“Wonder where I am?”

All around her was barren land with little signs of life. The skies were dark and cloudy and in the distance, lightning flashed its awesome power. Kisa looked up the rocky edge of the highland. “Do I have to climb that?” Sighing, she transferred her sword onto her back and started scaling the High Plateau (though unbeknownst to her). Upon reaching the top, she peered over and frowned.

“Still as dead-looking as below…”

She hoisted herself over the edge and stared in displeasure at the bleak land all around her.

“Why is everything here so… desolate?”

A few gray trees and shrubs dotted the landscape and a cold, biting wind began to blow. Again she sighed and putting her sword back to her side, continued along. A few hours of hiking and suddenly, a cold rain began to fall. Panicking, she ran for shelter, spying a cave some distance deeper into the land. It hadn’t become apparent to her that the further she went into this forbidding place the harder it rained. Upon reaching the cave, she sat on the floor and shivered, realizing it was quite cold.

“Whoa… how’d it get freezing all of the sudden?”

She shook her head and droplets of water flew in all directions

“I hope it doesn’t flood in here…”

As she went deeper inside, looking for a warmer and dryer spot to rest, she heard a distinct noise from outside. Standing still, she listened for it again. Her eyes widened as she realized that these were people speaking in a strange tongue. Kisa froze, her heart beating fast in her ears.

“What am I going to do? If they find me, they’ll most probably put me in jail! What am I gonna do?”

The voices were getting nearer. < Maybe they won’t come in here… I hope not, I don’t want to fight anyone now… > But her hoping was in vain as three figures entered the mouth of the cave. They were tall and lean, very pale-skinned and had bleached white hair. The tallest held twin crescent blades; the second had revolving leaf-shaped knives around his head. The third she could not see as he or she was speaking to someone out in the rain. The first two proceeded deeper into the cave and Kisa gripped the hilt of her sword tight, steeling herself for a hostile encounter. Suddenly, they saw her and cried out to the other two before advancing towards her, readying to attack if she would give them the chance. Quickly, Kisa brandished her sword preparing to fight her way out to escape. A desperate battle would have commenced had not a voice stopped them in their tracks. It was a girl’s voice speaking fluently in the common trade language.

“What is all this?”

The three turned towards the voice and Kisa’s eyes widened in shock, her jaw dropping. A young girl appeared and she wore clothes bearing the unmistakable signs of the Lotus, Kisa has seen those before, but her features! She looks like she comes from the Dragon clan! She too looked startled at the sight of her and stared at Kisa (while Kisa did too) Looking at the girl even closer, she noticed a few unusual things. < she was kinda tall and a little pale, a little like the others but her eyes… > Almond shaped like those of Kisa's brethren and were of a pale violet hue, the color of the sky when dawn firsts touches it with the rising sun. The color of her hair too was different from those of her companions. Darker than the black night sky, it fell straight and grazed her shoulders. Kisa continued to stare until the girl smiled pleasantly at her. The last of the group, a man had followed her inside. He was somewhat different from the first two, straight, white hair reached his legs and he wore a dark violet robe with bands of yellow across it. An aura of cold dignity could be felt within his presence. He carried no weapon and yet, Kisa knew she would rather face the armed ones in combat than this one. He frowned at her and spoke to the strange girl in the Averiun. However, she interrupted him and said. “Speak in the common language, Giron. Our guest may not understand what you are saying.”

Again he persisted speaking in the Lotus but she shook her head and said somewhat sorrowfully. “You would start disobeying me now? After all those years of more demanding orders?”

His eyebrows went up in alarm and muttered. “No… of course not, Lady Ferendil…”

She smiled at him happily before facing the other two. “Please give her some room. We must be courteous to our guest.”

They quickly withdrew and stood behind the pair. Silence again before, seeing Kisa still watchful, the other said reassuringly.

“Do not worry, we have no reason to cause harm to you. True, you have trespassed quite deep into the High Plateau, our clan’s territory and you have not shown the required trade papers to allow yourself in but you must have a good reason. Pray tell us, perhaps we can help.”

Still suspicious, Kisa eased her stance a little and replied, “I’m just going on a journey to find out a few things. Along the way, I was mugged and held captive by thieves until I escaped last night with only my sword left.”

A concerned look appeared on the girl’s face.

“Mugged? By bandits from the Serpent?”

Kisa thought for a moment.

“I’m not sure… They were all wearing black and had hoods over their faces.”

The girl frowned but before she could reply, the man spoke to her.

“Even if that did happen, this girl is still trespassing on our land without a permit and by the law of territory she must serve a sentence until we find out who she really is and if she does have the necessary papers to enter here.”

Kisa looked very alarmed at the word “sentence” and began to protest.

“But it wasn’t my fault that I was robbed!”

The man replied harshly.

“We only have your word for that and that, my dear girl, will not get you anywhere here.”

Kisa stamped her foot in indignation and glared at him.

“Are you calling me a liar?!?”

The man sneered at her.

“I did not say that but,” he said looking at her scoffingly. “if it fits…”

“Enough!”

The two stopped and turned towards the girl. Obviously irritated, she gave the man a look before returning her attention to Kisa once more.

“I’m afraid what he says is true.” She said looking sadly at Kisa. “We have no choice but to take you with us.”

Again, Kisa began to protest but she held up her hand to silence her and continued.

“However, I will use whatever influence I have to lighten your sentence. Will that be acceptable?”

Kisa looked mournfully at her. “Do I have a choice?”

She smiled weakly in return. “I’m afraid not.”

Heaving a great sigh, Kisa responded. “Okay, okay. I’ll go…”

A smile lit up the girl's face. “Come then. We must hurry or I will be missed.”

As she led the way, Kisa noticed something on her back. It looked like a pole swathed in a large amount of white cloth. < What’s that? Looks like a spear… > Reaching the mouth of the cave, the girl began to put on a white cloak with runes written in silver on its fringes and a silver Lotus symbol on the right of its hood. Again, it hit Kisa with all the force of a deja vu. < A white cape? … Why does that seem to remind me of something? White… white… > The girl turned to her and signaled for her to follow. Kisa stopped at the entrance and looked up. The dark sky poured forth the freezing rain ceaselessly.

“Shouldn’t we wait for the rain to stop?”

The cloaked figure laughed and her companion threw an amused glance at her. “We would have to wait long if not forever.” She waved an arm to their surroundings. “You are in the Land of Perpetual Rain and the sky will only stop weeping for very special reasons.”

Still grinning, she looked over to the dark-robed man. “Do we have any extra cloaks?”

He reached into his robes and gave a black bundle to Kisa. She felt it, the fabric was well made and a silver Lotus emblem adorned its back. Seeing her looking at it skeptically, the girl sighed in impatience.

“Wearing it will not turn you into one of us, you know.” Slightly abashed, she hurriedly put it on and followed them into the rain.