Kaylee was nowhere to be found when Aneurin returned to the inn, in fact the common room was empty, and the kitchen silent, unusual for this time of day. He did not see Aileen anywhere, nor her husband, whom Nye had not yet met. The candles were blown out and the windows shuttered, it appeared to Nye that the Inn was closed. However, the door was open and he walked inside. As Nye took a step through the door an overwhelming premonition of dread swept over him, he could not say why, but it was as though something was changing and Nye was standing on its edge, teetering on the brink of the precipice so to speak. He shook with the thought of what Kaylee had the power to do, she could change anything she wanted, she could wish him out of being, or herself if she so desired. He ran through the common room and into the kitchen where he found Aileen standing half bent over a fresh made batch of cookies. She was like a sculpture Nye had once seen in a place called Ethane, still, frozen, unmoving and unseeing, a strand of her hair suspended in a breeze no longer blowing, a hand upon her hip and her lips pursed in a perpetual scowl as she examined her baking which was no longer warm. Nye took an unsure step backwards and veered out the kitchen door. He stopped to collect himself on the stairs, leaning against the banister and panting as though he had run a long distance. The air was heavy, and as still as the woman in the kitchen.
"Kaylee!" he cried for her and finally heard something in response.
"I'm here, Nye." Her voice sounded eerie in the stillness of the house, and it seemed to ring in his ears and bounce of the walls. When he finally found her, settled near a fire place, in which a still flame fumed, as silent as the rest of the house. Kaylee rocked back and forth in front of it, and suddenly Aneurin was stabbed with pity for her and her predicament. Kneeling, he clenched her slender shoulders in his hands to stop her rocking and forced her to look at him. He needn't have read her to see the indecision on her face and in her clouded eyes.
"The wizard whom I seek has been here Kaylee, I must pick up his trail before sunset, that is the game he plays with me, and perhaps I've lingered to long already." She stared blankly at him one lingering moment before clenching her jaw.
"I will go with you, I know now that I must, I think I have known for at least an hour now, but this place, my home, that I am leaving behind, I do not want it to change without me." He smiled sadly at her.
"Change is not always for ill Kaylee, perhaps with your ability you are a stranger to it, but welcoming it, or at least accepting it, will do you good." Kaylee closed her eyes.
I wish that time would begin to move again.
And then the flames began to flicker and dance at her feet, downstairs they could hear Aileen humming as she baked. All was well once more and Nye gave Kaylee a small hug. He stood and left her to pack, calling over his shoulder that they would leave in an hour. Kaylee hugged her knees to her chest and let a long shuddering breath out. Change. She thought, don't take my family from me.

Aneurin and Kaylee were ready to leave, loaded down with fresh baking and knitting that Aileen had insisted on them taking. Kaylees father gave Nye a pony named Mia for the soul purpose of carrying Kaylees wardrobe and her mothers knitted blankets, knitted scarves, knitted hats, knitted socks, ect. They were sure to be warm wherever they were headed. Kaylee embraced her father warmly and kissed his bearded cheek. He sniffed and reluctantly let go of her.
"Come home soon love." He then preceded to give Aneurin the entire lecture on not "letting anything happen to her" not "taking advantage of her" not "hurting her" and heaven forbid "loosing her" if he did any of these things the big man promised that he would track him down and put his head between the cutting board and his butcher knife. Nye swallowed and promised on his mother's life that Kaylee would make it home in one piece. However, she heard none of this lecture, because she was talking with her mother a few feet away. Aileen had her daughters hand in her own, rubbing it tenderly she smiled and tried not to cry.
"I knew, sweet, that the day would come when you would leave us. I love you so much, but still, the only one who can find yourself is you, you'll go, learn who you are, and when you come back you'll be a different and better person for the change." She choked on the words and had to stop for a minute. "I'm very proud of you, but all I can say now is good luck. I hope you both get the answers you seek, and remember that they might not come in the way you expect them, keep your eyes open though, and you'll see them." She kissed Kaylee on the forehead. "Goodbye my sweet."
Nye put a comforting arm around Kaylees slender shoulders and led her away from her family and the Inn. After they were out of sight, Kaylees father led Aileen away in a similar manner.
"Do you think she will come home?" she asked her husband.
"Aye, she will love. Probably with that scamp on her arm." He shuddered, he had been having terrible nightmares about giving his daughter away at her wedding these last couple days, and he felt almost sure, whether it was some kind of premonition or not, that he would be giving her to that Nye fellow.

