Chapter 1: Prologue

Nimbrethil Farlong sat on her bunk in the tiny cabin of the ship that was taking her to the great city of Neverwinter. Her foster father Daeghun had sent her away with the mysterious shard after the attack on West Harbor. He had claimed she had to be the one to go because her understanding of the ways of humans was better than his, granted not by much. After she had been orphaned as a babe, she had been taken care of by a young woman by the name of Brenna Tilden whenever her father was away hunting and trapping. However, she didn't have a real friend in the village until a few years later when Brenna's mother gave birth to a daughter by the name of Sarah. Some of her happiest years in the village had been spent with Sarah at least until the human girl had started being interested in the boys around the village. That was when she started accompanying her father on his trips and learning the ways of nature and hunting. She was still close to Sarah, and when the girl had married William Redfell she had been her bridesmaid. She had even played with their son Georg when she was at home, but she found herself drawn more and more to the lands around the mere and even the mere itself. So many of the things humans did were hard for her to understand.

She had just turned 80 years old this past year and her father had given her a handcrafted longbow that he had made himself. Her skill was almost equal to his by now and he had wanted to acknowledge her achievement. Picking it up she ran her hand down it, tracing the runes that had been carved on it. He had told her as she left that the power the runes bestowed on it would help her on her journey, but he didn't say what powers they were. Putting the bow down she picked up her short swords, remembering the day her father had told her she would be learning how to wield two of them at once. He had started off teaching her how to use one in each hand and then when she had gotten the hang of it he had brought her to none other than Georg Redfell. The child she had played with so long ago had grown up and become the head of the village militia. To say things were awkward at first was an understatement, for the man was in his 40s when they had begun training together. To him she still seemed a child and to her he seemed to be older than Daeghan. She had quickly become accomplished at wielding them under Georg's tutelage, but still preferred her bow any day of the week.

Sighing she got up to go look in the mirror. She stared at her reflection for a long time thinking of how fast humans aged compared to elves. Her short black hair, emerald green eyes, and golden brown skin marked her clearly as a wood elf, but she was slightly taller than average, standing at 5 1/2 feet tall. She was still considered a child by elvish standards, roughly the equivalent of a human in their late teens. Daeghun had told her that she would be viewed this way by other elves until she reached her 100th birthday at least. She had not fully comprehended the differences in aging amongst the races until her friend Sarah had died due to heart failure brought on by old age. After that she had sought to distance herself from the other humans, spending more and more time away from the village. It was many years before she had true friends again when Amie Fern and Bevil Starling had taken to following her around pestering her to teach them about the ways of the forest and animals. Amie was a sweet little girl who had a sharp mind and a talent for the arcane, and Bevil was a small, shy boy who was always picked on by the other kids. When they reached their teens, for the first time she had understood what it meant to like a boy and Amie and her would often talk about the different ones in the village.

Many of the boys in the village tended to ignore her though, and Amie made them nervous so neither one of them had boyfriends like other girls did. It didn't bother her too much because her father had warned her repeatedly to avoid getting emotionally involved with human men. He told her that they would only have a few decades together and then she would watch them grow old and die, and because elves had long memories the pain of loss could stay with her for centuries. She knew he still grieved for the loss of his wife and she wasn't sure she wanted to go through that. So she kept the boys at arms length and for this she was branded as aloof and even cold. The only boy who didn't behave that way towards her had been Bevil.

Bevil had not seen her as cold or aloof, and had even begun to show interest in her as a girl when he turned 16. When he would go with her and Amie on journeys into the woods he would often hold her hand. For many months all they would do was hold hands and give each other kisses on the cheek. They both knew that if her father had found out that would be the end of their friendship and neither wanted that. However, things changed between them one day about six monts ago. She had been in the woods practicing her hiding skills with just Bevil, Amie being at home sick. She had become foolishly distracted by a pretty red fox and Bevil had caught her. Laughing they had fallen to the ground with him on top, and the weight of his body on hers had caused her heart to suddenly beat faster.

She could see in his eyes that he felt the same way and when he bent his head to kiss her a tingle had gone through her body. He had gently teased her mouth open to slip his tongue inside and she had felt a strange heat spread through her body as she returned his kiss. The next thing she knew he had removed her clothes and his and then he was inside her and the feeling was like nothing she had ever felt before. As they lay together panting from their exertions, they had looked at each other in wonder at the experience, for it had been the first time for both of them. The wonder was mixed with a little fear because both of them knew how her father would react if he found out. So they had agreed to be extremely cautious about showing their feelings in public and the only one who knew was Amie. It was in fact Amie who had taken the time to learn how to make a powder to put in tea to prevent pregnancy. He was her first love and she was his, and they had even begun talking about leaving the village to settle down somewhere. The attack had changed all that and now here she was miles away and she knew in heart that it was over between them. Her life had diverged from his and there could be no going back.

She had met some interesting people on her journey so far, the first being a dwarf by the name of Khelgar. She had helped him in his fight with some men outside the Weeping Willow and they had agreed to travel together, for he too was on his way to Neverwinter. At first they had been uneasy with each other, for he appeared to have a distrust of elves and she wasn't too keen on the way he always seemed to be looking for a fight. Gradually they had come to respect each other and even become friends. They had met Neeshka, a tiefling girl, outside of Fort Locke. Some soldiers there were going to kill her in cold blood and she had killed them instead, and the girl had begged to come with them so she could pay them back. After a couple of weeks traveling with them, listening to the constant bickering between the dwarf and the tiefling, she had begun to question the wisdom of bringing her along.

The most interesting person she had met though had been Elanee, a wood elf druid, who came to their aid when they had been ambushed by the same type of creatures that had attacked her village. Elanee was quite a bit older than her although still younger than her father, and she had eagerly welcomed the druid to their group. Even though she knew common, she much prefered the elvish tongue, and now she had someone with whom she could converse. Elanee had started to teach her some songs and poetry, and she had started to teach the druid about tracking. Both of them felt the same way about going to Neverwinter, for neither had ever been to a city.

Hearing a knock on the door she told the person to come in and turning, saw Elanee standing in the doorway. "Nimbrethil, the captain said we should be arriving in Neverwinter within a couple hours. Do you need help packing your things?"

"No, I'll be ready. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the information about the shards quickly. I don't want to be in the city any longer than I have to."

"I too hope that our stay is a brief one," Elanee replied and then left to go pack her own things.

Gathering up her belongings to put in her pack she wished that things could be different. She put on her leather armor and slung her sword belt around her, checking to make sure the blades were easily removed. Slinging her quiver of arrows to her back, she picked up her bow and pack and went up on deck to watch as the ship pulled into the harbor. As she looked at the sprawling city before her she began to wish she could just turn around and go home.

Amie, Cormamin niuve tenna' ta elea lle au' , (My heart shall weep until it sees thee again).