“You can open them now.”

Corva opens her eyes and is immediately confused. An old woman stands before her. Corva blinks in disbelief. “Avó?”

The old woman tilts her head in exactly a way that Corva doesn’t remember her ever doing. It’s more curious, more feral, more—

“Zeke?”

Avó’s face widens to an almost unnatural grin. “You figured it out faster than I expected you would.”

“Yeah, well, I’m a quick study.” Corva takes a moment to take in her surroundings. They’re back in Fareburne, just as it was getting destroyed. They’re in a storage cellar. Avó has a small bag of seeds in her hand. “What is this? How are you in Avó’s body?”

“I’m not. Not really. We’re in a memory. And a pretty important one to you, it would seem. You need to think of a different memory. One that matters less to you. Otherwise, you’ll remember this one wrong later.”

“How?”

“Just close your eyes and think of it.”

With a skeptical frown, Corva shuts her eyes. When they reopen, they’re back at Jack’s bar. It’s nighttime. Jack just got done introducing himself.

Jack’s head tilts in the same way Avó’s did. “A first introduction? Ouch. This would probably hurt Jack’s feelings. How about something even less significant? Maybe something more mundane?”

“Fine.” Corva closes her eyes again and then reopens them. She’s staring at her reflection in a mirror, a bathroom by the looks of it. She’s much younger. Eight years old. Her eyes are swollen and bloodshot. Dried tears streak through the dirt on her face. She’s got a toothbrush in her hand. This is one of the first places she crashed after escaping the raid.

Her reflection tilts its head and looks back at her. “It’s a start.”

“So what’re we doing here? What’s going on?”

“I need to get a lot of information to you and there isn’t a lot of time. We’re still angled to be a lawn dart in the center of Bule.”

“What’s a lawn dart?”

Corva’s reflection pauses, closing its eyes as if it were frustrated by her question. “It’s an old reference. No matter. We’re still falling from the sky and if you don’t learn a few things very quickly, you’re going to die in a really ugly way … either from the fall or from what happens after.”

Corva looks at her reflection; its mannerisms and expressions are completely unrecognizable as hers. “How much do I have to learn?”

“Multiple lifetimes.”

Corva’s hands start shaking. She reaches up and slams both hands on either side of the mirror. “What? We’re seconds from smashing into the ground. How am I supposed to—”

Her reflection holds its hand up. “Time works a little differently in your memories. We can work through memories much faster than action in the conscious world. So calm down. Yes, time is still ticking forward and we can’t stay here forever. There isn’t enough time to give you all that you need to know. But I can try to give you the abridged version.”

Calming a bit, Corva pulls her arms back down to her sides. “Alright. Abridge me.”

Her reflection sighs. “That’s not what—never mind.” The reflection refocuses and looks Corva in the eye. “For the last one hundred and fifty years, people have called Thegn the ‘Last of the Four.’ This isn’t entirely true. The rest of the Four live on. With each generation, the three of you are born anew. And each time, Death hunts for your reborn selves and kills you before—”

“Wait. ‘You’? What do you mean?”

“Corva, you are the reborn manifestation of War. You’ve carried a number of names across cultures throughout millennia, often without those cultures knowing your true nature.” The reflection shakes its head, almost nostalgically. “Most of them refused to believe that you’re female.” It stops, suddenly serious again. “Thegn knows you as Durga.”

“Yeah. He and his rat have said as much. They also said something about ‘breaking’ you.”

The reflection looks down and curses under its breath. “Caffiel. Little instigator.” Regaining composure, Corva’s reflection keeps its head down. “Thegn and Caffiel have a distorted perspective on how this works.”

“This?”

“Caffiel and I are sigils. Seals. Locks, if you will. There are—were—twelve of us. We were meant to be the reservoirs of power and knowledge for the Four. Until now, Thegn has never been able to find any of us.”

“He’s got the rat.”

“Caffiel doesn’t count. He never left Thegn’s side. And as far as I know, this is the first time that one of you other three have come in contact with a sigil before Thegn has found you.”

“That’s why I get stronger and faster when you’re near me?”

“If I will it to be, yes. And it doesn’t stop with strength and speed.”

Corva’s eyes widen. “Like on the rooftop! What was that? Mind control?”

Her reflection laughs bitterly and looks back up to Corva. “No. Not mind control. That’s not possible. What I had you do was an advanced technique. More like puppetry. And your mastery of it is pretty weak. You’re going to need to start with something simpler in your training.”

“Training?”

“Why do you think we’re here? The ground is getting closer and I need to get you caught up on a lot in this very short time we have.”

Feeling her well of panic growing again at the thought of smashing into the ground, Corva takes a deep breath and leans in toward the mirror. “What’s the catch?”

The reflection smiles. It’s not her smile. It doesn’t even feel like a natural smile that a normal person would make. Unnatural as it is, it’s still somewhat reassuring. “We’re going to have to override some of your memories. When we’re done, you’re going to remember those moments wrong. Instead of remembering what happened, you’ll remember a training lesson in that time or place. It isn’t the most ideal way to do this, but we don’t have a lot of choice.” Corva’s reflection pauses, giving her a second to wrap her brain around the concept. “I’m going to need you to queue up another memory or two. This mirror thing isn’t bad for talking, but—”

“I’m already ahead of you.” Corva closes her eyes. When she opens them, she’s still only eight years old, but she’s having trouble breathing. The dirty face of a kid named Puck leers at her while his forearm presses against her throat. She feels herself smile. This could be fun.