The next morning, when Violet sat up in her makeshift bed on the loft, her hand touched something warm and hard. Recoiling from it in alarm, she saw that it was the pendant lying in an indentation made by her body in the straw filled mattress.

"What in the goddess's name are you doing there?"

Above her pillow in the bed, Nori opened one eye to peer at her curiously before yawning and stretching. Chirping, the fae sniffed the orb and pawed at it.

"What do you think?" she asked. "I don't sense anything foul or menacing about it, but that doesn't mean there isn't something sinister at hand."

Nori yawned again, then circled the orb twice before curling her body around it and going back to sleep.

"Really?"

A single sleepy chirp was her only answer. Violet dressed for the day, then carefully extracted the pendant and chain from Nori's protective circle and dropped it into her pocket. She had promised to get it off the farm this morning and intended to keep that promise.

After helping with the milking, she let Etta know what she was doing, she left the clearing and entered the cool shadows of the forest once more. Having grown up in the wilds of British Columbia, she easily found the creek from the day before. Searching along its bank, she found a good-sized rock that was distinct enough for her to find it again without any trouble. Lifting it out of the way, she dug a shallow hole and placed the pendant and chain in it before returning the rock to its original position. Wiping her hand on her over skirt, she contemplated her work.

"That should do it," she nodded with approval.

Before she returned to the farm, she searched the creek bed for more crystals or other semi-precious stones. It didn't take her long to gather a good collection of quartz in various sizes and colors, a few pieces of agate and jasper, two chunks of petrified wood, and what she believed to be a garnet the size of her pinky nail. Pleased with her finds, she crossed the stream to head back to the farm.

As she stepped into a deeper pool, she felt a sharp stab in her ankle.

"Ouch! What the heck?"

Stepping quickly out of the creek, she picked up her foot and saw four small punctures in an arch with droplets of blood forming. Frowning, she looked back at the pool. Perched on a rock on the edge was a frog-like creature no bigger than her palm. Instead of hind legs, it possessed a thick tail making it look like a large tadpole in the process of turning into a frog. Its eyes gleamed with smug satisfaction and it grinned at her, revealing four sharply pointed teeth lining its upper gum.

"That wasn't very nice," Violet scolded the fae.

It croaked a reply at her, then its eyes widened in alarm. With a splash, it hopped off the rock and disappeared in the pool just as a purple blur leapt past her to land on the rock where it had just been.

Nori turned to glare down at the pool, her two tails flicking with irritation. Violet peered into the pool, seeing no sign of the foul little creature.

"I think you scared it off."

Nori hissed at the pool, then jumped back to the bank. Violet knelt to pet the fae.

"Thank you, Nori."

Something hard bounced off her head.

"Hey!"

She spun to look for the culprit. In the leaves overhead, there was a twittering and the scratching of movement among the branches. Looking up, she saw a least a dozen tiny fae creatures. With the body of a sparrow and the head and ears of a small mammal, they stared down at her with large, round eyes. One squeaked, then the others responded with a variety of sounds as they hopped on their teeny bird legs from branch to branch.

Nori was staring intently at them, her body perfectly still except for the tips of her tails. Violet watched as her muscles tensed before she launched herself into the air with the help of her double wings. The fae creatures squealed shrilly and scattered in all directions, leaving Nori too many options for pursuit. With a sad chirp, she flew back to the ground and started grooming herself as if the incident had never happened.

"Well, you're just making friends left and right," Violet told her.

Nori ignored her.

"Fine," she huffed, looking up at the midday sun through the thick canopy, "I have to go back to the farm anyway."

She wished she knew more about this world. In hers, this many fae showing themselves was unusual and a precursor to something more ominous. Here she had no idea. The people seemed to know about the fae, but she didn't get the sense that they interacted with the creatures or even saw them a lot. She would have to ask Etta about it when she got back.

Stopping long enough to pull her shoes back on, and wipe the spots of blood off her ankle, she retraced her steps back through the woods towards the farm. As she got nearer to the clearing, she started to smell smoke and not just the normal smoke from the hearth or the earthen oven outside where they baked their bread. Curious about what was being burnt, she picked up her pace and reached the edge of the forest in just a few minutes. What she saw in the clearing stopped her dead in her tracks.

