Alleria woke up with a start. She'd been having a bad dream, but what it had been about was already a distant memory. She swung herself out of her bed and landed on the floor faster than usual.

Huh.

She still wasn't used to her height. Her mother had called it 'an expected growth spurt', but that didn't make it any stranger not having to clamber around to see everything.

She rubbed her eyes and looked around. Her room was technically the smallest in the building, but considering that they were quite affluent by most standards, that didn't mean much. Her brother's was bigger, but she'd put a lot of work into optimally making use of her space.

Her bed was elevated above a desk, on which were still some strewn papers and-

She winced.

-her bottle of ink, which she'd forgotten to close the night before. That wasn't optimal. On one wall was a small shelf for her books, a few pinned-up notices she wanted to remember, and a painting she'd been gifted for her seventeenth birthday. Because of where her room was, she only had one window, but it was wide and had a brilliant view of the Old Mont outside of town.

She whistled to herself as she got changed and checked herself in the mirror. She picked at her hair. "Maybe I should cut it. It's getting a bit unruly, no?"

She'd ask around for a second opinion, which meant her mother and maybe the neighbours. Gellron was around less and less nowadays; he arrived late at night and left early in the morning. And when she did see him… well, she'd assume that she was the moody one, but he seemed to be vying for that position.

When she reached for the doorknob, a thin object propped against the wall caught her eye. Something that was decidedly not a regular occupant of her room.

A wooden training sword. Just looking at it made the bruises on her arms and legs ache. Father had forbidden her from healing them, and he'd know if she did. In his own words, they were a reminder of what not to do the next time they sparred. He'd said that warriors grew wiser and stronger the more mistakes they made, as long as they remembered those mistakes and grew from them.

I'm sure I'll be as wise as a monk by the end of the year.

She opened her door and slipped into the corridor. It was still quiet, which was surprising because usually her mother was up earlier than her, making breakfast, cleaning the house, or just generally being present. If she were less lucky, her father would be out in the yard practising or stomping between rooms, muttering to himself. That was usually when she stayed inside for the day.

She yawned and slid her way down the staircase. No sign of anyone around, and certainly nothing warm to eat, so she subsisted on a paermelon left in the bowl on the counter.

It's not exactly a filling morning meal, but it's better than nothing, and it beats cooking.

It was early, her body was tired, and she was feeling lazy. That last part, she'd begun noticing, was becoming more and more common as the days passed. And no doubt her father had too, which was why she was dreading his when he inevitably appeared and had her hit a rock for hours until her arms went numb.

"Not sure what he even thinks is going to become of it. I'm never going to be as good as him or Gellron."

A renowned master and a prodigy. Next to them, she looked like a baby that had just learned how to walk, in a manner of speaking. Even if you looked at her with a more objective view, she was passable at best. The sort of underdog you respected for putting themselves out there but nonetheless bet against. Heck, she would bet against herself.

She whistled a tune to herself as she picked up a broom and made her way to the front door. One look at the carpet there told her everything she needed to know. They really needed to either have the door fixed or just replace it; it was barely keeping any of the dust out these days, and she could feel the air coming through the cracks.

C'mon, we can afford to have some work done on it. Unless Gellron insists we send our funds off into the sinkhole those two call 'the cause.'

Gold for the Path. Your life for the Path. Everything for the Path. She was reaching the point where she might just agree with him, if only to get him to be quiet.

It took her a few minutes to sweep all the dust out the door. It was a losing battle, but someone had to fight it. Once she was done with that, she wandered back over to the kitchen and cut up another paermelon and some apples, then put them on a large plate. She walked back up the stairs, avoiding the creaky plank second from the bottom, and made her way to her parents' room.

I mean, if you're being technical, I'd hardly call this the 'parents' room anymore. I can't remember the last time Father slept here.

Arguments had led to more fights, which had insighted more arguments. It was like a snake constantly grappling with itself… something like that. She remembered reading about it in a book. Anyway, it meant that eventually her father had taken to sleeping in the guest bedroom. Which had, in time, become a more permanent residence until it was his room in all but name.

She gently pushed open the door with her forehead. The curtains were still closed, and her mother's sleeping form was visible on the opposite side of the bed, with her head still under the covers. She sighed and put the food down on the table across from her, then made her way to the window.

"Late night? You should have told me, I would've made some tea for both of us."

