Herbalists' Cache tide bound

Daughter.

It struck something cold and warm in her, but when she searched for it, she found herself unable to recall much.

Her mother was dead to her. She had left home when she -when everyone - realized that to staying meant embracing death. And her mother had stayed and chose to starve. The enormity of that decision had hit her many moons ago, but still that empty loss had never quite left her. 

But here now there was another woman calling her daughter, and Other Shore realized she had long since instinctively thought of Star Eater as a mother but not acknowledged it until now. A presence that stilled her jumping curiosities and gave her the peace of rest. Not a replacement in the hole in her chest, but a new little sprout that she only now noticed and decided to nurture.

I see you as a mother, she replied, her voice a gentle wisp. I have since I met you by Qeya River. A pause. I did not realize it until now.

She searched her memories for something worth telling, and found little regarding her homeland. So instead she turned her focus to her journey here. Star Eater only knew the little details, but never knew what she had been searching for.

My mother once told me about tall spires, she murmured. Grand lofty things with rough skins and green and red and brown flakes spiraling outward. She said they were the mark of life - that when I found them, starvation would no longer chase me.

She turned outside, gaze flitting across the snowy world, then back to Star Eater’s silver eyes. I found out what they were called, she continued, a little excitement entering her voice. Trees - I think that is what they are. My mother said they followed the flows of water, so I followed one, and… Her breath hitched, her voice lowering to an exhilarated whisper. There are so many of them! So many! I feel spoiled by this place, really. I have not felt much hunger since we marched here. I did not think that trees or the place they call the sea were real, but I have found one of them and now I think the sea is not so distant from reality.