After Hadarai's death and mother's disappearence, me and my father were left alone as the last of the House of Palendryl.
Hadarai's funeral was a quiet one. I remember standing there, holding my father's hand, wondering why mother isn't with us and why are my father's features more stern than usual.
With no older brother to spoil me rotten, no mother to hide behind and no best friend to play with, I became a lonely child. At first, my father tried to make it all up to me, he bought me all the toys, tried to take me out with him, make me do fencing and horse riding, just like he used to with Hadarai... but I wasn't like my brother and slowly, my father gave up and left me to my books and solitary walks in the woods.
I find it strange but even though, I remember so vividly what had happened on that day, my best friend's body lying in the rosy snow, I've never felt afraid or bad, watching the snow, I've never felt scared, walking in the forest alone. Instead of bad memories, when I see the snow, I remember Arind and his cheerfull smile and I remember my brother and I feel save.
Over the years I came up with a strange theory that the forest's forces and spirits along with Arind and my brother were the ones who protected me at the time. And they are both still with me.
And it wasn't just that one time. You see, to my 8th birthday I got this strange stone from Arind. It looks like a regular stone with smaller shiny green stones in it, it fits the palm of my hand perfectly and I've always worn it with me as a sort of a protective charm.
This happened when I was studying in the Academia.
After my 12th birthday, when my father took me hunting and I started vomiting when the first rabbit was shot, everybody understood, I'm not cut out for "manly" disciplines and I was sent to an all-boys Wizzard Academy, to study magic, just like my mother had. It was somewhat better than fighting and becoming a great warrior but from all the fields, I've only ever been interested in pure nature's magic and old tales of druids and shamans, living in harmony with the nature surrounding them, protecting it and communicating with its spirits.
So I never really fit in with my classmates.
BUT after this one student competition of "which guy is the prettiest in a girl's dress" that I was forced to participate in, I was ambushed on one of my walks in the woods by my newly acquired fans.
They were my upperclassmen and I knew I didn't stand a chance with my half-baked wizzard abilities. At the time, I clutched Arind's stone in my hand, closing my eyes and suddenly, I heard a terrible roar and screams of my classmates. When I looked at what was happening, there was a huge white bear in front of me, chasing away the attackers. It took me a second to realize, I just managed to call to my aid my guardian spirit for the first time.