A/N: So, chapter 4 is up and running. Thanks to any of you that are still reading! It will get better soon (I hope!) Oh, and this is the first of the very long chapters that will be common from now on. If you don't like these long ones, tell me and I'll split them up. It's just that I realized that the story will be way too long if don't watch out with how many chapters I post. Anyway, enjoy!

End of Chapter 3: "Good night father" the voice that had been so emotional just a minute before was now dead, lost like the looks on the now-expressionless face. The man didn't see the fire burning twice as fierce in his child's eyes as she bowed slightly. He didn't think of the stubbornness that had not vanished from her chin when she turned away from him and he didn't know the treachery that roared in her heart as she left. Her last thought before the door closed behind her was: I don't care what you say. I'll save the world without your help.

Destiny: Breaking Down Barriers

Sarralyn left her father's study that night knowing clearly what she had to do next. She'd need help, and she knew exactly how to get it. Quietly, the girl slipped into her room. She stared coldly at the small place that had, just an hour ago, been so important to her. Now it felt like some kind of bribe. The fakeness of it tore at her soul as she strolled to her closet and grabbed a bag.

You think that you can stop me from being who I am? She thought to herself as she fished the large stash of money that she'd been saving up from under her bed. You think that you can hold me back? Just watch and see what I can become.

Sarralyn went around her room, collecting all the little things that were still important to her. She left behind the stuffed kitten that her parents had given her when she was just a babe, and took the books that her other relatives had given her, about Lady Knights and mages and wild magic.

The moon rose as Sarralyn worked, flooding her room with eerie light. For a moment, the young girl stopped and surveyed the place that she used to know so well. It looked so… lifeless in the moonlight, so empty and unreal. The young, Gifted wildmage wondered if her room had always looked this way, or if it was just the situation that made her want to scream at its falseness.

Of course, maybe it wasn't the room at all; maybe it was just the cold emptiness in her heart that made her see the world this way. Sarralyn shuddered at the thought and hastily continued to pack.

Finally, there was only one last thing that needed to go with her.

The girl brought down the parcel that she'd kept up on her highest shelf for the last five years of her life. Trembling as she gave herself the ears of a wolf to pick up the approach of anyone that may stop her, Sarralyn opened the package and grinned.

Inside the wrapping lay a beautiful hand-and-a-half sword more unique than any that had ever been made before. It was, at the moment, long and graceful, made of the lightest, hardest, sharpest steel in the world. There was a large black opal attached to the hilt that shined irresistibly in her eyes. All along the hilt were exotic designs, made from the chips of other dark and powerful opals. Sarralyn took the blade in her hand and it shone with sparkling black power. The girl sighed as she remembered how she had come by her most prized possession.

It had been five long years before that Sarralyn had run into the forest, chasing a light that only she could see. She'd become hopelessly lost, chasing a phantom, and had sat down, alone and cold beside a small pond. She'd wondered why the People weren't coming to cheer her up as they normally did when she was alone. She was so beside herself that she hadn't noticed the tall, strange woman who had come up beside her.

The woman had known her name, had called to her and said "Sarralyn, I've finally found you." That voice had sounded like the cry of a thousand packs of wolves, and the four-year-old had wanted to clap her hands over her ears and scream when she heard it. Instead, she'd whipped around and gotten an eyeful of the most beautiful woman in the world. A woman with fierce green eyes and lips as red as blood.

She'd smiled and said "My Daughter, don't be afraid, you're safe with me. You've got a destiny ahead of you, one that is so different from everyone else that I can't even tell you what it will be right now, but take this to help you, and I will find you when the time comes."

Before Sarralyn could say anything or even blink, the woman was gone, and in the place where she had stood laid the sword. A sword that the young Gifted Wildmage would come to name "Destiny."

Sarralyn never told anyone about this strange encounter, but experimented on the sword with her Gift and her wild magic when her parents went to sleep. She'd found that if she concentrated her magics through the opals, she could do nearly anything.

Then there was the fateful day when she'd been experimenting and had heard footsteps coming down the hall to her room. She'd panicked, knowing that she couldn't hide the weapon in time, and wished passionately for a moment that the sword was smaller… A few moments later, when a hungry Rikash came into his sister's room, he found her gawping in amazement at a small dagger in her palm.

Since then, Sarralyn had practiced long and hard with the strange magic of the blade. She discovered that with her Gift, she could mold the sword into any shape she wished. Her parents never knew that their daughter was mastering all the bladed weapons in the dead of night.

Sarralyn shook her head, coaxing her sword into the dagger shape that it had become that first time and strapped it to her side. Finally, she stood up, looked around at the room that had once made her so happy for the very last time and left her home for the dark woods.

