Ilie

I have been sent to guard the One, She Who Will Bear the Speaker. It is not an onerous duty, in spite of Dragos' exhortations. But he need not know it was really my mother's words in my ears that spurred me.

Dragos is a great Warlord, or would be, were there War. But he does not understand some important things-- like women. His style of wooing is the most illustrative example of this, but of course, there are other things. He does not honor his mother as I honor mine. Once I asked him about this; he said, "Of course we must honor the Wind-Seer. But my mother is only a land-walking old prude." It is true, his mother does not have the soaring blood in her. But she is the most careful collector of grains; it is she that manages the great fields of barley and wheat, keeps us from over-harvesting, directs the yearly grinding. Because she does not ride the highest winds, Dragos cannot see that she is important. Because she spent his childhood urging caution on him, she has only his disdain. Never mind that all of us are not born to the heights.

Because of her flying dreams, because she thrilled to be in his arms so high above the walkers' world, and because of the little flying reptile that she keeps-- these things caused Dragos to love Stark. This, and the fact that Dragos has never been a man to defer to women as he should. Stark is no forest wren, but neither is she a lone hawk. So, his heart led him to her, and since he could not see his way clear to love a pedestrian woman for her own sake, he told himself that she is the prophesied one.

And perhaps he is right. There is no way to know. There were four women who came in company with the Wind-Seeker, and none of them wear the mantle of prophecy. Though I have hopes...

I am no Seer, but I do know which way the wind is blowing, from time to time. If I raise my wings to them, the winds will carry me far.