"Did you see the legend?" She spat. "Dragons are real. I'm real. You're real. Our family is real. And there are others. In the villages and tribes they speak of it—the kingdom of Eteer. Young Prince Sena is held captive by his cruel father, a father almost as cruel as you. He's locked in a tower, Grizzly! Not even a canyon where you can see the sky, but a tiny cell, chained so he can't shift." She raised her chin. "I have to save him. I have to believe there are others, not just our family. I have to fly south and save him." Her voice softened and she sighed. "You must learn to—just sometimes—let me go."

But he could not let her go. He had lost one daughter already. He had lost his sweet Requiem. How could he lose Maev too?

He pulled her into his arms. Maev was a tall woman, taller than many men, and yet Jeid towered above her; she nearly disappeared into his embrace. She laid her head against his shoulder, and her tears dampened his fur tunic.

"My daughter," he said, voice choked. "I already lost your mother to the arrows of those who hate us. I already lost your sister to their poison. I cannot bear to lose you too. What if you fly into a trap, like . . . like the trap that killed Requiem? Like the trap that almost killed me?"

"No trap can stop me." She touched his beard, and her eyes softened. "Grizzly, I am strong, fast, a warrior. You will not lose me. I will free the prince, and I will bring him back here. You've always dreamed of finding others, of building a new tribe here, a tribe of Vir Requis. And yet we've found no others. Let me find one. Let me prove to you that we are not alone."

A loud voice, speaking in falsetto, came from above them. "Oh Grizzly! I am a heroine from a tale. I rescue princes from towers, inspire bards with my bravery, and slay ogres with my bad breath."

Jeid looked up and sighed again. Upon the canyon's edge, looking down upon them, stood his son.

Two years older than his sister, Tanin sported a head of shaggy brown hair, and stubble covered his cheeks. While his father was beefy, Tanin was slender and quick. He wore leather breeches and a fur tunic, and he carried a bronze apa sword at his belt, the leaf-shaped blade as long as his thigh. A bow and quiver hung across his back, and a mocking smile tugged at his lips. A prankster, his only joy seemed to be tormenting his younger sister—stuffing frogs into her blankets, painting her face while she slept, and once even slicing off a strand of her hair, which Maev had avenged by giving him a fat lip.

Maev spun around and glared up at him. "I do not sound like that."

Tanin smirked and gave a little pirouette, balancing on the edge of the canyon. He kept speaking in falsetto. "I'm so lonely here, Grizzly, and I'm as homely as the south side of a northbound mule. The only way I'll ever find a mate is to travel to the edge of the world—where they haven't heard of my foul temper—and snatch one up—"