Blackfeather Woods hello? is there anybody in there?

She didn't know whether it was her poison-addled imagination or if a miracle had happened. But as Relmyna's lips moved, she heard a voice, soft and sweet, in her ear. Every word was crystal clear. It was the voice she had heard through the stone, the priestess' true tone. Blinking slowly--if she did so too quickly, the image of Relmyna doubled, then tripled--Maegi nodded along.

You still follow them. A voice like a sickness bloomed in her skull, wrapping around each curve of her brain. Peryite is pleased. Girl, you are home. And you have not forgotten me. "Of course not," Maegi responded, matter-of-fact. "They have never left me."

That might not be entirely true. There were many times on the island, and when she was lost in the wilderness, when their voices had been absent. But--

Hush. You know we have never left you. The absence of sound did not necessarily mean the absence of presence. Even in her darkest moments, the pull of the daedra was still there. They would not abandon her, and she would not think of abandoning them. Maegi swayed on her feet, suddenly nauseous. But she kept on smiling at Relmyna, ears folded forward to catch her response.

"Your daughters are almost grown," she remarked, remembering the dark shadow that had come to meet her at the borders. "How is everyone in Blackfeather Woods? Have my--"

brothers come back? But the lance of pain that shot through her heart at the thought was too great to speak, and she fell silent, swallowing the bile rising slowly in her throat.