Broken Antler Fen I wrote you a letter

Maia was too much of a wreck to go back to the fen right away. She hovered near Lake Rodney instead and had a solo, much-needed meltdown.  By the time she passed through the familiar boundary, she was completely drained.  All she wanted to do was hide away and cry for a solid week, but she knew she couldn't do that.

Wraen was bound to come looking for her, and how was she going to explain this?  Maia's eyes squeezed shut as she thought about it.  She thought she was going to be sick.

She'd been so happy when the first started founding this place, even knowing that she likely wouldn't stay. She hadn't worried; she knew Wraen would be there for her and her happiness either way.  But that was before she'd fallen in love with this little forest and the family they'd made, and that was before Wraen had chosen her to be a leader here.  It didn't matter that she thought of herself as an utter failure now.  The thought of going to her sister and telling her she no longer wanted it made her want to crawl into a hole and vanish forever.

Maybe there was no good answer.

She wasn't sure when she made the decision to go there, but somehow Maia ended up at the place she and Wraen had named 'Warden's Watch.'  She leaned against the boulder and pressed her cheek against the rough stone, then breathed out.  I know what you'd do, she said quietly.  Terance had chosen leadership over a family... and so had Sarah.  They'd both seemed happy, but she didn't know if she was built for that.  She really only had one choice; at this point she was just delaying it.