About an hour later, the gseirut landed next to a river. Nume climbed down, swearing violently. Kran followed in silence. First they had a fight, then they'd tried to calm down again but failed to have a conversation that didn't end in either of them shouting. Many things had been said that were now regretted but neither of them managed to apologize yet, despite feeling equally sorry. Nume just couldn't tell him and he just couldn't stop asking.

Once Nume started shouting and calling for somebody, Kran thought she might have gone mad. When she seemed to be having a conversation with thin air, he was convinced of it. His anger was gone immediately, replaced by worry and curiosity.

'Nobody else in K'haren, you said! But look at him, why doesn't he count?' he heard Nume shout. Then she appeared to be waiting for a response but there was no one there except for the two of them and Nume had obviously not asked Kran. 'He's broken just as many rules as I did, maybe even more...' Nume started again. Something seemed to cut her short though and she didn't finish her sentence. 'What do you mean he's one of them?!' She continued.

Kran gently put his hand on Nume's shoulder and looked into her eyes. 'Are you alright?' he asked.

'I'm fine, just, wait for a moment, will you?'

'If you tell me who exactly you are talking to...?'

'Her! The woman who had been calling for me, remember? She just refuses to show herself to you. Oh why do you have to be so stubborn?' The last question was meant for the invisible person. Kran stepped away watching Nume worriedly. He didn't have a clue what he should do if she had really gone mad. Maybe he would have to bring her back to her family, maybe it was just all too much?

Meanwhile, Nume continued her conversation with Sethara. All of a sudden, Kran could hear the voice again. It seemed to come from far away but it was clearly shouting and Nume stood still, staring angrily into space. But after Kran blinked a few times, he was pretty sure he could see some sort of ghost where Nume was looking. It was taking form slowly, first as a shape, then with more and more details and finally with all its colours.

Sethara's skin shone in bright blue and Kran couldn't help staring at her. She was fairly beautiful but something about her was wrong. Well, something other than her looks and her magical way of appearing out of nowhere. Now Kran could hear her words very clearly but it took a moment until he realised that she'd turned around and was actually talking to him.

He felt a sudden pain in his side when Nume poked him. She gave him a meaningful look and he cleared his throat. 'Hello.' He finally managed to say.

'Hello.' Sethara replied patiently. She was used to stunning people.

'How...?' Kran started.

'Magic.' Nume explained. 'Go on, tell him who you are and why you've been stalking us all this time!' she demanded from Sethara.

To Nume's surprise, the woman actually obeyed. She talked for a long time and neither of the two phraio interrupted her speech. But Kran looked more and more confused and sometimes glanced over to Nume as if to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

'Great.' Kran said when Sethara was finished. And he actually meant it.

'What?' Nume asked in confusion while a broad smile was appearing on Sethara's face.

'Well, now I know what we have to do. To me, that's way better than wandering around with no idea where to go. Although I must say I never saw myself as a dragon slayer...' he replied.

'You won't need to slay any dragons. They are not the enemy.' Sethara explained. Now Kran was confused again.

'But who else could it be?' he said more to himself.

Nume was just about to answer when Sethara stared her down. 'Didn't you listen?' she then said to Kran. 'Everybody must figure this out for themselves. Thus we cannot tell you.'

'So you know it then?' Kran asked Nume. She nodded quietly. 'Do you think it is a real danger that must be fought?' he wanted to know.

Nume hesitated. She wasn't so sure what she thought about it. Yes, she did consider the enemy to be dangerous, but she didn't know whether she could possibly fight it. Nor whether she should.

'You don't necessarily have to fight.' Sethara interposed. 'Your first task is to make them understand. They will get one last chance to become better, if they don't, somebody has to bring them down.' From her tone Nume could tell that Sethara didn't really care which way it would end. Kran was still looking at his friend, waiting for an answer.

'I...' Nume started. 'There is a real danger in K'haren. Since Sethara first talked to me about it I've been thinking a lot. Many things aren't alright here and she's told me of a time when it still was. So maybe somebody has to change something. Maybe we do. Maybe we will need to fight, too. But I cannot tell you what or who we fight because you'd refuse. You couldn't understand.' Kran was just about to speak up when Nume continued. 'And nor could I if I hadn't seen for myself. Had I not thought about it... Now that I know what we are fighting for, I think it's worth fighting who we might have to fight.'

'You're being cryptic.' Kran said.

'I have to.'

Kran sighed. 'You say it's worth it, I say I trust you and I really do need something to do. Just wandering about the place is driving me mad.' He stopped talking when he realised Sethara was still there.

'Well then,' the woman said. 'For now, what you need to do is understand. And therefore you shall go south, there is somebody there who wants to show you something.'

'And how are we supposed to find that person?' Nume asked, swallowing her fear of encountering another phraio tribe. Even if they had not yet heard of the friends' sudden disappearance, they would certainly be curious as to why they were travelling on their own. No phraio ever did, K'haren was just too dangerous. Even if the dragons weren't interested in such a small group, some of the other creatures would be. When Nume thought about it, she realised they were rather lucky to not have gotten into any kind of trouble so far.

'You won't. They will find you.' Sethara said, interrupting her thoughts. 'Just fly as far as you can yet go today and then rest, I shall speak to you again in the morning.' And within the blink of an eye, she was gone again.

// Did you notice that she said 'they'?