Laylit woke with a pounding headache, her heart thudding in panic. She sat up with a gasp. Her nostrils were flooded with odors, but not the sweet floral scent of her room at the palace, not the earthy fragrance of her tiny house on the mountainside, the place she went when sorrow overcame her and she needed to be alone. The smell was strong, impossible to mistake for anything else; fish and salt water. Laylit"s eyes didn"t want to open, and she swiped at them impatiently. She peered around her as her eyes opened just a bit. The space around her was dark and damp. She was cold, and she was stuck in something soft and yet scratchy.
Her vision slowly started to clear as she tried to remember to breathe. The sky grew lighter. Laylit began to understand what she was looking at, what she was
