AN: I've been reading far too many fantasy novels recently, and thought I'd have a go at writing my own.

My name is Taryn ni Devorai, magical advisor to Queen Sorcha of Amaria. For many hundreds of years, magic was feared, and those in possession of magical talents persecuted. Children who showed any kind of gift for it were outcasts, hated even by their parents. Frequently, they would be put to hard labour, in the hope that the magic would be "beaten out of them". It didn't work, and many died as a result of the harsh treatment. Still more drank poison, or slashed their own wrists, just to make the torment end. I could so easily have suffered the same fate, for I too was born with a magical gift. Telekinesis, the ability to move things with my mind.

I cannot claim all of the credit for changing Amaria's views of magic - nor would I want to, for that would discredit all those who helped along the way. Had a certain band of travellers not passed through my village, the summer I turned sixteen, chances are that none of this would ever have happened. Certainly, I would not have run away with them, travelled the length and breadth of the country, found the love of my life and nearly lost him again, or been courted by a prince. If I were still alive, which is doubtful, I would not be in the respected position I now hold. Those people were to change my life for ever, for they allowed me to develop my gift and discover just how much I am actually capable of doing.

Had I not possessed this power, my life would have followed the same pattern as my mother and sisters', indeed every other woman in the village - marry young, bring up children, look after the home and husband. However, fate put me on a different path. This is my story, the story of a simple village girl with an extraordinary ability, the adventures she had, and how she ended up as Lady Taryn, respected throughout the realm. If I hadn't lived through it, I would hardly believe it myself.