The first couple of hours of travel passed in almost complete silence. Nye was content to lead the pony and Kaylee seemed almost excited now that she was out of the town and making her way farther and farther than she had ever been from her home. After the excitement had worn itself away a bit she fell back from where she had been walking ahead of him and smiled sheepishly.
"So . . ." she began, "where are we going exactly?"
"We'll be walking for at least three days, maybe four, before we reach Arfaem; we'll stay there a night, maybe two, then cross the border into Hwarin and stay in Menelmaker. After that, I am not sure where we will head. It depends on where the wizard goes."
"Have you ever been to these places before?" Kaylee asked lightly, letting her arms sway at her sides as she walked.
"No," Nye answered quietly, "I've been up and down Eldamar for fifteen years before crossing the border into Giliath. However, I have never seen Hwarin." Kaylee smiled at him,
"Are you excited then?" Nye could not help but smile back, but he shrugged to show his enthusiasm was well hidden if there was any at all.
There was, in fact, very little point in being excited from his point of view. All of the smaller countries on the continent of Numindor were just that, small, Eldamar being the largest of four countries. Nye had always suspected that the wizard lived in Cam'Wethrin, being cut off from Eldamar by the Boden Mountains. The only way to reach the smallest of the countries was to either traverse the sometimes-treacherous mountain pass, or go all the way around them and come through Giliath and Hwarin. A yearlong journey from the beginning, moreover, that time line douse not allow rest of any kind.
Kaylee had moved off again, slightly frustrated with Nye's silent thoughts, but never mind, she was quite content to think to herself as well. The continuation of the day passed in much the same manner, Nye telling Kaylee stories of where he had traveled in the past, things he had seen and people he had met. They stopped their trekking once in mid afternoon to eat. Their meal consisted of Aileen's oatmeal cookies and some bread and honey. Kaylee ate quickly and wanted to be moving again and Nye chuckled softly to himself over her unbridled enthusiasm. He had been like that his first journey, but he had been much younger than she had and with many, more cares and burdens on his shoulders. It seemed strange to him now that she was nearly the same age as he, but she seemed like a child!
They crossed the river Alak-alasse not long after lunch. The water rushed below the bridge with such power that Kaylee couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to be swept off to almost certain death in the dark waters. Eventually, Nye told her, it flowed out to the sea. What a wonderful way to go.
They continued along the road for another six hours, by the end of it Kaylee was no longer enthusiastic about the venture, she was tired, dirty, smelly, and just plain sore. Nye set up camp by himself, letting Kaylee eat and then sleep before he had even made it back with firewood.

The morning was heralded by groaning and moaning from the lump that was Kaylee. Nye shook her as gently as he could, he had already taken the liberty of breaking camp, packing Mia the pony and properly dousing the fire. It was time they started moving again and time to him was as precious as water to a thirsty man. It took a much firmer shake to rouse Kaylee but eventually she was blinking and moaning.
"Come," Aneurin, urged, "If we leave now we will make good time to Arfaem." Kaylee stared up at him uncomprehending for a moment before glancing towards the sun, it could barely be seen over the hills, the world still seemed dark to her and she could not imagine getting up at this time in the morning. But get up she did. For a good distance all that could be heard was Kaylees loud complaining about how tired she was, and how sore she was from sleeping on the ground (she must have laid down on a root, she insisted). Eventually even she was silent. It was then that they came into a clearing.
Most of the road had been through trees, they were a little over half way to Arfaem now, and the forest had been thinning out for some distance. Nevertheless, the forest seemed to stop rather abruptly. In the clearing Nye counted eight men the foremost of them, he recognized very well. He was a burly man with a beard and a broken nose. His matted brown hair swept his broad shoulders, and he turned to look at them as they left the cover of the trees. The other seven men were of no real consequence, obviously followers of the first, dressed in relatively the same style.
"Well, well, well." The man (whose name was Payten) folded his sinewy arms over his chest and smiled icily. "What have you got there Aneurin? Is that a woman? I don't think I've ever seen you with one of those." The other men let out guffaws of laughter.
"Just keep walking." Nye whispered to Kaylee who set her jaw and puffed out her chest, trying to look as menacing as possible. The men did not attempt at following them or torment them further and soon they were out of sight.
"Who was that?" Kaylee asked curiously. Nye shrugged but saw immediately that Kaylee would not let him rest without some means of explanation.
"Just a man that I met in a bar in Waina, that is I met his fist." Nye rubbed his jaw tenderly.
"How did he know your name?"
"Well," Nye could not help but seem a trifle sheepish. "He knew my brother from Adaron in Eldamar, let's just say that the two of them never liked each other and I've had to pay for the tension between them. God knows why he is here."
"Do you think he's been following you?" Kaylee asked, looking over her shoulder, but Nye shook his head.
"It's actually quite common for people from Adaron to come here, whether it's for the illegal trade, which is probably what brought our friend, or simply wanderlust. We should keep an eye open though, he will cause us trouble if he can, best to get as much distance between us as possible."

