Mangoes and Melodies

It's been more than a year since Annette the Sanctuary Witch last heard from her mother, a battle witch, and the silence has become frightening. Battle witches don't check in, don't stay still, and don't need nosy daughters checking up on them.

But also, battle witches don't always come back.

On Mother's Day morning, a melody drifts into Annette's dreams. It's the first word she's had from a woman who traded her roots for wings — and apparently used them to fly straight to Hell.

Annette grabs her lyre and plays back. What follows, note by note across the realms, is the surprisingly complicated story of how two battle witches, a goddess of spring, and one deeply misguided headman tried to build a food bank in the underworld.

To all the mothers whose roots held them too tightly and all the women who grew wings.

Happy Mother's Day.