yseulte*

I am beautiful, yet I am deadly
I am marked by war, yet dwell in peace.

The words have a sinister whisper to them, as all riddles do, as if they were laced with poison. For a moment, worry flickered across Yseulte's normally unexpressive face, but lest the leopards see her doubt, she cleared the sharp contours of her face until it was as smooth and icy as the expansive tundra stretched out before them. She was rather new to Helovia, and its wild landscape was foreign and unfamiliar to her. She had only ever strayed as the sea and the Veins of the Gods.

But then her mind crawled back to the beginning, to the forest that was thick and tangled, but not entirely as hostile as the woods bordering it. The Threshold's neighbor she had avoided. She recalled the strange markings on the trees, like deep, livid gashes, and Yseulte had not needed another sign to stay away from the strangely silent and cool woods. Yseulte was not overly fond of crowded spaces, and the Threshold had proved to be that and more, so she could only imagine what those dark woods were like. Suffocating, probably. She hoped she was wrong.

"Follow me," Yseulte said at last, turning south and stretching out her long legs and leaving the Frostbreath Steppe far behind.

Darkness had settled over the land by the time the trio crossed the Threshold and reached those strangely slashed pines. It was just as she remembered it as they wound through the dark trees like agile serpents—hostile and treacherously beautiful. It was the sort of place Zjarri would have loved, but all Yseulte felt was a deep unease. How could a cub survive here if he was dumped in this murderous place all alone?

Unless he wasn't alone.

The thought wasn't very comforting. The moonlight filtered through the needles overhead, casting everything in a silver, frosted light. Beautiful, but as Yseulte had learned as a child, most beautiful things were treacherous. At last, she halted before a clear pool of water full of strange, glittering stones that were blood-red, and knew they were at the heart of the woods. She glanced at the two snow leopards, their fur transformed into a polished silver by the eerie moonlight.

"Welcome to the Deep Forest, my friends."

apprentice craftsmen of the edge,