By the time I reached Mila's cabin again, The sun was starting to rise and Nassir was wide awake.

He sat on the floor in front of the fire, meditating. I startled him when I came in.

"Sorry, how long have you been up? Do you need anything?" I asked.

"I just got up," he said. "Don't worry about me. See? I found the wood."

Indeed he had knocked over a portion of wood I had brought in and set next to the fireplace. He seems to have gotten some of it in the fire too, and the flames that were burning low overnight were now full of life and dancing on the logs.

I smiled at how quickly he adapted to the new surroundings, then I tugged the stone from my boot. "Nassir, I'm going to hand you something. Do you think you could tell me if you've encountered it before?"

"Hm, let's find out." He reached out and let me place the stone in his palm, and he went rigid.

I was afraid something had happened to him. His face was in shock and he didn't move for several heartbeats. I knelt beside him and whispered. "Nassir?"

He didn't react. I sat back on my heels and bit my lower lip, wondering what my next move should be, when suddenly he gasped and fell backward.

"Nassir!" I rushed to help him back to a sitting position, then I grabbed a cup and filled it from a bucket of water I had filled last night. "Here, drink something."

He nodded, still catching his breath and held a hand out for me to help him find the cup. He drained it in a moment and turned his head toward me. "Visions from Lark."

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "I saw them too. She sent witchlights for me, I think she must have set this up a long time ago because the stone was half buried when I found it."

"Hmm," Nassir was now his composed and thoughtful self again, nodding slowly and setting down the empty cup. "I'm not familiar with witchlights, can you tell me?"

"They are like a beacon, they draw the attention of the intended target. Sometimes they lead you somewhere, like today," I explained. "I wonder why I hadn't seen them before."

He sighed and tapped his chin, a habit I had started to notice of him since we came into the light where I could see him. He sighed through his nose and crossed his arms. "I'm wondering if you weren't meant to see it as a small child. Perhaps this was meant for you once you came into your powers."

"That would make sense," I said. "That was quite a risk though. How did she know I would come back this way when it was time? I could have moved far away from these mountains, I could have never wanted to see this place again."

"That, I don't know," Nassir said. "But rather than dwell on what did not happen, why don't we look at what did. What is it you plan to do with this information?"

I sighed and pulled the old grain sack tighter around me. Mother and Stars, what I wouldn't do for a fresh set of clothing right now.

"First, I need to rescue Schula," I said and Nassir nodded. "Then, I want to get far away from here. I think, I'm not sure, but I think my father could be that person in the cloak. Or at least he was Lark's lover."

"I think you are right. She mentioned to me only once that she had a love, but she did not tell me more than that," Nassir said.

"There has to be a reason she wouldn't have told you about him," I grumbled, frustrated. "I know you were important to her."

"I think I know who, or at least what, was under that cape," Nassir said. "And I'm not sure what that would mean for you, but you don't smell like a fae, or a dryad, or a sprite, or any number of other things I'm very familiar with in the Wyldes. It's very hard to place with the witch blood mixed in there, but now I'm more and more sure of what your other half could be."

I sucked in a breath, my heart pounding. Finally, the last piece of the puzzle. "What clue do you have to the male in the cloak?" I asked.

"Hm, in the last vision they speak of it as a place, but I know it as something else," Nassir said. "Eidelhein the elvish word for 'last stand'. The last cry of the elven king before he was killed in the War of the Wyldes."

The elves.

I remember Cosimo's lessons well. The little satyr who took me through the Autumn Library. A memory flashed across my mind of my fingers brushing the great mural over a group of exiled elves.

Cosimo's voice still rang in my ears. 'The elves were nearly decimated. Heh, now there was a faction that left cursing our names. They were banished from the Wyldes. Our kind doesn't live well outside the magic of our lands. I think they numbered five males anyway, so even if they live there remain only five.'

It felt like the wind was knocked out of me. Eidelhein. Last stand.

"Nassir," I swallowed. "Can the elves have children with any other races? The fae? Or, or humans?"

"Before today, I would have told you no," he said softly. "Now, I'm not as sure."

We sat in silence while I mulled over the implications. If I wasn't a fae, or anything else of the Wyldes, and Thain couldn't place what I was, and he was quite old himself, could I be a...?

"I think I need to take a walk," I said. "Um, I won't be gone long, I'll go find us some more food."

"Take all the time you need, little one," Nassir said. "I will continue my meditation."

I nodded and stood on shaky legs. The more questions I answered the more new ones I formed.

I left the cabin, closing the door behind me and walked toward a patch of trees I could sometimes find late season walnuts in. It was a mindless path for my feet to take, and I let my head wander.

I reached up and felt the curve of my ears. I had thought when they grew that they were longer than I could expect, but I didn't have much time to dwell on it since Asher took me quickly after that. Were they different than Thain's? Eberon's? Schula's? I still hid them under my mass of hair, I doubt Thain had a good look at them on our wild escape from the Winter lands.

