In the Briar, a month had passed since Heila completed her transformation and became Ashlynn's Willow Witch. During that time, true to her word, Amahle had drilled both women on the fundamentals of witchcraft.
The increasing heat of the Briar pressed down on them and made the hot days seem endless and the slightly cooler nights feel far too brief. Within a week of Heila's reawakening, both women from the Vale of Mists abandoned their long skirts for the shorter, divided skirts favored by the villages across the lake. Similarly, Ashlynn found herself going barefoot whenever possible and when it wasn't, she was much more comfortable in simple woven sandals than in the short ankle boots she'd arrived in.
