Hideaway Strath thirty-six flowers

The pallid hart hummed softly, ears flickering as moonlit eyes slide away in rumination. When she had formulated a good response, they returned to Satsu. ”Zey are kind, free. I vas ze only slave zey ever traded for — zeir leader ‘eard I vas a midvife an’ ‘oped I vould be able to ‘elp ‘is vife. Zey vorship ze stars an’ ze earth. One another an’ zemselves. Love is zeir religion.”

She smiled wistfully at the jackal. ”But ze Druids are all gone — I vas ze last an’ now I am Saint. Ze rest vere viped out in ze var.” It all had been so long ago it seemed a tale passed down from the mouth of her foremothers, not Aerin’s own history.