The fading light over distant mountains squinted her eyes as she stood at the precipice of a watery grave. The waves roared, loud and angry, against the sheer cliff face, drowning out the roar of her heartbeat in her ears. It was oddly peaceful, the rumble of the ocean at her feet and the rumble of emotions in her heart and the rumble of the thoughts in her head, as loud and as angry as the waves.

Was she angry? It was hard to tell anymore. Was it her anger? At the time being stolen from her, the horrible and irreversible harm done to her family? Was it her fear? That one day she would close her eyes and never wake up again, that something even worse would happen while she was gone?

Or was it something else? The voice in her head, the thing controlling her body while her eyes were closed and her mind was elsewhere.

Her jaws parted, as the sun sunk below the mainland peaks. She drew in a slow, steady breath as stars began to wink to life across the darkening sky. And Bragi screamed.

She screamed until her throat was raw and her lungs had run out of air. She screamed until the sun was gone and the sky was black with stars. She screamed until she felt... not necessarily better but as if she'd finally caved and scratched at a persistent itch she really shouldn't have.

And when she was done, she just stood there in the stillness and the silence, listening to the roar of the waves and the roar of her heart and the roar of her head.