His prestige grows, but he continually walks past the Tower and thinks of the madwoman. Though he loves his job as a carpenter, Antain feels as though he lost something important. His face scars horribly and he resigns from the Council of Elders. She allows him to visit the madwoman, whose cell is filled with paper birds and maps that say, “she is here.” Antain is terrified, and the madwoman’s birds attack him. He goes to visit Sister Ignatia, the head of the Sisters of the Star. Meanwhile in the Protectorate, Antain remains haunted by seeing the madwoman’s baby taken. However, Xan tells herself that Luna will be fine and that it’s too sad and dangerous to think about what might happen in the future. She goes into trances whenever she sees or hears anything to do with magic, which disturbs Xan. It will open when Luna turns 13, at which point Xan will die. ![]() After nine days of study, she comes up with a spell to encase Luna’s magic in a small grain in her brain, turning her into a compliant student of magic. Finally, Xan places Luna in a cocoon and returns to the old castle to reconnect to her memories of Zosimos, her mentor. Luna has no idea what she’s doing and Xan can’t teach her. They know that there’s something they should remember and that sorrow is dangerous, but they don’t know why. Glerk and Xan watch closely as Luna grows, as they know that her magic is going to burst at some point. Fyrian is the size of a dove, but he believes that he’s a Simply Enormous Dragon and lives in the land of the giants. At home, the swamp monster Glerk isn’t impressed while the dragonling Fyrian is ecstatic. Xan knows this means she can’t leave the baby with anyone else, so she names her Luna and decides to keep her. She takes her time traveling with the baby, and after 10 days accidentally feeds the baby moonlight. This year, Xan discovers a baby with a crescent moon birthmark. Xan takes them to the Free Cities after feeding them on starlight, which is why they’re called Star Children. She doesn’t ask why their mothers abandon them, but she feels it’s her responsibility to rescue them. ![]() But unbeknownst to Gherland, a kindly witch named Xan has been saving abandoned babies for the past 500 years. The Witch is a convenient narrative to keep the population sad and under control. ![]() The narrator says that this is because, as far as Gherland is concerned, there is no Witch. It’s horrific: the mother refuses to hand over her baby, and Antain’s uncle Gherland doesn’t even stay in the woods to make sure that the Witch gets the baby. In the novel’s present, young Antain, an Elder-in-Training, is participating in his first Day of Sacrifice. According to the parent, it’s pointless to stand up to the Witch. She poisoned the forest and the Bog that was once life-giving. Long ago, the Witch forced dragons to make the volcano explode, and killed a wizard. The parent lost a baby to the sacrifice years ago, and they say that an evil Witch demands an infant every year. Throughout the novel, an unnamed parent tells their child about the history of the Protectorate and the Day of Sacrifice.
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