Despite how tired I was, it took me a while to fall asleep. It was not because I was sleeping in a strange wagon with people that I barely knew, nor did the thoughts of my very long and very strange day keep me awake. No, it was my bed. It was comfortable, far more comfortable than anywhere else that I had slept since my parents’ murders, and that was the problem. I was too used to sleeping on hard-packed earth and sleeping in comfort was relatively new to me.

Surprisingly, even though I fell asleep after Nirlyn and Vesha, I was the first of us to wake up. It was not because I had not slept well, I felt fully rested and the comfort of my cot had been welcome once I got used to the idea of not sleeping on the ground with one eye open. As I was mulling the answer while silently getting dressed to not wake anyone, the answer came to me. Or rather, Sharai gave it to me.

-The Fae require less sleep than most of the other races of Esmere,- my spirit guide explained as I padded silently toward the door of the wagon. -Your body was half-human before so you likely required as much sleep as your Human father, but now that you are a Faery, you will find yourself needing roughly half that.-

With that newly acquired information, it was no surprise to see that most of the troupe was already awake. Most seemed to be preparing a morning meal or going about other chores so that the caravan could leave as soon as the few non-Fae or half-Fae among us woke and ate. Since I did not know what I could do to help and I did not want to be in the way, I found a spot that the kirgens had already grazed clean of grass and allowed Sharai to take control so we could do my daily sword training.

As we did before going into Majair, we ran through the various key motions repeatedly and then Sharai guided our body through the first dance as I attempted to absorb it all. It was as she smoothly returned Neva’kul to its sheath that a voice said, “Whoa, that was beautiful. I wanna learn to use a sword like that. Can you teach me, cousin?”

Sharai turned our body and we were greeted with the sight of my cousin, Shava, leaning against one of the wagons as she gaped at us in awe. “Child, I am not Kaelyn. I am merely using her body to teach her how to properly wield a sword. I am Sharai, the spirit bound to Kaelyn and the blade that she bears,” the Faery spirit explained in our voice.

Shava did not seem the least bit concerned by this information. “So? You could still teach me, right?”

“Even with Kaelyn’s consent, my time using her body is limited. However, should you wish it and your parents allow it, I will consider teaching you the movements as I guide Kaelyn’s body through them each morning. For now, I must rest as Kaelyn continues her training.” With that, Sharai relinquished control of my body and I found myself facing a very eager cousin that I barely knew.

Despite her claim, Sharai was not as tired as she let on. However, she was correct that I needed to continue my weapons training before my new Master and fellow apprentice awoke. Sharai did not think that I was ready to attempt a repetition of the first dance on my own yet so that left archery practice. I gave my cousin a nod and a smile and offered, “Good morning, Shava. Sharai is very good with a sword, but I am afraid that I am still a beginner without her guiding my movements. I am much better with the bow, but I still even need to practice with that since my body is different now than it used to be.”

“Hagan an’ Mara use bows,” my cousin said thoughtfully as I looked for a suitable target. I found a jagged stump of a fallen tree that I would not feel terrible about shooting and then a flash of inspiration hit. I summoned a rose-colored faerie fire and sent it flying toward the top of the stump while Shava watched intently. The distance that I had sent the ball of flame was straining me slightly, but this way I could practice both my archery and one of my magical abilities.

“That is a faerie fire,” I explained to my cousin. “It gives off warmth and light but it will not burn anything so my goal will be to send my arrows through the fire.” I put an arrow to the string and, remembering to compensate for the changes in my body, I let it fly. It passed through the pinkish flames, just barely. Good, but not a bullseye. I continued to release arrow after arrow until my quiver was empty and my aim steadily improved, though I would be glad when I adjusted enough to my new body to not have to think through each shot and compensate before firing.

With Shava’s help, I retrieved the arrows from the stump behind the faerie fire and my cousin’s curiosity had her touching the pinkish flames tentatively. They were warm to the touch but not overly hot and, as promised, did not burn her so she just held her hand there for a moment. “You can do magic. I can sense it, but the only real magic I can do is change my form,” she said, sounding a little disappointed.

