AustLit

'She is home now, in the depth of murky green water, no longer holding on to the belief that she will transcend her own inability to be human and walk as one who has an eternity. This is a story of not being seen, of not being heard and of another other. She is home in the perfect symmetry of fire, water, earth and air believing that the skin she sheds is one she no longer needs but will grieve for anyway. She knows her magic is strong, family will always support her but her life is not one of the simplicity of being loved by another other that in time would cancel out all that is negative in her and hold her back. She sheds a skin to reveal the ancient hide of strength and beauty so coveted by myth. Sacrifices will be made because in shedding she will lose that which had been offered to her as an ephemeral promise leading her to only know what she could have had, not what will be. The elements will move for her as places of empathy and manipulation and what she loved will stay forever in the world she could never have. It will be a harsher yet more merciful way to be.' (Publication abstract)