Imagine Taelsin wandering into a clearing in Arden to see Sebastian sitting on a rock surrounded by glittering pixies. The little fairies fly in dizzying patterns, dancing to the music the boy plays on a set of panpipes. As soon as Taelsin steps into the clearing or makes any noise, they all scatter into the treetops and disappear.

Sebastian looks up, disappointed. "You scared my friends away," he says.

"They were your friends?" it sounds as a mixture of awe and a challenge.

The boy standing in front of Sebastian is tall and healthy. He could easily be any one of a dozen amberites from noble blood. Except for the white hair that frames his head. It is as white as pure snow. And it hangs loose about his shoulders. A few leaves and twigs are currently sticking out of it. In his hand he holds a small sword, sized for a boy his height and weight.

"Sorry."

Sebastian brushes his own hair, as black as night, out of his eyes. Rising smoothly, he smiles. If he thinks there is anything odd about being found deep in the forest surrounded by fairies, he gives no sign.

"That's alright. I was getting tired of playing anyway." He bows formally and extends his hand. "I

am Sebastian du'Morial."

Taelsin moves forward slowly with his own hand out. The last name brings a light of recognition.

"Taelsin Snowdyn." Taelsin takes the hand and then bows over it. He smiles broadly.

"Playing in the woods can be dangerous. All sorts of nasty things hide out here. Are you even carrying something to protect you? My great great uncle was killed by a manticore riding home from Caer Thorne many years ago. And you would think the roads are safe."

Taelsin tells the story with deadly seriousness, but it is still hard to tell whether it is true or only some imagined fiction of his family or his own.

Sebastian looks slightly indignant. "I have my knife, and my staff." He gestures to a carved length of wood leaning up against a nearby tree.

"I suppose they would be good to fight with. I've always liked to watch the knights when they fight with their quarterstaffs. But I think the Ranger's are much better anyway..."

"But it might be a good idea to get home now," Sebastian allows. "Do you know what day it is?"

"It's just before the weekend. Why have you been out here that long? I would think your family would be looking like crazy to find you. Mine wouldn't though."

Sebastian shrugs absently. "I haven't really been gone long. I just kind of lost track." The illogic of that statement doesn't seem to bother him at all.

"Why wouldn't your family look for you? I've only been gone since last night, I think, and Mama will be very cross with me. She'll probably cry again, even though I told her not to worry."

"I'm not particularly well liked in the family. And there must be at least four males ahead of me in succession. So I'm more a drain than anything else. My sister might worry but no one else would."

Taelsin stops and swallows hard. "You have a mother?" There is a mixture of awe and slight jealousy in that question.

Taelsin tightens his grip around his sword and looks around as if making sure no enemy is coming upon them.

Sebastian's face holds an odd, soulful expression. "Kind of... Mama told Papa to adopt me when they found me on their doorstep. None of her other babies lived. Some of them didn't even get born. I think I have another mother, too, but I don't know where she is.

"Wow you have two mothers." Taelsin’s voice holds no jealousy now only astonishment.

"You should come home with me," he decides suddenly. "Mama likes children, and she'd have somebody to fuss over besides me. Besides, I'm hungry and the cook usually makes fruit tarts for the weekend."

Taelsin's face light up at the mention of fruit tarts. "I like fruit tarts, we don't have them to often. The Baron says such things are for luxury only. And we should be used to eating as if we are on campaign. I don't see why a soldier can't be allowed to eat fruit tarts."

"Father says the same thing, but usually after he's had his. Mostly he says a Lord has to be ready for whatever situation presents itself. 'He must be equally at home on the field of battle, and in the halls of court'" Sebastian grins at his own imitation of adult speech. Then he starts down a barely

perceptible path through the forest "This is the way to my house. I'm sure there'll be enough supper for a guest."

"The Baron has always made it clear to me I don't ever have to worry about going to court. I hope some day there will be a great war where I can show him up..."