I briefly wondered what my fae friends would think of my. Half witch, half elf, if that was even truly what I was. Though it was starting to settle into my and make sense if it were true. I gave a small laugh out loud, my breath clouding in the crisp air before me.

Half enemy, half mistrusted neighbors. Wonderful. They had no reason to trust me now. Even if they did, there was no way I could stay with them in the Wyldes.

DuVarick had said it was obvious what I was. Maybe he was old enough to know the elves. From what he said, Baeleon was too, and would be mad about it.

Being part elf would explain why I still smelled like the Wyldes, but if they were exiled so long ago, how did a witch find them, and how had they survived outside the magic lands for so long?

I sighed as I came up to the walnut grove and began kicking the leaves on the ground, searching for whatever walnuts the squirrels hadn't gotten to already.

I gave up after a while, guessing the squirrels had eaten or hidden everything already, and sat down under a large tree.

I picked up a leaf and played with it a minute, before calling up my fire and burning it. It went up in an instant, leaving plenty of smoke in its wake since the leaves were damp.

I sat there for a while, burning up leaves one by one. I knew at some point I had to go back, but I wasn't sure what to say. Or do, for that matter. I still wanted to rescue Schula, which we would do, but then what?

Lark had wanted to get Nassir out, which I guess I already did. Should I see if he wanted to go do Eidelhein? That was Lark's plan anyway. The cloaked figure, presuming he was an elf, did say they had a way to fix his vision. I wondered if that was true, and I wondered if Nassir would come with me. Maybe once Schula was safe we could travel south and try to find Eidelhein.

Yes, if I found Eidelhein maybe I could find Lark's lover and possibly my father. And answers.

I stood up and brushed the fallen leaves and dirt off of my pants and began to walk back to Mila's place. The trail didn't seem long enough for what I wanted to ask at the other end. I hadn't known Nassir long, but already I felt close with him. Would he come with me? Surely his knowledge would be valuable for finding this place. Or would he not want anything to do with the elves?

I sighed as the cabin came into view. I kicked a pebble in the path and headed toward the door. Then, on the light winter breeze, I caught a familiar scent.

Thain was back!

My heart skipped a beat, eager to see him and then sank when I realized I had some new truths to tell him. I squared my shoulders and grimaced as I pulled open the door.

"Wren, you're here," Thain turned to me with a rare small smile. He looked tired, which he must be since I doubt he had much time to spend with Eberon before running back here. I gave him a smile in return, and went to the bed to sit by Nassir. His presence was becoming a comfort, like an uncle I never knew I had.

"Thain, we um, found out some more things while you were gone, I think," I mumbled. I didn't want to hide anything from him, and if he was going to be apprehensive of me after all this, I wanted to know. I wanted to get it all out now and whatever happened could happen.

"What is it?" he asked.

I took a deep breath and pulled my hair back from my ears. I blushed as I turned so he could see them clearly.

"I got a message from Lark," I said softly. "And I'm not so sure I'm a fae anymore."

Thain was quiet as he stared with that blank expression of his.

I steeled myself for whatever reaction he would have as I let my hair fall back over my ears. Nassir seemed to sense my nerves and he reached over to hold my hand.

"This changes nothing," Thain finally said. "You are still you, Wren."

A small knot formed in my throat. Thain all but confirmed our suspicions.

"But it does change things," I sighed.

"It doesn't," Thain insisted. "You are still Wren. We will go to Icehold, find Schula, and get out without being caught."

"But what about after that?" I balled my fists in frustration. "Do you think I can just waltz back into Thanantholl like this? Do you think Baeleon will be excited to see he entertained an elf-witch?"

Now the stupid tears started and hated them, but I'd always been easy to cry. But I was angry too, and I gritted my teeth as I kept going. "We need to find Schula first. Let's do that, and then I can worry about what I do next."

Thain sighed and came over to me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders as he lifted me off the bed into a hug.

I gasped as my feet left the floor. "Thain..." I choked out weakly.

"Whatever you do, you will do it with our help, understand?" His rough low voice vibrated through my bones as I sobbed into his shoulder. I managed to nod, which he accepted as my agreement, and he set me back down on the bed by Nassir.

Nassir hugged me and Thain kneeled in front of us. "I don't want you to worry about this right now," he said. "Right now, we finish our plans for Schula. Here, I brought you something."

He turned to the table for a moment and grabbed a bag I hadn't noticed before. He pulled out a black tunic in the style Schula and now I had taken to wearing when we train. I was beyond caring about changing in front of anyone as I had been living in a breast band and torn pants for days now. I happily threw the borrowed grain sack in the corner of the room and pulled the tunic over my head.

"There are clothes for you and Nassir in there, and cloaks, and a set of Winter court servant uniforms," Thain said. "Courtesy of Eberon, who sends his regards."

I bit the inside of my cheek and I know the worry slipped onto my expression when Thain interrupted my thoughts. "Eberon will not hate you. Schula will not hate you. Right now, we go over the plan, and that is all we need to worry about for now. Alright?"

Nassir squeezed my hand and I leaned into him.

"Alright," I said. "Let's hear the plan."