I looked away from the woman, trying to hide my panic, and down at my hands. They were Amacia's hands, long-fingered and elegant, only blistered and purplish-red at the tips. To be sure, I picked up a lock of my hair, and it was Amacia's iridescent black, only matted and limp. I was still me, and I wasn't dead. 

 That left the question: who was this woman, and who did she think I was?

 She stroked my forehead like I was a child, still smiling. "Are you hungry, dear?" 

 The answer was yes. 

 

 I was able to sit up a bit to eat the porridge she brought me, along with a hot milky drink with a very strong aroma. I didn't feel too terrible for someone who potentially nearly died, which should have been a good sign, but instead left a knot of unease in the bottom of my stomach. 

 The woman and her daughter sat cross-legged by my side, watching over me. Both brown-haired with freckled, tawny skin, they wore simple dresses and sheepskin coats. The girl, probably in her early teens, was squirming like she had something she wanted to say. 

 I was thinking about all the questions I couldn't ask, like "who are you," and "where am I?" or even "where's Giselle?" 

 "How long was I unconscious for?" I settled on. Safe enough. 

 "Near on a week," the woman said gently. "It was strange. For someone to sleep so long, I would expect your condition to be grave indeed. But it was a peaceful sleep, and steadily your body healed all by itself." The woman looked me over, with a sharper eye than I'd yet seen from her. "Not strange. Lucky." 

 "Thank you for taking care of me," I said. She nodded in response. The girl finally spoke. 

 "D'you remember me, Ami? I'm Trin! I'm a lot bigger than the last time you saw me, right?" 

 I smiled. "You sure are." 

 When could they possibly know Amacia from? This didn't line up with anything that happened in the original novel. What about what really happened?

 The door opened again, and Giselle stopped there, one hand gripping the doorframe. Her hair was brown, now. A mottled sheepskin was tied around her shoulders. Clear relief flooded her face. 

 "See, Gerta?" beamed the woman. "She has recovered remarkably well." 

 Giselle dove across the room, pulling the woman into a massive hug. "Thank you, Helna. Thank you for saving us again." 

 Helna beamed at Giselle, then at me. "It was quite a surprise, to find the pair of you at my doorstep, just as lost as the last time you came to this village." 

 Giselle turned to the girl. "And my little Trin, who'd have thought you'd have the makings of such a wonderful healer?" She ruffled her hair, and Trin ducked her head, giggling. 

 "Do you mind if we have a moment alone, Helna?" asked Giselle. 

 "Of course, dear." 

 Giselle knelt next to me, shielding the view from the door. 

  "Give me a second," she said coolly. Her bare hands touched mine, and her eyes sparked with a faint golden glow that crackled under my skin. As it faded, her lips curved into a slight smile. "Good. You shouldn't have any lasting effects." 

 I rubbed my forehead. "Are you going to tell me what happened after I collapsed in that blizzard you led us into?" 

 Giselle sucked her teeth. "Blizzard's a strong word for it... I sent your soul to sleep. So your body could focus on keeping itself alive. Then I dragged you the rest of the way here. It wasn't far. You nearly made it all by yourself." 

 She spoke about an insane thing so casually. "You used witchcraft to put me in a coma?!" 

 "It was the right move to make. You're not dead, are you?" That was true. I wasn't particularly reassured. 

 "Well, where are we? Why do these people seem to know us? Is she your mother?" 

 "I don't have a mother. Both of us lived here for a year when we were young. Helna took us under her roof, fed us, clothed us. Loved us." 

 "This was during the time Amacia went missing?" 

 "You're quick. We were scared, hungry and lost. I'm sure you know how it was - Amacia had lost all her memories at that point." 

  At that point in the story. But in the story, Amacia was lying about losing her memories. "She was supposed to be in the North, the whole time she was missing. Why lie about that?" 

 Giselle grimaced. It was clear she didn't want to give up the truth. But now, she had no choice. "We wanted to protect the people of this village from suspicion. They had nothing to do with Amacia's disappearance. But the Queen was desperate for someone to blame. Everyone here still thinks you're just a nobody, an orphan of war like so many others. They have no idea you're a princess. Keep it that way, for their sake as much as ours." 

 "So I need to become another person again. You need me to be Ami." 

