He was not that much younger than she, and she had walked this world for more than a human century. Not so old for an elf, though beyond middle-aged, but venerable for a life of service to the people. A life among the Anmaglahk was seldom a long one.

"Why do this, if it troubles you so?" Brot'an'duive finally asked. "Why bring the pup for Leshil? Taking a majay-hi from our land will not sit well with our people."

Always direct-his most devious approach. No matter how well Eillean hid her mood, he often sensed it. It was in part why she had taken him into her confidence shortly after Leshil's birth.

"I stopped at the enclave where I was born," she answered quietly. "There were few faces left that I remembered. A female majay-hi had borne a litter in the settlement, and this one pup was not playing with the others. I picked him up and…"

"Now you have doubts?"

"Leshil must be strong… uninfluenced by ties beyond his training. It was why Cuirin'nen'a chose to bear a son of mixed blood, an outsider to any one people. I do not wish to soften him."

"A companion does not make one soft."

Eillean scowled slightly. "You sound like his mother, and I fear Cuirin'nen'a hastoo much love for the boy."

"As you have for her," he answered.

She stopped walking. "You are most irritating."

His calm eyes peered down at her over his face wrap's edge. "One emotion can serve to counter another. And you are still hiding from something more."

"We labor from within the shadows," she said. "Cuirin'nen'a cannotelude the risks she faces alone. She bred Leshil in her own body and now trains him to kill an Enemy we still do not know. All we have are Most Aged Father's fears and his mad obsession with crippling the humans. I am tired of waiting for something we cannot predict."

She paused with a small snort. "So I brought my daughter a majay-hi pup for her son… and do not ask me why again! Perhaps it may clarify this future none of us can-"