Upon reaching the front door of her home, Rahríténne dug about her pocket, feeling for her key. When she found it empty, she stood still for a moment, then panicked, whirling around and frantically searching for a speck of silver among the grimy cobblestones.

Her sharp eyes focused in on a sliver of silver, directly in the centre of the street. She frowned, as she had come up to the house from the side of the street, and the key shouldn't have been anywhere near where it appeared to be. Shrugging, she brushed her confusion off. Looking around the street to make sure that she wasn't being watched, she set off towards the object causiously.

As she drew closer to it, she began to realise that it wasn't her key, after all. Feeling disgruntled, she picked it up between two fingers and held it up at an arms length, studying it curiously. It appeared to be a silver ribbon, but it had a papyrus like texture, and when she tried to bend and rip it it simply sprung into its original shape. Bemused, she pocketed it, filled with an intent to take a closer look at it as soon as she got the chance.

Narrowing her eyes slightly, she stared up the street, once again searching for the missing key. Her search was not in vain, as her eyes soon lit up on a object winking, almost hidden by dirt. Unlike the 'ribbon', this object had fallen where she would have walked.

She made her way over, and picked the object off the stones. Examining it, she found that it was her key. Satisfied, she went back to her front door and unlocked it with a flourish.

As she stepped inside, a whirlwind of activity greeted her. Leaves were scattered all over the floor, and, as she watched, they began to rise, and swirl around, gathering speed as time passed.

Rahríténne watched with amusement as her younger brother practiced his Magick, showing off as he did so. Sahaim peeked at her through the leafy whirlwind, noting that she had a proud expression on her face. Blushing, he called the wind to blow faster. He loved to impress his sister.

Eventually, Rahríténne realised that he had to stop, before he wore himself out. With a sigh, she used her own Magick to calm the wind, and sweep the leaves out of the still-open door, until she could see a very cross, but tired Sahaim glaring at her.

"I had it all under control!" He protested loudly. Rahríténne smiled at him, then picked him up and whirled him around.

"I'm sure you did," she replied, as he yawned suddenly. "But it might be time to take a little break now, don't you think?"

Sullenly, he agreed, but perked up when he saw their mother enter the room from the kitchen, his eyes once again sparkling with excitement. He rushed over to her, boasting as he went. "Mum, Mum! Guess what? I managed to control the wind!"

Their mother hugged him, full of pride, and congratulated him. As she looked over his shoulder, her happiness left her immediatley. Rahríténne was looking at Sahaim with a pained expression on her face, thinking about the meeting. Her mother muttered, "the Meeting," and stared at her with dread. "Tell us what happened."

Rahríténne cast her eyes down as tears began to fall. She explained everything that had happened in a choked voice, then went over to her brother, who was frozen in shock. She put her arms around him, but, eyes flashing, he pushed her away.

"It's all your fault!" he screamed at her, his eyes beginning to fill up. "You could have saved them!" He sank to the ground, weeping.

Rahríténne tried to comfort him, but he became more and more distant, retreating into himself. Her mother eventually sat down beside him, and quietly told him to go up to his bedroom and mourn there. He did so, shooting Rahríténne a look of pure hate as he passed her.

Their mother watched them worriedly, then turned to her only daughter. "Rahríténne..." she began.

Rahríténne stared after her brother, a haunted look in her eyes. "I couldn't have done anything, even if I had tried!"

Her mother sighed. "I know. I just wanted to tell you about something else. About your father. Our clan Elders have information on his location, and what he is doing." Rahríténne's eyes grew wide, as she processed this information. Her mother, sensing a spark of hope within her, continued, "We are to meet them a few streets away as soon as we are ready."

Wordlessly, Rahríténne's expression became one of joy, for she adored her father. She rushed to her own room to find something appropriate to wear.

Her mother bit her lip, struggling to contain the tears inside of her. She was the only one of their family who truely knew what would happen to her husband if he was found.

Rahríténne did not take long in coming down. Quietly, mother and daughter let themselves out of the house, and made their way to the meeting with the leaders.

It did not take long for them to arrive there, as Rahríténne set a fast pace and her mother easily kept up. With an anxious expression on her face, Rahríténne knocked on the door, then stood back, waiting. They were soon admitted inside by a faerie who appeared to be not much older than twenty.

Noticing the grave expressions on the Elders' faces, Rahríténne sat down, a confused expression clouding her face for a brief moment. Her mother took the empty seat beside her, dreading what was to come.

A male faerie at the head of the table stood up, and inclined his head towards the pair, and began to speak. "Welcome. I am Eris'mal, head of the Elders of your Clan. We summoned you here because we have news about the faerie named Isim, of whom is related to you, or so our sources tell us." Rahríténne and her mother nodded in silent agreement, and he continued his speech.

