"Hiya Daddy Lutz!" Araliya said as she made her way to the door. I dried my eyes as Rune approached me. He sat down at the huge glass table and motioned for me to join him at his side. "Tears?" he questioned. I wiped at my eyes again and started to speak, but he cut me off. "Kayne, I have something important to tell you. I don't know quite how to put it, but you..." "Are a Protector," I finished. His eyes widened as I continued to speak. "I am a Protector, and you need me to come with the group to fought the Darkness." "How did you know that?" he asked. "Have you been hiding the Power of the Ancients from me?" "No, but your daughter has," I informed. He looked around the room as he questioned the air, "How could I not have sensed it?"
He looked down at my hand, which was enclosed in his, and then looked back at me. "Well then, I guess all there is to do now is ask you...will you come with us?" I decided not to tell him what Araliya had said about the mission failing without me, although he was probably probing my mind and finding the answer anyway. "Of course I will come. If it is my destiny as a Protector to join you, then I can't go against it." A smile swept over his face and he hugged me tight. "I feel safer already knowing you are going to be there. Besides, now Iwill get to make up for all that lost time!" he laughed. "Yes, we do have a lot of catching up to do," I said as I kissed him on the forehead. He got up from the table, still clinging to my hand and said," We have to leave very soon." We made our way out the door and towards the grand gathering hall at the front of the Mansion.
As we entered the hall, my eyes immediately fell on Joaquin, who was holding his tiny little sister in his arms. I assumed she had already told him what was going to happen. He approached Rune and me and said, "Araliya told me everything. Don't worry, I'll take good care of her, I promise." Something deep inside me told me my decision to accompany my husband was right with the words of my son. Rune's companions were all packed and ready to leave, and Bindo appeared with a pack of my belongings.
He also handed me a long, slender object, wrapped in soft cloth. My hands shook as I took the featherweight object in my hands for the first time in ages. "Never thought you would need to use this again, did you?" Bindo joked. I unwrapped the item from its cloth shroud and exposed its brilliant finish. I hadn't seen this weapon, the Techne-bow, for an eternity. It had no tangible ammunition, I had no need for arrows. The basis was simple. I cast a technique: Wat, Foi, Tsu, Vol, etc., and it would produce an arrow of pure technique for me to fire. "Holy Helex!" Joaquin yelled. "Mom,you know how to use that thing?" "Yes," I said. "It was mine a very long time ago. I had forgotten all about it."
I slung the bow in the catch that Bindo had just fastened to my back, and approached my children. Somehow I managed not to cry, and I bid farewell to my kids. As we walked out the door, I could see the Ice-Digger gleaming in the distance. I turned to look back just as Joaquin and Araliya both yelled, "Bindo says for both of you to COVER YOUR HEADS!" Rune and I both laughed and obeyed, fearful of the old man running after us to cover our heads for us. As I seated myself in a seat next to a small window, I thought about all the battles ahead of us. Rune sat down next to me, and we both looked towards the Mansion, to see the children getting smaller and smaller as we glided off through the snow-covered terrain of Dezolis.
