my sotry, aka quest for unity

Note: this part is more like the back up story, but please still tell me what you think
Quest for Unity
Chapter 1
A long way towards the west in the Ensmote Kingdom a terrible tragedy befell a man named Dock. He lost his second wife, Esmeralda, and his only daughter, Sara, in a terrible fire that burned his neighbor’s house while the two unfortunates were inside. Dock reflected on this as he held his sons hands’ at the funeral. The rain poured making it hard for him to tell if he was crying or not.
He had lost his first wife when she gave birth to Angel, his nine year old son. After a year, Dock married again this time to an elfin girl he had freed from slavery. Her name was Esmeralda and she possessed the wonderful gift of healing hands which she passed on to their son Izo. With her magical power of healing Dock managed to save more people than ever before. Two years after giving birth to Izo, she delivered Sara, Dock’s first daughter who resembled her brother and mother greatly though she did not have their power to heal. Those years were pure happiness.
Now the mother and daughter were gone and Dock already knew that he must find someone to look after the boys and help with the medicine again. The girl must have some medical background and have patience which he himself lacked. Immediately a girl came to mind as he stepped forward with his sons to put flowers on the coffins of his wife and child. River stood across the way from him with tears in her gray eyes. Though she did not have healing hands, she was exceptional with plants and already treated Angle and Izo as she would her own. Esmeralda had often left the children with River when she went with Dock to patients houses. The two women were best friends and it was River who had taken care of Esmeralda when she was recovering from slavery. Dock knew that Esmeralda would approve of his choice and he smiled sadly at her memory. He would never meet another woman like her; she had been perfect in every way after she got over being afraid of him.
*****
One year past when another stranger event occurred on the same day that Dock’s family was paying respect to the dead. A man on a horse was galloping quickly up a slippery street in the village where our unfortunate friends lived. In front of him on the horse rode a small girl with dark hair and eyes. As they made a sharp turn the horse lost his footing causing the riders to fall to the ground. The man got up and brushed himself off as the horse continued to run. The little girl lay a few feet away senseless. The rain stopped and off in the distance the man could hear the sound of many hooves coming closer. Cussing, the man picked up the little girl and hid her under a bush then he set off running as fast as he could. Ten minutes later the group of horse men cantered by not even noticing the small bundle that had begun to shiver with cold.
After they past, the little girl sat up and rubbed dirt from her brown eyes. She looked around her and began to cry. The soft sobbing caught the attention of a small group of people coming down the street. It was a man, woman, and two small boys all of whom were dressed in black. As they came towards her, the little girl tried to stand and fell limply to the ground. This brought the group running to her side. Upon arriving, the man immediately knelt in the mud and checked her pulse.
“Will she be alright Dock?” asked the woman.
“Yes, River, but we need to get her to the house quickly; she has a nasty bump on her head.”
“Will she make a long journey like mommy and sissy?” Angel the oldest boy asked. Izo, the younger one, let go of Rivers’ hand and ran to his Father and the little girl.
“Is she going to find mommy and Sara?” he asked eagerly, “Can I go too?”
Dock sighed, “No she’s not going on a journey.” Izo looked disappointed but his father continued to talk. “When we get home, Izo, will you heal her like you do the little squirrels that fall from the trees?” Izo bit his lip then nodded. “Alright then let’s get her to the house.” With that he picked up the little girl and continued down the street.
When they arrived home, Dock laid the girl on the couch and pushed Izo forward. Some of Izo’s white hair had fallen out of braid and hung in his face. He pushed it out of the way and knelt beside the girl. Quickly finding the bruised place on her head he put his hand over it. Closing his blue eyes he concentrated really hard on the injured place. All around him appeared a pale blue light that was nearly blinding. After a minute it became bigger then rushed down his hand onto the girl’s injury. As Izo opened his eyes so did the little girl who saw the strange beautiful light fading in his eyes.
“Pretty,” she mumbled.
Izo fell forward completely drained of energy. Dock sprang forward before his son sank all the way to the ground.
