The Song of Vhal Eirke

'The white woods are in you, Etta. Will you let them die?'

Etta's life has been hard, but steady. There is safety in familiarity, and despite the flooding of her home and the bickering of her wayward younger sisters, she can't help but feel afraid of change.

Change, however, cares little for her feelings. Fate brings a stranger named Grendel crashing into her home, with his fae eyes and strange ways. He tells her that he is dying, that the heavy rain steadily pouring drowning the country of Hukaten is poisoning the waters: the sea, the lakes, the streams. He needs her help, he says. He will give anything for her help.

Etta doesn't want to help. She doesn't want to be dragged into this strange, fantastical reality. She wants to hide in herself, cocooned in a steady, boring life.

And yet, something in her yearns for adventure, for purpose. And it's getting harder and harder to ignore it.