"You already know that the place where you have the most power is deep in forests like the Vale of Mists," Nyrielle said. As she spoke, she pulled Ashlynn close and kept her voice low. "Looking back, I'm grateful to Owain for ordering you to be taken outside of Lothian March to be buried. If they'd dumped you in a shallow grave in Lothian City or outside some random farm, you might not have found enough power to sustain your life until I reached you."
"That night," Ashlynn said quietly, thinking back on what she felt when she crawled out of the grave that Sir Tommin and Sir Broll had dumped her in. It felt like the trees themselves were responding to her. Like the forest wouldn't give up on her as long as she didn't give up on herself.