“That’s enough for you,” he said raising Izo from the ground, “Time for bed Angel. River, will you take care of our guest? Tomorrow we will find out who her parents are.”
River nodded as the boys left the room, and then she turned back to the girl. She was sitting up now and starring into space. River sat down beside her. “What’s your name little girl?” she asked.
The little girl cocked her head and looked at her with a troubled expression, “I don’t know.”
River started and asked, “What is the last thing you remember?”
“Falling,” answered the girl simply.
“Anything besides that?”
The girl shook her head. River stared for a minute stunned. It was true she hit her head so she could be having temporary memory loss. But usually the healing power took care of that, or at least Esmeraldas’ did. Maybe the memory loss wasn’t temporary or maybe Izo just wasn’t as strong as his mother yet but either way it would be much harder to find her parents if she could not remember them. The little girl tugged on Rivers shirt brining her out of her thoughts.
“You oh kay?” River smiled at the sincere brown eyes that looked at her with worry.
“Yes I’m fine. You should sleep now and tomorrow we’ll clean you up.” When River tried to get up the little girl clung harder. “Are you scared?” River asked. When the girl peaked up at her with her big brown eyes, River shook her head and smiled. “I’ll stay with you then,” She settled herself in comfortably, then drew the child onto her lap where she stroked her brown hair until she was asleep. When Dock re-entered the room he found the little girl asleep on Rivers lap and still clutching Rivers skirt.
River smiled, “She won’t let me leave.”
“You can stay then. Did she say anything useful?” Dock asked preparing to leave the room again.
“Only that she doesn’t know her name.”
This news stopped Dock at the door, “Doesn’t know or doesn’t remember?”
“She cannot remember anything except falling.”
“Oh.”
“May I try a few herbs on her tomorrow?”
“Go right ahead,” Dock said, his back still to her, “if fact I had something I wanted to ask you, will you come to my desk tomorrow?”
River smiled, “Yes of course,” she said.
Dock sighed, “Thank you.”
“What will we do if we can’t find this girls parents?”
Finally Dock turned to look at her over his shoulder, his face was tired and worn, “We’ll do what we must,” He answered then left.

Chapter 2
As the sun rose in the east, the little girl woke to the gentle shaking of Rivers’ hand.
“Good morning,” she yawned.
“And how are you this morning?” River asked brightly, “Do you remember your name?” the girl shook her head. “That’s alright,” River said undaunted. Even if the girl never recovered her memory, she could only be around six and should not have forgotten anything overly important.
“Well let’s get you a bath.” River picked up the girl made her way to the guest room at the far end of the house. A tub of warm water awaited them. River removed the mud caked clothing and dunked the child under the water. After an hour of soaping and rinsing, the girl was finally ready to put on clean clothes. River dressed her in a simple brown dress and tied her hair back with a ribbon. By now the house was coming alive with noise as the cook declared breakfast served and ready to eat.
The girl looked around her as they entered the dining room all the way at the other end of the hall way. The room, which was in the middle of the house, was lit by two large sky lights letting in the morning sun.
Sitting down to eat, the little girl noticed someone was missing “Where is blue boy?” she asked sweetly. Angel and Dock stopped what they were doing and stared at her for a minute.
“Do you mean Izo?” asked Dock.
“Was he the one with blue eyes?”
Dock nodded, “Yes. Do you remember the bump you got yester day?” the girl bobbed her head, “Well after he made your bump better, he felt really tired and is resting.”
“Oh.” Done now with questions, all four sat down to a wonderful breakfast of blue berry buckle. Dock and River drank coffee with cream and sugar while the two children drank milk. River made some small talk with Dock throughout breakfast but that was the only sound besides the clinking of the dishes. After the dishes were cleared, Dock sat back and stared at the little girl deep in thought; though he did not notice the little girl stared right back.
“Why is it interesting?” she asked still staring at Dock. Nobody had been moving or talking much before, but now it seemed like everyone had stopped breathing.
“What do you mean?” Dock asked all of his attention now focused on her.
“Just that you thought it was interesting and I wanted to know why.”
“But I didn’t say anything!” Dock leaned forward.
“I can still hear you.”
