The girl called Ember sat in the classic lotus position on the floor, staring intently at the flickering candle before her, the small room's only source of illumination. The candle cast strange, distorted shadows on the walls, put she tried not to pay attention. Her business was with the flame, not it's bi-products.<br/>She closed her eyes and sighed, rubbing her forhead. She could feel a headache coming on, staring at the candle like that was starting to strain her eyes. The room lurched, reminding her once again that she was actually inside a wagon. It might be a bit cramped, but at least it was warm and cosy. She did not envy those that had to be outside in this weather.<br/>It had started snowing right about the time she had escaped from...escaped from... Actually, she didn't want to think about that right now. Anyway, she had escaped, pressing herself through the thorny walls of the Hedge, not caring that her skin was pierced and her clothes shredded, just wanting to get away, far away. She had just made it through the thorns and onto a path when it had started snowing. She had looked up and realized that she was still trapped in the mazelike Hedge, and she despaired. She was lost, and even though she slowly started walking down the path she had no way of knowing where it would take her. Maybe right into the waiting arms of her captor, a thought that terrified her more than wandering the Hedge lost forever. The snow had quickly covered the ground in a thick white blanket and she had been cold, so very cold. Where her naked feet touched the ground the snow hissed and melted away, creating clouds of steam with every step. But her fire wasn't protecting her from the cold, if anything she felt even more vulnerable to the weather than she once had been.<br/>Finally, weighed down by the cold, exhaustion and crushing despair, she sank to her knees. A half remembered memory screamed at her in the back of her mind. If she went to sleep in the snow she would never wake up. She knew it, but she didn't care. She was so tired, and the snow felt surprisingly warm and comfortable. She would just sit there and let the snow hide her from the world. Just go to sleep...would it be so terrible?<br/>Of course, that wasn't how it had played out in the end. By a stroke of luck a whole caravan of Lost had stumbled upon her only a few minutes after she had surrendered to sleep's sweet embrace. She only half remembered being swept up in the strong arms of the bull-like Beast Hannibal and being carried into the waiting warmth of one of the Carnival's wagons. That had been five days ago, but she had spent the first two days in the Carnival's company in bed, beset by crippling fever that made her shiver so violently that her muscles still ached as if she had overdone it while exercising. But skilled and tender care by her host Nikodemus had nursed her back to health and today her aching muscles were the only sign of her illness.<br/>She had realized to her horror that she remembered very little from her past life when she was asked about it. She couldn't even remember her own name. Ember was the only thing she could think to answer when asked, and it felt right somehow, but she knew it wasn't what she was called before...<br/>She did remember some of who she was, what she liked and didn't like, what she was good at and things she feared. She knew her childhood had been a happy one, but still she couldn't remember any of it...or her parents. She thought she might come from a large family but didn't have any memories of any brothers and sisters either. Her whole life was a mystery to her, she didn't even know how old she was! It was so frustrating, how could it be possible that she could remember in detail movies she had once seen but nothing of her family?<br/>Even more disturbing to her for some reason was the lack of memories of her abduction and time in captivity. Nikodemus had patiently explained a few things to her to the best of his ability. Apparently the thorns of the strange Hedge not only pierced skin but rended the very soul of someone passing through them. It was believed, though no one could say for certain, that a captive dragged through the Hedge left their mortal soul hanging in bits and pieces on those nasty, alien thorns and that the time spent in slavery in Arcadia was as a soulless being not quite human. In that sense, the paniced escape back through the Hedge was not only an escape from a cruel master, but also a personal journey to reclaim ones mortal soul. The memories of her past life would come back, Nikodemus had assured her, once her body had grown accustomed to once again having a soul. The memories of her captivity was another matter. The strange, dreamlike quality of Arcadia made those memories extremely difficult to hold on to after you left it. She might never remember...if she was lucky.<br/>She sighed and blew out the candle. Whatever they thought she was going to achieve here wasn't going to happen, not today. The wagon became pitch black and she regretted having snuffed the candle. A tiny sliver of light could be seen though, from the far end of the wagon. Ember knew the source, it came from the strange door that had called to her in the back of her mind the whole time, making it that much more difficult to focus on her exercise. Coming to a decision she got up from the floor and tip toed on naked feet through the dark, over to the door. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she opened the door and quietly slipped inside. She kept her eyes closed for several seconds, knowing how they would revolt to what she would see when she opened them.<br/>When she finally did open them she couldn't stop a gasp escaping from her lips. It was impossible, yet there it was. She was standing in a huge, almost cavernlike room, perfectly rounded. She could hardly even make out the ceiling high up there, over her head. Steps reached up to wooden platforms overhead, reaching ever higher. From floor to ceiling the walls were covered with bookshelves, all filled with old, dusty tomes. That a door in the back of a cramped wagon could lead to such a place still made her brain scream in protest, but she was learning to deal with it. The first time she had come here she had become so disoriented she had barfed all over the floor, a memory that still made her chins burn with shame.