Alaina was frightened, and her eyes were blazing wildly. She was angry and confused. "Why?" she tore her hands away from his and turned away.

"I could not stay away from home forever. I had to return to serve my king."

Alaina looked back at him. Her hands fell open in her lap in hopeless confusion. She tried to accept her past, and let go of her anger.

"What am I to do now?"

Jaetyn brightened. "Gem and I are going to try our hardest to take you home with us. Then, you'd be free!"

"Visit is over. Get out of my house!" screamed Alaina's master. He grabbed and pulled Jaetyn roughly out of Alaina's room.

"Leave him alone!" Alaina could not let her master harm the man who claimed to be her father.

"Alaina! I'll be fine. Leave this be," Jaetyn winked at her and she fell behind. There was more yelling between Lady Genevieve and her master that Alaina could not understand, and finally the door slammed and there was silence.

***

That night, Alaina lay on her bed, quietly weeping. She cradled her left arm in her right, tenderly. Her head bled freely. She felt that if no one came to help her soon, she would die.

The evening was all a blur. Her master had stormed in and beaten her. He said that he'd rather kill his slave than sell her away. Alaina figured she knew too many of his secrets and he did not want her speaking.

She tried to sort out what had happened. After he had broken her wrist and thrown her down the stairs into the sitting room, miraculously not breaking anything else, she instinctively grabbed the violin. Her broken wrist suddenly seemed healed and she began playing a mournful tune. It had such a deathly sound that her master seemed to choke. It wasn't the music itself; it was Alaina. She wanted to end her own misery by inflicting some on him. Her master had scratched at his throat, leaving horrible gouges in his neck. Alaina was then hit in the head, causing her to drop the violin. With a sudden burst of energy, Alaina ran to her room and attempted to bar her door with a very rickety chair and a broken wrist. She then collapsed on her bed, trying to stay conscious.

As she lay there in agonizing pain, she was able to dream about Jaetyn and her life with him. Her mind wandered as she imagined her home, family, and love Alaina had never felt before.

An idea came suddenly into her wandering mind. Alaina felt as when she had picked up the violin to attack her master. This time, she wanted to try calling someone. She dug under her pillow for an ocarina she kept hidden there. She had received it from her so-called grandmother long ago. Alaina had never tried playing it before. Now, she pulled herself up and put the ocarina to her lips and began to play.

Alaina played the ocarina for as long as she could. She concentrated hard on Jaetyn and Genevieve trying to send them a plea of help. Her ocarina fell to the floor and shattered when a loud bang outside startled Alaina. When the door slammed open and a woman's voice began speaking softly to her, she lost consciousness.

***

When she woke, she kept her eyes closed to take in her surroundings with her other senses. She felt clean and warm and comfortable. She tried moving and found that her wrist was completely healed; it was as if the night before never happened. Alaina sat up suddenly and found herself in a very green room. She heard someone snore and smiled when she saw Jaetyn in a chair with his head in his arms on her bed. There was a huge window that Alaina noticed when looking around the room. She immediately got up and went to it. Her eyes grew wide at the many wondrous things she could see. All too soon, she began to feel faint and dizzy.

"Whoa!" Jaetyn exclaimed as he caught her in his arms.

"Wha--" Alaina began.

"Shush, let me get you back in bed. You are not fully healed." He carried her to her bed and laid her gently down. He then settled himself back in his chair.

"Did yesterday really happen?" Alaina whispered.

Jaetyn clasped her hands. "Yes, it did."

"What else happened, Jaetyn?"

For a split second, Jaetyn looked away as if he were hurt by something she said, and then he turned back to her. "Did you realize that you have a Touch?"

Alaina looked at him as though he was mad. "I don't."

"Oh! But you do, and it is a very powerful one. You have the Musician's Touch. Many pray for this Touch because of its beauty and usefulness." He paused and cocked an eyebrow. "I want to hear your story first, and then I'll continue it."

Alaina looked down. "When you left, my master was very angry and frightened. He didn't want me to go because I know too many of his secrets." She began crying, the reality of her past finally hitting her. "He -- he hurt me and threw me around." She began sobbing and couldn't speak. Jaetyn let go of her hands and began rummaging through his pouch on his hip.

Jaetyn pried her clenched hands open and set something cold and smooth in them. Alaina wiped her eyes and gasped. It was a beautiful ocarina. There was an intricate carving of a rose on the bottom and the name "Lorraina" inscribed under it.

"Who's Lorraina?" Alaina asked, not wanting to play the delicate instrument just yet.

"Your mother. This ocarina had been passed down from generation to generation in your family. Your mother gave it to me in hopes that I'd come back and that I'll remember her."

"Did you remember?"

"I thought about her every day of my life, and still do."

Alaina looked down. "I'm sorry."

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