It was the first time Zac and I had ever sung together. Many times we had sang in this world, interacted in musical ways, but never with one another. It wasn't something we even realized until it happened. In two seconds, that single, simple action changed everything we thought we had known about this new world.

It had been a week since we permanently moved in at the cave. Zac and I had gone into town to see the Kedrik's family and let them know we had resolved things between us. They were very glad, and again offered us a chance to stay in their home. We felt, however, that it was time for us to move into our own establishment, if only for the present time. We needed to spend more time together, to explore our own feelings and get ourselves straightened out.

Zac and I gathered a few more things to move with us to the cave and I thanked them all profusely for the birthday gifts they had given me. Then, with a promise to return soon, and few good hugs, we were off again. Their well wishes drifting off into the air behind us.

For Vanel this parting was particularly hard. I knew he had grown to like me, and I loved him dearly as well, but as I would love a little brother. He was a child and it was just a small crush. I knew he would grow out of it, but all the same I felt sorry for him. He, however, also knew, when Zac and I returned and again prepared to leave, that I was happy with Zac, and that he had never truly had any hope with me. His face hardened and he straightened his back, though the tears fell down his cheeks, as they did on everyone else's', as Soulfire made her way back down the road back to the cave.

Jem was the one thing we had to leave behind. All 3 of us, Zac, SoulFire and I would miss him, but he was needed by Kedrik back in the field, especially with Zac and myself gone. As a parting gift, I left Jem a bag full of the apples from our tree. With that I was sure he wouldn't mind the extra work too much, or even miss our presence. He was glad to be home.

Zac and I were sitting outside, above our cave, watching the sun set. The way the cave exterior was shaped, there was a slightly steep trail going up the side with a relatively flat stone table at the top. It was a perfect place for sitting, and during the day captured the suns warm rays. Because of this, it held heat much longer than any other area and was extremely comfortable later in the evening as the air cooled.

The sun and sky gave us a beautiful display, with all hues imaginable, from the yellow-gold of amber to the blood red of a rose. We sat, his arms around me, one big mass of life, indistinguishable from one another or the rock against which we sat, in the fading light. It was enough to just be in his arms, watching the display of colors and feeling his rhythmic breathing.

Soulfire was below us, grazing, occasionally looking up at us curiously, almost like a watchful mother, as she munched, and the golden/red rays of the sun glinted off her black coat when she moved. Suddenly I remembered a picture book my mother always read to me when I was little. It was called "All The Pretty Horses". It used to be my absolute favorite book and my mom used to sing it to me. Delving deep into my memory I pulled out the notes one by one. I hummed quietly to myself trying to figure it out, then sang some words. To my delight Zac started to sing where I had left off, catching very quickly on to the simple tune and words. I sang through it again, keeping with the melody while Zac made up a harmony as he went along.

"Blacks, and Bays, Dapples, and Grays. All the pretty little h-" Suddenly it seemed as if the world itself was wrenched from underneath and around me. It seemed as if the world had twisted and turned, defying all bounds of nature in one second, then gone back to it's normal state as if nothing had happened. I wasn't sure if it was me or the world which had gone wrong.

I righted myself and got off of Zac, untangling myself carefully from the fallen heap we had made. It would have been extremely funny, much like Zac and my first experiences together, if I didn't have that weird feeling of something being different, not wrong, just . . . different. Not just 'something' either. Everything looked different, just not in a way I could put my finger on.

I looked down at Soulfire and suddenly I knew. I mean, I KNEW.

:Well it's about time you guys figured it out.: I nearly fell off the edge of the cave at that. I hadn't heard that with my ears, the voice had come from inside my head, materializing out of nothing. No, not nothing, not something, someone. Without having to be told, I knew it was the man in brown, standing below me, who had 'spoken'. That man standing there, beside Soulfire, as if he knew her, was the man I had seen many times, but only in my dreams.

"So, are you coming down from there? Or do I have to holler up at you the whole time?"

:I'd rather not do that, and by your reaction, this is not a preferable solution: he continued in mindspeech, the side of his mouth quirking into a slight grin. I could "feel" the amusement he felt at his words.

