The Dreamer by Jean Swan

"Children of Light, listen well, for this is a tale of caution..." The Tale of the Mad Dreamer is a well-worn story among the Alvar. The Dreamers deal in premonitions and memories of lost eras - their minds connected to their Entity who is the source of all power. The gift - or curse - of Dreaming appears in children at random, a fate which sees them taken from their families where they must train to control their strange powers. Lucky for Theren and his best friend Valyn, they have been spared such a fate. Popular and powerful, Theren is poised to be selected by the Hunters at the Choosing. He will then embark on his first Brotherwalk - the annual pilgrimage of men to find a lover and prove their mettle in the sprawling forests of Alvaren. But after one strange night, Theren and Valyn find their futures forever altered - secrets and mysteries setting them on a path that will have them questioning their very reality. Fate threatens to pull them apart, forcing them to face an uncertain future alone. For sometimes, it seems, Dreams don't follow the rules...

The Book of Origins by Jean Swan

You are the silent knife in the night, the eyes everywhere, that will do what no other can or will…”  The vast Vol Supremacy maintains an iron grip over its people through a secret cabal of spies and assassins known as the dakir. Offered as tribute by their parents, and trained from childhood, the dakir are skilled and ruthless – tasked with crushing dissent in any way they see fit. Three dakir novices approach their final trial, having long relinquished any hope of a future for themselves. Their only wish is to serve their religious order. Or so they tell themselves. Meanwhile, the Supremacy has discovered a lush, wild continent to the south. The settlement there slips slowly toward rebellion - dissenting voices speaking in public, attendance at holy ceremonies dwindling, and an underground resistance fanning the flames of an uprising. And what of the mysteries of this strange new land itself – apparently uninhabited, yet so suited to human life?  Something awaits that will alter the Supremacy forever. This is where it begins.