Shifted

Melissa's soul regained awareness suddenly, as the tugging began again. She gave in, and watched as the darkness faded around her. It was early morning, the sun just starting to appear in the sky. With how green the leaves on the trees and plants she could see were, she guessed it was early summer. She noted that four people of various looks and size were around a fire, talking and seemingly cooking. She didn't get much time to look at them, as the force guiding her pulled her into the wagon. There she saw what was going on. A young girl, whom had pointy ears, lay not moving, nor looking as if she'd not been breathing. She looked pale, and sickly. Melissa watched in awe as a soul rose from the young body. The soul looked at her, and Melissa saw it had the shape of an extremely old woman. She smiled at Melissa, and nodded. "Good, then these poor parents won't have to suffer the lose of a child. They don't deserve that." she said. With that she was gone, and Melissa was pulled into the body of the young girl.

As she entered the elven body, and became that person, her whole mental identity changed. The memories of the elven girl's last twenty years became all she knew, and all she could remember, except for little tidbits connected to a strange ring. She struggled to comprehend and come to grips with such a fast change for many minutes, picking through all the memories and information, doing her best to properly and fully become this young elven girl. Leliana, that was her name, Leliana Stone-Singer. She sorted the rest, as suddenly, the floating half blurry vision changed....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leliana awoke suddenly, blinking a few times. She looked around, truly confused, for some odd reason unable to recall anything about herself, or where she was. She blinked a few times, trying to collect her thoughts from the strangeness she'd just come out of, organizing them as best she could. It took many moments for the balance to click, but suddenly it all fell into place, and she smiled, and rose. She felt weak, for she had been sick with a bad fever, but she felt a lot better today, almost as if she was a whole new person. She looked down at her hands, and briefly saw an odd ring on her left ring finger. It was only for a split second, and then it was gone. She was only twenty, a child by elven standards, so she just laughed, and got out of the bed.

She saw her favorite light blue dress, with purple flowers on it. It was faded, and with some dust stains. Leliana liked nice dresses, it was true. But she also loved being like her mother, active and physical. She loved playing outside, just running around, sometimes even wrestling with her father's dwarven friend Frendar, or playing tag with her dad's gnome friend Nano. She especially enjoyed the exercises and lessons in using both shield and mace that her mother had begun with her though.

She finished, and looked at herself in her dad's mirror. She was a pretty young girl. She had all the graceful features of an elf, but her skin was surprisingly tanned, almost a light brown-gold, like her mother's. She had beautiful pale blonde hair, thick and full, that went down just past the top of her shoulders. Her eyes were a soft beautiful green, like new summer leaves. Like all elves, she took long to reach adult hood in comparison to most races. At twenty years old, she was only about a third to halfway there. Mentally she was already grown up, fully able to speak the common tongue of trade, the elvish tongue of her heritage, and the hard and rough language of the dwarves. She had all the mental ability and knowledge of a human her age. Her mental maturity, however, was more similar to that of a ten year old human. Elves aged oddly like that, which made them an anomaly to many others in most of the shorter lived races. Dwarves kind of understood, since they too measured their lifespans in centuries, not just mere decades. Although dwarves found elves to be too frolicky and sensitive for their tastes, in most cases.

Her body however, like all elves, took long to physically mature. At twenty, she was about the same size as a ten year old human girl. She was about three feet tall, maybe ninety pounds. She was skinny, like all elves were, but her tom-boyish habits led to her being much less physically weak then her size would indicate. She liked to help, and would take any chance to be involved with her father's work, or helping Frendar when he was working on her dad's wagon. She smiled happily, as she finished putting on her dress, smoothing it out. She shook her head hard and quickly, making a right mess of her hair. She giggled, and quickly moved to leave the wagon, looking for breakfast. She was hungry and bored, now that she was feeling better her appetite for both food and play had returned with a vengeance. She jumped off the wagon, not even using the single step down. She landed rather heavily in a heap, but simply laughed loudly, as she got up.