She threw open the curtains, but her mother didn't so much as stir. A really late night then. She was lying on her back in the centre of the bed, which, to someone who exclusively slept on their side, looked really uncomfortable. Her hand looked like it was resting on her chest.

She plopped down onto the side of the bed. "Never knew you were this deep of a sleeper."

She reached out to shake her a little.

No. No, please no.

Huh. No response. She tried again. Her skin was cold.

"Mother?"

Anything else, please. I beg you.

Unnaturally cold.

She shook her again, this time harder. Her hand slipped from her chest. She wasn't moving at all.

"Mom? Mom!"

She reached out to pull back the sheets.

"Mother."

She blinked. A gentle ray of light filtered through the leaves above her. A pair of birds darted overhead, tweeting a tune together. There was soft, warm dirt beneath her. And sounds. The sounds of nature.

She heard dirt crunching beneath her feet, and then Danadrian was there, looking down on her with wide eyes. His gaze ran over her immediately, "Alleria, I'm glad you are in one piece. You didn't fall, did you?"

She opened her mouth to respond, but only a croak left it.

He frowned, his face riddled with concern. "Are you, hey, are you okay?"

"Why-why wouldn't I be? I'm fine, okay. No broken bones."

"You're crying."

She blinked again. Then reached out and wiped her cheek with a finger. She stared at the tear.

"Oh. It's nothing, trust me. Must just be… side-effects of the teleportation."

She forced a smile and pushed herself up with her elbows. She was about to stand up when Danadrian caught her arm. She glanced at him and raised an eyebrow, but without a word he put his hand on hers. He nodded slowly and said one word.

"Alleria."

Just her name. The smile slid from her face faster than it had arrived. Another treacherous tear slipped out her eye.

"Damn. Damn, I… gods damn it all. Not like this."

She wiped it away, but another came afterwards, then another. She wished she had sleeves left to wipe her cheeks with.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, it's just… memories. Bad memories."

Danadrian didn't say anything. He just turned and sat down next to her, his hand not leaving hers.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't think we're really in a position to be talking right now."

He looked around, taking in the trees, the birds, and the grass, before coming back to her.

"Is that a no, then?"

Yes.

No.

"It was… the day my mother died." She spotted him through her watering vision and waited for a reaction, but he just patiently sat there. Waiting. "I found her in her bedroom after I woke up. I-I brought her paermelons apples, sliced just the way she wanted. She always wanted them as evenly cut as they could be, you know? I always thought she was crazy and cursed at her for forcing me to learn how to cut properly."

"You cursed at your own mother?"

"I was young, okay. Well, younger. She spanked me so hard I couldn't sit down after that."

He chuckled quietly.

"I thought she was still sleeping, until I opened the curtains and shook her a few times. She was cold to the touch." She looked down at the dirt between her legs. "They told me it was poison made from the core of an illustavas- it's a plant that grew nearby. We were told from as early as I can remember not to mess around with those for that very reason."

"Was it… painless?"

She shook her head and felt her eyes begin to shake again. "No. No, I read up the details afterwards. Within an hour of ingesting it, you start to get feverish, then your body starts to shake uncontrollably. You-you cough up blood. I couldn't see that with the blanket pulled up. After that, the important organs just start to shut down, one by one." She whispered, "If you don't choke to death on your own blood before that."

He squeezed her hand. "I'm so sorry, Alleria."

"Unlike Humans, our bodies don't last long after the Soul passes on," she said quietly. "Something to do with the way we're made. After a few hours, the body starts turning to dust naturally, as the last vestiges leave it. Her- she was still in one piece. It couldn't have been long."

She heard the echo of her screams from the past in her ears. Her voice cracked as she screamed for someone, anyone, to help her. The neighbours had arrived there first.

"I missed her by this much." She squeezed her fingers together. "Maybe if I had spent less time lying about or gone to bed earlier. Or even if I'd gone to bed later, then maybe-maybe." Her voice was breaking. It was becoming harder to speak.

"Don't think like that." His voice was soft. "Don't do that to yourself."

"I should have seen the signs. I should have said something, done something, spent more time with her. Maybe then…"

He took his free arm and wrapped it around her shoulder. She leaned into him as the tears kept falling, like a never-ending downpour.

She thought she'd run out of them after that day. After the funeral. After the weeks and months that came after. After she'd left and buried the memory.

She heard another sound. It was whispering.

