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"If Lady Dasslerond had suai-ru village enclave, do you believe that you would have stepped forward and simply taken control?" the elf asked ?By what declaration would you have been named as hero and leader?"

"By the same declaration I ai," came the sarcastic response, and Brynn added under her breath, ?If we ever arrive in To-gai"

"If we find no way over thethe foothills, all the way to the coast, to the city of Entel, where ill secure passage to Jacintha easily enough"

Brynn knew the name of the second city, Jacintha, and understood the extent of the hike

"Jacintha," Juraviel said again ?The seat of Behrenese power The home of the Chezru Chieftain who rules the Yatols"

Predictably, Brynn&039;s expression becaer

"You are worldly in many ways," Juraviel said to her ?And yet, in many others, you know so little of the orld Perhaps that is our fault, but we are, by need, a reclusive people So, instead of begrudging the delays in returning to To-gai, consider this journey, and the one far to the east that we , as preparation for the trials you will soon enough face"

Brynn stared at Juraviel long and hard, but she had heard the words clearly, and could accept that explanation to soree She reminded herself that the Touel&039;alfar had rescued her from a life of certain slavery, an existence that would never have led to the possibilities spread wide before her She reminded herself that the Touel&039;alfar had trained her in the arts she would need to ht of all that history and training and friendship, Brynn suddenly felt very foolish indeed for so severely question-ing Belli&039; chuckle, then said, ?Perhaps I have spent too lanced back up as she finished and saw that her words had indeed brought a smile to the elf&039;s fair face

"Aydrian will find his oay in the world, I doubt not," Juraviel re-plied ?But his temperament would never have proven suitable to the task you have at hand You are a warrior, but foremost you are a diplomat, a leader ords above the sword, an inspiration through courage and"

The elf paused, raising a finger into the air to signify the ih wisdom Without the second quality, you will lead your people into nothing but disaster It will take rasp of Behren, e and cunning, and will take a leader so elevated that her peo-ple will die for her willingly, gratefully Do you fully appreciate the gravity of that position?"

Brynn suddenly found it hard to draw breath

"Do you truly understand that you will one day order your warriors into battle, knowing that et any easier

"Do you truly understand that youfull well that in doing so you will leave a To-gai-ru village unpro-tected, and that the Behrenese will likely take out their anger against your insurrection on that unprotected village? Perhaps your actions will lead totheir parents die - or eventheir children die Are you ready to take that responsibility, Brynn Dharielle? ?

She stood there, treain?"

That last question grounded her again, tossed aside the ies of poten-tial horror and clarified the potential victory Victory for To-gai , in truth, but to Brynn Dharielle, that one thing outweighed all the pain and all the deaths

"Freedohtly

Belli&039;mar Juraviel stared at her for a few

Lozan Duk watched the curious couple sitting at the ca foothills of the Belt-and-Buckle, a e that Lozan Duk&039;s people considered the very end of the world

Lozan Duk was not too concerned with the feh her skin was darker and her eyes a bit unusual in shape, she did not see humans who every so often wandered into these lands

But the other one, with his angular features and diminutive form

At first Lozan Duk and his coht the second creature a human child, but closer inspection had nullified that viewpoint He was no child, and indeed spoke in the tones of a leader And more than that, this one had a set of features that neither of the onlookers could have expected: a pair of nearly translucent wings

A branch to the side shuddered slightly as Lozan Duk&039;s cohs as niht ?Denkan ? she said with a nod, confirs Were akin to those of a debankan, a butterfly

The two hesitated, staring at each other, at a loss Their histories told of lv one race of creatures who sported such ornaments, the Tylwyn Tou, the elves of the day

But those creatures, the Tylwyn Tou, had receded into the oldest er people, they had becoend come to life? For the diminutive creature down by the caly deli-cate stature and his angular features, except that his hair was light, where the Tylwyn Doc had hair alh creamy, seemed somewhat colored by the sun, where the skin of all the Tyl-wyn Doc, creatures who rarely if ever ventured out from under the nearly solid canopy of their forest home of Tymwyvenne, wasLozan Duk&039;s thoughts exactly

"And what does that

Nor with intruders was fairly straight-forward, and certainly of unifor andered into the realm of the Tylwyn Doc, the Doc&039;alfar, would wander back out

Intruders were given to the peat bog

Lozan Duk looked back down at the duo, particularly at the curious crea-ture who seee of himself, and wondered