That night Aneurin was roused from sleep by a shifting in the shadows. He lay still a moment, listening, and sure enough, there it was again. Out of the shadows of the trees stepped the shape of a man. Nye felt his body tense under his blanket and his hand began moving slowly towards the sword he had laid beside his bedroll. It was not there. He opened his eyes now, so what if they saw him, and began groping in the semidarkness caused by the diminishing fire for his sword.
"Looking for this?" he looked up. Payten was standing above him with Aneurins sword in his hand. Moving as fast as he could Nye leapt to his feet the long dagger drawn from his boot in his hand, he faced his enemy.
"Leave." He spoke in a steady voice, but he dared not look into Paytens eyes lest he falter as he had before. The big man laughed and before Nye could do anything about it, he was clubbed over the head from behind.

(

"Nye?" Kaylee shook her friend trying to wake him. She had slept through the commotion of the night before with ease, but upon waking the first thing she had noticed was that the sun was already high in the sky. Confused she had sat up in bed, rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and looked around for Aneurin. It had only taken a moment for her to find him, lying prostrate on the ground, the back of his head matted with his blood. Quickly she realized what had happened, and it did not take long for her to realize that Mai, and all of their provisions, had been taken. Now she sat with Aneurins head in her lap, shaking him lightly and calling his name. Before very long he began blinking and moaning, reminding Kaylee of herself the morning before, she began to feel very guilty and sheepish about the previous day's complaints.
"What in the name of Trinn happened?" Aneurin started, his hands going to his aching head.
"That, 'friend', of yours attacked you last night, him and his goonies took Mai and all of our food, blankets, clothes, everything!" Nye sat up with a groan and felt the back of his head where a sizable lump had formed under the blood and hair. He looked up at the sky and took in the fact that it was already nearing noon.
"If we can walk through the night, we may be able to reach the city by midday tomorrow. We will be hungry and tired for sure, but we will be alive. We won't last terribly long without water and food any other way." Kaylee put a hand on Nye's shoulder.
"Can you make it without rest?" she asked concern in her voice.
"Obviously I've 'rested' too long already." He spat angrily, but the look Kaylee gave him caused him to repent quickly, "sorry," he was quiet again, "I don't know what came over me." Kaylee smiled to show him he was forgiven then helped him to his feet. They still had her bedroll, at least three blankets all together, but his had been taken and they had been left nothing else. Even Aneurins weapon was gone, the sword and the dagger which had cost him a considerable amount of money surely. However, it seemed to Kaylee that he was not very upset over this loss, and he was certainly pleased at least a little with the thought of walking through the night too make up for their lost time. Kaylee was not pleased. At all.
But it had been partially her fault that they had ended up in this predicament, she couldn't help but wonder what would have been different if she had woken up in time to do something helpful but when she brought this up Nye scolded her, saying she probably would have ended up dead, if anything at all. He was weaker than he would have liked, and no matter what he or Kaylee tried to do, he could not shake the pounding in his skull, "like a gully dwarf mining operation" Aneurin told her moodily.
It was not long before Kaylee was forced to take the lead, Nye too disorientated to reliably lead them. They had decided not to go back to the road for fear of another encounter with Payten, so they walked parallel to it, or so they hoped, in the direction of Arfaem.
"We should have to cross the river Agarwaen sometime before nightfall, it's fresh water, so at least we can drink there. Hopefully it won't be too dark to cross when we reach it." Nye was answering one of Kaylees questions, something to the effect of, 'how are we going to know if we're headed in the right direction?' she was getting nervous now, they had been walking for some time and the sun was getting dimmer through the trees.
"Perhaps we should look for the road, so we know where we're going." She insisted, unconsciously twisting her skirts in her hands as she walked.

