Kan's numb fingers gripped the speckled rockwall fiercely. She glanced at her fingernails, alarmed at the bluish tinge to the normally green-tinged skin. She prayed her frozen feet would stay true on the few inches of ledge she was traversing.

She shivered violently as the icy wind slapped her in the face with a blast that was comprised more of snow aphids than flakes of snow. Hundreds of the minuscule insects ran into the thick fur scarf she'd wrapped around her head. Her already precarious grip on the cliff wall became more dangerous as she squirmed uncontrollably when they reached her skin and ran over her face and onto her scalp.

"Ahhhh!" she cried at the sensation of her scalp literally crawling with hundreds of tiny feet. She took one precious hand off the ledge to swat at her head.

"Get out of my clothes!" she ground out through teeth clenched together more to stop them chattering than in anger.

The wind instantly took advantage and redoubled its efforts to rip her off the speckled rock face. A gust swooped up and caught her long grey cloak. It billowed out like a balloon behind her, causing her free hand to whip her around so her back touched the rock, taking that sides foot off the ledge.

Her heart hammered even harder as she stared down into the thousand foot drop below her, then it tripped when she felt her other hand begin to slip. "Wind! What are you doing? I have no quarrel with you!" she screamed out into the storm.

The tiny invaders scurried down into her shirt, seeking an exit from the heat that was roasting them alive. She fought the urge to slap at the waves of insects running over her bare flesh and instead tried to twist back to grab the ledge again, but the wind blasted her back flat.

She jerked as her cloak flapped out like a sail. The bobbles that held it closed on the front pulled apart, exposing her rabbit fur top and leggings that she wore over her normal leaf-green clothing. She snatched at the twitching fabric and pulled with all her might. The wind sent a rush of air screeching up from directly below her, pulling the cloak out of her hands and up straight in the air. For one interminable moment she felt herself teetering on the very edge before the wind blasted back, pinning her to the wall again.

Insects were running down both arms and legs in search of the puffs of cold that were getting in. She shook the leg that was hanging over the abyss in an effort to knock them loose and rid herself of them faster. Strings of snow aphids appeared at her wrists and ankles and sent themselves hurtling off into the wind.

Even though she knew it was a futile effort, she screamed "Wind!" again, her voice heavy with plea. The Wind listened to no one, though, even an Ayer.

Her grip on the wall was slipping, so if it didn't listen to her in the next few seconds, her mission would be over before it even began. Flying was not one of her talents.

She gave an almighty tug on the cloak at the same time as the wind from below eased off just enough for her to suddenly tug in the fabric and punch herself - hard - in the chest.

The wind whistled by her ear, sounding like a laugh.

She grimaced and swung her body around to cling to the ledge again with her numb fingers and toes, needing a moment to rest. The exhaustion of the last three days in the bitter cold with little sleep was catching up with her.

Sweat ran down her back in cold rivulets. Panting, she laid her forehead on the frozen rock, watching her breath plume and turn to frost where it made contact. As her heartbeat slowed, a last few shivers ran over her body from the memory of the snow aphids.

As if feeling contrite, the Wind sent a gentle blast to support her from behind. It was still freezing cold, but at least she could recover a bit of energy with the assistance.

She peeked out to judge how far it was to the next ledge that began the last major section to climb before she'd be able to begin descending the far side of the mountain. Then only two more to go.

Maybe on the next mountain she'd take the easier trader's path instead of the steep crossing that she'd been following since she only had a small pack. It had cut down her trip by two days already, but she was feeling the strain of the climb even with her tree-climbing expertise from her life in the Dell. Since the Wind kept blowing out her fires, the cold was sapping her energy and preventing her from sleeping properly, if at all.

Ain had warned that crossing the peaks was the most perilous part of the journey for her. In this place of constant howling blizzard, a Dell-dweller like her was an anomaly. She snorted. Dell-dwellers were an anomaly almost anywhere.

Her head whipped around when a shriek cut through the wind's noise. "A snow eagle!" she groaned.

Like the Wind, they were fiercely wild and independent. She would be able to communicate with one, but whether it listened was another story altogether. Exposed on this ledge she was easy prey. Her heart raced with the urgency to move, but she couldn't feel her hands or feet anymore.

"Ughhhh..." she groaned when the wind caught the edge of her cloak and sent snow swirling up her back. "Wind, that is not nice!" she bit out. A shiver racked her body so hard she was in serious danger of losing her grip, and she knew she had no other choice.

It was time to Call the Sun.

She was proud she'd made it halfway across the range before she'd had to do it. Some didn't even get over the first mountain. Only Ain had been able to withstand the cold the entire way, although he hadn't been up to making the crossing in many, many years.

The pain of Ain's impending death stabbed her deeply. She squeezed her eyes shut against it. Feeling his Link getting weaker was the worst part of being an Ayer. This wasn't the time to bemoan her fate though. If she didn't do something soon, it would be Ain grieving for her.

Through chattering teeth she concentrated like Ain had taught her. "You must dig deeper than ever to Call the Sun," he'd warned. "It will tire you, so make sure you have a secure place to rest soon after."

