Silvertip Mountain the raven

how many times did her daughter call, before astara woke?

she twitched an ear, once again straddled between the realm of the sleeping dead and the living. a fiery shape, more shadow than flame, crouched just beyond her vision --

and then she was sucked again to the waking world, the shadow pulled back into thin beams of light and the quiet drone of insects overhead.. and a voice --

her daughter's, she knew better than she knew anything --

she started, propping instantly to her feet. running, with a howl sent into the world like a volley of arrows after the distant call of avicus.