Ravensblood Forest Give me the burden, give me the blame

Thus far no one had ever addressed her by anything other than Isley. A name given to her by her mother, some long gone mistress of plants and a promise of what her future would hold. Hemlock felt foreign still, but it was how she had killed the cat, and so it would be who she was. "To be honest, I did not expect to survive."  Maybe she hadn't wanted to. Maybe she'd hoped for something different - for death to being her to Palisander and to the familiar comfort he brought. "I.. I am happy to see you. To see the forest. How is Chusi? And Olive?" She she becoming more animated, the slightest wag of her tail given at the mention of his daughter but she stilled herself, sobered up. "Sorry...That probably is not appropriate."  Still, she worried over them - she cared for them, even with the distance. 

She did not know how she felt now, on the cusp of the lands she'd helped to claim, but it left a chasm wide and deep in her. She missed her home. She missed her family.