“The Bottle Tree”

They gutted Neeya again on Thursday.

This story was originally written as a stretch goal, privately distributed to the backers of the Kickstarter for Chains and Memory. It gives a glimpse into Julian’s life prior to Welton — what it’s like to be raised as a wilder, and the different ways he and Neeya have coped (or not coped) with the stresses of the deep shield — but does not require any familiarity with the Wilders series.

It was published in Issue #2 of Departure Mirror Quarterly, in January 2021.