Tillu was a healer, her magic bright and pure, working always for the good of others. No man had owned her since the one who left her heavy with Kerlew, her strange, slow, dreamy child.

Living on the outskirts of the tribe Tillu was happy enough communing with the spirits to heal the sick and bring blessing on new births.
But now there was Carp: Carp the Shaman, a wizened old man whose magic smelled fetid, slinking and foul to Tillu.