It was a beautiful day in the forrest, and Snuff was happy as a pig could be, running around sticking his snout where it didn't belong. Gara paid attention to what he was doing, he was good at finding shrooms and if he found some today she wanted to notice before he had ate them all himself.<br/>She could no longer see the river, but she was close enough that she could hear it. Today other sounds drifted in from the river, strange sounds you'd not normally hear in these parts. Was that singing? Snuff noticed too, sticking his snout up in the air and sniffing loudly...<br/><br/>At the village green Keliek't send the kids packing, which they did under loud protests. "My friends!" he exclaimed, walking up to Ari and Reya with long strides. "I am so glad you could come! I had my doubts, I must confess. Come, there is much to do."<br/>He soon put them to work, showing them basic stances and how you should hold your sword to avoid getting skewered before the fight had even begun. He was actually a pretty good teacher, patient and witty, but he also had a razor sharp tongue if the girls made fools of themselves. When he saw Xhol and Ilene approach the green he waved them closer, and soon they were also sweating under the unrelenting sun.<br/>After awhile he halted the exercise and gathered them around him.<br/>"Very good, as I suspected. Time for a little story, I think. Who here can tell me what an Adept is?"<br/>Sure they had heard stories about Adepts, the heroes imbued with magic that were so popular in legends and songs. But what they were...that wasn't really something they had given much thought. It wasn't like they had ever met one anyway.