The hide-out of the People of Siar was located in the depths of Tenebre’s forest, not that far from the River Maranam, which met the Fireflies’Waterfall in its way, which was the only place where the river turned its color from black to dark blue.

Right there, in the heart of the forest, it was the source of life for that tormented people, which suffered a lot for so many centuries since they had been cursed and chased from their lands, forced to wander the world only to survive. And only a few of those who managed to escape to fall prey to the havoc that day could continue the line of their blood, and their heirs could be seen living in that forest. But even so, even if their dears and friends had been slaughtered that day, they managed to learn a life lesson, which they sent to their children, and their children to their children, managing to become tough and able to face that wandering life, understanding that it’s good for a wanderer to keep his mouth shut, to be quiet, to have secrets and few enemies or at all, for even earth wasn’t a safe place for them anymore, for evil lurked on them from everywhere, trying to establish its kingdom on the earthly realms.

„Here’s my home,” said Nathaniel when he and Samaya entered the camp.

Samaya said nothing. She just looked around, at those few tents, seen in that small glade. But she has been even more surprised to see that there were only a few hundred people instead of thousands, as she thought.

„And… where are the others?” asked Samaya.

„The others? Whom others?”

„You said that here’s the hide-out of your people. There should be more of you here.”

„And you’re right. The People of Siar has probably around 3000 people. But we’ve decided to split up into groups of 100-200 people only. It’s safer this way.”

„Why?” she asked, for she couldn’t understand why they had to hide, for the curse that had been thrown over them, hundreds of years ago, by Curse, who they hurt, had not to be available anymore as the one who cursed them wasn’t alive at that moment.

„It’s because we didn’t pay for our sins yet. The curse is still alive. Somewhere around us. Spying on us. And it’ll be over only when the last of us will die.”

„Or when the one who cursed us will take back that curse or he’ll be killed. Or if one of princess Curse’s heirs accepts that curse on his shoulders. But, as our princess is dead, and we don’t know where her boy is now, we are forced to hide,” the voice of a young girl was heard behind them and when Samaya turned toward the one who spoke those words, she saw a girl about 15, approaching them.

The girl instead was different from the Siar People, who were blonde and with black or dark brown eyes. The girl instead had dark brown hair, up to the chin, and green eyes. As Samaya’s mother had when she was alive. But Samaya was sure that that girl had nothing to do with Samandra.

„My name is Yellen,” the girl said, noticing Samaya staring at her. „And… don’t worry: I don’t eat people, generally. I prefer the carrots,” and her remark made Nathaniel laugh.

„You and your jokes, sister,” he said, entangling the girl’s hair.

„Sister?” whispered Samaya. „But… she’s so different from you.”

„Aaa, you’re talking about our physical. Well, yes, you’re right – we are different and, even if not the same blood flows through our veins, we are yet brothers,” said Yellen.

„Aaa, soul brothers,” whispered Samaya again, approaching the girl. „Nice to meet you, Yellen, and… I think it gets late. I must turn back or my family will be worried.”

„Don’t worry about this. I’ve sent someone to tell them that you are here.”

„But… we’ve just arrived. How did you know who I am?”

„I saw this. Let's say that I can see things. Not much, but I had some visions. And I saw you falling into the water when Nathaniel saved you by that wild boar. Actually, I also saw Princess Bestla there, running toward you, followed by two young men. And, as I know who she is, I thought you are part of her family. But… It seems I’ve been wrong. Never mind, anyway! They’ll be here soon! As the dinner will be ready soon. So, don’t vanish!” she told them and quickly entered their tent.

„Let’s go! I must show you something really beautiful,” Nathaniel told Samaya and he headed West, toward the place from where a kind of beautiful melody was heard, like the noise of a waterfall.

***

„It’s really beautiful,” said Samaya when she and Nathaniel got to the Blue Waterfall, surrounded by sparkling fireflies.

„Of course, it is. This is something that makes us feel alive,” he said and sat down on a rock, not that far from the waterfall.

Samaya instead kept standing for a while, looking at that charming place with wide-opened eyes, for it was really magic and quiet and a kind of sweet melody was heard everywhere.

