

Her name was Nereida. No one had ever heard anything like it. It wasn't pronounced Neerida, or Nerehida, or Nereeda. It was pronounced Ner-i-ee-dah. Or, at least, that was what the gossips heard. At first, the Solacians weren't sure who was finding these tidbits about the strange girl, but it didn't take long before the culprit was caught.

Money cannot bring
The happiness inside
The tax collectors can't take away
My smile that spreads so wide

Nador was the first one to ever get close enough to the girl to talk to her. He was a curious street rat, and it didn't matter to him that people were getting sick and that it was supposedly the bird's fault. None of it mattered. In Nador's opinion, if he got sick, he got sick, and it wasn't anyone's fault except for perhaps his own.

Without this kind of so-called "bravery" no one would've found out anything about Nereida. Of course, Nador himself thought nothing of it. He thought Nereida was interesting. This was mostly due to the fact that Nador loved animals, and to think that someone had two animal companions made Nereida the most special person he knew.

He had met her purely by accident. As usual, he was being chased by someone for some sort of theft, when he ran into her. Literally.

"Shanya, you must have patience."

Nereida had talked to her horse for as long as she had owned her. She had picked her up at an auction. The traumatized mare ran around in her pen for almost two days straight before she collapsed of exhaustion. Inspired by her determination, Nereida snuck her out of Sanction and half-dragged half-rode her around Ansalon.

It was true, Nereida's travels had taken her around a lot of places that the average person would never even think of going. For a girl of fifteen, she had been to more shady bars than most men three times her age. Yet she'd also seen the city of Qualinesti at its finest and Huma's Tomb in the fall as the leaves cascaded down around its marble surface.

For Shanya's part, she was used to being addressed by her master. She was accustomed to having a large black bird sit on her withers and peck the parasites off of her skin, and anything else that he found to his liking. Himalak and Shanya got along just fine, and this suited Nereida perfectly, as she loved both her animals.

When Shanya and Nereida had conversations, there was usually not much response from Shanya's end that a normal human could understand. And though Nereida couldn't explain how she understood Shanya, she knew that the mare was intelligent enough to figure out her tone of voice and replied accordingly.

To her statement, Shanya snorted.

"If you don't," Nereida continued, "You will find yourself miserable. It isn't my fault that I can't find anything to eat in this goddamned city."

Again, Shanya snorted, this time throwing her head high and shaking her mane.

"Oh, stop it," said Nereida with a smile. "I know you're an impressive animal. Now leave me alone. I must have time to think."

Shanya chose to ignore this comment. The mare began digging her hooves deep into the soft earth and sent some spraying into Himalak's eyes. He let out a squawk of displeasure and shook himself, his black wings sending more dirt flying onto Nereida's black cloak.

The young woman narrowed her eyes at her raven and dusted the dirt off of her cloak with a bejeweled hand. "If x equals 453," she said, "And x equals the diameter of a circle... hmm... and if j equals the radius of the circle, what is the area of the circle?"

Digging in her bag, Nereida found a sheet of parchment and her quill pen, then began writing frantically on the paper.

X 453

J 226.5

A 3.14(226.5)²

If X equals 453, then the radius must be half of the diameter, which is equal to X. Therefore, J equals 226.5, which his half of 453. In order to find the area of the circle, you would need to multiply pi (3.14) by the radius squared.

L/3 X

X 29

L 87

This is a simple problem. If X is 29, then you must multiply 29 by 3 in order to find what L equals, because the original problem is L/3 which equals 29. Take the three and multiply it by 29 in order to receive the number for L.

M(7.5)³ K

K/8

At the end of the alleyway, Nereida heard a loud thump and a yelp. Getting to her feet, she strolled down the dirt road, searching for the cause of the sound.

Her eyes fell upon a small boy struggling in vain to escape from the metal cuffs that held him to the wall of Theros Ironfield's shop. Narrowing her eyes, she shoved the parchment beneath her cloak and walked over to where the boy lay, panting furiously.

"Excuse me, good sir," said Nereida solemnly. "Could you tell me why you are causing this disturbance?"

The boy looked up. He was incredibly scrawny – his ribs were visibly poking through his ratty gray shirt and his face was hollow, his eyes sunken deep into his white face. The eyes themselves were a strange shade of blue. They were almost purple, and they burned even brighter in the shadowy alley.

"What's a disturbance?" he asked in a raspy voice.

"You're one," said Nereida skeptically, kneeling beside the boy and inspecting the chains that held him captive with extreme interest. "Fascinating," she murmured. "I haven't seen metal like this since I was in Silvanesti. Those elves have no idea how to keep someone chained to anything properly." She snorted. "I broke out six times," she said, getting to her feet again.

"You can get me out?" squealed the boy.

Nereida nodded matter-of-factly. "Of course," she said, leaning against the side of the blacksmith's shop. "I could probably break you out of anything. Metal, my dear, is a very simple to deal with. It has no mind, therefore it cannot oppose you. You must simply..."

"Get... me... out... of... here..." wheezed the boy.

Nereida smiled confidently. "What can you offer me in return for my services?" she asked.

The boy considered this, lifting a metal-bound hand and scratching his head. "Dunno," he said. "I mean... I don't do a lot around here, so..."

Nereida yawned.

"Uh..." said the boy, "Uh... I can... I can give you a home."

"What?" said Nereida dully, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I can give you a home," said the boy. "It's not precisely the fanciest of places, but..."

Before the boy could finish, Nereida had knelt beside him and, with a quick jerk of her hand, the metal snapped beneath her fingers. "Get up," she said. "I may have use for you after all. Do you have a name?"

"Yes," said the boy in a shaken voice as Nereida dragged him to his feet. "Nader."

"That's not a name," said Nereida, dusting the boy off furiously.

"Yes it is," said Nader stoutly.

Slowly, Nereida drew her hands away from the boy called Nader's back. "Fine," she said. "Nader it is. Now, if you will just show me to this home of yours, that will make me a very happy person indeed."

Together, the two set off along the road, Shanya and Himalak at their heels.