Taelsin stops as he says this. His eyes slightly water. "I don't really mean that since lots of innocent people would die. Only fools pray for war."

He moves his mind onto dinner. "Are you sure I would be welcome. I haven't any gift to present the hostess for my food. And I only have a small allowance and I bet I couldn't find an open store or market on the way."

"It'll be fine. We always have extra, and Mama will be glad I found someone to play with besides the

Peasants and the enlisted men's children."

Sebastian thinks for a minute, then gravely adds, "Your Papa should be nicer to you. Mama would sell her soul to have four children, probably Papa, too."

"My mother died giving birth to me. The Baron has made it clear he believes it was my fault. I've also heard him wonder if I was truly his son. He doesn't think I hear him when he says that but I do. My mother was his second wife. He has had two die on childbirth. And with so many sons I don't think any other noble woman will marry him now."

"And I have four siblings, only my two sisters are my full siblings. My brother's were from the Baron's first wife. My oldest brother has two twin sons about a year younger than me."

Sebastian's eyes brim over with sympathy that his young voice doesn't know how to express. "That sounds very lonely. Do you have any friends?"

Taelsin starts to speak then shuts his mouth. It is obvious that he is thinking.

"I know a few of the lords children my own age. And a few boys here and there that I practice sword drills with. But no I don't have any friends, unless you count my sister Pwyll. She's two years older than me."

He stops again. "I know Pwyll's a boys name. She's named for my mother, my mother came from some place where boys names were girls names."

Sebastian grins. "That's OK. I know people with names like Mustard Seed and Peacblossom. 'Pwyll' is kind of a neat name." A look crosses his face as if he's said something he shouldn't have. To change the subject, he asks, "Do you know what happened to the manticore? I've never seen a manticore before.

They're supposed to be terribly fierce, and their poison is always deadly."

"No I have no idea I think the Rangers hunted and killed it. But that was years ago, The Baron hadn't even been born yet."

"That's too bad. I'd kind of like to see a manticore, from a long way off, anyway."

The du'Morial castle loomed at the head of the path. A sensitive nose would have detected the scent of

strawberry tarts on the breeze.

SEVERAL YEARS LATER

Taelsin is pacing about nervously. he made the rendezvous point with Sebastian early. His mind already racing on his decision. he looks around expectantly waiting for his friend to arrive. He tries hard not to think about Pwyll's marriage the week before. It had been exciting and her new husband seemed nice enough. But already he knew his home was less inviting than it had been a week before the wedding.

Sebastian comes up the path, slightly out of breath, dressed in a black doublet and pearl hose. His doublet is unfastened, and his black hair is matted to his scalp. He tucks battered fighting gloves into his belt.

"Were you worried?" he asks. "I told you I'd be here. Fencing practice just took longer than usual. I made the mistake of hitting Master Donovan when he wasn't just trying to let me win." At that, Sebastian smiles, highlighting a thin red welt along one cheek.

"He wanted to make sure I still knew my place."

"A little worried. I've had a busy day."

Taelsin looks at the welt. He remembers his share of them.

"I've figured I need to do something to get out of my house. If I do not choose soon the Baron will. And I'm not sure I will like which service he chooses for me. We already have my brother in the Navy. Which means I'm either to Squire with some Knight or off to the Army."

"The Army?" Sebastian had inherited a less than glowing opinion of Amber's regular army from his father. "Won't he let you be knighted? You're good enough that you could almost win your own outfit in tournament. You won the Child's Tourney last year, and the Champion was thirteen."

"The Baron doesn't think anyone should be knighted without being a squire first. Besides he won’t push the issue since he still thinks I'm not his son. He won’t disinherit me since the scandal would be to much. And he still wants Gent to get married. If her mother was faithless who would believe she wasn't."

"I've heard that the Rangers are having an open call. I thought that maybe I could try there. But they wont take a twelve year old. I could always run off and join some mercenary unit out in the Golden Circle."