“Well, that is something that I cannot do, at least not anymore. I never even got a chance to properly learn to. I think that is a wonderful ability, and I am sure that you will come into your gift soon as well. Would you like to give archery a try?” I offered her my bow and one of the retrieved arrows and her eyes lit up. She quickly nodded and we walked back toward the wagon, though I stopped us about a third of the way there and cautioned her, “This bow will likely be a bit too big for you so do not expect too much. Maybe we can make a bow and some arrows closer to your size later though.”

My cousin nodded and I turned her to face the target and helped her to nock an arrow. Then I corrected her stance as much as possible for someone using a bow that was too large for them and stepped back to give her some space. I could see the strain on her face as she pulled back and fired and then the look of disappointment as her arrow fell short and wide of the target. “Aww.”

“It is your first time,” I encouraged, “and you are using a weapon too large for you with too high a draw weight. You will do better once we have a bow and arrows more suited to you. We will try again then.”

With that, I dispelled my faerie fire and had Shava collect her arrow, and then my cousin led me to the fire where it seemed breakfast was ready. Breakfast consisted of mint tea and hearty oatmeal with fresh kirgen milk and some dried fruit. It was simple fare and yet far better than I was used to. The milk was somewhat sweet and a luxury to me. I had not had fresh milk of any sort in a very long time.

I was mostly finished with my breakfast by the time Vesha and Nirlyn emerged from our wagon to eat as well. As much as I wanted to sit and talk to the pair about music and get to know them both better, my new master sent me off with Zenna so she could measure me. The clothes that I had gotten from the Woodwarden outpost were well suited to roaming the forests but they made me feel a bit exposed and Zenna thought that I would feel less self-conscious and more comfortable once I was dressed as a proper Voyager.

The hardest part for her was going to be making something that would leave room for my wings to remain free since the women of the troupe usually wore bodices. She did get my measurements though, including some around my wings, mumbling all the while about possibilities and what would look good with my coloring. Finally, she shooed me off so she could get to work before the caravan was underway once more.

It seemed that breakfast was over and Joak and Sten were starting to guide the kirgens toward the wagons and their harnesses. It looked like it might take a while and seeing them reminded me that Glimma had asked me to come to see her before we got underway as well. It was not hard to find their wagon since it was the one with the hooting sounds coming from it.

It seemed a bit larger than the other wagons but that could have been due to the wooden enclosures on the sides. There was this sort of long box built into each side of the wagon that ran the length of the wagon above the wheels. Both were roughly three and a half hands high and wide with a shingled roof of their own just beneath the wagon’s windows, and along the outer side were a dozen round holes cut in the sides that would have been just a bit too small to stick my head inside. I found Glimma peering into one such hole with a perplexed look on her face.

“Good morrow, Glimma,” I said as much to warn her of my approaching presence as to greet her. I could sense some faint magic coming from where she was and I did not want to interrupt her if she was using magic or her gift for some reason. Since I had heard earlier that her gift was to speak with her owls, I could not discount it.

She turned toward me and the look on her face softened into a smile. “Good morrow, Kaelyn. It is going to take a while to get used to seeing a Faerie in our midst, but we are all so glad that Nirlyn found you.”

“It is going to take me a while to get used to having a troupe, but I am equally glad,” I countered before asking, “Is something the matter? You looked worried or confused about something just now.”

“We had another owlet hatch this morning, but her mother wants nothing to do with her and won’t feed her,” Glimma explained before gesturing me toward the hole. “Come take a look.”

I looked inside but the owls I saw were nothing like the ones that I had seen in the forest. The adult was a bit smaller than the grey owls that I was used to and had a sleeker look to it with predominantly black feathers. There was a splash of white at its neck, the tip of its tail feathers, and its wingtips and its golden eyes regarded me cautiously, moving to cover two of the small owlets in the nest. That was when I noticed that the magic was not coming from Glimma, it was coming from the owlet in the corner of the nest.

She looked much like her siblings, still having her dark grey and downy baby plumage, though rather than the golden hue of her siblings’ eyes; hers were a bright and unnatural emerald hue. She tried to approach her mother but she shrieked at the owlet, warning her away. “She’s mana-touched,” I whispered in realization. Sharai had told me about them, and a few other things, while telling me more about the Weave and how living creatures are connected to it.

