Ennari opened her eyes to the sound of someone pounding on the door of her aravel so vigorously that one could think they were trying to break it down. She tried to roll out of bed, but having been roused from such a heavy slumber, her coordination was off and she plopped, ungracefully, to the floor. The pounding on the door in the meantime continued without pause. "Alright!" Ennari yelled, "Alright, I'm coming!" The pounding did not let up however until a very irritated Ennari with bloodshot eyes opened the door, she only opened it enough to poke her head through. She had been expecting to find one of her hunters, or the Keeper, or even Paivel to be there with some 'pressing matter' for her to deal with, however, there was only Surana, dressed in the same robes that he came from the Circle of Magi in, and it turned out he'd been pounding on her door with the head of his staff.

"What!?" Ennari yelled, and Surana didn't answer, instead he only tried to push the door open, Ennari slammed her body against the door to keep that from happening. "No, you stay out!" She hissed, "What is it?"

"It's about Gideon." Surana answered.

"What about him?" Ennari asked, still thoroughly annoyed at having been woken up before the sun had risen. "He left for his trial a few hours ago, didn't he?"

"That's part of the problem!" Surana said, trying to keep his voice from rising too much. "He's in danger! I can't say more about it in the open like this. Get some clothes on and come meet me at Master Ilen's aravel as soon as you can!"

Ennari was dressed two minutes later, and was at Ilen's aravel a minute after that. "What is it!" She demanded without preamble. "How is Gid in danger."

Ilen sat at the end of his workman's table and looked up at Surana, nodding for him to tell her. Surana proved to be as blunt and to the point as Ennari. "We don't have much time, so you'll just have to believe me when I say this, but shortly after Gideon left for his trial, five of your hunters went after them… I really hate to have to be the one who tells you this, Ennari, but they're going to kill him!"

"What?!" Ennari said in disbelief. "How do you know that?! HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?!"

"Ssshhhhhh!" Surana hissed, "Do you want the entire clan to know that you know?"

"What? Are they all in on it too?" Ennari demanded.

Surana shook his head in annoyance. "For all we know, yes! Look… like I said, we don't have time to discuss this. Early this morning, just after Gideon left for his trial, I heard your hunters talking about how they intended to hunt him down and kill him. Ennari… I know you know this, although you might not have let yourself see it, but most of the clan is not happy about the your decision to make him part of the clan, and if he passes his trial, then he is irrevocably a Sabrae, they will not allow a human to do that!"

"Then we have to tell the Keeper!" Ennari said quickly. "Gid is already part of the clan, and it is her duty to defend the clan!"

"No!" This time it was Ilen who spoke.

Ennari fumed, "And why not?!"

Ilen said, "Because it was Marethari's idea from the start!"

Ennari's jaw dropped in disbelief. "How can you be sure, how do you know?"

Surana spoke again, "We don't exactly, but I do know that the hunters were ordered to do it my Hahren Paivel, and we all know that he won't do anything without the Keeper's approval."

Ennari didn't have to think long before she said, "Then I'm going after him!"

"That's what we wanted!" Surana quickly said, "And I'm coming with you, two on five are better odds, and you'll be needing my magic. Your hunters might resist your orders, and they're definitely good, but I don't think they'll be so eager to face off against at trained mage."

"I have no arguments." Ennari said after a second and a half of consideration. "Let me get my hunting leathers and bow."

Ilen stood up. "No." He said, I've made new ones for you, ironbark scale and leather armor… And a new bow for you." He reached under the table and came back up with a bow that almost as tall as Ennari herself. Ennari could see the elvish writing and even more ancient runic language that ran up and down the length of the bow. "Take care of it." He said, "I call this bow, Sorrows of Arlathan, and I believe it is my finest work."

"Which five?" Ennari asked as she scanned the forest floor in the early morning light, following the trial left by Gideon and his five pursuers.

"What?" Surana asked.

"Which five hunters?"

Surana thought for moment before answering. "Teren, Kel, Zaed, Sarroth… and Tamlen."

Ennari stopped in her tracking and stood to stare at Surana, hoping that what he said wasn't true, but as she looked him in the eyes, she saw that he was telling the truth. "Tamlen and Teren will listen to me." Ennari said definitively, "The other three will follow suit."

"I hope you're right." Surana answered. "But I am prepared for the worst even if they don't."

It didn't take long before Ennari was able to fall into the rhythm of the trail that Gideon and the five hunters were leaving. It was a talent that Ennari had always possessed, and made her an even more effective hunter. After tracking her quarry for a time, it was as if she could get inside their mind and track them solely on intuition without even looking at the ground. As the huntress and mage neared a stream that ran through the forest, they both could hear the sounds of warcries, screams of pain, and insults, both in Elven and Common. As they cleared the last of the trees, the two found what they were looking for.

Gideon was on one side of the steam, and had so far managed to keep the five hunters on the other side. Sarroth, one of Ennari's oldest hunters already lay dead on the banks of the stream with an arrow through his throat, and Kel had taken shelter behind a tree, from the look of things, he'd taken an arrow through the shoulder, but had already pulled it out. The other three remained unharmed. Then Gideon jumped from behind a tree to a large rock formation that would provide him with better cover from the hunter's arrows, and give more opportunities to fire back. Ennari saw that he already had half an arrow broken off and sticking out of his abdomen through the Dalish hunting leathers he wore.

