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</div><br/><br/>It had still been dark the first time Deet had awoken from the dream.  The pale white of twilight was barely visible over the tops of the trees when her eyes opened, her heart racing inside her chest.  It took her a moment to regain her senses as she sat up and looked about her den.  Once she was certain that everything, herself included, was where it should be, she breathed out a long slow sigh.  Hers hands coming up to rub her face.  It had seemed so real...<br/><br/><i>** Sister? **</i>a female's voice echoed in her mind.  Deet looked over at the dire wolf that lay beside her on the pile of sleeping furs.  Though the she wolf's eyes were still closed in slumber, her mind had awoken when she felt Deet's distress.  Deet smiled and ran a hand over Cresent's dark grey fur.<br/><br/><i>** It was only a dream, my Sister. ** Deet sent back.  * <i>Nothing to be concerned about. *</i> </i>A feeling of loving warm spread through Deet's mind as the wolf seemed to accept the answer before returning to a deep sleep.  Deet laid back down, kicking off the sleeping fur that had been covering her with a soft moan of pleasure as the cool night air touched her naked skin.  Rolling over, she too drifted back off to sleep.  The dream forgotten.<br/><br/>At least for the moment.<br/><br/>The dream would return consistently every night for the next week.  Each time, Deet would lay awake in her den, her mind and body restless as she thought over everything she had seen.  It was just a dream, she'd told herself.  And yet, the more the dream returned, the more she started to begin having her doubts.<br/><br/>Somewhere deep inside of her soul, she could feel something tugging at her relentlessly.  The restlessness along with sleepless nights were beginning to tax her, effecting her hunts.  Until one day, while hunting rabbits, her arrow had completely missed its target.<br/><br/><i>** You are unfocused ** </i>Cresent commented as Deet went to retrieve her arrow.<i>** Is it the dream again? **  </i>Deet didn't say anything.  She didn't need to, as the answer was already clear to them both.  Cresent watched her, her golden eyes filled with concern for her Sister.<br/><br/><i>** The Ancestors don't speak to us without reason.  Perhaps you should go to Timmain. **</i><br/><br/>"Timmain?" Deet responded aloud, rather than sending the thought back through the link she shared with Cresent.  The wolf's suggestion to seek out Timmain had surprised her, only because Deet hadn't thought of that idea until now.<br/><br/>Timmain was the Wolf Tribe's healer and elder, though elder was a largely under exaggerated term.  While the lives of elves lasted for years beyond counting, Timmain was one of the few truly ancient elves.  Quite possibly one of the oldest still living, at least for the Wolf Tribe elves.  She was their caretaker and their memory.  When it came to Howls, stories and lore passed down through generations, Timmain knew each and every one.  Even those that others had long forgotten.  If there was anyone that could help interpret these dreams, it would be Timmain.<br/><br/>~<i>~</i>~<i>~</i>~*~<br/><br/>Timmain's den resided at the very heart of the Wolf Tribe's home dwelling, or Holt, underneath the roots of a very large and very ancient oak tree.  Timmain would often joke that the tree was nearly as old as she was, claiming she had been just a child when the sapling had sprouted from acorn.  With the help of the Tribe's "tree" and "earth" shapers, tunnels and chambers were crafted through the earth in a way that didn't cause harm to the tree.<br/><br/>Timmain had born many children under the protective watch of the great tree and had seen many more grandchildren and great grandchildren.  For as well as her home, here was where she treated the sick and injured.  Deet was born here as well as her brother and now newly born sister.<br/><br/>She stepped into the den's main entrance carrying two rabbits as it was customary to bring a gift when visiting the den of a Tribe elder.  Deet found the elven woman standing at the bedside seeing to an elf about Deet's age that had been seriously injured in a territorial skirmish between the Wolf Tribe and the Grey Backs, a tribe of elk riding elves to the North.  Territorial skirmishes between the woodland tribes had more often as of late.<br/><br/>"How is she?" Deet inquired softly.<br/><br/>"Her wounds are slow to heal," Timmain replied, her voice crackling with age.  Deet watched as the old healer gently lifted the injured elf's head and pressed a small wooden bowl of white poppy's milk to her lips.  "And I worry about further infection.  But that is not why you have come here, is it?"  She set the bowl aside and turned her attention fully to Deet, her milky white eyes boring into Deet's forest green ones.  "Deethra, daughter of Shale and Keahi."  Deet shivered under her gaze.  Though Timmain had gone blind many years ago, the ancient she elf still held the ability to hold one's gaze with her own.  As if she could see right into one's very soul.  There were fine, delicate lines around her eyes, rare for an elf, and her once golden hair, now a soft wintery white, was drawn back into a single braid down her back the just barely brushed the ground.