River placed a hand on the girls’ shoulder, “Do you mean you can hear our thoughts?” she asked quietly.
“Yes,” the girl said, “I could last night as well.”
Angel got up from his chair, “Can you read mine? What am I thinking?”
“You think I’m joking” the girl said giggling.
Dock stood, “This creates a big problem.”
“Why?”
“Because,” he said leaning on the table, “not everyone wants their thoughts to be heard.”
“Dock, she’s only a little girl, don’t be so hard on her.” River said also standing.
“This is because she is a little girl, River. I’m sure my patients which frequent this house, do not want their thoughts to be heard by a little girl who could accidentally reveal something better left unknown.”
“I don’t have to listen,” the girl said quietly.
“What?” River and Dock asked sharply.
“I don’t always hear it,” she said a little louder.
River came over to her and crouched by her side, “Could you explain it a little clearer, dear? What makes you hear what we are saying?”
“I have to look at you. If I don’t look, I can’t hear.”
“See Dock, it’s not so bad, maybe there’s a way to stop her from hearing us.”
“Well I hope your right. Try to figure it out before you work with the medicine. Oh, and let’s not tell anybody about her ability. It would do more harm than good.” Dock said then left.
After he was gone, River turned to Angel, “Why don’t you go see if your brother wants breakfast; when he wakes up he’s sure to be hungry.” Angel left to do as he was told and River and the girl were left alone together.
“Did I do something bad?”
River, still crouching by the girls’ chair, smiled up at her, “No you did something very good by letting us know.”
“Oh,” the little girl said with relief.
“Now until you recover your memories you need a name.” River stood and sat in a chair that was close by. “I’m going to say some names and we’ll decide from those ok?” The girl nodded. “Right then, how about…Gem? Goldy? Rook? Brook? Hmmm… Flax? Rose? Blossom? Nah, what about Cat? Foxy? Definitely no huh?” the little girl was vigorously shaking her head. “I know! Fawn. It’s perfect for you, matches you big brown doe eyes.”
“I like Fawn,” the little girl, now called Fawn said.
“Alright then it’s decided Fawn and now the next thing we are going to do is try to find a way to block your mind reading.”
“Why? I won’t listen if you don’t want me to.”
“That’s not the point; some of us just want to be sure you can’t hear what we’re thinking.”
“Ok,” she said happy again.
“Good, now try to listen to my thoughts and tell me when you can’t hear them.” Fawn nodded. The two girls sat there for many minutes not appearing to do anything. But if you looked closely you could see that each was focused on something. Fawn was looking hard at River, and Rivers’ face was tight with concentration. Things went on this way for fifteen minutes.
“Ah, what happened?” Fawn exclaimed suddenly, “Why can’t I hear you?”
“Ah ha,” River smiled “I’ve figured it out. So you couldn’t hear me?”
“No! and this big box with chains kept popping up in my head.”
“That is interesting,” River said half to herself, “Now time for the next thing. Follow me Fawn.” River stood and walked out of the room, Fawn following close behind. They were back in the hall way walking back the way they had come except that instead of turning the corner with the hall way, they entered the door on their right. In the middle of the room were two desks one that had plates and grinding tools spread all over it and another piled high with papers and books. Lining the walls were bookshelves full of leather bound books and tables on top of which were a multitude of interesting plants.
“Ah, have you come for the medicine?” Dock asked from behind the desk with papers.
“Yes” said River.
“It’s on the table right there,” Dock pointed to the corner of the other desk.
River got it and came back to the door where Fawn was waiting. “Her name is Fawn now.”
“Dock looked up from what he was writing, “It suits you. River when you send them out to play, come back,” he said then continued his writing.

Chapter 3
Back in the hall, River gave Fawn two little leaves. “Eat these,” she said and Fawn obeyed.
“Now let’s go see how Izo and Angel are doing.”
“Yah, that sounds fun.” They skipped one door and went in the next. In this room there was a set of drawers, a book case, a desk and a bed. The book case and the set of drawers faced each other from opposite ends of the room. The desk was by the book case just farther from the wall. The bed was under the large window on the far side of the room. The shades over the window were drawn so that the boy in the bed would rest better. Next to the bed was the chair that belonged with the desk; in the chair sat the boy named Angel.