"…look on fondly. One of your own, regardless of her origin. Though I know this comes late, may your mother's Light reach her in the deepest places of Galumtir. May she rest in the halls of the faithful for the rest of time. The dusk of a life has passed once more, so I pray to thee, Elnuway, bless it be."

"Thank you," she whispered.

She wasn't sure how long they sat there, only that eventually her eyes dried out. It was then that she became acutely aware of how thirsty she was and began to take in everything around them.

She sniffed, wiped her nose, and pulled away from Danadrian. "Where are we?"

He glanced around. "The Crynmon Forest, I would wager. Where in it I have no idea."

"Gellron? The General?"

He shook his head. "Nowhere nearby, but I only had to walk a few metres before I found you. And somehow I doubt the spell was meant to drop us in the middle of the forest."

"You think it malfunction?"

"I know it malfunctioned; something happened to it when your brother's blade interacted with it. My guess is they got sent somewhere else; they might not even be together. If we're lucky, they got dropped off on a mountain, somewhere far away from here."

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"I hardly think we're that lucky." She struggled to push herself up, but with his help, she was on her feet again. She winced. "Agh, well that isn't pleasant."

She blinked and looked away from the light filtering in through the canopy. Danadrian followed her gaze and frowned. "The Sun?"

"The light. Come on, we just spent weeks in a dingy dungeon beneath the earth, are you telling me that being back aboveground with the sun beating down on you doesn't hurt your eyes?"

He raised an eyebrow. "…Yes? If anything, I'm overjoyed to see it again. I had almost forgotten its warmth."

"Yeah, something, something, Angelica are one with the Light. I would kill for my hat right about now." She kept her head down and her eyes pointedly away from the sun. She was now also painfully aware of how exposed they were, and how she was now going to be wandering around with her horns out in the open for any traveller to see.

"And even if we find a way to get me into a village or town, it wouldn't be any easier for us."

"How so?"

She gestured to both of their appearances. "We look like a couple of homeless vagabonds. We've barely got enough gold between the two of us to get decent meals, much less accommodations, and that's still assuming that we're able to make it to a town."

He smiled. "We survived an ancient dungeon filled with magical traps whilst being chased by Demon Hunters. I think that the Crynmon Forest is a step down when it comes to danger." He cracked his neck. "Brakenus wouldn't have come alone, but since we have no idea where he is, there's no chance he, or any of his followers, know where we are either. This might be the first time since we've met that the isn't the threat of Talradians breathing down our shoulders."

She sniffed, "It does feel a little better to not have the threat of death looming over us. Alright, let's take stock of our inventory. Backpack?"

"Still here and somehow holding itself together." He swung it off his back and began rifling through it. "A smaller-than-we'd-like bag of coins, roots for dinner, slime that I'd prefer to keep covered now, bowls, various detritus, my scarf, which I won't be wearing openly unless it gets exceptionally chilly- not exactly rolling in resources."

"And between the two of us, rags and cloaks that've been half destroyed, a Soul Steel blade, and your sword and sheath. At least any wild beasts we come across won't be a problem."

"Unless there are tuffhorns," he added darkly before shivering. "I don't want to even entertain that idea. Fate has a habit of telling poor jokes."

"Then don't." She looked around again. They seemed to be in some sort of ditch or gap between hills. "High ground?"

"Sure. As long as you have it in you." He was watching her closely, and his face didn't hide his concern.

"Yes, I need to get my mind off of… yes, let's go. There's no point in sitting around anymore; daylight won't last forever."

They began trudging their way up the hill with Danadrian in front, ostensibly because he was taller, but also because he could handle the light better. Her eyes were still finding it hard to adjust, so she'd often blink or have to stare at the ground for minutes at a time. It was like waking up in the morning, except all the time, and she wasn't getting used to it as quickly.

"I'm actually feeling quite rested. How long was I out, do you think?"

"No idea, I started looking for you as soon as I gained consciousness. I'm not sure if that was an intended outcome for the spell or if I had hit my head and lost consciousness. Actually…" He rubbed the back of his head and winced. "Yeah, I definitely hit my head. You could've been out for only a few minutes or even a couple of hours."

When they eventually reached the top of the hill, Danadrian was able to get a better view of the surrounding area. It was tall enough that he didn't need to try and climb the trees, but he expressed concern that what he could see was limited.

"It's definitely the Crynmon. Even if I hadn't recognised the trees, the forest stretches on as far as I can see. No sign of any villages, but they could be hidden by the other hills."