She looked around quickly, and saw her parents and their friends sitting around a cooking fire. She smelled something tasty cooking, and moved quickly towards them, as they all turned to look at her. "Daddy, mommy, what smells so good, because I'm hungry!" she said, smiling and giggling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Teolan Stone-Singer went about preparing the last bit of dried and salted pork, and the four wild turkey eggs his wife had found for them a couple hours earlier, with a solemn look on his face. He had been feeling very stressed and worried, as were all of his companions, for the little treasure of their tightknit, if odd, family was sick. Teolan's daughter Leliana hadn't been able to eat, as she had been barely conscious for the last three days, suffering from a terrifyingly vicious fever. He was very worried for her, and his concern only grew every day that she stayed inside, not awake and aware. For it wasn't her at all. His daughter was high energy, playful, and very much the tom-boy. She would never leave him alone when he was working on fixing something or building something, always wanting to be involved. He didn't know what to do but pray, so that's what he had been doing every night.

Teolan and his wife were odd for their kind. They had left their elven community far to the west, because they didn't feel at home there. They come north and east to the more wild holdings, traveling them all, but eventually settling down in Raechin. Teolan was a craftsman, effectively a tinker. He was skilled working with both metal and wood, and given the necessary materials and facilities, he could fix or make almost anything. Here he could make a very decent living, because such was the necessity of living in this area. People always had tools and weapons they needed, or needed repaired, and they would always pay a fair price. Teolan hadn't gotten rich by any means, but he was well off enough to provide for himself, his wife and his daughter. His other two companions both had, or used to have, a trade of their own to provide for their needs.

Frendar the dwarf used to make his living as a merchant caravan guard, and had retired with a fair sized fortuned banked in the city of Longreach, the capital of Raechin. He even owned a fair sized house that he allowed his friends to live in for free whenever they were in the city. Nano the gnome, however, had made his living, and still did, in magical objects, and illusionary entertainment. He could put on quite the spectacle, and occasionally could sell that service. His other talent however, was oft requested, for he could identify and understand magical objects, explain how they worked. He was also very skilled with magical puzzles and riddles. He also had a fair profit to be turned by selling the occasional magical scroll he made to adventurers. Because it was always nice to have a trick up your sleeve.

Teolan's wife, Liandry, was an odd one for an elven woman. She was rather strong, and a decent warrior. She was also a skilled tracker. She had been a mercenary as well, long ago, when Teolan met her. They'd fallen in love, and eventually she'd left that line of work to marry him. Now both well into their second century, with almost sixty years of marriage under their belt, they regretted not a single decision. They still had the same love and passion for each other as they had all those years ago when they'd been married by a priest of Talia, their matron deity, the lady of the leaves. Now Liandry put her skills to use in combat very rarely, although the roads were not without peril in Raechin. Mostly, however, she put them to use hunting and foraging for the group.

Teolan himself was rather average looking for an elf. He had light brown hair, close cropped, and well kept. He was about five foot five inches, probably close to a hundred and twenty pounds. Like all of his kind, he was skinny looking, but in truth just compact. A little over a century of working wood and metal had given him surprising muscular strength for his size, as well as surprising stamina. He dressed the part of a well off tradesman, but all his clothes were worn, or had dark spots in them from working with metal, just like his face had some darker patches upon his pale cream colored skin. It came from years of metal working over hot forges. He worked metal less now, as a travelling tinker anyway. Although if he could access the proper facilities, he never turned down a job. He had dark green eyes, almost like the color of pine needles.

Today he wore a light green shirt, made of fine fabric. Over top of it in the winter he would wear a brown leather tunic, with a faded black traveling cloak, but twas summer and very warm, so all he wore was the nice shirt. His legs were covered by a pair of thin black pants, made from fine thin fabric. Upon his feet, he wore a brown pair of leather high top travelers boots, comfortable and durable. In the chest pocket of his shirt were a pair of thin grey gloves that he generally wore. His pants were held up by a fine belt, deep, dark red in color. The buckle was made of silver, shaped like a galloping stallion. Teolan was also a half way decent fencer, and on his right hip, since he was left handed, was a fine rapier. It was rather plain, but well crafted, with a proper handguard on the five inch hilt, shaped from what was obviously fine steel. The blade itself was about two feet in length, and razor sharp, with a fine narrow point. The blade was simply poked through a loop on the belt, it had no sheath. Teolan also owned a rather fine bow of hornwood and yew, but didn't carry that regularly. He stored it in his wagon with the thirty or so arrows he had. It wasn't a big bow, only about three feet in length, with the arrows being just under eighteen inches. He only carried that when he was hunting, otherwise, he stored it in the wagon.

