The second pouch contained a golden hair comb. The back of the comb was carved into the
shape of the spread wings of a swan with the bird's head gracefully folded over
the right wing. The fine teeth of the
comb were closely spaced so it would stay securely in a woman's hair. The only part of the comb that would be
visible in her hair would be the swan.
It would make a pretty ornament.
There were fine strands of auburn hair in the comb, which
she pulled free and fingered gently.
Could these delicate strands possibly have belonged to her mother? She tried to imagine what her birth mother
must have been like.
She couldn't help but wonder why she had been given away as
a baby. It was hard enough to accept the
fact that she wasn't the daughter of the kind and loving couple who had raised
her, but why had her parents, her mother, given her to Kewero to be given away
again?
She felt isolated and a little frightened. Things were too confused. She retreated from the confusion by closing
her eyes and drawing forth a memory of pleasant times.
It was the summer before Leudh's marriage and things
couldn't have been happier. As always,
there had been much work to do, but work was pleasure when it assured the
health and security of her family. It
hadn't been all work, there had been plenty of time for play, too. Leudh took her on hunting trips and taught
her even more about the ways of the animals and of the forest itself.
The pleasant memories touched her heart with love and
hope. She knew her family would want her
to face her fate with courage. She would
try to be brave and face her future without hesitation to live up to that
expectation. She knew it was going to be
a challenging effort for she simply couldn't imagine living anywhere else and
being someone else. This was the only
home she knew. Eghero, Dakra, and Leudh
the only family she could imagine. The
idea of her being a princess seemed so unreal.
She was a woodsman's daughter - at home in the trees and with the
animals. How could she possibly feel at
home in some palace? She would probably
only embarrass herself with some clumsy comment or inappropriate action.
With a sigh of resignation, she went back to the task of
examining the objects on her lap. The
last bag was both the largest and the heaviest.
Flindra opened it and found a crystal sphere, which fit neatly in the
palm of her hand. The surface of the
crystal was perfectly smooth and pleasurable to touch. As Flindra moved the sphere about, she saw
colored light reflecting throughout the crystal.
The spectrum of colors was hypnotic and she lost herself
within the sight. It seemed that all
sensations were concentrated in the orb.
She felt as if she was being pulled into and through a vortex of
color. The colors intensified and
surrounded her consciousness. She was
lost in the colors until they blended to form a blinding white light. Her consciousness was pulled through the
light and into the beyond.
An image of the face of an ancient woman then appeared to
Flindra in the crystal. She heard a
voice, but the sound didn't come from the crystal. Strangely, the voice echoed within her mind.
The old woman said, "I am Kewero, named for the
Northwind. Seek me and learn the answers
to the questions in your heart!"
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