„This is the Music of the Old Trees,” said Nathaniel, looking in the distance. „It comes from over there, from that part of the forest, and it can be heard always, even when the sky shakes under the hatred of the thunderbolts.”

„But… what’s over there?”

„The Paradise! I think! Actually, none of us ever dared to enter that part of the forest. Even if it’s quiet and a piece of Holy music is listened to from there, making it to be a fairy-like world, we are still afraid of it.”

Then, the man kept silent, allowing himself to fall prey to charming. Samaya instead didn’t do the same. She took a few steps toward the rock, sitting on it a little bit lower than the man’s feet. Then, she stood up and approached the water, squatting next to it, with the knees touching her chest, and, staying like that, she stared at the other side of the waterfall.

„I see,” she murmured and kept again silent. For a few moments only, staring at that slow rocking of the trees in front of her. Then, she said again in a murmur: „even if you’re afraid of that, you can’t break that spell.”

And this was so, for the trees, that were growing on the other side of the waterfall, were wonderful: of a shiny dark green, with thick trunks of a dark brown and which seemed to be the guardians of a Holy Place. And the trees’slow rocking, caressed by the slight gusts of wind, made them seem giants on a single wooden leg, caught in place and dancing with their branches, woven by fate as if they had been cursed to be always charming.

„First time I saw this forest, I thought that princess Curse lives there. Soon instead, I understood that it wasn’t like I thought.”

„Why so?”

„Because I heard a story that night. A story told us by the elder of our group. We were gathered around the fire that night, as we used to stay in the quiet evenings. And we, the children, part of us sleeping where the sleep caught up with us and part of us listening to the story while staying next to our parents, who also seemed children while listening to that story, were so happy to listen to a story. And I remember that I wasn’t asleep that night, but I was only lying on that soft grass, behind my mother, with my hands under my head and looking at the sky. In my ears instead, the words of that old man were sweetly resounding while he was telling us the Princess Curse’s story and how she died in fact. And… the same evening, my childhood was gone, for I understood then that there’s no magic in this world. There’s only the fight for survival.”

„But even so, Nathaniel, there’s still magic in this world. The matter is that you can’t see it.”

Nathaniel turned his head and looked at Samaya, who was looking in the distance with a lost glance, and only her eyelashes, which were slowly moving up and down, betrayed the fact that she was still in the real world. „Are you talking about your wolf power?”

„No. This is a power that I have from my father. The Magic I’m talking about is the one I guard in my heart. Since I've been a little child, for I discovered it while being in the skin of the mute wolf, which could only dream. I’m sure that you don’t know my story, but till the age of five, I wasn’t a normal kid, but a wolf cub, who couldn’t talk to people, who couldn’t understand their words, but who could dream a lot while watching at the nature, listening to its whispers that were entering my body through all the pores, through the smells felt, through the places seen in my dreams and through the magic felt everywhere.”

„Yellen!” said Nathaniel and he also looked in the distance. Only then did he notice that the trees’leaves looked frozen as if preparing to listen to the story he was about to tell Samaya.

„We found her - at the edge of that forest, of which we are so afraid. She was only a baby then. I think she had only a few months, as far as I remember, for even if I was only five at that moment, I still have some alive dreams about that period. And I remember that we found her on the ground, covered by the bodies of her parents. She wasn’t even crying when we found her. Only a kind of Holy Melody was heard around her, which betrayed the fact that she was still alive. And… as if he had been afraid of the devil, hearing that melody, my father approached that poor couple on tiptoe and took the girl, and only when did he give the girl to my mother and she uncovered her face, did we understand that she was still breathing. And it was so beautiful, that child’s innocent face. With her wide-open eyes, looking at the world. But she was silent and she wasn’t crying, as her eyes don’t shed tears even now. I think that’s because she still remembers the death of her parents.”

Samaya said nothing instead: she only kept looking at the water that was slowly moving in small circles that were waving on its surface.

Nathaniel kept sitting on the same rock, lurking at the girl’s face and he saw how she moved her palm above the water, turning its surface into a kind of mirror, but he couldn’t see what was reflected in that mirror.

