If Crysania had had visions of a pleasant ride through the countryside, conversing about religion and enjoying the scenery, they quickly dissipate leaving behind the stark reality of what they were doing. About half an hour after they had left the city, the wind changed, bringing with it the heavy clouds that portended the start of the rains. The sun was soon locked behind a wall of cloud and looked as though it was going to stay there indefinitely. The wind, changing to blow from the south had a definite chill in it and she drew her white cloak around her a little tighter.

All attempts at conversation with her companion had fallen flat, he was intent on watching everything else around them; as though there would be hobgoblins jumping out of every tree or bush they rode passed. She wondered at that. He was one of the famed Heroes of the Lance after all; did he seriously think there would be beings on the roadside waiting to get them? Perhaps it was this instinct that had kept him alive for so long. Still, if this was how it was going to be, it was going to be a long boring trip.

Crysania decided that looking about was the thing to do and so joined in with the activity. The problem was that the mountain pass was well travelled and there really wasn't all that much to see. There were even other travellers going in the opposite direction, back towards the city. Finally, she gave up on that too and shifted in her saddle, "Where are we heading Raistlin?" she asked when the quiet became too much to bear.

"Our search starts at the foot of the Khalkist mountains," he said. He offered no further embellishment however and so the conversation lapsed once more. Instead she turned her mind over to where they were going and what she could remember about the mountains. The flicker of a memory rushed through her mind, of sitting in the hot schoolroom and looking out the window rather than listening.

"Isn't that where the first dwarfhome was supposed to be?" she asked when it dawned on her.

"Yes." The black robed wizard said with a nod. Was that the glimmer of a smile on his lips? She thought that perhaps it was. She didn't the one blossom on her face however, she kept that impassive. If he was going to be awkward, so was she!

"We can't be searching for that," she said after a moment, "No one has heard anything from that place for hundreds of years."

"And yet, you're riding in the company of the Master of Past and Present," he said. She rolled her eyes at that, his arrogant tone was almost too much to bear. Somehow, she knew that he was right though, this was something to do with his self-proclaimed title, of that much she was sure. Gripping a hold of her medallion, she renewed her supplication for strength and nudged her horse onwards.