Belldandy

Living peacefully with her parents in an ancient forest and protected by their comforting shadows, Bell had nothing to fear, in fact she hardly knew the world. She spent her days tending the sheep, their little garden and with the occasional visit to their only neighbor, Karrandas, whom she loved to listen to while he played his assortment of musical instruments and told her stories of far away places. Bell also enjoyed her girlish talks of knights and princes with Velvet.

On her return from just such a visit, escorted by Rand because of the late hour, they suddenly saw plumes of thick smoke rising from her parent's cottage. Without a thought, Rand picked Bell up and set her behind some bushes and told her firmly to stay put. Frightened, she watched Rand's bobbing head disappear towards her home and her parents. After what seemed an eternity, she couldn't wait any longer. Picking her skirts up, she ran back towards her home. But before she had gone half a dozen steps, she stopped short as a figure shimmered into existence before her very eyes. Skidding to a stop, she gasps as she recognized the face of her dear friend Velvet. Velvet grabbed her hand and tugged her along towards the house before Bell could ask what in the world had just happened.

Bell was shocked to tears as they near her hut. Sheeps butchered, the beautiful fence she had painted trampled, patches of fire consuming everything, and a towering inferno where her house had been. She tried desperately to look for her parents but her eyes just wouldn't stop watering. She couldn't see through the haze. She vaguely heard Velvet mutter some unknown words, catching An Lor Xen, as Velvet weaved her hands through the air in an odd flowing dance. Velvet whispered, "Do not move one hair until I return." Bell complied, not knowing why, and watched in horror as she noticed bronze skinned, humanoid monsters chasing Rand across the ruin. Each time he strummed his harp one or two of these monsters started fighting. In horror, she watched as Vel pulled a sword from somewhere and chased after the fleeing Rand.

Something pulls her eyes back to her burning cottage. The hut's doors bursts open from the inside out and there one of the monsters held, in each grotesque fist, the limp forms of her parents. Forgetting everything, she let loose a howl of rage and lunged for the beast. The next thing she knew, a glowing ball of fire explodes near her and she is tossed to the dirt. Ears ringing and eyes seeing only spots of light, she tries to regain her feet. She feels a light hand on her shoulder and a familiar deep, yet soft voice says "Didn't I tell you to stay put girl?" She tried frantically to tell Rand about the beast carrying her parents but all she managed to do was choke on her own fright and fury. Rand shushes her to silence while checking for any injuries. "Now let Vel and I handle this..." Bell feels him stand up and hears a sharp thwang sound then another and another in sharp succession. Suddenly the ground where Rand is standing erupts in a torrent of heat as a pillar of fire engulfs him. His fiery form flails away from her as she screams his name futilely. In Vas Mani, she hears, "Corp Por," and all was silence...

"Blasted orcs!" Was what Bell awoke to. Not wanting to open her eyes to the nightmare, she lies still. She can hear Velvet say sadly, "How are we going to tell Bell?"

"How else?" Rand answered gruffly. Unable to hold back her tears, she sobs violently and hugs herself on the ground. She feels lithe hands picking her up and holding her close. She cries for a long time into Vel's bosom with Rand holding them both gently. After she sheds all her tears, she opens her eyes and tries to see every detail. "Don't ever forget..." Velvet says as Rand shakes his head, his singed hair standing on end. "It was the orc mage... he was too fast for us..." Now she knew her enemy... the orcs and especially the orc mages. "We will seek out a new place to live, we can't stay here any longer," Rand said as he cradled Bell in his arms.

Bell jerks awake from her reverie and sighs sadly. That was more than a decade ago, now she is almost a grown woman at seventeen. 'I haven't forgotten' she says to herself. She looks around to her new friends and family. Much has changed since then. She has learned the use of the sword and bow to defend herself since that day and gone on many forays to hunt those evil orcs herself. She often hides behind her cheerful and easy going demeanor so that she doesn't have to remember her loss. But that is just how she is... Much has changed, but the innocent smiling girl in her past that still runs through the flower fields and gobbles watermelons whole, is still with her.