Belladonna

is it will do the same thing in that you can see it from a distance, but it will fade away completely before you get close to it," Lee said. "I'm wondering if that's the nature of this Place of Light. Maybe it was never meant to be found. Maybe it was meant to be like a dream — you take comfort in knowing it exists, but its allure is even more potent because so few people can reach it."
    "Being hard to reach isn't the same as being impossible to reach," Glorianna said. "And some people will need to find it."
    "Why?" Shaela asked. "We're supposed to remain apart from the turmoil of the world."
    "How many of the Sisters were born here?" Glorianna asked.
    Not many, if any, Michael thought, watching Shaela take in the significance of the question.
    "A resonating bridge would work," Lee said. "Stationary bridge won't hold between the two landscapes — I did try to create one — but a resonating bridge isn't keyed for specific landscapes. Thing is, since people around here don't know about landscapes and bridges, we'd want something no one would mistake for something else."
    "Too bad you can't put a pair of Sentinel Stones in the middle of the lake," Kenneday said, cutting another hunk of cheese off the wheel. "Be romantic like, taking a boat out with the dawn breaking and the mist on the water, and those great black stones rising up from the middle of the lake, and you watching that shore that looks as wispy as a wish and not knowing if it will fade away completely or become real." He glanced around at the people now staring at him and cleared his throat. "Just a passing thought."
    "Tell us about these Sentinel Stones," Glorianna said.
    When Kenneday just squirmed under her intent stare, Michael jumped in. "You've seen them. You've got a pair of them as the gate — bridge — between the Merry Makers' bog and the Den. Walked between them in order to cross over."
    Now Glorianna and Lee were staring at him.
    "Those are common in this land — in Elandar?" Lee asked.
    "Common enough," Michael replied warily. "Every third or fourth village has a pair of them in the field beyond the village proper."
    "Tell them what the Stones do," Kenneday said giving Michael an elbow in the ribs.
    "It depends," Michael said, not sure if he needed to be more worried about Glorianna or Lee jumping on him. "Sometimes you walk through the Stones and nothing happens. Sometimes you don't go anywhere... but things change." Oh, this was starting to sound familiar in an unfamiliar sort of way. "And sometimes a person walks between the Stones and disappears. Sometimes for a few days — and sometimes forever."
    Glorianna sat back and blew out a deep breath. Lee scrubbed his hands over his face.
    "They've got resonating bridges all over this landsc— country, and they don't know what the things do," Lee said.
    "In point of fact," Michael said testily, "we do know what they do. We just never knew why things happened to people when they walked between the Stones."
    Lee looked at Glorianna. "A pair of those Stones would take care of the problem of people recognizing the bridge." His eyes shifted to look at Michael and Kenneday. "And if the storytellers were to spread a new 'legend' about Lighthaven and why it disappeared, then we'll have an explanation for everyone."
    "And who are you expecting to come up with this story?" Michael asked, since he was beginning to feel like a mouse cornered by a pair of black-haired, green-eyed cats.
    Lee cocked a thumb at Kenneday. "He's already come up with the part about how to find the mystical island of Lighthaven.
    The least you can do is come up with the reason it disappeared."
    "So," Kenneday said, looking thoughtful, "you steer a bit of a boat between the Stones, and if you're worthy you'll reach Lighthaven's shore. And if you're not, you'll just keep going until you reach the other side of the lake and never find the island?'
    "It will be a resonating bridge," Lee said. "So, yes, you might keep going until you reach the other shore. Or you might suddenly find yourself on another lake in another part of Elandar."
    "Or on a river in some part of the world you've never seen before," Glorianna added.
    "Or you could find yourself sitting in your bit of a boat in the middle of a farmer's potato field," Lee said.
    A startled silence. Then Kenneday said, "Well, that would be a crap on the romance of it, now wouldn't it?"
    Lee leaned forward a little farther to look at Kenneday. "Welcome to our part of the