Edda looked nothing like her mother, the crone of the Wood, whose suntanned skin was now pockmarked and wrinkled from old age, unlike her daughter's flawless snow-white complexion. In fact, the only thing the two shared physically were their silver hair and black eyes. Wholly black, with no whites. A Seer's eyes, her mother used to tell her.

 But the old crone of the Wood was dying. Edda could feel it and told her mother as much, who wiped away her tears, and told her not to cry, for one day soon she would be the caretaker and Seer of the Black Wood. 

 "I don't want to be the Seer," she sniffled. "That's your job! I'm not ready to care for the Wood as you do. I have so much to learn and have yet to complete the Rite."

 "Ah," She sighed. "But my dear girl, you have a gift! You will be the very best Mother the Black Wood has ever seen. When it is time, near your thirteenth birthday, travel to the Blue Lake and call on your power- you will know what to do." 

 Edda could not imagine the Wood without her mother- much less bearing the responsibility of keeping it in balance all alone. But she knew she was special- Indeed, where most Seers were only ever limited to short, confusing clips of the future, Edda at age twelve could already see entire visions clearly. 

 And ever since she'd had that nightmare vision of her mother shriveling up and taking her last breaths before her very eyes, she hadn't been able to banish it from her mind. She had witnessed every change, first with her thinning hair, the hunched back, then the wrinkles and spots and now the sickness. She kept telling herself that perhaps if she had not seen it, it would not have happened. That it was her fault her mother was now dying.

 Edda turned to her and was shocked by how she barely recognized the bedridden woman before her, who smiled kindly back at her as if she truly believed she was ready, and buried her face in her mother's arms.

~

 Three months later, Edda slung her leather pouch over her slim shoulder and bid her mothers cottage goodbye as she turned and made her way into the dark, black, forest beyond.