"Chagnow? Zilschort! Deiz nesk linnarl..."

*Hello? Wake up! Is she alive...

The harsh Kownian words were spoken almost directly in Wilky's ear. Her eyes shot open, and she found the face of an adorably confused young man awkwardly close to her own.

Wilky propped herself up, and the young man moved back.

"Chagnow! Cky dorgh sielcheey...?"

*Hello! By what name do you go?

The young man chattered brightly. His longish light brown hair flopped comically in his face, and his clothes were a tasteful shade of pale blue and navy, adorned with silver around the collar and sleeves. A dark blue cape swirled behind him as he moved. His appearance was that of someone who knew how fashion worked, but was trying too hard to look like a king with a budget too low to fit the ambition.

Wilky liked him immediately.

The young man must have realized that his words had no effect on Wilky, because he quickly changed languages.

"Ikari tuin Orian?" he tried instead.

*You speak Orian?

"Ual, haro re grellyo firen vek crin Tawnin," Wilky replied cheerfully.

*Yes, but my first language is of Tawnin,

"Ah, a native Tawnian, like me!" The young man cried enthusiastically, clapping his hands together. "Goody! This makes things easy! The name is Casey. Casey Caster!" he extended a hand to Wilky, and helped her to her feet. Wilky was painfully aware of the fact that she wore only a filthy nightgown.

"My name is Wilkynn Geodonna," Wilky told him, amused by his enthusiasm. "But you can call me Wilky."

"Wonderful, Wilky! Pleasure to meet you." Casey looked over his shoulder. "Thea, Einnoschirae! Glexicoh ilke fuscha!"

*Thea, come here! I found a friend!

"Is someone else with you?" Wilky asked him, a bit worried by his use of Kownian. As of last night, anyone who spoke the language was her enemy.

"I do! Her name is Thea, real nice, when she's not annoyed at me. Which is all the time." Casey glanced back at the bushes behind him, which were rustling with movement and crackling with incoherent Kownian speech- though it sounded like the person was cursing. "So, Wilkynn Geodonna, where do you hail from?"

"Whinia, Tawnin originally," she replied. "But last night, slavers raided our house, and took my entire family to sell into slavery. My sister and fiancee helped me escape, but they... didn't make it." she twisted the ring on her finger. Casey's eyes widened.

"That's horrible!"

Wilky nodded. "He said he'd find another way to escape and meet me in Lorea." she suddenly grinned. "You wouldn't happen to be able to guide me there, would you?"

At that moment, Casey's companion, Thea, burst from the bushes. She had straight, shoulder length ice blonde hair, and skin as pale as snow. She wore a red dress smudged with dirt, and over it, a forest green cloak that was a bit too big for her. Despite the fact that she was scowling and looked like she'd been rolling in the mud, Wilky decided she liked Thea as well. Thea looked up, their eyes meeting, and Wilky realized that her eyes were gold. Not brown, but actual gold, like the metal itself had been melted down and dripped into her eyes. There was no other possible way her eyes could be that precise and perfect color.

Thea said something to Casey, who seemed more concerned with a silver pendant tied to a piece of twine he had just taken from one of the various pockets that seemed to be scattered around his outfit. He was pointing a slightly splintered stick at the pendant, and muttered something under his breath that Wilky couldn't understand.

As Wilky watched, a stream of red light flowed from the stick and swirled around the pendant, coating it in an even red glow, that seeped into the metal. The pendant remained seemingly unchanged.

Wilky's jaw dropped.

"You can do magic?!" she exclaimed, as Casey handed her the pendant.

"I am a wizard by trade," he informed her, smiling. "Now, put that on."

"What will it do?" Wilky asked suspiciously.

"You'll see."

Wilky took the pendant, tying the twine in the back. It rested on her sternum and seemed to emit a faint humming, but she felt no different wearing it than when she hadn't been wearing it.

She shrugged. "What does it do?" she asked again. Casey just kept grinning. "I don't get it."

Thea's eyes widened, and Wilky frowned.

"What?"

"You weren't speaking Kownian just a minute ago," Thea said. Her voice was even, but there was a certain uneasiness behind it, an unfelt dull emotion, never acknowledged but always there.