Slowly I regained my wits . . . well, sort of. At least I gained back enough sense to take the hint and make my way down to the clearing with Zac. We warily approached the man. He was old, that was obvious by the wisdom of age shining in his kind brown eyes and his pure white flowing hair, but his smooth movements and the life in his eyes, contrasting the age, deceived the eye. He could have been anywhere from 50 to 80, maybe more, possibly less. His brown attire was almost like a monks robe but more severely cut in a style which enabled easy and fast movement, even with somehow elegantly simple folds. It was of earth tones, every shade imaginable and at the same time one color. It was of a material I could not place within the elements available in this world, but was smooth with an elegant grace and seeming softness. It took a few good looks to place the man and the conflicting impressions he gave. The first glance was of simpleness, wisdom and age. The second of youth, power, and beauty. It was the third that was more accurate, though not at all satisfying an explanation. It was all and none of the first two. He was a small man, old in years and experience, young in heart. He was powerful beyond belief, but believed in simple efficiency of living, with appreciation for luxuries and beauty. He was a kind man with a lot to teach, and the giving nature to teach it. But he was also a dangerous man, one not to be trifled with, for you were liable to get hurt. Or worse.

This was all there, plain to see, but only because he allowed us to see it. He was also a man who knew things no other should know, and he knew how to hide them. He was just a bundle of contradictions, and it was obvious that he enjoyed that to its fullest.

I gestured for the man to sit down on one of the logs we had placed around our outdoor fire-circle/cooking pit, suddenly feeling very awkward playing "hostess". We all sat, the man on one log, Zac and myself on another on the opposite side of the small fire. I was peculiarly at ease in his presence, and at the same time extremely on-edge. My bizarre urge to trust this man, and its seeming basis in nothing, disturbed me. I could also feel Zac's tension and that did nothing to help my own.

The man cleared his throat. "Well, let me see, let me see, how to start . . . hmmmm. Ah! Introductions! Well, my name is Mercephinock Isthermalticul Wanerfazbanja. Don't try and pronounce that. It took me years. Everyone just calls me Mercith. Don't bother introducing yourselves. I know your names. Hold on, I know this . . . give me a minute . . .AH! Zachary Walker Hanson and Melliandra Drazell Cogan. Correct?"

Zac and I just sort of nodded. We were a little fazed from the bombardment of words. He was extremely enthusiastic and was almost amusing to watch except for the weird situation. I immediately liked the man. Still . . . I was confused to no end.

"Okay good. I take it you two were wondering exactly what happened here?" He didn't even wait for us to answer his question before he went on. "Well, hmm . . . how to start? Ah! The rules in this world are drastically different than those from where you come. As I assume you have surmised, the biggest difference is that magic exists in this world in abundance. There is a small amount in your world also of course, otherwise no life could exist, but it works in different ways, and there is very little to spare for other uses. That is why your talent never surfaced before, and why it surfaced in such a bizarre way when you got here. There was just enough of a residue to transport you here, but we'll get to that later.

"Here, there is almost too much magic. It is easily accessible to those who are born with the gift to see and use it. If the gift is not properly trained, it can be dangerous, especially for those of Adept level. This is because under extreme stress or emotion, the power has a tendency to lash out in an instinctive reaction to protect the individual. The two of you are Adepts of a sort, a kind that is very rare, but only slightly different from that of a normal Adept, but I'll get into that later."

Finally here was a man who could answer all our questions. Who could explain to us what had happened to us, why we were here, where we were, and what was going on. Zac was startled into speaking.

"The ring and the moon!"

