Where before it had been dark, it now was light, the sharp-edged light of the Taleran dawn. I stepped down from the stone upon which I stood, and behind me a whisper died as a door into void closed. The prickling on my skin was gone as well. I was wholly of this world now, wholly of Talera. I breathed deeply, mouth open to taste the sweetness in the chill morning. The first sound of home that I heard was the wakening cry of the kryshawk, the second, the soft crunch of snow beneath a shifting boot.
Four figures stood before me, hooded and cloaked against the cold. All were human, though one bore the yellow eyes and green skin of a Llurn, of that people who call themselves Nakscherii. One was bearded; one was tall; one was broad; one was a woman. It was the last that I watched.
Rannon Jyst
