Lion Head Mesa the darkest side of me

eivor shut her eyes. akavir was outmanned here and surely unbalanced by the fact that she did not share his sentimentality for the woman. they should not have come, and he should not have omitted so many details from his conversation with her about this place.

for now she was a guardian, and when the priest dismissed them, she spat a honeyed glob of saliva onto the matting. "kvarsheim does not need your arrogance. keep it, holy man."

she followed the instruction of the guards, hearing their step behind herself and akavir. he took what he wished and did not look back; her own eyes glinted once in the shadowy cold as the sounds of their trudging carried them from flatland toward desert.

not until a cry sounded; wait! wait! the drengr adjusted the pelt around her shoulders, taking the pack lightly from akavir. "i will wait beyond the steppes and the lake. join me in the morning." her eyes said he must listen; she turned away from him to quit the land of akashingo and to explore alone how the scene of such pain had sundered something deep inside her own chest.