Hedene loved moody Tjisir, but their love was not consummated until after humankind came, and, as will be told, there is a shadow on their love, a memory of another love of Tjisir's. Before she married Tjisir she had children by the dryad-folk, and many of the nymphs can claim descent from Hedene and through her, to Mayalaph and Angusin.

Her half-sister, Donalgrimm, was the result of morbid curiosity on Mayalaph's part, as she seduced Zaer, Death Himself. It would be better if neither had tried; the coupling was unsatisfactory to both, and she brought illness to the world...illness that spread like life, on life, but brought death. She dwelt in her father's misty lands, yet all mortals feared her.

Her male twin was the Hunter supreme, Edonarter. Brave yet finding a thrill in the hunt, he nevertheless loved the animals he hunted, and never hunted them to extinction. Sometimes he would trap the animal he was hunting and then let it go if it gave him a particularly difficult or brave fight. His chosen weapon was the bow. His sphere was conflict, and when humankind came and war came, he was in the thick of it, lending valor to hearts that needed it and skill in weaponry. Though he brought many animals to death, he did not love to visit his father's misty deathlands, but preferred the company of his mother, Mayalaph, and his half-sister Hedene. He also developed herding for the tamer animals, and taught mankind how to use it when they first came. Swiftest of foot in all Tu, he was also herald and messenger for Angusin. His rushing by, the Wild Hunt, can either mean he is hunting the evil, carrying a message for Angusin, or hunting an animal. Like his mother, he had many loves, but never married. He dwelt in Chialta with Angusin, but often left to roam the world's woodlands, and later, the world's battlefields. He cannot deny his pleasure in bloodletting, but his bravery makes up for it, and he always tries to channel it towards the betterment of Tu.

Lastly, the shadow of Sagin once fell over Mayalaph, and violated her as she was initially sleeping, something he had never done in the flesh. This cruel deed resulted in two other children, but less than Kaan, it being only a shadow that mated with Mayalaph, but a shadow gifted with Sagin's power. Merciless they were, yet not wholly evil.

Pyphorus was dark as the shadow who fathered her, with wild snakelike gorgonish hair and batwings from her back. She relentlessly pursued those who committed murders and blooddebts, and those who wanted others punished for misdeeds often tried to summon her. She preferred Zaer's misty lands to live, rather than her mother's. She would occasionally mate with wampyrs and ghouls, and the result were fell spirits who fled to Sagin's side.

Dohod was born blind. She was taken in front of the Flame and Mayalaph said, "This is not her fault, but a result of Sagin's malice."

C'Don answered. "Yes. The shadow of the form that forced itself on you has fallen on her eyes."

"Make her able to see everything!"

"Everything?"

"Of course. Let her be able to see anything on Tu!"

"You know not what you ask; but it will be so."

After that Dohod, though still obviously unable to physically see, could walk as if she saw everything perfectly. But then she would say things...tell the Kaanho what was about to happen...and they realized she could see through time as well as space, and could see into the future as well as the past. C'Don spoke with her.

"You can see everything as well as I, but your undersanding of why these things happen is necessarily limited. Still, if you say all you see, men will feel trapped, and Kaan will feel trapped, and all in Tu will feel trapped."

"Yes. But it will not happen that way, will it? Instead I will set my dwelling in the far side of the great mountain Chialta stands on, facing the westernmost sea, and few will consult me, and none shall receive an answer that they fully understand at the time."

"But you must choose this; you must understand why."

"I understand. I have seen this conversation coming, as you knew I would. And I understand you only did this at Mayalaph's bidding. But better I had been blind rather than see so much and know so much that I have no free will," and her words were bitter.

"I can rob your mind of what it once knew. I can take the gift your mother asked for away."

"No; for I am needed in the days to come, as an occasional advisor to Angusin and others...used infrequently, but still used. But it is a bitter fate, and none shall ever love me, as my mother loves to be loved. The name of my dwelling will be Loneliness."

"Yet as you know, this world is but a temporary thing. And you see everything within the river of Time, but what will happen in the Greater World is closed from you. Do not despair, for your foreknowledge is only limited by the bounds of Tu's existence."

She took the form of an old woman with a shroud, and alone of all on Tu, she could see to the end of the river of Time, Noth, as a mortal could see a normal river.

Sometimes her sister Pyphorus would need advice on where a murderer went, and Dohod would tell her. Rarer still, Angusin would consult her, but it was indeed very rare.

Once Sagin's shadow tried to consult her, but before he could ask, she turned to him and said, "All your dreams of power and control are doomed to failure, and you will never succeed, while Tu lasts. Anything else?"

"Liar."

"Rapist and father. I wish those were lies, also."

So the shadow of Sagin left her.

Next Chapter.