Belladonna

But living things should change, must change. Shaela loves you in ways I never did, never could. You should have let her change the gardens, Merrill. The two of you should have planted something new."
    "But now that you're back ..." Something in Brighid's face strangled the rest of the words.
    "I'm not staying," Brighid said. "Something is missing. Has always been missing. I was destined for Lighthaven, and I did my duty and came here. As much as I loved this place, it was like a shoe that should have fit but always pinched a little. I don't know why." She paused, then sighed. "You blamed Michael for writing the letter asking me to come to Raven's Hill."
    "I didn't blame you for leaving. You were obliged to stay with the children and —"
    "I chose to stay."
    The steel in Brighid's voice reminded Merrill of why Brighid had been chosen as their leader at so young an age.
    Brighid shook her head. "Leaving here wasn't a completely selfless act. Yes, the children needed me, but I also needed to go, and that letter gave me a reason to leave."
    "What was out there that you couldn't find here!" Merrill cried.
    "I don't know!" Brighid's voice rang with frustration. "Life. Love. Maybe something as simple as lust. I don't know. I never found it." She pressed the heels of her hands against her temples. "I never found it. Just like Maureen never found whatever her heart needed. She loved Devyn. I know she did. But it wasn't enough. And Caitlin ..."
    "Doesn't belong here," Merrill snapped, feeling the sting of rejection all over again. They were back to where they were sixteen years ago. Despite what Brighid said about things changing, nothing had changed. Nothing. "Even the other sorceress said so.
    "Guide of the Heart," Brighid murmured. "I never thought I would stand face-to-face with a true Guide of the Heart."
    Everything should have been wonderful, but it was all breaking apart.
    Merrill looked down at the cuff bracelet she had worn for so many years, thinking it had meant...
    She pulled it off and held it out. "You gave me this. When you left. A family heirloom, isn't that what you said?"
    "That's what it is," Brighid replied.
    "You gave it to me as a reminder of what we had meant to each other, what we might have meant if you hadn't..." She trailed off.
    "I gave it to you as a farewell gift," Brighid said softly. "I never intended to come back to the White Isle."
    Merrill dropped the bracelet and turned, knocking into the table as she rushed to the door. Before the sound of the slamming door faded away, she heard the crash of cups and saucers hitting the floor.
    Michael took a seat between Lee and Kenneday, more relieved than he wanted to admit that he was no longer the only man at Lighthaven.
    "Never saw anything like it, in all my years at sea," Kenneday said. "One minute the deck is clear; the next, this one is standing behind me. And then, when we're standing on the shore of a lake that hadn't been there a couple of days ago, he's calmly transferring all the gear we had packed in the wagon onto this bit of an island only he can see."
    "That's not quite true," Lee said, helping himself to some bread and cheese. "There are times when everyone can see the island."
    Kenneday just snorted.
    Michael helped himself to some of the food on the table and said nothing. Clearly everyone had had an exciting time over the past couple of days.
    "It was the strangest thing," Brighid said, responding to Caitlin's question about the different table. "The leg just gave way. It must have been loose — may have been loose for years — and getting bumped with the weight of a tray on top of it was enough to break that leg."
    Michael noticed the look exchanged by Glorianna and Lee, then did a quick survey of the room. Where was Merrill? Wouldn't Lighthaven's leader want to be here for this meeting? Besides his aunt Brighid, the only Sister in the room was Shaela.
    "So," Lee said, accepting a cup of tea with a polite smile, "the lake does, in fact, circle Lighthaven. Dark, cold water. Weedy, boggy. I spotted animal tracks going to and from the water, so I think we can assume the water is drinkable. Might be fish in there that are edible. And we confirmed that you can see Lighthaven from the White Isle shore."
    "Like a dream it is," Kenneday said. "Like something that fades away as soon as you reach fork.
    That got Glorianna's attention. "It's doing the same thing that the White Isle did?"
    "We didn't get in a boat to find out, but my guess