Teolan was carefully boiling the eggs in a small cauldron, as beside him his wife cooked about eight strips of the dried and salted pork on a small pan. They had a few plates, clay ones his wife had made. Teolan looked at his wife, seeing and feeling her concern. She was beautiful, and from looking at her, you could see where Leliana got her looks from for the most part.

Liandry was a couple inches taller then her husband, and looked more of a warrior then he did. She wore a simple polished steel breastplate, with a light brown leather shirt underneath. The breastplate was of course custom made, to fit her feminine curves properly, without crushing them, or being loose below the chest. She also wore a set of dark grey studded leather greaves, and a pair of steel plated boots. Her hands normally also had a pair of steel knuckled gauntlets, but she had them off whilst she cooked. She had a faded grey steel helmet she generally wore as well. It was a simple affair, a flat top, with the piece that came down over the nose. Around the sides and back it came all the way down to meet her breastplate. Her armor was all rather scarred and dented, obviously having been heavily used and depended upon. It wasn't the nicest looking armor, but she did good, keeping it in good repair. It was well kept and dependable.

Liandry herself had beautiful thick, shiny blond hair, which seemed almost golden when looked at in the sunlight. Her skin wasn't the normal pale cream of her kind, after spending most of her life fighting and wandering in the sun, her skin was a much darker color, closer to a light golden color. She kept her hair flat and plain, because then it was easy to simply tie it back in a ponytail, and tuck the pony tail under her breastplate, keeping her hair out of her eyes when she was traveling and fighting. She was probably close to a hundred and thirty pounds. She was a fighter, and despite the skinny, almost frail look of her kind, she was rather strong, and almost as tough as their dwarven companion. She was also a loving and passionate wife, and a brilliant and inspiring mother. In fact, Leliana idolized her mother in many ways. Teolan had been lucky to find such a perfect woman, and thanked Talia everyday for it.

Liandry's tools of her trade were on her and beside her. On her back was an ashwood bow, about three feet long. She was a rather good shot, and carried a simple black quiver with about twenty ashwood arrows in it. The bow was a simple hunting bow, the string made of deer sinews. Her arrows were about sixteen inches long, the tip adding another three inches of leaf shaped steel. They were fletched with brown hawk feathers. On her left hip, hanging from a loop on her greaves, was her family's mace. Called Mercy, it was rather plain looking, but beautifully crafted. The handle was about eighteen inches in length, and made of oak wood, with iron layering around it and holding the head on. The grip at the bottom of the handle was wrapped in black leather. The head of the mace was designed to hit and hit hard. A little over twenty pounds of polished steel, with four flanges, almost like edges, around it splitting it into quarters. On each of the valleys between the flanged parts, dyed into the metal was the symbol of Talia, the oak tree of life and death. It had seen her through many tough situations in the past, and bore little to no noticable flaws or damage for the effort.

Finally to her left was her shield. A simple affair, about twenty three inches in diameter, it was a round shield, with a bosk on it. It had a thin layer of steel, about a quarter of an inch, bolted to the oak wood it was made of. After a layer of oak wood, about an inch thick, there was a layer of leather padding, about a half inch thick, and then another layer of oak wood, about a half inch thick as well. This repeated again, making the shield almost three and a quarter inches thick. It had two strong cowhide leather arm straps, one on the left side, about three inches from the edge, and the other just past the middle, for the wearer's hand to grip. The bosk was in the center, and was about four inches in diameter. It was made of black iron, and protruded about three inches at its thickest point. The shield was not light by any means, but for its size wasn't too heavy, probably thirty or so pounds. It was well used, and you could tell, with many dents, nicks, and a couple small, very faded brownish red marks, obviously where some blood had gotten on it. But it was obviously still extremely structurally sound, and well crafted.

