Page 1 of Sightwitch

THESLEEPINGGIANT

Said to always guide north, the Sleeping Giant is a cluster of three stars, visible even with the moon at its fullest.

Several theories exist for the origin of the constellation’s name, many of which are rooted in different fables meant to keep children well-behaved. However, I posit that the name predates all of those fables as well as the cultures that created them.

Follow the Bat in the mountains, to find the soil and stones.

Follow the Fox and the Iris, to find the tides of home.

Follow the Hound and the Giant, to find the winds and the storm.

And follow the Hawk moving eastern, to find what flames have born.

Follow the Rook to the snowcaps, and you’ll find the soul that begins.

But it’s in the pitch-deep darkness, that you’ll find where all things end.

—Sightwitch Sister skipping song to remember the constellations

Ryber Fortiza

Y18 D152

MEMORIES

Tanzi was summoned today.

It happened like it always does: we were at morning prayer in the observatory, hunched in our seats with eyes closed. I was sitting with the other Serving Sisters, a swathe of brown through the hall of silver Sightwitches. We might be all nationalities, all origins, all ages, but Serving Sisters always sat on one end. Full-fledged Sightwitch Sisters always sat on the other.

Clouds had gathered overnight. A flimsy light filtered through the stained glass in the observatory’s ceiling, casting the amphitheater rows in shadows.

We had just begun the Memory Vow. Head Sister Hilga stood beside the scrying pool at the room’s heart, her hands clasped at her belly and her eyes closed. Our voices bounced on the marble walls, eighty-seven throats sounding like a thousand.

PRAYERS

OF THE

SIGHTWITCH

SISTER

The Memory Vow

In the name of Sirmaya,

I vow to preserve

All that has come before,

For the past is the only truth.

Once seen, never forgotten.

Once heard, never lost.

The Vow of Clear Eyes

In the name of Sirmaya,