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Lucind got into the starting position, equally balanced on both feet, her arms loosely on her sides but not without some inner tension. During her different "kata"* - sequences of connected moves either for meditation or, with more strength and real punches and kicks, like a fight against an invisible opponent - her look was always directed straight ahead, "into infinity".

She chose a fighting kata and only took some minutes to warm up before she gained speed and force in her moves. No matter into which position or rotation she changed, she always returned to the starting stance: both feet in hip-width and slightly bent knees. And that was it what the Sirenic fighting style was about: inner and outer balance to focus all life-energies within a split second.

Finally, Larhien threw one of the long daggers which Lucind catched in mid-air. After another couple of minutes the second sikil followed.

The male Half-Siren sat cross-legged on the terrace and intently watched his sister's performance with both blades. He frowned, but didn't say anything, until Lucind finished, slowly letting the wah sikeil sink on both sides of her. When she turned around and walked over, he simply smiled and nodded appreciative.
"She kick a**, doesn't she,"Granny cried, standing next to him.

Lucind grinned lop-sided. "I could be better, though."

"Argh, shuddup girl!!" Larhien shook his fist, mimicking Granny, and both siblings laughed.


(*I don't know if the word kata is used in other martial arts besides from karate.)

Around midday, both Half-Sirens stood at the pension's double-door, ready for take off: clad in proper travelling clothes, both carrying a handy leather bag - filled with various tasty snacks Sarah gave them -, and Larhien also had the bigger bag flung over his shoulder, in which Lucind had stuffed things just an hour ago.

Before she finally put on her cloat, Lucind went to Rebecca, asked her if she was okay for now and that she could send her a message whenever she wanted.
"If Granny gets on your nerves just tell her so,"she winked,"she can endure that. - And judging by what I've seen and heard so far, I think you're much more straight forward and brave than it might seem^__~ Just don't be afraid to make mistakes. It's how we all learn and develop what we are and want to be..."



From Greenhood, laying at the outskirts of Feimurgin, they walked into the village's center until they reached the local forge, owned by a bear of a man, called Griffith. He greeted Lucind and Larhien hearty, patting both with one of his huge paws on the shoulder - Lucind almost tripped whilst Larhien's smile froze on his lips although his eyes got watery.
"Long time no see! S'ppose you need two of my dears, hn? Going up there, ey,"he vaguely nodded to where the plateau was.

"That's right,"Lucind answered. "Are Dein and Caleph free?"

"Aye,"Griffith roared,"bet they're out of their mind with joy to see you again."

The blacksmith wasn't only widely known for his excellent metal work but also for an outstanding breeding of robust, kindly horses which always were desirable objects on the animal market of Magpie Valley.
But he always kept a small group of horses, of course to ensure offspring, but also for his family and for friends - he never wanted to be payed if someone of Greenhood rented one of his 'dears'. Nevertheless, Lucind always gave him a small present, like specialities of the 'Siren cuisine'.

After preparing the horses for the trip and fastening the bag at the saddle of 'Caleph', Lucind's black-brown, gentle stallion, brother and sister bid Griffith farewell and made their way to the plateau.

After leading their horses on a zigzag path up the slope on the south-west side of the plateau, Lucind and Larhien reached the edge of the wooded area, which was in fact mostly lower than the lake district, like a kind of pre-plateau. The soft wind that had tousled their hair was now gone between the closely standing trees, where little light fell onto the ground which was covered with dried needles and leaves and muffled the sound of the horses's hoofs.

Without aggreing on it, both Half-Sirens had fallen silent when entering the wood, but both looked rather relaxed and Caleph and Dein knew they were trotting along a safe path. A few minutes passed, when a bird-like, hoarse cry came out of one near oak. Still riding along, Larhien answered, mimicking the cry but varying its rythm. After a few seconds a rope ladder rolled along the broad stem and a man with long blue hair, braided into three long plaits in his neck, swiftly hurried down - a pair of wah sikeil stuck in a leather holster on his upper back. He turned around and smiled at brother and sister - his face was as handsome as Larhien's, though he looked more mature, older, yet his features showed no wrinkles or other signs of biological aging.

The male Siren approached them, while Lucind and Larhien got off of their horses, and touched his forehead, lips and chest with index and middle-finger in one fluid move.

Lucind replied with the same greeting gesture, then glided the reins over Caleph's neck and head, guiding him along.
"Good day, Murn'al. How are things going?"

