Dawn sat at the campfire together with Grinna, Teren and a few Kharlins. Ankou had already retired to their tent with Echo and Chaos, his big form curled protectively around the two mites. When she had looked at the sleeping trio, she had bemusedly wondered if she would have the chance to squeeze herself into the remaining space later on, or if she’d be destined to spend her night outside under the stars.

The cubs were tired out after eating their fill of a thin porridge with jerky and playing around with Ankou. Their antics had entertained the whole camp, and though some of the Kharlins had been grumbling at first at the addition of the two cubs to their company, it couldn’t be denied that mere hours later, the little fur balls already were the adored darlings of everyone in the group.

Dawn had guarded them for a while in her turn, so Ankou had a chance to hunt and eat his own dinner. He had turned up his nose at their evening meal of griddle cakes, jerky and tea and had made short work of his hunt, coming back with a plump grouse, which he guzzled down with obvious enjoyment, much to the envy of their group.

Though the improvised bridge to the island had been taken down, only a rope now connecting the island to the shore, the Kharlins had still posted a guard to keep watch for any beasts in the vicinity.

Dawn felt safe, warm and pleasantly tired. She had taken the time for a short dip in the cool lake before dinner, and it had been a heavenly feeling to cool off and wash off the sweat of the long hot day.

“You know, a few months ago I couldn’t even imagine the world outside of the boundaries of Greenriver Village. Sometimes I still can’t believe I’m sitting here with you and Ankou and a troupe of Kharlins. It all seems so strange.” She said, pensively.

Grinna smiled.

“It must be a big change for you. Do you regret it? Leaving the village and your family?”

Dawn rubbed her nose thoughtfully.

“Not really. I mean, sometimes I’m sad, that I don’t see my mother anymore or Caleb. There are moments when I really long to tell them about my Path and Ankou and the Kharlins. And then I remember that they’re far away, and maybe I won’t ever see them again.” Her voice trailed off a bit forlornly.

“But I never wish that I had stayed at home and married Beran. I would have been bored out of my mind with housework and minding the children for the rest of my life.”

Grinna combed her still damp hair back with her fingers.

“You never know, children have the potential to endlessly surprise you. But I can understand that you didn’t want a ready made family at your age, without the opportunity to explore any other possibilities.

I remember a time when I wanted to be a ranger and to learn sword fighting and everyone told me I couldn’t do it, that it wasn’t right and proper for a girl. They expected me to forget all about it and to settle down to marry and have children and behave like a proper woman should.

Thankfully my father didn’t care about all that talk. He just saw that I had a talent for the sword and kept teaching me, no matter what everyone said. I was, and still am, very lucky with my family.

Still, what are you going to do after the fight with the demons is over? You don’t want to come back to the city with us and don’t want to return to your village. You can’t live alone in the wilderness, either.”

“Believe me, I know that now.” Dawn said with a sigh and rested her chin on her hand.

“But I’m really uncertain what I’m going to do. Maybe I could stay with the Kharlins for a while? I need to train more with the sword, bow and my dagger, too.

Really, though I have my path now and have grown some since I left home, I feel so weak and stupid, now that I know what I’m up against. I have learned a lot and I have grown stronger, but in the end that has just shown me how much I don’t know still and that it is not nearly enough.

And it takes such a long time to get better. I haven’t grown significantly in my path and skills for what seems like an eternity. I still hardly know what to do with a sword, not to mention the bow. Against a serious enemy I have no chance at all.” She complained bitterly.

Grinna chuckled and shook her head reproachfully.

“Oh, don’t complain please. You have had your path for how long exactly? A few months? You have grown by leaps and bounds in that time, especially through your fights with beasts and demons. You may not realize how lucky you are, but I certainly do.

Of course, it takes some time to reach higher levels. Have some patience girl! And you need to work on it, too, of course.

Your skills are very diverse, the stealth and your healing alone make you hugely powerful. What you lack are offensive and defensive skills. And these need to be trained, which takes time I’m sorry to say. You need a plan, right at the moment it seems to me you want to do everything at once. I’d say make a plan for your training and stick to it diligently. Then you’ll definitively see some improvement.

And by all means talk to the Kharlins about the possibility of staying with them for a while. You have a pretty strong advocate in Nuala, I’m sure. She has obviously taken quite a shine to you.”

Dawn smiled lopsidedly.

“At least Ristop is not the village head anymore. I wonder where he has gotten to. I didn’t really dare to ask.

But, I guess you’re right. More training it is. But I’ll wait to talk with Halvar about staying until after the end of this excursion.”

Teren gave her a warm smile and said.

“Don’t worry too much about it, Dawn. The Kharlins would be fools indeed, if they didn’t take the opportunity to snap up a powerful healer for their village. They know what you can do now. And Halvar doesn’t strike me as a fool.

If all else fails, you’ll always have a place in our home. But I’m sure you’ll make your own way.”

He hesitated for a moment, then continued.

“There’s one thing you should be careful about. You have been very open with all of us about your skills. While we of course feel honoured by your trust, you should be more careful going forward.

Of course, companions in battle will experience some of your skills when you use them, but as far as you are able to, guard information about your skills, your path and your levels as well as you can.”

He fell silent again.

Grinna stood up and stretched herself lazily.

“It’s about time to sleep for me now. I’ll take up the watch in a few hours. See you in the morning.”

She and Teren left the campfire in the direction of their tent.

Dawn sat and pondered for a little while, then she stood up as well and strolled along the water’s edge, enjoying the night breeze and listening to the small sounds of the campfire, the waves on the beach and the crickets.