But Samaya saw everything: she saw Yellen’s memories – a young couple, running from someone. A baby girl was in her mother’s arms, who was holding her to her chest. Someone chasing them. But Samaya couldn’t see who was chasing the girl’s parents. At least she couldn’t see this at first, for the girl’s eyes were covered by the material in which she was wrapped. But yet, Samaya also heard that strange music from Yellen’s memories.

And that music was like a kind of whistling that was coming out from the deep underground, moving through the trees, rocking the leaves and it was felt as if it was the whistling breathing of thousands and thousands of metallic things that were hitting each other at the same time, making a kind of sweet chinks be heard all around. Then… someone’s footsteps, approaching them, had been heard. Sometimes the noise of the footsteps was clearly heard. Sometimes it was something coming from far away. But even if the chasers were somewhere far from them, their force to run after that couple was impressive, for they approached them at a full speed.

Then, Samaya heard the hissing and the interrupted breathing of Yellen’s parents, who were running, afraid of their chasers. Then, she heard the man’s voice: „let’s leave the girl somewhere.”

„No. She’ll be at their mercy,” the woman said, frightened, uncovering the girl’s face and so, Samaya could see her face, through Yellen’s eyes and she could see that on that woman’s cheeks, streams of tears were flowing. But when Yellen sweetly smiled at her mother, the woman said: „I can’t leave her. Not here.”

„We don’t have another choice. If not…,” and the man fell to his knees, hit by a spear from behind, a spear thrown from far away.

His wife, scared, looked toward the enemy, and Samaya saw who was chasing them in fact - the Yātrīkar, wearing their long black robes. And Samaya could see how one of the Yātrīkar threw an arrow to hurt them, but she right away kneeled, submitted by the girl’s power.

„Kill the girl!” the voice of another Yātrīkar had been heard, but when a kind of black magma had been thrown over Yellen and her mother, the woman protected the baby with her body, and she later fell to the ground. But Yellen remained unhurt.

„Take the girl,” the same Yātrīkar demanded. But when they tried to approach the girl, they couldn’t, for the place was protected by a kind of blue bubble, and Gaea appeared soon next to the girl.

„You,” shouted the same Yātrīkar, who seemed to be the leader. „I told you to stay away from this, Mother Earth. But you never listen to me.”

„It’s because of my stubbornness,” Gaea joked and, taking the flute from her girdle, she started to blow it, making the Yātrīkar scream, covering their ears with their palms and moving like mad souls around, trying to escape, for Gaea’s sweet music was killing them as if thousands and thousands of raindrops were hitting a rock at the same time.

„Be cursed and hunted forever, and your soul to never rest in peace,” Gaea cursed the Yātrīkar while the flute continued to sing by itself. „This child… you won’t ever have her, for her power is something you mustn’t have,” and, using her power, Gaea set fire to the Yātrīkar’s robes, and they soon ran away, as if chased by the devil when the wind started to blow around so suddenly, making those flames increase in volume.

Then, Gaea uncovered the girl’s face and smiled at her, seeing the girl’s smile: „you are still here,” Gaea said and touched the small loupe, seen at the girl’s neck, hanging like a medallion. „I’ll take this curse from you, for you’ve been left powerless when Yātrīkar took your body. But… I’ll take this with me, leaving you only the power of your mind, to protect you from shadows.”

Taking the small loupe, Gaea put it to her waist, next to the other loupe, bigger in size, which she was all the time wearing with her. Then, touching each other, the two loupes unified into one when the big one swallowed the small one, and the unique loupe shone then, as Yellen’s eyes shone.

But something more happened after the two loupes had unified into one: the girl’s eyes were completely blind when the small loupe vanished as if being covered by a white peel. But when Gaea’s hand moved in front of Yellen’s eyes, she had normal eyes again.

„They’ll come after you, soon,” whispered Gaea and vanished. A few moments later, Nathaniel’s father took the girl in his arms to give her later to his wife. And, so soon, behind that woman, Nathaniel’s face, the 5-years-old boy appeared.

„She’s so small and so unhappy,” the woman whispered, holding the girl to her chest. „I name her Yellen – the border between good and evil, and whoever will try to hurt you, to be cursed and killed by fate,” the woman’s lips whispered in the girl’s ear. Then, the four moved toward the opposite side of the forest, where the People of Siar were hiding.

