It was 299, the year of the Emerald Dolphin. As did everyone, T'kiel left Steel Claw Clan to celebrate the coming of the 300th year since the Victory of Lanival the Redeemer. It was an unusually dark night. Most stars were obscured by the clouds, as was the moon, and the only sources of light were the torches carried by the dozens of people on the road connecting Shard with the gondola, which runs off the Southern Trade Route.

Having reached the Fayrins rest, T'kiel heard rumors of a snowbeast running wild by the southern end of the Gondola. She quickly grabbed some grog, and run off to make the area secure. The snowbeast was no surprise to her, as it most likely fell off a cliff from the Dragonsspine. It was as she moved on to skin the snowbeast that she became surprised. As she proceeded to cut the skin off the belly of the snowbeast, she discovered a small Elven child inside!  The small Elven girl, who looked to be almost 4 years of age, was most likely consumed by the snowbeast for dinner, but the fact that she was still alive was a mystery. The only explanation that T'kiel could come up with was that the great Everild protected the little girl from the grasp of Urrem'tier. T'keil saw this finding as a message from the gods ordering her to take up the girl and raise her as her own.

She quickly took the child back to Fayrin's rest, where an Empath healed the child. As the year changed, T'kiel guzzled down the grog, but she did not forged about the child. She ordered another, and as she gave the child some of it to drink, she noticed the eyes of the child light up like flames. Now she realized the true destiny of the child. To prove her theory, she took out a dagger from her bodice and placed it close to the child. Almost instantly the child reached for the dagger and took a grip of it. Seeing this done, T'kiel asked for one of her friends to disarm the child. Several struggled for a long time, but none could remove the dagger from the hands of the child.

The destiny of the child proved to be that of T'kiel; a true barbarian. T'kiel named the child Xiaa, for reasons unknown to her. She later stated that the name came to her in a dream, but why it was a mystery.

Xiaa lived in Steel Claw Clan under the supervision of T'kiel. T'kiel trained Xiaa to both discipline herself and to run wild while hunting. She taught her the basics of all weapons, and let Xiaa find out how to master them. On her 50th birthday, it was decided that the time for Xiaa to leave had come. She gathered her items, and left for the Crossing. This was a not what Xiaa had wanted to do, but she knew her destiny. The Crossing did not turn out to be her home for long. . . but that's another story.