"Stop!" Ennari ordered as she notched an arrow, but kept the bowstring slack. "What in Elgar'nan's name do you think you're doing? Attacking your follow hunter?"

Four sets of elven eyes flew to Ennari. Zaed glanced at Tamlen, and Tamlen shook his head. "No Zaed." He said quietly, "I don't care what happens here today, but we will not hurt her."

"Tamlen…" Ennari said, "Tell me you didn't betray me! Tell me that I am wrong!"

The blonde elf nodded. "I never betrayed you, lethallan. And you are wrong." He sighed and shook his head sadly. "Ennari… you're the one who betrayed us."

"How can you say that?!" She demanded. "What have I ever done to betray you? I have dedicated my life to the clan! Everything I have ever done was for the good of the clan! I am the last Elvhen who would betray it!"

Tamlen sighed sadly and shook his head. "Ennari… lethallan… I saw you. I saw you… with him. And I heard you. I know that you love him, and that you think he loves you. He doesn't, my friend. You forget… despite the Rite of Bloodkin, he is still a shemlen, and he will always be a shemlen. You know our history as well as I do! You know what his kind have done to ours! You betrayed the clan by bringing him into it, but we all looked the other way because of what he had done for you in the past. And then you betrayed our people by falling in love with him!" Tamlen came several steps closer, even though in so doing he exposed himself to more arrows from Gideon.

"We don't hate you, Ennari." Tamlen continued, "I can speak for all of us when I say that. You're still the lead hunter, and we all look up to you. But… We have to correct the mistake that you've made. We have to kill the shemlen."

"Is that really what you think?" Ennari said, doing her best to keep from shouting. "Or is that just what Marethari and Paivel ordered you to do?"

Even from where he stood, Ennari could still see Tamlen swallow. "It's what we have chosen!" He said. "Can't you see Ennari?" This isn't just what's best for the clan, it's what's best for our entire race! The shemlen are parasites, they destroy everything they touch! Why can't you see that!"

Now Ennari pulled her bowstring back, aiming the silverite tipped arrow at Tamlen's chest. "Since before I was even an adult, I gave all that was in me to the People!" Endrin shouted. "Gideon is no danger to us, what has he ever done to you, or to our race? He is a good man, and what you have done here today only shows that he is a better man than you! Go back to the clan, all of you! Gideon will leave… you will never see him again, you have my promise on that."

Tamlen's eyes were now locked on the silverite arrowhead aimed at his chest, they stayed on the arrow when he said, "Would you really shoot your best hunter and friend? Has the shemlen really-"

Ennari dropped her aim slightly and fired, the arrow sailed through the air and easily cut through the flesh of his thigh, stopping only after the arrowhead had exited the back of his leg. Ennari lunged behind a tree along with Surana, just as an arrow from Zaed's bow zinged past them.

"Surana!" Ennari yelled.

Surana started quietly muttering a spell, with every word, his voice grew in volume, and as he finished the spell, he was fully shouting. Tree roots exploded from the ground and wrapped themselves around the four hunters, pulling them to ground and holding them so tightly that any movement was impossible, Surana allowed the roots to give them enough space to breath, but nothing more.

Without even looking at the elves who had once been her clan and kin, Ennari walked past them all and waded across the creek towards Gideon, Surana close behind. Gideon as sitting with his back against one of the rocks, his hand around the broken arrow in his abdomen. "Why did you do that?" He said quietly. "They… they were your people. You don't… don't owe me anything, and after this… you can… never go back."

"I know." Ennari said just as quietly as she knelt by the shemlen she had come to love. "I knew there would be no going back for me before I even left the clan. But… after this betrayal… I don't want to be part of them anymore." Ennari held him around the back of his neck and kissed him gently. "It looks like your time go to back to your own people has come… And it seems that I have no choice now but to join you." She turned to look at Surana, "Can you heal him?"

The elven mage nodded. "Yes, if one of you would be good enough to take the arrow out."

Before Ennari could even get her hand around the shaft of the arrow, Gideon had already torn it from his own body, screaming in agony as he did so. Blue-white healing magic exploded for Surana's hands, healing and closing the wound.

"Where will you go?" Ennari asked as Gideon stood up again.

"To South Reach." He answered. "Home of Arl Leonas Bryland, he was second to my father before the Howes treachery, and I doubt that he would be part of any conspiracy against the king or my father."

Ennari nodded. "I've never even heard of this Arl Leonas Bryland, or South Reach, but I will follow you… I trust you Gid."

Gideon nodded wordlessly as he swept Ennari up in a fierce embrace, holding her for several moments before finally letting her go. "Ma serannas." He answered, then looked to the mage. "Will you come with us, Surana?"

The mage nodded. "Don't see as I have much choice in the matter. I just hope this Arl Bryland has need of an apostate mage for his civil war. I'd rather not be handed back over to the Circle."

"I'll see to it that he doesn't." Gideon said, laying a hand on Surana's shoulder and smiling. "Thank you Surana.

Surana just shrugged. "Let's just get moving." He said, "We probably don't have long before more hunters come after us, and Marethari will probably be with them."