“Were you from the moon territories?”

“From Anastoria.”

The kingdom of crows. Shardae had never been.

“What were you like?” She asked. Persis shifted on her stool.

“I remember,” the warrior said eventually. “There was a family who always brought goats past our street to the market. One ate the flower off my dress when I was little. Their son promised he’d marry me if I stopped crying, but I think I hit him. I don’t remember if I said yes or not. I might not have stopped crying, either.”

“To be fair, I’d hit him, too,” Shardae said. Persis raised her eyebrows.

“Well, you would do that because you were angry. I just didn’t want him to see me cry.”

I can’t lie, “Anastoria” is the name of a power metal album by Qantice (it’s also a pun, based on its purpose in the plot, but shhh, that’s for later). I know you kids don’t care when I rave about my power metal, but I can’t help myself. Qantice writes the most fantastic music for making me want to write this story.

Week one of Nano is over–stay strong, Wrimos. You’ve got this, even if you totally don’t.