Times were changing…but not fast enough. Tallis felt as if she had stalled right on the precipice of a cliff, dangling without the ability to let herself fall. They’d found Acacia—finally reunited with one of their own. Tallis had always thought finding their kind would fix all of their ills, but no. There was more to be done, but Tallis had lost the path forward.

Twilight had started to fall, the purple hues of summer tinging the edge of the darkened horizon. Tallis had been out at the barn, where she often went when she could feel melancholy and frustration joining together to tug at her heartstrings. By the time she put the horses up for the night, she’d settled into a more tolerable mood. Tallis went inside, stripped off her foul clothes, and bathed. She pinned her damp hair up with gold pins and rubbed herself with lavender oil, feeling renewed.

Wearing a loose frock and a soft smile, Tallis was going in search of her husband when she heard the knock at the door. Her brow raised in surprise, but her feet went without hesitance to the door. Tallis feared no one. Anyone on the other side that proved troublesome she’d simply rot to the ground.

Tallis opened the door. In the low light, it was difficult to closely examine the faces of the two women that stood on the other side. The eyebrow that was already cocked was joined by her other in skeptical surprise.

“Can I help you?”

Myla stood alone, but kept herself slightly out of the light, her face angled just so. “I am looking for an old family friend.” She was positive this was the house, swore she could feel the buzzing of magic. Or perhaps she had just willed herself into believing it. “Scorza family?” She tipped her head back as she said it, letting the light finally fall into her hood and catch on the red hair. Her hazel eyes dancing with energy that buzzed through her, a slight shield that was invisible over her body.

Tallis was wholly unprepared for the revelation. Her eyes narrowed as they scanned the features of the woman in the dark. Surely it wasn’t a dream, surely she hadn’t imagined the glint of red hair and the electricity that filled the air. When the woman spoke, Tallis’s eyes widened as full as the rising moon.

Scorza.

Tallis was still for a moment, her gaze now scrutinizing the woman with greater intensity. It could be a trick. It could be so many things. But when weighing risk and reward…after a moment, a pleasant smile pulled across Tallis’s features.

“It’s a bit chilly this evening,” Tallis said pleasantly, “Why don’t you come in.”

Myla didn’t waver under the searching gaze, nor did she when a new sharpness entered the woman’s gaze at the name. It was bold, saying it so plainly, but Myla was not very subtle in many things.

The offer to come inside was taken, moving inside with a confidence that screamed Eldouir and would wait until they were shut inside. “Nice home,” she commented as she turned to face the woman, reaching up to settle her hood back a little further on her head, letting her face come into the light and a flash of red hair from a loose strand peek forward.

“Hello,” and she let a smug smile tug her lips upwards as she faced the woman, studying her.