Chapter VII, Reading 3

"It is," Kewero responded with compassion in her voice. "We must prepare for the coming battle. That’s why I am here and why you are here."

"Why me?" Flindra asked. "I don't mean to sound like I'm avoiding my responsibilities, but why me? Why didn't the Spirit choose some great and stalwart warrior to lead this fight? I'm nothing special and I don't know the first thing about war. Surely, the Spirit could find someone better than me." She frowned. "When I dreamt of King Meldh, I asked him that same question. He answered that there are advantages to the fact that I'm a woman and can join with the existing power structure, but that seems like a hollow answer. I can't imagine I really have that much to bring to the fight."

"Don't underestimate yourself, Princess Flindra. You have strengths and talents not even you are aware of. Yet. I accept the Spirit's Wisdom. You will be equal to your destiny."

Flindra looked troubled and very unsure.

Kewero reached over and took her hand. "You will be the catalyst who will coalesce our resistance. I understand you had no choice in this, but you are not alone. There are other men and women whose talents and experience will aid your fight. You will draw many to you. Others you will have to seek. You also have been given some valuable tools to use in your fight. The memories of all your ancestors are with you. When there is need, their knowledge, their experience will become yours. And everything I have learned through the years is yours."

"How many years, Kewero?" Flindra finally grew bold enough to ask. "You serve the Spirit, but how do you know all this? How does the Spirit speak to you?"

"I guess I never did explain my comment about how long I've been waiting for you. Forgive me. I guess I should tell you a little more of my history so you can understand me better.

"I was a counselor at the court of King Meldh. I was one of a group of five who advised the King. It became apparent early in the conflict with the Ansu that we were hopelessly outmatched. One day, the King summoned us and revealed a dream he'd had the night before. He'd been told in his dream that one of his counselors needed to seek out the wisdom and guidance of the Spirit to learn what we needed to do. King Meldh gave us a choice as to which one of us would go on this quest. In fairness, the five of us drew lots. It fell upon me to search for the information we needed.

"Once the selection had been made, the King and Queen called me to them for a private conference. The King now confessed the rest of his dream. He knew that he would die in the conflict, as would the Queen and most of his nobles. The knowledge I would discover was needed to aid his descendant in a future conflict and would give him no assistance in the present fight. My whole purpose was to provide protection and guidance for the future champion of his line. Only the Queen knew the full story of his dream. He had no wish to demoralize his people so he had kept his dream a secret. He asked me to do the same.

"The Queen then spoke to me. I still remember her words for they were spoken with such intense sorrow." The tone of Kewero's voice changed. There was boundless respect and tremendous sorrow in her accent as she recalled the words of the long-dead Queen. "She told me that it had been foretold at her birth that she would live to see her world destroyed, her child taken from her and that she would know the suffering of all the children of her line - the suffering only a mother can understand and endure. She was named for the suffering she would know for Kwenth in the Old Tongue means suffering."

Kewero paused and lowered her eyes. It was obvious her memories brought pain into her heart.

Chapter III, Reading 8

The days passed with everyday a repetition of the last.  Under different circumstances she would have relished seeing the beauty of the great forest as she traveled north.  Instead, Flindra was concentrating on avoiding people and leaving as little evidence of her passage as possible in case there was an enemy following.

There weren't many travelers abroad in this part of the land.  Flindra was north of the great trade routes between the two Kingdoms.  However, she had seen several troops of the King's Rangers patrolling the roads.  They were riding in the distance and she had been able to avoid them easily.  All the same, she wondered why the Rangers were out patrolling this far north.  She hoped there weren't bandit gangs hiding in the area.  She could have trouble avoiding large groups of Rangers or those they were hunting.

Worry visited Flindra nightly as she sat gazing into her fire.  She had been increasingly disturbed by bad dreams.  Most of the time she couldn't even recall her dreams - they just left her uneasy.  Flindra desperately wanted someone to talk to, someone to confide in.  She longed for her mother and Leudh for the two had the ability to always give her comfort when she was worried.

Her only comfort came from her nightly prayers for she remembered the familiar words her parents used when they had prayed together as a family.  The routine made her feel deeply loved and she cherished her memories.  Praying regularly also brought its own comforts so she never skipped the practice.

Chapter II, Reading 1

Dakra walked outside with a basket of freshly washed laundry clasped in both hands.  She glanced around the clearing to see if she could spot her daughter.  Flindra had gone for a walk shortly after breakfast and hadn’t returned.  She frowned as she glanced at the afternoon sun and started hanging the clothes out to dry on the lines stretched between a post and the south side of the cottage.

"Be with her, Spirit," she prayed.

Dakra's relationship with the Divine was simple and direct.  She'd often have prayerful conversations with Him as she worked.

"Flindra's troubled," she continued in a low voice.  "She won't say anything, but I know her too well to be deceived.  Please guide my words so that I might comfort her.  I really want to find some way to help ease her troubled heart.  Help me to help her."

Leudh's voice interrupted her prayers.  He was calling the twins into his house.  Dakra smiled at the sound and was touched by an insightful idea to send him to speak with Flindra.  They'd always been close and he might be able to soothe her troubled heart.

"Thank you, Spirit," she murmured.  "It's a good idea to send Leudh.  Thank you for helping me to see that."

Her own heart felt peaceful as she hung the rest of the laundry.  She basked in the comforting knowledge that the Spirit was with her and her family.  He would never leave them without hope.

Chapter III, Reading 7

"Stop it," she scolded herself when she got to the lake. "Use your head, Flindra. Enough of these tears." She pulled Deru to a halt and bowed her head. "Beloved Spirit, be with me and guide my steps. Help me to keep from feeling sorry for myself and drowning in my own tears." She took a deep breath. "Let it be so."

Deru was anxious to get moving so he turned around and nibbled at her boot. He commonly did that as a way of saying it was time to move. Flindra actually smiled as she let him walk on. She rode quietly through the towering pines of the forest bordering the lake. She could smell the pungent odor of the thick mat of fallen needles on the forest floor. With every muffled step of her horse's hooves, she drew farther away from her home. Every step beat out a steady rhythm of a mournful song that spoke the sorrow of her heart.

The loss of her home and her family opened a vast vault of loneliness and despair within her heart. Never had Flindra experienced such intensity of emotion. She used this intensity, this pain, to keep her mind focused on her task. It was a knife blade that cut through the numbness of grief.

If an enemy knew her whereabouts, it would be probable that they would attack close to her home. She remained vigilant and wary. Her tension was translated through her body to the horse and he also scanned the countryside with alert ears.

By mid-afternoon, Flindra began to focus on her task of finding Kewero. Leudh had given her some basic instructions on how to find the Northern Reaches. She needed to travel along the western flanks of the Greyfell Mountains to a great boulder field and then make her way over an unnamed pass and thus through the mountains. To the east of the great range was the barren area known as the Northern Reaches.

Flindra was well equipped for her journey. She wore a dark green tunic that was lined with soft woolen fleece. Her brown trousers were made of thick wool cloth that had been boiled before the garment was made. Stout leather boots protected her feet and lower legs. A fur-lined cloak in the same dark green as her tunic added more warmth. In addition, the dark green blended well with the background of the forest.

Leudh had given her a fine yew bow and a quiver of arrows as a parting gift. Both her father and Leudh had spent a great deal of time instructing her in the art of archery. Over the years, she had developed an unerring accuracy with the weapon and was quite capable of defending herself with it.

They had taught her to use a knife effectively as well, both in a fight and as a throwing weapon. Flindra had several daggers hidden in her clothing - one in her boot, another in a sheath suspended by a cord and hanging between her shoulder blades, and a third tucked into her belt.