The clan had been having a good night. They had been eating and drinking around the fire at their camp. Her father was laughing and drinking with her uncles. Her mother was smiling, helping the other women tend to the food. The children were playing amongst themselves. Her and her cousin were dancing about the fire while her other cousins played. It was a typical night of celebration. The reason' They were celebrating the marriage agreement made between her clan and another. Her cousin was to be married to a woman from another clan in seven summers. She was to be having her own wedding in the spring. She had not met the man since their engagement party so many years ago, but that never seemed to bother her. Besides, that's the way things had always been with the clans.

After the celebration, they packed up their camp. It was time to head south for the winter. The cold winds had begun to blow and they needed to do their migration to a new camp site. The carts were packed up. The horses were prepared so they could be easily attached to the carts in the early morning so they could begin the long ride. They had started to head south before she woke up. She could feel the cart moving under her at one point. It made her smile, and soon she was fast asleep again.

When she woke, everything was still. And quiet. Strangely quiet She couldn't hear the breathing of her family. When she opened her eyes, she realized she couldn't see much either. One thing was for certain. She was no longer in a cart. She was in a room of some sort. And the cold. It was so very cold! She sat up and realized that somehow she had a wool cloak wrapped around her, and her shoes were on. She didn't remember wearing them when she fell asleep. What was going on' Where the hell was she"

She fumbled around in the dark until she found a door. She moved to step through it and keep going....closet. So she tried again, and this time, it led to a room that had actual windows. She looked through the window to see if she could figure out where she was. It was morning, but the town didn't resemble any town she had been in before. She could have sworn the woman she saw go past had pink hair. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. She must be still tired and seeing things. She looked again, but the woman was gone. She saw no carts or horses. If her family had been there, they had left. Could they have forgotten her"

She could make out an Inn across the street, so she decided to head that way. She checked herself to see what belongings she had. She had her tamborine. How odd. She didn't remember having that on her when she went to sleep either. Her pouch was on her other hip and it had a few things she liked to carry about with her. Her tarot deck, some matches, a few pretty baubles, her rosary beads, a comb, and some throwing knives. The knives were taken out and hidden on her body to where she could easily get to them if needed, but honestly, she hated them. She felt around on her body some more to find her small money pouch. It had a number of Romanian coins in it, along with Bulgarian, Turkish, and Greek coins. She counted them out, then put them back with a frown. She had enough to possibly get her a room for one night. Maybe a meal too. It depended on what this unknown town charged.

She finally made her way out of the apparently abandoned building and hurried across the street into the Inn. She barely looked around as she took off her cloak, feeling the warmth of the building. It was hard to believe such a large building could be kept warm by a fire. But her stomach gurgled in need of food and her mouth craved something wet. Oh how she would love some good Turkish tea right now. She moved to the bar and leaned to look for the Innkeeper. Then she heard a voice behind her.

"It's self serve."

She turned to look for the voice, and what she saw almost made her faint on the spot. It was a beast! A huge pale blue beast with teeth and claws and wings! And it was looking at HER! She heard a scream, only to realize it was her own, and then she made a leap to get behind the bar. She scrambled behind it and clung to the barrels she found. She crossed her times as she began to pray. She didn't have the sense to dig for her rosaries, so she simply clutched the pouch as she prayed. Then she heard another voice.

"You okay?"

She looked up to see a woman with green hair and eyes that seemed almost white. She had seen eyes like that before on a person that was blind. But this woman had her face turned directly to her, as if she could see her. It was startling in and of itself, but she had greater concerns at the moment. Namely, the beast.

"There's a monster! Do you not see it?"

"You can come out, and don't worry, I won't hurt you."

She turned to see that huge beast looking at her, over the bar. She yelped out again and tried to get away. She was certain she was going to be eaten. The fact that it was talking to her and the words it was using, were not really sinking in. How could this strange looking woman not know there was a gigantic beast just feet from her?

Eventually she was convinced that the Monster was actually a Dragon, and her name was Icer and relatively harmless. She learned the name of the other dragon, named Ty. Then she discovered that the green haired woman was not blind at all, and her name was Lydia. The was another woman there with strangely pointed ears who introduced herself as Jalleia. In fact, the only one who appeared human was a man who had appeared out of nowhere, but introduced himself as Toby. She finally came to understand that this had a number of people brought to it by a thing called the Nexus. And this Nexus also liked to play games by grabbing people and then dropping them down either in the same place, or other places. Sometimes it removed things, sometimes it gave things.

Heaven help her.

This, my friends, was her introduction to Rhydin.