"I have complete faith in your sense of direction Kaylee, lead on." Was all Nye would say and it just made Kaylee more nervous.
I wish you did not.
It was an absent thought, more a result of nervousness than actual wishing. However, it was efficient.
"Are you sure you know where you're leading us?" Nye asked a few minutes later, sounding as nervous as she felt.
"What?"
"Do you know ..."
"I HEARD YOU!" Kaylee was very upset now and she could do little more than sit down in the dirt and pout. She had done all she could to get them where they were and now she was sick of walking. She barely spared a thought for her wish, forgetting that she had even made it, which only shows how upset she really was. Aneurin stood over her for a moment wondering what had made him say something like that; up to this point, he had been trying to convey his up most sense of confidence in Kaylee. Something had made his tongue slip and tell her how he really felt, oh well, perhaps if they made camp now instead of walking through the night, tomorrow he would feel more up to leading them.
"All right." He pretended to sound disappointed, but he was too exhausted to keep up the ruse for long, he threw down his the bag he had been carrying with the bedroll in it and slumped against a tree. "We can stay here the night."
"Thank Trinn," Kaylee sighed as she dragged herself over to the tree where Nye sat, propping herself up against it she leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "I was beginning to think this night couldn't get any worse."
Then it began to rain.
They sat there for a very long time before Nye rolled himself into a ball.
"Don't open the bedroll, it will only get wet." He said, his voice muffled through his arm. Kaylee could only sit there wondering why, why was she even here. Why had she come? What was she thinking? Shaking her head, she wished that she could at least be dry. She did not even notice as she drifted into slumber that her clothes seemed impervious to the wet that sank into the ground all around her.

The next morning Kaylee was again the first to wake. She stood and stretched groggily. She had most definitely fallen asleep on a tree root this time, her back was aching and her shoulders felt stiff. She rolled her head from one side to the other and then bent down to brush the dirt and muck off her clothes. It was a futile effort and she knew it, but it did not stop her from trying. Turning to Aneurin, she saw that he was still curled up beside the tree, his clothes damp and muddied, he shivered fitfully and Kaylee suddenly remembered her wish from the night previously.

She had forgotten about Aneurin.
It seemed to her then that whenever she closed her eyes something bad was bound to happen. Somehow she had managed to escape from all of these instances unscathed, it was Nye who was paying for her mistakes, and it did not take her long to figure out that he had a fever.
When she placed her hand on his forehead, she felt it, the damp heat was apparent already, and he did not stir when first she tried to wake him. Eventually he began to come into consciousness and Kaylee had a sinking feeling that he might want to know how she had stayed dry through the night. She did not think she could tell him that in good continence.
"Nye, wake up . . . please." She begged him as he slowly began to moan and stiffen in her arms.
"I'm awake . . .," his voice sounded groggy and sick. She let him stretch his aching muscles much as she had, watching his every move with concern in her eyes and pain when he could barely stand without her assistance.
"Your ill." she whispered as he leaned against the tree, not really supporting himself.
"I'm fine, just tired."
"You shouldn't be tired."
He shrugged, and she frowned deeper than she had intended to. "I think we should stay here, you should rest, I can scout out ahead and find out where we are." She meant for her voice to sound more commanding than anything did, but Nye seemed to hear it as a request and he shook his head in disagreement.
"No, we go on; at least until we reach the river, we need water." Kaylee couldn't help but smirk, they had enough water she thought, soaked up in Aneurins clothes and for that matter the bedroll. Then a thought came to her. Could she wish for water?
I wish that we could have water.
Nothing.
I wish that the river is really close by, and we aren't lost at all.
No sound of rushing water in the distance.
I wish that Nye's fever would go away, that he would be all right.
Looking her friend in the eye she could easily tell by his glassy expression that nothing she was wishing was having any effect. She began to panic. Why wasn't it working? Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, she wished a couple more obscure things in rapid procession but nothing had any effect.
"Nye, I'm wishing for things and nothings happening!" she was quite close to hyperventilating now and Nye had to reach out and touch her arm before she came back into reality.
"You've probably just reached a limitation, everything has them, now you've found yours." His voice was calm and it soothed Kaylees troubles a small amount.
"So what, my limitation is . . . I can't wish for anything that matters!"
"What was your wish?"
"Just . . . just that the river would be really close by, and that we aren't really lost at all. But Nye, I wished other things too, things that I've done before, but nothings happening!" involuntarily she sunk to her knees, tears trickling down her cheeks. Nye knelt beside her and placed two fingers under her chin, turning her face to his and looking into her eyes. A look of realization seemed to wash over him and he frowned for a moment, Kaylee had the awful feeling that he was reading her mind, or worse her soul, and that he would soon know her incompetence. What he said next she had not for a moment expected to hear.
"Kaylee, it's not your fault. None of this is." She felt her mouth dropping open and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.
"You can . . . still see?" he smiled a little.
"Yes, everything's in working order. Perhaps you are just wishing for the wrong things, or you could be worried or over tired, try to relax, hmm? We will keep walking, soon we'll be in he city and then we can worry about your wishing and getting warm then. Just take things in stride."
Kaylee nodded, determination hardening her girlish features. She stood and helped Nye to his feet, wiping perspiration from his brow, he leaned on her shoulder and the two began the second half of their trek.