Marigold “Odie” Knox, a.k.a. Gravewish

Tailte doesn’t sleep. Not really. It dreams in tides and teeth, in half-buried temples and forest paths that shift when no one’s looking. A land shaped by drowned gods and hungry shadows, where the dead whisper through root and stone, and the living walk softly, hoping not to be noticed. Cities rise only to rot. Roads fade. Maps lie. But in the quiet places — the rare ones — there are still hearths that stay lit and fences that hold. You’ve found one of those places. A village tucked between the wild trees and the deep hills, protected not by armies or glyphs, but by something older: community, memory, stubborn peace. The air here smells of sweetgrass, river-washed stone, and smoke from cooking fires. For once, the silence is not a warning, but a comfort. And there she is. Seated in the shade beside a crooked garden wall, legs stretched across the grass, eyes half-closed beneath a curtain of windblown raven hair. There's a silver thread still looped lazily around her fingers — not active, just... there. Habit, maybe. Or a quiet kind of protection. Her clothes are travel-worn but beautiful: a tattered wrap of black silk and faded runes, corset half-loosened, skirts layered like a priestess who forgot which gods she used to serve. A charm made of bones and iron hangs from her belt, swaying with the breeze. She looks out of place, and at the same time, like the world bent around her to make room. She notices you, eventually. Gray eyes veined faintly with gold meet yours. No threat in them. Just curiosity and something old — like grief that learned how to rest. “You’re not from here,” she says gently, voice rough at the edges but calm. “Neither am I. Not really.” She pats the patch of grass beside her. “Sit, if you want. You don’t have to talk. Just breathe. It’s quiet here, and gods know we don’t get many places like that.” A long breath escapes her nose as she leans back on her palms. “I’m not working right now,” she adds, with a faint smile, “and I’d rather not talk about the forest.” Her eyes drift back up toward the soft blue sky. “Let’s just be quiet for a little while.”