Across from Liandry was Teolan's friend and business partner, the gnome Nano. Whilst Teolan was a skilled tinker, he could still only craft mundane, if well made, pieces. Nano worked the other side of such things, any magical pieces, or enchanting anyone wanted done, he did. Teolan had met Nano about six years previous, and they'd gotten to talking over a meal. By the end of the fine dinner, they'd hashed out a business contract, that grew into a full time partnership and friendship. He was a rather skilled enchanter, although his true talent was illusionary magic. He was only about three feet tall, which was tall for a gnome. He had bright blue eyes, that shone with curiousity and childish amusment. His hair was silvery grey, although he was actually quite young, and wild and curly, although not to long. He had cheubric, almost childish looking facial features.

He was dressed rather plainly, wearing a set of grey wool wizard robes, with blue and black flames designed into the hems around his wrists and at the foot of the robes. On his feet he was wearing simple rawhide sandals. The simple look, however held the components of a halfway decent spell caster. Within the pockets of his robes, Nano had his spell book, and many varied spell components. As a wizard, he of course had a familar. A small horned owl named Sagerious, whom came and went as he pleased. The little owl was not much bigger then Nano's hand, with brown and white plumage. His eyes were rather large, and he was an energetic little fellow, always flitting around, playing hide and seek sometimes with Leliana. She loved him, thought he was the most adorable thing. Nano seemed to be able to understand his little friend, and after the first time they'd avoided a small group of highwaymen on the bird's advice, Tealon believed it. Nano was rather eccentric, but excellent at his craft, and a true friend.

Finally, across from Tealon was his dwarven friend Frendar. Frendar was an odd one, for he didn't make any money anymore. Even Liandry would make money off the pelts of the animals she caught to feet them, or off of any medicinal herbs she found when hunting, tracking or foraging. The reason Frendar didn't make any money, however, is because he'd already made a fair fortune by being a guard for hire for merchant caravans for a century and a half before he'd met Tealon and Liandry almost thirty years ago. He had a rather fair sized home in Longreach, the capital of Raechin, which the group called home. He also had a rather fair sized fortune accumulated in a hidden safe room within the house. To go along with that, he had another slightly smaller fortune accredited to him through an independent merchant who made his living handling other people's wealth, investing it, growing it, of course all for a cut. One of three, or one gold piece of every three he made you went into his pocket. It was a steep, but fair rate, considering all the effort that went into properly managing such endeavors. Frendar held no grudge to paying the price, for it allowed him to not have to deal with all his money, nor have it all in one place.

The dwarf himself was quite a sight. Wild orange hair all over his head, with a thick full beard that went down to his belt, the same color as the hair on his head. He wore a full suit of steel linked chainmail, and many sections of the armor showed obvious signs of having been repaired at least once, and plausibly multiple times. Underneath the chainmail, he wore a layer of rawhide leather, both for extra protection in case something got through the chainmail, and to avoid a painful problem warriors called 'steel fatigue'. Steel fatigue was when the metal of your armor was in direct contact with your skin, and especially the parts of your body that moved a lot, like your elbows, knees, etc. It was caused when the steel rubbed against them, rubbing them raw. Eventually it would cause swelling and loss of full range of motion. It was a very painful experience, and one most experienced warriors took heavy care to avoid.

He had all the look of a true warrior, including a rather vicious scar on and through his right eye. It ran from the top right part of his forehead straight down, almost to the top of his upper lip. A souvenir of a near death experience at the hands of a particular vicious highwayman, whom had been more then just a little bit good with his sabre. Frendar had nearly lost an eye, and his life, for the experience.

