Porcupine Ridge your darkness is shining

fading with a lore ramble

grandmother had once known healers.

she had known witches also.

witching was considered a perversion of the true spiral, a backwards dance which defied helpful spirits and bid darker ones forward. clan matrons wasted no time at all in putting a witch to death, though muskrat had grown to suspect that such accusations were sometimes rather false.

"go. find hex when you settle," muskrat instructed when they had come to the core of the shadowlands, its darkness warmed to crushed velvet in the spare light which managed to find itself upon their faces.

a woman named owlclover from the camp of racing water had once been accused of witching the earth's power. how convenient for grandmother gorseberry that owclover had been the daughter of her greatest enemy, ivory fern.

shamed, discredited for having given birth to a witch, ivory fern was sent away in shame after the execution. with no daughter to carry her line, it was the warrior six kills who was given the task of reestablishing a tie with gorseberry's clan.

and it was muskrat she had offered. grandmother was cunning. ivory fern had been well-liked, far more than she or her own daughters. such respect was a threat to ambition,as owlclover would have followed ivory fern as clan matron, thus gaining more power for their clan.

that the camp of racing water would be handed to a man was something gorseberry had known would happen. he was war chief, but he could not lead. muskrat's marriage would have gained status, land, and rank for gorseberry's people. there she would have led as matron while six kills retained his place as war ruler. muskrat was a lesser daughter. grandmother had reminded her of this always. yellow vine was the girl's mother. mica leaf was to follow yellow vine, but the other sisters blue chert and star scallop, would inherit two portions of the village as well.

there was no place for muskrat, and an accusation of witching had eventually led to cloud singer's death.

the swamp panther placed little faith in these commands. if anathema was a witch, let her craft be in service to hex and to his land. muskrat would only see it done.