"A friend?" Silver asked himself as much as Alan. Who would find them all the way out here?

As if to answer Silvers question he heard a voice commanding him to freeze. Not normally one to listen to strange voices, or was he? He decided to listen and not move.

Which proved to be a wise choice because a moment later he couldn't hear or see a damn thing. Deciding not to move, knowing Alan was still there because he held his arm, he waited for the snow to clear.

The scene the greeted him was pleasant, relativity speaking, the threats were taken care of and his life was no longer in danger.

"Is that... a prince?" Silver had never seen such fine garment before. It looked like something out of a fairy tail. Already Silvers earlier idea of Alan being a Knight and now this man possibly a prince began to run amok in his mind.

"Ohhh." Before anything could be said he had jumped to a conclusion, more then likely a very wrong one. "He is a prince!! And your like... his Knight right? I should have assumed as much." He said with a smile on his face, wiping the bloody dagger off on one of the fallen wolfs and walking towards the roof the prince was standing on.

"Oh.. every things fine now, sire!" He said, bowing slightly but not halting his brisk pace. "We had Alan, i wasn't really worried, whats a prince doing out here? Are we near a castle?"

Neither Alan nor the new man knew quite how to respond to that, and for several seconds both of them faltered. But as the former continued to stare at Silver like he was an idiot (which took quite a bit, coming from Alan), the latter quickly regained his composure.

"I'm no prince," he replied as he lightly hopped down to the ground and made his way over to them.

This seemed to snap Alan back to his senses. "He is nobility, though," he noted, which caused the newcomer to frown.

"That isn't important anymore, not for what we do. Anyway, I apologize for leaving you in danger for so long; I am Albion Whitman." He extended his hand to Silver as he introduced himself.

"Nobility?" Silver looked back to Alan then to Albion who was now just extending his hand to him. I'm shaking hands with nobility! To Silver it was a pretty big deal he grabbed Albions hand in both of his and shook it eccentrically.

"Wait until my wife hears about this! Me shaking hands with someone important!"

"Alan I knew you were a Knight and all but this is amazing! Alan was here, we had it under control... but...uhh.. Thanks for the help though! No dis-respect or anything." Silver rambled over the last sentence, obviously still nervous.

"So..why did the wolfs attack us?" Silver quickly recovered, decided to try and alter the conversation away from royalty and knights. Then remembering about the old man and girl he turned towards them.

"So.. who are they?" He asked pointing towards the two, almost forgetting about them in his excitment.

Albion nodded respectfully to Silver's comment about having things under control, regardless of how true the statement was. Instead, he decided to answer some of his questions.

"Wolves don't normally attack humans like that, and never entire villages. My guess is someone was controlling them somehow--and you and Alan were probably the targets. I doubt there's anything in the village that would be worth attacking them for." He mused over that thoughtfully for a moment before moving onto his other question.

"The old man, I would assume, lives here. As for Reina...she's not truly part of the organization, but she often acts to aid us."

He turned to Alan, who was busy checking his injuries. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine," the knight replied. "Nothing some bandages or some of Reina's salve won't fix."

"Well, no use worrying over things we can't change." Silver said and with a shrug of his shoulders walked off to inspect the rest of the village. Seeing what kind of damage was done and how many injured there had been.

"HEY! YOU CAN COME OUT NOW!!! IT IS SAFE!!!!!!!" Silver belted at the top of his lungs, which wasn't really needed because somehow he managed to amplify his voice.

"Wahh!" He looked quickly over to the other people, hopeing they hadn't heard him...though that would have been impossible, anyone for a half-mile around would have heard him clearly.

"At least the wolves are scared off for good now!" He said jokingly, quickly approching the window to appologise to anyone inside.

There was no answer to Silver's shout, no sign that anyone inside had heard him, though behind him Alan visibly winced at the noise. Albion said a few words to him, and he made his way to the inn, were Reina was waiting.

And then approached Silver. "I doubt anyone will come out, even with our assurance. They will be too afraid, and it is late anyway; Alan and Reina will check and make sure everyone is safe."

"In the meantime, I would like to talk to you for a minute, if you do not mind." He gestured away, indicating they should probably not talk on the steps of someone's house.

"Of course." Silver smiled weakly. He felt rather foolish for being so loud, it was not tactically a good idea and was just plain rude when it was starting to get late and people were trying to sleep.

"Though I do not know what I would know that you do not." Silver shrugged as if it didn't matter. He stepped off the peoples steps and would follow Albion to where ever he wanted to speak.

Images came to Silvers mind at the moment, each step made slightly more dizzy. The images were fast moving, to swift to capture but Silver could tell they were somehow connected to the powers he possessed. Albion might have noticed his steps waver for a moment, but if Silver was behind him then not likely.