"Aunt Alanna, I'm going to be a knight."

Sarralyn watched as the Lioness looked from the purple fire that was roaring in the hearth to her face to her hand that was still glowing with the sparkling black Gift that she'd used to force open the front door.

"How on earth did you manage to get past the locking spell that's on my door?" the amethyst-eyed woman asked calmly, a curious look on her face.

The Salmalin child brandished Destiny, the sword's black opal sparkling in the light from the hearth, extinguishing her gift. She rushed to get back on topic; "I'm going to be a knight, Aunt Alanna. Father forbade me from doing it, but I don't care. I'm serious, I want you to train me, because I am going to be a knight whether you want me to or not."

Sweat broke out on Sarralyn's forehead as she watched her godmother look back into the fire. What if the Lioness rejected her, just as her father had? The young girl's mind filled with doubts and worries about what would happen to her if Alanna refused to help.

"First things first, Sarralyn: Give me that sword for a moment."

Sarralyn blinked in surprise, handing Destiny to Alanna. The older woman closed her eyes as she held the weapon, magic flitting across her hands. Those famous purple eyes went wide for a moment as Alanna held the sword, but in a flash they closed again and Destiny was returned to Sarralyn.

"That sword is more powerful than you think, child. You'd be wise to keep it hidden. There will come a time when you'll need it, and it's then, not now, that you should unleash it."

Sarralyn missed the look of awe that crossed her godmother's face as she strapped Destiny back to her side. She didn't know that Alanna had just seen something that had made up her mind for her.

"I'll train you, Sarralyn, but I won't let your parents worry about you by thinking that you ran away." Alanna said, very slowly and quietly. "You must tell them that I've taken you on a great journey with me, to train your Gift and to get away for awhile."

The red haired woman looked again at her young goddaughter and saw a gleam of triumph in those stormy eyes. "Your parents must not know that you are training as a page. It's too lucky that they only stay at the palace in summer, when the pages go home for the harvest."

Sarralyn's heart swelled with happiness. Alanna would train her! She was going to be a knight! Possibilities ran through the young girl's mind freely until her head felt like it was going to explode. The amethyst-eyed woman saw the ecstatic look in her young goddaughter's eyes and shook her head. Sarralyn's grin faded.

"You think this is going to be easy, don't you child?" The woman stared at Sarralyn seriously. She saw the stubbornness in the chin, so like her mother and the same excited gleam in her eyes that Numair always had. Alanna sighed. This would be hard.

"We'll have to go through great lengths to ensure that you are not discovered. Your Gift will be trained at the palace. Thank God your mother had sense enough to have you master your wild magic when you were a child, as you'll need to hide it now…" Alanna continued, not listening to herself, her mind inventing the lie that she knew would lead young Sarralyn to greatness. Was any of this necessary? Yes the woman thought as she looked into those burning eyes.

Something deep down told Alanna that if she did not do this now, nothing would ever be right again. The woman stood, gesturing to her goddaughter.

"Come along now. You need to write that letter to your parents."

The Lioness took her young charge to a desk in the corner, gave her a pen and told her to write to her parents saying that she would be away. Sarralyn obeyed and was soon finished.

The letter read:

Dearest Mother and Father,

You've both told me that my path does not lead to knighthood. I don't agree, but that can't be helped. Rather than argue with you, I've decided to go and find which path I am supposed to take. My godmother Alanna has agreed to take me on a journey with her. She wants to take me to Galla, where mother was born, and down to Carthak, where father was imprisoned. She may even take me over to the Copper Isles, to see cousin Alianne, but we aren't sure, what with her newborn and all…

There is another reason for this, as you may have guessed. Alanna is going to teach me to use the Gift. She's such a powerful healer and she has said that I have vast potential in this area. I'm sorry, father, I know you wanted to train me, but this way is better, don't you think? I'll get first-hand experience with Alanna that I couldn't have gotten with you, and I'll be in Galla and Carthak and all over the place, helping out like I was always supposed to.

I need to find out what I'm supposed to be, mother, father, and I need to do it by myself. You can't choose what my destiny will be for me. Please, please let me make this decision on my own. It isn't as simple as just learning to control my Gift and using my Wild Magic. I need to find myself, and I need to do it now more than ever, since I thought wrongly the first time.

Tell Numaine and Rikash that I love them and will miss them. I don't know when I'll be back in Tortall to see you again. I love you.

Yours,

Sarralyn Salmalin

Sarralyn looked at the letter and grinned. You bet I'll be finding out who I'm supposed to be she thought with bitterness. And there's nothing you can do about it.

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