"Aiy, my Stormchild, what's the matter?"  Reddawn kneels before her daughter, taking Auris' hands in her own.

Auris shakes her head, and does not respond, does not meet her mother's eyes.  A restlessness runs through her; she pulls away, steps this way and that, paces aimlessly.

"Stormchild, speak to me.  What is it?"

"I..."  Her voice is husky, as though speaking through a heavy throat, and she shakes her head again, and again is silent.  Auris continues pacing, fingers dancing at her sides, searching, searching for something, but what?  Even she doesn't know, just something, anything, and nothing's quite right.

As she takes another step, her knee twists, and she cries out and crumples to the ground.  Reddawn rushes forward.  "Stormchild!  Auris!"

❂

Skaia Bloodsinger, daughter of Kellmiri the Wise, daughter of Lekki Stonebreaker, is caught in the throes of battle fury, blood surging through her veins as she cuts down foe after foe.  The field before her parts, a lone figure staring at her.  Bloodsinger straightens her posture.  A slow grin unfurls across her face.  The taste of salt and copper suffuses her tongue and she licks her lips...and begins to sing, stepping, surging forward.

Her opponent is a tricky one, slipping often beneath her spear, or away, too close or too far to be harmed.  They dance with deadly grace, moving together and apart, eyes only for the other—impact and pain and Bloodsinger's eyes go wide as her leg gives out, falling heavily to one knee, her leg all but numb from the strike to an old wound—and where did it come from?  Her opponent darts in.

Cold steel meets flesh.

The odd noise of her own body falling.  Bloodsinger wonders if the sky has always been so blue...

❂

It's with a hazy memory that Auris slowly opens her eyes.

"The Raven awakes."

The Woundweaver sits back, and her mother is there.

"Amaa...what happened?"

"You were god-touched, my Stormchild, my Raven."

Auris furrows her brow, trying to remember, then her eyes fall past her mother, to four battle-weary figures waiting there.  She frowns, and struggles to sit up.  Reddawn goes to push her back, hesitates, and helps her up instead.

"Khalini touched you."

Khalini, an aspect of the First Thought, she who watches over all creation, who guards the afterlife...  Auris looks at her mother, still frowning, and her mother's expression...  Worry strikes through her, sharp and brilliant, and she stares past, to the others.  "What happened?"

The others share a glance, and drop their gaze.  Only one of them, Orchid, will meet her eyes.  "The Bloodsinger sings no more."

Auris' face goes pale.  Then the tears well up and she falls easily into her mother's embrace, and weeps.