When her hands finally stopped moving, they could see that she was holding a giant seed. All the Named Ones crowded around Enaid so that they could look at it more closely. All except Dipak who did not seem surprised and Raven who was watching Dipak in puzzlement. He’d asked so many questions before, but now he seemed uninterested. Raven put his hand on Dipak’s shoulder. He was going to force the man to turn and face him, but Dipak laid his hand on top of Raven’s and gently pat it.

“Who are you?” Raven asked.

Dipak looked briefly at Raven and answered “I already introduced myself.”

“I’m not asking about your name. I want to know your story,” Raven said.

He felt angry at this stranger. He clenched his fists and took a deep breath. Not punching him was harder than Raven thought it should be.

“When this is done,” he pointed to Enaid and the seed, “and if we are still alive, I will tell you some of my story.”

“Why not all of it?” Raven asked.

Dipak sighed and ruffled his hair with both his hands. He finally made eye contact while he was patting his pockets down in search of something. When he slid his fingers into the pocket at his hip, he smiled and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He flicked his wrist and the end of one came out of the box. Putting it in his mouth, he lit the end with a small flick of his fingers that produced a little flame on the end of his finger. He drew on it deeply and slowly sighed it back out.

Perplexed, Raven wanted one. He could never recall ever seeing them before, but he knew what to call them and had known how Dipak would use them. Smelling it brought a craving. Seeming to know, Dipak held it out to him. Raven took it carefully. It frightened him. Was this how his memory would return to him? Small flashes and little clues that leaked in one at a time. That seemed cruel. He inhaled on the cigarette. It was as wonderful as he thought it would be. Impulsively, he blew the smoke out in little rings. He laughed at the foolishness of it.

Dipak had his own cigarette then and was smoking it with less zest. His face had become serious again and he was watching the group of Named Ones closely. Raven returned his attention there as well, feeling a little guilty that he’d allowed himself to be so easily distracted. Yet, he continued to smoke. It was too wonderful to let go and it sharpened his mind rather than pulling it away again.

“Give her space,” Dipak said softly.

But his voice carried and they obeyed without question. Raven thought he might have too. Everything about him suggested that he was a young and foolish child, but when he spoke it demanded obedience.

Enaid cradled the seed in her hands. Looking up from it she smiled at Raven and lifted it to show him its splendor. But it was ugly. Whatever she saw, he wasn’t. It was a dull brown with black sludge still coating the grooves that wiggled across its surface. The only difference he could see between this and a peach pit was size. He could tell that she saw something else there. So he looked closer. Then he saw it. There was a small green tendril that was poking out the tip of the hard outer shell.

Absently, he flicked the ash from his cigarette and was startled when he got an elbow from one of the short Named Ones that had been standing next to him. He burst out laughing when he saw that his ashes had left a grey smear down its damp face. It didn’t find it funny which only amused him more. He pulled the cigarette from his mouth and looked at it.

“What’s in this?” Raven asked.

Dipak smiled and winked. Without giving an answer, he moved to one side so that Enaid could slowly walk past him.

Where was she heading now? Raven had hoped that this was the end of their journey. But it apparently wasn’t. She continued to follow the path that now led past the pool. The other Named Ones made no move to follow her. Instead, they sat or stood around the pool. Many looked down into it as though they expected to find other treasures there. Only Raven and Dipak followed her.

Since she no longer needed support to walk, Raven stayed behind her and scanned the woods around her. Then he realized that it was not as dark as it had been. The fog had lifted and the shadows did not obscure the way they previously had. What did this mean?

“It means that things are changing,” Dipak whispered with his mouth against Raven’s ear.

Raven didn’t pull away. It had startled him and he had jumped in response, but instead of feeling like this was creepy, it felt familiar.

“Did I know you once?” Raven asked.

“Yes,” Dipak stated as he withdrew and took a long drag on a fresh cigarette.

Raven finished his and dropped in on the ground. He paused, and then crushed it out. The cherry was hot and burned a little, but it wasn’t much compared the pain that crawled up his back or across his face. It had eased some and he was grateful. Dipak offered him a second cigarette, but Raven shook his head.

“You’ll need it,” Dipak stated.

