Part One: Prologue

In the dark hour before dawn, Taraval dreamed of a blue glowing light and of something that stung his hand like fire. Had he remembered the dream upon waking, he might have known it for a sign of things to come -- of the year-long quest that would take him to the lands just below the northern lights in pursuit of the wind, and the fog, and the stars. But the dream, as fleeting as a sigh, evaporated at first light like dew from a spider's web, and he slept peacefully on.