Disclaimer, ect: Refer to prologue

Lyen Farm, Shenla-Nye
Day 105, Year 721

What is it now? Julia fumed, her thoughts racing on what could possibly have possessed her mother. This was the third time she had been called away from the garden. She was finally finished weeding the gegrel beans, and was just beginning to plant the late Krelyyns. At her current rate, she figured she wouldn’t be done until midnight. It was going to be days before she had time to herself.

I hate that garden! She raged to herself. I hate these infernal chores! Running, she raced through the fields, and began up a small hill. She’d like to see her sister, Aayanon labouring out in the garden. That would be a humorous sight. Aaya: the pretty, intelligent, and likeable one of the Lyen sisters. Her vain sister had never lifted a finger in her life, just because she decided to be a scientist. A well respected profession in West Drina.

Aaya had chose that career, knowing fully how little manual work she would have to do. All she did was make up ridiculous theories on various things. Unfortunate for me, Julia though, I like neither work nor science.

"Julia Parys, dear!" She looked up to see her mother, calling out her first and middle name. She was calmly sitting in a luxurious chair on the veranda. "What took you so long?" Her mother’s innocent face said she had absolutely no idea the sacrifice she had made by returning here.

"Sorry." She muttered, gasping for breath. Her mother wasn’t much better than Aaya. She stayed inside, sewing and making art. She always had Julia and her father doing all the back braking work. She put her hands down on her knees to catch her balance and breath.

"What do you want?" She asked, much more composed than before.

"I ran out of red thread. I was wondering if you could run down into town, to get some." Her mother smiled sweetly, while pushing back a strand of perfectly stilled hair. Grey was just beginning to creep into the long, dark hair of her mother.

"Yeah," Julia managed, without screaming. "Red thread, got it." A hint of annoyance and sarcasm tinted her last comment, and it was all she could do not glare. Her mother was so ignorant. She had absolutely no idea how much running errands and mind-numbing chores bothered her.

Julia heard her mother happily sigh as she continued stitching her latest work of art. Julia ran her fingers thru her greasy and sweaty hair. It was so hot outside, especially for only being spring. Her father was predicting a dry spell, maybe even drought.

"Thank you dear," Her mother smiled and looked directly at Julia, "you don’t know how much this means to me."

Julia looked right back at her mother and nearly burst out laughing. A very cynical laugh too. What it meant was the garden wouldn’t get planted in time, and she would have one more errand to run.

She turned around, and broke into a jog towards the dirt road. She let herself chuckle quietly, far enough from her mother’s ears. Her mother had no idea how much she hated this. As far as mother was concerned, she liked this running around, doing all the left over work, simply because Julia didn’t enjoy any other conventional careers.

"Goodbye!" She yelled, not even bothering to turn around. She broke into a full run as she rushed down into the ditch and then up again, onto the road. It was dusty and the sun was glaring right into her eyes.

She raised her hands over her eyes to keep the piercing sunshine away. She few buzzing insects buzzed around her head and by her ears. She used her other arm to swat at them. It was nearly a kilometre to town, and about half was uphill.

She began a quick walk as she calculated how much time it would take and where the sun would be when she got back. If she were to jog the entire way, it would take her a little more than ten minutes. If she were to walk, it would be more like twenty-five. The only downside to jogging was she would be even sweatier, and even more miserable than she already was.

Oh what the heck, she grumbled to no one in particular, jogging it was.

She started her slow run and found that the small breeze her motion gave her was enough to compensate for the heavy heat. Her anger and frustration began to melt away and she forgot why she was running to town in the first place.

Julia’s mind began to wander and she began to think about her sisters, Aayanon, Alexi and Shanah. Alexi, the eldest was far, far away. Julia wasn’t sure exactly were, because Alexi and her husband were explorers. They were travelling south, in search of new land and fresh resources. The last time her family had received news, was nearly a year before. Back then, Alexi was expecting a baby. That baby’s been born now, and is most likely past 100 days old, Julia realised.

