Another afternoon without you.

Ydel drifted restlessly in and out of dreams. Summer had come early to her village, and all around her there was life and activity. Yet all she wanted to do was climb back into bed and dream of mid-winter.

Back when you were mine, all mine.

A pillow was sent flying across the small confines of her room, landing with a dusty thump in the far corner, near the window. Garrisson had married Rachel only a week after their chance encounter at the bakery. Now he was lost to her forever. She'd wanted to scream at him for breaking her heart, to pound her fists on his chest in rage at her humiliation, but Ydel was too dignified for such behavior. She showed up to the wedding, sat in the back, and left a small painting of two lovers in a garden as her present to the couple.

Then she'd left the church and the town. It was far too small a town to contain the couple and the unwanted Other. The great wide plains beyond their little valley in the trees beckoned to her. Cities, actual glowing cities, called her name. Somewhere among them, she would find a new home and a new life.