She continued to pick around the ground, inspecting sticks and tossing them aside. "What about roads?"

"I… maybe? There's a line where I think the trees are parting, but I can't be sure from this angle. It could be a road, or it could just be a river."

"Either one is perfect for us." She found a sturdy enough branch and tapped his arm. "Here, look."

She found a clear enough patch of dirt beside one of the trees and began scraping lines with the stick. "There's only one major river in the Crynmon Forest-"

"The Keloweyne."

"Exactly. Have you ever seen a map of the Tandrian Domain before?"

"Once, though it lacked a lot of details, and I wasn't in the best state of mind at the time."

"Right. Well, the Keloweyne runs straight through it, practically bisecting the province. Tathlani was on the southern banks. If we find the Keloweyne again, we'll instantly be able to tell at least vaguely where we are."

"And what if we find the Parintheil River instead?"

Her hands had been moving the whole time she'd been talking, so they were now looking at a barebones outline of the Domain drawn in the dirt. He'd pointed at the river running across the top.

She grimaced, "The Parintheil borders what's left of Talradius. Trust me, we'd know if we were anywhere near that place."

"And the roads? I remember the Great Southern Road 'crossed' the intersection of the two rivers at Tandrias City. Do you remember where it leads to after that?"

She ran another, lighter line down from the rivers. "It keeps going eastward through Edwuin until it eventually meets with the North Roads. There's another town that's fairly big on that side, but…" she tapped her head a few times, then shrugged, "I can't remember what it's called, sorry. I'm working from memory here."

"So, the plan is to just hike over there and see what we're working with?"

"I guess so, as long as you're still up for it." She ran her eyes over him. He was definitely more bruised and cut up than she was. Whatever makeshift bandages he'd made to keep himself together wouldn't work as a permanent solution. "We need to find you a healer. Unless you've figured out how to heal yourself with the Light, that is."

He shook his head. "I… no, I haven't. I feel like I'm so close to getting it, it just." He waved his hands around like he was trying to grab some fluff out of the air. "It always slips away."

On the topic of the Light…

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything that happened down there, but my brother… Gellron cut you with his sabre."

He nodded, "He did, on my cheek. It wasn't even that deep, you know?"

"How are you still alive?" She jumped back to her feet. "It- it isn't- it steals your Soul. You should be dead."

"I reached the same conclusion a few minutes ago."

"How? And then there was that burst of Light afterwards- did you do that consciously? I held you in my arms, I thought you'd died."

"So did I, for a moment."

"How are you so calm then?"

He didn't even seem worried or scared or even angry about it. He just leaned against a trunk and crossed his arms. There was a… distant look in his eyes, like he was seeing something she couldn't. When he focused again, there was emotion on his face, just not the one she had expected. He looked… wistful.

"I really did think I was dying, Alleria. Everything started to go dark, my body became hot and stuffy, then immediately cold-"

She wanted to write this down. It was- it was unprecedented. No one had been struck by Soul Steel and lived to tell the tale, so there weren't any records of how it felt. What she was listening to was an account that likely not a single Demon or Human had ever heard before.

"Then your voice grew distant, and I stopped feeling anything. It is hard to describe properly; it almost felt serene. Like all the pain that I'd been carrying and the weight on my shoulders was finally laid to rest. For a few seconds, I felt at peace."

She paused her internal documentation of what he was saying. "That… almost sounds like you enjoyed the feeling of death, Danadrian."

"Maybe so. Sometimes when the pain becomes too much, the release that death brings could be seen as a mercy." He turned to her, and his eyes refocused. "Oh. Oh, I'm- I'm sorry, Alleria, that isn't what I meant-"

"No, please, continue explaining how death is a sweet release that some may crave. I'm sure that's a mantra that your goddess supports wholeheartedly. If life is so hard, maybe we should all just kill ourselves and be done with it. The eternity of the afterlife sounds so much better."

Her voice had grown bitter, but she didn't care. Her feelings and memories were like a scabbed-over wound that she had forgotten and moved on from, now ripped open once again for the world to see.

"Alleria, that wasn't why your mother died."

"And how would you know?" She lashed out, glaring at him, "Do you know what happened afterwards? It didn't take long for the rumours to spread; they were already talking at the funeral. It had never been a secret where my mother's faith lay, but it became the talking point once she was gone. 'Anaderia Elevar took her own life, well, in the end, would you expect from a Lightbringer?' 'Do you hear? She was probably stricken by guilt, and honestly, who could blame her?' At least they sometimes had the subtlety to say it behind my back."

