Something fiery streaked out of the sky and struck the ground a few yards away. Instinctively, Arawn held up a hand even as the impact staggered him; after the last of the flame and rock settled, he straightened up and found himself on the very edge of a new crater.

There was something at the bottom.

His curiosity once again overpowering his better judgement, Arawn scrambled down the crater wall. The thing at the center of the crater stirred, and Arawn realized he was looking at a person. He looked closer and swallowed hard; the person just happened to be a beautiful – and naked – woman. Well, Arawn thought, keeping his eyes firmly on the woman’s face, That doesn’t happen every day.

Arawn realized the woman was standing now and staring at him, her hands on her hips. Arawn, his eyes pinking, resolutely pushed all thoughts of her hips out of his mind.

The woman walked – well, staggered gracefully – over to Arawn, saying something in a tongue he didn’t recognize. She reached out and, before he could stop her, touched his bare hand. Arawn’s power snapped out, and he quickly slid his hands up his sleeves, catching the strange woman as she staggered. She shook her head, looking dazed, and muttered, “Well, that’ll teach me to touch strange people.”

The woman’s eyes went wide, and she shut her mouth with an audible snap. One of her hands went to her throat, and her eyes locked on Arawn’s. “What did you do to me? What language is this?”

“My language,” Arawn said. His eyes went pinker. “I didn’t mean to do anything. It just happens.”

“You give people the gift of language?” The woman’s eyes crossed; evidently, the sensation of understanding a foreign language was quite strange.

“Not usually. This is the first time it’s happened, I think. The power just does what it wants to; I can’t control it at all.” It dawned on Arawn that he was starting to babble, so he shut up.

The woman was staring blankly off into the space over Arawn’s shoulder. She turned back to him as he finished talking. “My name is Kaela.”

“I’m Arawn.”

Kaela smiled, which didn’t help Arawn keep his thoughts straight at all. “Well, now that we are introduced and no longer strangers, may I trouble you for some clothes? Mine seem to have burned off during my … landing.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” Arawn muttered, trying valiantly to beat back the deepening pinkness. Kaela’s smile broadened. Arawn turned pointedly back towards the crater wall and began to climb. He shook his head. Owein would never let him live this down.