• "Are you headed for Cabana?" Karan asked. Gihan nodded.
    "Would you mind if I travel with you?" she asked. "I'm going the same way."
    "That is fine with me," Gihan said. "How far is Cabana from here?"
    "Just a few miles," Karan said.
    "Then let us all continue our journey," Gihan said. The two women nodded, and they continued walking. As they walked, Karan and Gihan spoke.
    "Do you two know anything about shifters?" Karan asked.
    "Why do you ask?" Gihan wondered.
    "I've heard the name before, but nobody will tell me anything about them," she said.
    "Shifters is the name that was given to the first known changelings," Gihan said. "All the first shifters could transform into only one animal, and then, mostly dragons. But others could transform into other animals. It was through interbreeding between different shifters that our modern changelings have the ability to transform into any animal they choose."
    "How do you know?" Karan asked.
    "Roamers," Gihan said. "They are traveling historians."
    "I've heard of them," Karan said. "I've never actually met any, though."
    "If my timing is correct, Cabana should have a group of Roamers arriving within a week," Gihan said. "They visit some of the same towns they have visited before around the same time of year every time."
    "It's been several years since Cabana has had any Roamer visits," Karan said. "I just moved to Cabana a few years ago, so I missed the last visit."
    "We're here, you two," Jana said.
    They all looked up as Cabana loomed ahead of them. Jana stared when they entered the city; it was huge, far larger than any town she'd been in before. She wasn't accustomed to being in such a large city, and she wasn't sure what to make of it. Karan glanced at Jana and laughed at the look on Jana's face.
    "Get used to it, Jana," she said. "You'll visit bigger cities than this, I'm sure."
    "I've never seen so much in one place before!" Jana said. "How does it all fit?"
    "If you think this is big, you should visit Carod," Karan said. "It's nearly twice as big as this."
    "Where is that?" Jana asked.
    "Carod is a hard two-week journey north of here," Gihan said. "To get there, one would have to use horses, or it would take twice as long to get there."
    "Where are we going when we're done here?" Jana asked.
    "We will go to Daran," Gihan said. "After that, we will see."
    "What's in Daran?" Karan asked.
    "Daran is where the shifters would meet, once a year, to share news of their travels," Gihan said.
    "Is that why we're going to go there?" Jana wondered. Gihan nodded.
    "Yes," he said. "With any luck, we may meet some who have kept the tradition alive."
    "And if we don't?" Jana inquired.
    "Then we will continue to travel to other towns, to read their histories," Gihan said.
    "What about me?" Karan asked.
    "Do you know of anywhere we may spend the night?" Gihan asked. Karan nodded.
    "Follow me," she said, heading down a side street. They followed her as she led them through the city. After about ten minutes, Karan stopped in front of a four-story brick building and turned to face them.
    "This is the best inn in the city," she said. "It's cheap, but it's clean."
    "Thank you, Karan," Gihan said. Karan nodded and left them there.
    She hid and waited until darkness fell before going to the meeting place. She stopped in front of a steel door, then knocked three times, paused, and knocked twice more. The door opened just enough to permit her to enter, then swung shut behind her. She walked down and long corridor and down three flights of stairs until she came to a hole in the floor, which had a ladder descending into it. She climbed down the ladder and entered a narrow underground tunnel. Karan followed this until she came to a cave-in. Kneeling down, she struck the dirt floor with her hand, and a trapdoor opened before her. She went through the trapdoor, closing it behind her and locking it from the inside. She heard a noise behind her and turned to see a young man approaching her, holding a burning torch.
    "We are waiting for you," he said.
    "Let's join the others," Karan said.
    He nodded and led the way, holding the torch high. Five minutes later, they entered a large underground cavern, where a small group was waiting for them. They sat down with the group, and the meeting began.
    "Welcome, everyone," said a bearded man. "What news do we have to share?"
    One by one, the rest of the group spoke and shared pieces of news, none of which was unknown to the others. Finally, Karan's turn came, and she spoke quietly.
    "There is another," she said. The group stared at her in stunned silence.
    "How do you know, Karan?" asked Jok, the bearded leader of the group.
    "I smelled a strange scent on the wind around noon," Karan said. "When I went to investigate, I discovered a man and a girl. The girl was the source of the scent I smelled."
    "How do you know she is one of us?" asked Rona, a red-headed woman with long hair.
    "She said I was the source of the scent she had smelled," Karan said. "My scent was so strong that she had to cover her nose with her arm to keep from gagging."
    "Ye have to admit, yer scent is rather powerful," said Jono, the group's second-in-command. Karan nodded.
    "I can't help the fact that my scent is so strong," she said.