Chronicler's note: "In a manner similar to the lowland Thaelu, the Halidu peoples were governed by several ruling families, each of whom gave their names to the clan they governed respectively. The head of each clan sat on the Council of Ku, an organization that took the welfare of the entire mountain peoples under consideration. The Halidu clans were considered suspect by the lowlanders, who believed the Halidem region merely another province of Thaelia proper. A war had been fought over this supposition; and as a result of the Halidu's resounding defeat, mutual resentment was high between the lowland Thaelu and the Halidu until the latter days of the Tyrant-King.

The head of the Jedh clan and nominal head of the Council of Ku, Harryhl, had been ordered by the King to sit on the Thaelu Council as a condition of the Halidu surrender. Harryhl was one of only two Lords of the Thaelu council to escape the prairie fires, his route taking him to the safety of the Halidem Mountains before the foothills of the Halidem were threatened. (HISTORY OF THAELIA, Vol. III.)

~~~~~~~~~*

Karinna softened part of the last loaf of bread in a bit of the water from the stream before giving it to the thatz cub on her lap. Since the early dawn, when the adult thatz had left her on the beaten dirt road, she had nourished herself on thuli leaves, leaving the bread for the cub. In the manner of all living things, the cub had flourished now that it was receiving regular meals, and its black fur now had a gleam that reflected errant sunbeams through the shifting leaves. The thatz never strayed far from her, and the slightest sound she would make brought it scampering back to her. Karinna found herself wondering vaguely how long it would be before the cub was old enough to communicate with her and what the touch of its mind on hers would be like.

She was pleased the cub did not roam far, for she realized that she was slowly catching up to a party of travelers who must have passed her in the night. At times she would stop and listen and hear the hoofbeats of the burri not far in the distance. Even now she realized that a brisk ten-minute's walk would most likely bring her to the party's side. Caution at meeting anyone before she was further into the foothills made it both a worry and a relief to have the party so close. She felt concern that they might recognize her and find a way to send her back and yet relief that, should she be beset by highwaymen, she might not have to depend upon one small thatz for protection.

Karinna brushed the softened crumbs from her hands as the cub began to purr its contentment, and then she scratched hard at her left shoulder. The tiny pests of the forests were finding a haven in the woolen jerkin, as they did with any commonman dressed as she was. For a brief moment, Karinna found herself wishing for the warmth of her bath in the Palace and the feel of soft brocade against her sensitive skin, and then she shook off the thought as she shooed the cub off her chest and prepared to go on.

The forest had become silent during her repast, and she felt vaguely uneasy as she started towards the road. Even the talkative falu were silent in the branches of the thuli trees, and there was no breeze to rustle the leaves above her into the soft ringing she had become accustomed to hearing. Karinna found herself even more aware of every small sound she made as she took slow, careful steps. After a half-hour, she stopped to listen for the hoofbeats that should have been plodding on in the distance, but she could only hear the heavy silence of the late afternoon.

Even the cub caught her mood somehow and kept right at her heel as if she had trained it to do so. Its yellow eyes glowed as if lit from within and swept back and forth in a very adult manner. There was no evidence of a playful cub now, as if the young thatz were maturing in one day's time. When Karinna would stop, the cub would sit and look up at her with glowing eyes and an open mouth which revealed fangs that seemed twice as long as they should have been. At those times Karinna felt the tiniest twinge of unease at being accompanied by the fiercest predator in all of Thaelia, at the same time remembering the strange gentleness she had sensed when in the company of those even larger and fiercer by far than her little companion. The paradox of legend and fact seemed almost incomprehensible, so she would drive it from her mind and move on.

