It was only when her parents had recovered from their shock did they notice how Valeria’s skin glowed, and the magical treasures she’d brought with her from the saffron grove glimmered in her arms.

“What is this?” her mother asked, her words a mixture of fear and wonder.

Valeria pushed aside the empty bowls that should have been filled with their scavenging of berries and nuts. Frowning at the proof that her family hadn’t eaten, she neatly organized the stems and bark from Tree Mother on the short table. “Tree Mother said I could have it,” she explained. She peered up into her human mother’s gaze and smiled. “She said you’d like it.”

Valeria left out the part where Tree Mother had disapproved. But surely the unspoken promise that she’d keep the grove safe was enough. The blossoms hadn’t curled up and disappeared under her feet when she’d taken the stolen treasures, so perhaps it was all right to share a piece of her world with the humans who loved her and cared for her.

Father hovered his hands over the stems. “Impossible,” he breathed. “This is impossible.”

“Is it Divine Material?” her mother asked, her words full of hope. Her gaze flitted to Valeria before returning to her husband. “Can we use it?”

His gaze found Valeria’s and his lips pinched into a frown before he spoke. “Only if Valeria says it’s okay.”

Valeria blinked, bouncing her gaze between her parents. “If what’s okay?”

Mother offered a weak smile and took Valeria’s hand in her own. “Sweet daughter. You have given us a rare treasure, and with this boon, we could return to the sacred city.” She knelt so that they were eye-level. “We could return home.”

Her eyes went wide. “But this is home.”

Her mother leaned into the hunch of her broken shoulder, her skin spidering with black scabs that was proof of the malice in which they lived. The Obsidian Sea of their world had not been kind. “My daughter, don’t you want to be around people? Be away from this place?”

Valeria shook her head so violently that her teeth rattled. “I won’t go! I can’t leave Tree Mother alone!”

Mother shushed her and calmed the fresh, panicked tears with assurance. “Of course, dear, of course. We’ll stay. It was only a thought.”

“The taxes,” Father said after a moment. “It’ll be enough to clear some of the land using the city’s men. They could give us a reprieve, at least.”

“No!” Valeria shrieked. “I didn’t bring Tree Mother’s bark and her baby flowers’ stems for greedy humans. I brought it for you!” She shoved the stems at her mother, the golden tawny flakes leaving a molten trail across the table. “Make something with it, Mother. Make us treats and tea.” Her gaze fell onto her mother’s broken shoulder, hoping that it could be cleansed of its malice and finally be healed. “Drink it, Mama, like I did.”

That’s when understanding dawned in her mother’s eyes.

Without another word, Altera took a pot and filled it to the brim with half of their reserves of water meant to last them the rest of the week. They’d harvested the fresh bounty from a hidden stream behind their home that ran between three oasis islands in the sea of obsidian. The rest they’d gathered from droplets formed as rare morning dew on wispy grasses before it could slip down into their greedy roots.

Altera placed the pot on the hearth’s bars and curled her legs under her as she rested on the nearby pad. She waited patiently until the pot steamed.

“Bring the bark, Fallen Star,” she said with a wave of her hand. Even with the broken angle of her shoulder, she sat poised as if ready to prepare a treat worthy of a king.

Valeria gathered the bark, and one saffron stem for good measure, and handed it over. She watched with wide eyes as her mother carefully shredded the bounty into the pot. A sweet aroma filled the room until Valeria felt as if she were back in her saffron grove once again.

When her mother had poured three cups, Valeria insisted her mother try hers first. “Go on, Mama!”

A small smile as her mother wrapped her fingers around the splintered cup, and her eyes fluttering closed as she inhaled the steam. “Delightful,” she said, before taking a minuscule sip.

Her mother’s lips shined with gold when she pulled away with a gasp.

“Altera?” Father asked, his voice marked with concern.

Her mother’s smile widened, banishing worry from the room. “The pain, it’s gone.”

Valeria kept a close eye on her mother’s shoulder, and even though her mother’s muscles unwound from their standard, tense form, the black lines refused to dissipate.

Valeria sipped her own tea, unable to enjoy its warmth and nourishment, glad that her mother’s pain had been eased, but disappointed knowing that her mother wouldn’t be fully healed.

* * *

“Why didn’t you help my mother?” Valeria demanded, having returned to Tree Mother after three days and three nights. The hunger had come back soon after they’d run out of tea, and she’d been driven away from the cottage when a familiar icy void crept back into her body. She didn’t wish to experience starvation from what she needed again.

Tree Mother swayed with an invisible wind. It was ignoring her, she realized after a long moment of silence, and she clenched her fists and stomped through the blossoms, enraged.

The silk tore under her protective leathers. She’d donned them this time before she’d taken on the trek to the saffron grove. Her mother had taken some convincing to let her go out on her own again, but once she’d run her fingers over her daughter’s icy skin did she hurry her away to take what she needed to survive.

Human Mother had tried to go with her, but Valeria had refused, knowing that the grove would have remained hidden behind its foggy veil should she bring any intruders near its realm.

Humans are beyond my reach, Tree Mother explained with words that weren’t words. Emotion swept through her, one that whispered of sufferance and dwindling patience. You are my child. She is not.

It was a simple explanation, but it didn’t help Valeria’s frustrations. “I don’t care!” she screeched. “You should help her like you helped me.”

Insufferable silence lingered in the air before Tree Mother slipped into sleep, her consciousness somewhere deep and removed to a place Valeria couldn’t go.

The conversation was over.

Valeria growled, but curled up in the roots and allowed the blossoms to slide over her skin. A refreshing warmth sank into her body and she closed her eyes, hoping that somehow, she’d find a way to cure her mother of her ills. Perhaps, if she purged her mother of the darkness that infested her body, she could bring her to the grove.

That hope made her smile as she drifted off into sleep.