- The picture I had of you wasn’t real, it was an idealized projection, imagined by yourselves. And even watching your world for decades, isolated in the depths of an ancient forest, nothing could prepare me for the days to come.

- I can imagine that the figure of a creature like you, slim, with horns, would scare anyone and provoke… unexpected reactions, right?

- Don’t be naive. One of my abilities is transmutation. I could be dazzled, but I was always careful. I loved to turn myself into a bird and feel the breeze between my legs, so much that, many times, I would forget to transform myself back, at the risk of losing my earthly conscience.

- But being in the human form wasn’t also taking this same risk?

- Sometimes your sagacity impresses me, but no, it wasn’t. This is because the mind and the spirit of other mortals work in a very different way from you, humans. They are too simple. Your complexity and ours, perpetual creatures, are very alike, in many aspects, with the only difference that you have an expiration date.

- Don’t you ever die? - he asked.

- We are aspects of all existence. In order for us to cease existing a new cycle would be needed. But it is not the moment for this kind of subject. Calm yourself, child. - She waved at the attendant, ordering more tea and biscuits. - Where did we stop?

- You used to turn into a bird.

- Yes. And it was like this that I finally reached the first city that I visited: flying stilly, in safety. But I’ll say that, if I knew what awaited for me there, I would have turned back and stayed in the forest, away from you all.

- But couldn’t you access information from the Web of Existence and its possible outspreads? - inquired the boy.

- I could, but this is different from predicting the future and being sure of what’s going to happen. It is practically impossible to know where our choices are going to take us and, if I was able to predict that, I would have avoided the man that would one day tear off my horns. - While they spoke, the attendant approached the table with the order and served them both. - Thanks, darling - They exchanged a smile and soon she was back behind the counter, bored with the late night shift. - Power corrupts weak and desperate hearts. And that man… was desperate. He was the chief of that town and treated the inhabitants like his own family. But even as harmonious and prosperous as everything looked, I could feel that something was wrong. I ended up becoming fond of the people, the place, and decided to stay there.

- Did they know who you were?

- Not so soon, once I started living there, disguised as a middle aged lady. But it wasn’t hard to become known. See, the cities had a small population and were distant from each other. At that time… if you weren’t close to the kings you wouldn’t have soldiers to protect your people and, as a consequence, you’d be a free target for looters. - Yala stared at nowhere. - The trace of destruction left by these monsters was scary… Raped women, kidnapped kids, food and money from taxes stolen. The poor man would see his family disappear at each new attack and, moved, I tried to help them.

- So, you showed yourself to them? - The guy was anxious, but Yala ignored him and kept patiently telling her story.

- When I arrived here, “witches” weren’t yet sent to the bonfires. I knew that I needed to be discreet, so I always presented myself as a healer, helping to take care of the wounded and, secretly, charming the borders of the city and distorting the light spectrums in order to influence what people saw. I started to entertain myself with that. - She leaned back in her seat and smiled, seeming to have fun with the memory. - Once, I played so much with the notion of time and space that the looters crossed the city like it was completely abandoned. - Her laughter echoed through the cafeteria. - People didn’t see anything, either! Try to imagine a whole bandit cavalry cross a little crowd with none of them knowing that the other was there - she laughed more, until choking and the laughter be replaced by a heavy cough.

- Are you all right? - The guy volunteered to assist her, but with a brusque gesture she made him remain silent. Didn’t anyone suspect of you?

- Of course they did, people are inattentive but they aren’t stupid. After a few months, someone associated the period of peace with my arriving and, gently, asked if I were a witch. Also because my patients would heal too fast…

- But you said that you knew how to be discreet, Yala. - He smiled in a provoking tone. She just continued:

- And what should I have done? Abandon those children and women? The first thing that I felt for you was compassion. It’s impossible for me to go against a feeling so genuine and sincere. 

“The population was very thankful, and they looked gentle. At that point, the city leader was already a close friend, so, I met with them and revealed my secret. I spoke about everything I had done to protect them until then and, finally, revealed my form. - The foreign from the World of Dreams made a pause, just to create some tension.”

- And? - At that point, the guy was already leaning on the table, his tea was already cold and his eyes were fixed in Yala..

- He fell in love with me. At least, I interpreted it that way, at that time. Later, I understood what had happened, indeed. - She sighed. - He saw in me an opportunity to beat his enemies forever, to conquer territories. He didn’t see me...

- He fell in love with your power…

- But I didn’t realize that, darling. And a while later, I was caught in an ambush designed by him. Having me close wasn’t enough, he himself wanted to have my powers, my magic. My horns were taken from me and, when I realized that, I was tied and trapped in a cage, hanging on a cliff, covered in my own blood. My head was throbbing so much that I could barely keep myself conscient to free myself from that cage. If this happened today… they wouldn’t stand a chance.