Aaya was younger than Julia, but Julia knew mother liked Aaya more. Aaya was smart, elegant and had so many dates. She had her life all planned out, with no worries. Right now she was schooling for a science career at the university. Mother loved to brag about her perfect Aaya, and how Aaya was to return in the fall, educated and ready to do honourable and "important" work. Science was a joke, in her eyes. Studying old building and pictures, collecting rocks and comparing them, heating things up and mixing them together. It all seemed so silly to Julia.

That was the only thing that she could relate with to her youngest sister, Shanah. Shanah was small, and shy. She it seemed like she never talked and when she did, it was always so meekly it made Julia sick. Science was the only thing she and Shanah ever agreed on. They had both agreed it was worthless and silly.

Julia began to feel winded, and she slowed down to a walk. The trees casted long shadows down on the road, leaving her in a cool pool of darkness. A trickle of sweat ran down her back and she felt a slight shiver. Town was close, only a few minutes of slow walk, and she could already hear the muted clamour of Shenla-Nye.

Breathing heavily, she looked over to the right of the road. It was bathed in shadows and there were a few boulders and fallen logs that looked so comfortable. If only she could sit down for a second...

A quick look up at the sky encouraged her, as the sun was still in the horizon, and was not going to set for a little while. She walked over the dry grass, and over a couple rotting logs. She soon saw what she was looking for, a boulder with a relatively flat top. She pulled herself up onto it and let herself relax.

It was so comfortable there, and she let herself close her eyes. Why had she come to town again? She wondered while trying to pick through the cobwebs in her mind. She always did have a one-track mind, and her father called her forgetful.

Does it matter? She asked herself. Whatever she had come for wasn’t that important. Oh yes, she suddenly remembered, red thread.

Trivial. It was so nice outside. If only she could have gone on the expedition with Alexi down south. She loved to explore, find things no one else had seen. There were many reasons why she didn’t go. Too young, too impulsive, not dedicated enough. There loss, she liked to try and tell herself; but the real reason was because she wasn’t suited for anything.

She was doomed to manual labour as a farmers hired hands. That was all she could do. All she needed was strength and concentration. She had the first one of the two, and luckily farmers weren’t picky. Her father had once called her a hothead during one argument. She screamed back that she wasn’t, further proving his point.

Only during the last few years had she managed to reign some of her impulsive drive and short temper. Once she even had a real job at the market in Shenla-Nye. Soon after though, she got tired of her employer and quit. It was a good idea at the time, but sometimes she regretted it.

Tomorrow, maybe after finishing the garden, she could slip by unnoticed into the forest. She had found a confusing array of Greehen trails, four kilometres towards the ocean. Narrows and sharp turning, they were hard to follow, but they always led to water. The Greehens were a small mammal that lived deep in the forest. They were very shy, and every time Julia had seen one, she scared it away.

So if her father didn’t catch her, she could take the far-left trail, and follow it as far as she could. Maybe she could bring some food, for a lunch--

--Julia awoke with a start. She blinked hard and looked around. It was dark, and eerily quiet. Her eyes slowly began to adjust and she saw trees and hills begin to form out of the dimness. A sprinkling of stars scattered overtop her head, and she noticed a that the moon Jeru was full that nigh, and the moon Kingston was little more than a sliver.

Thread...she though. Amidst her fog of thoughts, she thought about red thread.

"Shoot!" She exclaimed, shattering the silence of night. She looked up to the sky, desperately searching for a shimmer of light in the horizon. No, it was completely dark, and all that was left was the stars and the moons. It was well into the night.

She started to get up, and pull her stiff muscles. Of course, how intelligent, Julia thought, she had gone to sleep right after running. She was so stiff, her legs felt like dead wood. Maybe if I stretched them enough, they’ll break off, Julia rezoned in her sleepy mind.

When she was standing straight up, she looked closely at her surroundings. It was very dark, and the moons were not bright enough that evening. Most of the forest looked like an endless void to her. Julia disregarded her small bit fear and started forward to were she thought the road was.