<br/>Quiet as a mouse she slipped across the floor and grabbed on to a ladder. The ladders were running on tracks so you could move them with ease, and she pushed it to the section she was interested in. She climbed the ladder, forcing herself not to look down. Finding the one book she was after among the countless volumes was suspiciously easy, but it was like it called out to her. She grabbed it quickly and started her decent, still not looking down.<br/>She crossed the floor again, this time to an old and pretty desk, like the ones you'd expect to find in old, nice libraries. It had a green leather surface and an ancient looking reading lamp and everything.<br/>She sat down, placing the book on the desk with great care. At first she just stared at it, almost reverently. It was very old, possibly several hundreds of years, and even though it was quite worn down by time she could tell it had been quite beautiful while new, and still was despite, or maybe because of, the worn look. It was bound with some exotic red leather, and etched into the leather was the picture of a campfire, the etchings filled with flaking gold paint.<br/>Without realizing it Ember held her breath as she opened the book and turned to the first page. The paper was old, almost like parchment but whoever had bound the book had done an excellent job, no pages seemed to be missing or even hanging loose. The amount of dust collected by the book told her that she was probably the first to open it in a very, very long time. She began reading:<br/><br/><em>"Once upon a time in a kingdom far, far away lived a young princess who was the fairest in all the lands.  Above all she loved the art of dance, and the king did not object to her passion. He had enough heirs  to know his line was secure so he allowed his daughter to follow her dreams with all her heart.<br/>So fair was the princess, and so gracefull in movement was she, that the most famous dancers in the realm fought over the chance to take the young princess under their wing. Eventually word of the young princess had spread to all corners of the world and people traveled far and wide to see the princess dance.<br/>One of the people who came to see the princess was not like the others. When he saw her he became obsessed, as people like him often is known to be, and he knew he had to make her his. That night he stole into the castle, neither guard, lock or wall able to stand in his way, and come morning the servants found the princess' bed empty.<br/>When the princess awoke she was in a strange place. She was lying on a smooth but hard and cold stone slab in what appeared to be a huge cavern. Most of the cavern's center was occupied by a pool of cold and dark water. Only along the walls of the cave was there dry land, if it could be called that. Most of it was only sharp rocks made slippery by seaweed and water and the princess did not like the idea of having to climb them so she stayed where she was.<br/>Eventually the dark water started to churn and up rose a mighty titan of the sea, a king of the deep. Covered only in a loincloth of seaweed and standing taller than two men, the terrified princess thought she was standing before a forgotten and angry god of the sea. With a godlike physique, a beard like seafoam and a laurel made of seaweed, who was to say that wasn't exactly what he was?<br/>The princess soon learned that her Keeper was a cruel and unforgiving master, and she also learned that her fate was shared by many others. She learned that the underwater mountain where the sea titan lived held many caves such as the one she was held in, and every cave housed a mortal prisoner abducted for some mercurial reason that only the titan or his kind could fathom. The only way to escape was to brave the cold, dark and crushing depths of the sea, for no dry tunnels did lead from the prison caves. And the princess wept, her tears mixing with those of the other prisoners, turning the sea salty and bitter, making it unsuitable for human drink.<br/>Every night the titan made her dance for him until her feet bled. Every night after the titan left she wept for hours. This went on for what seemed like an eternity until one night, when the titan came to fetch her and took her away from her cave. He took her to a place she'd never seen before, a grand ballroom filled with wonder. Everywhere she looked she saw objects and creatures so strange but beautiful she knew magic must have been involved. In this great hall the titan entertained hundreds of guests, beings of his own kind, though very few even looked remotely like him. And they had all come to see the mortal girl who danced as if she was of Faerie. When her turn came to dance the princess danced as best she could, but the merry atmosphere of the party had reminded her of happier times and her home ,and she couldn't stop bitter tears from falling down her cheeks. Even though fear made her try her very best, her heart wasn't in it. The titan was furious, he could hear his guests snicker and whisper behind his back, and that night he made his displeasure known to the princess, beating her until her body was one big bruise. The titan was unable to understand how the princess felt, nor did he care. To him she was nothing more than a pretty piece of art, and at the moment his new toy was no fun at all. When he left her he told her she'd better not disappoint him again. He wanted her to dance as she once had, unable to understand that she might never be able to dance like that again.<br/>Come next party, the princess once again was forced to dance and once again her heart wasn't in it. Her thoughts wandered to her parents and how she missed them so very much, and she wept bitter tears.