- This… was cruel. - The young man looked really touched with all that. - But how did they manage to trick you to that point? I doesn’t make sense...

- I was caught when I was vulnerable, child. - Yala saw from the expression of doubt on her listener that that phrase still wasn’t enough. - We loved each other for a whole night and, while I was resting, he attacked me. That was nothing compared to what would come next. I was hanging for months. - Her eyes watered, staring at some point on the table. - He would visit me in my prison, occasionally, telling me how the power of my horns helped to increase harvests, to kill eventual looters e how the city was growing and in prosperity. What comforted me was that my magic, somehow, was helping people who deserved to be helped.

Painful as it was remembering everything, telling that to a stranger seemed to help her in some way. She was feeling lighter and realized, now, that choosing silence for so long was a mistake.

- The city chief became king and, as his dues grew, his visits went from occasional to none at all. I stayed alone in that cage, exposed to the weather for years in a row. I had time to think about many things, especially about my relation with the Web of Existence. Since the day I was born, both in the Kingdom of Dreams and your world, I believed that my power depended on my horns, but I was mistaken. Me, you, the wind, the sea, all that is the Web itself, we are all connected in such a deep and complex level that it would be impossible to explain this in a way that you, mortals, could understand. I myself could only realize that after a long period of hardship and reflection.

“Slowly, I regained my strength, reconnected with the elements and could already bend reality a little bit. I planned on turning myself into a bird and run from there, cross the ocean looking for peace, but didn’t yet have the energy to do so and I needed to wait some more.”

- But what about the man who caged you? Didn’t he realized that you were healing? He had your power, after all.

- He used my power. This didn’t give him knowledge about what is magic. Do you understand the difference? And, as I’ve said, he was too busy for a supposedly invalid prisoner. It would take a while for me to be well enough and, as I couldn't yet read the Web as before, I didn’t realize that, in the dead at night, while I rested, a group of people tried to pull the cage up. But the chains were too worn out and the friccion with the stones broke them.

“Uselessly, I tried to turn into a bird and escape, but wasn’t fully recovered yet. While I was falling, I’d hear desperate screams. Those people wanted to free me. While I got close to the water, their voices would fade, mixing with the noise of the sea and the wind blowing in my ears during the fall, until the cage crashed against the waves and stones.”

 Yala left the cockrow’s silence speak for her. The anxiety in the boy and, curiously enough, in the bored waitress that listened from her seat, behind the counter, filled the sensible perception of the Daughter of Movement.

- Did you manage to escape? - Asked the boy, almost as he felt the same pain of the ancient creature sitting in front of him.

- I was stuck in that cage, submerged, with my body turning into a mix of human and bird. And, happily, I had the strength to adapt my breath to the water before losing my conscience.

- And how did you survive? - The attendant’s voice came from behind the guy who, scared, almost fell from the chair. Yala smiled with the situation and invited her to seat with them:

- Get closer, dear. It’s not like you don’t know me, right? How many nights have she shared in silence? - And the girl smiled, taking a seat next to the guy. - I can’t die like you, even being in your world, so I stayed in absolute rest.

- How much time did you stay like this? - The guy asked.

- Time for me works in a different way, but if it comforts you to know, it was more than a hundred years. - That took heavy sighs from both listeners. - When I woke up, in the depths of the sea, all I felt was hatred, and the inertia had converted itself into an absurd energy. My power exploded the cage and the stones and, free, I started my search for the man who condemned me to a suffering that I didn’t deserve.

- Sorry to interrupt, ma’am, but how could he be alive? You stayed underwater for more than a century! And he was human... right? - The young woman got attached to the story very naturally, what left the man a little uncomfortable.

- My horns were turned into runes, powerful amulets that provoked wars among those who wished to get them. Capable of destroying mountains and, also, extending the existence of those who used them.

- So did you get your revenge? - The girl asked, curious.

- Understand, children, I am not the type that kills. I hated him deadly, but I also loved him and knew that my power was useful to many innocent people. I wandered aimlessly for many days and the hate in me grew smaller in front of the immensity of the world. After the explosion of power motivated by rage, my body became weak again and I needed to protect myself. As much as I understood magic in another way, I still couldn’t use it with the same strength and primacy, but I was practically forced to choose between healing and finding the runes.

- Forced by whom? - Asked the guy.

- This is another story, boy.

- And the runes.. did you manage to find them? - The enchantment of the young attendant amused Yala.

- Until now, I only found one rune, from a total of ten. One was destroyed by yourselves. The other eight… I suspect they are lost around the Web of Existence. I needed to go through all the corners of this dimension to discover that…

- And what now? - The guy asked.

- Now? Yala took a small silk sheet and a little trunk from her purse and started to prepare her smoke. - Now, I’ll hear your story, after all it’s a trade, right?