NancyDawn - An early beginning.

Nancy grew up in the village of Fernmost on the eastern lands of Cimmeria bordering the Pict territories. Her father Carden is a renowned warrior and hunter. Her mother Raelin is a kind woman with a fierce inner strength and a stubbornness to match her husband. Her mother was skilled in herbal remedies and plant lore. This knowledge she passed along to Nancy. Her father taught her courage and tenacity in hard times. Nancy enjoyed her life in the village for the most part. She had rapport with the mysterious fey spirits of the world and could converse with the spirits of nature such as the streams, wind and plants as well as fairies, sprites and brownies. Her father did not approve of this as he was raised to fear dark fey such as goblins, redcaps, trolls and pookas. Her mother never disapproved of Nancy's gift but counseled the girl to keep her talents secret as people, especially men do not understand.
Nancy grew to understand what her mother meant as the boys in her village could be quite cruel. One boy in particular named Hassanni always seemed to anger and frustrate her. He would knock her over when they played freeze tag with the other children. He would ruin her chores by knocking the kindling sticks out of her hands or emptying her jars of water so she would have to go back to the stream to fetch more. He even stole her pretty green ribbon from the maypole because he knew it was her favorite color. The mean boy practically drove poor Nancy to tears tormenting her so. Her father Carden did the best he could when he was around, chasing after Hassanni with his club. He even caught the boy one time and hanged him upside down from a tall tree by his foot. Nancy took great delight in hearing Hassanni yell for help. Nancy's mother Raelin tried to console her and told Nancy that the boy was picking on her because he liked her. The exasperated girl asked her mother if father was like this when he met her. Her mother smiled and said he was similar to Hassani but he could not run as fast from grandpa and had to develop a thick skull instead. Raelin also told her daughter that eventually Hassanni would grow up to be a better man. It would just take some time since boys don't mature as quickly as girls. Nancy doubted if Hassanni would ever grow up.

Well many years went by and Nancy started to notice an odd change in Hassani. He stopped tormenting her and started to compliment her. He was now telling her how pretty and smart she was. How nice her hair looked and giving her green ribbons as gifts. Nancy was dumbfounded. He even started doing her chores for her except when her father Carden happened to notice. Every time her father caught Hassani talking to her or helping her he would grab his club and charge after the boy screaming like a madman and Hassani would dash for the hills. Carden would then mumble about having to carry a stick to beat away all the boys. He carried a huge club too and he did manage to scare away virtually every boy in the village except Hassani. Hassani would still try to sneak around to chat with Nancy and tell her jokes. Then as fast as deer he would bolt when he heard Carden's heavy footsteps. All the girls in the village loved Hassani for this and fought for his attentions. They all were head over heels for him, commenting how strong he looked and how manly to be growing a beard so young. Nancy looked at her friends in disgust. Hassani wasn't big like her dad. He may be fast true but his so called beard had patches and was not fully grown. Nancy couldn't believe that her friends were comparing Hassani to Brian or Cyric or Donner or any of a number of the fine men in the village. Hassani was a jerk and Nancy still did not like him.

But slowly things started to change. Hassanni had developed a quick wit and amusing personality. He was always telling Nancy jokes and playing tricks on others in the village. Nancy started to laugh and enjoy Hassanni's company for he was fun to be around. Hassanni seemed to delight in hearing Nancy laugh and it only seemed to propel him to greater heights as a clown and a jokester. Every one in the village loved Hassani. Well everyone except Carden. Her father told her Hassani was nothing but a fool and you can't live off of jokes. He did everything he could to keep them apart but his efforts were a mistake because Hassani grew more attractive to Nancy the more her father forbid her to associate with him and she began to long for his latest feat of trickery so he could spend some time with her before being chased off by her father.

Well Nancy's gifts of talking to spirits caught the eyes of the village wise women and they instructed her in the traditions of the bear shamans. Her mother was so proud of her and even her father did not protest the idea as most shamans were warriors who carried giant clubs into battle with the barbarians. Carden had made a club especially for his daughter and presented it to Nancy with pride. Nancy was overcome with joy and hugged her father close. The village held a festival for the new children as they were becoming adults. During the festival a mysterious dark skinned man with red hair was entertaining many in the village with his wondrous pets. His pets could laugh like children and tell jokes. Hassani and the other villagers thought this was hilarious but something about the man caused Nancy concern. She had a sixth sense that he was up to no good and her newly awakening powers to commune with spirits opened her up to a flood of psychic pain. The voices of hundreds of spirits cried out to her in pain begging for release. Nancy was so shocked by this that she was there frozen. The dark skin man seemed to notice and smiled slyly at Nancy. After the festivities died down he invited her back to his wagon talking at length about how she should see his pets. Once there he overpowered Nancy and kidnapped her. Stealing away with her on his horse under cover of night. He took her far awy from Cimmerian and loaded her onto a ship to be transported as a slave to an island city called Tortage.
Little did the slaver know that someone had followed him as he stole away from the village. Hassanni had tracked him down and stole aboard the slave ship. During the voyage to Tortage he created a diversion by starting a fire aboard the ship and rescuing Nancy in the confusion. They escaped into the sea and washed up on the Barachan Islands near Tortage as the slave ship perished. Thus they began their adventures together in a strange land.

As usual, a great read, Nance