The barn was ablaze. The side farthest from the house was a solid wall of flames and was rapidly spreading to the roof that was covered with wooden shingles. The cries of the goats trapped inside could be heard over the roar of the flames. At the entrance of the barn, Lettie was struggling with a goat, trying to get it to ignore the fire that licked at the frame. The poor goat's eyes were rolled back in its head and it was bawling in terror. Behind her, Etta appeared with her arms full with two young goats. Haim and Meg ran forward to take them from her and she turned and dashed back into the burning barn.

Grabbing up her skirts, Violet ran to the barn and past Lettie. Inside the barn was full of smoke, burning her eyes and making it hard to see. Following the sounds of the goats, she found Etta, struggling with a particularly frantic milk goat.

"Just open all the pens and let them run!" she called out to the woman.

Etta shook her head, "hold the door open and I'll push her out."

Violet opened the door to the pen and stepped back to leave a clear path for the panicked animal. Etta shoved her towards the open and the goat bolted, disappearing in the smoke.

"Let's just get them out," Violet yelled over the noise, "they won't go far."

Etta nodded her agreement and together they got the next two goats out. By then the fire was racing across the rafters over their heads and hot embers had caught the hay in the back on fire. There were only three more goats left in the barn, but they were in the pens closest to the burning wall and hay.

Etta started towards them, but Violet grabbed her arm, "it's not safe!"

Etta scowled at her before yanking free and hurrying towards the stalls. Violet had no choice but to follow her. Stepping into the first pen, Etta picked up a young goat and shoved it at her.

"Take this one, I'll get the doe," she pushed Violet out of the pen.

Violet hesitated, she didn't want to leave Etta in the burning barn alone.

"Go, damnit!" Etta yelled at her.

Clutching the kid, Violet ran through the barn and out to the waiting children. She turned the kid over to them and turned to go back in. The interior of the barn was filled with smoke now as it rolled out in black, sooty waves. She couldn't see the old woman through it.

"Etta!" she yelled.

When she didn't hear a reply, she started to go in, but the side of the barn collapsed and took a portion of the burning roof with it.

"Etta!" she screamed.

"Me-maw!" Lettie screamed beside her and darted forward.

Violet grabbed her arm and stopped her.

Lettie turned on her, "let me go!"

"No! It's too dangerous," Violet told her, "she wouldn't want you in there."

Lettie fought against her grip, "let me go! I've got to save her."

Violet was forced to wrap her arms around the girl to keep her from breaking free and running into the deathtrap that the barn had turned into.

"Look!" she yelled, "I see something!"

Through the smoke, she could see movement. She and the girl froze, staring intently as the shape emerged from the black smoke. With a bellow, a goat bolted out of the barn and past them her eyes wild and her rump and tail on fire. Behind her, more of the roof collapsed.

"No!" Lettie screamed, her legs crumpling under her, pulling her and Violet to the ground.

"I'm sorry," Violet cried as she held the weeping girl tightly.

When Hamish drove his cart into the clearing at breakneck speed, they were still huddled in front of the burning barn with the two younger children.

Forming a bucket brigade from the small pond, they had poured water on everything close enough to the blaze to catch fire and put out the ones that had started. As night fell, the remains of the barn still burned, along with their store of hay stored inside. As the Haim and Meg slept, Hamish, Violet, and Lettie had stood vigil over the fire. By the time the sun rose over the trees, it was reduced to a smoldering pile of charred timbers, but still too hot to disturb.

Together, they took stock of the losses. The last goat out of the barn was badly burned and refusing to nurse her kid. Luckily, the kid was old enough to be weaned. Two does and their kids had perished in the fire. During the day, the loose goats had returned to the farm to be fed, and they gathered them up and put them in with the horse for the time being.

Violet had scraped together a late breakfast for everyone, and they sat at the table in subdued silence while they chewed their food without tasting it. When they were done, Violet gathered up the few dishes and cups. When she reached Lettie, the girl stood up abruptly.

"This is all yer fault!" she yelled.

