"Shanku! Shanku!" Nari walked through the Nyre calling for her missing daughter. Now where has that cub gone? She pushed aside a low-hanging limb of an old oak. Nari shook her head as she searched through the bushes. Shanku was prone to wandering off, especially to places she shouldn't be.

"They've done it again!" came a furious cry. Nari jumped in surprise and looked quickly around. She saw her mother angrily stomping towards her.

"That infernal council has run off your cub! Just like they did my mine!" Misen roared, shaking her fist. Her wings were arched dangerously behind her and she looked fit to be tied.

"What?" Nari asked, shocked. "Mother, please do not joke like that."

"It is no joke," wailed Misen as she threw her head back and pressed her wrist to her forehead. "Shanku is gone! Just like my Turai!"

Nari gasped and covered her mouth with both of her hands. She stared at her grief-stricken mother for a moment before asking in a voice barely above a whisper, "She was the reason for the dragon earlier, wasn't she?"

"Of course," Misen sighed.

Nari shivered. Not only did Shanku often wander far away, she also had a habit of befriending creatures the Sylvans feared. The Council had been growing steadily angrier with each of her antics. It seemed this had been the final straw.

"Ol' Zanzen is trying to repeal the Elders' decision. Waste of breath. They didn't listen to us and they won't listen to him," spat a ragged old kurach. Misen nodded to her husband, Haro, as he joined them.

"Perhaps if you had spent more time with your family and less in the woods, we would still have our granddaughter!" growled a second, older male close behind the first.

"Bibot, you..." Haro growled a multitude of curses at Nari's sire-in-law. "You should be up there with your son since you actually are on the council!"

"Stop it! Both of you! Like I told our sons, fighting will not help!" scolded Haro's wife, Ysu.

"For once, I agree with you, Ysu," grumbled Misen.

"Bibot, Ysu," began Nari, hoping to diffuse some of the continually building tension between her and Zanzen's parents. "Can't you influence the Elders? Make them change their mind? She's too young to be on her own."

"We've already tried, Nari. You know that their decisions are always final," Ysu said sadly. "At best, they're claiming that her coming-of-age ritual has begun early."

"Fat lot of good the council is," Haro hissed.

"Haro!" Misen snapped in warning. Her wings flared behind her as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Somebody has to keep you peasants in line," sneered Bibot, his arms crossed over his chest and his wings arched defiantly behind him.

"Bibot!" Ysu gasped.

Nari slipped away quietly while the parents argued with each other and traded insults based on class, career, parenting, and goodness only knows what else.

Moments were always tense when the upperclass citizens mingled with the lowerclass of the clan. Bibot held a position on the Council and a very high rank among the Scissortail clan. His son, Zanzen, chose the path of a prestigious warrior. Nari and her family held a very low rank. They were Hunters, those who sought game and scouted territory, a mere step above the Gatherers, who collected plants and other resources for cooks and crafters.

Zanzen had taken a chance years ago when he decided to court Nari. He had taken a stroll in the forest one day and happened across her in the middle of a hunt. He was captivated by her stealth and grace. He surprised her by offering to carry her kill back to the clan for her. She obliged and he took advantage of the opportunity to spend time with her on the way home.

Nari smiled fondly at the memory. Zanzen had always shown her the utmost devotion since. Every day they had spent together after that had ended with long fights throughout the night between him and his father. In the end, Zanzen won, and he took Nari as his mate. It would have been a greater shame for his son to become a lowly Hunter and wed a Hunter, than to keep his status and wed a Hunter.

Nari stopped for a moment and placed her hand on a tree. She closed her eyes as she remembered what had happened next. Her brother, Turai, held no love for the Council or any of the higher ranking members of the clan. He had challenged Zanzen to a duel to prove he was not good enough to have her. Turai was much younger and less experienced. He had lost the fight. Bibot, furious, had him exiled from the clan. That action had permanently destroyed any hope of Zanzen's and Nari's parents ever becoming friends.

Even though exile only lasted for ten years, there were very few who ever returned from it. Most were eaten by the dreaded minocentaur bull-like monsters within their first year. Those who survived them barely made it past rival clans.

Nari said a silent prayer that her brother would somehow find her daughter and watch over her. She tucked a strand of her long, black hair behind her furry ear and returned her focus back to the present. Nari continued walking through the forest.

The trees became older and more twisted the further she went. Vines dangled from branches somewhere far above and tangled bushes strove against one another on the ground. The air became heavy and still. Not even the usual hum of the insects could be heard. The other kurach avoided this place and held many fears towards it. But to Nari, this was her second home.

Deep within the ancient grove was a little pool surrounded by gaily colored flowers of all shapes and sizes. She knelt beside the still waters for a moment. Nari dipped her fingers into the pool and pulled them slowly across the surface, sending little ripples dashing throughout the water.

"Spirits, I have a question for you. Is my daughter alright?" Nari paused and then dared a second question. "Will she return to me?"

The waters were disturbed again and not by Nari's hand. A green face appeared and rose from the water. Long, thin ears and flowing hair adorned the face. "Hello again, Nari," the naiad greeted her warmly with her silvery voice.

"Greetings, Danæ." Nari smiled sadly.

"We warned you about our gift of Wonder," Danæ laughed a laugh like music as she rose from the water. Flowers and vines decorated her body. A blooming lily pad perched above one of her elongated ears. Her hair seemed to continually be pulled and swayed by an unseen current.

"I know. I do not regret it," Nari sighed. "I think." She pulled her wings close to her body.

"Come," Danæ gestured to the pool below her. "Let's see about your cub."

Nari braided her hair and removed her tunic silently before she stepped into the cool water. Danæ slipped below the surface and Nari followed. Down, down, deep into the pool they went. Danæ held onto Nari's hand and led her to the bottom. Nari held onto her without fear. For so long as she trusted the naiad she would not be allowed to drown. Nari breathed the water in and out as easily as she could air. It was both frightening and exhilarating as her instincts constantly feared the water in her lungs.

At the bottom of the pool was a mirror wreathed in vines and flowers. It seemed to be a part of one of the many boulders lying on the floor.

"Let's see what has become of Shanku." With a wave of Danæ's long, spindly fingers the reflection in the mirror swirled in on itself. Nari leaned in, holding her breath, as the reflection faded from view and soon refocused itself.

"Ah, there she is!" Danæ cheered gaily. There was little Shanku, clinging tightly to a branch as large wolves circled the tree below her. To make matters worse, a squirrel was making it known he did not appreciate her presence.

"Oh dear..." Nari gasped.

"Squirrels can be so unfriendly," Danæ laughed her musical laugh. "She may attract trouble, but the predators will never be able to reach her."

"I'm relieved," Nari sighed. Shanku was alive. For now. "But will she come home?"

"Ah, now, Nari..." Danæ clasped her hands together before her and looked at the mortal with a sad smile. "You know I cannot divulge the future's secrets." She smiled slyly. "Well, not in detail, anyway."

Danæ lifted Nari's face with a spindly finger. "She is your daughter and she is herself, for all that entails. She will feel joy. She will feel pain you couldn't understand. And she will do what has not been done for a thousand years."

Nari found herself fully dressed and back on the shore again among the multitude of flowers. She looked into the pool. Instead of her reflection she saw the face of the immortal naiad.

"Now, go. Comfort your family. We will watch over your daughter as we have your people for centuries."

Nari nodded as the naiad disappeared back into the eddies of magic that inhabited the ancient grove. Nari left the quiet pool and returned to her mate and her remaining cub.