The canal gave the news to Kaelin before the others were told.  She and the other Meovanni citizens had assembled at the market square at nightfall for the official word.  Nearby Yrdnal was destroyed by a Vamp invasion.  The invaders had left the town to burn.  There were no survivors.

    Furres left that meeting with shock, anxiety, and fear.  The attack was much too close to home.  It seemed like everyone knew of someone else who had died there.  Some furres grumbled at the soldiers of Xte, blaming them for destroying their world.  Kaelin knew that they could be right.  She walked into the field.  She began to believe that this was her fault.

    She looked up at the sky.  The stars radiated joyously as if they felt the presence of a sweetheart.  It was as if the loving thought of just one furre sparked their twinkles and responded with intensity.  The stars felt as if they were hope, Kaelin thought.  If a furre held them like she held water, that furre would be always happy.

    "Over there!" shrieked a girl happily from nearby.

    Kaelin looked to her right at the two children laying down in the field.  She smiled.  Gorian was one of them.  His teal hair was the brightest she had ever seen.  He definitely did not get that from his great-grandfather.  The black striped, pale girl on his left was pointing up at the stars.  Instantly Kaelin knew it was Moonlit Star.

    "That's my grandfather?" Gorian asked, "I thought you said it was that one."
 
    He pointed to an impressive cluster of stars above his head.  He smiled at the brilliance of the sky, almost as if it were a yearning, Kaelin noted.  He was very much like his ancestor, only much younger.  She let out a low chuckle.  She had wished to see her friend as a child and it appeared that she got that wish in the form of a descendant.

    "No, no," Moonlit Star laughed, still pointing, "Its this one, see?  There's his sword!  And this over there is his big shield, the stars that look like a circle."

    As if on cue, the circle of stars shone with such a familiar brilliance.  Kaelin was taken aback.  She saw it.  Was it possible that Moonlit Star was able to control the stars like she, herself, could control water?  She would had been an infant when the elements were scattered ...

    "How did you do that?" Gorian asked in an astonished whisper.

    "I don't know," his friend said, "It happens a lot.  Watch this ... "

    She pointed her finger to one star and slowly moved her paw to her right.  The star shone brighter than Liixte, normally the brightest star in the night sky.  The object began to move.  It was following her finger toward the right.  Then her paw stopped and the star stayed still.

    Gorian exhaled.  It was if he had stopped breathing throughout this performance.  Kaelin's heart rate was rapid as she realized that she too was holding her breath at the sight before her.  She felt the fountain beyond overflowing and decided to calm herself down before she flooded the town.

    "I'll put it back," Moonlit Star said as she moved her finger back to the left, "I don't think its good to do this."

    Kaelin did not move until the star was back in one place.  Once it was, she blinked as if she were a kitten opening her eyes for the first time.  She had to protect his friend.  Moonlit Star must be protected from the evil that is approaching.  She would protect Gorian too even though he appears not to have any power.

    "Gorian," Kaelin called, "Its time to go home.  Moonlit Star, your parents are probably looking for you."

    The two children took notice of her for the first time.  The girl brushed her long blood red hair back away from her eyes to look at Kaelin.  She looked as if she was annoyed that Kaelin would send her home, but then realizing that she could do nothing about it, she stood up.  Gorian followed her actions.  He knew that Kaelin could order him around.  There the two stood in front of Kaelin.  The girl dressed in simple black clothing, the boy in simple light blue clothing.

    "Ok," Moonlit Star replied, "I'll see you tomorrow Gorian."

    Kaelin watched her run through the field to the lit houses of Meovanni.  That was quite a gift she had, Kaelin thought.  She only hoped that Moonlit Star would strengthen that gift and call the stars her friends, instead of using them for entertainment.  Or worse still, for evil.

    "Did you see that, Kaelin?" Gorian asked enthusiastically, "She moved a star!  She moved my grandfather's star!"

    Kaelin motioned Gorian to her side.  They began their trip home under the watchful skies.  She was silent, as if she did not hear his questions.  Her mind was in full gear, thinking of possibilities and fantasies, most of them were not good.  She needed a distraction.

