The woman helped Urei up and Urei self-conciously brushed the dirt from her clothes. "Come on now, Urei," her mother said softly. "There is much that I need to tell you, and also your brother and father. Then she turned and headed into the woods. Urei followed her blindly, muttering to herself, "This is going to be a long night."

      They walked through the woods quickly, heading toward Urei's home. Urei wondered how her mother knew the way, and almost immediately her mother said, "I spent a lot of time in this forest while I lived with your father. It was like a second home to me, so I still know it quite well. "How did you know what I was thinking?" Urei asked, slightly frightened. Her mother let out a small laugh, then said, "That is just one of the special gifts inherited by our family, passed down from even more powerful beings eons ago. Soon you will also be able to develop your own talents." This cryptic answer only left Urei with more questions, but before she could ask any of them, her mother laughed again, and said, "Why don't you wait to ask your questions when we get home. As I said, there are things I need to explain first."

      Soon they left the cover of the forest, and the small cottage where Urei and her family lived could be seen not too far away. The sun was beginning to hang low in the sky, and the picture ahead of them looked quite quaint. The little house nestled amongst some tall vallenwood trees, the little barn only yards away, her brother Kage driving the few cows out of the pasture, and her father Junsui chopping wood. Urei smiled ironically as she thought of how peaceful this scene was, and how different things would be after tonight.

Urei's father Junsui was the first to notice them coming. Usually a very calm and collected man, his eyes widened in shock and he dropped his axe when he saw his daughter Urei coming home with his wife, whom he hadn't seen for 16 years. He hesitated only a moment, then began walking towards them slowly. His pace gradually became faster, until he ran up to Urei's mother and lifted her off the ground, holding her tightly. He held her for what seemed like forever, the tears flowing down his cheeks as he cried silently. After a while, he set her down and said, "It's been a long time, Kenmei."

Urei's brother Kage came around the corner of the barn and dropped the rabbits he'd killed for dinner. His mouth hung open in shock, and all he could say was, "Mother?" Kenmei turned to face him, and she nodded her head silently. She walked over to him and touched his cheek saying, "You've grown so much as well. And so handsome," she added, and Kage turned a very interesting shade of red. Urei couldn't help but laugh at her brother's embarrassment, and when Kenmei turned her back to him, Kage couldn't resist sticking his tongue out at his sister. Urei was about to do the same when Kenmei said, "Shall we all go inside? I believe I have quite a lot of explaining to do, and most of it to my children." Junsui nodded and cleared his throat, saying, "It's wonderful to see you again, Kenmei." Kenmei just smiled another of her overwhelmingly sad smiles and followed Junsui into the house, followed by Kage and Urei. The last one in, Urei was about to shut the door, but she took one last look at the setting sun, and the beautiful silver moon Solinari, rising slowly in the East. She took it all in, remembering every detail, down to the birds chirping in the trees and the cows lowing gently in the barn, and the vivid colors the sun left behind as it disappeared from the sky for yet another day. Urei remembered every detail, because she knew down to the marrow of her bones that this sky would never look the same to her again.