<br/>That night the titan beat her again, and for the next several weeks she received no food or drink, and in pure desperation she was forced to find nourishment in the seawater and the strange, fluorescent fungi growing on the damp rocks. Every day as she saw her reflection in the water she noticed more and more changes, her ears growing pointed and her features becoming even more delicate. The princess realized that even if she somehow managed to escape she would no longer be recognized even by her parents. There were no longer any going back to the way things once were, and the princess wept bitter tears for a life lost and gone forever.<br/>The next time the titan appeared he found the princess alive, despite her recent brush with starvation. She was once again told she were to entertain the titan's guests at one of his parties, and the princess despaired. This time she feared she would not survive the harsh punishment that would befall her if she yet again displeased her Keeper. But this time the titan had a determined look in his eyes that worried her more than anything she so far had experienced in the land of the Faerie.<br/>Once again the princess wept bitter tears as she was forced to dance for the entertainment of the gathered Lords and Ladies, this time thinking of all her brothers and sisters whom she would never meet again, and her performance was worse than ever as she couldn't stop shaking in terror in anticipation of what cruel punishment her Keeper would device for her this time. But as she glanced at the throne where her Keeper sat she did not see any hints of anger in his body language, he just sat there with a cruel smile and watched her fumble through her performance.<br/>When the princess was done she could hardly even remain standing, such was the terror ravaging her as she waited for the punishment she knew would come. When the titan rose from his throne she thought her heart would stop, and when the titan cleared his throat it almost did.<br/>"It has been made known to Us that Our highly esteemed guests feel this performance is not worthy of a gathering of this magnitude, and We are forced to agree. We find it lacking and utterly devoid of fire." A cruel gleam in the Keeper's eyes made the princess shiver. "But We think We can remedy the situation."<br/>He snapped his fingers then, and the princess could feel heat starting to radiate from the floor of the stage. At first it felt nice, she had lived in a cold and damp cave for so long now, and she had been without shoes the entire time. But soon the floor was uncomfortably warm, forcing the princess to jump from foot to foot, and her Keeper laughed.<br/>"Now perhaps We won't have to suffer your clumsy dragging of your feet any longer. Does this not motivate you? Now dance, as if your life depended on it!"<br/>By now the floor was so hot it was glowing red, and the princess cried out every time she put a foot down, she almost fainted from the pain and she was nauseated by the hissing sound and the smell of burned flesh. But before she knew it she was dancing, her body almost moving on it's own accord, and in a delirious trance the princess performance reached such dizzying heights she wouldn't even been able to dream it possible back in her old life.<br/>The event was a roaring success, and the princess was sent back to her cave where she crying soaked her tortured feet in the cold water.<br/>From that day forward she was often called on to perform for the titan and his guests, and as fire chased her around the stage she had no choice but give it her all, dancing her very heart out for their amusement.<br/>In time her body changed even more, taking on aspects of the element that tormented her so, and now her movements was as fluid and gracefull as the flame of a candle flickering in the wind. Her feet hardly seemed to touch the ground anymore as she flew over the stage, and she was showered in gifts, beautiful clothes, jewels and gold. But every night she was dragged back to her damp cave, and she might be there still, spending the rest of eternity entertaining cruel lords and ladies and adding her bitter tears to the sea..."</em><br/><br/>The girl called Ember found herself on the floor curled up in a fetal position and slowly rocking back and forth, having no clue how she got there.<br/>She could feel someone bending over her and the creaking of old Nikodemus' limbs told her who it was.<br/>"Sweet child," he said with a voice dry as parchment, "what have you gone and done?" As Ember looked up she saw no anger in his features over being disobeyed, she saw only sadness in his eyes.<br/>The old satyr sat down with creaking limbs beside her, she wondered how he'd be able to ever get up from the floor again. Dust slowly fell of him and his clothes as he moved and he cleared his dry throat as he readied himself to speak. Ember wondered if he wasn't turning more and more into the library he loved so much.<br/>The old satyr neatly folded his long white beard in his lap, making sure he wasn't sitting on it. She always got an oriental feeling from Nikodemus, she reminded her of a Shao Lin monk who had spent half an eternity meditating on a remote mountain top, gaining infinite wisdom. She doubted Nikodemus would be able to kick much ass though, the way those old guys always did in the movies.<br/>"Child, did I not say that book was not for you? But out of all my books in my library, which one do you decide to read?"<br/>He sighed, patting her hand.<br/>"I should've figured as much, perhaps. Curiosity is a powerful thing, but it have a way of landing us in trouble. I thought it would be safe once I put it back with all the other books, how you even managed to find it again I'll never know."<br/>He looked Ember in the eyes, his concern so easy to read he might just as well have been made of parchment with his thoughts and emotions written down for all to see.<br/>"Are you alright, child?"<br/>