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When the Great People first made the world, a glowing Goddess was placed on the highest mountain. This perfect being, Lyu Eminia, created the plants, the animals, and all the rest of the growing things from a single grain of sand. When the humans were created, men tried for ages to reach the goddess, to gaze at her and be satisfied with life. Many tried, all failed. Except for one, a young boy. The boy brought with him a gift for the goddess, something no one else had tried: a single apple. The goddess was touched that someone would bring food for her, but not for himself, and so she let him reach the top of the mountain.
There they talked, she in human form. They talked for many days, many nights. When he finally left the mountain, he left with much less than he had had. All he carried was a single stone. That stone, a shining piece of emerald, he was told to bury under the largest willow he could find. He did so, and instantly, the ground began to rumble. The boy hid, afraid. When the rumbling stopped, he looked up, and there under the tree lay a sleeping baby. He brought the babe home with him, and his family raised her well. She grew and grew, becoming a quiet maiden, ordinary in appearance.
This lady was Arinoa, daughter of the goddess. Those who grew to know her learned of an amazing power: the ability to shapeshift. She could converse with any living thing, like her mother.
Not long aftr her nineteenth birthday, Arinoa took it upon herself to leave her home and family. She had heard the call of her mother, who still resided on the mountain. Arinoa knew something was wrong, but not what, and so she left her friends behind, and started on a journey to meet and save her powerful mother.

Shoulders hunched in a typically depressed way, Arinoa trudged down the opath from her home, heavy pack on her pack. She waved once, without looking, for she knew that if she did she would start to cry. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew how to ask for directions. She perked up her elven ears and continued on, a slight smile on her face desite her sadness. She passed under the shadow of the trees and entered the forest.

After walking a ways, Arinoa sat down on a patch of pine needles and leaned back against a boulder. She basked in the dappled light that fell through the reaching bramches above her. She pulled a Pan flute from her pack, carved by her own hand. After pulling her hair down, she began to play a spritely tune, bobbing her head.

After a few minutes, she ran out of song. Arinoa slipped her flute back in her pack, and pulled off her shoes. She had an urge to see the forest as only a bird could, and so she changed. It was swift, hard to see. All at once she was covered with a light blue down, and she was shrinking. Suddenly, she took to the sky as a bright Blue Jay, winging back and forth and trilling.

Arinoa flew down low to the tree tops, and stopped to hover in the air when she saw a slim tendril of smoke. She dove down, and came across a small home. A human was standing outside, staring into space. She swooped down into a birch tree near him, letting her curious nature get the best of her. She'd thought no one lived in the forest, but apparently she'd been wrong.

Arinoa followed him, fluttering from tree to tree. She was trying to resist following, but it was too hard. Her quest could wait for just a little while.

With a squawk that would have been comic in other circumstances, Arinoa fell from her birch on an old elm branch, and as she fell she reverted to normal. She landed hard, but dashed up and behing a large protruding root. She heard magled screams from inside the goblin's lair, and shuddered.

A sense of utter despair gushed from the opening in front of her, and Arinoa heard, in the back of her mind, a sharp scream, a death cry. She hid her face in her hands, cringing back from the world.