<br/><br/>Timmain grinned at the younger elf before her.  "Come, Deet.  Join me at my fire."<br/><br/>Passing the two rabbits off to one of Timmain's apprentices, Deet followed as she was lead deeper into the den.  They entered a large circular chamber where floor furs surrounded a small, but warm fire.  Timmain sat down with Deet taking the spot next to her.<br/><br/>"Now then, Deet, tell me about these dreams that you've been having."<br/><br/>These dreams, Deet began to explain, always started out the same.  She had been walking along when she suddenly found herself in a part of the forest she had never seen before.  There was a sound or scent, something that tugged at her, leading to an old dwelling of some sort.  All around her were crumbling stone walls and statues covered in shrubbery as if no one had lived there in ages.<br/><br/>And all the while that something that had lead her here, continued to draw her deeper and deeper into the ruins.  There more statues, figures that looked like elves sculpted out old marble, crumbling stairs that no longer lead anyway.  Deeper and deeper she went, knowing that there was something here she was suppose to find.  But every time she felt like she was getting close to finding it, she'd wake up.<br/><br/>Timmain listened in silence as Deet spoke, staring into the flames before her.  Seeming to see something that wasn't quite there.  When Deet's tail was finished, the old healer remained in silent contemplation.<br/><br/>"The Ancestors don't speak to us without reason," she said finally, her voice a whisper.  "I think I know these ruins of which you speak."<br/><br/>"You do?" Deet asked.  Timmain gave a nod of her head, smiling at the surprised expression on the young hunter's face.<br/><br/>"Of course I do.  For I might have seen these ruins myself once very long ago.  Though they were not ruins at the time, but a grand city built by our more civilized kin.  Though... I'm afraid the name escapes me..."  Deet frowned.  Timmain never forgot anything, so for her to not remember the name of a place see had once seen was unusual.  Timmain pondered on it a moment before shaking her head and waving a hand dismissively.<br/><br/>"Not that it matters now.  What matters is I think you are meant to seek out this ruined city.  To whatever end I cannot say, but I think the answer will be revealed in the journey."  Deet's eyes widened in stunned surprise.<br/><br/>"But I cannot leave," Deet said with a shake of her head.  "The tribe needs hunters, warriors..."<br/><br/>"The tribe needs life, Deethra!" Timmain interrupted with a harsh raised voice.  She placed a hand on Deet's arm, her grip strong even in her ancient years.  Her milky eyes gazing intently at Deet.  "You know how dire things are for the tribe."<br/><br/>Deet tore her eyes away from Timmain's and looked into the flames.  Yes, she knew.  She knew all too well the situation in which the Wolf Tribe faced.  With the constant skirmishes, not just with the other tribes but with orcs and humans as well, and with hunting growing more and more scarce, the dark wolf of death was nipping close at their heels.  Waiting for them to fall.<br/><br/>"I feel that these dreams, Deet, are the Ancestors showing us that there might be a new path.  And you must be the one to find it.  When the Ancestors call on us, we must answer."  Deet gave a sigh.<br/><br/>"Very well, then," she replied softly.  "I shall answer the Ancestors' call."  She returned her gaze to Timmain's.  "Thank you for your wisdom, Elder Timmain."<br/><br/>"But of course, my dear.  Also, can I possibly resist a visit from my favorite great grand daughter."  Timmain took Deet's face in her hands and the two pressed their foreheads together in an intimate gesture of love for each other.  Timmain smiled as she pulled away and got back to her feet.<br/><br/>"Come along, now.  We must prepare you to leave at first light tomorrow.  And who knows, perhaps you might find your lifemate on this journey as well."<br/><br/>"Grandmama!" Deet protested with a laugh as she, too, rose to her feet and followed Timmain out of the den.<br/><br/>~<i>~</i>~<i>~</i>~<i>~</i>~<br/><br/>The following morning, after saying goodbye to her mother and father as well as the rest of the tribe, Deet sat astride Cresent as the pair started their long journey.  Deet hadn't really been sure on which direction to go, but Timmain had told her to follow the same pull that she had felt in the dream.  And sure enough, the further away from the Holt they went, the stronger that pull seemed to become.<br/><br/>After several days of travel, Deet and Cresent finally reached the first few crumbling stones of the ruins.  Eventually, they were passing by vine covered walls and the occasional statue.  It all felt as if she were dreaming again and Deet had to pinch her arm to be sure that she was awake.<br/><br/><i>** What was it you were looking for in your dreams, Deet? ** </i>Cresent asked as they passed through what had once been a stone doorway.  Deet shook her head.<br/><br/><i>** I don't really know.  I guess we'll know when we find it. **</i>