She mattered. Su'ayun heard it. Clear as crystal. Clear as River Spota. Spota was a town far south of the Cassan Continent. It was the earliest memory Su'ayun had remembered of her family. Su'ayun played with her little brother and her twin sister, Su'aya. Water splashing, soap squirting from hand to hand. It was a happy, long-forgotten memory. How would she tell her mother, and little brother, that 'Aya died? They were a family of four, now three. Oh, 'Aya.
—dead.
There it is again. The voice, Su'aya? Mother? Brother?
Su'ayun shook her head, feeling how light it was. She had never felt so relaxed, so swift, and strong. Of the family, she was the strongest but never this strong—strong she could crash a boulder with her hands. Her mother was proud that she had her father's blood.
—blood.
"Shut up!" Su'ayun yelled, parrying a beam of light with the back of her hand. The scale over it shook but was not dented, nor splintered at all.
