Babka

Their father's mother. Everyone in Marzanna's Reach calls her Babka because that is what Yara and Piotr called her, and the name spread. She came down to the village from her place on the eastern ridge every few weeks, before Yara was born. She came down on the day Yara's mother walked into the forest and never came back. Yara was twelve. Piotr was four. Babka arrived an hour after the door closed, found Yara, picked up Piotr, and stayed. She comes down on Tuesdays. She brings opinions nobody asked for and dispenses them in the kitchen. She is sharper than the knife she peels apples with. She is seventy-one years old, bent at the shoulders, and is the only family Yara and Piotr have left.

Bent at the shoulders. Sharper than the knife in her hand.

Dispenses opinions nobody asked for. Stays with whoever will have her. Leaves when she has decided she has said enough. Watched Yara's face the day her mother walked into the forest and understood, without being told, what Yara was. Has never said so.