The routine was days old: an early morning training session, breakfast at the inn and cleaning out Spirit's stable, which included an array of contusions from bites, nips and wayward hooves. Most times Nic managed to check his annoyance other he chased the animal around the paddock threatening to separate Spirit from his manhood. A particularly bad day had forced Nic to learn to sew holes in his tunic, much to Caleb's amusement.

After the circus in the paddocks, target practice in the Aldo-a skill Nic had apparent apt for. He knew Caleb was impressed by the small nods the pyra gave. It was rare for Caleb to compliment Nic on anything but taking care of his horse, so nods were all the indication he got.

Caleb would then escort Nic to the old library behind the council hall. Studies involved reading-and reporting on- archaic as well as records, old diaries, maps, gigantic books and long scrolls. Anything on the different customs and nations of Hanarah. The recorded documentation of pyra's traversing through Hanarah were by far the easiest to read. Pyra Cassador's name appeared quite a few times, his adventures varying from diplomatic negotiations with the mer to exploration of the Ruck'nomda mountains at Hanarah's heart. Not many mentioned the dwarves and even fewer detailed them.

In one diary, Cassador recalled how he had first been beaten and imprisoned before they would talk to him. Of course back then he was just Pyra Cassador, not the Pyra Cassador. Nic sometimes found difficult to believe the different encounters the man faced and wondered what kind of man he would meet behind the name. A man aware of all his senses, or one with delusions and myths. How was plausible was it travelling a whole mountain range without food or water only to endure days of torture from men double his size?

Languages were his next lesson: Elfish and the feirie tongue were very similar,. The roll of the tongue and elegant swishes in the language were beautiful, more like a song than a language. Both originated from the Old Tongue, a language long forgotten besides for a select few who knew it.

Caleb was fluent in all five of Hanarah's languages. The merish was strange; it involved short abrupt clicks from the tongue, or hissing through the teeth. Pronunciation was a chore, and by the end of the lesson Nic had to massage his cheeks. Caleb assured Nic that most pyree didn't bother with merish, just like they did not bother with dwarfish. The tongue of the dwarves was more like a man beating on a drum than a language. They had groans and grunts that normal humans could not even begin to make.

After studying Nic would have another sparring lesson with Caleb, and after that a riding with weapons lesson. Caleb had suggested Nic teach Spirit a few secret instructions too, so that in the midst of battle a little nudge here or there might save both beast and man's life.

Spirit fought against Nic at every turn. Thrown onto the floor numerous times and bitten as well as trodden on, Nic had more bruises from the horse than from the sparring lessons with Caleb. By the time the day was done, Nic could hardly lift his fork to his mouth and dreamt of the moment he dropped onto his bed.

The thought now bugged him as he sat in the saddle, teaching Spirit. It was early evening and he was still at the stables with his horse, even though he had been expected back at the inn a while back. He had decided on a secret code he would use with the horse, a series of small foot movements.

"I know, I know,"Nic growled, "I'm hungry too."

Spirit danced on the spot and looked towards the stables. He knew what waited for him: A full bucket of oats to eat and a brush down.

Nic tapped Spirit's left side with his toe twice, the signal to walk. Spirit obeyed. It had been the first thing he had taught the horse. Trot had come naturally to Spirit but canter was proving a nuisance. Nic tapped his right toe against the horse's side.

"Come on boy, that was canter!" he pulled on the reins and Spirit stopped. "Let us try again?" Nic tapped twice again with his left toe, Spirit obeyed. He waited before tapped twice with his right and to his surprise, Spirit sprang into a canter. "Good boy!" Nic said breathlessly. He repeated the process three more times and then decided to retire for the day.

In the stall Nic brushed the dark coat as the stallion munched on his bucket of oats. Caleb always said the way a man treats his animals is a reflection of his soul. Nic looked at the dark, shiny coat and wondered if that meant he was a sinister diamond. Nic combed his fingers through the long mane running like a black waterfall down the crest of the stallion's neck. Spirit, chomped his oats and closed his eyes, clearly enjoying the attention. Nic smiled, patted the strong neck and said goodnight.

When he entered the inn he was met with loud chatter and laughter. Yollie smiled at him and indicated to a table in the far corner. Caleb was there, sitting with his back to him, talking with three other pyree. Nic pushed his way through the full inn towards the table.

"Ah, here's your boy, Caleb." Said the one pyra.

Caleb turned around, "Nic! Where have you been? We have been waiting for you."

"Finally, we can eat!" the pyra to Caleb's left rubbed his hands together eagerly.

Caleb leaned closer and sniffed, "By the gods, you stink of horse. Do us all a favour and take a bath once you have eaten. Yollie! Five house specials!" Caleb barely raised his voice and yet still managed to be heard by Yollie, who nodded across the room.

"Sit, sit Nicky. Pull up a chair and join us." Said the pyra to Caleb's left.