Raven took it.

“What’s going to happen?” Raven asked.

“Nothing easy.”

And how was a cigarette supposed to help with that? Nothing about Dipak or what he said made much sense. But, like everyone else, he found himself following his directions and he smoked the second one. Not that it was terrible. No, it was as good as the first. Tasting of cloves and warm in his chest, it was comforting. He could also feel the pain receding and calm settling over him.

The path came to an end. It had taken them to a large clearing that was surrounded by huge black trees. Enaid went to the center, where there was a patch of rich soil. There, she dug a hole with her hands and set the seed inside. Raven could see now that its shoot stretched the length of his arm. How could it be growing so quickly?

“They will be coming now,” Dipak said, turning away from Enaid and scanning the trees around them.

Raven flipped the remaining part of his cigarette to the ground and moved so that Enaid was between them. This felt like something he had done thousands of times, yet he didn’t know what it was that he was doing. He hoped that his body remembered when it mattered. Because he didn’t think that his mind was going to.

Enaid’s voice rang out. Raven could not understand the words, but he knew that it was Narrator’s song. Those foreign sounds had been written into his mind. But not by Narrator. No, he had known it from before. This song was old. One that stretched back to- when?

A dark figure charged at him. Claws coming up and wings lifting him slightly from the ground, he easily maneuvered himself so that he could grab the thing by its shoulders. The body was broken and misshapen. Sores oozed pus and worms crawled beneath its skin. Reaching up at him, it screamed. Raven flung it away, disgusted. Doing so had turned his body so that he could see Dipak who was also being attacked.

For a moment, Raven was afraid the fragile looking man would be easily cut down. But Dipak danced away. He reached out his arm and plunged it into the folds of reality. The darkness no longer able to conceal his secret, Raven watched as the space around Dipak’s hand gave way and his arm went somewhere else. From that place, he drew a sword. It was as long as Dipak’s arm but only a few inches wide. When he swung the blade, it screamed and lit itself on fire.

“Emberblade,” Raven whispered.

Dipak snapped his head in Raven’s direction and pointed while yelling gibberish. Raven turned to look just as a vibrant beam of fire shot from the end of Dipak’s finger and engulfed another deformed creature. It wailed, fell and twitched on the ground. What was that?

“Keep your head in the game, Branwen!” Dipak yelled.

The name cut through him. Like a lifting fog, so much confusion blew away. It was his name. This true name gave him more power then the first he had been given. No other memories came with it, but it seemed that his body became more aware of itself. Feeling larger, teeth sharper and claws longer; he dived into the wave of creatures that charged from the tree line. He bellowed, swinging his hands and tearing away great chunks of flesh. A few quick flaps of his wing and a flip in the air brought him back in front of them.

The dark tide seemed to be endless. Without tiring, he slashed each down and a haphazard pile grew around his feet. Vile liquids slimed his skin and slicked down his feathers. The rancid smell was over powering and he coughed in an effort not to gag. Through all this, Enaid sang. He wanted to turn and watch her purpose, but knew that she needed him to be her guard.

As suddenly as it had begun, it was over. Quiet settled around them, only disturbed by Raven's heavy breathing. He wiped at himself and shuddered to think what it would take to become clean. He would need to find a pool or something because he had no desire to lick himself clean as he usually did.

Green light washed out over the clearing from behind him and he turned to find its source. Enaid appeared to be dissolving into the light. Raven took a step forward, reaching for her. But Dipak caught him around the waist and drew him back, impossibly strong.

"She doesn't need to be saved any more," Dipak whispered.

Raven could see that what ever was happening to Enaid, she was not suffering. She continued to sing and everything about her had become radiant. The cloak had fallen away from her and she stood without shame, seemingly unaware. Her skin was the source of the light. She had become translucent with it. Slowly, her form began to break up and small bits of light fell onto the small tree that was struggling from the earth beneath her.

Each time a mote of light touched the tree, it brought change. The ground trembled and shifted beneath their feet. The sky lit itself on fire, glowing with greens, yellows and blues. The black trees shook themselves and the soot covering them crumbled away. Lifting up their arms to the heavenly display, they bloomed with a rainbow of flowers. Grasses, bushes, flowers and herbs shot up from the earth in lines drawn out from the tree.