Her apprehension kept her awake and moving throughout the nighttime, tired yet intensely aware. She was unprepared, however, when the cub froze in its tracks, growling in a deep cub's voice. Karinna felt the hair at the back of her neck rise at the eerie sound, and she stared down to find out which way the cub was looking. She followed the direction of its gaze behind her through the trees, where she suddenly noted an odd, flickering light that had not been there before. Her mind raced and her heart pounded hard in her chest until she realized what the light meant, and then her heart stood still: Fire!

Fire was uncommon these days in the forests or on the plains. Travelers had long since taken to using lightstones and heatstones on their journeys through the highly flammable thuli forests by the time royal decree outlawed the use of fire in all Thaelu forests four generations past. Other than the candles which were always lit during services at the temples, Karinna herself had only seen fire once before during her initiation ceremony in the Temple in Tithede. There had been no storms during the past day or evening for lightening to be the cause of the blaze, so there was only one alternative, as unbelievable as it seemed: man had deliberately started the thuli forest afire.

In an instinctive reaction to the danger, Karinna fell into a trance. She reached her senses high into the atmosphere in search of a storm brewing. A distant rumble audible only to her heightened awareness led her to a cloudburst forming over the high peaks of the Halidem Mountains not far from where she stood. Power surged through her as her expanded senses gathered the budding storm as if in the palm of her hand and carried it back to where she stood, hands raised as if in supplication.

Words only half-remembered sprang to her lips, and the storm surged in her grip like a wild beast fighting for its freedom. With a shout echoed in the thunder, Karinna threw her hands in the direction of the fire, bolts of lightening flying from her spread fingers to strike into the heart of the rapidly converging clouds. A sheet of thunder rattled across the narrow valley as the storm released its burden of rain over the area on fire. Karinna returned to herself as the rain quickly drenched her to the skin in a freezing shower. She hurriedly threw her cloak over her head and crouched down so it would protect the cub as well.

The storm was over almost as quickly as it had started with the clouds clearing from the sky as fast as they had arrived. The hissing of the extinguished blaze could be heard through the trees, and Karinna retraced her steps swiftly in the direction of the fire. Her strength was not enough to perform more of her family's weather magic, and she was relieved to discover that such an effort would not be needed.

She broke through into a clearing and surveyed the damage, while the cub stayed in the unscathed underbrush. The grass of the clearing was nearly burnt away, with small patches still steaming from the dousing they had received. A few of the trees on the far edge of the clearing were slightly scorched but not mortally damaged.

What caught her gaze and held it were the remains of one burri cart, overturned and charred, alongside the road. The burri, evidence of the traces still hanging in smoking strings, struggled to get to its feet while screaming soundlessly in terror and pain. A short distance away lay a huddle of hissing cloth that vaguely resembled the shape of a man. Karinna hurried to it and turned it over to discover that it indeed was a young man, unconscious and bruised but otherwise unharmed; his only possibly serious injury seeming to be a sharp knock on the head.

Spurred by the agony of the tortured burri, Karinna went to its side and laid her hand on its neck. Having only a few moments earlier left one kind of trance, Karinna entered the Healing trance almost immediately and easily. She sensed the poor animal calm down the moment the warm rush of healing energy took the pain away from its burns. As she finally emerged from her trance, having done all she could to remedy the cause of the pain, she found the beast regarding her with a mute and thankful gaze. She heard a gasp and the rumble of the thatz's growl behind her, and she whirled around to face the astonished stare of the young man, once again returned to his senses. He looked down at the cub, which had charged out of the undergrowth to stand bristling between himself, and the stranger, gulped and returned his stare to Karinna's face.

When he spoke, it was in the oddly toned accent of the Halidu people, "You're a Healer!"