Nic pulled up a chair and nodded to the other Pyree. Pyra Benyam was a short, slightly pudgy man with a short beard and glassy brown eyes A few brown strands of hair remained on his otherwise bald, sun-spotted head. He smiled at Nic causing a dimple to appear in each cheek. The other man, Pyra Fredrick, was strange. Everything about him seemed to be stretched: Long face, long white hair, with legs and arms that seemed to have been fashioned after tree branches. One would imagine him to be a clumsy man, but he was anything but that. Every move was controlled and deliberate. Nic was often reminded of a ship mast billowing in a gentle sea breeze.

The last pyra was a woman. She was plain with a round face, small eyes and thin lips. Her short strawberry blond hair was pulled away from her stern face which held no lines besides for a couple of frown marks on her temple.

"Hello Nic, how was your day?" Eta's deep, strong voice suited her stern appearance.

"The same as always. Tiring and long."

"You'll get used to it, my boy. We all have. Tough job being a pyra these days in my opinion." Pyra Benyam grinned, scratching at his chin.

"Did you spend time with Spirit?" Caleb asked slyly.

"Well, it would explain why I stink of horses wouldn't it?"

"Beautiful specimen your horse is, perfectly proportioned, unlike my Spud." Pyra Fredrick's random comments were always an apt conversation stopper. Silence fell as all tried to think of a response.

"Anyway, just before you arrived, we were talking about-"

"Eta, please. He does not need to worry about all that."

"Worry about what?" Nic straightened.

"Nothing, it was nothing," Caleb blurted.

"Caleb," Pyra Ben leaned forward in his seat and spoke softly, intending for Nic not to hear but failing miserably. "The boy deserves to know, we all do."

"Not now," Caleb replied sternly. "It is too soon to start worrying." Caleb made to close the subject by taking a long swig of his ale.

"Tell me what?" Nic insisted. "I'm right here and can hear you. Now, what is it?"

"We would love to tell you, Nic, but without the permission of your teacher," Eta looked at Caleb pointedly, "we can say nothing."

Caleb took another long swallow of ale. He set the mug down with a controlled anger and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "I have my reasons."

"He is bound to hear about it sooner or later."

Nic felt his blood boiling. The only thing worth keeping secret was perhaps the runaway traitor, but he knew about that already.

Maybe they think I do not know. Hard not to hear with all the wagging tongues around here. They can't possibly think it wouldn't have reached me.

"Is this about the traitor?" Nic was faced with deadly silence from the table and shocked expressions.

"You know?" Caleb's voice betrayed his shock, but his face remained calm.

"Sort of."

"Eta," Caleb moved only his eyes to the woman. "You have my permission."

Eta nodded and took in a deep breath, "The traitor, Pyra Kelemir, sent Pyra Hari to his death."

"Enemy? You mean the goblins?"

"By the gods no. Goblins are our enemy, yes, but they are dumb as doornails and illiterate as any new born. By enemies we mean, the non-elementals. Goblins are animals, trained and instructed by much more powerful beings. Yes, they can utter a sentence in the common tongue here and there but they are terrible at decision making and always need someone to keep them in line."

"Kelemir, as I have already said, sent Pyra Hari into the Aldo because he apparently sensed a disturbance in the Will, which no one else felt I might add. Poor Hari died a tragic death. But my point being this, the..." She looked at Caleb and then back to Nic. "Has Caleb told you of a pyra's crest?"

Nic shook his head.

Eta looked at Caleb wide-eyed.

"It's not important as of now, it is still a long time until then."

"It is still the symbol of a pyra, Caleb."

Caleb flicked his hand so she could continue.

"Alright, I shall explain it to you. Once a pyra graduates, he or she is given a ring: A crest. This crest is woven, decorated and smelted by the Will and depicts exactly what that pyra is. Each crest is unique and their power is yet to be discovered, but one thing is clear, anything made by the Will has power. And although it is but a symbol, it is a powerful one and can save you if seen by the right people. Of course this excluded guardians, you are more likely to receive a barred cell."

"I don't understand how that has anything to do with Kelemir or Hari."

"Pyra Hari, Nic. He may be dead but that does not mean we cannot pay him respect when he is not around. Pyra Calmer deserves the same-." Caleb corrected, leaning on the table.

"He does not deserve the title," Pyra Ben sneered.

"Wait, let me finish my explanation and then we can continue the argument," Eta snapped. "Now, the goblins attacked Pyra Hari for a reason. We think that reason is for the crest, however, they failed to retrieve it since Caleb found it at your town festival."

"But they unfortunately were able to steel Caleb's when he was attacked." Pyra Fred chirped in.

"Quite so Fred. We suspect they want to gather as many spies and use the crests as a method to gain others' trust."

"But no one trusts pyree, so that can't work," Nic frowned.

The other Pyree shook their heads in unison.

"Men don't trust us but the other elemental nations do." Eta said with a forced smile.

Realization dawned. If they gain the other nations' trust they could turn them against the world of men and slowly each other.

