The Rogue Lands did not care that Luna could nudge a drop of water or coax a breath of wind.They cared that she was small, alone, and edible.They tested her anyway.It began with hunger.Not the steady gnaw she had carried for weeks, but a sharp, mind-clouding desperation that hit after three days of scarce forage and no successful snares.Winter crouched at the edges of the forest now. Nights bit harder. Small creatures moved quickly, frantic to stash what they could. The easy berries of late summer were long gone. Roots, if she could find them, were thin, woody.Her body, already lean, burned itself for fuel.Her reflection in still pools no longer showed the round-cheeked kitchen girl Moonshadow had ignored. Hollowed eyes stared back instead, cheekbones cutting sharp angles under taut skin.On the fourth dawn, weak and dizzy, she stumbled out of a low hollow to the edge of a clearing and froze.A deer grazed there.Young, its antlers just buds under its fur. Its coat was thick, p
Last Updated : 2026-01-04 Read more