"What do we do with her?"

"She emerged from the stream, didn't she?"

"Who would be foolish enough to enter those waters?"

"Are they cursed?"

"Well, nothing good ever comes out of it."

"Isn't it much too cold to be swimming anyway?"

"What if she's like that horrible creature from our ancestors time?!"

"Didn't that thing emerge from the stream, too?"

"She obviously is not a Fey!"

"How is this possible?"

"It is not. Humans have not lived in Avalon for many, many centuries."

"This must be some kind of trick."

"Her ears are not pointed!"

"The Four Realms only hold Fey, no mortal human!"

"The stars are giving us no signs..."

"Why do they fail us now of all times?"

"She's obviously young."

"This is the work of dark magic! Leave it be!"

"So you want us to do nothing?"

Amid the mass of arguing voices, shivering in soaked clothes and dripping wet dark hair, sat a girl. A normal girl. Or at least, she thought she was normal. To her, everyone else here were the strange ones. Her green eyes, dancing in the light of the fires and lamps, gazed around at the creatures surrounding her with curiosity and fear. What were they? Well, in her head, she did know, but she had outgrown tales so long ago. Centaurs did not exist. Then what was she seeing, as she watched the half horse, half human beings speak amongst each other as if she were not there? What was she hearing, as the voices argued about the impossibility that she, a human, could exist in the place they called Avalon? What was she smelling, sitting in the musk of what most definitely smelled like horses out to pasture? What was she feeling, as slight whisks of wind brushed by her from the agitated flicks of their hairy tails?

She huddled her knees to her chest, feeling alone and terrified more than curious now. The normal human girl was finally able to tear her eyes away from all those creatures around her. A thousand questions filled her mind and made her even more stressed and upset, giving her a slight headache. Where in the world was she? How had she gotten here? Why was she here? Where was her family? Why couldn't she remember anything?

Tears welled into her eyes as she tried for the tenth time to remember the faces of her loved ones, their names, their demeanor, anything. Once again, her mind drew a blank and she was left with an emptiness that made her both longing and lonely. She felt tight, constricted, and she bit her lip to keep herself from crying. She knew she was a strong girl, a tough girl, a girl who had friends and family, but she couldn't remember who or why. The voices around her were not helping at all; none of them seemed to actually care about how she felt. Some of them sounded like they were afraid of her or thought of her as some evil being.

Who was she really?

Her head flew up and she suddenly felt angry, her jaw set as she glowered at the arguing centaurs around her. "You shut up! All of you, shut up right now!" she screamed, her voice loud and crystal clear. The sudden outburst even had her a bit startled, and she wanted to say more, to either apologize or make them feel worse. However, as all of their heads turned to stare at her, her voice, just as quickly as it had come, died in her throat. She swallowed and looked away again, that feeling of insecurity rolling into her again.

Nothing could describe her confusion, pain, and loneliness.

Silence did dwell for another minute longer, her furious shouts apparently knocking some sense into them. Now, they all stepped back and gave each other wary or unsure glances. They truly did not have any idea what to do either, though she didn't realize that at the moment. After an awkward stillness that made them all uncomfortable, one set of hooves clipped against the ground, signaling movement for the first time since this emergency meeting had been called. A centaur pushed through the others crowding the human girl, ignoring whatever looks they gave him. Another centaur, after a moment's hesitation, picked up after him. They both stopped in front of the girl, who was now so distraught she had hidden her face in her lap.

The first one, the bigger of the two, with a long dark brown mane that flew around the sides of his face in curly locks, bent over and got in his knees just in front of her. He leaned his human half forward, looking over the girl with careful, yet gentle, chocolate eyes. "Do you have a name?" he asked softly after a tiny pause.

She lifted her head quickly, not having expected that kind of question. Her eyes darted back and forth between the two centaurs that were now just in front of her, her mind slightly registering just how much bigger they were than her. Confused, she pointed at herself with question in her eyes, in disbelief that they suddenly had an interest in her.

The smaller one, a centaur with a light chestnut coat and a blonde mane that swept over his eyes and past his perked ears, crossed his arms with a lightly amused expression. "Who else would he be talking to?" he chuckled, bending down slightly as well.

The girl did not respond, frowning slightly. She did not really know what to think of this, or this whole situation really, and considering how they had all been acting a moment before, she did not know if she should really trust them or not. The two centaurs inferred this from her pause and her unsure expression.

"Do you wish for us to tell you our names first?" the darker one asked, gesturing to himself by pressing his hand against his chest. He waited for the girl to reply, to which she satisfied him with a simple, slow nod. "I am called Starrus."

The blonde centaur took a few steps forward, his hooves clopping against the earth chipperly. "And my name is Brighteye!" He got to his knees to as he smiled at her with a kind wave, his clear blue eyes twinkling. He had an excited air about him, unlike the aura that the other centaurs had been giving off before.

A little flicker of relief washed over the girl as her shoulders relaxed, her expression calming. "My... my name is Erin." That much the girl did remember, though the fact it was all she could really call was rather depressing. "You guys are... centaurs, aren't you?" she asked, her voice lightly betraying awe and disbelief as she pointed up at them.

Starrus nodded calmly, lowering his hands to his sides. "That is correct. We are centaurs, of the North Realm."