"Yes yes," said Mercith, "And also the apple tree- have you noticed it has ripe apples at all seasons?- and the Oasis, and even my appearance here. There are a great many small things you two have done which you didn't even realize. Each was triggered by song, and each spell got larger each time as your gift was awakened from the dormant state it had been in while in your native world. Song and music are ways of focusing magic energy. There are many intricacies in this working, the first being a simple harmony, progressing to the interweaving of multiple harmonies. A strong Adept doesn't technically need to even produce their own sound, they use the song around them." Soulfire came behind Mercith and nudged his shoulder, looking at him in a scolding manner. He laughed good-naturedly and patted her nose reassuringly. "Oh I apologize! How absentminded of me! Now, the sun has set and I'm sure this has been a little too much to absorb. Probably half my words went straight over your heads. Tomorrow is a new day and I think you will have settled a bit more by then. I will then go into more detail and begin your training. I can tell you are befuddled by your quiet manner. Now go and get some rest." With that he rose and gave Soulfire a final pat before walking off into the darkness.

Then Soulfire looked at me. Her dark eyes glittered in the light from the fire and that which burned within. They were almost the only part I could see of her as her black coat melted into the starry night.

I didn't argue.

"Rise and Shine! Rise and Shine! Time to wake up!" I groggily opened my eyes and untangled myself from Zac. I immediately had to restrain him from strangling the smiling, cheery figure of Mercith, who stood in the opening of our cave, by pinning him to the bed. I thank quick reflexes, though I don't think I had ever awoke up so quickly in my life. "Well, I see you are now awake and eager to start. Let's to it." Mercith continued as he walked back outside, completely unaffected by Zac's initial half awake attempt to shut him up so he could sleep more.

I shoved some clothing at Zac and quickly changed myself. I then followed Mercith out of the cave, dragging the then clothed Zac behind me. He jerked his arm out of my grasp and settled himself on a log with a glare. He shoveled down my last packet of instant oatmeal, which Mercith had made (he must have read the directions on the packet or something) and looked at Mercith expectantly. I meanwhile ate my own oatmeal quietly.

"So, will you please explain why we are here?" Zac demanded. He was in a particularly foul mood today. I wasn't quite sure why, but I gathered it had something to do with, of course, the rude awakening, but more importantly, the possibility that Zac might find he would have to go back home and all the complications that would bring. He wasn't ready to go home yet, I could tell that just from looking at him. I had grown to know him over our time together, and he still wasn't healed, not really. I couldn't heal him, as much as I wanted to. I could only help to a certain extent, the healing was up to him.

"All in good time my dear sir." Then Mercith's cheer evaporated and was replaced with a cool calculating and an all too serious manner. "I am offering you a great deal of knowledge, Zachary, Melliandra. It must be taken willingly, otherwise I shall not waste my time teaching you these important things. They are important not only for your own safety, but that of those around you. I repeat: I will not impart such grand knowledge to an unwilling individual." this last was stated slowly and with a lot of force. He meant exactly what he said. If we did not agree to learn, he would leave and we would never see him again, of that I was sure.

Mercith looked gravely at Zac, and his gaze penetrated him and searched for the answer.

I could see the thoughts and emotions flash across Zac's face. The anger, the fear, the sorrow, the worry, and finally a set determination. Zac squared his shoulders and said with all the courage and sureness he could muster, as well as the practiced smile only a man used to the public eye can manage, "I will learn from you with a will, Sir Mercith, whoever you may be and whatever you may know. I will learn all that I can from you." The smile hurt more than anything else could have.

Mercith nodded and then looked at me with a slightly less intense, but all the same penetrating, gaze. "I too shall learn from you." I answered the challenge. I did not have to think so hard about this question as Zac. I was extremely curious as to what we had uncovered and what it might lead to. Part of me did want to return home, I missed it despite finding Zac, and maybe Mercith knew the answer. Here were the answers to all our questions, and I could not for the life of me turn them down. I had to know, no matter what part of the sometimes blessed ignorance I gave up. Little did I know how much I would yield by the time we were through. Once knowledge is gained, it cannot be forcefully unlearned.

The one thing I knew right then, above all else, was that, if I did not do it for myself, I had to do it for Zac.

Mercith again nodded. "Good. I shall teach you all that I can, within allowances." Again his good humor returned, as did the glint in his eye, but underneath it all, the solemn measuring Mercith remained, whether it showed or not. "Now we can begin." He very nearly bounced.

