"Don't trust beginnings, truth is told in the last moments." - Ahlam Mosteghanemi

Alachna City, Ardam 1292

Faolan used to tell us stories about his Millennium. He described in great detail the transformation he felt. He said that as he was doing the Dance of the Wind, he could feel the winds of change moving inside him. He said that he felt a tornado of life bubbling up and desiring to escape. He used to say that a new life began when he transformed and stepped into adulthood.

We have been taught about the Transformation in our classes. It is not really a physical transformation, as the only changes to our appearance would be our ears, and maybe some small details like an extra spark in some elves' eyes.

The Transformation is about embracing your full potential - coming fully into your powers and taking your place in the forest. This would include a better sense of connectivity to ArBrae and her life.

Faolan used to say that the Transformation was the most magical moment in his life.

I don't feel anything magical happening inside or around me as I dance in the misty drizzle. I must hide my failure. I would rather have everyone think that I messed the dance up than to have them know that I have not undergone the transformation. My hair should hide my ears from view.

I jerk my head twice. I feel my hair covering my ears.

The song and my body stop simultaneously.

I step out of the circle.

In one voice the elves mutter the last blessing for Aedan and me.

"May the sun always light your way. May the water always sustain you. May you always find your way back to ArBrae Forest. May you always remember who you truly are."

Everyone starts rushing to us to pour congratulations and wishes of fortune. Aedan grabs my elbow and pulls me away before they can reach us. He shoves people out of the way and pulls me into the forest. Their confused faces linger in my thoughts. Mother will be furious.

Aedan continues to pull me deeper into the forest. I follow him without question. I will bathe myself in oil and jump into a fire if he asked me too – without question. Aedan starts running.

After a while, he halts. He stops panting.

"I apologise for the bruise that will develop on your arm," he says as he let go of my arm.

He turns to me. His eyes are darker with grey storm clouds in them. It means that he has just seen a vision, from either the past, present or future. I thought that he sensed my fear about not transforming. Apparently, Aedan has something more pressing on his mind.

"Aedan, what did you see?"

He touches both my temples. A vision of me walking through the forest floods my mind.

I arrive at a stone clearing surrounded by trees.

"You have to go there now."

"There isn't such a place in the forest."

Aedan and I know the forest better than we know ourselves or the other, which is saying an enormous lot.

"It will be there when you get there."

"Why?"

He sighs: "The reason is obscured from me, but it is the answer to your current confusion."

He takes his forefingers off my temples.

I will jump into a volcano if Aedan asks me too. I wouldn't even require a reason. I will just trust him blindly.

"I will go, but it will be noticed that I am gone."

We have already made a mess of things – just leaving as we did.

"I will take care of it."

I nod: "Thank you, Rabbit."

I slip away from the clearing. I follow the path in Aedan's vision.

I purposely suck in the air. The world is always fresh after or during rain. The scent of wet leaves and ground is one of my favourite things.

I arrive at the place Aedan showed me and step onto the first step. The marble is slippery from the rain. I take my shoes off. I ascend the next two steps. I stand on the edge of the platform for about a minute.

Nothing happens.

The platform has a set of steps on the other side. I notice that the platform is just next to the edge of a cliff. I walk to the edge of the platform. The whole forest is spread out before me like a map, but I'm sure there shouldn't be a cliff here.

The falling rain connects the forest's mountains and trees that rise and fall and roll out into the distance with the dark grey and black clouds that cover the air as far as I can see in oblique stripes.

Every few seconds lightning illuminates the horizon.

This is why I love the forest with my every breath: its magnificence leaves you breathless.

**************************

I am dripping wet. The water streams down my face. I curl into a ball at the base of a tree.

I realise that I am crying.

Why?

I don't know. I feel empty and I am in excruciating pain. My body feels as if every bone has been broken.

The forest floor beneath me is also wet.

My white dress is ruined. Mother will scold me.

Aylissa!

Thunder! I should be at my own birthday celebration.

Why am I not there? I was there.

I stand up. My dress is ruined. There's no way I can go back looking like this.

I localise my pain. My ears are the source. I touch my right ear with the tip of my index finger and suppress a scream.

I hear birds chirping. That means that daybreak is almost here. Somehow I lost the whole night.

I frown and wipe my tears away.

I must get back home. I have no idea where I am. Maybe I do, but my brain is too fuzzy.

The rain has stopped.

Find a stream and wash your face. If you are lucky, you might even wash your brain.

I follow my own advice.

There are always streams everywhere in the forest. Or I can just tip one of the broad leaves of the middle-story trees and find the water there.

I cup my hands and splash the water from the first leaf on my face. I do it again. My brain starts to regain its function. I have an idea of where I am.

I walk back through the forest.

The clearing is already cleaned up. There is no trace of the feast held there last night.