Years passed. For the most part they were happy ones for Orietta, her young son Asanka and for Crinomu. The seers of Kalonia protected and nurtured the family and in time many came to view them fondly and to care for them. Yet outside the lands of this Enclave and unknown to most of those within it, storm clouds were slowly gathering which would one day change their world forever. Asanka thrived and grew fast and strong, benefiting both from the genes of his mother and from the hybrid amalgam of fathers which Crinomu had blended in his unorthodox conception. From Orietta the boy learned the lore of the Riders and how to care for horses. From Crinomu he learned how to climb trees, play football and recognise the basic functions of the various monitoring stations scattered all around the Kalonian plateau. He was a bright child; inquisitive and eager for new experiences if a little lonely sometimes and given to an occasional dreaming moodiness which could partly be explained by the lack of other children of his own age to play with and partly as a reflection of the nature and powers of the seers who were his fathers.