"You're a human, right?" Brighteye asked with curiosity in his face as he leaned forward even more. The girl was slightly surprised when he started smelling her, raising her hand and pushing his face away with a startled expression.

"Um... yes. I'm.. human," she answered, pulling her hand back and bringing her knees closer to her chest.

Brighteye gave her an apologetic look while Starrus slightly glared at the other centaur for doing something like that. "It is apparent that neither of us knew that we would come across one another in our lifetimes," he said in a serious tone, lifting his human half straighter.

Erin gave him another look of confusion. She thought the way he spoke was a little weird, but how could she blame him. Everything that was happening at that time was strange. "I thought you only existed in fairy tales," she said, wrinkling her nose a little as she thought of the childish stories. She felt too big for them, but now here she was living in one.

The lighter centaur shook his head once. "No, we're quite real!" he said as he got to his hooves again. "Though I'm not surprised that humans have forgotten about us. It has been ages since humans have ever interacted with our kind."

She stared at him, hardly understanding any of what he was saying. It made no sense to her; they were make-believe, she was real, but here they were talking as though the two kinds had coexisted before. "Are... are you guys the only things real from stories?" she asked after a minute.

All of the centaurs now shared looks, all mixed. Starrus turned back to her with unsure eyes, and his voice was wavering slightly when he spoke again. "All Fey exist in Avalon," he tried to explain to her. "It is where all of our kind reside, while most mortal beings live in your world, Earth."

Erin tried to wrap her head around his words, her face betraying the most obvious amount of shock and skepticism. "Fey... as in magical creatures?" she said breathlessly, scarcely able to make out the words.

Brighteye looked slightly confused and lost as well, shrugging his shoulders at Starrus before answering. "Well, all Fey are able to wield magic and use spells, but many choose not to, rather sticking to their basic special abilities and normality of their species," he said to her slowly.

The gaped at him for a few moments before groaning and running a hand through her hair. "None of this makes any sense...," she muttered, looking down at the ground again as she mulled it all over in her head.

Starrus and Brighteye glanced at one another again, several hidden messages flying through their gazes. It was only another second before Starrus finally let out a sigh through his nose and placed his hand on her shoulder. He stared at her seriously as she looked up at him quickly, surprised and slightly afraid. "Why don't we take you with us, and we will explain all of our world to you," he said silently, his voice low so the crowd of centaurs behind him would not hear.

Brighteye flicked his ear once, but his smiling face held all the approval he needed to make clear that the idea was fine by him. "And in the meantime, we can try to find out how a human such as yourself made it to Avalon with no known knowledge of it, huh?" he asked, taking one step closer to her.

Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open again. This was all happening so fast, and she had no idea what to think of it. In a whole different world, with completely different creatures, with no memory of her past life. She swallowed and glanced down, trying to clear her thoughts. Honestly, what choice did she have? It was not like she could try to go home on her own. With a sigh, her knees laid out on the grass and she allowed her body to relax as she looked back up at them. "I'll stay," she said simply, her voice quiet.

Starrus nodded softly while Brighteye beamed. The younger centaur bent down, and much to Erin's surprise, grabbed under her arms and lifted her up with hardly any effort at all. She gasped as she was suddenly set on his back, grabbing his human sides and clinging on to keep herself from falling off. Brighteye didn't seem to mind at all, smiling even more at her and patting her head like someone would a sad puppy. Starrus also did not seem surprised by this gesture at all, standing up calmly while the other centaurs all gasped and pointed at her with hushed voices.

"This human is called Hunter," the dark-haired centaur told the crowd. "She will be staying with our herd, and we will teach her our ways until the time for her to leave has come." He said it as if it was no sudden change, no strange turn of events. The other centaurs, however, were extremely surprised, appalled, and confused, not ready for the sudden human in their midst. Several angry and scared voices rose from the crowd, along with the stomping of hooves and many tail flicks.

"What do you mean, she's staying with us?"

"She's human! Is she even allowed to enter Avalon?"

"How can we teach a human our ways?"

"What if she's dangerous?"

"She could mean harm upon us all!"

Erin felt like crying as they all accused and argued, turning away from them. Her chest boiled with both anger and sadness as she sighed quietly to herself. She wanted to yell at them and bawl her eyes out at the same time, but she didn't want these centaurs, who all already thought she was something strange, to see her as weak and annoying.

"She most definitely could, if you all gave her a reason to do so in the future," Brighteye chimed in with a huff, placing his hands on his sides. "Such as treating her like some sort of disease. Come on, guys, she's just a child, like many of our own!" he said in a scolding manner, gesturing to her with a shrug.

Starrus snorted and tapped the earth with his hoof, his body straightening as he glared at the herd. "I am one day to lead this herd, which means that my decisions will all be final to you in that time. Seeing as my father is not here at the moment and left the herd to me until he returns, that also means that I am in charge now." He turned to Erin, trotting over to her and placing his hand on her shoulder again, his expression softer before he turned to glare at the other centaurs again. "Erin will remain with us, and there will be no further argument."

This finally shut them up as they looked at each other, some of them seeming slightly ashamed. They finally all dipped their heads respectfully and said in unison "The stars is our guide, and you are the seer of the stars in this herd" before straightening again and tapping their hooves once. Starrus nodded in return, dipping his head down for a few moments before speaking again.

"We shall now know her as Erin Hunter, of the Northern Realm!"