Rising From the Ashes: The Chronicles of Caymin by Caren J. Werlinger

Though she could not see what Ash saw, she felt the girl’s emotions as she progressed along her spiritwalk, felt her horror followed by joy. Then, she felt nothing for a while but waited patiently. Time in the spirit world did not move at the same pace as time here. There was a shift, and Enat became more alert. The girl had reached her destination.
    She roused herself and kept a closer eye on Ash as she lay there. There was a surge of emotion, and she saw a tear leak from the corner of the girl’s eye.
    Enat clasped her hands together and pressed them to her lips as she whispered a prayer of thanks.

    Enat was asleep when Ash woke. Silently, she got to her feet and crept from the cottage. The night was still dark and moonless, but Ash did not need light. Sure-footed as she had been when she lived with her clan, she strode through the forest. To all she encountered, she reached out with a reassurance. On and on she walked, as she had in her spiritwalk, not sure where she was going, but confident that she would know when she arrived.
    Through the canopy of the trees, the stars watched her as she made her way. She knew that the animals of the night marked her progress as well.
    As she walked, she tried to recall every detail of the things she had seen, afraid they might disappear as regular spiritwalks usually did, but this one had been different, and she soon realized she would never forget the one she’d had this night. Her mother. She had seen her mother and father. Memories she hadn’t known she possessed flooded her, and her eyes filled with tears. Memories of being held and sung to, memories of her father, laughing as he carried her on his shoulders.
    She came at last to a clearing in the forest, a clearing with a circle of ancient stones, some standing, connected by stone lintels laid upon them. Others of the stones had collapsed, their lintels fallen. All were covered in moss.
    This place was old, older than any place Ash had ever been. She felt the power emanating from the stones as she stepped inside the circle and stood, her face to the sky, her arms held wide.
    “I am Caymin.”

    Back at the cottage, Enat sat by the fire. She had awakened to find the girl gone, but she was not worried. A ripple of energy moved through the air, moved through the very earth. She lifted her head. Caymin . It suited her, but Enat knew her heart would always have a special place for the girl named Ash.

CHAPTER 8
    An Arrow Through the Heart
    F or two days after Bealtaine, Caymin avoided being with the others. Enat let her be, allowing her time to walk in the forest or just sit quietly, lost in her thoughts.
    “It is strange,” Caymin confided. “I feel exactly the same and completely different – all in one. How is that?”
    “Not so strange,” Enat said. “You’re the same as you’ve always been, but you know something about yourself now that you never knew before. That’s bound to change how you see yourself.”
    “Will it change how others see me?”
    Enat considered. “It may. You are no longer the nameless orphan, raised by badgers.”
    Caymin frowned. “But I do not wish to leave my badger family behind, as if they never existed.”
    “No.” Enat smiled. “You will now have two families to think on. You are blessed to have been loved by both.”
    That thought warmed Caymin as she walked through the forest. She came to a stream and crouched down. Moving her hand in a circle over the current, she murmured a calming charm and a portion of the water became as still as ice. She was pleased to notice that she felt almost no energy leave her. Leaning over the water, she gazed at her reflection. She nearly didn’t recognize the face staring back at her. She had asked Enat to keep her hair short, cutting it every moon with her silver knife, but her face was rounder, fuller than it had been the first time she’d seen herself. Her leggings were shorter, so she knew she was growing. The scars, though, were the same.