As the firewood touched the fire, green sparks flew out of it.

"Emeryc, are you there?" A female voice was carried on the sparks.

"Xara? Hold on, I will make my end stronger," Emeryc replied. He placed his last piece of firewood on the flames and focused his attention on them. The log caught alight instantly and his fire began to burn with a pale green light behind it. Xara's voice came out of the flames. She sounded panicked.

"Is it safe to come through, Em?"

"Yes. What's wrong? Why aren't you with Tham and her family?"

"I'd rather tell you when I get there," she replied. Emeryc heard her mutter the two syllables that she required to make her fire stronger, followed by the seven to create the connection so that she could travel between the two fires. This was followed by the eight syllable spell that sent her traveling as fast as a blink along the connection. Emeryc's fire burned a bright green and Xara stepped out of the flames. She ran straight into his arms. "Em, it was horrible. They burnt the house down with everyone inside. They didn't even spare little Sirae. Not even little Sirae. She died in my arms. The last thing that she said was 'Aunty Xar, why aren't you burning?'" Xara was sobbing between every few words. "The flames were hot enough to even affect Tham. What hope did the rest of the family have if a fire-healer was burned?"

Emeryc was surprised, but after his initial pause, he but hi arms around his wife and hugged her, as his still half asleep mind processed what she had just said. He shook his head, thinking that he might have misheard her.

"Xara, what happned?"

"The Seekers came to my village. They tested every little child. All of those who, if they were Talented, would not have had the chance to learn how to control their Talents to hide them. Of course Sirae was discovered and you know the penalty for being discovered with Talents." Xara's voice quietened. "Except now they punish the entire family. 'To eradicate such a horrid disease', the Seekers say."

"The entire family? Then we have lost the Mildthryth line? All this time, all that we have done, all that we have been through... has it all been for nothing?"

"It couldn't be for nothing, Em," Xara said. "The Powers would have stepped in if that was the case. There has to be something that we've overlooked. Something that we should have thought of." She was struggling to hide the annoyance in her voice, that Emeryc was more worried about their mission than about herr