Then Wilky realized what had happened.

"And you weren't speaking Tawnian a minute ago!" she yelled, pointing a finger at Thea, who jumped backwards as if accused. Wilky looked at Casey, who nodded.

"Translator. Cool, right? I'm actually speaking Kownian right now, for Thea's sake, but as long as you're wearing that, you'll always hear Tawnian."

Wilky now noticed that when Casey spoke, his voice had a certain false quality to it, a sort of unnatural crackling. Thea had too, just a moment ago.

"Casey, stop showing off. We need to get out of here." Thea snapped. "We don't have time for this. I paid you to take me to Lorea, we can't take any pitiful escaped slaves with us!"

"I'm going to Lorea too!" Wilky told Thea. "I won't be a burden, I promise!"

"Come on, Thea, it can't hurt to let her come," Casey pressed, putting an arm around Thea. Thea pushed him off and sighed, her golden eyes softening.

"Just as long as she doesn't slow us down. We really need to get to Lorea, and we need to move quickly."

"Thanks," Wilky said, smiling. "It means a lot to me."

Thea shrugged and turned away, heading back to the path she had been on previously. Casey began to follow Thea, and Wilky just stood there for a moment, feeling both miserable and triumphant. Her feet were sore and achy, and her skin had a layer of dirt on it that, living in a wealthy family, had certainly never been there before. Not to mention the fact that she was still wearing only her nightdress, and the garment was torn and smudged with mud.

At the same time, Wilky was escaping. She was going to meet Destin in Lorea, and together, they were going to free the Cordian slaves and live happily ever after.

At some point in the day, Wilky picked up a long, knobbly branch lying on the ground, to use as a walking stick and a Thea-aggravator. Wilky, being Wilky, couldn't help but jab at Thea's cape as they walked, often pinning the cloth to the ground.

"Watch that thing!" Thea snapped, when Wilky finally caused Thea to stumble. "You're going to seriously hurt somebody!"

Wilky stopped giggling and ceased using the branch as anything but a walking stick.

"I'm sure she'll warm up to you," Casey reassured Wilky. "But it might help if you talk to her, you know, find common ground," He added thoughtfully.

Wilky ran ahead to walk with Thea.

"So, you're Thea?" she asked, matching her stride with Thea's. They were about the same height, but Thea took longer strides than she did, and it was difficult to keep up.

"That's me," Thea sighed, her voice crackling through the translator.

"Is Thea short for something?"

"No."

"Thea's your only name?"

"Yes."

"Oh." Wilky tried to think of something else to say, something that might encourage Thea to give more than a one word answer.

"Where are you from?" she asked.

"Where am I from?" Thea seemed to struggle with the question. "Cordia. I'm from Cordia. Look, I don't really have time to talk right now."

Wilky pouted a bit, but kept trying.

"Casey says we should find common ground."

"Casey is  an idiot."

"I'm also your guide!" Casey called up cheerfully. "So if you don't want to end up in a dragon's lair, behave!"

Thea huffed in annoyance. "What do you want?"

"What do you like to do?" Wilky pressed.  "In your spare time?"

"Nothing."

"Do you have any siblings."

"You know what, I really don't want to talk about this. Go pester the wizard for awhile!"

Wilky's shoulders slumped in disappointment, but she hung back anyway to walk with Casey.

"You're a wizard, then?" she asked him, pointing to the stick- apparently a wand- stuck in his tasteful black leather belt.

He nodded.

"What sort of magic can you do?"

"Well, I can create a translator like a I did for you. I can also read minds, heal wounds, locate people... that sort of stuff. It's fun! Most of the time. It's annoying when you can't remember a spell. Mostly, magic is based around Orian, but a specific dialect that is just slightly different from the rest. Oh, and there are Libraries of Magic scattered all around Ohruna, and they've got lots of books about magic there, though mostly the Libraries are used by sorcerers, who do most of their magic with items, like curses and potions and auras and the like! Some people don't like sorcerers, and I guess sorcery is sort of strange in some ways, but technically, we're all types of magicians, and all magicians are supposed to believe in the God Venkalth, or at least his teachings." Casey slowed, suddenly becoming more serious. "As magicians, we're supposed to believe in everyone being equal, and never using our magic for evil.  So if sorcerers were really that bad, they'd be punished by Venkalth. And they aren't! I've met a lot of really nice sorcerers! And sorceresses, of course. Sorry, you're getting bored, aren't you, Wilky?"