Seeing the brothers next to each other for the first time always made people have doubts that they were brothers. Angel was dark like his mother (Dock’s first wife) had been. Unkempt brown hair fell in front of his dark chocolate eyes; sitting or walking Angel carried himself like his father, with calm determinedness. He was always being complemented on his quiet behavior, something rare in one so young. Angle made friends quickly; however, he tended to not see them much. Now Izo was a completely different matter. He took after his mother in almost every way. Izo’s mother, Esmeralda, was an Ice Elf bread and born in those cold northern regions. Both her son and she had the white hair and skin that made them stand out in any crowd. Izo had brilliant blue eyes unlike his mother and sister who both had sea green. He carried himself like a prince with grace and pride doing justice to his light build. He was easily the fastest boy his age group if not in his village.
Even though Izo was lying down and Angel was sitting, Fawn could still easily see the striking differences between them. But this did not even faze her she ran across the room to the bed.
“Blue boy!” she shouted excitedly.
River followed her closely into the room, “Shh, shh, We mustn’t speak so loudly. Remember Izo is resting.”
Fawn, who had reached the bed, now climbed up the wooden frame and perched on the edge. River had taken Angel aside and was whispering instructions to him giving Fawn time to study her “blue boy”. Fawn crawled up to the head of the bed where she laid down; staring at Izo’s sleeping face. Before she knew it, Fawn had also drifted into peaceful slumber.
When she woke, she found herself staring into Izo’s brilliant blue eyes. “Blue Boy,” she smiled sweetly.
“Ah so you’re both awake?” asked Rivers pleasant voice. Izo and Fawn sat up Izo still looking at her with interest shining in his face.
“Are you the squirrel we found yesterday?” he asked brightly.
Fawn nodded, “My name’s Fawn, what’s yours?”
Izo held his head up proudly, “I’m Izo, I just turned eight.”
“I don’t know how old I am,” Fawn said puzzled.
“All right you two get up and go talk outside while the sun is shining,” River cut in, “I’ll tell your dad that you are up and about again.”
“Ok,” said Izo jumping out of bed, “where’s Angel?”
“He is outside with Sky and Cloud.”
“I’ll race you outside Fawn,” Izo called.
Izo easily ran faster than her, but Fawn could also run surprisingly fast and so manage to not let him get to far ahead. Outside they found Angel and two other boys waiting for them. One boy was tall and strongly built; he had dark blue eyes and sandy brown hair. The other boy was smaller but similarly built with gray eyes and darker brown hair. This boy stepped away from the other three and met Izo half way from the house.
“Izo!” he smiled.
“Cloud! Look we have a new friend,” Izo pointed to Fawn who stopped just before she ran into him.
“It’s a girl,” Cloud said taken aback. By now the two older boys were making their way to the small group.
“Who’s this?” Sky asked Angel.
“Dad found her last night with a big bump on her head.”
“Oh,” now Sky turned to Fawn, “What’s your name?”
“Fawn,” she said proudly.
Cloud tugged on his brothers’ shirt, “We aren’t going to have to play with her are we?”
Izo looked at him sharply, “River said to, so yes.”
“But she’s a girl!” Cloud pleaded.
“So?”
Fawn looked at the boys sadly, “If you don’t want me to, I won’t play with you.”
“No, that’s all right,” Angel said stepping up, “We’ll just play something everyone will like.”
“But I don’t want to play with a girl,” complained Cloud. Fawn did not even notice, she was too happy that Angel said she could play.
“Thank you Angel!” she cried, hugging him. Angel smiled and patted her back.
Sky whorled around on his little brother, who was still complaining, “If you don’t want to play, then go home!” Cloud was silenced and decided to accept Fawn but still had a scowl on his face for many minutes afterward.
“Why don’t we go fishing?” Angel suggested.