"On the whole, everything's as fine as it could be,"he answered with his dark, smooth voice, the unmistakable strange, kind of vibrating undertone revealing that he was a pure-blood. "That rumour about wargs of the North lurking in the Nibel Forest* turned out to be wrong. Fortunately. The beast Jardem and I hunted down two weeks ago must have had wargblood in its line, though...." He frowned while he walked between Lucind and Larhien, accompanying them to the border of his guarding region.

Lucind raised her eyebrows. "Must have been a huge thing then, if you bothered to kill it."

"Indeed. Jardem and the others agreed we've never seen such a tall wolf in this area. And he showed the unusual tendency of unpredictable violent outbursts - that was why we shoot him at all."

"So everything's been quiet since then," she asked.

"Yes, the pack retreated north. We followed their track about three miles. No new sightings so far."

"Nevertheless a strange incident. What do you say, Larhien? I can't even remember when we saw wolfs here the last time..."

Larhien made some thinking-noises when he tried to call back such memories. "Well,"he concluded,"I'm not sure but I think we were told about wolfs occasionally hunting in the surrounding woods when we were kids."

Murn'al nodded. "That's right. Several decades ago there was pack that scared off the villages but didn't ever attack humans or one of us."
He stopped, for he had to return to his cabin hidden in the oak where Jardem waited with lunch for him.
"So, nice to have you back, Lucind. Suppose you're staying a while. Heard of your message. Must have been something important for Hetel said she want to announce a meeting as soon as you would arrive."

"Well erm...yes. But still nothing serious." She smiled warmly but thought: Hetel already convened a council? But I didn't tell Sarah to transmit anything explicit. Before she could go on wondering why their clan leader had done this, the male Siren continued.

"Ah, and before I forget it: We have a guest - Panha from Yel'lenidash. He arrived yesterday short after Larhien left to Feimurgin. Don't know what his visit is about,"he shrugged.

"We'll find out and tell you, lad," Larhien grinned at the other man, remembering Murn'al complaining in a rather joking meaning that he and the other guards were always the last to hear about clan news.

Bowing slightly and almost grinning, too, Murn'al thanked, then said goodbye and walked back. The others mounted their horses again. When Murn'al he was out of hearing, Larhien turned around to look at his sister and cast her a questioning glance. "Didn't you tell me your message was quite neutral...?"

"Uhn...something's going on, it seems..."

When the trees started to thin out they reached the path devided into two, one turning right the other, the one they chose, lead straight to the main-plateau.
They soon rided up a hillock or rather an embankment - standing on top of it they saw the first cabins of their clan.


(*forest north-east of the plateau)

Its door wasn't closed, so Larhien slid it open and walked in.
"Hello! I'm back...we're back."

Both siblings took off their boots - most of the floor of the Siren houses was covered with self-made, thin carpets - and put their bags next to a low table in the middle of the rather plain, yet cosy furnished main room, around which several comfy seating-cushions were placed.

"Where is she?" Larhien glanced out of the window, brushing the curtain aside which was decorated with tiny pearls and snail shells.

Lucind didn't answer but turned left, passed a heavy curtain to walk into the next room - obviously a sleeping room and from there Lucind got out of the cabin and onto a terrace just like the one Greenhood had, only that it was here directly built over the water of another lake. And right in there, about five feet away from the plank, there was a female Siren: her long bluish har hovered freely on the surface, the single strands ruffling and swaying like waterplants. As well did the Siren's clothes: the long-sleeved, light-brown cotton shirt with glimmering, harmonic-patterned braid trimmings, hold by a broad belt made of soft leather and the cloak like, dark-green cape whose translucent material seemed to change its shades in the water.
The woman stood with her back towards brother and sister, her head slightly leaned back, her arms outstretched with her palms touching the lake's surface. She was half singing, half murmuring - a mantra, maybe, or a prayer.

Lucind made some steps along the terrace and knelt down, whereas Larhien leaned against the doorframe.
Sitting on her heels, Lucind addressed the woman in the water: "May your soul be blessed by Var and her sisters and the moon's light shine upon your water," she spoke softly, cooaxing even whereupon the other Siren fell silent and slowly turned around: her features showed a striking resemblance to Lucind's and also Larhien's. Her yellow eyes were fixed on the kneeling Half-Siren, yet there was no hint of reckgnition or any other emotion. For several seconds it really seemed as if she was seeing somebody else but Lucind.
Then she blinked two times, her gaze cleared.
"Oh, my dear. There you are..."

