Dragoncrest Cliffs I hope you find your peace, falling on your knees, praying.

Indra hurried to keep pace with Val, looking for Chacal too, as the surly woman made her own departure. The girl's tail was practically nonexistent for how tightly it coiled to her belly.

Then there was another woman. This one was warmer with her invitation, sweeping close to Val to hold him, and with her arrival Indra cowered backward. She ducked and distanced herself on shaking limbs, letting Val be the wall between them.

Her eyes flashed to the small bodies that the woman guarded. She stared at the children while Chacal spoke in her song like voice; an incantation if ever she'd heard one.

There were children here. This - maman - a mother? Immediately Indra's eyes widened and grew glossy. She heard Merrick's voice in the back of her mind: mothers aren't real.