Taelsin sits down looking frustrated. he also is not to keen on joining Amber's regular Army. The navy would have been fine, but the Army just didn't have the same romance.

Sebastian coils gracefully down on a fallen treetrunk. "Your father's an idiot." he said, unusually bitter.

"He's more than that, but while he is Baron Snowdyn his word is law in the family. Not that I would expect better from Llew. He's wanted me packed off somewhere where he would never hear from me again.

Sebastian looks grave. As a well loved foundling, he's always been mystified by the lack of love between Taelsin and his blood kin.

"You'd be welcome in the Red Guard, but not until you're older. Papa knows how old you are. I don't know what I can do to help you."

"Wait, yes I do. I can get you a letter of recommendation. I know where Papa keeps his seal, and my hand is neater than his is." He gives the sardonic smile that is his impenetrable defense against anything that bothers him. "He says I write like a priest."

Returning to the topic at hand, he says, "With a letter from the Guard, you should be able to be accepted into any force you want, maybe even the Rangers."

Taelsin smiles at the idea. "Well the Rangers don't take recommendations. You have to earn your way on like everyone else. Peasant and noble are treated by ability not birth."

Taelsin stood up and walked around his left hand firmly on his chin. Pretending in a way to be stroking a nonexistent beard.

"To use such a letter with someone else it would have to be suitable removed from Amber that checking wouldn't be possible. Because if they found out..."

"Nothing would happen to you. By the time they did, you'd be established. I might get into trouble, of course, but not too much."

"You're right, though. It's probably not a very good idea. It's just that you're leaving, if not now, soon, and I might never see you again. I want to do something to help you before you go."

Taelsin nodded looking sad.

"I just don't see any other way out of it. I can't risk what the Baron would choose for my future. I was thinking tomorrow I would get up bright and early and show up to the open call for Rangers. I could lie about my age. If I make the call they wont care as much. If I don't, I don't know what I'll do."

Taelsin looks nervously as Sebastian. "You'll still be my friend right?"

"I'll always be your friend." Sebastian draws his dagger and lays the blade across his palm. "I'll swear by my blood," he says gravely "Always."

Taelsin looks amazed and draws his own dagger and follows suit.

"And I yours Sebastian. If I fail tomorrow you know you will be the first person I look for. Since I wont be able to go back home."

"You'll always be welcome in my house," Sebastian promises.

Taelsin starts to speak but says nothing. He is obviously embarrassed, as he can make no such offer with his own house.

Gravely, he scores his hand with the knife blade, bringing out a dark, crimson swell of blood. He pales a little at the pain, but his jaw holds firm as he reaches out his bleeding hand.

Taelsin tries his best not to show any pain as he cuts his own hand. He reaches out to Sebastian and grasps bleeding hand to bleeding hand.

"Some day I will be able to repay you friend."

There are no words left. After a few moments Sebastian pulls his hand away and wraps it in a linen kerchief. Not trusting himself to speak, he turns and walks back the way he came.

Taelsin watches his friend leave. He tries to be brave and think of tomorrow. He tries to think that he has all the options in the world. But nothing changes the fact that he is scaird and that tonight is the last night of his childhood. And he knows this.

The next day, Taelsin rises before dawn, having slept precious little the night before. He debates going to the stables, but rejects the idea. He will take nothing but the clothes on his back, and his own sword and knife when he goes to meet his destiny.

He follows the winding road away from the only home he has known, fearful that someone might stop him, and secretly disappointed that no one will.

Up ahead, he sees two palfries tethered at the side of the road. A slight, black cloaked figure sits astride one horse. The other saddle is empty.

As Taelsin approaches, Sebastian throws back his hood and smiles slightly.

"It's a long way to Lord Julian's camp, and I thought you'd appreciate breakfast." He holds out a bundle that smells of fresh bread.

