Redsand Canyon her flesh held the scent of honeysuckle drenched in battle

"Why then?"

An innocent question in itself, the query of the man who'd assumed her to be unblemished, whole, that night upon the loch. 

The milkmother's shoulders sag and suddenly her head seems too heavy to hold aloft anymore, drooping like a wilted flower between the bony peaks of her shoulder blades as opalites close and a heavy sigh falls from her lips. 

"Aliroth vas..a monster, a real one," she explained, head lifting as though only that mere moment of weakness was what she would allow herself. "I vas a slave, captive of ze druids. I served zem vell an' I vas given me freedom fer it."

"But vhen Aliroth showed up on our borders an' decided 'e vould 'ave me as 'is vife...I vas surrended unto 'im - ta keep ze peace."

"'e vas cruel. 'e beat me, forced 'imself on me, gave me ta 'is closest guards ta share." A heavy swallow here as she forces the acid of bile back down her throat.

"Vhen I fell pregnant, it stopped. But only because conditioning began." 

"Dredguild 'ad strange beliefs regarding new life. We trained more 'eavily zan ze varriors - ta strengthen the spirits of our young." 

"Ze Disciples believe zat a voman becomes pregnant vhen 'er totem, 'er life force, is defeated by a man's. Zey believe ze bairns inherit from ze male totem, nae ze female. If a voman trains 'ard enough, zose unborn life forces vill be male." 

It had been brutal. She'd already been emaciated, broken to bits by Aliroth; at that point, it had been too late for a healthy pregnancy. From sunup to sundown they had been forced to run, spar, swim, anything that might make them stronger. Food and water were still minimal. They'd pushed her even harder after she miscarried one of her pups but to no avail. 

You couldn't bend the will of nature. 

"I gave birth ta a single child - a girl. She vas condemned ze moment she vas born," the Saluki whispered, eye still distantly locked upon darkened canyons - desperately clinging to composure, lest she fall apart before his very eyes. "She looked like me. Vhich vas unforgivable. Zey said she vas deformed. Zat I vas a vitch who 'ad cursed 'er, zat I vould curse ze other mothers an' younglings."

"'e killed her. But nae before zey batted 'er around like a piece of game." She can still hear the gut wrenching cries of a baby, her baby, screaming in pain. She can still see Aliroth's jaws closing around that tiny, downy little head - the crack of it, like an egg, as her daughter was snuffed from this world. 

She'd known only agony in those few moments of life; she'd been denied the comforting touch of a loving mother. 

Fen could never forgive herself for it. 

"Zey passed me around next. An' zen 'e killed me too. Or tried. Sometimes I still vish 'e 'ad." 

"If'n 'e 'as somehow managed ta follow me 'ere it is ta finish ze job," she could have been speaking of the weather, or the stars, for there was no hint of her pain in the wispy lilt. Only a hollow ache, numbness. 

Her gaze flickered back to him as he growled, brows rumpling in confusion as she twisted and strained to see the mark he spoke of but could not spot it. 

Still, the blood drained from her face and her wintry eyes grew wide. It could not be Takeshi - he would not know of such a mark, if he was even aware the Saints existed at all.

"Do ye zink 'e vas vatching us - zat night at ze Lake?"