Albion smiled, not seeming to notice Silver's distress. He wasn't heading for anywhere in particular to talk, but rather talked while they walked, keeping his eye out for anything else that might disturb the night.

"Ah, it's not information from you I need; Alan will undoubtedly fill me on what happened," he replied, waving off his concern. "Actually, I have an offer for you. You may have guessed as much, but your power is very similar to Alan's, and similar to mine as well."

He paused for a few moments to let that sink in before continuing. "Alan and I are part of an organization entirely comprised of people with the same power. All who possess this power are invited to join, and that invitation extends to you as well."

"Oh" It was all Silver had to say for a few moments, while his memory was only very slowly coming back he was certainly aware of the Silver Wind magic he possessed, and out of all his memories that one seemed to be coming back the quickest.

"An organization. What is it that this organization does?" Silver had every intention of joining it. If Sir Alan was a part of it then Silver was sure that it had to be good, and Albion seemed like a pretty good person so far.

Even as the two spoke and walk Silver was 'playing' with his own Silver magic, it was reflexive really. His right hand was held at about waist height, palm up. Silver strands of wind twirled about it, dancing between his finger tips and tickling his palm. He was showing a very fine degree of control over it, while he might not have had an abundant of the magic he was certainly catching on how to control it rather quickly.

"The short answer would be that we preserve life," Albion responded. Though he continued to look around, watching for any signs of more danger, out of the corner of his eye he observed Silver's practicing with his magic.

"The longer answer requires some explanation. Our magic, as you may have noticed, is incapable of killing living things; it can cause pain that mimics harm, but it will cause no physical wound of any kind on the target--even the weapons we summon, such as your spear or Alan's sword, will simply cut through, and indeed the target will feel as though they've been stabbed, when the weapon is withdrawn there will be not so much as a drop of blood staining their clothing. Even a blunt weapon will not leave behind the trauma the force should have caused."

"To be sure," he continued, "this is a gift, not a drawback. This allows us to swiftly resolve situations causing no permanent harm, situations that might otherwise result in casualties. However..."

He frowned again, as though thinking of something displeasing. "...our main duty is opposing our opposite numbers. There is a group opposed to us that are, in all ways, our opposites. They wield magic that is inherently destructive, snuffing the life of all that it touches. Fields burned will never grow again, water contaminated will be undrinkable. And even the smallest touch of it is often enough to kill a human. Where our powers protect, their's destroys. Where ours nourishes, their's poisons."

He paused in his explanation, letting that sink in and waiting to see how Silver responded, and if he had any questions.

Silver listened intently, the magic at his finger tips stopped and gave Albion a look of understanding as he went into depth about the other half of magic. It all seemed familiar to Silver....yet it evaded him, it seemed as if he was about to speak at first.

Indeed, the words were on the tip of his tongue if only he could remember them! "I..I know what you are saying... I have seen it before...felt it's touch..." Silver brought his left hand to his head to rub his temple, trying to jog his memory.

Eventually he just shook his head and looked to Albion. "I would be more then happy to give my help." He said in all seriousness. "Its connected some how...I know.. I can feel it."

"All the better then," Albion replied with a smile. "While I doubt you were part of the Silver Enclave--that would be our organization--before, we can train you in our magic, and if you did indeed use it you might remember something by learning to use it again."

By this time they had come around again to the inn. "I will tell you more on the way, but for tonight we should get some rest. I have to leave first thing in the morning for our headquarters, and take Alan with me. It will be a good opportunity to start your instruction."

"Its as good of a place to start as any." Silver said with a nod. "This way at least I'll be making a difference."

Silver was hoping that the use of the Silver Magic would jog his memory, it was already coming to him so naturally. He wondered for a brief moment if he had been powerful, powerful enough to save the people of the village?

He quickly pushed that thought out of his head. It wasn't how powerful you are he told himself, but what you did with what power you had.

"Yes, some rest would be good." Silver agreed, he was weary from the day. Unless otherwise stopped Silver would merely ask Albion about a room, assuming one was provided he would quickly find his way there and within a moments time be asleep without even bothering to undress.

A room was arranged, and Silver quickly fell asleep--the villagers were still shaken, but grateful, and no one was charged for boarding that night. They would even wake up to hot meals in the morning.

But that was for later. Deep in sleep, Silver would not notice the gaze that fell upon him, brooding upon what was to come. It seemed almost unreal, enough that they thought it might be a ruse...but if it was all genuine...

Perhaps this will turn out better than I thought.

Silver Swirl//Fin