His eyes were a dark amber-gold color. At just under four feet tall, stout and tough, weighing in at about two hundred pounds of solid muscle, he was an imposing sight. On his feet he wore iron plated boots, and on his hands he wore leather gauntlets with steel in the knuckles. He wore a fine black traveling cloak, made of light cloth. Normally he carried his weapon of choice on his back, but sitting crosslegged wouldn't allow it. So whilst he sat to partake in breakfast, he had it set down with hand's reach. It was a black double bladed battle axe. The handle was dark ebony wood, with a thin adamantine core. The blades were black, made of ebon ore with mithral alloy, making it rather lighter then it should have been. It was about three feet long, nearly as tall as Frendar was. The blades were each about thirteen inches out from the handle, and about twelve inches wide from top to bottom. It showed the nicks and scratches of use. But the blade was still razor sharp, and obviously well kept.

He had lots of experience with the dangers of Raechin, from the more mundane bandits, robbers and raiders that liked to prey on the roads, to the some of the less common threats. Not much could catch the grizzled dwarf off guard anymore, although by no means did Frendar believe he'd seen it all yet.

Teolan carefully used a wooden ladle, very carefully rolling the eggs over inside the pot of boiling water. His wife mixed around the pieces of salted pork with the diced green onion she'd managed to find. It smelled quite tasty, and Teolan spoke to her, his voice melodic and almost musical like those of his kind "These eggs are only going to need another three or four minutes. How much longer do you think you need?"

Liandry spoke, and her voice was softer, almost like the music of a light winter breeze. "Only until the onion gets a little softer. Not even five minutes."

Teolan nodded, and as he did so, just within his vision to his left he saw Frendar look up, and his jaw drop a bit, as he stared behind Teolan. The elf knew the wagon was behind him, but didn't want to turn around, for he wasn't sure if he could believe it. Then he heard his daughter's wonderful happy voice, "Daddy, mommy, what smells so good, because I'm hungry!" Liandry and Teolan both smiled and rose, tears in their eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leliana ran into her parents arms, smiling and giggling as they both rained kisses on her forehead and face. Her mom spoke first, "My little Leliana, my little féileacán," she said, using the elven word for 'butterfly' her nickname for her daughter. "You're awake, and how do you feel?" she asked as she placed the back of her hand against Lelian's forehead, obviously checking for a temperature. Liandry hugged Leliana even tighter, provoking squirming and giggling as the cool touch of her metal armor tickled her daughter. "You've not got a temperature, its as if you never even had a fever."

Leliana laughed, and started dancing with her mum, around and around. "I feel good as new mom, but hungry. I want breakfast." she said as she stopped and went over to Teolan, her dad. He hugged her tightly, and then smiled at her, looking into her beautiful green eyes. "Of course you do, you've been sick for three days, and haven't eaten a thing." She nodded and eyed the cooking food hungrily.

Frendar and Nano rose, and Nano's little owl Sagerious suddenly flew out of the trees, and right up to Leliana's face, hooting and chirping excitedly. Leliana smiled, and carefully hugged the little bird. "Sagerious!" She said, laughing. She kissed the little bird lightly on top of his cute little head, and he hooted, very pleased with the attention. She looked to Nano and Frendar.

They both looked at her with very solemn and serious looks on there faces, but Nano cracked first, as the gnome tried to seem to berate her a bit. "Young lady, what did you think you were doing, you had us all worried sick!" he said in his high pitched voice. As he even spoke though, he smiled and motioned to her, "Come here and give this silly fool gnome a hug!"

Leliana smiled, giving Nano a tight hug. "I'm fine, silly Nano. Has Sagerious been behaving without me?"

Nano chuckled, "Not a chance young lady," the gnome said, smiling. He was about thirty, so she was indeed young to him. "He's missed his playmate terribly."

Leliana looked at the little owl, now perched on Nano's shoulder. He looked about embarrassed, and Leliana smiled, giggling. "Well I guess we'll have to have some fun after breakfast, won't we? I hope you've not forgotten how to play tag my little friend!" Sagerious hooted excitedly, bobbing up and down.

Leliana smiled, and turned as she felt a tap on the shoulder. She turned and smiled as she found herself staring down slightly into Frendar's face. He seemed to look angry, and he spoke to her, his voice gruff, sounding like gravel crunching under the wheels of a wagon. "It's good you're better, but don't you ever scare us like that again, you understand?!"