    Water.

    She felt for water and relaxed.  A storm was coming.  That should take her mind off these things.  Evil was not here yet.  There was nothing she could really do until it came.  She can only protect for now.

    She stopped at her door and opened it.  Gorian ran inside, still talking about his friend's possession of the stars.  She only realized then that she was ignoring him and started to nod as if responding.  She closed the door.  She heard an approaching bang of storm.  Her distraction was almost here.

    "Time for you to go to bed," Kaelin told Gorian.

    "I could stay up a little while," he suggested.

    "Gorian?" she said.

    "Yeah?"

    "Bed."

    Gorian stuck his tongue out at her.  He raced around the right wall and vanished.  Hopefully he would listen, Kaelin thought.  She went into her room and sat on her small straw bed.  As she removed her black robe and sword she thought of Moonlit Star, Pidth, and her dead friends.  She needed that distraction now.

    Another bang gave her the confirmation that that distraction would soon be here.  Sure enough, she felt the water tapping on her roof.  Her back straightened as she concentrated on one droplet.  She felt the journey of water sliding down the straw, glued together by kaolinite.  The droplet reached the end of the slide.  Her concentration intensified as the water stretched from the straw's edge.  Kaelin slumped as she felt the liquid fall.  The back of her head slammed into her pillow as the droplet splattered along the grasses outside.

    Kaelin exhaled slowly.

    The knock at the door jolted her back out of bed.  Why would someone be out in the rain, she thought, half forgetting that she of all furres loved being out in the rain.  She blinked.  She could not feel the rain hitting anyone outside.  She looked toward the door and wondered if she had been dreaming.

    "I can get that!" Gorian called from behind her left wall.

    "No you can't, because you're asleep!" Kaelin shouted.  Apparently it was not a dream, she mumbled.  Feeling that her distraction was being wasted by the intruder she stormed to the door and whisked it open.  She gasped.

    A brown child was being held by pink paws owned by a furre wrapped in a hooded violet robe.  Amazingly the rain was actually avoiding them, as if directly above their heads was clear sky.  Kaelin looked at the child, thinking it was a fellow villager, but she did not recognize him.  She did notice the large cut just above his left eye.  She motioned the pink furre inside.

    "What happened?" Kaelin said taking the child.  She laid him on her bed and inspected his cut.  It was clean and partially healed.  She kneeled and laid her paw on his forehead, burying some of her fingers into his dark green hair.  He murmured something in response, but she could not make it out.

    "He fell," the stranger said.

    "He must've fell off a house to get a cut like this," Kaelin observed.

    "He fell off a cliff."

    Kaelin faced the stranger and looked into her hood.  She had hoped to make out a face, but all she saw was darkness.  There were no cliffs near here, she thought.  She immediately remembered the rain, or lack there of above the stranger.

    "Who are you?" Kaelin asked.

    The stranger's paws reached for her hood and gently brushed it aside.  The revealed face smiled at her.  Kaelin felt her jaw slacken and fought for it to stay closed.  She did not succeed.

    "Damoxte," Kaelin managed to say.

    "Yes," Damoxte said sternly, looking at the weapons hanging on the left wall, "For shame Kaelin.  Was the last hundred years so comfortable that you would leave your sword beyond reach?"

    "If it was you who harmed this child," she answered, clenching her teeth, "I will make sure you'll feel the reach of my sword."

    "Don't insult me," the pink furre said as her smile disappeared, "I did not harm the child.  He's the only survivor of Yrdnal.  I saved him."

    "Kaelin?"

    The two furres looked by the door to see Gorian standing there, looking concerned.  Kaelin did not know how long he was there or how much he had listened to.  She winced as she remembered the night he was brought in, but by a different furre.

    "Hello Gorian," Damoxte said, smiling at the boy.

    "Do I know you?" he asked, very confused.

    "Gorian, please go back to bed," Kaelin plead.

    "But I wasn't even in bed in the first place."

