A/N: Sorry for the long-ish wait but my stupid floopy disk lost all my Sun and Shadow files. But it's up now at least. In your review, can you tell me Is the story is going too fast or too slow? Or do you think it's going at a good speed?

Also, the next chapter is going to take awhile because I need a filler chapter before I can post my next planned chapter. If I don't have a filler, the story, I think, will go too fast. So be prepared for a long wait. Sorry.

And thanks to wizard, Tessabe, and Andi for reviewing.

X-X-X

Lythe paused speaking for a moment to think about what she was going to say. "You see," she started, "I'm cursed too. I was cursed by a Mage—probably the same Mage as that cursed you—to die if sunlight ever touches me."

"Is that why you seemed so calm after I told you I was cursed?" Rothas inquired.

"Yes," Lythe said. "I was cursed about a year ago… ten or eleven months." Lythe winced inwardly at the memory. "Since then, I stayed in this forest, away from civilization. That is also why I couldn't meet you before this."

Rothas nodded, digesting the information. "What happened before you were cursed?" he asked.

"I was born in the town of Allafawn; my mother died giving birth, so my father raised me. He was a middle-class blacksmith," she said, remembering her father sorrowfully. His love, caring nature, and effort to do the best for her and her brother, even if it made time for little else. "Since he had two children to take care of—my older brother and I—he was always in his forge for long hours. Most days he would come home until dinner, or even later, and leave after an early breakfast, or at least by what I can remember." Lythe smiled slightly as she remembered how she would always get up as the sun was rising to eat with her father. Then, half of the time, she would fall asleep while eating. "Because of that, my brother practically raised me, but my father always made it up when he came home. I could always tell he loved us despite the fact that he was rarely around.

"As I got older, I started helping around the house, cooking and cleaning. Eventually, however, my brother moved out of the house after he married, and most days I was alone, though my father was home more often. I was about thirteen by then. It was also around that time that I discovered my talent with dancing. Then my father paid for lessons with Gilsa." She then looked at Rothas. "It might not sound like a lot, but it was." Here she paused, reminiscing. "The lessons didn't last very long; according to Gilsa I was a 'natural dancer.' But I still went to her house often. I had never had a mom, and she ended up making up for that. Oddly enough, with my dancing I have managed to… hypnotize people almost. It was like I put them under a spell and they wouldn't wake up until I had stopped. My brother and I tried different things with it, and it turns put only a near-death situation would pull them out of the trance."

Rothas nodded when she became silent, digesting the information. How did you become cursed?" he questioned.

"Almost a year ago—like I already said—I was headed to my brother's house in Deercreek, a town south of here. I always made a yearly visit there to see him every now and then," Lythe said sadly.

"I've heard of Deercreek; it's not to far from here, actually," Rothas noted thoughtfully.

Lythe cracked a small smile at the randomness of the sentence. "Now it's your turn," she said then.

Rothas looked confused. "My turn to do what?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "To tell me how you were cursed, and of your childhood."

"Right," he said with a smile grin. "My turn to do that."

X-X-X

"I was born in the town of Forst Meadow," Rothas said the next evening. Before he had started talking yesterday, he had fallen into the cursed sleep, so Lythe came back to the rock the next dusk, today, and found Rothas here waiting. After a brief introduction, he had started on his history.

"It's actually a pretty big town… I was an only child. Let's see… my parents. My dad was the mayor off the town and had been for years. The townspeople never saw a reason to get a new mayor… I never understood why. My mom didn't have a job, but she was a very good singer. I think she might have had a Bardic Gift, a really small one.

"Up until I was fourteen or so, I would spend my days running around with my friends, going to school and helping around the house when my mom forced me. Around that time, we were having a party at our house. My mom was going to sing that night for entertainment, but she ended up getting a fever and couldn't. So I offered to sing. I had never been as good as my mom, but I was decent and knew all the songs. Except that night, when I started singing, I was even better than my mom. It seemed my Gift had awakened in between the last time I sang and the party. I, of course, had never noticed… but then again, I'm not sure how I would have noticed before then.

"I later found out I could channel with my voice." At Lythe's confused expression he continued. "I could direct emotions, energy, those types of things, through my voice. If I was singing, I could do that.

"When were you cursed?" Lythe wondered.

"I'm getting to that. After I found I could channel, I went to the town herb-healer. Though the healer did have a tiny bit of the Healing Gift, it was so small it was virtually useless. I wanted to lend a hand; I thought I could help out a little because I could channel. The healer was overjoyed to have help. He would joke 'The people of this town only know how to hurt themselves and nothing more.' Sometimes I thought that was true in the summer when all of the little kids were running around and playing like mad."

"Weren't you one of those 'little kids were running around and playing like mad' too?"

Rothas pretended to look offended. "I have the privilege of being one who never went to the healer's before I went to help out."

"I am sure."

Rothas mock-glared at her. "Anyway, like I said before I was so rudely interrupted, I helped out at the healer's. I did that for a few years and learned how to use all the herbs. I probably could have taken over his position if he had left. Around then was when I decided to go to Haven. Everyone thought I was a Bard, or at least had the Gift, so I was headed towards the Colligium." His previous light mood turned gloomy. "That's when I was cursed."

Lythe nodded and both of them sat in silence, and yet it was okay. Nothing more was needed to be said. Out of all the people in the world, these two were the only ones who could truly understand each other.