~~~~~~~~~*

"I had just come from Tharea, returning home after a trading trip for my father, Byrol Ryhl. I had sold our wool to a mill and bought paper products and grain. The little bit of paper was for me, and the grain was for all the clan." The young man watched Karinna give the thatz cub the last of her bread.

Whoever this Healer was, he had his own share of troubles, Larm observed thoughtfully. One grey eye was nearly swollen shut, and several angry bruises lay under scabbed sores on the young man's face. He frowned, trying to remember any news that a male Healer had been found, but could not remember anything so fantastic ever being whispered even in the lowland city he had just left. He shook his head in amazement as he continued to stare at the Healer handling the young thatz. "I didn't know you could tame one of those."

Karinna smiled at him in the dim light of the late afternoon. "You don't. I found this one starving with its mother dying. I fed it, and it stays with me." She paused at the sight of the young Halidu's frown of concern and decided that this was not the time to tell her unbelievable tale of the thatz. Not yet, and not to only this one person. "But back to you. Since when do Halidu travel the foothills alone?"

"This is a well-traveled road into our mountains, and we of the Rhyl clan have no need to travel in large groups for safety as a rule," the young man announced with pride, and then grimaced as if ashamed. "But I have to admit that I started my journey home with a companion. He disappeared not long before the highwaymen came, and I suppose he's still running if he's at all smart. You should have seen the chain of glymmets he was wearing under his tunic!"

"Glymmettes? Was he a Lord's son?"

The young man's sheepish look darkened. "Actually, I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't the vaguest idea of who he was or where he came from. If he knew, Father would never let me forget that I had forgotten the first rule of traveling the lowlands: 'Always Read a man before allowing him to join in your party.'" He looked up with a winning smile. "You won't tell him?"

Karinna stared at him. "When would I tell him? I had no plans to stop at your . . . what do you call it . . . your ryhl." Her mind shrank from the thought of stopping so close to Tharea for any length of time, even though it be nestled deep within the Halidem Mountains.

"But you must stop and let us repay you for your service to our burri; Father would be very angry with me if I didn't insist that you at least take a meal as payment. We only have two burri - never mind the cart. We could never hope to start a herd without this one, so you not only aided us now, but in the future as well." The young man grasped Karinna's arm urgently, making the cub on her lap snarl and bare its fangs at him. He withdrew the hand slowly.

Karinna reviewed the situation as she calmed the thatz. Her meager food supply was now gone, thanks to the extra mouth to feed, and she would need more before she could continue on further north into the mountains. The young man watching her so closely would need professional supervision to make it safely back to his hall. His concussion, combined with lack of food or a Healer, could cause him to go into shock at any moment should she leave him unattended. Slowly she nodded. "Very well. I need to get more supplies anyway, and that would be more than ample repayment for any help I give you. I will see you to your hall."

The young man extended his hand, more slowly this time, to grasp hers. "Here in the Halidem, we have a traditional way of greeting those whom we owe a debt. I am Larm, son of Byrol Rhyl, Chief of the Rhyl clan. The Rhyl clan owes you a debt, and offers as first gift the friendship of the clan and privilege of asking favors of our clansmen in my name." Larm cocked his head at her frown of concentration. "The gift of names is taken very seriously here."

Not wishing to offend by refusing to exchange names but unwilling to betray herself with the solemn gift of her true identity, Karinna's mind spun wildly for a moment. Then, finding a solution that was the least odious of several alternatives, she let her hand-clasp warm with friendship. "I am Karin, of Dabai City in Dariki, wandering Healer." She thought a moment. "I release you from any debts to me or any of mine."

Larm's other hand topped the clasp as he finished his part of the Halidu traditional greeting. "May the spirits of the mountains be witness that I will hold the name of Karin in friendship all the days of my life."

"I swear by Thara the One that I will hold the name of Larm Rhyl in friendship all the days of my life." Karinna copied the Halidu's words as closely as she could and placed her other hand on top of the three-way clasp to seal the friendship they had declared. The cub raised its head and sniffed at the joined hands. Then it followed Larm's hand back to his lap and curled up comfortably on the astonished young man's legs.

Larm stroked the sleek body in his lap with trepidation at first and then with more confidence. "Your friend here seems to know that I'm no long a threat to you," he said smiling down at the ball of black fur on his lap. Then he looked up with a more serious expression. "Where were you going, all by yourself? You could have been attacked by the highwaymen who found me too."

Karinna chuckled. "I learned long ago to stay in the trees and off the road when I travel alone. That way it is more difficult for thieves to know I'm even in the vicinity. Besides, my little friend there," she nodded toward the thatz in Larm's lap, "would make anyone think twice before tangling with me. She looked up at the sky; before long the sun would be behind the jagged, mountainous horizon. With a burri and cart, if the cart were even salvageable, it would get back on the road before whoever had set the forest afire noticed that it no longer was burning. "How far is it to your father's hall? Is it more than a day's journey?"

Larm put the cub off his lap and stood up to stretch his stiff muscles. "We would have to keep the burri at a trot the whole way to get there before dark." He looked over at the cart. "I even think we can use the cart if we can find something with which to tie the burri to it. The reins may be charred, but they look like they'll last until we get home."

Karinna untied the long belt that held the jerkin to her waist and unwrapped it quickly. "Will this do?"