    "Go to bed!" she ordered almost viscously at the boy.  She regretted yelling at him as soon as she said it.  She had never raised her voice to him before.  She enjoyed raising him so much and tolerated his often mischievous attitude.  But tonight, she had so little patience.  The yelling did the trick, however, because in a flash Gorian had gone back to his room.

    "Very good Kaelin, looks like you haven't lost your knack with ordering your soldiers," Damoxte said, "I have a present for you, well, actually, it belongs to this kid."

    She watched the pink paws reach into the robe, taking out an angled instrument.  It was a small crossbow.  Damoxte rotated it so that Kaelin could see all the angles and features.  The furre of water tried to deny the familiarity.

    "You recognize it, don't you?" Damoxte asked.

    "Yes," Kaelin said reluctantly, "It's Kliam's."

    "It was handed down throughout his family history," the pink furre said pointing at the child, "Lastly, to his father, who regretfully, is dead."

    Kaelin looked back at the sleeping child.  It appeared as if he was crying in his sleep.  Just as the thought went through her head, the boy coughed and tears began to drip from his eyes.  She returned her paw to his forehead, hoping to soothe his pain.  His entire family killed, she thought, just like Gorian's family seven years ago.  It looked as if the two boys were the same age, about eleven years old.

    "What's his name?" she asked.

    "Mar.  But since he's from Yrdnal, the family name is joined with his name, so officially, its Markliam.  He had a younger sister too, but she's gone now."

    "Who killed them?" Kaelin whispered, not wanting to wake the child.

    "The Earth did."

    Just like Gorian's family.

    "Why would he do this?  He helped us fight the demons, why help them now?  Why would he hurt his own family?"

    "He wants total control," Damoxte answered, "Its a very tempting concept, I'll admit that.  I'm almost glad Dark Harvest put a stop to me."

    "Dark Harvest?" Kaelin said, standing up, "He was the one who brought Gorian here."

    "I know."

    "Why couldn't you two prevent this?" she asked, "This isn't an orphanage.  These boys deserve to be raised by their families, not by someone who owns the house they wake up in the next morning."

    "I can't remain in this form for very long, Kaelin."

    Kaelin knew that only meant one thing ...

    "We have to find and protect the hosts of the elements," Damoxte said, "And of course protect the descendants of the four officers of Xte."

    "I don't have descendants," Kaelin muttered, "And neither do you.  But I will protect these two.  There's also a little girl in this village.  I think she possesses the element of stars."

    "I suggest you keep that information from the earth or else one day the land may swallow that little girl," Damoxte stretched her arms to her back and pulled the hood back over her face, "Your job is clear.  But remember that the elements take precedence.  Protect the girl first and the boys second."

    Damoxte walked toward the door and opened it.  Kaelin followed and held the door.  The two furres looked into each others faces.  Kaelin was not sure, but she could have sworn Damoxte was smiling.  This time out of assurance that everything would be fine.

    "It was good to see you again," Kaelin said, "I had actually missed your guidance."

    "You were my best student," the hooded furre replied, "I will see you again."

    Kaelin watched Damoxte walk outside and down the path surrounded by blurry lit houses.  The lightning overhead distracted her vision for just a second, but it was enough.  Her teacher had vanished.  Kaelin blinked in amazement.  She had never heard Damoxte compliment her before.

    Kaelin sighed as she turned around, shutting the door.  A flash from the lighting lit the room, making her gasp.  Another furre was inside, looking down at the child.  Kaelin immediately wished that her sword was by her side.  But then her logical thought had set in and she immediately relaxed.

    "Gorian," she whispered, "What are you doing up?"

    "He's hurt, isn't he?" he responded, "Did I look like this when I was brought in here, by this ... this Dark Harvest?"

    "You didn't look this bad, but still shaken up," she replied.  She knew there was no way she could make him go to sleep now.  She knew that there was going to be a long conversation about his past.  There was also going to be a chat about plans to incorporate the new boy into the home.  She would answer his questions as much as she could, but she would not reveal everything yet.  But she will protect him from the evils that want to kill him.

Chapter 3