Kirastasia plunged out of Munashii Gekko as if her tail were aflame, passionate emotion burning away the high she’d felt to replace it with an uncut, undiluted rage. Her Kahlan had returned. Her first love, her first obsession . . . and she wanted nothing to do with Kira! The snowbird couldn’t understand the preposterous situation; it rattled in her brain like the sharp edges of a shattered mirror, a frustrating paradox, and finally the young she-wolf couldn’t take it anymore. She did not have the patience to breathe the same air as the woman who’d so heartlessly rejected her, so she slipped away from the pack she now called home and raced into the freelands.

It wasn’t long before thirst tormented her parched throat. The hallucinogenic plants she enjoyed usually gave her horrendous hunger pangs, but never before had the ice princess experienced this level of DESIRE for liquid. Kirastasia galloped toward where she remembered a series of waterfalls carving their way into a gently sloping hill of rock; soon she had reached her destination and was dunking her head entirely under the current to gulp in as much water as possible. “OH—that was just what I needed. Holy crap.” The fishnet punkette broke the surface with a delighted gasp, tongue swiping over her jaws. Only now did she realize that just across the river, curled up on the other side, was a tiny lass . . . no more than a pup. Immediately her tail soared up, worry thickening her voice. “Hey there, little girl! What are you doing there all by yourself?”