It was growing cold now; the pain in her chest gradually subsided to
a dull throb in time with her slowing heart.  She could see her family, her
friends there around her, their mouths moving as if the world was full of
molasses.  Those sounds too gradually faded to nothingness and her vision
waned and blurred around the edges.
	She couldn't see the dagger protruding from her chest anymore, nor
could she feel the increasing wetness with each beating of her heart.  She
knew she was dying, she could see it her loved ones' eyes, and she knew it
because she felt less and less as time inched by.  Her mind too slowed down,
and she had just enough presence of mind to utter her last few words, mumbled
and bloody - soft but it was enough, they could hear it and they knew what
she had said.
	I didn't want to leave you yet.  "Oh gods! Please look down on us in
your mercy and save her!" her younger sister wailed holding her cold hands.
	"Kaerin" she managed to gasp as her chest began to tighten, "they
don't exist anymore." She took a deep haggard breath determination creased
her brow as she forced her words out.  "They left us years ago; look to
yourself to guide your Fate."  Her vision began to fail her in earnest now,
she couldn't see the tears falling down her sister's cheek, only feel them
with what little warmth was left in her hand. "Goodbye," she whispered, but
she didn't know if anyone heard it or if she had even spoken.
	The world went dark and there was only silence.

	A whisper against her ear broke the silence.  It sounded soft and
distant.  She stirred and felt weightlessness.
        "That was quite a melodramatic way to go I must admit.  Nice speech."
The voice was closer now, as if someone knelt at her side.  It seemed warm and
familiar, yet she was unwilling to open her eyes to find out who it was in
case it would confirm what she remembered - she had died.
	"Come on now, how can I take you anywhere if you don't open your own
eyes?"  She frowned, his name on the tip of her tongue and shook her head.  
"Oh-ho so little miss refuses to open her eyes?" she almost smiled, a face on the brink of visible in 
her mind.
        "It's not that.  I shook my head because I couldn't remember."  She
licked her lips.  Her throat was dry and her voice cracked.  She felt an arm
slip under her shoulders and a hand support her head as something cold and
wet slipped into her mouth.
        "Ahh.then you'll come with me then?"  His voice was gentle, soft as
velvet.
        "Go where?"
        "Oh back to the place you just left.  Things will be different but at
least you can see it."
        "Go...back" hope and disbelief mingled with disdain and regret.
        "You'll have to decide soon.  If you don't like it I can always take
you back here."  She opened her eyes then and saw the emptiness around her.
She didn't want to spend eternity here in darkness and alone.
        "I'll go.  Lead the way and I will follow."  With each word her voice
became stronger as if her newfound resolve fortified her very being.
        "Good.  You won't regret the choice you made."  She looked up to see
the face who owned the voice she could almost recognize.  Nutty brown skin
wrinkled around coal black eyes as equally dark hair was groomed neatly back.
"I'll carry you back now, you should sleep a little while now, you'll need the
rest."  Kind eyes shone at her and she could not refuse their offer.
	His free hand brought up a softly glowing golden orb, its center a
mass of swirling light.  She gazed deep into the sphere's depths and felt
sleep wash over her.  "Hamish." She murmured; mentor and friend.

                                  **********

        "Ezekiel you should have brought this before the rest of the elders."
a thin nasal voice whispered crankily.
        "Hush Fiannor she is waking."  A tanned finger rose to silence the
other's words.
        Dull reddish brown eyes opened, squinting from the bright daylight
pouring through the windows. "Welcome back Astal."
        "Astal?" Her voice was high pitched and childish
        "Your name from now on." He explained simply.  She took a moment to
ponder this but nodded; there usually was some sort of price for gifts such
as these.  She looked at her old friend - he seemed different somehow, as if
he were something greater now - he still looked the same as he did before.
Before what?  she murmured to herself.  She turned her gaze feeling some
uneasy feeling pass over her.
        Just then she caught a glimpse of the good weather outside.
"W-where am I?" she gawked and sat up quickly.  A slight dizziness struck her
as she moved but she pushed it aside to double-check what her eyes had told
her moments ago.  Gone was the crystal blue skies and the single golden orb
that she had seen for twenty summers, replaced with violet hued heavens and
three burning blue suns.
        "Hamish -"
        "Ezekiel is my name here Astal," he quickly corrected her and her
puzzled expression answered his gaze.  The older man sighed and sat down on
the bed beside her pausing to slide his hand through his hair before turning
to answer her unspoken question.  "Hamish was a name I used while I was on
Earth. Ezekiel was the name given to me when I was brought to Haven.  This
here, is Haven."
        "Haven."  She whispered the name to herself and looked past Ezekiel
to glance about the room around her.  It was then that she caught the glares
of a sour looking older woman, probably about fifty - the same age as Ezekiel.
She stood out in contrast to the serene setting of the room around her; sly
and mirthless yellow eyes, platinum blond hair that hung to her hips, and
sharp birdlike features.
        "I'm leaving now Ezekiel, I want no part in your madness." She pursed
her lips together tightly, making already thin lips almost nonexistent.  With
a cold twist of her heel she left the room in a flutter of free flowing cloth
and the wave of platinum blond hair.
        As the door slid shut behind the older woman, Astal turned to face
the old man, a questioning look of confusion gracing her face.  He smiled
kindly and gathered her up in his arms like a grandfather would his
granddaughter.  "Astal, you have been given a very special gift, one that is
offered to very few.  I want you to treasure that gift and use your time here
wisely."
        She looked up at him still baffled and reached up with a small milky
white hand to touch his face. Suddenly she paused, her burgundy eyes growing
wide.  Her hands were so tiny, and she herself was tiny. Desperately she
glanced at her body and dismay brought tears to her eyes.  "Why am I in the
body of a child?" she cried out.
        "You will grow; just as you grew from infancy on Earth, you were
reborn here and will grow again."  He patted her back gently trying to
comfort the shocked girl complete understanding of her feelings clear in the
bright sadness that danced in his usually jolly eyes.  "I'm afraid you won't
remember much about your past life Astal - only vague memories that will
haunt you like distant dreams half forgotten upon awakening."
        She shuddered in his arms, quietly listening to his soft words.  Her
body was that of a five year old child but her mind remained that of a twenty
year old woman.  Slowly what was spoken over and over to her began to sink
in, and with that, the realization that this now was her life - a life after
death - calmed her stormy emotions and stoic acceptance settled in.
        "You will stay here in Haven until you've learned our ways Astal, the
ways of the Legatum.  I know you well and I have placed my trust, my
reputation, and my hopes, in jeopardy for you.  I will be your teacher,
mentor and friend here Astal, since most likely no one else will.  Your life
will be hard but you will learn to best that hardship."  He smiled.  "I know
that this is much to learn and accept in so short a time but you must, or I
will have to return you to that darkness from which I took you from."
        She looked up into the man's dark eyes and nodded.  Something shone
within them that made her implicitly wish to follow him where ever he went,
and throw her trust in him.  Just as Ezekiel had said, some distant memory
floated up in her mind his previous impressions on her just at the brink of
her awareness and she nodded again.
        "Tomorrow we begin your training."
        She rested her head upon his shoulder as he held her there and was
determined to embrace her new life.  Her only regret was a half faded memory,
washed in faint paints - a girl's face.
        "Kaerin." She whispered.
SAUCE00Reawakening                        Triana              Hallucigenia        

P