Kennari: And you, child. Are you listening to me?
Reese: I am.
Kennari: Good. My apprentice has put us all in a very unfortunate position by his actions, but it's not all bad. Reese, why did you come here?
Reese: I, um, wanted to help my mom.
Kennari: That's very sweet of you. What's her name?
Reese: Stella.
Kennari: That's a pretty name. She must be a wonderful mother for you to come out here and look for witches, just to get some help.
Reese: Um, mhm.
Kennari: What does she do?
Reese: Well, she likes to sew and weave, but when she got sick she had to stop...
Kennari: ...
Reese: She makes dinner for us also, but I have to do most of it now because it hurts her to move so much. She likes to sit by the fire and stir the pot because that's just moving her arm and staying warm. When she's in bed at night I have to give her tea sometimes and she just stares at the ceiling and at first I didn't really get it but now I think she's like, really, really angry, and it's scary to see her like that. I get angry sometimes, but mom is always so nice. I usually get angry at Kenik because he's really mean. Actually today he said a lot of mean stuff and I think he made my friend cry, and he made me kinda cry too, and I don't like him at all. I don't think anyone is being mean to my mom, though, so I don't know, what is she angry at? I read that the constellations are supposed to protect us, so maybe she's mad at the Mother for not protecting her. But I guess it's really the Witch's fault, right? She's the one that makes it happen. Maybe she's angry at the Witch. I don't know.
Reese: Sometimes when I look at the Wound I think I can see stars in it. It makes my head hurt but sometimes when I finish work I'll look at it and my head will hurt but I'll keep looking. They say being born under the Twin is so rare because half of it was destroyed by the Wound, but when the sign appeared on my brother's cloak it had both halves. That means it can't be destroyed, right? It's only stuck in there and can't get out. But it's kinda out now, because my brother is here. That makes me happy. They say getting the starfall means you have to die, but I don't think that's true. I'm really scared that mom will die and I won't be able to do anything about it. Or I'll try to do something and I'll fail and my brother won't get mad at me so I'll have to be mad at myself forever.
Reese: I don't want that to happen. CG is kind of weird sometimes, like he'll write me letters and I don't really know who he is or why he does it, but it's fun. He said he was a witch and I believed him because I don't think he would lie, but I'm also scared of witches. You're scary. I'm sorry. Please help me.
Kennari keeps a blank face. Invisible and listening in, CG stands near the top of the stairs. Kennari suspects what he’s doing. Reese doesn’t.