"Rumours don't make it true. Your mother… sometimes people just can't take anymore. The burden placed on some shoulders can be excruciating-"

She grabbed the neck of his tunic before he'd even finished. She was lashing out; she knew that. But whatever mutterings and prayers he gave could not free her of the memory, no matter what he thought.

"She left me, Danadrian. There was only one person left in that house who saw me as more than a disappointing piece of clay that refused to be moulded, and she left me." Her eyes stung. "My father? He both mourned and hated her in equal measure, because the great Cadmus Wrathius was now being introduced as Cadmus the widower. How unfortunate that his reputation suffered so."

We know that's not the whole truth. Reputation was but one aspect.

She ignored her own thoughts. "And Gellron? He blamed the Light, your religion, for 'taking away' our mother. He could never accept that what she'd done had been her choice, and her choice alone. Any agency she had was dead in the water when it came to him."

She released him, having barely realised she was still gripping his shirt. She struck his chest with her fists, though without any force behind them. "Tell me, Danadrian. Angelica. As someone who has felt what it feels like to die, was it really so tempting an offer that it trumped her own daughter? A daughter who needed her more than ever. Or does your Light hold all the answers?"

Danadrian didn't flinch when she hit him, nor did he try and stop her. He just placed a hand on her shoulder and waited for her to stop. "You knew your mother. I did not. That she was a follower of the Light is… irrelevant, despite what the rumours may have said."

Irrelevant? This coming from Danadrian of all people.

She sniffed, "Who are you, and what have you done with Danadrian?"

He breathed out in a single laugh. "It's irrelevant because I refuse to believe that the mother of Alleria Elevar was a weak woman who buckled because of what others said of her. Your mother loved you till the end. Is that not enough to know?"

"I just want answers. That, or I want to forget. If I could just forget, then I could move on without it haunting my every step. The Souls of the dead are sombre companions, Danadrian."

He abruptly let go of her shoulder. He stepped back and turned around without a word, and for a second she was confused, even concerned. Then she saw that he was flexing one of his hands, whilst the other had balled itself into a fist. He was… angry.

"…Don't say that."

"What?"

"Don't say you would rather forget, never say that. Your memories are a precious treasure. No matter how much they may hurt, at least you have them; they are yours."

Of course, now it made sense. Danadrian paced over to a tree and slammed his hand against it. The branches shook overhead.

"I told you that I remembered a moment of my past while we were in the dungeon. What I didn't tell you was how I remembered it. It wasn't natural, and it wasn't a work of Mayare. It was… there was a Darkness in there, and within it, a monster the likes of which I could never have conceived of. A being of pure Abyssal power."

That sent a shiver down her spine. Something like that had been watching them the whole time, and he hadn't thought to mention it? In an empty maze of hallways filled with traps, she felt that the information of a dark being watching their every move was a bit key.

She said as much to him, to which he simply nodded, "You are right, I should have told you. I was too busy grappling with my own misgivings regarding it."

"So, this… thing was able to give you back your memories? How is that even possible? I thought they were stripped away by divine authority."

"They are." He began relaying the conversation he'd had with this dark monster, and how it had described itself as something similar to divinity, if not quite. None of which curbed the unsettling feeling she felt running across her skin and making her hairs stand on end. What was something like that doing down there?

And, more importantly, was it still down there?

"Do you know what made me the most afraid? Not the Abyss, not that I had not an inkling of who or what it was?" He hit the tree again. "It was the temptation. It was how tempting his offer was, even as the very act of communication with him made my faith quiver and my Soul shake. Alleria, how far would I go for my memories? Will my faith survive it? And how much of me will there be left once I'm done?" He ended each question with another hit to the tree trunk. "How many other Fallen Angelica succumbed to temptation? That I might Fall one last time not to trickery, but to an honest bargain… that scares me."

He turned around, and Alleria's breath caught in her throat. His pale-yellow eyes betrayed how he felt, even if his face was scrunched up in an angry expression. He was scared.

"So please understand, when you stand there, and I hear you wish you could forget, it makes me want to throw you off the side of this hill face-first."

