Gaijan again sat upon his horse, traveling through that same forest where he had stopped Mage Unda's premonitions from coming true. He had taken this route so many times over the years that a path was beginning to form, so he didn't have to wonder if he was going the right way or not.

He was going to visit her, hopefully for the last time. His hand wandered to the leather pouch that was securely fastened to his belt, which contained the culmination of his work over the last eight years. He had searched high and low, traveling to the most remote places in this world, and visiting all the great magicians, all to find this. Well, he had found many things before; artifacts, spells, magical plants, and more. And then he always brought them back here, hoping that something would work, that something would allow him to free her from the crystal, and contain the magic she had. 

The things he had discovered so far had had no effect. But, they had been useful for other things. After each failure at the crystal, he would return to his mentor and show him what he had found. He would be praised for his discovery, it would be written down in the archives, and the things he found would become quite popular with the other magicians for a short while.

But he didn't care about all that. He had been searching for all this time for a better solution than the girl being trapped forever. He'd spent four of those years finishing up his training, but even then he had searched and searched through Eyish's vast collection of books and scrolls for anything that would help her. Eyish was very pleased that Gaijan had thrown himself into his studies with more fervor than he ever had before. Gaijan didn't mind letting him think that he was just interested in his studies. He certainly didn't want his mentor to know that he was trying to find a way to free the girl from the crystal.

After he had used his magic to contain the girl, the other magicians of the company thought they should destroy her altogether, but Gaijan wouldn't hear of it. He did not think the girl deserved to die. He told them that he knew that the crystal would contain the magic. The other magicians had inspected his creation, and agreed that it would contain the magic, and that Gaijan was quite powerful to have done such a thing. The company left that place, and all the way back on their journey they treated him with more respect than he had ever been afforded before. He had proved that he had the makings of a great magician. But he was uncomfortable that the respect came at the cost of that girl's freedom.

The company returned to Huath, the home of the headquarters of the magician's guild, and reported what had happened to Mage Unda. It was written in the archives that Gaijan, then a 2nd class apprentice, had prevented the great catastrophe that Mage Unda had foreseen. Gaijan returned home a hero, but he didn't bask in it. He hurried to complete his training, then set out into the world to find a way to help the girl. He then became quite popular as a traveling magician, an adventurer, and whenever he returned home people swarmed him, wanting to hear of his adventures and the sights he had seen. He was never in the mood to talk with those people. He only returned home after visiting the crystal. After a failure. But he tried his best to give them what they wanted. 

His mentor had commented one day on it all.

"I am pleased, Gaijan, that you have not let your popularity go to your head," the elderly man had said, coming up behind Gaijan as he sat at his desk.

"Hmm?" Gaijan had looked up from his scroll, on which he was writing the many uses of the Gokal stone, but not one of those uses was containing a vast amount of evil magic.

"You have become quite popular over the years, yet you still remain as studious and clear headed as ever."

"Oh, I just... I don't really see what the big deal is, I guess."

"Most people have never set foot outside of the village in which they were born. You can understand why they would be interested to know of all the different places there are in this world."

"I suppose..." Gaijan returned to his writing.

"And you know, there are quite a few young ladies that seem to hang around here a lot."

"What?" Again Gaijan stopped, not completely understanding what his mentor was saying. Eyish smirked.

"I've noticed at least a dozen young women that come every time you return. It's like they have a lookout, and they all come running before you even get through the front door."

"I'm... not sure what you mean, Eyish."

"Maybe you aren't as clearheaded as I thought. Girls, Gaijan. You have passed your twentieth year, and you don't know about girls?"

"I know about girls..."

"I mean in a romantic sense." Gaijan had stared as his mentor, still not quite understanding. "By the stars, Gaijan, are you really this thick? Those young women hang around here because they like you! They rush over here, hoping to get a glimpse of you, and hoping you'll take notice of them! But I see that the thought hadn't even crossed your mind!"

"Should it have crossed my mind?" Eyish had let out an exasperated sigh, then firmly took the quill out of Gaijan's hand and sat beside him on a stool.

"I know that I am probably not the best person to talk to you about this. After all, I never did marry-"

"Marry!?!"

"Let me finish. I never married, I never even found a girl that I liked enough to even think about it. But then I was wrapped up in my studies, and my duties as a mentor. My point is, there are more important things than studying, than traveling, or even finding all those useful things that  on your adventures. I don't want you to end up like me, Gaijan. I don't want you to have nothing to show for your life but a few scrolls and a collection of magical items. There is much more to life than that."

"I know that Eyish, I do. But I can't just up and get married to a girl just because she comes running whenever I come into town. That's actually kind of creepy to me. Stalker-ish." Eyish had laughed heartily at that.

"I'm not saying you go out there right now a just pick one-"

"They're out there right now!?!"

"I'm just saying you should keep an open mind. Maybe one of those girls would be a perfect match for you." Honestly, Gaijan had no interest in girls whatsoever. Not then, not now. He was so focused on keeping his promise. He had no time to think about anything other than that.

But now, maybe he could start focusing on something else. It had been nearly two years since that talk with Eyish. He knew that his mentor was disappointed that he didn't take his advice and get married. But he pushed these thoughts aside. Why was he worrying about that when he was so close to freeing the girl from her crystal tomb? 

He urged his horse into a canter, and looked around him. He had now passed into the part of the forest that had been burned with magical fire. Eight years had changed him, and it had changed the forest, too. The blanket of ash that once covered the ground had been mixed in with the topsoil. The bark on the trees were still blackened, but up above leaves and pine needles grew from the branches. New growth covered the forest floor, and he could hear the sounds of bird calls and the other sounds of the forest. It had taken a while for the animals to return, but now they thrived. It showed that time could heal anything.

Night fell, and he made camp just to the side of the forming dirt path. He sat against a tree and tried to fall asleep. But his mind was racing too much. It kept going through all the things he had heard about the small object safely hidden in the leather pouch at his waist. All the experiments he had performed on it, to make sure that it would do what he wanted it to do. So far all of his experiments had been pointing positively toward the outcome he wanted: freeing the girl from the crystal and containing the evil magic. He hoped that it would really work this time. He had gotten part of the object from a man who called himself a shaman. He had met this shaman in the wilds to the south, which was populated with a barbaric people. You had to stay on your toes to make it out of that place in one piece. 

But Gaijan had made it out, and he took with him the object the shaman had given him, assuring him that it had the ability to contain any amount of magic. He had fused this object to a piece of the crystal that encased the girl, and all the experiments showed that it would work. It had to work.

Gaijan slowly fell asleep to the sounds of the forest.