"No, actually," Wilky replied, smiling. "It's all very interesting. You're a lot nicer than Thea."

The trees around them were thinning now, allowing sunlight to stream through. The land before them was hilly, but the sky was clear and blue. It looked like it would be a pleasant day of travel.

"Good, good," Casey said. "Very good."

"It annoys me, actually," Thea snapped. "A little more quiet would be nice."

"Awww, c'mon, Thea!" Casey said. "We're just having a friendly chat."

"Hmph," Thea replied, glancing back at them. She pulled a rolled up map from a cross body satchel that hung at her side, and began to study it critically. Wilky hurried up to look over her shoulder at it.

"Where are we now?" she asked.

"Near Cordia's border," Thea said impatiently.

"We'll be coming close to Tawnin," Wilky said softly. "Do you think we could stop there? Just briefly? Just to see if anyone else has returned..."

Thea seemed troubled, and had she turned around, Wilky would have seen Casey's expression become very concerned.

"We're going to Lorea," Thea stated firmly, after a moment.

"Who?" Casey asked Wilky, as Thea rolled the map back up and shoved it in her bag. "To see if who has returned?"

"My family," Wilky replied. "Since we were kidnapped, I haven't seen them. I don't know where they are. But if they did somehow escape the Cordian slavers, it's possible they will have returned to our old home."

Casey made an awkward face. "I don't know, Wilky..."

"I want to at least check," Wilky pleaded. "If I could have reunited with any one of them, and I pass up the opportunity... I could never forgive myself. And it's a long journey from Lorea to Tawnin. This may be my last chance to see my home." She felt tears in her eyes.  Already, she missed the river and the gently sloping hills, and the squat tempro trees with their rustling golden leaves. "My last chance... before I leave it behind forever."

Thea sighed. "I... I don't... we can't..."

"Thea, come on," Casey said, gently nudging Wilky aside to stand next to Thea, and putting a hand on her shoulder. "It's not that much to ask. At most, it'll lengthen our journey by about half a day. This is her last chance to visit her home country for a very long time. How would you feel-"

"Fine," Thea snapped. "We'll make a slight detour, but then we need to get back on track."

"Thank you so much!" Wilky exclaimed, breaking into a grin.

"Shut up," Thea said suddenly, stopping and looking around.

"What? Why? I was just thanking y-"

"Seriously, shut up."

Wilky fell silent, confused. Casey looked just as baffled.

"Thea, what-"

"Shhhh!" Thea hissed. She was studying the sky now, focusing on something. Wilky followed her gaze and saw a dark figure high above them, flying across the sky and emitting some horrible screeching noise.

"Is that a dragon?!" Wilky squealed. "What do we do? Hide? Where can we hide?! There's nowhere to hide! You guys can fight, right? Because I can't. I mean, I can fist fight, but I don't think that would beat a dragon, I mean, it's a dragon, it'll roast you with it's fire breath, it'll... oh my..."

"Calm down," Casey said. "It's not a dragon." He was looking at Thea now, who was staring intensely back at Casey.

"Then what is it?" Wilky asked.

"I don't know." Casey said, watching Thea. "Could be anything. Or maybe it's a friendly dragon! It's probably a friendly dragon that doesn't want to eat us."

"Right! Friendly dragon!" Wilky chirped, brightening immediately, as if the thought of potentially being roasted alive had completely vanished from her mind. Indeed, now she only had happy thoughts, of beautiful dragon treasure troves filled with gold and silver, and magnificent lizards spreading their wings to take flight, roaring their might to the sky. Not a threat, just a pretty creature.

Thea, however, knew that this was no dragon, friendly or not. Casey knew too, but it was not his position to reveal this knowledge to Wilky. Thea had forbid him, and Casey wasn't willing to cross Thea anytime soon. He didn't know very much about Thea, and had his suspicions about what she had told him, but she seemed harmless enough, as long as you didn't make her more pissed off than she already was.

For Casey, this was easier said than done.