We all settled ourselves more comfortably around the circle and made ready for a long sit. I would have reach over to comfort Zac, but I knew that it would have been the worst thing I could have done. He had taken up his age old habit of drumming his hands absentmindedly in an agitated manner. It was something I had learned long ago he did when he was upset, impatient, or didn't want to be where he was, but knew he had to be there anyway and pretend he felt otherwise. The mask was there again, the same look he had on his face when I recognized him the first time. Comfort would not have been accepted right then, just like it hadn't been the first time. It hurt that I could not touch him and I didn't know what to do to ease the tension from him.

As Mercith began to talk I quickly focused all my attention on him to try and get my mind off Zac.

"I will first try and explain to you the basics of magic. Normally I would make you learn many of these things for yourself, and just be your mentor, but regretfully there is not time for that, and you will have to begin with the simple taking my word for it.

"What we call magic is the force that binds living things together, creates living things, and controls them. It is magic that sparked life in the first living cells on this planet, and magic that enabled them to evolve and form a chain, linking every living thing together. The very earth itself lives, and is bound to every living creature that lives above and below its surface. Everything from the smallest single celled organism or virus, to the largest creature of the blue whale. They are all bound together. However, the amount of magic is not directly related to the amount of life, they are only distantly linked together. Magic allows life to be, and is present to a certain extent in everything, but the more life there is does not drastically effect the amount of magic, and vise-versa. It does to a certain extent, because with out the magic there would be no life, and without life there wouldn't be much magic at all, but if it were completely the case of a ratio, there would many times more magic in your world than in my own. Now, we both know that is not the case.

"Since yesterday have you noticed a slight difference in the way you see things? Yes? Well that would be your mage-sight trying to make itself useful. It's not quite sight with your eyes, but a sense of the powers akin to sight and that sensory input. It is one born with the gift of mage-sight, that can see the powers of magic. However, there are even fewer born with the gifts of both mage-sight and mage-tune. These few people have the ability to see the powers and use them. The power is called mage-tune because the person who has this power is also able to "hear it" and has the capacity to understand all of it's large intricacies. Again, it's not quite hearing, but akin to it. In essence those with this power tune into the powers and tune it together, making its notes a pure song.

"You see, this magic and the web of life it creates is a song. The life is strung together in one large harmony, pulsing and vibrating as one melody. Magic itself, is the essence of song. Anyone can sing and make music, but they can only graze the surface of what magic and true music is. When a Mage works, he or she creates their own little web, their own song. It has many more depths than a normal person could see, hear or truly understand, but which the world recognizes. This song they build from the song energies around them and/or the song energies inside themselves.

"In this world, which I think it would be easier to call MageRift-"

Zac finally had to break in and ask a question, "Why MageRift? Isn't that sort of a stupid-" Mercith broke back in before Zac could say something too insulting. Very smart considering I would have gotten mad, not Mercith. It didn't really matter whether I agreed with Zac's statement or not. He was pissing me off, despite my interest in the conversation, monologue, whatever.

"Because, my dear boy, this world was split from yours a long time ago. That is why there is so much Magic here, and barely enough where you come from. Why you live with technology, and we with Magic. Our two worlds were once one until a rift was formed in the fabric of life. The one world was sundered into two. They occupy the same area in space but are in what you would call different dimensions. They are not quite parallel dimensions, but different none-the-less. Each world gained certain parts, and this world gained the magic. It is only the magic of this world, and the small amount of song in yours that tunes into ours, which hold the worlds together. That is why I would call it MageRift. For the rift that was caused in the magic fabric."

"How do you know so much?" I asked a little fearfully, still involved in all this stunning information despite my growing irrational anger.

"I am very very old Melli, much more so than I look, or than you would ever imagine. Would you believe I was there at the sundering? But mostly I know this, and depart it to you, is because, just like a being purposefully caused a rift which split our worlds, another is trying to reunite them. The rift is healing. It's sort of ironic for a destructive force to use its powers to heal the very thing it destroyed. Before, I would not have thought it possible, but it is, and it is happening."