This story is inspired by one of Twent47blue's stories. I hope you like it!

Dina frowned as she reviewed her test while walking. For most people this would have been dangerous, especially in a full parking lot, but Dina had excellent peripheral vision. The only time she ran into things was when she was actually looking at them.

At the top of the sheet of paper was her grade, and the teacher's note. 85 Must study for essays.

Shows how much she knows, thought Dina grumpily. She was the oldest in a family of five, two parents, three children, and she was the one in charge of making sure the house stayed clean, that everyone was fed, that everyone had clothes, and making sure that the morning fever wasn't a symptom of "test today". That's what happens when your younger siblings can control their body temperature. On top of that she was working and going to college full time. And just when would I have time to study? she wondered.

She knew that she could get some help, that if she complained that the load was too much for her she'd have a few less chores and her two siblings would have a few more, but she couldn't admit that she was having trouble with the scedule. She had too much pride. She had taken on the workload, she hadn't complained when it had first been heaped on her shoulders, and even though she had gotten more work since then she wasn't about to back down. It was a challenge and she was too stubborn to let it go. At least summer was coming and she could take a few days to catch up on all the sleep that she was missing. She automatically turned towards her car, then looked up (and promply rammed her shoulder into a side mirror on the truck next to the car). She sighed, it was the wrong car.

Her car was a used '95 tan Camry. The problem with the color was that it was the same color as half the cars in the parking lot, and most of the scenery. As she liked to joke with her mother the south had two falls; one in autumn and one in the beginning of summer. It was the time of the second fall and it bid to be a long hot summer until the summer storms started.

"Where did I park?" she asked looking around her. That was the trouble with driving the only car that didn't have a keychain that controlled locks and alarm. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes imagining the route that she had taken towards the store. Remembering the cars would do no good; most of them were probably gone by now anyway. Let's see, she parked past one of the cart holders (there were only three in the parking lot), she had walked past the stork parking (for expecting and new mothers), and she had walked to the door from an angle--aha! That was where she had parked, a row over from where she was and three parking spaces up. She folded up her test, shouldered the bag that she was carrying, and headed towards her car. Suddenly she was struck by such a strong feeling that she almost passed out.

:Fear, hurt, danger. DANGER! HELP, oh please someone HELP!:

Dina automatically changed direction to follow the thread of panic. She'd always been able to tell when something was wrong the people closest to her, and it was an ability that scared a lot of people. Not her, but then she'd been living with it since she was a child and was used to it by now. Lately though, the feelings had been getting stronger and expanding from outside her closed circle of family and friend. She found the source, a woman was trapped between her car and a man. It took her a moment to recognize the woman, it was someone who was in her class, but she was something of a mousey type and didn't talk to anyone. Dina herself didn't really know her. Oh, so now it's expanding to people who are almost complete strangers? she thought irritably. Years of schooling her face kept the emotion from bubbling to the outside where everyone could see it. "Yo Tina!" she called loudly. The man turned and Tina looked at Dina with a tear streaked face.

"What do you want?" growled the man.

Dina ignored him and walked up to Tina as the woman pulled a kleenex from her purse and dabbed at her tears. "Hey Tina," she said, "do you know what Mr. Johnson was looking for in this essay?" She pulled the test out of her pocket and flipped to the corresponding page. "I don't understand what he's asking me and where I went wrong."

"Listen girlie!" said the man. He faltered at the look that crossed Dina's face. It could freeze even the hottest of blood, and she well knew it. He gulped, regained his nerve, and began to berate her again. "This is a private conversation, go wander off somewhere and play with your dolls."

Dina was a realist before all else. She knew certain things about the way she looked put people off about her, and most of the time she capitalized on it. She looked like she was twelve when in reality she was in her early twenties. "Listen pal," she growled back at him. The man actually backed up a step, but then Dina was counting on it. Just as her siblings knew how to control their body temperature to get out of school, she could consciously control the aura she put out towards the people around her. She was still only slightly annoyed, but she made it seem as if she was about to fall into a beserk rage. "Tina and I are in the same class, I need help with my work, and I'm sure that the security here would be more than happy to talk to you about your private conversation." The man turned white as a sheet and fled from the girl. Dina took a deep breath and the aura evaporated. Then she looked at Tina and put a hand on the older woman's shoulder. "Are you all right?" she asked gently.

Tina took a deep breath and nodded. "I--I'll be fine. He ambushed me here because he can't get where I live now."

"Glad to hear it," said Dina. "If you'll excuse me though, I've got to get home."

From far away, another world altogether, four creatures sat watching the scene within a large, clear quartz crystal. "See?" said Trahern, a dark moon elf. His bright golden eyes blinked in satisfaction, the lids coming from the corners of his oval eyes. "The gift of active empathy."

"This doesn't mean that she's the princess," warned Corcoran. He was a shifter who hadn't completed his training and his body kept turning from human to furred creature with broad, black stripes running down his back framed by emerald fur the sparkled in the dim light; unlike his eyes which seemed to suck the light in.

"Still," said Ariana, a fire elf. Her skin was a dusky shade of red and her eyes were a dark orange with wide slitted pupils that still managed to reflect the light. "She's the best candidate we have."

"Has anyone thought about what we'll do if she is the princess?" asked another fire elf, Annan. "I mean, how do you tell someone something like that?"

"In any case," said Corcoran, "she bears watching."