Chapter One

Father was still a strange word for Rowanda to use when speaking of Beir, but now that he was no longer a fugitive slave on Arolsen, Beirimor's demeanor had softened and talking with him came more easily. Rowanda and her mother could sit for hours listening to his experiences in the desert. Graciella listened in horror whenever Rowanda added stories of her own adventures with wetchels and terpors.

"Remember when you tried to start a dust-devil and it spun you up into the air, and you couldn't get down?" laughed Beir. "You should have seen her spinning around and around up in the swirling wind, Graciella."

Rowanda joined in the laughter while her mother still looked horrified at the image of her daughter spinning inside a small tornado. Seeing tears of laughter on both her husband's and daughter's cheeks, Graciella decided Rowanda could not have been in too much danger - otherwise, neither of them would find it so funny.

"What is a terpor?" asked Rowanda's mother.

Rowanda, still laughing with her father, replied, "It is an enormous serpent that one wants to avoid in the desert."

"And you truly fought one?" Graciella's eyes widened in shock at the thought that her daughter had been in such danger.

"Relax, Graciella. She is home safe. She was amazing, though. You should have seen her in action. On second thought, it is a good thing you didn't see her. You would have fainted," Beir said as he gathered his wife into his arms for a hug.

Indignant, Graciella pushed away from her husband's embrace. "I would not have fainted. I am tougher than you think or I would not have survived as a slave at the palace for as long as I did!"

Pulling Graciella into his arms once again, the mood now serious, Beir said, "I know how rough it was to be a slave. Remember, I was one for many years and not just a week."

"Now you are trying to make me feel guilty," Graciella said.

"Just the opposite. I just wanted you to know that I, too, know exactly what you endured. You must have been strong to endure the hardships of being a slave."

Feeling bad for both of her parents, Rowanda added, "Mother, I came as soon as I could, honestly."

"Oh, sweetie, I didn't mean to make you feel bad. You were amazing. You are my hero. I would still be there, and so would your father, if it were not for you," Graciella said contritely.

A knock at the door interrupted the family. Rushing to the door, Rowanda opened it to find her best friend, Nalivia, standing on the threshold with a broad grin on her face.

Nalivia, a short, freckled-faced, redheaded girl, grabbed Rowanda and the two jumped up and down in delight at seeing each other again. "Can I go outside with Nalivia?" Rowanda asked in excitement.

"Go...and have some fun. You deserve it," Graciella said, relief softening her smile. It was good to see her daughter acting like a child again.

Once outside, the two girls ran off giggling. Finding their favorite spot in the garden, they collapsed into the soft grass and chatted away like magpies.

"First off, thank you so much for saving my mother. Secondly, how did you do it?" Nalivia asked.

Rowanda settled back into the grass and stared up into the branches of the tree she had climbed so often. "Well, it wasn't easy, but I did have my father and Boultori to help me. With the charms, Grandmother Emeraza gave to me, I had a fighting chance."

Rowanda stopped talking for a few moments and then added, "It is so odd to have a father after all these years thinking he was dead. And to find out that Emeraza, our Elder, is my grandmother is kinda spooky. I really don't know how to act toward her. It isn't like she is sweet and cuddly as my grandmother Salitha. Can you imagine rushing into Emeraza's arms for a big hug?"

"No way! She scares me to death!" Nalivia laughed. "You still haven't told me how you rescued our mothers."

Rowanda gathered her thoughts. "I want to make the story as short as I can so I don't bore you. Basically, I created a windstorm to keep the prison guards away. Then I opened a confluence, and we all stepped through to Neslora."

"You sure made it sound easy. Do you think someday I will be able to do what you did?" Nalivia asked with eagerness in her voice.

"I would suspect Emeraza will have no choice but to start our training soon. Even though we are young, we have the gift of sorcery, and the Elder would not want us to experiment on our own," Rowanda replied.

Letting all seriousness leave their discussions, the two girls talked like the schoolgirls they were. Rowanda mentioned a particular young man from Arolsen who had caught her eye. "Nalivia, he was so cute. His name is Anarigar. I often thought I would like to bring him here," giggled Rowanda.

"You are so bad, Rowanda. If you brought him here, I might have given you a run for your money. You know we don't have many cute boys in our village," Nalivia remarked.

"What about Garus? I see you watching him all the time," chuckled Rowanda.

Nalivia blushed and changed the subject. "What is a desert like, anyway?"

"Just awful...it is hot, dry and has almost no plants at all. Not only that, but there are terpors, wetchels and krerri chasing you all the time. The nomads want to capture you and sell you as a slave, and the king is mean. I wouldn't want to go back there...except to see Boultori and Anarigar again."

Shocked, Nalivia remarked, "No plants! I can't imagine a world that is not lush, green and full of lovely plants. You mean there is no grass to walk on or lie down upon? There are no flowers or trees or anything?"

"I only saw a few trees and patches of grass at the oasis. Other than that, there was nothing but sand in every direction. The lack of water is one reason the terpors and wetchels were always hunting us. They did not want us for food. They wanted the water in our bodies. We wore cloaks from head to foot so the creatures could not smell our perspiration. It was really, truly awful!" Rowanda exclaimed.

"If there was no water or plants, what did you eat while you were there?" asked Nalivia curiously.

"Oh, we did have some dates from the trees around the oasis. The dates were a treat. Otherwise, we ate lizards and stuff like that. Truly, it did not taste as bad as you might think," Rowanda told her best friend.

"Lizards! You really ate lizards?" screeched Nalivia.

"Yes, and lizard eggs as well. One will eat most anything when one is hungry. Just hope you never find yourself in the same situation," Rowanda added.

"I would die before I ate a lizard!" announced Nalivia.

"Yeah, right!" Rowanda countered.

Leaving the desert behind in their conversation, the girls jumped up and chased each other through the garden, playing hide-and-seek and whatever silly games came to mind. Rowanda was delighted simply to relax and be carefree after everything she had endured. For the moment, all she wanted was to forget Arolsen.