"Lettie," Hamish rumbled in his deep voice.

"No! It's true. Me-maw knew it too," she turned to her grandfather. "Since she's been here, Haim drowned and now this! She brought this down on us. Now me-maw is dead and it's her fault!"

"That's just grief talking, girl," Hamish told her.

"Who else has to die before ye do something?" She demanded. "Me? Little Meg?"

Meg's eyes teared up and she started to cry. "I don't wanna die," she wailed.

Violet rushed over to the little girl to pick her up and comfort her, but Meg screamed like a banshee when she did and fought to get out of her arms. Violet relented and set the girl down, and Meg immediately ran to Lettie and clung to her, peeking out at Violet with accusing eyes.

Hamish came over and put a large hand on Violet's shoulder, "why don't ye go outside for a wee bit?"

Nodding numbly, she left the house. Not paying attention to where her feet were taking her, she was surprised to find herself at the pen holding the horse and homeless goats. The moment they saw her, the goats rushed to the fence to beg for treats, except for the burnt doe, who lay in the corner apart from the others with her head down and her kid standing nearby bleating at her.

Letting herself into the pen, she slowly approached the injured goat. The doe's ears didn't even flick as she got close. Kneeling beside the animal, Violet stroked her neck and spoke soothingly while she examined the burn. Most of one of her hips was charred with large, waterfilled blisters and raw oozing patched where the crispy hide had cracked and pealed back. Her engorged udder had several burned spots on it and her tail was a blackened stump.

"Poor girl," she said softly, "no wonder you don't want to nurse your baby. That must hurt."

The goat heaved a heavy breath and groaned.

"I'm sorry, I don't have any salves to help with the pain," she said sadly.

With her hands on the goat she closed her eyes and said a prayer to the goddess. In her mind, she still saw the horrible wound and could almost feel that pain. As a young girl, she had gotten too close to the stove playing with her imaginary friend once and knocked a pot of stew off. Only some of it had splattered on her arm and legs, but she still remembered the pain from the burns until her grandmother had rubbed her salve on them. She never forgot that pain and still had a small patch of skin on her arm that was sensitive to heat of any kind.

"Goddess, if it is your will, please help this poor animal and ease it's pain," she pleaded. Remembering the trigger words for the healing crystal she had created, she whispered them.

"Èist farsaing slènachadh."

The goat started under her hands and she repeated the phrase in a louder voice.

"Èist farsaing slènachadh."

The goat bawled her protest and tried to heave herself up, but Violet held on and repeated the phrase one more time with force and conviction.

"Èist farsaing slènachadh!"

Flailing wildly, the goat freed herself and bolted away from Violet. Not bothering to see if her attempt to heal the animal was successful, she stayed on her knees with her eyes closed. Drained both physically and mentally from the events of the last 24 hours, her shoulders slumped, and she allowed herself to cry over the death of Etta.

Nori chirped nearby and soon the fae crawled into her lap and rubbed against her, purring loudly. Violet wrapped her arms around Nori and hugged her until her tears dried. Now all she felt was fatigue, no doubt from the long night spent fighting the fire.

"Well, will ye look at that," Hamish said from the edge of the pen. Sniffing, Violet turned around. Nori jumped from her lap, invisible to the man, and jumped over the fence, leaving her alone with him.

Getting to her feet unsteadily, Violet looked to where Hamish stared. The injured goat was nursing her kid and placidly chewing her cud. Her hip was covered with healthy, bald hide with no sign of the horrible burns she had sustained.

Violet gasped. It had worked.

"That truly is a wondrous skill," Hamish told her solemnly.

"Too bad I couldn't do anything for Etta," she said sadly.

"Nay, lass, ye did plenty. Lettie and the little ones told me how ye ran into the barn with nary a thought for yer own safety. An' if ye hadn't stopped that bull-headed girl, t'would be two bodies buried under that ruble."

"I don't know what happened. I was in the woods getting rid of the pendant like I promised so I don't even know how it started."

"So, it wasn't in the barn?"

Violet shook her head and clutched the sides of her skirt to keep her hands from shaking. In her pocket she felt something round. Reaching into the pocket her fingers found a chain. Her blood ran cold as she pulled the pendant out and held it up.

