Qeya River it's a narrow neck of land

Set for the 13th. For @Freyja!

It was hard to leave her sister-- it felt traitorous to go from Donnelaith-- but as time passed the feeling grew easier to bear. A burden was lifted from her shoulders, weighted brick by weighted brick. She had lost so much in these formative years, and her sense of Self had been the most difficult of all. Emaleth had been self-assured where Deirdre had been cautious for so much of their youth and with mother's disappearance, the roles had begun to reverse-- setting in stone with father's passing. It was all wrong in the dark female's mind, and though she loved her sister dearly, she knew she would never regain herself as the white queen's shadow.

It was hard to leave her sister, but it was time to go.

She traveled until her bones were weary and until the hunger in her belly told her she was close to fading. Her course shifted northward, toward the sound of a sluggish river, where she tenuously moved to stand upon the ice at its edges. Winter had not yet frozen the river, and she was uncertain if it would-- after all, the dark witch had never seen snow or ice before this year.

Emaleth bowed her head to drink. A moment later, her muscles locked in terror as a foreboding crack ruptured the air.