"I've been learning to better control it," she says, leaning back on her elbows and closing her eyes to the warm sun. "My mentor, Avallac'h – he's been teaching me. There's no getting rid of it, I'm afraid."

All her life, her options have taken only three forms: control the power, die at its hand, or run mad with the trying.

Her choice has always seemed obvious enough. "Were you born with a cultivator's ability, or is it something that can be taught, in your world?"