Kyle woke to Llandra touching him on the arm.  Her scent filled his nose, and mind.  She was looking at him with her light green eyes but saying nothing.

Wearing a serious look, she stepped away as he came fully awake.  Kyle was about to ask what was wrong, when she held a finger toward him and with the other hand pointed out the window.

Uncle Martin was walking up the drive.  In his hands were several plastic bags and on his back he had two small school backpacks.

"Why am I being quiet?"  Kyle whispered.  "He's not even in the house."

Llandra pointed at a shelf near the door.  He still did not get it, so she tipped toed over and pointed with enthusiasm at a small statue sitting on the shelf.

Kyle had never seen it before.  Touching it with his magic, he got a slight shock.  It felt like static electricity when you shuffled your feet and touched metal.  Hurts, but not alot.

Thinking hard, he had an idea.  Thinking not about the statue he instead saw the shelf and the objects behind the little statue.  With a pulling motion he brought the old trophy forward and it drug the statue with it to the floor.

Taking her towel from the night before, Llandra tossed it over the whole mess.  Then she tipped toed back to the window.

Sure enough, Martin was standing still and looking as if he was trying to understand something.  Then he looked cross and picked up his pace.

Kyle waisted no time.  He got dressed and stood facing the door while she changed into leggings from that were in her small carry all bag at her hip.

They walked out together to a Martin opening bags and sorting the objects inside.  Food stuffs he placed on the counter and others he put into piles on the floor.  To Kyle, it had a rhythm of a man used to doing this often.

"I see you too have decided to get moving." Martin said pleasantly.  "Ah, to be young and sleep forever."

"How old are you, anyway?" Kyle tried to keep it light.  His dislike of the man was making it hard for him.

Thinking for a moment the elder man said, "Have not thought about it in a while.  I would have to guess that my 'real' age is about a hundred and thirty.  Give or take a year."

"If I'm a Wizard too then how come I age normally?"  Kyle just had to ask.

"Actually, your right on track."  Martin said as he continued to unpack and sort.

"I'm in my twenties here, and look like it." 

"Yes, but it's not till the older years that you'll notice.  When these people hit fifty their hairs gray and the body begins to sag.  For us that is at one hundred." 

Kyle walked over and began to go through the pile on the floor.  It was winter gear and things like sterno cans, along with lighters and the like.  Kyle quipped out, "Thought Wizards could lite a fire with their mind?"

"True.  Tell me, though, what do you do when your magic has failed or your too tired to conjure, hmm?"  Martin was using his teacher voice.

Kyle had not even thought of that.  So much to learn and so little time.   What did he do if he relied on his magic too much and it failed?  It had not occurred to him that it could fail.  He would have to ask Llandra later.  He still did not trust Martin and the statue confirmed that.

"We  will leave at noon, after we check that we all have what we will need for the trip to her Mother Tree."  Martin said after a brief silence covered the room.  Llandra was overly quiet during all of the preparations and had made a meal of oatmeal and grits that she had found in the cupboard.

Martin noted her but seemed to mostly to ignore the winged women moving about.  It reminded Kyle of a lord simply ignoring the help.  Kyle had to wonder if he was going to like his wizard home.  As a child of this world he had been drilled to accept all races and peoples as one.  The thought of  treating a whole race as a slave race was disgusting to him.

"What are we going to do if the Oaken return, Martin?"  Kyle asked as the plastic bags emptied and all that Martin had bought was sorted.

Thinking, the older wizard said finally, "I guess we could send them back the way you did yesterday."

Kyle sensed the lie as it came out of the man's mouth.  Kyle had the feeling that the next time that he faced the Oaken that they will have new orders, or programming as it where.  He kind of thought of them as robots.  Emotionless things with orders that they had to follow.

Going along with the lie the younger man let the topic go.  They had other issues to deal with and it was plain that the trip into his homeworld was not going to be easy.  If Llandra's people had no fear in sending the Oaken after her than they would have no fear in attacking her openly.  If they did each this Mother Tree, they might actually need the older Wizard.

#####

Martin had gone so far as too get them a ride to the swamps where Kyle first found Llandra.  It seemed a week ago, but it had been only two days since they had found each other.

If the rented driver thought it strange that two men and a winged women were going for a walk into the snowy woods he said nothing.  Uncle Martin probably paid him enough to say nothing.  Kyle heard Martin tell the man to move the pick up in the drive.
When they got out and packs shouldered.

It was a short walk to a open pond that was partly frozen.  It looked like a small swamp with a island in the middle.  Two trees grew on the island, so close together that they made a vee with their trunks and came back together ten feet up the top.

"This is where I crossed."  Llandra said.  "There's another way over but it was blocked from this side so we went for this one."

"You were attacked soon after weren't you, Llandra."  Kyle touched her shoulder.  She had led them here and still had not turned to face them.

"I had no idea a Passing Gate was in these swamps."  Martin said aloud. 

This made the younger two glance sideways at him, then at each other.  Kyle could not tell if it was sincere or put on, but either way they were going to cross no matter what.

Llandra walked across the frozen water and onto the island, right up to the two trees.  Without waiting she stepped into and through the gap in the trees.

An uncontrolled gasp left Kyle as she disappeared.  Martin let out a honest burst of laughter at Kyle's surprise.  Feeling silly, the younger man followed Llandra boldly.

Warmer and fresher air hit him like a blast.  Then he tripped over llandra's prone body.  Nearly falling on top of her, he leapt to the side.  Martin stepped out of the gap in the trees and stopped to assess the situation.

"Something has happened to the fairie girl."  Martin said with dead calm.