Julia began walking, slowly and cautiously, toward her goal, the road. She let one arm grip onto a tree and the other held forward in the shadows. She got her foot trapped in a small root and her upper body began to fall forward. Quickly, she put her other foot back and caught her balance.

Catching her breath, she closed her eyes, and willed herself to go farther.

On and on she went, for what seemed like forever. She was completely engulfed in darkness, and the trees above her obscured the light. This is going too long; Julia worried, I must have went in the wrong direction.

Finally, out of impatience and frustration, she started into a run. I’m not going to be in here any longer. Julia screamed in her mind. Every time she stumbled, she pulled herself up again. A maze of shadows and lucid darkness lay before her

She began to notice cuts and bruises on her hands and knees. Her legs ached from the running, falling and getting up again. Everywhere around her seemed to get darker, and she ran faster. Julia’s chest began to burn, and her legs were heavy and sluggish. She fell nearly every step, each time pushing herself further.

Julia’s mind was set and she could only see one thing. Getting to the road. She continued running, barely noticing her bleeding hands and knees. She kept up her pace, looking ahead into nothingness.

As she ran, she barely noticed a fallen tree, directly in her path. Trying to jump it, she lifted her legs up and over. The rest was a flurry of panic and disorientation. Her foot was caught, and she tumbled over, flying through the air. She reached out with her arms, to break the fall. Coming down fast, her arms collapsed. She twisted and fell on her side crushing her right arm.

Shaking, Julia tried to figure out what had happened. Her arm was throbbing, and her side was sore. She felt a sharp pain pulsing down her entire body. She let tears of pain flow freely and she tried to ignore the rocks jabbing into her back. She took a few slow, deep breath and lay there looking upwards.

Look at the stars, she told herself calmly, remember mother’s stories about the Voyager bird. The legend her mother always told her was about her people’s origins. Seven hundred years ago, a group of her people were explorers. They rode the cosmos on a bird, the Voyager bird. Some said they were trying to find a place called Terra or Earth.

When the group could survive no longer in the stars, the Voyager bird came down to this planet, and gave them the land. The bird died, but the groups ancestors prospered. The group had made a promise to get back to earth someday. Legend had it that when they died; they continued their quest in the stars, in pursuit of Earth.

When she had calmed down, she realised that running had only worsened her situation. She regretted it and wondered what would happen now. Stay calm she reminded herself. She felt too sore and groggy to find the road. She was too far away anyways.

No, Julia argued with herself, I should get home. Summoning up some of her foolish willpower, she tried to sit up.

She screamed, as her arm pulsated with pain. Half sitting, she managed to pull herself up with the other arm. She tried not to move her right arm at all. Her side was sore, but was all right. It wasn’t until then she noticed her head was aching.

Was her arm broken? She hoped not. Her uncle had broken his foot over 15 years ago. Doctors couldn’t do much with broken bones. They ordered the patient not to move it, and maybe a sling or crutches. Her uncle’s foot was deformed now, odd, with jagged bones under his skin. He had a limp that would be with him for the rest of his life.

Julia hopped fervently her arm wasn’t broken, but she knew that was wishful thinking. Wobbling onto her knees, she steadied herself with her left hand.

"What an idiot I am" she mumbled miserably. She began to crawl over to a less rocky area. The moons hade moved higher, and she could see the soft light reflecting off the forest ground.

Painstakingly she made her way to the smoother ground. Nearly there, getting closer, closer --

In a quick moment, the ground seemed to cave in beneath her. The ground plummeted into a deep and seemingly bottomless pit. She flailed her good arm to try and get a grip on something, anything. She felt herself falling quickly. Dirt and plants were plunging with her, and she couldn’t see a thing.

Julia screamed, and realised she had a mouthful of dust and dirt. She descended quickly, with no power to stop her descent. An awful blackness enfolded her, just as Julia hit the bottom of the pit.