She opened her mouth to retort, but the words just felt… hollow and meaningless. She stepped in beside him and leaned against the tree. Then she sighed, "What a pair we make. Fate was cruel for putting us where we are. If I could switch with you, I would do it in a heartbeat. I'm sure you would've been able to handle my family a lot better than I did."

"Heh," he chuckled softly, "I somehow feel I wouldn't measure up to your estimations. And I can't imagine that wings and light colours would suit you."

"Hey, I never said I wanted to switch you permanently. Slathir's Soul, that sounds annoying. Horns on you, though…" She tilted her head. "You could make it work. Not sure about green, though."

"Other than red, what others are there? For the other Houses, I mean."

She began ticking them off on her fingers. "Purple, blue, orange, grey, gold-"

"Gold doesn't sound too bad. It would work well with my hair."

She glanced at him again, winced, and shook her head. "No. House Gredon's horns are gold. You wouldn't make a good Demon of House Gredon."

"How come?"

"On the whole, they tend towards… avarice. I'm not sure you would fit in with them."

"I see. Which House would you recommend to them, then? Your own?"

She shuddered, "Absolutely not. For you, I think… Prydin. You have some of their characteristics, and they like to build things, leave lasting effects on the land around them." She snorted, "I mean, think about it. They have pride in their work."

"I never thought about it that way." He chuckled, "And anyway, after meeting him, I don't think I could handle having Gellron for a brother. I'm surprised you two weren't at each other's throats your whole lives."

"He… wasn't always so bad. We were closer when we were both children, even if he has ten years on me. But he was our father's son, through in through. The path he ended up following was inevitable."

"Do you really believe that?"

"It makes it easier for me if I do." Her hand rested on the sheathed blade at her side. The image of Gellron at the end of it flashed in her mind, but she banished it immediately. "Well, if we're lucky, we won't have to see him for a long time."

"If he survived, he'll be coming after you again, won't he? And even if he doesn't, how long will it be before this High Court sends another to try and apprehend you?"

She flexed her fingers and began walking towards the edge of the hill. It would take some time getting down, and after that, they'd still need to make it towards whatever parting in the trees Danadrian had seen. She covered her eyes as a flash of light spilt through the leaves.

"There are many paths that connect Demagain and Andwelm, some constant, others limited and temporary. I just need to get far enough away from them, and they'll eventually stop chasing. Perhaps the coast, or the West. I've never heard of wandering Demons going that far." She was muttering now, running through different scenarios or plans in her head, until Danadrian gently tapped the back of her shoulder as they began making their way down the hill.

"Just promise me we'll make a stop in Tandrias City before you do. I'd like to meet with actual followers of the Church of the Light before we head downstream."

She blinked and looked up at him. "You would come with me?"

He shrugged, "I am seeking redemption in the eyes of my Goddess, but who can say where I will find it? I thought it would be here, and that I was sent to spread the Light amongst the Derumani-worshipping population, or to understand the plight of the Talradians… but every day that has passed has made me question if that is the case." His face fell, and a look of uncertainty took over. "I don't like not knowing. It feels like I'm stumbling around in a pitch-black room trying to look for a candle. When I felt my hope slipping… it frightened me more than death itself."

His expression lifted again, and his eyes flashed with that same, distant look. "But when I felt the Light blossom from within me in those depths. When that single spark lit itself once more, so too did my hope and desire to see and understand it."

"How many Fallen Angelica have been redeemed, Danadrian?" She didn't want to be the person to question him, but she felt she had to. "I had never even heard of a Fallen one before, let alone those who took up the Light again and ascended back into Mayare's service. Is it really doable?"

"I have no idea, but I do not believe it is impossible. Difficult, yes, and only through trials and pain that would make the dungeon of the Zhao Torag look like a child's game, but impossible? I do not believe so."

She nodded. "I- I hope you're able to. And I will…" She hesitated, part of her brain telling her it was foolish. She ignored it. "I will help you get there, if I can. Though I'm not sure if I'll be much use."

He smiled. "Thank you."

They continued down the hill, skipping over roots and trying not to slip and tumble into trees. The light still hurt her eyes, but standing behind Danadrian did help a lot, and their path led them in a direction that kept the direct sunlight on their backs.

Eventually, Danadrian looked back at her again.

"Mind if I ask you a question? Feel free to ignore it if you want."

"Depends on the question. What is it?"

"What was your mother like when you were growing up?"

After a second of silence, her mouth unwillingly twisted into a small smile.

"She was good."

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