"I cannot leave", her words were tripping over one another. "I will not. Could not. I have promised mother- Promised. "
She emphasized the last part of her sentence, because she knew promises and vows were important to the folk, were binding.
"That is very well", the old man nodded and for a moment she hoped he'd understand. Then, her hopes were shattered. "You will leave nevertheless. I free you from you vows."
And then the feeling of hot dread flodded her as she heard him speak her name, her true name. The name that only the land knew, that was whispered by the northern breeze, that grew within the bark of trees and melted in the snow when the sun stood high at noon. It was the hidden name, the most forbidden name, the name that rustled in the feathers of owls, that sounded in the howls of wolves, but no one ever spoke.