To Cassima, Tamir was a wild, yet peaceful country. There were very few houses, even outside the thick woods. A ramshackle cabin built near the coast with a long pier extending into the sea made Cassima hopeful of finding some non-dwarf Tamirians, but her knocks on the cabin's door were unanswered, and a peek through the salt-stained windows revealed no movement within.

Aside from the slightly ominous mountains to the east and the daunting forest that grew at the base of those peaks, Tamir seemed like a wonderful place to live, Cassima thought. She wandered idly through the forest for a while, wondering what business a creature like Shadrack would have in an innocent place like this, and where he could possibly be.

She paused at a swift-moving stream and drank from it. She then began recalling her flight from Serenia. Whatever that first experience had been, it was only one of two during that particular leg of her journey.

After Tamir had appeared on the horizon and she began nearing it, her gaze was drawn towards the huge mountains that bordered the land to the east. Then somehow – she had no idea just how it had happened – she was looking beyond the mountains. A raven's eyesight was keen, but there was no way it could be that keen. Perhaps it was just a vision, but if so, what brought it on? Aftereffects of the same force that brought her to the other side of the world?

No matter what caused it, she found herself looking at a vast desert that lay beyond that daunting mass of rock, so huge that she couldn't see where it ended, even with this sudden "supersight." What she did see, however, was a tiny spot on the sandy expanse, which, upon closer examination, turned out to be a miniscule oasis with two buildings erected near it. It was the only sign of life in that brutal desert, and Cassima found herself marveling at how such a place could exist when she suddenly blinked…

…and there was Tamir, still a few hundred yards ahead of her.

She couldn't make sense out of that "vision" any more than she could make sense out of what happened as she neared the Edge of the World. Perhaps her raven form had some odd side effects that the person who wrote the instructions had failed to mention. Still, they weren't causing her any genuine worry or fear, so she decided it would be best if she merely forgot about them.

After a few more minutes of walking through the quiet woods, she stopped abruptly. To the east and behind some of the smaller trees, she noticed several tall white marble columns built in a row, gleaming in the light of the low sun. When she drew closer to examine them, she noticed that they were constructed around a manmade pool, and another row of columns flanked the opposite side.

She began to make her way towards the undecorated space at the north end of the pool, thinking that it would be a good place to relax – her flight had tired her arms out, and her legs were weak as well. As she was rounding the row of columns, however, there was a definite movement on the pool's opposite side. Someone was there.

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