She looked through the swirling snow to locate the dark blotch four hundred feet above that she prayed was a cave or overhang. It wouldn't be too hard to reach from the main path. Maybe the Wind would even allow her to start a fire.

"Alright, Kan," she murmured to herself, then finished with the words she'd heard Ain tell her innumerable times, "Calm yourself, and begin."

She closed her eyes and took a slow breath to relax her body. She followed a memory of climbing the tallest tree in the Dell. The cool air near the ground was fragrant with fern and hulleberry bushes, mixed with the perfumes of shade-loving purple ibirus and white creeper flowers. She inhaled the rich, earthy scent of decaying vegetation that underlay it all, a scent she always thought matched the dim light of the forest floor. That musk the loam gave off spoke to her not of death, but of the life it would bring forth, of the Web that was an Ayer's domain.

Laying her hands on the creased bark of a kustina tree, she dug her fingers into crevices and began to climb.

A small red tomkin squirrel raced around her as she went, chattering incessantly.

Kan focused on relaxing her mind and slowly opened herself to the Web. She gasped at the crushing rush of information as for a split second she was connected to every single living thing on the planet. Experiencing that for prolonged periods took years of practice.

Narrowing the scope to only a foot around her, Kan released the breath she'd been holding and opened her eyes. She was still tuned in to the thousands of plants, insects and animals that she passed, but she'd been practicing long enough it didn't overwhelm her anymore.

Her furry companion was still chattering a mile a minute, but now that she was immersed in the Web, she could understand what it was saying.

As expected for a squirrel, he was going on about the nuts he'd collected. It's bushy tail stood straight out at an alarming angle when it told of the hawk that had tried to eat it yesterday. "Swooped down, tried to pluck me from the tree right in front of my kidlets!" the creature complained. Then, as suddenly as it had joined her, it raced away saying it needed to gather more nuts to take home to its family.

She chuckled and paused to survey the forest from her height two-thirds up the tree. The air was noticeably warmer up here. Rays of light pierced down here and there, making the air brighter, although it was still the peaceful green-hued shade that the Dell was known for.

"Hello! Hello! Hello!" sang a trio of strobin birds that landed on a branch nearby. "Have you come to visit our nests?" one asked.

"Not today," she'd replied, holding out a hand for them to hop onto. "Are you in need of help? Are one of your chicks ill?"

The tiny birds cocked their heads from side to side for a moment in their characteristic jerky movements. "No, no," said the one who'd spoken. "No sick. No Dwellers come this high. Why you come?"

Kan laughed in amusement. "I've come to see the Sun."

"Sun bad for you. Burn skin. Stay in shade instead," a different little bird insisted, hopping closer.

"I won't stay up long. Thank you for your concern. I'll come visit your nests on my way down," she promised, holding them close to the branch for them to hop off her hand.

After bidding them goodbye, Kan continued up the trunk, relishing the sun's heat she could smell in the air as she neared the top. The light was more yellow than green this high up. She put on an excited burst of speed to reach the top.

All she could see was white as the sun blinded her momentarily when she broke through the canopy.

As her eyes adjusted, the sun bathed her face in its baking rays. She lifted her chin to gain as much access to them as possible in the few glorious minutes she could stand.

For as far as she could see were the deep green tops of the Dell-trees. She relaxed and felt herself merge into the Web where she could feel every single living thing that was alive beneath that emerald canopy. Her heartbeat sped up at the connection to so much around her.

Unlike Ain who was constantly immersed in the Web, Kan was still young and couldn't do it for more than a few minutes at a time before she was overwhelmed by the feeling of so much life around her.

She breathed in the sun-scented air deeply, relishing the way it warmed her from the inside out.

All too soon, her skin began to tingle in the telltale start of a burn. She sighed, taking one last wistful look around before she'd had to retreat to the shadows of the Dell-trees that protected her. Although as an Ayer she could go up whenever she wanted, Ain kept her too busy with her training.

She focused on the intense heat of the sun's rays, wrapping them around herself like a blanket, and opened her eyes. The radiant heat she'd absorbed during that visit atop the canopy now flowed through her, restoring feeling to her hands and feet and melting the swirling snow before it touched her. A shimmering aura extended a few feet from her body, making the rock glisten with melted ice and snow.

Her natural greenish skin tone slowly came back in her fingertips. She could extend farther, but a few inches of heat around her would get her off the mountain without losing any limbs or skin to the cold.

She was proud of herself for getting in and out of Calling the Sun successfully without Ain's assistance. Fear tainted her celebration as the reality that she was truly and completely alone came crashing down upon her.

Her training was far from over, and she was risking herself and possibly her whole world, but sitting back and waiting for Ain to recover from his coma wasn't an option. Whatever had struck him down needed to be found and neutralized. She just had to hope she had enough knowledge and strength to do the job.

She shuffled a step toward the ledge but had to grab at the rock when her head began to spin with vertigo. She felt her grip slipping and tried to hang on through the darkness that was taking her over.

Silent as the wind, her unconscious body pitched backwards off the mountainside.

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