Smiling, the Siren waded back and took a hidden staircase out of the lake and while she was doing so the water ran down her body in thin trickles so that her clothes and everything else was dry when she bent a knee, clasped Lucind's face and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
"My dear nice, I'm glad to see you back."
She stood up and gently pulled Lucind with her.

Lucind returned the smile and squeezed her aunt's hand. Secretly though she wondered why the other woman revealed almost the same signs of concern than Larhien had done the previous night - only that curiousity and a certain kind of knowledge mingled in her look.

Like a statue which instills deep respect and emanates a somehow unworldly aura, Hetel Vartenin sat cross-legged on a cosy seating cushion in front of the council, slightly risen by a platform that stretched along the back wall of the "hall of contemplation" - which was in fact a large room in the first floor of the clanleader's cabin.

Her hair seemed to be black, only the reflections caused by several paraffin lamps revealed that it was in fact of the darkest greenish blue. Parts of it were skillfully braided and fastened in a loose knot on the back of her head. The rest of the hair, which reached beyond her ankles, flew down her slim frame like springs of dark water.
There were tiny wrinkles around her mouth and her milky-yellow eyes, but these were the only hints of age her body showed.

When Lucind had entered, Hetel's eyes had already been laying on her, as if the clanleader were able to see her coming through the sliding door.
The young Half-Siren had touched forehead, mouth and chest with index and middle finger. After replying the greeting gesture, Hetel had asked Lucind to sit down, directly facing the Siren. Between them, about a metre away from the platform, there was a square hole in the floor with a deepening - the lid of this hatch that was usually put over it had been removed - so that only a couple of inches beneath the down leading wooden frame the lake's water glimmered.

Only the actual five council members were there, two Sirens on each side of the hole in the floor. Lucind immediately noticed that even Hetel's "maid", another young Siren which lent the clanleader a hand during the council meetings, wasn't there. That woman was, of course, obliged to absolute discretion.

When even she isn't allowed to hear what will be spoken, Lucind thought, then it is really a case of seriousness.

The Sirens seemed to be unmoved when the water curtain presented them the scene that Lucind had faced after running out of the café to see why everybody outside was screaming. After helping to evacuate the Merchant's Ring, you could see her approaching The Destroyer, the distorted, demonized version of Maximos.
A young, red-haired man in an obviously bad physical state desperately tried to distract the dark figure and fought against him.

I hope he's fine, Lucind thought again when she felt that memory being displayed. In the medical station of Latent someone of the Leviathan crew had told her it had been Sunstrike who protected her from being ripped by The Destroyer's sword.

The council could then see her mind's visualisation of the sould dive. Even at the sight of Lucind almost being devoured by the hell of the killer's mental core, the other Sirens kept quiet. But her resistance and psychic attack against that grotesque black knight in Maximos' soul perceivably tensed the atmosphere.
Lucind thought she could hear a gasp in the moment the mirror showed her mental and verbal calling for the help of the First Five.

After the two boys had reunited and young Maximos vanished through the door, walking away with that disguised, hooded figre, the scene suddenly changed, the ceiling of a tent was shown. Lucind broke the connection and the mirror grew smaller, until it only left some riples on the dark surface.

"So, you've never heard of him? - But that's only logical if it's true what he said." Lucind chewed on her bottom lip. "Anyway, that was why I actually sent a message. I wanted to ask your advice - maybe this shadow god really dwells on a hidden place and is about to break free."

"And we're going to inform our sisters. But in case that...god spoke the truth, we won't find the littlest hint in our archives." Hetel shrugged, than looked down at her fellow council members. " Maybe it's helpful if we even contact some of our allies. The monks, for example, or the orders of the south. Well, let's talk about that later." The others nodded, and the clanleader concentrated on Lucind again.
"Anyway, there's no harm in it when we are attentive from now on. - And I think that I begin to understand now: it seems your and our matter are connected."

Lucind slowly grew tired of the fact that the council wanted to keep its matter secret as long as possible. But she didn't obejected and answered when Hetel wanted to know what she felt when Nocturne's thoughts flooded her mind.

"I was scared. Really scared, because I realized I underestimated him, and that he was indeed ancient. But I also felt...anger." She saw Hetel slightly frowning but just went ahead. "In the same way his memories scared me, they touched...something deep inside me. It felt like an electrical tingling. And I felt so...strong in that moment. Strong. And then totally calm. - Ah well, but it only lasted for a heartbeat."