When she arrived next to Nestor who stood watch, the silver moon Liriel started to rise in the sky over the mountains and doused their surroundings in a soft silver light.

Suddenly, she heard a sweet haunting melody rising from the island, and a distance away in the dark she saw silverblue flowers blooming and softly glowing in the moonlight, singing a whispering song.

She stood rapt, listening to the susurrating tones. “What on earth? They`re singing?” she whispered.

Nestor chuckled softly at her obvious fascination. “I take it you’ve never encountered moonflowers before. They are not uncommon in the wilderness. Their song is sweet, isn’t it?” He sighed, listening for a while in silence, then asked:

“So, if you don’t know the flowers, mayhap you don’t know the story they tell about them, either?”

“A story? No, I never heard about moonflowers.” Dawn retorted softly. “Will you tell me the story?”

Nestor peered around carefully first, and satisfied that nothing untoward was in sight, said:

“Well, they say in ancient times, the Gods sometimes walked on earth and one summer evening the Moonmaiden came to visit a little village in the midst of the mountains.

The villagers, overjoyed by her visit, held a celebration in her honor with song and dance, and at the end, one of the village girls with an especially beautiful singing voice sang a sad, soulful ballad about love long lost and forgotten. All the listeners were enchanted by her glorious voice and her song left a deep impression.

The Moonmaiden in her turn, was pleased and gave her blessing to the village, before leaving on her way further down the mountains.

But when she arrived at the outskirts of the village, she beheld some flowers that bloomed in the light of the moon and the flowers asked her.

“Why can’t we sing such a song as that girl? It was wonderful! We can sing, but it sounds not nearly as pleasing as that girl’s song.”

The Moonmaiden smiled at their question and said. “Well, it is no wonder. That girl not only has a beautiful singing voice, but also a soul. And that makes all the difference in the world.”

The flowers pondered for a while and then asked her. “So, we don’t have a soul?”

To which the Moonmaiden replied. “No, it is not usual for flowers to have a soul.”

“So we will never be able to sing a song as beautiful as that girl’s.” The flowers lamented miserably.

But then, drawing hope from her presence, they said. “You are a goddess. Obviously you are all powerful. Can’t you give us a soul of our very own?”

The Moonmaiden sighed at hearing their plea and told the flowers.

“I may be a goddess, but I’m hardly all powerful. It is hard work to grow a soul and a lot of things have to align just right for a new soul to be born.

But, I shall make you an offer. If you and your brethren pledge to pray to me, every time the light of the silver moon touches one of you, then I promise you shall earn yourself a soul after a time. But it may take you a long while indeed to earn yourself a soul with your prayers.”

The flowers, upon hearing the offer of the goddess, were overjoyed, and promised:

“We will pray to you without fail by the light of the moon, and no matter how long it takes, we shall earn ourselves a soul.”

So the pact was sealed between the Moonmaiden and the flowers, and ever after the flowers sang out in prayer by the light of the silver moon. In time, they came to be known to everyone as moonflowers and it is said, that on rare special evenings when one of the flowers has prayed long enough, the Moonmaiden grants her a soul and thereafter she will walk the earth as a moonflower girl.”

Nestor fell silent at the end of his story and Dawn stood lost in thought for a while, wondering about souls.

How exactly did one grow a soul? Then, she felt ridiculous for even thinking about what was obviously a question only fit for the gods and much too complicated for an ordinary village girl like her.

She sighed and said. “What a beautiful story. Thank you for telling me, Nestor. I will always remember it.”

Nestor just nodded and turned to watch out for beasts in the night again.

Dawn continued her stroll along the shore by the light of the moon and went to take a closer look at the luminous blooms of the moonflowers. They felt velvety to her touch, but had no fragrance she could discern and she admired their fragile beauty.

When she looked up finally, she beheld another glow originating in one of the trees. She approached and saw a great blossom, flower leaves glimmering in purple and gold tones, growing on the trunk of a fir tree.

Well, this seemed to be the night for beautiful and extraordinary flowers. Smiling softly, she wondered what the name of this flower was and if there was story about that one as well. Entranced, she came closer and inhaled, attracted by a fresh sweet smell and the subtly changing colours of the flower. As she stared at it, it almost seemed to pulse softly.

Dawn wandered the paths of Greenriver Village in the bright sunshine. She felt a bit confused for a moment. Hadn’t she just been somewhere else?

“Dawn, Dawn!” Her younger brother Caleb impatiently called out to her “Come home, dinner is ready. Everyone’s waiting for you and I’m awfully hungry. You have to hurry.”

Smiling, she turned to him and took his hand.

“Well if that is the case, by all means, let’s hurry.”

She let him tow her to the house after him, laughing at his urgency.

When they entered the house, Elaine looked up from the hearth, her beautiful face flushed, and greeted her with a warm smile.

“Good that you’re here, my darling. I made your favourite, chicken in cream sauce and for dessert we are going to have apple fritters.”

Dawn looked at her joyfully.

“Thank you, mother. I can’t remember the last time we had that.”

Cord, already sitting at the table, graced her with a gruff smile.

“The least we could do for our girl. Don’t know what we would have done without you. That beast wave surely would have killed many of our village without your healing.”

Caleb’s voice rang out:

“And you absolutely have to teach me the sword, Dawn. I want to be able to fight as well as you, too. Promise me, you’ll teach me.”

“I’ll do my best,” Dawn promised, flattered by his request. “We will start tomorrow morning, bright and early.”

“Yeah, you’re the best, Dawn.” Caleb raised his fist in the air in triumph, while their parents looked on fondly.

The family sat down together and started to eat. It was the best meal, Dawn could remember.