Blackwater Islands bleak

The Listener.

It sparked something latent in her. A memory, a duty. 

Relmyna's voice. . . A promise not kept. And she knew, then. 

She knew this was some karmic punishment for abandoning her home, shirking her duty, and leaving the speechless woman to die without an heir.

She rose to her paws, swaying a little, and brought her tattered face inches from the girl's. That title belongs to the Woods, she snapped. My mother bore it. I was to bear it, too.

The dark wraith reminded her so much of herself at that age; old but young; scarred but still tender.

Tell me who you really are, and then take me to this Harka, Maegi said through gritted teeth.