Blackfeather Woods i used to float

Once, Lilitu had been coddled and sheltered enough to perhaps startle at the sound. Even in her travels, she'd been with companions, and had never needed to be overly wary. There was always a lookout—someone with ears much keener.

But moons alone with nothing but her thoughts for company had sharpened her instincts, and she hears the man coming long before his ruddy coat emerges from the murky darkness.

You don't live here, do you? Lilitu asked, only a touch of sarcasm in her voice. His answer, after all, could be an emphatic "yes." I—

A sudden cramp in her gut nearly brought her to her knees, and she sucked in a gasping breath. Then, another. Sorry, 'm sorry, she mumbled, seizing the last vestiges of her manners before she broke into a plodding trot to hide within some nearby bushes before her bowels got the better of her.

The relief was palpable, but the shame was as horrid as the smell.

What had happened to put her in this place?