It was a beautiful, picturesque sunset. The seagulls were calling, and the waves rolled in, and returned to the sea from which they came. It was the cycle, the pulse of nature, as the sounds rolled in rhythm, over and over again. There was not a soul for miles, it seemed. Except for on one part of the beach, a single person stood out. She was wrapped in a red cloak, but she kept her hood down. Her light-brown hair waved with the wind, which smelt slightly of salt. Her feral-yellow eyes were cast on the horizon, as the sky slowly became a darker and darker red, soon to fade to the darkness of night. Her face was emotionless; it seemed as if she was daydreaming. Her heart was wandering about, as she thought about her past and how little she knew about it. She thought about how little of it she knew. She knew nothing of anyone she might have had any relationship with: friend, foe, or family. She had no idea what kind of person she was, or anything in her past life. It was like being an orphan, only worse. She was an orphan to herself. She had only the future to hold onto. She had recently become a servant of the Goddess of Nature, Liara, and given a token of that service. She looked at the sword that she held, it had a golden hilt, and an emerald fashioned in the shape of a leaf. She held it up, and the sunlight gleamed on the blade. Where was her past? Where was the key that would unlock the door to her memories? She felt like a ship lost in the great sea, tossed to and fro. Her service for Liara was her only anchor, and she would uphold that service for the rest of her days, whether she discovered her past or not.

(After ‘Enter the Sorcerer and before ‘Faith’)

Achineitnale advanced slowly past the threshold between grass and rock to the edge of the headland, once again in his accustomed lupine form. His perplexing encounter with the human and the injured elf, still not an hour past, made the suns last crimson rays still reaching delicately over the distant horizon seem all the more tranquil. Nal eased himself down onto the tip of the headland, feeling once again the firm embrace of granite slightly slick with sea spray. He inhaled deeply, taking the sea air deep within him, savoring the smell of the moist, invigorating sea air rushing through his nose and admiring the way it seemed to perfectly fill his lungs. He relished the sound of the gentle sea lapping against the headlands, and the tender caress of the light wind as it ran through his fur.

Nal thought back over the latest installment of his yearly pilgrimage away from civilization. He remembered the ecstasy of leaving behind his human form on the outskirts of Lómëdor; the feeling of once again being at peace, close to the earth and far from the hustle and bustle of city life. Then, his thoughts wandered further into the past, into the circumstances that had first forced him into the wilderness, confused and desperately in need of some time to think,

The sun’s last ray glinted off of something on the beach below, abruptly stirring Nal from his introspective trance. He whipped his head around, immediately spotting what looked like a mass of windblown red cloth. Nal rose fluidly from his bed of granite and loped easily towards the beach. His interest had been piqued and he wasn’t about to give up his night on the headland because of yet another meddling biped.