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The early summer sun shone through the trees and dappled the grass beside the stream where Aecethyen lay as she wept. Her tears splashed onto the ground and into the water. She had been strong while she had watched her father pack his travel bag and leave, but now in this quiet part of the forest the dam had burst. Both her mother, now her father, gone. She understood, at least she partly understood. It had been seven years since her mother had left on her pilgrimage - Aecethyen hardly remembered her and it was right that her father should go and look for his wife after all this time, but still, it left her all alone. She had begged her father to take her with him, but he has told her that it was too dangerous and she was too young. It was best that she stayed with her aunt and uncles, and her cousins. So here she was, in her favourite place in the forest, weeping.

She didn't even like her cousins all that much. They implied dreadful things about her mother, without ever being specific. She was beginning to suspect that they knew as little as she and were just being unkind to her. She really didn't want to live with them. Aecethyen lay there weeping, listening to the running water and the sounds of the forest.

"Why are you crying child?" Aecethyen started as she thought that she was alone in this part of the woods. Looking up through a veil of tears she saw a golden-haired elven woman regarding her solemnly. She blinked as this elf was a stranger and few visitors came to this isolated place. "Things are never as bad as they seem, child. Dry your tears and take heart." Aecethyen burst into sobs again and began to tell the strange woman about her mother and her father and her cousins. As she spoke she began to feel better relieving the burden of her childish problems.

When Aecethyen had run out of words, the lady looked at her, seeming to look deep into her. "You have a stout heart child, and the world will need such one's as you in the times to come. "Go. Learn the forest and it's ways. Learn to fight and above all learn to listen." As she pondered these words, Aecethyen heard movement in the bushes and a doe came into the clearing and went to the water to drink. It stood right besides the lady and as it raised it's head to look at Aecethyen, the lady placed her hand upon it's head. "Sleep now." Aecethyen heard the words almost dreamily as she dropped into a deep rest.

She woke refreshed and wondered if it had all be a dream, but there were the hoof prints of the doe in the soft ground beside the stream. In the days, months and years of her long elven childhood, Aecethyen pondered the lady's words often and found strength in them. She spent much time in the forest, learning the plants and the animals that lived there. She got herself armour and an old but usable longsword both castoffs from older male cousins that had out grown them. At first the armour was too big for her and she took much teasing from her cousins, but she practiced hard, she grew in size and strength and her cousins stopped laughing when she bested them as often as not. The longsword was always a little long for her short, elven height and she took you wielding it more like a hand and a half sword using two hands much of the time. She slung it in a baldric over her shoulder to keep it out of the way where she also kept her prize possession which was a longbow that had belonged to her mother. She enjoyed the longbow most of all and over time became a pretty good shot.

As she reached maturity a restlessness came over Aecethyen and she often thought of going in search of her missing parents as neither had returned, but she had no idea where to start looking and the village elders would not tell her what they knew or allow her to go and look for them. She was frustrated and often went for long trips through the forest taking several days to work out her frustrations from her system. On one of these trips she came into a clearing and by a pool of water the lady was waiting. Aecethyen had long suspected who this lady might be, but on seeing her she felt no trepidation. She crossed the glade to the pool and knelt. "Lady, I know who you are, as I did not in my youth. Can you grant me a boon and aid me in my search for my lost parents?" "And would you serve me if I guided you in this?" Aecethyen hesitated knowing what a commitment was being asked of her. The Lady smiled. "Well you should ponder as it not something that should be taken on lightly. Gather your few possessions and travel for five days to the southeast of here and there you will find a man that will help you find an answer." There was a splash in the pond as a fish broke the surface and in the distraction, the lady vanished.

Aecethyen pondered the Lady's words as she returned to her village. The elders were reluctant to let her leave but felt they couldn't deny the will of Ehlonna and so she packed her things, said goodbye to the village and returned to the glade in the hope of seeing more of the Lady. She was out of luck and so headed southeast. On the afternoon of the fifth day Aecethyen came across a hut in a clearing. Before it was an old human, still hale, but with white hair and a short white beard. She suspected that she was older than him in years, if not in wisdom.

Approaching the man she spoke. "The Lady Ehlonna sends me to you for guidance." The old man looked up from where is was sitting repairing some leather work. "Is that so? Then behind the hut you will find a shed. In the shed you will find a hoe. Beside the hut there is a vegetable patch that needs weeding." The man returned to his leather work. "I'm Colume Blackbeard." he added, "Although my beard has been white for many a year."

Aecethyen spent three years with Colume. Besides weeding and other chores of life, he taught about the goddess and her ways, about theology, about magic both divine and arcane, and of magical beasts from other planes of existences. Aecethyen listened and learned but in time felt herself again grow restless. One night as she was just drifting off to sleep, Ehlonna visited her for a third time. "It is time for you to leave, child. Trust me and I will guide you. For now, head to the east." and with those words Aecethyen slipped fully into sleep.

The next morning she washed, dressed and packed and went to the old priest. Colume looking into her face and nodded. "So, the day has come. The Lady came to me a month ago and said it was almost time. I've made you this. Wear it with pride." He handed Aecethyen a wooden symbol of Ehlonna on a leather thong. Aecethyen took the caving, put it round her neck and bowed gravely. She shouldered her pack and walked towards the rising sun.