"But father, you crossed the Strand... you succeeded where even Haddalan failed... and he was the greatest tracker in..."
"Boy! Enough! That was many years ago and that crossing cost our family dearly... you... you know that..." His thunderous response faded into a sad whisper. Petyn no longer wished to push his father and talk about the desert. He saw the sadness reflected in the firelight in father's eyes. Petyn knew everything about his father, about his kindness and character... but he knew nothing of his father's past. He had suspicions but he knew only that his father had sacrificed everything for the safety of Petyn himself... even his beloved wife. Petyn knew, sadly, only the important things about his mother, some might have called them details, trivialities... but to Petyn they were everything.
He knew his mother was beautiful by look in his father's eyes when he used to talk about her when Petyn was young. He knew that she was strong and brave; his father had told him as much when he first asked about her, at that moment and then every year on his birthday his father would tell him, he would say "Petyn, your mother was strong, unlike any woman I have every met. She was stronger of will than any man, or beast I have ever known. She had more bravery than an entire legion of mounted riders, I wish only that you remember her bravery and strength whenever you are afraid... and that every year you honor her on your birthday."

A new Story

Once upon a time in a small village on the very edge of a gigantic desert there lived a young goatherd.
He wasn't an overly smart boy, he wasn't very comely either, but his father had raised him to be a good person, brave, hard working and strong of character.
His father raised him to see the dawn of every new day as the beginning of a new adventure and a chance to make something better.
The goatherder lived a very simple life and liked it that way, but he always thought that there was something missing.
Every evening, just before sunset on his way home, he would stop his herd at the very edge of that huge and foreboding desert and watch the sun descend behind the dunes.
His father had often told him, to steer clear of the desert... but for the goatherd it held a new adventure in it's golden waves... something called to him from across the desert's vast distance.
" Petyn... I have crossed that desert once in my life, and it nearly killed me, you must promise me that you will stay only on the edge of the desert, only to go as far as the sweet grass grows..." His father had said to him by the fireside on a recent cold summer night, "... it... it has a way of taking away one's loved ones."
"But father, you taught me to fear no man, no beast and no place... why should I fear the desert? Besides I am nearly a man myself... I should like to see what's on the other...."
"NO!"
His father interrupted as he slammed down his large wooden spoon on the table.
"You must stay away from The Twilight Strand!"
"Bravery in the face of adversity is one thing.... but the desert," His father continued."
"The Twilight Strand doesn't only starve her travelers for food and water... but she makes them long for death rather than suffer... and when she grants their wish she makes them suffer a long and cruel death."