The Half-Siren thought she could see a faint smile spreading over Hetel's face but before the other women could reply, Lucind continued with a touch of impatience in her voice. "So, please, will you tell me know what's going on? Mildroa said some of you felt my invasion. What does it mean?"

"I'm sorry for putting you on the rack. I just wanted to make sure you don't misinterpret your memories by revealing you everything immediately.
- In fact, there was a mental interaction during your dive, because those of us who were 'swimming' in the lhor'aven at this moment could...kind of witness your action."

"That's...impossible." Lucind blinked in confusion.

"It is possible - namely, when you managed to open a door to the lhor'aven by yourself." Hetel's eerie eyes stared directly into Lucind's - who sat there, dazed - this time not from a conjuration - with her jaw dropped. Then she laughed and raised her brows.

"You know what you've just said...?" She looked around but all other Sirens wore the same inscrutable look like her chairwoman. "You can't be serious. Half-Sirens aren't able to connect to the lhor'aven...!"

The lhor'aven, the collective unconscious, was the pivot, the center of a female fullblood Siren. They 'swam' in it to locate hurt or damaged souls or to contact other Sirens. On a deeper level was the sphere were they had been collecting memories since the beginning of their existance.
Furthermore, it contained a region the Siren's soul reached after dying, called lhor'kuraim, 'the last sea'.
The First Five had been a manifestation of the lhor'aven.

"I know. We always though that," Hetel replied. "But think of the fact that during the last fivehundred years several Sirens were born without the ability to enter the lhor'aven. We can't exclude the possibility that our race now develops in this new kind of direction. - And to come back to this shadow god. I suppose he provoked your soul's reaction, so that you unconsciously searched for a support which was able to stand against his force."

Lucind just hummed a non-verbal answer. This 'revelation' didn't feel as spectacular as it maybe should have. In fact, what Hetel had just told felt pretty unreal and she didn't know if she was supposed to be happy or feel extraordinary now.
When she heard the clanleader's voice again Lucind realized she had absently stared on her hands.

"Of course I have to test you. Maybe it was just a single phenomenon. - But don't worry, I won't do that now. Come to me in about two weeks, please, when you've fully recovered from that dive."

"Hmm...ah, okay. I will come to see you then," Lucind murmured, than cleared her throat. "Is there anything else? Because...I'd like to visit my mother now."

This time, Hetel really showed a warm smile. "No, Lucind. You can go know."

So Lucind said goodbye to the council and left the room. Outside the cabin she took a deep breath. A dull pressure was throbbing in her temples.
She made her way out of the village, heading west, from where the sea sent a gentle breeze.

"...can you imagine that? - Maybe I should be excited now. Or maybe even worried." Lucind raised her voice and grinned at the flag. "...or maybe I should ask your son why he prefers to eavesdrop on me instead of coming close."

Larhien indeed stood several metres behind his sister and laughed. He had followed Lucind after seeing her leaving the village - he'd immediately known where she was heading to.
And Lucind had heared him but didn't turn around for she knew he would approach sooner or later.

The young man sat down close to his sister and casually waved at the marble stone. "Yo, mama^____^ Already heard, your daughter's a big hit now."

Lucind smiled. "And I don't think I like it..."

"Ah come on, I think it is really exciting," he shrugged. "What if it turns out to be true? With new powers - with these kind of new powers - you could manage so much more you've ever dreamed of. - I guess you're a peculiarity now, a case of highest interest...a sensation." Larhien beamed, then chuckled when he saw Lucind's mouth twisting.

She didn't return his laugh, even if he was only teasing, but looked thoughtful and nodded. "See, that's exactly what I don't like of this story. I'm not keen to be in such a position." She run a hand through her hair. "I know it's...stubborn...but this just feels strange - only twenty years ago, I barely had any connection to the clan - and everyone was fine with that -, and today I'm worth and interesting enough for a secret council meeting. - And besides from that: I didn't even notice anything special, no super power, no connection to the lhor'aven..."

Instead of answering Larhien wrapped his arms around her and leaned his forehead against the back of her head. "Know what," he began," I just think you're a bit scared. Of the possibilities that might present themselves to you soon..."

Was he right? Lucind leaned back, closed her eyes and listened to the wind.
What if he is right?

Do I even care...?