"What?" It didn't quite register in Tellka's mind. 'How could this little girl kill her father? I don't think she did, maybe it's just another nightmare..' "What do you mean?" She asked Kate.

Kate sniffed again and went quiet for a while. "It was cold.. and I was alone. And.. there was white stuff everywhere. It felt soft and I wanted to sleep. It was like a pillow." Kate sighed.

'She must mean the snow..' Tellka thought as she listened.

"And I was gonna go to sleep when I heard Daddy call my name. So, I looked up and he was standing infront of me, but he didn't see me. So I sat up and said 'Daddy' and he came up to me. He lifted me up and said we was going back home, so we started back home and then I saw something." Kate paused for a few moments and Tellka could tell she was thinking.

'I'm surprised..' Tellka watched the little woren girl. 'She's stopped crying...'

Kate continued. "It was blue, and really shiny. I wanted to see it really bad, so Daddy put me down and I went over to it. I looked and it was this pretty little thing, it looked kinda like ice but it wasn't cold." Kate glanced down at her hands. Her eyes had a far off look in them, and it seemed like she was looking at something in her hands. "Then Daddy said we had to get going, but I was too tired to walk. So, he came over to get me, when.. there was cracking noise, and Daddy fell down.." Kate sighed and was quiet again.

Tellka blinked in surprise. 'They must have been on a frozen lake and the ice broke.. she thinks she did it? That she was the reason he fell?'

Kate sighed again, very quietly. "Then I waited for Daddy to get back up and he never did.. he didn't come back. I waited and waited and waited.. then I got tired again and layed down, but when I woke up I was here again."

Tellka nodded thoughtfully, but she was at a loss for words. Kate just sat there quietly for a long period of time before laying back down in her bed. Tellka sat motionless before a little voice broke her thoughts.

"What's your name?"

"Huh?" Tellka turned to Kate, a surprised look on her face.

"What's your name? I heard Mommy say it was 'Tel' something.. like.. 'Tellan' or 'Telon' or.."

"It's Tellka."

"Oh. Why are you here?"

"... You'll find out when you're older."

"Are you gonna leave soon?"

"Not before I have to go."

Kate was quiet again. "Will you sing me a song?"

Tellka blinked. "Wha?"

Kate's voice was sleepy. "Mom always sang nice songs that would help me fall asleep.."

"Er um.. I don't exactly have the voice of an angel.." Tellka rubbed the back of her head. "I can go get your mom though.." Tellka got up to leave.

"No! Don't go, please?" Kate sat up and reached her hand out for Tellka. "Don't go.. its scary..."

Tellka paused and looked back. She sighed and headed back to Kate's bedside. "Alright, I'll stay." She sat down on Kate's bed. The little woren girl immediatly crawled up to her and curled up in her lap. Tellka looked down at her for a long time.

'She's so small..' She thought back to when she was younger. 'It was a lot different for me back then..'

Minutes passed by and soon Tellka could hear the rythmic breathing of the sleeping woren girl. She sighed and glanced around the room. She didn't want to distrub the child. 'I suppose I'm spending the night hear then..' With a sigh, she leaned back against the wall, the woren still curled up in her lap, and closed her eyes. After a few moments, she too drifted off to sleep.

e-mail author, talonr@hotmail.com