Shadewood but everything changes, and everything dies

Themis was quiet, for a time. She pulled her head back to look at the thick canopy above her head, before she gave a gentle breath out.

You can’t. A frank answer, but it was simply the truth.

At least I don’t think I can be helped. Unless you have some method of going back in time. The words were there, and Themis was so, so tired. It had been two years, almost. She had been carrying these burdens alone for two years.

You know my name isn’t Themis, not the one I was given when I was born. Her words were slow, halting, as if she was trying to piece her life together one by one.

I was born Dýo. Two. I was apparently the second born of my litter, not that I ever managed to meet my siblings. My mother was a bitter creature, and I never knew her name. They barely gave her any time to nurse us before they put us to work. Myself, and my mother She lapsed into quiet.

I was born to pay off a debt. The debt killed my mother, but she was never there, so it never hurt much. What hurt..what hurt came afterwards.