Do you know what this means? asked the healer, staring earnestly at the boy from beneath his bushy white eyebrows.

Xander shook his head, his lip trembling.

'No.'

The healer's felt a rush of sympathy for the child. he reminded him of Shalleah somehow. 13 years was such a young age to die.

'You have but three months left.' he said slowly and softly. Each word rang solitarily through the room, and though they were whispered they had more impact then anything the young boy had ever heard before.