Larm looked at its length and then smiled. "Not for both sides, but if we use mine too . . ." and he untied his own. Together, they righted the cart and tied their belts to the harness-poles. Larm remarked as he struggled to fit the belts into harness loops that were too small for the wider straps of leather, "We'll have to start as soon as I get this done, especially if we want anything to eat today. My food went the way of the grain and paper." He took a final tug on the belt-harness for good measure.

Karinna reached into the limp pile of a cloak that had served as her food bundle and handed Larm three wilted thuli leaves and then got up and fed three more to the patiently waiting burri. She then wrapped the still-damp cloak about her shoulders, picked up the thatz cub and deposited it on the seat of the cart before climbing up herself. Larm gave the burri a reassuring pat as he walked past and then clambered up into the seat next to Karinna, took the reins in a practiced hand, gave them a flick and guided the burri back onto the road.

Karinna swallowed her thuli leaves and brushed at a large smudge of charcoal on her trousers. "You know, it's going to be difficult to explain to your father how you got in this situation without mentioning your supposed “companion.” I know that my father wouldn't rest until he had the whole story."

"I know, my father's the same way," Larm said ruefully. "Father has the clan ability to sense truth even in omission, so I suppose coming out and telling him the whole story would be better in the long run. I don't know, though," he shook his head as if clearing it of fog, "whether he'll believe my story about how I managed to survive the fire; that rain seemed to come at an awfully convenient time."

"Indeed it did."

"It was as if someone had sent it just to put out the fire. I have heard that some of the lowland Lords have that Talent, but I hadn't believed it possible until today."

Karinna didn't dare squirm for fear of giving away her nervousness at the direction Larm's reasoning was taking, and she knew keeping silent would be almost as destructive. She decided to stick as close to the truth as she could and dared, keeping in mind the Talent Larm claimed his clan possessed and probably possessed himself to some degree. "Some of the Lord of Dariki's family have had that Talent, as a matter of fact. The present Lord Daru's father used it many years ago to stop a prairie fire. Of course, I was not even born yet, but I remember my mother telling me many times of how the sky seemed to cloud over all at once and of the torrential rains that came down."

"Are you from a Healer's line?"

"No, at least I don't think so. My mother never spoke of her family, and there was no Talent for Healing in my father's family at all." This topic was almost as dangerous as the previous, but then Larm took another direction with his thoughts.

"My mother is a Healer, and my sister Darla has shown Talent and is in training under my mother. She has applied to finish her training in the Palace in Tharea, but hasn't heard if she's been accepted yet." Larm glanced at his companion. "Did you just come from Tharea yourself?"

"Yes," came the cautious reply.

"Were you in the Palace at all?"

Karinna's mind worked quickly. "A friend of my father's is employed at the Palace, and I visited with him there."

Larm sighed. "I'd love to see the inside one day. It looked so beautiful from the outside. Is it as nice inside?"

Karinna laughed nervously. "It's a lot fancier inside than any hall I've ever been in; but other than that, it's more or less the same. Everything is just on a larger and grander scale."

"Where were you going when you left Tharea? I'm just curious, and if it is none of my business, just say so."

"Actually, I really had no set destination," Karinna answered truthfully. "I had no wish to return to Dabai right away and had never been in the mountains before. So I decided to drift from Tharea into the mountains and enlarge my experience before returning home."

Larm stared at her in amazement, and then he shook his head. "It's unbelievable how you lowlanders have no idea of the harshness of the mountain climates! In six or seven weeks, you would never have survived your trip. Winter sets in early up here, and travelers who don't know this or ignore the signs are often found frozen to death when the snows thaw." The young man scratched his head for a moment. "I may be wrong, but aren't most Healers attached to a hall somewhere?"

"Not I," Karinna answered flatly, causing Larm to glance at her sharply. Careful, she thought to herself, best not to show negative emotions when being asked about yourself. "I mean, I wasn't exactly in the favor of the local Sor, as our lowland landholders are called; so I figured it was best that I leave before his animosity got any worse." She touched one of the sorer places on her face, aware that the injuries now supported her tale. She shrugged. "Didn't get away quite soon enough, though."

"Well, at least you were here when I needed help. Your actions bespeak you as an honorable person without the need to Read you like I normally should. Your past and present business are your own and none of mine. You will always have a place at Rhyls'hyl for your service to me, Father will see to that." Larm fell silent after this final comment, and Karinna was thankful for the lack of conversation. She needed time to assess her present circumstances and put what energy she had left into making her mental shield as strong as possible in case he decided to Read her in spite of his assurances.