"Do you understand now?"

Nic nodded, unsure of who asked the question, "But you won't allow this to happen, right? Someone needs to warn the other nations!"

"They will be warned when our assumption is proven true."

"But- "

"Don't argue with politics, its fruitless, believe me." Caleb said boldly.

Pyra Ben agreed. "Now back to our argument; we were discussing the matter of the traitor, you see. Caleb says it does not seem right and that there must be more to the story. Fred here says...well he has not expressed his opinions."

"And I do not intend to."

"Eta and I agree that there is more than enough evidence to conclude that he is guilty of all charges and no longer worthy of our title."

"But all the evidence can be boiled down to assumption," Caleb waved his hand in front of him as if to illustrate the flimsiness of the argument. "Without any hard evidence to prove your theories wrong, we cannot assume the whole story. Maybe there is more than what meets the eye."

"By the gods, Cassador proclaimed him traitor and surely he must have reasons for doing so."

Caleb did not reply, he instead folded his arms in front of him and sighed.

"He even refused to answer Pyra Cassador's question, and what's more, accepted his punishment after it was dealt. What more evidence can you ask for?" Ben stated

"It takes more than a few unanswered questions to convince me."

"So you would rather wait for another pyra to die before you are convinced?" Eta snapped.

"He ran away, Caleb. Surely that would convince any man." Ben continued.

"He faced death and could not escape it." Caleb glowered. "Any man would run away. I should have spoken to him, I should have visited him and tried to speak some sense into him. He would have spoken to me...I am sure of it."

Eta placed a hand on Caleb's arm, "You could have done no more good than the rest of us. There is no point in blaming anyone, especially yourself. No one guessed the traitor would be Kelemir and no one could have convinced the man to share his secrets either. Not even you."

Nic was surprised at the weakness Caleb bared, it was the first sign of vulnerability he had seen from the man. He was so used to the strong, confident Pyra.

"Eta is right, my friend. Kelemir was beyond our help. He has abandoned the Will and all other sense of reason for the non-elementals." Fred said with downcast eyes. A silence extended after this. No one needed to speak to know their thoughts followed the same unseen path, trailed the wake of a mystery.

"Who are the non-elementals?" Nic's voice was unsure and he immediately wished he had not said anything since all eyes turned to him.

"There are quite a few non-elemental nations," Caleb explained, seeming thankful for the change of topic. "Some accept that they were not chosen by the gods and others do not.The nations that refuse the gods' choice have attacked and threatened the elementals nations with war for as long as anyone can remember. They have abandoned the Will and the gods, and only serve themselves."

"I know why they are called so, but I do not know who they are."

"Dark elves- drows-daemons, trolls, lamia's, ogres, giants-but they have not been seen in millenia. Do you know it is said the dwarves are the children of the giants? That is why they are almost twice the size of men and still called dwarves. Let me see, who else: Dryads, orcs, nymphs-the list goes on, but you must understand that not all of them are looking for power or are to be classed as our enemy." Eta spoke as if her head was in another place, she mentioned nations only known in myths or stories told by the bards, never believed to be true.

Nic turned to Caleb. The man was smiling. It seemed as if he knew exactly what Nic was thinking.

"You will see them all, Nic, or most of them at least. I can't promise about the orcs or drows, that meeting could become ugly but most of the others, perhaps."

"Even nymphs?"

"Unfortunately so..."

"Caleb had a run in with a nymph once. Complete misunderstanding he says, but it still didn't change the fact that he ran around not knowing who he was for a couple of days." Pyra Ben half laughed, half talked the sentence-clearly amused at the memory.

"It proved to be quite entertaining for the rest of us, when we found out." Laughed Fred.

"She attacked me," Caleb defended. "She thought I was going to hurt her and it was her first instinct to disarm me."

"So you say, personally-"

"Benyam! No more on the subject!" Caleb snapped.

Benyam sat back in his seat and winked at Nic

"Continuing with what we were saying," interjected Eta. "They all might seem so mysteriously wonderful, but that does not mean they are any less dangerous. For example, the nymphs, if you mistake them with pixies or feiries they would probably leave you looking like a blue tree. Or a dryad, break as much as a twig off their bark and you they will punish you severely."

Yollie arrived with the food: Steaming, thick, hot soup and fresh bread. It was all eaten in silence, conversation ceased until every last drop of soup and every crumb was mopped clean off the plate. Nic would have asked more questions if he had not been so hungry.

"Ah, nothing better than a full stomach." Ben leaned back again rubbing his round belly.

They all murmured in response.

"I suggest you make your way to bed, young man." Caleb nodded in the direction of the rooms at the back of the inn. "You have a busy schedule tomorrow. I have added another lesson into your day, practicing cura."

"Another lesson! But I don't have time for another lesson."

"Of course you do. Some of your other lessons will be cut short to fit in the new one, do not worry I have it all figured out."

Nic sighed.