Tesaldia sat near the river, her eyes were closed. She let her hands run through the water. The water rushed past Tesaldia's hands never stopping no matter what was in its way. Tesaldia knew she would not be able to turn back once she returned to Thastaer. She did not feel scared even though she knew there was a likely chance she would die.

Shai walked up behind her. "Hi, how's it going?"

"I think it's going quite good, I still don't think I'm ready for a real fight yet, but you never know."

"Yeah, I was wondering, do you think you're ready to try riding Sharaes again."

Tesaldia fell silent. She had not tried to ride Sharaes since the first time. She could not lie to Shai though. "I don't know, I might be ready, but I'm scared I'll fall off again."

"Hey, don't worry about it Sharaes can wait."

Shai got up and walked away. Tesaldia thought about what he said that Sharaes could wait. That wasn't fair. Sharaes had done everything for Tesaldia and she had saved her life more than once. She deserved this. Tesaldia swallowed and then ran after Shai.

She stood with Sharaes by her side moments later. "Now are you sure you're ready for this," Shai asked nervously.

"Of course I'm ready, I've learned to control water better than ever."

"Okay, mount up then, don't keep Sharaes waiting."

Tesaldia readied herself and then swung up onto Sharaes back. She closed her eyes and whispered. "Water keep me close to my horse and help me ride with her, and Sharaes, run swift and help me get to where I am needed."

The water rushed over Tesaldia and it bound her to Sharaes's back. Tesaldia held onto the wet mane and her hands seemed to become part of the mane. Tesaldia opened her eyes and thought of what she wanted and Sharaes was off. Her hooves pounded the ground and water flew from the horse and rider. In that instant they became one, both bound with the power of water. It was as if they had the same soul.

Moments later Tesaldia was whirling Sharaes around and galloping back toward Shai. Sharaes jumped and cleared a log laying in their path. Nothing could stop the pair.

Tesaldia stopped Sharaes and got off. She ran over to Shai and threw her arms around him. "Shai, I did it, I stayed on, I can really ride Sharaes."

"I know, I saw you two, you looked like you were flying."

Tesaldia stepped back, a smile stretching across her face. She had done it. She had ridden Sharaes. There would be no stopping her from now on. Then the smile vanished from Tesaldia's face. She stepped past Shai, her eyes glinting. "Vyrdaes, what do you want?"

"So I see you took the egg for yourself."

"What business is that of yours?"

"I'll make it my business because I want that horse."

"You're not going to get her."

"I will get what I want."

Vyrdaes went over to her and grabbed Tesaldia's arm and twisted it. Tesaldia winced in pain. Vyrdaes brought his face close to hers. "That horse will be mine, and either you join me or you die."

"I'll never help you, now let me go," Tesaldia screamed at him.

Shai couldn't just stand there, he was angry and went up to Vyrdaes. "Let her go, just wait, you're going to be the one that ends up dead."

"Is that so, well I think there will be another ending to both of your stories."

Tesaldia screamed. "Sharaes, help me."

Sharaes whinnied and reared up, she came down hard and hit Vyrdaes square on the shoulder. He yelled in pain then it was Tesaldia's turn to fight Vyrdaes. "Water destroy the evil, make him nothing more than a body."

She swung her arms around and water burst out of the ground and off of Sharaes back and rushed past her. The water did not hit Shai, actually it went around him and water rushed past him on every side. Sharaes was not hurt by the water and neither was Tesaldia. Vyrdaes whistled and a dragon swooped down.

Tesaldia diverted some of the water to the dragon, it screeched but Vyrdaes managed to fly away, just in time. If the dragon had not come, Vyrdaes would have been killed.

Tesaldia looked toward the sky. "Shai, I think I'm ready to fight Vyrdaes, but I cannot fight him and all of his guards and soldiers."

"Tesaldia, don't worry about that, when we do fight Vyrdaes I will take care of the soldiers."

"Shai, where did that water come from?"

"Your powers are so strong now you got the water from underground to come up."

Tesaldia felt a little shaky, that fight had taken a lot out of her. She sat down and breathed deeply. She felt scared. Not of Vyrdaes, or his dragons, but, of herself. She was scared she would become so powerful it would destroy her and she would turn out to be like Vyrdaes. She could not let that happen. She just couldn't.

That night Tesaldia slept heavily and she dreamed of Palasade Lake. She stood by the shore and she was looking into the blue water. Tesaldia looked up, Sharaes was on the other side of the lake whinnying to her, mournfully. Tesaldia tried to get to Sharaes but she didn't seem to go anywhere even though she was running as fast as she could. Then Tesaldia was inside Vyrdaes dungeon flames everywhere. She heard Vyrdaes laugh and she was huddled in a corner.

Tesaldia woke and sat up. She was sweating. Shai was sitting by her. "Are you okay, you were yelling and I thought something was wrong."

Tesaldia shook off the feeling. "Yeah, I'm fine, I just had a bad dream, that's all."

Shai went back to bed and Tesaldia was left there sitting in the dark. She felt alone and scared. She took a few deep breaths before laying back down. She heard Sharaes snort and walk toward her. Sharaes could sense that Tesaldia was scared, and she wanted to comfort her. So Sharaes laid down beside Tesaldia and put her head by Tesaldia's.

Tesaldia looked at Sharaes and stroked her. Did the dream mean something? Tesaldia felt scared again. What if the dream meant she would lose Sharaes and Vyrdaes would kill her?

Tesaldia tried to shake the feeling off. It was ridiculous to think that Vyrdaes would take Sharaes away from her. Even though she tried to tell herself otherwise Tesaldia felt that there was something terribly wrong.