What she was going to do when she arrived at this man's hall was another question entirely. Further questions into her past would force her into more blatant lies that anyone with a scrap of Truth-sense would be able to Read, even behind the barriers that the monks had labored so long to teach her to build. She would have to do some fast thinking before she met anyone with a well-honed Talent who could see through any shield she could erect.

Larm found himself a bit divided as to his feelings about his new companion. He both trusted Karin and was uneasy at the same time. There were glaring inconsistencies in the Healer's story, but incredibly strong inner shields sheltered Karin's inner thoughts from being Read by his own, weak Talent. Besides which, he had already sworn name-friendship with the man, as had the Healer with him. He had no idea how the lowlanders viewed the gift of names, but the Halidu who broke his vow would set up psychic echoes that stayed with the betrayer for the rest of his life and branded him as one who could never again be trusted by anyone. Larm was glad that soon they would be at Rhyls'hyl, and his father could tell more about this Healer, Karin.

~~~~~~~~~*

Daylight had all but disappeared and the moons were rising when the distant lights of the huge hall became visible on the other side of the steep valley, just beyond a final sharp turn in the rough road. Even the exhausted burri sensed a good night's rest ahead, and the cart jerked as the beast broke into a gallop that Larm made no move to curb. The cub rumbled its unease and crawled into Karinna's lap to be comforted. She wrapped her now-dry cloak close around the cub both to warm it and to hide it from any people who would greet the cart's return. No need to make any more of a fuss at the very first than necessary. She stared at the size of the hall - twice as large as she had been expecting. "You didn't tell me that it was so big, Larm."

Larm waited until he could hear the watchers on the top of the wall calling out the impending arrival before answering, and then he chuckled in reply. "I keep forgetting it's one of the largest halls besides the Palace in all of Thaelia. But that hall will have to shelter the entire Rhyl clan during the winter snows, and we are known to be a very prolific clan. By the feast of Ku-Rachul, there will be more than five hundred there, not counting servants and retainers who live there all the time with my family of course."

Any further comment from Karinna was drowned out by Larm's shout urging the burri from the main road and onto a narrower road that included a wooden bridge over a dark, seemingly bottomless ravine. Then the cart rumbled through the high, stone gates and into the courtyard. The immense, double doors of the hall were thrown open as the cart came to a stop, and a huge bear of a man hurried down the steps followed by several other men and women. Larm jumped down from his seat and was embraced by the large man, who pounded him soundly on the back and exclaimed in the mountain language without noticing a stranger in his son's cart, "We were beginning to worry. You were to have been home yesterday."

Larm extracted himself from his father's bear hug and answered in Halidu. "Grain is scarce this year, Father, and the lowlanders even more unwilling to trade at a decent rate than usual. It took until two days ago just to find someone willing to sell me any at a rate other than a usurer's prices, and almost another day to settle the bargain.

"And then, last night, I was attacked by thieves who stole all I was bringing back with me, including my own provisions. I failed you, Father." Larm bowed his head and missed the look of alarm on his father's face. "They beat me and left me for dead and set fire to the cart." There were several gasps from Larm's audience. "Rain came, however, and put out the fire before it finished me and the burri. Healer Karin came upon us not long thereafter and treated us." He pointed up to the motionless figure still seated in the cart and switched to his heavily accented Thaelu. "I would not have made it back here had it not been for his help, Father."

So this was Larm's father, Karinna thought as her grey eyes were met and held by steady black ones. The bushy brows raised almost into the hairline as Byrol tried to Read the battered-looking newcomer, encountering amazingly strong shields. Then the rugged face of the mountain Lord crinkled into a wide smile and a huge paw of a hand was extended to her. "Welcome, friend Karin, to Rhyls'hyl. Your service to my son and my clan is most gratefully accepted. We are much in your debt." Byrol's Thaelu was even more accented and hard to understand than Larm's had been, and took a moment longer for Karinna to decipher.

"It was my pleasure, my Lord," Karinna stood up to alight from the cart but could no longer keep her cloak about her to conceal the thatz cub. A murmur ran through the crowd as the thatz was revealed; and even Larm's father stepped back a pace, his face etched with astonishment and fear. The cub sank its claws painfully into Karinna's arm at the sudden sight of so many people. The huge man in front of her took a moment to regain some of his lost composure, and then extended his hand once more almost reverently.

