Prolog
No Road is Ever Old

The saddle was beginning to kill her butt. She couldn't say how long she had been on the horse but she knew that it was by far long enough. But there was still a few miles until she reached the town, and the inn that resided in it.

It had been years since she had last been to this town, and the letter had been marked urgent. It had even been brought by magic. The woman could sense the taint of Nuitari's dark magic on it, but that was not what was contained in the letter, she could tell, it was just who had made sure it had arrived where it ought.

After the spectral minion had disappeared, she had opened the letter from Dalamar and read it. With much surprise she had then noted that it wasn't from Dalamar per se, but actually from Tanin. Reading it she had left Tarsis where the one Temple to her God, the God that she was part of ironically, existed to head back to Solace.

That had been nearly a week ago and Usha was still miles from Solace even though she could see the trees and Crystalmir Lake. Heading down the last stretch of road, she was stopped by two Knights of Solamnia, "Halt!"

Usha reined in her horse, and the second asked, "Your name, your destination and where you are from, milady."

Pulling her cloak back so that they could see her face, they looked from one another as she answered, "Usha from Tarsis, I am headed to Solace."

Once, when she had first come to Ansalon, she had possessed white hair, faintly golden skin and golden eyes.

That was gone now that she had learned to control her gift, and she looked as she had been meant to look. Although, that was still not quite human. Usha now had light blue skin, dark blonde hair and hazel eyes. Her blue skin attested to her half Irda heritage, where the rest showed where she looked like her mother, a human. Unlike what Dalamar, and herself, had believed, her father had not been the human wizard Raistlin. In fact, her Irda half was solely due to her father, the Irda known as Keryl who had then changed his name upon taking on the role of the Protector of the Irda. Of course, Keryl had left the Isle of the Irda, and the new Protector in his place had raised Usha.

Her mother, a human from Kalaman, had died in childbirth. Unfortunately, since Usha did not know what her mother's name had been, and the Irda had never told her, she did not know how to go about finding her birth mother's family. The only man who knew had been the departed Keryl. She now, when her duties as the Guardian of the Blue Star did not keep her too busy, looked for her father.

This was the unfortunate truth of Usha's heritage.

The truth to her gold tinged skin was how close she had personally come to death and it had responded as armor and that also marked her as a Fragment of the Miiro. Given how prolific the tale of Raistlin and the Irda was, and that Raistlin had been another Fragment, people tended to draw another conclusion about Usha...

But she had learned how to control that armor and could now call it, and dismiss it, at will. And so she walked Krynn as she had been born to walk Krynn. As a half-Irda, yes, but at least now people drew that conclusion versus the other. Granted, this made ogres tend to attack out of principle, but you could not have anything.

And ogres tended to just attack those that appeared weaker anyway.

The Knight looked her up and down, "Just Usha from Tarsis, no surname?"

Usha quirked an eyebrow, "Am I human to require one? If you must, Usha al-Irda."

The two knights looked at each other, then closer at her. "al-Irda?"

"Half-Irda," she said pointing to her pointed ears, another feature that when she had discovered the truth had shown itself.

Evidently, the Irda had also cast the better morphing spells on her so that she could walk as a human. Too bad they hadn't figured that gold skin and white hair tended to stick out a bit in human society. Once Usha had broken those spells, her true appearance had finally shown itself. Among those traits had been her ears which came to a point. Humans often mistook them for elvish ears. Elves, and other ogres, did not as they were shaped differently. While still graceful and attractive, beautiful even, they were not rounded, but had more sharp angles.

But humans, thankfully, only seen 'pointy ears'. Well, humans in other lands than of Solace. Denizens of Solace held a lot of respect for her here as Caramon did. And since Caramon was still the Lord Mayor of Solace, his opinion held much sway. There was no need for her to hide her identity here like she had to in other lands where people still blamed the Irda for the Chaos War.

Here, they knew of innocent folly. One of their own had fallen and had redeemed himself. She was welcome. The Knight, also familiar with this, waved her through. "Thank you, Lady al-Irda. Be careful, there are brigands on the roads."

"That's the reason for the checkpoint?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," answered the Knight of the Sword. "Paladine ride with you."

"And you, Sword Knight," she called as she rode the horse down the road, more wary of possible threats.

The ride to Solace was a peaceful one and she rode into town, or under town as the case was, until she reached the stable at the base of the massive vallenwood that housed the Inn of the Last Home. It had been Caramon Majere who had called her here via the magical messenger from Dalamar, although she had no idea why.

Tipping the stabler as she left her horse to his care, she then climbed the winding stairs to the front door of the Inn. Usha pushed open the door and let the noise wash over her. With a small smile she made her way over to the bar as the Inn fell silent as the travelers noticed her. It was a reaction she was well used to, although, when the Inn fell silent, the denizens looked over, took note of her, then went back to what they were doing.

It was an interesting way to tell a native of Solace from the strangers. Those of Solace generally ignored her unless she spoke to them. Strangers simply stared.

"She's an Irda..."

"... what is that witch doing in daylight?..."

She stepped to the bar, tapped the tall, broad shouldered man with grey hair on the back, and smiled as he whirled around. It took two seconds for him to recognize her (minus the gold eyes and skin...), and another two to come around the bar and envelop her in a massive hug. "Usha!" Caramon cried happily. "It's been too many years!"

"Same here," she patted him on the back and he put her down. "You look well."

"As... do you..." he said in puzzlement.

"This is normal for me once I knew what I was supposed to look like," she said. "Being only half Irda has its downside. I can't shape change like the full bloods can, and fallen ogres still try to kill me anyway. But that's life."

At her stressed word, the strangers fell back to their whispering, but she caught a few sympathetic glances in her way. "So, why did you ask me to come back, Uncle?" she used the friendly term although he wasn't her Uncle. "Your letter said it was urgent?"

It might shut up the other half of the murmurers... and it did. If anything the activity in the Inn died as the last word sank in. Caramon shrugged, choosing to ignore the sudden lack of noise. Then again, he was mostly deaf and not able to notice it anyway. "Can you take Dezra off my hands for awhile?"

"Come again?"

Caramon took her by the shoulders and took her into the kitchen and began to explain, punctuating the explanation with a sigh, "She's been causing some trouble and I... I have to kick her out. I don't want her to be without protection however, she's still my daughter for all the trouble she's caused, and I think the time away would do her some good if she learned how dangerous it truly is out there."

Usha crinkled her brows in disbelief, bursting out, "You want me to babysit?!"

Those in the common room heard her outburst clearly, as well as the stunned disbelief in it and a few chortled. Especially those of Solace...

He made a placating gesture with his hands, "No, just take her out of Solace for awhile. Show her what real adventuring is without killing her."

Usha looked up to the sky, "Do you have any idea how hard that is going to be? Especially with what I am... and I'm not just talking about being a half Irda with how people view us now."

Caramon sighed, "Look Usha, I heard about your search for your real father. Perhaps Dezra, as a human, can get into places you can't."

Finally Usha sighed and threw up her hands, "I won't promise anything. I'll stay a few days. Let me talk to her and see what she wants."

With a curt nod, Caramon agreed. "Good, how is the search going?"

"It isn't. Every time I have a lead it dries up," she said in frustration. "Keryl, if he's still living, has effectively disappeared from Krynn, it seems."

"Krynn is a big place," said Caramon. "Don't give up. I get this feeling you'll find him."

She sighed. "I hope so."