"Minew-in!" a voice behind him called, startling him from the reverie he'd lapsed into while walking. He knew quite well that he was still within the safe confines of the Hiding Valley, but the voice was male and Minew-in couldn't think of any man who could safely enter the valley that would know his name.

Turning, he was surprised to see a man of similar size, dressed in dark colors and covered almost entirely by a drab brown cloak.

"Who are you?" Minew-in asked, thankful that the sorceresses had allowed him to have his voice back.

"Yours," the man replied. "My name is Sine. I belong to you."

"What?" Minew-in froze. He had to be dreaming. Three years with two of the most powerful women in all of Agassia had to be affecting him. Because he certainly did not own anyone.

"My name is Sine," the man repeated as he stepped up an offered Minew-in his bare, outstretched hands to show that he was unarmed and bore no ill. "Lady Ammeia has bid me to serve you."

"Lady Am... You're... You're a Spectir!" Minew-in stammered as he stepped back. "I'm not even of age yet - why would I be given... No, perhaps I don't want to know my destiny yet."

Sine started laughing, low and raspy as though it had been awhile since anything had struck him as funny.

"What's so funny?"

"You remind me of someone I knew a few thousand years ago," Sine managed. He pushed off the hood of his cloak to reveal messy pale orange hair, a bit too long to ever look properly neat. His eyes were a color Minew-in couldn't quite decide a name for, but they looked so much older than the rest of his body.

"You don't look that old." Minew-in knew the Spectirs were truth-bound spirits sent as wise counsel to those with bright futures. But he had never thought he would have his own, especially not one with thousands of years of experience.

"I haven't aged a day since the Lady pulled me from the mist," Sine replied. Mist-born. Soulless.

"You look human, though," Minew-in said softly as he reached to touch Sine. He wasn't surprised by the warmth of Sine's skin as he traced a cheekbone down, smiling as he saw light freckles covering the face of his new companion. "I'll treat you like a human. Locca and Erutana treat their Spectirs like humans."

"They do," Sine said in a tone half disbelieving and half confirming. He knew truth. He was truth.

"So you've had other, um... masters before?" Minew-in asked with a smile. "You must have some amazing stories to tell. I grew up in... Well, you probably know all of that. You probably know everything! Then you know..."

"That, I do not know," Sine said before Minew-in could finish the question. "Not all things are meant to be known. I am a counselor, not a toy."

"I was going to the river to catch fish," Minew-in said with a nod. "Come with me. Can you catch fish with your hands? Eru taught me how. I think you'll learn quick."

"You... want me to stay? Now?" Minew-in didn't understand the look of confusion on Sine's face.

"Yeah - we'll have to catch a couple more for you, but still it should go twice as fast, right?" Minew-in said. "You... I won't order you away."

"Minew-in, no, Minew... Dreamer... He who wants a world where he can have strength but not have to use it... Dreamer, I will serve you," Sine said, reaching for Minew-in's hand.

"You're strange," Minew-in commented as he grabbed Sine's hand. "And I'm fast, so you're going to have to run to keep up!"

Sine just chuckled as he threw Minew-in to the ground, covering the youth's body with his own as his cloak fluttered over them both, casting a large enough shadow in the sunny valley for them to disappear into.

"Kay and Tia don't do that," Minew-in muttered a moment later as they stumbled from behind a large rock at the edge of the river. "Forgot you could do that... Sine?"

He dropped to his knees to grab the shoulders of the sitting Spectir.

"Sine, you okay?"

"It takes quite a bit of energy to move a living being," Sine admitted with a weak smile. "I just wanted to show off."

"You stay there, then," Minew-in said as he dug in his own pockets until he pulled out a bag. "It looks small, but it holds everything. I'll get the fish if you hold the bag."

"Did you make this?" Sine asked as Minew-in stood. He was staring at the dark bag, it's seams rough but the ancient magic fully intact.

"Locca thinks I just need more practice sewing and chanting at the same time. But I got one of the two right," Minew-in admitted as he pulled off his boots and socks in one go, reaching to roll up his pants. "I don't know why I bother. I get soaked every time and Tia about has a fit that I'm going to catch a chill."

"That's because she cares about you," Sine said with a grin. "But I shall be quiet while you catch dinner."

Standing in the river, dangling his fingers as bait, Minew-in kept glancing back to where Sine sat, expecting him to vanish any second. But he did not move, instead offering a smile that Minew-in couldn't help but think wasn't for him.

And Sine thought to call him 'Dreamer'.