Behind them, the evil’s eyes reappeared – the Yātrīkar’s leader: „we’ll see each other again, Yellen. Our fate wasn’t yet fulfilled,” and she also vanished soon, among the trees.

Samaya painfully sighed, returning to the real world: „It was Gaea,” she whispered, and, frightened, she looked at Nathaniel, who was only one step from her. „It was Gaea who saved Yellen that day, and not your parents. But… they’ll come after her. They’ll come after Yellen.”

„Who?” asked Nathaniel, also scared. „Who’ll come after Yellen?”

„I don’t know. But, that day, a Yātrīkar was also there. And… someone else’s shadow. It seemed to me that it was a man’s shadow, but I don’t know who he was. That’s why we must protect Yellen from him.”

Suddenly, nature all around started to slowly shake in a kind of magic blowing, pushed by cold air, felt all around. But neither Samaya nor Nathaniel paid attention to this, being too focused to look into the other’s eyes, trying to understand what was fate planning at that time.

***

Yellen exited the tent, bringing with her a plate with fresh-cut vegetables and she approached the cauldron in which she was preparing the dinner, humming a melody.

„Aaa,” she slowly shouted when a drop of boiled liquid touched her hand, forcing her to withdraw it. „It’s definitely not my lucky day today,” she said and continued to mix the broth, not paying attention to the injured skin that was healing by itself: she has also seen it before and she knew that it was due to her hidden power.

„They are already here,” she murmured and turned her head toward the forest, seeing four people approaching their camp: Dike, Fenrir, Bestla, and Arion. „Welcome!” she said, approaching them with no fear.

„Where is my daughter?” Dike asked, looking into her eyes. But, as if being bothered by something in that glance, he looked elsewhere. „A blind Yātrīkar? Among the People of Siar? How’s this possible?” But he didn’t say this loudly, for he noticed Samaya and Nathaniel approaching them.

„Something’s wrong, master Dike?” Arion asked, seeing Dike’s hand unwillingly touching Ionas’handle.

„We’ll talk about this later. Let’s better check the surroundings,” he said and approached Samaya and Nathaniel, who were waiting for them at the entrance of the big tent.

„Welcome to the humble camp of the People of Siar, titan Dike,” said Nathaniel, bowing his head.

„And I’m glad to see that you are still alive, even if there are so few of you here.” And Dike looked around, at all those men, women, and children that were looking at each other and wondering who are those strangers and what are they doing in their camp.

„We’ve been many more, but we’ve decided to split up. It must be about 13 years since then, since our village, which was located in the Northern Part of this Forest, has been attacked by Ahi and his hatred. Many died that day and, because of this, we’ve decided to split up, for it was the only chance to survive.”

„And you did well, for you are still free, even if slaughtered.”

Bestla suddenly sneezed, taking everybody by surprise.

Arion approached her eventually, whispering in her ear: „don’t tell me that you feel a wolf’s scent around. You are sneezing only when they are somewhere.”

„Or when you are too close to me,” and she grinned and, opening the door of her mind, she sent a telepathic message to Dike, a message also heard by Samaya and Fenrir, and the twins suddenly winced.

The only one who didn’t do anything has been Dike, who eventually took a few steps aside, saying: „all the men, follow me! The women will stay in the camp!”

„But, father…,” tried Samaya to oppose to his command and follow her father.

Fenrir grabbed her by arm instead, stopping her: „you know him well, Samaya. If papa ordered you to stay here is for something. Listen to him and don’t move from here. If necessary, look for a shelter. Here’s too open and too quiet for my taste. And this, Bestla, refers to you too.”

„Yeah, yeah, I got it,” murmured Bestla, sitting on a log while Fenrir, Nathaniel, and Arion followed Dike, who was already far enough from them.

„What’s going on?” asked Yellen, staring at Bestla, who wasn’t too eager to reveal things actually. That’s why Yellen eventually looked at Samaya, waiting for an answer.

Samaya instead only told them in a demanding voice: „take only the necessary! Fenrir is right: it’s time to move away from here, toward the Grotto of Siar,” and she took a few steps in front, searching the surroundings.