Dillon appeared from out of the afternoon shadows and came to sit at Lara’s feet.

“How much did you hear?” Lara asked her son.

“Only the end,” he said. “Do not be lulled by her acquiescence, Mother. Anoush is a very willful girl. It is not Grandmother you need worry about-it is Cam. He will not like it that she is no longer available to him. When I found them today, they were in the grass and my cousin had his hand on my sister’s in a most proprietary manner.”

“I think Cam must be sent to our Sholeh in New Rivalen,” Lara answered her son calmly. “He is old enough to work in the fields until it is time for the Gathering. I had intended to remain in the New Outlands until after it concluded, but I think now I must take you both home sooner. Bera may protest the loss of Cam at first but then she will be silent. I shall ask this of Liam when he comes home today. You will tell him what you saw and he will do this for me. Where is Zagiri?”

“She fell asleep and so Noss laid her down for a nap,” the boy answered.

“Have you released Dasras into the meadows?”

“Aye, and he immediately found Sakiri and their latest foal,” Dillon said.

“After he has sated himself with her company he will fly off to the Aghy,” Lara chuckled. “He is of a mind to visit Roan’s new young mares.”

“His offspring have increased the stamina and beauty of the Horse Lord’s herds,” Dillon remarked. “Will I like Terah, Mother?”

“It will be different for you,” Lara said, “but aye, I believe you will like it. And there is so much that you can learn. You will need to know everything that you can absorb, Dillon, before you go Prince Kaliq to study the magical arts. I am frankly surprised by your talents, my son, for you are but a quarter faerie.”

“I don’t know if what I possess is so much magic as it is intuitiveness. I see things that others do not, Mother. And I sense things, too-like I knew you were coming today. You had sent no faerie post, but I knew.”