Swiftcurrent Creek winter's wife

The advice was unsolicited, but not unwelcome. Bazi blinked slowly, absorbing the message beneath Kieran's heavy accent. This bump in the road - which is what she hoped they would see it as, years from now - was entirely her own doing. Bazi should not have run away from a crisis, even for a minute - but she had.

"I hurt him," she told Kieran. "I ran off. OK, the whole 'falling down a hole' thing wasn't my fault, but I chose to leave. I had something.. I think I had something, and I might have thrown it away now. Whatever he chooses, I deserve it."