Taelsin smiles, and takes the bundle. "only the test is starts in Amber City Square. But the company would be appreciated."

"That seems a little strange, but then again I guess the Rangers are supposed to be hard to find in the woods, so there'd have to be some place easy to get to for recruits to find them." Sebastian gestures to the waiting horse. "It's even farther to the city. Let's get started."

"Sounds good though I would even have time if I walked."

Sebastian pulls his hood back down over his eyes, stifling a yawn. "If you'd prefer, I could go back home." He smiles to take any sting from his words.

"Seriously, I'm sure you would have been early. But this way you don't have to walk all day to get there."

"No I like the company. And I had to use my better instincts not to swipe a horse from home. I figured the something might happen to the poor beast before it got back. And I didn't want to advertise that I could afford my own horse. This is for me, not for my family."

"So you're really leaving them all? That's sad," Sebastian sighed.

He rode silently after that, lost in his own thoughts, with his hood so low that the horse was obviously doing all the steering.

When he spoke again, it was almost a surprise. "I wonder if I'll have to do the same someday. I'm not like them. If I didn't wear my house badge, no one would know I was Lord Alfric's son. Even my dreams aren't like theirs."

"I don't look like my family either. I don't even look like my mother if I can believe my sisters. And your father is different; he and your mother love you. Why should you ever have to leave? Besides you're the heir. Not some extra son who only takes up space."

"I'm sorry. I'm still tired and melancholic. You have enough to face today without worrying about me."

By his tone, Sebastian indicates that he will speak no more on the subject. It's a shield he has become very skilled at wielding

"But we're friends, if I can't worry about you who can I worry about? Worrying about myself always seemed so pathetic. I mean problems are hard. I'm not starving, I not some poor wretch forced to eke out a living on the docks for whatever people will pay."

A few minutes later, though, he asks? "Have you ever dreamed that you were...flying?"

"Flying? No never dreamed that, I have dreamed I was part of the Seelie Court once or twice. Although I tend to always have the same dreams. It's a reoccurring serial. Sometimes I'm the hero and other times I'm the villain. I don't like being the villain."

Sebastian looks out from his hood. "That's interesting... What are their names? The hero and the villain?"

"They use my names. It is Taelsin, but in them I'm more important than the third son of a Baron. And sometimes I'm called by that name I don't like."

Questions pass through Sebastian's mind unasked. Even with his best friend, there are things he has promised not to reveal.

"In my dreams, the dragon trapped in my medallion is free. It flies across the skies of Amber, and of places I've never seen. It hunts, because it's always hungry. Sometimes it hunts people. Sometimes people

I know, like Papa or my uncle, or, or like you."

"In my dreams, the dragon is me."

As if that admission took great effort, Sebastian falls silent again. The silence becomes uncomfortable, oppressive. Then he throws back his hood and regards his friend with blazing eyes.

"If the dream ever comes true, if I ever hurt anyone I love, you have to promise me you'll stop me. You'll be a Ranger. If they could kill a manticore, they should be able to kill a dragon, too. I'd rather die than be a monster, something evil.

"I think I already hurt mama. I can't hurt anyone else."

Taelsin looks like he doesn't like that request. But his eyes show he understands.

"Sebastian if it ever becomes necessary I will do everything in my power to protect those you love from danger. But more importantly I will do everything in my power that it never becomes necessary." His words carry an extra weight. Time and time again Taelsin has shown that he has considered his word the most sacred bond he could make.

"Thank you." Sebastian says. "Look, there's the city gate."

Taelsin nods. He tries to show how brave he is.

The pair reaches the gate soon after.

"You should go in alone," Sebastian says. "If you don't want to be recognized." He swallows past a lump in his throat. He holds out his hand, still dressed in linen bandages that show faint red under the pristine white. "Friends, Always," he says.

Taelsin tries to not let his voice crack with emotion. he reaches out his own bandaged hand.

"Always friends..."