Quickening

The reason Afena had decided it was better to sleep and talk to Treni instead of remaining awake was because her skin had started to feel the way she thought the embers of a fire must have. Red hot without flames, being consumed, eaten, by the horrible bite of slow, leisurely heat.

But she opened her eyes to the startling, unsettling voice of her son, and saw the enormous ubtir sitting by the side of a naked young girl she recognized, but could not quite place.

"Selen told me to bring this girl, mother," said the lorsul.

"Why?" It was torture to be awake and feel, but Afena knew how to suffer by now. 

Then question had been a thought, of course. The Inarenta blinked several times before remembering that Mercyhowl could not listen to her thoughts. There was nothing she could do to inquire about or contribute to the situation. All she did, all she could do, was lie on the bed and wait for things to happen. 

"Heal her," Mercyhowl ordered the girl.