"Ye came back without burying it?"

"I..., I don't understand," she stuttered. "I did bury it. Under a big rock by the creek."

"Then how is it in yer pocket?"

"I don't know." She remembered finding it in her bed this morning.

Hamish nodded as if it made perfect sense to him, "it's enchanted."

"Maybe."

He coughed, "then that makes this easier."

She looked at him, not comprehending.

"Ye need answers. About how ye came to be here. And now about that," he nodded towards the pendant she still held up. "Ye aren't going to find them here in the woods. Ye need to go to Highmoon to the temple. Maybe ye will find yer answers there."

"But," shoving the pendant hastily back into her pocket, she waved her other hand towards the remains of the barn, "you have a lot to do. And you've got to find Etta's body," she choked out the word, "and lay her to rest properly. You need help."

He shook his head, "lass, this is something we need to do as a family. We need time to grieve and heal. Lettie is so angry right now and blames ye," he stopped and looked at her sadly.

She hung her head, "I understand."

"I don't blame ye," he told her kindly. "I just need to do what's best for them now."

"I'll go get my stuff," she said quietly. She picked at her skirt, "I don't have anything to change into, but I will return this when I can."

"Do na worry about that, Lass. The clothes are a gift. Ye are dead on yer feet. Ye'd never make it to the village before dark fall. Go lie down and get some sleep. Ye can get an early start in the morn."

She nodded numbly and followed him back to the house. Lettie stared at her hostilely as she climbed up to the loft and collapsed on her bed. She was asleep almost before her head hit the pillow.

In the morning, she was up at dawn, but instead of helping with the milking and other chores, she gathered up her few belongings, including the pendant and mysterious artifact, straightened her bed and descended from the loft with a heavy heart.

Hamish was waiting for her at the table.

"Me sister, Ima, lives in Hobbs Dale. Tell her I sent ye and she'll let ye stay with her until ye can arrange transport to Highmoon."

"I don't want to be a bother," Violet said slowly.

"It's na a bother. Ima's a widow an' she was ne'er blessed with children. She could use the company," he paused before continuing in a strange tone. "Just ye be careful of her. Try not to stay over long."

He must have misgivings about me, Violet thought sadly. But she realized she really didn't have a choice unless she wanted to sleep in the woods or a stable. "Thank you, Hamish. For everything."

"Lass, none of this is yer doing. Lettie is just grieving. She will get over it soon enough and feel bad about how she treated ye," he said gently.

She nodded because she was afraid she would start crying if she tried to talk.

Hamish pushed a bundle on the table towards her, "take this with ye."

Violet saw it was a course sack, "I can't take anything else from you and your family. I know you needed everything you have."

Hamish snorted, "only a person with a cold heart would send ye away with nary a thing but the clothes on ye back. Take it. Consider it our thanks for saving Haim and then Lettie."

Her vision blurred as she pulled the sack close. Inside was half a loaf of bread, some goat cheese, and a crock of jam wrapped tightly in one of Etta's towels. Under the food were two sets of clothes and a pair of slippers.

"I can't take any more of your daughter's clothing. Lettie will need them soon," she protested.

"Nay, Lass, those are Etta's. They're her festival dresses from our early years of marriage. They're too old-fashioned for Lettie to want and the shoes are too small for her feet. The poor girl took after me there." He smiled at the thought. "Ye can either sell them for coin to buy others that better suit ye or ye can tailor them yerself."

Violet tucked her meager possessions into the sack, and hugged Hamish tightly.

"Thank you, so much! You and your family treated me like I was part of it."

He hugged her back, patting her on the back, "ye were. Still are. Ye'll always be welcomed here. Go get yerself sorted first."

Hamish walked with her to the edge of the farm and pointed down the dirt path. "Hobbs Dale is a good half-day walk that way."

He gave her directions to his sister's home and embraced her in another hug before bidding her farewell. As she started down the path towards the village, Violet felt alone and adrift in this strange world and longed to run back to Hamish and beg him to let her stay.

Shaking that thought away, she trudged away from the first home she knew in Faerun and towards the unknown.