Blackfeather Woods the brewing storm

She drew to a stuttering halt as he paced ahead, fixing her with a gimlet stare. For an instant, she thought his anger was directed at her, and shrunk slightly, like a flower in late fall. How odd it was, for a child to respect a man not even her relation, but stand up to her mother like it was nothing! Yet, in this world, it made perfect sense. Kove had given her hope, knowledge; Potema would never give her anything, save, perhaps, the satisfaction of her death at Maegi's teeth.

Maegi nodded, but then shook her head slightly at his question, not so much out of denial as confusion. "I thought so," she murmured. "I don't know, anymore. The last moon has been really confusing, and kind of scary." Her bicolored eyes fixed on the priest's face. "There's a war coming. I want to know more about Sithis. . .about the Void."

Something slightly resembling a smile made its way to her face once more as he explained his foreign word. So he really was from someplace different. Why had he come here? Where was the rest of his family? "Innutut," she repeated, the smile growing bigger. "That's cool--you know three languages. Innutut, Daedric, and. . .well, whatever we're speaking now."

Her face grew solemn as she continued. "Kove, what's going to happen? Why are we going to war?" Vaati had given her a simplified explanation, but she knew it was possible--likely, even--that her brother was sheltering her from the grisly, boring details. Kove might not sugarcoat things as much.