Gywn moved along the corridors of Glass Rock Caer with keen purpose. Tomorrow at firstdark she would depart the caer, journeying into the Deep Wastes and her final testing. Two days she had had to consider the High Singer’s words. Two days that had left her impatient to be on her way. Now she went to meet three sister apprentices. Together they would cross the great desert into the Waste’s deepest mystery – the Cauldron.

One truth, one precious grain of wisdom gleaned from her tea with Boudicca, and now she appreciated that conversation beyond measure. Her Dedfryd Gwlad, her Judgment of the People as a singer’s final testing was called, had already begun. It didn’t await her within the Cauldron’s depths, or somewhere along the way, amongst the desolate ruins of another age’s hopes and aspirations. No, her trial had already awakened. It was the very path she now walked. And so she must see and understand her every step, her every thought and deed, or perish.
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