XIFinn sat in the nest of arching branches high up in his oak on Three Tree Hill. The oak he had climbed so often as a boy. It had always been the one place in the whole world purely his. No one else ever came here. For some reason he'd never even told Connor about it. He could still climb this wide, towering tree with his eyes shut, his limbs remembering the dance of movements required to reach each branch and fork. The words he had carved into the rugged flesh of the old bark were still there. His name. A series of dates, the earliest from when he was eight. No one else had ever added any.
He remembered the day, years ago, just after Shireen had been taken, he'd climbed up there to try and see over the mountain tops to Engn. He'd failed, of course, but he had seen Connor coming across t
