Fairspell Meadow trying to find tomorrow and ease in, til you dive in

the man was doubtful, but bless him, he kept digging.

it was that act of unusual willingness alone that saved him the sharp knives of qiao's stare. she must give him something, but too much would put her -- and him -- in jeopardy. hers was a coven fastidiously guarded -- from men most of all. men, with their greedy hearts and bloody brains, with their rough hands and wandering, powerseeking gaze. the world as she knew it was run by them, and soon, it would be sundered by them.

"my sisters." qiao answered in a half-truth, for she had learned long ago to fold little lies between pockets of truth. "we will not dig to the end of the earth. it is here." 

qiao returned to her digging, pausing then to give him a tidbit. "sometimes these things are strange stones, from another world. sometimes they are things that have been used by greatness, or parts of things that once held immense power. things like a dead general's teeth, the antlers of a wolfkilling moose -- sometimes, it is even a little flower that was nourished by a maiden's blood."