• Prologue


    There was once born a child in the land of Laraia. She was so still, and so cold, that all thought her to be dead.
    But the midwife, a wise woman with many years experience in this area, picked up the babe and held her gently.
    "See her chest move," Said the midwife softly. "She lives."
    Her mother reached out for her child. "But she is so cold," The young mother murmured, distressed. "Surely she cannot be alive?"
    This made everyone present wrack their brains for some reason why the child would be living when she was as cold as a corpse.
    Then an old woman stood, her gnarled hands reaching for the child. Once the baby was in her arms, the old one looked down upon her and saw written in the tiny face a destiny.
    "She is a Fated One," Declared the old woman. "The path she walks is one which will change much in the Lands."
    "Surely you mean land, grandmother," Said one of the women respectfully, who was in no way the grandchild of the old woman.
    "No, child. I mean the Seven Lands." The withered old woman gazed down into the small, peaceful face once more. "For it is mine to Sense, and mine to See, and I Know with both these rights that this girl will change much and leave little the same. Her path will be difficult, and often she will have to walk it alone. Do not attempt to hold her back, or deny her of her destiny, for it will happen with or without consent. Such is the way of a Fated One."
    The room was silent for a long moment. The old woman gave the child back to her mother and sat down, weary from the strain of Seeing such a thing at her advanced age.
    The mother, who was little more than a girl herself, looked down at the sleeping girl tenderly. "Lia," She said suddenly. "My darling Lia."