Chapter X, Reading 2

She continued to whisper a prayerful conversation with the Spirit as she sipped a cup of tea and stared into the warming flames. Her quiet meditation was interrupted by a knock on the door. She was surprised to see Leudh push the door open.

"I saw the light from your fire though the window and knew you were up," he explained as he stomped snow from his boots and leaned his battleaxe against the wall. He carried the weapon for he didn't want to be caught weaponless while wandering around in the darkness.

"Come sit by the fire," she invited. "It's too cold to be out."

"I couldn't sleep," Leudh confessed as he joined his mother by the fire and took the cup of tea she handed him. "I'm worried about Flin and figured there was little point in tossing in my bed any longer so I decided to come out for some fresh air. I saw you up and guessed you might like some company. You're worried about her too," he guessed.

Dakra nodded as she looked at her son. "I had another nightmare," she confessed.

Leudh frowned. "Do you remember it?"

She turned her gaze to the fire, although the focus of her vision was on her dream. "I was someplace gray and devoid of any features. It was a place of nothingness and I was lost in that nothingness and could do nothing. I felt hopelessly alone, forgotten by all, and left to be swallowed by emptiness."

"Was Flindra with you?"

"No. I was alone." She frowned. "I even felt separated from the Spirit. It was as if I was totally cut off from everything." She took a swallow of her tea. "Then I awoke. There was no hope of going back to sleep after that nightmare. I somehow feel that Flindra faces such a hopeless situation. She is alone and can't escape this horrible place of nothingness."

Leudh looked grim for in his heart of hearts he felt that Flindra was indeed facing some terrible and desperate situation. "I know she's in trouble, too," he agreed. "I haven't slept tonight and I just can't shake the feeling she's in peril."

"What can we do, Leudh? I love Flindra with all my heart and soul and it's destroying me to feel her danger like this."

Leudh was quiet for some time. He was thinking hard and he did his best thinking in silence. Dakra let the silence go uninterrupted and quietly patted Icy while sipping her tea.

"I've often thought that Flindra has figured out a way to send thoughts to us though our dreams," he finally remarked. "The dreams I have of her are different than any I've had in my life and they seem so concrete in their message. I can't help but feel the Spirit is helping her to stay in contact us."

"Love is a wonderful and magical thing," Dakra agreed. "In some ways love is limitless. It's one of the greatest gifts the Spirit has bestowed upon us."

Chapter V, Reading 1

Flindra slowly became aware of the cold. She woke up a little more and remembered where she was, and more importantly, she realized her fire was nearly out. She reached for some small twigs from her stockpile and placed them on the glowing embers. Hungry flames sprang up and started to devoir the twigs. Flindra added more sticks to the fire and forced herself to relax in the growing warmth for her muscles had gotten stiff in the icy cold of the cave.

Outside of the cave, the wind howled like some crazed beast as it whipped the snow in constantly changing directions. Flindra could tell by the diffused light that it was day outside, but it was impossible to determine what time of day it was. Not that it mattered for she couldn't leave the cave until the storm ended.

She got up and walked over to Deru. He was sleeping peacefully and appeared to be just fine. The empty feedbag was still over his nose. He awoke and his ears pricked up as she removed the feedbag. He nuzzled her hand to see if she had any edible morsels in her palm.

"That tickled," Flindra protested as she scratched beneath his forelock.

He pushed against her chest and was obviously trying to communicate.

"I bet you're thirsty," she answered. "I really should have thought of that before."

The rock in the back of the cave had several depressions, one of which would make a suitable basin. She poured some water into the depression. He immediately started to slurp up the water and emptied the basin several times, as Flindra refilled it. When he was finished, she gave him a pat and returned to her fire.

Flindra sat cross-legged on the ground before the fire and wrapped her sleeping furs about herself. She continued to feed the hungry flames while she remembered her dream. The crisp intensity of the memory of her night vision filled her with awe. She knew there wouldn't be anything there, but she couldn't keep her eyes from drifting to the spot across her fire where King Meldh had been seated in her dream. The ground was bare of all but her footprints, but she couldn't help but feeling as if she had truly been visited.

When the fire had warmed her sufficiently, she took off her gloves and looked down at her hand and the eagle ring she had dreamt was named Rigga.

"Could it be true?" she thought to herself. The ring was a beautiful piece of jewelry but it didn't appear to be anything more than that. She shook her head at her reaction. All that had happened to her in the last few days told her she needed to hold fast to her faith. Why should she doubt her dream and the power of the ring?

Just as she had practiced in her dream, she closed her eyes and imagined herself suspended in purple. Slowly, the blackness behind her closed lids turned to a deep amethyst. She opened her eyes and continued to concentrate on holding the vision of the color. The power shield was clearly discernible, but unlike in her dream, the aura about herself was invisible.

She closed her eyes and continued to practice with the power shield. She wove the imaginary purple nimbus around herself into a tight, impenetrable shield. The shield would be stronger than the most durable steel and as unyielding as solid rock. Flindra knew the reality of her vision and felt the tangible power when she opened her eyes. A glance to the ring showed that Rigga glowed in violet intensity. The tarnish on the silver had disappeared, revealing the brightness of the metal.