Normally animals are like humans and are born with very little natural mana. Just like humans can sometimes be born with more than the average mana capacity of their species, so can animals. It happens very rarely in both cases and when it happens, the creature in question is altered somewhat by the extra mana flowing through them and finds itself drawn to magic eventually. Humans tended to become mages when born like this, which is why human mages are rare. Mana-touched animals, on the other hand, either die because their parents will not care for them, or a mage or other magic user finds them and takes them as a familiar.

“Aye,” Glimma agreed. “We use Tharian Hawk-owls because they’re fast fliers and very intelligent, so it’s easy for me to speak with and train them. Nara there refuses to allow the wee girl to get close though, she thinks she’s a Tainted.”

“She is not!” I exclaimed, reaching out a hand to tentatively stroke the mana-touched owlet’s soft downy feathers. Tainted are nothing like mana-touched. Mana-touched are born that way, a sort of natural adaptation, while Tainted are people, animals, or other living beings who are changed into monstrous creatures by long-term exposure to tainted mana. Sharai told me that there are sites all over Esmere that the Fae avoid because the mana flow in those places is still contaminated by the dark magic once performed there by the Demons and followers of the Unspoken One. It was one of the biggest reasons that the Fae had fought them and tried to prevent them from ever coming back, because they irrevocably damaged the Weave.

Glimma put a hand gently on my shoulder. “Aye, I know that, lass. Nara and her kind may be even smarter than most owls but they still rely largely on their instincts, and her instincts are telling her that the babe is unnatural. I fear that none of the owls will want her near them.”

“What can we do?” I asked as I continued to gently stroke the owlet’s feathers and she nuzzled against my hand.

“You can take care of her if you like,” she suggested. “I can’t keep her here with the other owls but I can help someone else to care for her. We’ll need to prepare some things before we’re underway though.”

My response was to nod and gingerly take the owlet in my hand to remove her from the nest. “What do we need to do?”

Glimma hurriedly took me inside her wagon, which looked very similar in layout to Nirlyn’s. There she found a small wooden crate that was empty and still had some packing straw inside to serve as a nest. I placed the owlet inside and then she led me to the food storage cupboard nearest their stove. It was tightly closed and once she opened it, I was surprised to find that it was cold on the inside.

“We use this one to store meat and vegetables that would spoil quickly otherwise,” she explained as she removed a bowl that contained tiny scraps of meat. “There is one in each of the troupe’s wagons. An Ilari enchanter in Scorcia spelled them for us and it cost us a good deal of gold, but it is well worth it for the convenience. Place this in the one in your wagon to keep it fresh and feed her as much as she’ll take every three hours or so when she’s awake. She will probably let you know when she’s hungry though. When you have time during our next stop, come see me and I will teach you more about how to care for her.”

Glimma helped me by carrying the crate with the mana-touched owlet to Nirlyn’s wagon while I brought the bowl of meat scraps. Then she left me to go finish preparations to get back on the road while I fed the green-eyed owlet scraps of meat. She did not eat much, but then, she could practically fit in the palm of my hand. I had placed her back in the crate and was getting to my feet to put the meat in the cold cupboard that Glimma had shown me when the door to the wagon opened and Vesha stepped inside.

“All ready to go?” she asked. As she made her way closer and I placed the meat in the cold cupboard, she looked down in the crate. “Glimma said that you were taking care of one of the owlets. It’s not like her to let one out of her sight unless… oh. Well, I guess that explains it.”

The way she just shrugged it off and turned to smile at me sent flutters through my chest. Her smile was enough to set my heart beating faster and found myself having trouble speaking. Why did she affect me so? Was it some sort of Dragonkin thing? Robbed of speech, I merely bobbed my head up and down in a nod.

My lack of speech did not seem to bother her, but it seemed like not much of anything bothered her. “Anyway, the kirgens are in the harness and we’ll be moving out soon. Master Nirlyn is going to drive and one of us will take over after lunch. That’ll probably be me since she wants to get a feel for what your strengths are and what she’ll need to focus your training on. Until then, I guess I have you all to myself. We can have some free time to play and get to know one another better,” she offered with a smile that set my heart and cheeks aflame.