Qeya River fables

other shore.
star eater repeated the name, tasting the shape of it on her tongue. it felt like something distant, something just out of reach—like an echo carried by the wind across the qeya river. fitting, perhaps.
i am star eater, she told the girl, voice steady, holding. you are in my den. in saatsine lands. my husband is the chieftain here.
she shifted where she sat, gaze sharp but not unkind as she studied the young girl more closely now that she was awake. frail, exhausted, but not beyond saving.
you were in the river, she reminded her, softer now, though she did not coddle. you were half-frozen when i found you. do you remember how you got there?