Leliana smiled, seeing right through the dwarf's gruff, almost angry demeanor. She hugged him and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. "I won't nuncle Frendar, I promise." she said, purposely speaking like a child.

Frendar growled, wiping his face off, looking at her, his eyes twinkling. "Durn elves and their making everything so sappy." But his face gave him away, for within the mad mess that was his beard, Leliana could see a big grin. She just let him have his way and turned towards the fire.

Liandry nodded and Teolan spoke. "Alright, the food's cooked, everyone sit down." As he said that, he finished draining the water from the pot, carefully. He drained it right onto the fire, putting it out. Then he carefull scooped out the eggs, one at a time. They were rather fair sized, each about the size of his fist. He carefully peeled the shell off, and mashed them up, splitting the four eggs into five equal piles. He scooped each pile onto a different plate. Liandry then carefully divided up the pork and onion, putting it on top of the eggs. She handed everyone a plate, and everyone dug in with gusto, using their barehands. The five shared the same water canteen, taking small sips as they needed.

Sagerious flitted back and forth, getting a mouthful or two from everyone. They ate in relative quiet, enjoying the fine cooked meal. After they were done, Liandry gave the plates to Nano, who used a simple spell to clean them off. She carried them back to the wagon, whilst the others got up, and went about gearing up for the day's travel. Teolan put on his gloves, and looked over the wagon, and the brown and white dappled mare whom was tied to the tree. He noticed a small bulge in the pocket of Leliana's dress, and knew exactly what it was. The mare, Erika was her name, was obviously done breakfast, her feed tub empty, and her water bucket empty as well. Teolan looked slyly at his daughter, and spoke, "Where you've been ill, perhaps its best if I rope Erika up to the wagon this morning again?"

Leliana looked at him, frowning. "No, I want to do it!" she said. "Erika likes me, and I want her to know I'm better!"

Teolan let it play for a bit longer, seeing his daughter waiting for a response. But in truth he had no intention of telling her no. After a few moments, he smiled and sighed. "I guess I should let you do it. Erika has seemed off lately, always staring at the wagon. It will do her good to see you up and feeling better."

Leliana smiled, and kissed her dad on the cheek. "Thank you dad!" she said, smiling. He nodded, and moved off to help pack up. Leliana moved towards the large beautiful mare. She was about sixteen hands tall, and very strong. She was about five years old, and gentle as a baby most of the time, although she could be a bit of a firebrand if provoked. She had beautiful dark eyes, and her white and brown dappled coat was shiny and beautifully kept. Her tail was a darker brown, almost black, and had a very nice sheen to it as well. She neighed excitedly as she saw and smelled Leliana approaching her, and pawed the ground with her front hooves. Leliana smiled, as she came up beside Erika, staying to her side so she could see her approach. She rubbed the horse's nose and chest, kissing the side of her face. "Hey girl, you miss me?" she asked. Erika responded with a excited neighing, and with nuzzled up to the girl, even snaking out her tongue and giving Leliana a couple wet horse kisses on the side of her face.

Leliana giggled, and kissed Erika again, rubbing her nose. Then she carefully untied the lead shank, and smiled. "You ready for another day on the road girl?" she asked Erika, still rubbing her nose. Erika seemed to respond, snorting and pawing the ground, seeming anxious to get started. Leliana smiled, and lead the mare carefully into position, turning her widely to get her in front of the wagon. Horses struggled to walk backwards, and didn't like doing it at all. So whenever possible, Leliana always just did a wide loop to lead Erika into position, walking her round the wagon and cutting close by and getting her centered in front of it. Somehow she knew Erika appreciated it. Maybe it was the way Erika would nuzzle up to her as she removed the mare's halter. Or maybe it was how Erika was always so excited to see her. Leliana wasn't sure, but somehow she just knew the mare appreciated it.