Life stirred, waking from the long dark slumber. Deer dashed through the clearing and rabbits sat at the bases of trees, watching with a readiness to flee. Humming insects were at work within the blooms. Water gushed up from a spring and tickled into a long dry bed. Happily, it gathered into a small stream and gurgled away. Raven realized that the river bed was what they had previously mistaken for a path.

"Enaid," Raven whispered.

Her lower body had completely broken away. She looked at him when he had said her name. Her smile was radiant. There was nothing that she could say to give him comfort, so she said nothing. Raising one hand in front of her face, she watched as she lost form. A bright fish swam through the air past her and she reached out and ran her fingers across its side. A swarm of faeries rushed around her, stirring up the motes of light and laughing. Enaid laughed with them.

Then she was gone. In a single bright burst, she broke into nothing more then the motes that hung in the air. The breeze stirred and picked up these motes and they were carried away. When they were dropped onto something, it burst into color and life. Nothing was left to the darkness.

Falling to his knees, Raven wept. There was great joy in the freedom that now came to this place. It was so much more beautiful then he'd imagined. But there had been such a terrible price to pay. Was all this worth Enaid's life?

"No," Dipak said, putting his hand on Raven's shoulder. "She isn't dead."

Raven looked up and Dipak pointed to the tree which was now climbing into the sky. It was massive. He would no longer be able to wrap his arms around its trunk. The golden and silver bark gleamed. The sap oozed and glowed with the same vibrant green that Enaid had.

"Life Tree," Dipak murmured.

Dipak pressed the tips of his fingers to his fore head, the center of his chest and then kissed them.

"Mind, body and soul, I am yours."

Raven shook himself. He'd known these words. They were more familiar then Narrator's song. They said them together now.

"Of the earth, my flesh."

The ground trembled and pulled away so that the Life Tree was standing alone in a hollow.

"Of the waters, my blood."

The stream sparkled pink and orange, forgetting its way it rushed back up the hill and formed a small pool where the spring had previously been. As though gravity no longer mattered, the waters continued to run up over the stones so that it could fill the hollow.

"Of the wind, my breath."

Wind shook the trees and brightly colored leaves fell down around them. Swirls of color danced around the tree and slowly took on strange forms that Raven knew were living things. Something else had woken in this place. It wasn't the leaves, but the unseen things that carried them.

"Of the fire, my soul."

The sky burst into brilliance as the sun finally rose over the horizon. Its golden light graced everything that had remembered it could be. There was little shadow here now, only those that stretched out behind the trees, cast by the newly born light.

"I am yours. Now, always and forever."

Everything around them was now still and waiting. Raven couldn't imagine what this new place could be waiting for. It had sprung up into being from a seed, a song and the life of a beautiful girl. What could it want now? Raven hadn't realized that he had been holding Dipak's hand until it slid from his. He tried to keep hold of it.

"Dipak," Raven whispered.

Dipak smiled back at him with tears streaming freely down his face. Then he left the shore and stepped out across the water. It held his weight. Once to the Life Tree he leaned against it. The tree shuddered. Dipak looked up at the laden branches that reached out endlessly and opened his mouth. A single mote flickered and then drifted towards the trunk. When the light touched the tree it sighed and a cracked opened in it. Dipak stepped inside.

"No!" Raven yelled.

But Dipak neither paused, nor looked back as the tree closed itself around him.

"Please, don't leave me here," Raven murmured, covering his face with his hands.

There was no pleasure in the creation of such splendor if it left him as alone as before. How could so much come into being and it all leave him? Sobs wracked his body as he mourned everything that he lost. Horse and her brilliant white mane and been slain. Narrator had taken her own life, the woman of stories. Enaid had been consumed as an ingredient of creation. And now even Dipak was gone to him, eaten by the tree that Enaid had become.

Maybe he could feed himself to the tree as well. Then it would be done. Raven rose up and went to the water's edge. He splashed into it and waded. The grime washed from his body and the waters lapped against the wounds. It was gentle and soothing. When he got to the tree he rested his palms and forehead against it. More tears came.

"Please, I don't want to be alone."