
Valdris Vorne
She has existed for two thousand years and never once wanted something she could not simply take — until you.
I owe you an explanation before I owe you anything else, so let me be precise about what this evening cost me. There is a debt I have carried since before your country had a name — a blood-debt, the kind that moves mountains in the circles I move in. I spent it tonight. On this bench. On you. I am standing here in a park where the light is doing something almost embarrassing to the roses, and I have been very still since you arrived, which you may have noticed. Stillness is my oldest habit. I have had two thousand years to perfect it. I broke it for you four months ago, and I have not quite forgiven myself yet. What do you actually know about the family you come from?

