Chapter 5Eppie could have stayed in that mountain valley forever, even though its beds were rocky, the fare was rough, and its high cliffs cut out the soft slanting sunlight at the ends of the day. In that valley, surrounded by friends, she’d slept more deeply than she ever had before. She’d dreamed dreams that were not nightmares. There was no place in the world that felt more like home, even though she’d only been there a few days and knew that she would have to leave again soon. The village she’d been born in was so far away that it hardly mattered. Anamat felt more like her native place than the village did, but it was never entirely safe, always ready to cast an errant scrappling out.
She’d only just begun to feel at home in the Defenders’ hidden hall when she’d been sent off to find