“Yah that’s a good idea,” Izo said running to the house to get his fishing line. Fifteen minutes later, the five children were walking along a clear stream looking for a place to fish. Up ahead they saw a group of boys circled around something. The boys were making a lot of noise and throwing things towards the center.
“Maybe we should go somewhere else,” Sky whispers to Angel, but it’s too late.
Fawn saw the boys and bound forward crying, “Is it more friends? Eh, what’s wrong?”
Izo’s face had a fixed expression of hatred frozen on it much the same as Angel’s but his was more of disgust.
“Look if it isn’t the freak come to rescue his friend,” the boys said turning to face Izo and Angel. Fawn saw at a glance that they were all dark haired even if some of them had lighter eyes. Seeing this it really hit home just how different her blue boy was from everyone else. Even with this consideration it still shocked her six year old mind that anyone could be so mean.
“Who’s a freak?” she demanded of the tall boy in front of her.
“Are you color blind?” he smirked, “the freak is the one with no color, like his friend over there,” he gestured to the slumped blond figure in the middle.
“They have color.”
The other boys laughed at hearing this, “Oh yah, and what color is he?” taunted another boy who had black hair and brown eyes like Angel.
“He is blue,” said Fawn not understanding that she was only making the situation worse.
The boys laughed again and one came forward who must have been the ring leader. He was the biggest boy present and he had green eyes and jet black hair. He stepped right up to Fawn and leaned down into her face.
“Aren’t you afraid of him?”
“No. Why should I be?” she challenged even though it was clear that her knees were shaking.
“What normal person wouldn’t be afraid of him? If you accept him then you must be a freak too.”
“You’re mean, and you have nasty thoughts,” Fawn stated causing everyone around to smirk.
“Yah, so?” Fawn hadn’t noticed, but they were slowly being surrounded by the boys.
Angel and Sky pulled Fawn back to their own group. “Izo,” Angel said calmly over his shoulder, “blow the horn.” Izo nodded and pulled a polished goat horn out of the pack on his shoulder, raised it to his lips and blew.
The sound was like magic vibrating off the trees each leaf creating an echo of the delicate melody.
“Calling for help ‘cause you know you can’t take us?” the leader boy jeered. He looked around at the boys present, “Let’s go back, we’ve played enough.” With that the boys departed. Izo and Cloud ran the little boy crumpled on the ground.
“Robin, are you ok?” they chorused. The little boy named Robin slowly raised his head to glare at them. His hair was full of mud and his face looked bruised and battered.
“What took you so long?” he asked Izo in an accusing voice, “I told you day before yesterday that I wanted to go fishing today. I almost went home.”
Izo looked sheepish, “Sorry we came as fast as we could,” he had actually forgotten all about meeting Robin but decided not to say anything.
“Yah, my stupid brother told them I was going to be here,” Robin said slowly rising to his feet.
“Which one?” Angel asked sharply.
“West,” Answered Robin.
Fawn quietly walked up behind Izo and tugged on his sleeve, “Is he a friend?” she pointed to Robin who grinned showing an empty tooth space.
Izo smiled, “Yes he is very nice. Robin this is Fawn, Fawn this is Robin.” Robin made a clumsy bow to which Fawn blushed and giggled. Izo looked at them puzzled for a minute then shook his head as though to clear it.
“Angel!” called a voice from the brush on the left, “are you over here?”
“Yah, but the others left.”
“Cowards huh?” asked the boy who spoke before. He was standing in front of a group of boys like the ones who left. Most of these boys were older but there were still some close to Izo’s age. Many had black hair and brown eyes but there were a few who were lighter like Robin, none like Izo. Three boys with lighter hair made a b-line for Robin.
“Mother will not be happy,” spoke the youngest one. He looked like a smaller version of Robin with his green eyes and slight build but his light brown hair made him stand out amongst his blond brothers.
“Shut it keg, you only came ‘cause no one else would be home to watch you,” the eldest stepped forward he has the same arrogance about him as the rest of the boys but he seems softer even when he rebuked his brother. “Robin, we’ll stop at Dock’s to get you fixed up,”
“I’m ok,” Robin said feeling his cheek where a bruise was forming.”