She removed the mare's halter, and smiled. Even though nothing was stopping her from just running, Erika diligently waited, for she loved her family. Again Leliana just knew this, she didn't know why. All she knew is that Erika loved them, and didn't want to leave. She knew this process, so unless something odd completely spooked her, Erika would stay there well behaved and ready to start the day. So Leliana just started humming a tune her mom had taught her, an elvish song called 'Vuonna Morning Dew 'or in common tongue, 'In the Morning Dew'. She moved around the wagon, as her father carefully put the leaf head bit in Erika's mouth. It was designed to be much less forcefull on the horse's sensitive lips and gums, just applying enough pressure to communicate the direction you wished her to go. They required more skill of the steersman, but Teolan preffered them because they were far kinder to the horse. As far as he, and the rest of the group were concerned, Erika was family, and would be treated as such.

Leliana carefully finished looping all the connections to the wagon around the strong part of Erika's chest, in front of her front legs. The leather and wooden connections to the wagon itself were her father's design, and a brilliant design they were. It was carefully designed to allow the horse the most mobility within the constraints of the harnessing, whilst also allowing her to more fluidly use all her muscle when pulling it. It was rather simple, basically just two pieces that looped around her upper leg muscles, and met into one large peice that came up her chest, and split again in two again, passing over her shoulder, and back to the extended poles coming off the wagon. The pieces of leather were all widened, and padded with soft fabric and cattail fibres, to make them easier on the body, even if Erika pulled them tight.

This padding also let her really lean into it, without really restricting her ability to breath properly, since the padding on the big part in the front that covered her chest acted as a pillow, and compressed instead. Leliana had loved it, because after the first day they used it, she could tell Erika had appreciated it. The mare had been less tired and less irritable by half, at least.

Leliana smiled as she finished, and walked to the front, on the right side, and spoke to Erika. "Guess what I have for my favorite lady horse?" she whispered, her right hand in the pocket of her dress. Erika neighed excitedly, and Leliana smiled at the sound. "Good guess, girly, here's a little something for your sweet tooth I know you'll enjoy." Leliana pulled her hand out from her dress, and offered what was in it to Erika. It was a bright red apple, about the size of Leliana's fist. Erika gobbled up the tasty treat, nuzzling up to Leliana as she did so. Leliana kissed the mare on the nose and smiled. "I thought you'd like that. Now I've got to go, cause its time for us to hit the road. But Frendar and Nano will be walking with you. So at least Sagerious will be keeping you company."

She smiled as she saw the small owl land on the harness, hooting and chirping to Erika, who whinnied and neighed softly back. Leliana wasn't actually sure if they understood each other, but Erika seemed to enjoy the owl's presence if nothing else. Leliana moved back to the her parents wagon, and climbed in with them. She kissed her mother on the cheek as Liandry sat down, legs dangling over the edge of the back, her helmet on, her shield laying beside her left arm. Held calmly in her hands was her bow, a quiver of twenty arrows on her back.

Leliana was quite used to this, and didn't find this attitude or readiness for battle odd at all. This was how life worked in Raechin. The land was beautiful, and strong. But it was also dangerous. The thick mixed forests of both leafy and needly species of trees, all healthy and green. They were in the trees of the thick forest to the west of Longreach, the Moonfall wood. The name came from the elves who found it many centuries ago, for the beauty of the forest in the light of a full moon. However, for all its beauty, the thick trees, undergrowth, and rough landscape could also hide many dangers. Beside the natural dangers of disturbing one of the natural predators of the area, like a grizzly bear, or wolves, or cougars, there were less avoidable and more aggressive risks. Raiders, bandits, highwaymen, worgs and all the other less common assorted dangers of such a land could be around any corner. Raechin was a frontier territory, like many of the territories in Valerick. That was just the lifestyle that was the most efficent and enjoyable. There were big cities in some holdings of the continent, but mostly things were very much the frontiersman and adventurer style landscape. Much unknown, many dangers, and for those who could brave them, many rewards of treasure, glory and unique experiences.

Leliana was young, but like her parents loved this way of life. It was dangerous, and her parents stressed that every day. But it was also so freeing, spiritually. It was like being able to let go, and fly with the wind. She smiled, and shook herself out of her contemplations as she moved through the wagon to get to the other side. She opened the canvas, and sat down beside her father, who was getting ready to go. Nano moved to the left of Erika, and Frendar moved off to the right. Leliana smiled, as her father flicked his wrists, lightly using the reins, as he asked Leliana a question, like he always did. "Is your mother ready?"

