I'd give initial impressions upon reading, but after I wrote it here and began, I wasn't able to turn away.
To refresh myself on Anaiah, I went back and read her previous two chapters before going into this one. I have to say, I felt this was the strongest of the three by far. There was not one point in the story where I was knocked out, with the exception of a misspelled word that gave me pause early on. If I had read this chapter first in the book (after the prologue, of course), everything else would have made a lot more sense.
I can't especially find much to fault with this submission, to be perfectly honest. The opening was delightful, contrasting greatly with the conflict and suspense of the fight with Hilva later on. The toy murt was perfect in this regard as well - you can see how much she love sit in the beginning, and feel her heartbreak at seeing it afterwards in pieces. I'm still a little confused as to what a murt is and what it looks like, and the same can be said of buluos, but I can finally picture the chuts in my mind.
Anaiah 1 and 2 contained relevant character information, but I got a much stronger feel of her from this chapter than I did from the other two, as well as the relationship she has with her adoptive father. This feels like the proper starting point for the story as well - this, of course, goes back to the feeling that the story has spent too much time with each other the character's early lives. Many of the important aspects of the first two chapters could be folded into this one - the fight with Hilva, for example, through a few lines of dialogue between them and a bit of quick narrative reflection on Anaiah's part.
Earlier parts of her life can be touched upon later in the story, when/if they become relevant. One of my biggest complaints with some fantasy - and the first that comes to mind is The Belgariad by David Eddings - was spending far too much time in the less interesting parts of the main character's early lives. I can't remember it exactly, and I'm too lazy to grab the book off my shelf, but I remember feeling that the first few chapters of Pawn of Prophecy dragged on endlessly talking about Garion's early life, with what felt like so few important details spread thin throughout.
Anyway, I can't find much to fault with this chapter other than it's placement in the overall story. I might be able to say differently if I reread it with less tired eyes, and maybe I should have waited until then to post this, but I felt this initial reaction to be the right one. Strong chapter, very strong, and very nice work.