 Giselle patted the fur next to me sympathetically. "There's no need to worry. I made it easy for you! I let you sleep until we were ready to leave. Just - be nice to them, and let them love you. Even you shouldn't mess that up." 

 "I'm sorry, what?! You've been keeping me in a coma for a week to make things easier?!" 

 "And here I thought you would have appreciated the lack of agency." 

 I'd been in a coma for a week, so I didn't have it in me to bite her head off for that. I stored it away instead for future fuel, and just turned away, pulling my furs over my head. 

 "I'll take your dishes away," said Giselle sweetly. "Thank you for not dying." 

 It was the least I could do. 

 I had a surprising amount of energy coursing through my body - magical comas must work differently from regular ones - so I got up, wrapping a blanket around me. 

 "Ah - you're up!" said Helna brightly, when I entered the next room. "Trin and Gerta have gone to tell Ogban the news." 

 I just smiled, suddenly shy about speaking. The way this woman spoke to me, it felt like she knew Amacia better than anyone in the Capital. 

 Helna patted the bench next to her. "Gerta saved some new clothes for you. Hopefully they should suit the weather better than your last ones, pretty as they were." 

 I put them on. They were the same simple style as Helna, Trin and Giselle's and they were, indeed, warmer. There was even a belt with a leather sheaf for my dagger. Did I still look like a princess? There were no mirrors, so I could only guess. I slung my reticule over my shoulder, and felt just a little more prepared to face what came next. 

 

 So, I went outside, just as far as the doorstep, breathing the thin, cold air. We were high on the other side of the mountains, and the view off the edge was something entirely new. We'd crossed the border into the Southlands. The land was dry and rocky, greys and browns and the white of snow. The hills and valleys below looked exposed and massive, specked with the smoke of distant towns. Apart from that, the only living thing I could see were great birds of prey, wheeling even higher than me.

 

 It almost made feel bad for Giselle. All that love and desperation, when I was the only one who knew she was doing all of this for nothing. 

 Giselle and Trin came down the mountainside with Ogban, Helna's husband, who pulled me into a great bear hug and left stone dust all over my new outfit. "Good to see you awake, hawklet. And who'd have thought you'd turn out so tall! The both of you - you didn't put that in your letters, Ami!" 

 "Letters," Giselle uttered, eyes widening an alarming amount. She pierced me with a look, but of course I wasn't the one who sent them. Her brows scrunched together, before she wrestled her expression into submission. 

 I bit my lip to stifle a giggle. "I'll be sure to put exact measurements in my next update." 

 We set the table together, metal bowls and spoons and pots of hot stews. My stomach was gurgling with hunger. 

 "I'm glad we could have one meal all together before you set off tomorrow, Gerta and Ami," Helna said.

 Trin nodded enthusiastically. "But I'd bet the food in the South is much tastier than this." 

 "Only if you like cream, and honey," teased Giselle. "And vegetables beside turnips." 

 "Vegetables..." sighed Trin. "Why can't I have a long-lost brother too?!" 

 "You have a Helna and an Ogban. And trust me, that's pretty lucky." 

 Trin rolled her eyes, and her parents laughed. 

 I curled up under my furs after dinner. Giselle lay silently on the floor next to me, wrapped only in her cloak. That must have been where she spent every night. 

 Even though she was beside me, I felt safer and more comfortable than I ever felt before as Amacia. I was welcome here. 

 Could I stay here? Just be Ami, until I grew old and died... 

 But they knew her too well. My being here was a burden to them all, because I could only pretend to be her. 

 

 "D'you think they're looking for me by now?" I asked the wall. 

 "I think they were looking for you from the start," Giselle said, and I knew she was right. "Your mother and brother know by now. It's not going to get easier from here out." 

 I imagined their reactions, hearing that the worst-case scenario had happened for the second time. Derek would be disappointed in me. The Queen would spare no expense to bring me back. Kesper... How would he feel, losing Amacia again? But the truth was, he had lost her months ago. 

 "Kesper... he has to know, right, that I'm not Amacia?" 

 "I don't think he wants the truth. He never did. He prefers to pretend things are simple." 

 Follow Amacia without question, even when she did evil deeds. Even if it led them both to the gallows. 

 "Now, hush up and let me sleep."