Duskfire Glacier the gods call your name

star eater did not linger.
the white-scarred woman had done as she was told, had gathered what was needed, but morwenna had no time for gratitude.
her sister bled beneath her hands. her milk leaked from her swollen teats. her husband writhed, dying.
she wanted to burn it all.
instead, she pressed down on gjalla’s wounds, felt the way her body fought, the way it refused to yield, and she whispered, she will live if you do not fail her.
to the scarred one, her voice came sharp, unrelenting.
crush the willow bark to paste and press it into her throat—do not let it clot too quickly, or she will choke.
the goldenrod, crush it into the wounds. the pine resin will seal what remains.
do not let her grow cold.
she could stay no longer.
her ears flicked as she heard them speak of war.
wildling, steady as stone. blackfell, already lost to blood. white woman, eager for the slaughter.
and gjalla, dying, and still, she commanded the world to bend to her wrath.
morwenna’s lips curled.
i cannot stay.
her children waited.
she had already risked too much.
there is much to be done. but before, she placed a kiss upon gjalla's brow. a seal of promise, of kin alike. i love you, sweet girl.
she thought of sun eater, weak and broken in the snow. calling for his men. calling for anyone.
she would not go to him. not after this. not after he had seen her love for gjalla. and still, still his pride was overruled.
her children were well hidden.
they will not know you are coming.
her final words were a blade, a warning, and then she turned.
star eater, dzaeyaqsaa, had died upon the glacier, left behind in the bloodied snow, in the wailing of wolves, in the war cries of men. her bones were buried in the remnants of a life she no longer claimed.
and from the embers, from the ruin, from the fury that roared like a dragon’s breath—
morwenna drakaryn rose.