Anne Bishop - The House of Gaian

Feeling her shoulders start to hunch at the justified scolding, Selena straightened in the saddle. "You're right. I shouldn't let my thoughts wander so far. I'm just. . . I guess I'm nervous."

"You don't have to do this."

"You wouldn't say that if the power was pulling at you the way it's pulling at me."

"Well, it won't impress the Fae if you're knocked out of the saddle on the way to this gathering because you weren't paying attention to the low-hanging branch in front of your face."

What an embarrassing picture that made.

As she brushed her heels against Mistrunner's sides to give him the signal to move forward toward the buildings up ahead, she said in her best long-suffering, big-sister tone of voice, "Mother, grant me the patience needed to deal with a younger sister."

"The Great Mother doesn't care about such things."

"She would if she had a younger sister," Selena replied sourly.

"Maybe the moon is Her younger sister," Rhyann said, a mischievous light in her eyes. "Maybe that's why they play this constant game of catch-me-if-you-can."

"It's possible. The younger sister is always playing with the tides while the elder moves sedately through the seasons."

"Sedately? Phuuu ."

"Brat."

"Mouse breath."

Selena's mouth fell open. "Mouse breath?"

"Remember the time Mother found you in the barn with half a mouse?" Rhyann said primly.

"I was still getting used to changing into a puppy!" And had been learning, usually the hard way, to curb the instincts of a shadow hound that had hunted down its prey.

"And Mother wouldn't let you change back until she was sure the mouse bits had gone through you—one way or another."

She remembered the scolding that had followed the discovery—and the flat-handed whack on the head she'd received when she'd snarled at her mother for taking the rest of the mouse away.

"I only did it once," Selena muttered.

"Which is one time more than I ever did it," Rhyann said. Then she raised her hand in greeting to the man who stepped out of the cottage, followed by two women. "Blessings of the day to you."

Faced with three strangers, Selena gave up the idea of leaning over and giving Rhyann's braid a hard yank and worked to compose her expression into something more suitably adult. "Blessings of the day to you."

The man stepped forward, nerves and temper plain on his face. "And what would the Fair Folk be wanting with the likes of us?"

"Chad," the younger of the two women said, placing a restraining hand on the man's arm. She studied Rhyann for a moment, then Selena. "What can we offer you, Ladies?"

"Your hospitality for the night, if you're willing," Selena said coolly. They'd been met with wariness and suspicion at almost every Old Place they'd been to since leaving home—because of her. Because she looked Fae, and the Fae, for reasons none of the witches in those Old Places understood, were keeping watch in a way that made the witches and the Small Folk uneasy.

"But. . . wouldn't you be more comfortable in Tir Alainn?" the woman asked.

"I don't know," Selena said. "I've never been there. I am Fae because that was my mother's legacy to me. But I am first, and always, a Daughter of the House of Gaian."

That startled them.

The older woman, the crone of the family judging by her looks, said hesitantly, "You're a witch and Fae?"

"Yes."

A look passed between the two women, while the man watched them anxiously.

"Would you be a Lady of the Moon?" the crone asked.

"I am," Selena replied.

"You're gathering with the others to see who will become the Huntress?"

"Yes."

The crone smiled. "Come in and be welcome, Ladies. Oh, yes, you are welcome."

As Selena and Rhyann dismounted, the man, who introduced himself as Chad, said, "If you're easy about it, I can take your horses to the barn and give them a light feed."

"Is there somewhere they could graze for now?" Rhyann asked.

"Aye, there's a pasture by the barn. We've been keeping the animals close since—" He stopped, his lips pressing together in a tight line.

Since the Fae started arriving , Selena finished. There was anger here, and she was going to find out why. It was becoming clear that the Fae were distrusted and disliked, even feared, and nothing short of desperation was going to make the humans and witches welcome their presence.

"We'll go with you to the barn," Selena said. "It will help these two settle in better."

Chad turned his head, and called, "Parker. Come help with the horses."

A boy appeared in the doorway. He hesitated for a moment before joining his father. His eyes were wide, his face filled with awed delight.

"Oh, they're beauties!" Parker said.

Both horses snorted and laid their ears back tight to their heads.

"He was talking about you, not me," Selena said dryly, resting a hand on Mistrunner's neck.

The boy said hastily, "Oh, you're pretty too." He gave his father an anxious look.

Rhyann burst out laughing. "Let it go, laddy-boy, and just show us where to put these two." She stepped around Fox until she was facing the dark horse. "Behave. If you act like the gentleman I know you can be, perhaps the boy can be coaxed into giving you a treat."

Both horses swung their ears forward.

Selena pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.

Chad cleared his throat, and muttered, "This way."

They followed father and son to the barn. The horses were unsaddled and given a quick rubdown before being escorted to the barn door that led to the fenced pasture.

Keeping her eyes on the boy, who had continued into the pasture with the horses, Selena said quietly, "Now. Tell me why you're angry with the Fae."

"It's nothing to do with you, Lady, and I'm sorry we didn't give you the welcome guests deserve."

A flash of anger sizzled under her skin. She struggled to bank the branch of fire that wanted to answer the heat of her feelings. "Do you know what's been happening in the east? Do you understand that Sylvalan is at risk?"

"I understand well enough," Chad replied. He kept his voice low, but it was edged with temper. "I understand well enough that more than trouble could be heading our way. Mother's tits, woman! The minstrels have been singing songs about the Black Coats and their evil for months now. And a few days ago, the baron who rules this county came to the Old Place to pay his respects. The baron . A responsible man, one who looks after his own, but he's never come here . Came near to scaring my Ella out of her wits when he showed up with the squire and a handful of guards."

"What did he want?" Rhyann asked.

"Said the last barons' council made him realize he'd been neglectful of some of his duties. Said the Old Place wasn't part of the land he ruled."

"It wouldn't be," Selena said. "The Old Places belong to the Mother's Daughters."

Chad nodded. "He wanted us to know that it was his intention to be a good neighbor, and if we needed help from his people, we need only ask." He smiled. "He meant well, but this isn't his home village and he doesn't spend more than a couple of days here each year to make sure the squire and the magistrate are keeping things right and proper, so he didn't know how things stand with us here."

"And how do things stand?"

"The squire is my father's cousin, and one of the guards who came with the baron that day is the brother of my older brother's wife. Ella's brother is the village blacksmith. So, you see, we've already got ties to the 'baron's people.' Doesn't matter if those Black Coats come here or come to the village. We'll stand together."

"I'm glad to hear it, but you haven't answered my question about the Fae," Selena said.

Chad's expression hardened. He was silent for a long time, watching Parker's slow return to the barn. "They aren't good neighbors. Oh, I know they all live in their grand Tir Alainn, but that's no excuse for—" He blew out a breath. "If they want to go riding, there's plenty of open land. There's no reason to ride down a man's crops, spoiling the harvest he needs to feed his family or sell at the market. They've no right to steal chickens from the tenant farms. They've plenty of coins in their pockets. They can buy a chicken in the market same as other folks. And they've no business seducing young girls and leaving them with babes in their bellies. I'm not saying it's all the man's fault, but if he sires a child, he should do right by that child."