Of all the people to enter my life at this moment in time, when my focus must be razor-sharp, when any distraction might stray me from my cause and would definitely endanger my life, the firebird appeared. I’d thought to never see her again, even knowing what she was to me then, all those years ago, as we stood in the woods beneath the moon and the shadow of the Carpathian Mountains. I’d walked away, knowing it was the only safe path to take. For the both of us.
