In Which Severin Has All the Pieces

November 10, 1201

"You're Ylwa?" Why the hell was he even asking. Whatever the odds were that he'd run into another green-skinned woman who was perfectly comfortable being naked outside in November, they couldn't have been high enough to matter. And, as it turned out--people were right about the Naron. Evil or good or anything in between, they seemed to know when and where they were needed.

The absurdity of Severin's question wasn't lost on her. "I don't see much point in answering when you already know. I can't say I know who you are, though; most of you humans look far too much alike."

"I'm a friend of Dora Floren's."

"Are you, now?" So she recognized the name. Alyssin hadn't been mistaken. "I'm surprised she seems to have such a social life. I didn't expect she'd come so far out of her shell."

Dora, out of her shell. In that case, what had she been like when she'd been in it? But her meekness wasn't the point. "So, you did know her."

"Yes, and you were right to come to me about it first; I made sure she didn't remember me."

"She doesn't remember a lot of things."

Ylwa's cloudy eyes glazed over, more annoyed than intrigued. She'd already known this. "She thought it would be easier that way."

"What the hell sort of problem is solved by simply forgetting about it?" A past trauma? Or... a past crime? But in that case, whatever reeve would have wanted her head wouldn't have forgotten. "What did you do to her? She's been a mystery to everyone we both know ever since she showed up here--and probably more to herself than anyone else. It's not in her best interests for her not to know who she is."

"She knows who she is. She's forgotten who she thought she was, and it was she who judged that to be preferable--not I."

"What does that even--?"

"You're a Tumekrin, aren't you?"

Severin scowled. Was his family really so notorious that the forest-dwellers knew their name? It wasn't as if he was a Kemorin! "I thought we humans all looked alike to you."

"You're a stubborn, angry piece of work--like your sister." Ylwa crossed her arms at the base of her breasts, as if she intended to distract him with the lift. It wouldn't work. Outside the context of Rina, he'd never been partial to green. "And you ask more questions than you should, like your other sister."

Other sister? Alyssin, and... Ellie? Alina? He didn't recall any of his other sisters ever mentioning an encounter with the forest-dwellers. "Which other sister?"

"If you can't keep track of your own family, then I don't see why I should help you there." She sighed. "Look, you don't seem too stupid, as far as humans go. You already have all of the pieces you need to complete your puzzle. You won't get the satisfaction you seek unless you put them together yourself."

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