Else thou wilt fail

To find the Jaded Soul. "

And then Arin slumped forward as Lysanne caught her, the Dylvana unconscious to the world.

And that is the whole of the rede?" asked Sage Arilla. "Yes," replied Lysanne. "Or so I think." She glanced at Arin.

The Dylvana nodded. "I remember it all, now. Why I forgot it, I cannot say."

"Chide not thyself, Arin," said Rissa. "It was a grim vision. Enough to shake all souls."

"Rissa is right, Dara Arin," concurred Lysanne. "When the vision first came upon you, it was too much for your soul to bear, and that's why you fled from it and did not remember all. Yet listen to me, whether or not I helped you to recover that which was hidden, you would have succeeded on your own, given time."

"Mayhap time is what we have little of," said Vanidar Silverleaf.

"Perhaps it is too late even now," agreed Arin glumly.

Lysanne sighed. "Wild magic is vexing."

Rissa turned to her and frowned. "Vexing?"

Lysanne nodded. "This vision of Lady Arin's-wild magic does not tell us when it is to happen. The vision could tell of events occurring at this very moment, or that which is soon to occur, or that which might occur ten thousand years in the future."

Arin held out a negating palm. "We cannot gamble on the chance that the doom lies years in the future, for if we are wrong the consequences are too great. Instead we must believe that even now events are moving apace. Else why would the vision have come to me now?"

Lysanne turned up her hands, for she had no answer to Arin's question.

They sat in a cluster of comfortable chairs in the common room of the guest quarters, the Elves and the two Mages. The Ryodoan warrior, Aiko, sat against a wall some distance from them and directly behind Arin.

"But the rede," said Perin, "what does it mean?"

"A complete mystery, that," added Biren.

Lysanne shook her head. "No, Alor Biren, not a complete mystery. Even now there is some we can glean from it, but not all."

Melor looked at the white-haired Mage and said, "I agree."

Biren turned to Melor. "And that is…?"

"Yes, do tell," added Perin.

Melor shrugged, then said, "Dara Arin has been given a mission."

"Mission?" asked Biren.

"To do what?" asked Perin.

"To find the Jaded Soul," said Melor.

Both Lysanne and Sage Arilla nodded in accord.

Biren glanced from one to the other. "And this so-called Jaded Soul…?"

"The Green Stone of Xian," said Arilla.

"The Dragonstone," said Lysanne.

"Hmm," mused Perin.

"But why would it be called the Jaded Soul?" asked Biren.

"It looks like jade," replied Perin.

"Mayhap there's more to it than that," responded Biren.

"And mayhap not," said Perin.

Arin took a deep breath and exhaled. "If we only knew something of the stone and why the Dragons fear it."

"There is a legend," came a voice from behind. It was Aiko. She sat in a lotus position, her back against the wall, her eyes closed.

Arin turned about. "Legend, Aiko?"

Aiko opened her dark, almond eyes. "To the west and north of Ryodo lies an ancient land called Moko. The soshoku of Moko, all onna, say one day a mahotsukai yushi odatemono will come and will bear the mark of the Dragon. He will lead the people of Moko in conquest of all the world. And he will possess a mighty talisman and Dragons shall bow to his will."

Arin held out a hand to stay Aiko's voice. "Aiko, thou didst use words in a tongue I speak not."

"Forgive me, my Lady." Aiko paused in reflection, then said, "Ah. Yes. 'The soshoku of Moko are all onna,' means, the priesthood of Moko are all women; and a mahotsukai yushi odatemono is a Mage warrior-king."

Arilla said, "And the people of Moko believe that a Mage warrior-king will one day lead them in the conquest of the world, and he will have Dragons at his command?"

"Forget not the talisman," said Lysanne. "It could be the Dragonstone."

"The missing Dragonstone," growled Rissa.

Lysanne nodded and looked at Aiko, but the Ryodoan warrior shrugged and said, "If the legend is true."

"Perhaps it is just fancy," said Biren.

"Mage warrior-king or no," said Perin, "we've got to find the Dragonstone and keep it from the hands of those who would use it for ill, whatever it may do." He turned to Arin. "Where will we start? In Moko?"

Vanidar Silverleaf leapt to his feet and paced back and forth in agitation; he clenched his fists white-knuckle tight and he shook his head in ire. "Perin," he gritted, "we do not start at all."

"Not start at all?" asked Biren, shocked. "Whatever dost thou mean, Vanidar?"

Silverleaf stopped and turned, his gaze sweeping over everyone there. "The rede. Arin's rede. If we go with her, she will fail."

"What?" barked Ruar.

Silverleaf looked at Arin. "Say the rede again, Dara."

Arin spoke quietly:

"The Cat Who Fell from Grace;

One-Eye in Dark Water;

Mad Monarch's Rutting Peacock;

The Ferret in the High King's Cage;

Cursed Keeper of Faith in the Maze:

Take these with thee.

No more,

No less,

Else thou wilt fail

To find the Jaded Soul."

Now Silverleaf turned to the others. "Heed the words of her vision: 'Take these with thee, no more, no less, else thou wilt fail to find the Jaded Soul.'

"Dara Arin's mission is to find the Jaded Soul, and she must take with her only those who meet the terms of the rede and none else. And although I know not the answer to the conundrum of her vision, this I can say: not a single person among us suits the riddle of the rede."

"Not true," called Aiko. All eyes turned her way. She had a peculiar look on her face, something akin to guilt, as she stood and moved to come before Arin. Aiko knelt at Arin's feet and lowered her gaze and would not meet the Dylvana's eyes. Then she buried her face in her hands and lowered her head to the floor in shame, and her voice could but barely be heard. "Forgive me, my Lady, but this you must know: I am the cat who fell from grace."

Arin leaned down and took Aiko by the shoulders and raised her to a kneeling position, but the Ryodoan kept her eyes downcast and would not meet the Dylvana's gaze.

Perin said, "Aiko, thou art no cat."

"Aye," added Biren.

"How couldst thou be the cat of Dara Arin's vision, the cat who fell from grace?"

Her eyes focused on the floor, Aiko bleakly said, "I betrayed my father."

Hiroko died giving birth to Aiko, and Arinsmaster Kurita was left with the care of her, his only child. Grieving, he departed the shiro of Lord Yodama and took his newborn and household to live in his home in the Kumotta Mountains.

The Arinsmaster had always wanted a son to follow the warrior tradition, and in spite of the fact that Aiko was a girl and in spite of the law of the land, he raised her in the ways of senso o suru hito. He taught her the bow and stave and spear, and the way of the two swords; he taught her the throwing of daggers and of shiruken, the riding of horses and the ways of the lance; and he taught her the art of unarmed combat as well-for in Lord Yodama's shiro, Kurita had been master and mentor in all these things.

When she had reached but sixteen summers, war came unto the province, and a messenger rode to the mountain, and Kurita once again donned his armor to fight at the side of Lord Yodama. He rode away that day and left his daughter behind.