"Larm, you did not say anything of the importance of your friend, or have you forgotten your Teachings?"

Larm's face went blank in confusion, and then his gaze lit on the cub in Karinna's arms. Suddenly the connection was made, and even Larm paled a little. "Truthfully, Father, I was in too much shock from the attack and fire to even think of the prophecy at all." He came up to Karinna and bowed slightly from the waist. "Noble Healer Karin, from Dariki, allow me to present Lord Byrol Rhyl, clan chief of the Rhyl clan and my father."

"My Lord," Karinna stammered, a bit taken aback at this reaction from the same young man who had spoken to her so casually and sometimes suspiciously for the past few hours. She motioned to Larm, who came closer, and whispered in his ear, "What's this all about? Why the sudden formality?"

"I'll explain later," was all the response she received as Larm bowed to her again and then to his father. "Why don't we all go in and get something to eat. I happen to be starving, and I'm sure Healer Karin is too." He motioned for Karinna to accompany him, and the entire group entered the hall.

If Karinna had not been used to living in the Palace in Tharea, she would have gasped at the immensity of the entrance hall. The thirty-foot ceilings carved from the living rock of the mountainside dwarfed the entire company, and the huge chamber itself could easily hold two or three hundred people without being overcrowded. Their footsteps resounded hollowly as the group walked toward the far end of the chamber, where a gigantic green banner with the clan insignia of a golden thatz hung over the raised dais on which the clan chief sat while holding audiences.

Many of the group of people dispersed through various doors in the vast chamber; so it was just Byrol, Larm, Karinna and two other women who passed through the door into the large diningroom. Empty plates, now being cleared away by two serving girls, signaled that the meal had already ended for most of the family. Karinna's mouth began to water as she caught sight of a roast bird of some kind and a pile of bread on a strange turntable in the middle of the large, round dining table.

The thatz began to struggle in her arms, its hunger even more acute from the fact that bread was not the sort of nourishment that it had really needed. One of the servants dropped her stack of plates as she caught her first close-up glimpse of a thatz, and backed up against the wall quickly. The other girl tore a leg off the roast fowl, placed it on the one plate that had not shattered when dropped and backed away herself. Karinna nodded her thanks as she put the cub down in front of its meal, whereupon it tore into the meat voraciously.

Karinna knew from the sideways glances of the older woman at her side that the time had come to put an end to one of her carefully maintained secrets, and she tugged the cap from her head. Byrol's eyes bugged and Larm's mouth gaped wide as the thick, blonde braids tumbled down her back. Byrol blinked twice, finding the bruises of a vicious beating incongruous with the braids, and then motioned her to a seat at his side. "Time enough for explanations later. Eat first."

Karinna shook her head and went to one knee before the huge man who was her host. "I cannot give a complete excuse for my masquerade, my Lord. I can assure you, however, that I am truly a Healer and come from one of the lowland families in Dariki. My pretense of being a man was necessary for me to travel without causing comment or notice from those who might guess my identity and send me back to where my life was a prison. What my life has been like recently you can easily see.

"Larm told me that you are a Truthseer, my Lord." Her voice trembled almost as much as her hands shook at the thought of the chance she was taking. "You may Read that what I say now is true; but I must ask you, as a favor for my service to your son, do not try to Read any further."

Byrol's eyes narrowed as he felt the girl's mental wall dissolve completely, and he could read the truth in her words. He laid one hand on the bent head of the small woman in front of him. "No man I know is as small as you, so I had almost guessed you were a woman from that. Besides, that there have never been male Healers in the land. You are most welcome in my hall, Karin, or whatever your real name is, and I and my family will respect your wishes regarding your privacy. It is small favor to ask for the immense service you did us by caring for my foolish son. Now eat before you fall down." He pulled her up and seated her next to him.

Karinna let out her breath in a slow, silent whistle. The chance she had taken by lowering her shields had been great, but she had won the first of her battles in seeking sanctuary. She had, for the time being, a safe place in which to rest and plan ahead.

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