The Unbridled Horse

Chapter One

It was like a kind of sleep, and like a kind of awakening. Farinka drifted slowly out of the not-quite-sleep, aware first of the nebulous nature of the Mists, and second of the Presence of Raffi. He was just there, waiting. The third sensation was the one which threatened to drive her completely back inside the wall again; devastating loss and loneliness.

Raffi was there on the wall, blocking the way into that retreat.

- It is not the same, he said. I cannot explain further.

- Cannot?

- I apologise. May not. But it is vital for your part in the fulfilment of Shiannath's Quest that you do not retreat inside that wall. You will need access to all of your Awareness. There are patterns in place at this moment, in which you and the things that have happened over the past year are inextricably interwoven, which should not be interrupted.

- Why not? What would happen if they were? challenged Farinka immediately.

She felt Raffi's warm amusement - and approval.

- Ierreth is a good teacher. They would only have to be rebuilt again later; and the threads which may become available later would be no more likely, and indeed probably less likely, to resolve the patterns now in place. I feel your anger, laced with your loneliness, Little One. I understand your anger. I understand your resentment of being 'used'. But it was you yourself who made that promise, and that in itself is the reason for much of your anger.

- Yes; and I did know at the time that it was an 'open-ended bargain'. But it never occurred to me that it was a quest not based on that world, said Farinka quietly.

- I was not permitted to tell you its nature, Little One; though I did try. Sideways, if you like.

- You said that open-ended bargains have a habit of calling in things which I didn't even know I had offered. And yes, Raffi, I replied that I didn't think I had anything that I wouldn't give.

- And I did warn you that perhaps you didn't know what you had, replied Raffi. It was as much as I could get away with. You had total acceptance. You had a place - yourplace. You were surrounded by people whose very nature it is to accept that you belong completely and wholly to yourself. People who were steeped in Ierreth's Principles. People who were very different from most on your former world. Different from most, but not from all, Little One. Though your home world has forgotten its Elves and its unicorns, it still has people who are very much aware of principles which are very similar to Ierreth's, and not all of those people are of the Elven heritage.

- What sort of people, Raffi? I never met them.

- All sorts of people. The fact that you never met them is not relevant or important. They are there.

- And I have to find them? asked Farinka.

- Not necessarily. There are three ways of finding someone. The first is to go to them; the second is for them to come to you; the third is to meet them half way. Any, or any combination, will achieve a similar result. Many people have never met someone who shares in Ierreth's Principles. But many people have. There are things on your home world which you might not have believed in before you left it. Things which you, as most, 'take with a pinch of salt'. Sherath, even without going to your world, pointed out one such.

- The Bermuda Triangle, whispered Farinka, remembering. Is there another one, Raffi?

- Find out, said Raffi softly. Why take my word for it?