Belladonna

a fluid dream I think you could have walked here in harmony with this Place of Light. But always as a visitor. Now you resent the place and feel bitterness toward the people who live here. Now you are a dissonance. You are not the bedrock of Lighthaven." She turned to look at Merrill. "I am.

    Merrill's eyes widened. She clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle a cry. Then her hand slowly lowered as she stared at Glorianna in wonder. "I know. I feel you in the Light in a way I couldn't before."
    "I am the bedrock. And you are the anchor." She looked at Brighid. "Just as you were once the anchor." She saw wariness in Brighid's eyes. It must have been hard for the woman to hide her true nature, even from the people she loved.
    She took a step toward Brighid, then tipped her head toward Merrill and Shaela. But her eyes stayed locked with Brighid's.
    "They are Sisters of the Light, but you are a Guardian. A true Guardian, descended from the first ones who were shaped by Ephemera in response to a cry from the human heart. What we came from was not human, and even now, generations later, we are not completely human. But it's time to stop hiding, Brighid. The Eater of the World is loose in the world again, and people need to know they do not stand alone."
    Brighid studied her, hope now battling wariness. "My family line has been a secret kept for generations. A secret only entrusted to the daughters destined for Lighthaven. Even Maureen didn't know because she wasn't... like me. You're not a Guardian.
    How do you know about these things? Why do you talk as if we're the same? We're not. I know we're not."
    "Two branches from the same tree," Glorianna replied. "You came from a line of Guardians, the ones who remained apart from the world in order to nurture the Light. I came from the line who walked in the world in order to know the human heart. I'm a Guide."
    Four women sucked in their breaths as they understood the significance of that word.
    "You're a Heart Seer?" Brighid asked.
    Glorianna nodded.
    "But I'm not," Caitlin said, looking heart-bruised.
    "No, you're not," Glorianna replied gently. "But you are a very strong Landscapes Caitlin, and it's time for you to knowingly take care of your pieces of the world."
    "I don't know how."
    "My mother and I can teach you."
    Caitlin looked at her with eyes drenched in unshed tears. "I don't know where I belong."
    Glorianna stepped close enough to brush her fingers over the girl's short hair. "That's all right," she said, smiling. "I do."
    Then she looked past Caitlin and saw the men coming back to the gate. Michael's face was pale as ice, and Lee's ... She had never seen her brother look so grim — or so scared.
    She looked at Brighid, then at Merrill. "I think the rest of this conversation should be more private."
    "And I think this conversation would be best held in a well-stocked pub," Michael said. "But we're not likely to be finding one here, so ..." He raked his fingers through his hair.
    "We do have some brandy," Shaela said. "For medicinal purposes."
    Lee brushed a foot from side to side to creates narrow path that was clear of the pebbles and fist-sized stones made from Glorianna's anger. He worked his way up to the gate and past the gate. Once he was inside the walls that surrounded Lighthaven, he turned and looked at all of them. "Then I suggest we all have a large glass of medicine before we talk about this. We're going to need it."
    * * *
    Michael cradled the glass of brandy and stared at the dark liquid, waiting for someone else to ask the question, voice a concern, do something. But Lee and Glorianna, who were the only ones in the room who might have the answers, seemed content to drink brandy, stare at nothing, and brood.
    "All right," he said. "What happened out there?"
    Glorianna and Lee looked at him. Then Lee said, "In response to some powerful heart wishes, the White Isle shattered into two landscapes, separating Lighthaven from the rest of the island. Right now, that's all we know." He turned to his sister.
    "Isn't it?"
    Glorianna nodded. "And we know Lighthaven is one of my landscapes, and I'm almost certain the rest of the White Isle is one landscape that is in Caitlin Marie's keeping."
    He waited, but they didn't say anything more. "What happened to the horse and driver when things ... changed?"
    "That mist-covered lake might not look so big from the other shore," Lee replied. "Not likely to be a puddle-jump, but —"
    "Did a man die when this happened?"