Leliana smiled, and kissed her father on the cheek, "Yeah, mom's ready." Teolan smiled, and called out to Frendar and Nano. "Let's go, we'll head north for a little while, get back to Talios Way, and then follow it east." They were about four kilometres from the road, they'd purposely set up camp well off of it. Teolan let Erika basically pick her own pace for now, he didn't like to push the mare. If the time came he needed her to really run, he'd rather her be as energetic and rested as possible. The wagon was specially designed, it was a normal cloth covered home wagon, but with two special features just in case. The features were twin platforms, one on each side, and hand rails coming out of the wagon outside the canvas.

They were from Frendar and Nano to clamber on to if they needed to rest, or if they needed to sprint. The dwarf and gnome kept within five to ten feet of the platforms at all times when they were walking. Teolan had purposely added these after Leliana had been born, simply because once there was a child involved, the tightknit group would rather run then fight. Not that they'd put up their weapons entirely, but they would always look for a way to avoid combat now, if at all possible. Teolan had even paid highwaymen on a few occassions, simply because the sum they'd asked for hadn't been all that great, and because from how they'd been dressed and armed, it was obvious they weren't robbers by choice.

The last couple falls had been hard on the farmers in Raechin. They had experienced two early deep freezes, which had resulted in major loss of crops in both harvests. Raechin was famous for its corn, wheat and grain, and carrots. Simple food, but hearty as well. Unfortunately many farmers had lost upwards to sixty percent of their harvests both years, which was a big chunk of their yearly income. Without it, they'd been hit hard, and many families had been forced to seek other ways to survive. The Wilders to the east and north of Longreach aided however they could, accepting no trade for meat from their hunts, but they too could only give so much. The resident lord of Raechin, Lord Ragor Halfhand had opened up what he could, but he already barely taxed the citizens to begin with, since he preferred to keep Raechin as wild and untamed as possible. The people only paid any kind of tax if they lived within a day's walk of Longreach's wall, because in that area they were considered under direct protection of Longreach's wolfguard. So called for Ragor's crest, which was a wolf baring its fangs, each member of the two hundred man force had that crest emblazoned on the front of their chests, and shields if they had them.

The wolfguard could be summoned to anywhere within Raechin's borders, but generally speaking, if not within the 'tax zone' it would be given slightly lower priority. The tax was only ten percent of what you made or produced. So those who chose to live outside that tax zone were looked at as brave, or wishing to be separate. Most were adventurers, or mercenaries, who now wished to live out a life of relative peace, but still take some risk. Some were farmers to stubborn to want to pay taxes. But everyone got along, and in truth as soon as any of the Wolfguard were available, help would be sent anywhere it was requested. But such things could take time.

So Ragor hadn't had much to offer, and had done what he could. He'd lifted all tax off the people for both those harvests, and had indeed basically emptied the treasury to provide for them. But it still only just got them by. Raechin was a relatively self sustained economy, and as such, a catastrophe such as this happening once would be strain enough. But twice in two years, well that was a whole new level of issue. So things had been tough, and in many cases still were. But the people of Raechin were tough, and would and were recovering well.

Teolan let his mind wander, as Erika started pulling the wagon along, alert but at peace with the beautiful landscape. He looked at the sun, and smiled. It was just topping the trees, so it was only midmorning. They could easily make the necessary twenty kilometres left to the sanctuary by early afternoon. He turned back to keeping his eyes to the front, scanning ahead and around the group, as he let Erika move along. The mare knew her way well enough, she'd made this trip several times, a couple dozen even. As they moved back onto the road, and turned to follow it's curvature to the northeast, the beautiful song of an elk came whispering across the warm summer breeze. This was the beauty of Raechin, the beauty of his home.

He looked to his daughter and smiled as he saw her much in a trance like he always was, in love with the land. He wrapped his arm around her, and she hugged her father. As she did so, he corrected his thought to himself, "The beauty of our home."