"He is a traitor to our kind."

Muttering broke out around the table, and Rahríténne froze, shaking her head. It couldn't be true; her father was completely faithful to the law. But one look at her mothers face told her otherwise, as her mother's face had a heartbroken expression written all over it. Eris'mal looked at them impassively, before carrying on.

"Our sources have also told us how he broke the law. He was conspiring with the Dragons- our most deadly foes, to bring war and blood to our land. Such treachery is punishable by death."

Tears ran down Rahríténne and her mother's face in rivulets as he turned to address them.

"We have invited you both today as witnesses to our meeting. But that is not all; we want you to hear us decide his fate. It will hurt him more to know that you were here when it was decided, than if we just killed him as one would do to any other traitor. You shall also watch, and he shall know that your agony was brought on by his own selfish nature.

"Now, we shall decide the punishment for this crime."

The fey Elders leaned in closely, discussing torture methods, and expressing their opinions in soft voices, barely auditable for even their sharp fey ears. Rahríténne tried to listen in, but no matter how hard she focused, she couldn't hear a single word.

Eventually, Eris'mal clapped his hands, and stood up, leering at them. He began to speak without compassion.

"We have decided Islim's punishment. He shall die slowly, but be sure that he will eventually pass into the void. We are going to use a matter of techniques to enforce this.

"The first technique we will use will be to seperate him from his Magick. This should weaken him considerably.

"For the second punishment he will be flogged, until he is nearly on the brink of death." Eris'mal smiled cruelly at Rahríténne and her mother.

"Our final punishment, and the one that will see his soul depart from this world, will be that he will be tossed into a pit with a couple of savage dogs, undefended."

He paused, and Rahríténne let out a choked sob. Raising an eyebrow, he delivered the final blow.

"You must be present for his final death. Or you will suffer the same punishment, and we shall ensure that he is there to watch you. Also, although we do not have him in custody at this present moment, it is only a matter of time before we pinpoint his exact location."

Rahríténne's mother put her head in her hands, shaking. Rahríténne wept openly, bitter tears sliding down her face, almost in slow motion. Eris'mal watched them, impassive. He wanted an answer.

Rahríténne's mother lifted her face, her cheeks streaked with tears. Her voice trembled as she spoke, struggling to say each syllable clearly. "We will be there."

The Elders nodded, satisfied. Without a second thought, Eris'mal dismissed them, ordering them out like they were pawns in a game. Which, indeed they were.

They both walked home in silence, side by side, attracting curious glances from passers-by as they went. The journey back to their house seemed to take longer than the journey to the Elders' house, so they were both acutely relieved when they finally reached their home street.

Just before Rahríténne could go to unlock their front door, her mother pulled her aside, searching her eyes anxiously. She had something to say.

Swallowing nervously, she told her daughter not to tell Sahaim about their father, and his planned death, until the last moment. "He has just lost his friend," she said, quietly. "Finding out about his could kill him, or worse, the sorrow could render his Magick unusable. We shall figure out a way to make sure that this does not happen, but in the meanwhile, all I ask of you is to keep this to ourselves. Lie, if you have to. Just don't let him find out."

Rahríténne pushed back her guilt and agreed. They wouldn't tell Sahaim anything about what was going on, until they had to.

When they entered the house, Rahríténne immediately went to her room, to sob her heart out. But her brother was already there, bouncing around with excitement, stirring leaves in his wake. He wrapped his arms round her and begged for information.

She had no choice but to lie. "When they find Dad, he's going to come home!" She said it with as much brightness as she could muster.

Sahaim cheered, and ran round the room in an excited frenzy. She watched him fondly, then bit her lip as she realised that all of them had to be at her father's death. Including Sahaim.

Or they'd all die.

A little too sharply, she ordered her brother out of the room, ignoring his surprised and slightly offended expression. He went out with dignity, but banged the door a litle too hard behind him, courtesy of his annoyance.

Sinking down onto the bed, and bringing her knees to her chest, Rahríténne wept. But not just for her father- for her family, and all the other families that had died at the hands of the leadership.

Sahaim listened to her from where he was croutching outside the door, puzzlement etched on his face. He could hear his sister crying, but he couldn't believe it. Rahríténne never cried. Not unless there was something majorly wrong.

Shrugging slightly, he put it down to tiredness and lack of sleep. The only explanation must have been that he was hearing things. But still, as he went back to his own bedroom, an uneasiness lingered- a sense that something wasn't right. He shook it off impatiently, disgusted by his lack of trust in his sister.

After all, she had never lied to him before, and she had no reason to tell untruths about something this important.

Mostly reassured, he got up from his bed and went downstairs to help his mother prepare dinner, resolving to ask her exactly the same questions that he had asked Rahríténne.