AN: I normally don't do trigger warnings, but I feel this chapter warrants it (attempted suicide). See endnotes for a chapter summary.
Valygar and Mazzy ran through the forest for a time, following a nearly invisible path that led to the bluffs, thin dead twigs stinging their limbs as they passed.
After about twenty minutes of running, they made a sudden turn left, running almost immediately into a tall hill. They climbed up the slope with some difficulty and bent closer to the ground, saying little but bound together in an unspoken purpose.
They dragged their weary bodies to the top, finally straightening up when they came again into the sunlight.
Around them, the forest laid like a wrinkled blanket of brown and a newly-growing green, the scent from the budding leaves wafting into the brisk air above, birds singing and flitting from branch to branch, darting over one fold to the next. Far away, Mount Speartop finally revealed itself to the northwest, its snow-covered summit emerging from a veil of mist that enveloped the Cloud Peaks.
But the young roe that Valygar had spotted wasn't taking in the vista. Instead, its head was bowed towards the ground, where the land suddenly gave way to a sheer cliff face of nearly a hundred feet. The roe moved in a tight, agitated circle, glancing down the side of the cliff and then just as quickly turning aside, only to head back to the edge and repeat the cycle over again.
Valygar called out, "Lette!"
The roe stopped in place, furthest away from the cliff face, and raised its head, its wide brown eyes filled with fear and its slim, tawny-brown legs shaking.
But that only lasted a moment. The roe shut her eyes and, in a moment of intense concentration, resumed her own form.
Lette was not a tall girl, but she drew herself up to her full height and with a look in her light, freckled face that was equal parts serenity and defiance. Then, she abruptly turned and started walking to the cliff's edge.
Valygar called the girl's name again. "What are you doing?"
Lette shrugged, shockingly casual. "What does it look like I'm doing?" She stared down the edge of the cliff. "Maybe I can find Tristin and beg for his forgiveness in the next world."
Valygar took a step forward but checked herself. "Lette, what does your brother need to forgive you for?"
"He was right. He was right about everything," she said. "He told me — told me — that the Baron was setting the fires, that he was plotting to take over everyone's land. I didn't believe him; my family didn't want to believe him because my work for the Baron brought in enough money to keep everyone in wool and muslin…"
The look of defiance was gone from her eyes now, and instead, she just looked tired. "And then…then my father's fields burned. He was the first one outside, throwing water on the crops, trying to stop the fire from taking anything more. He wasn't the same after that. I've been treating him since; Lanka's tried to help too, but…he don't walk outside unless it's nighttime because half his face still looks like a melted candle."
She bowed her head a moment to compose herself. "Tristin left home the next morning, yelling about how I'd sold myself to the Baron and other awful things. After that, he and I never talked again. But what he said weighed on me.
"Later that fall, a trader passed through on his last stop to Crimmor. I was looking through his scrolls, and there was one that he said was composed by a Sharran cult in Athkatla that could banish the magic of light. I…I'd heard tales of seals from the old sun temple keeping in some shadow creature, and…"
She conspicuously avoided looking at Valygar. "I bought it and gave it to you to cast, since you knew the way there and could do spellwork," she said faintly. "I wasn't sure I could get there, or I'd have done it myself.
"I thought that if this shadow creature was nearby," she said, "it'd hurt the Baron more, that it'd be enough for him to give up on Imnesvale altogether."
Valygar's face was stern. "Did you think to find the mithral cache that the rumors speak of?"
Lette shook her head vigorously. "I…I don't know anything about mithral. I wanted Imnesvale to be free like Tristin and Moreno wanted. Like everyone wants."
By now, she was near tears. "But…but the Baron will still take my pa's land; he's been using me to harm my kin all along; the Shade Lord stole folks away, stole Merella away and killed her. And it's all my fault. The way I figure, I'll keep hurting Imnesvale if I…if I don't stop…"
"The Baron taking everything is far from a done deal," Valygar said. "There might still be something you know that might help."
"What could I do when I didn't even know about the crops burning?" Lette asked.
"You're the best person to answer that," Valygar said. "At least talk to your father first. He deserves to know the truth."
A look of pure panic crossed Lette's face. "What would I say? That he's always in pain because I worked for a tyrant? I can't face him…I can't face anyone in the village again…" She started to back up, getting dangerously close to the edge. "Nothing I do can make up for the Shade Lord; I can't bring any of the stolen people back—"
"You're right," Valygar said. "It will hurt, no two ways about it. It will hurt to look your people in the eye and tell them what you did. But you can still find the balance, even after something like this. And if you want to help them…"
At this, Lette seemed to hunch over a bit, as though she were trying to make herself smaller. "That's…that's all I ever wanted…"
Valygar approached her and took her arm rather awkwardly, but she started sobbing as soon as he touched her. Then, gently, he guided her away from the bluff.
"Come on," he said. "Let's get you home."
They started walking back towards the village. Mazzy followed, remaining silent the whole time.
Eventually, Lette composed herself, saying that she knew the way back to her father's house. Valygar refused to leave her side until she was at the front door in a small, slatted house that lay lonely amongst a scorched field.
She cracked the door open and slipped through without a word or a glance back towards them — she had insisted on talking with her father by herself.
They remained outside for a door for a while, as though they were trying to reassure themselves that she would stay put.
Valygar glanced towards Mazzy, who was lost in thought. "Are you all right?"
She shook her head. "I'm not, but what you did…it needed to be done."
Valygar turned away from the house and strode down the road, slowing his pace so that Mazzy could easily follow on her shorter legs. "She caused a lot of harm," he said, "even if it was well-intentioned. I've no idea how she could atone, to be honest, but if Lanka's out of that meeting, she might have a better idea of what to do next."
Summary: Valygar and Mazzy find Lette on the edge of a cliff, and the young druid is ready to jump. However, after discovering that she intentionally released the Shade Lord to keep Imnesvale free, they successfully convince her to return home. While they talk her out of taking her own life, they're left to ponder the consequences of her actions.