Shadows and Light

where it lay.
    Breanna, Nuala, Keely, Glynis, Edgar, and Clay formed a half circle around the wood block and studied the fish.
    “How do you think he caught it?” Breanna finally asked. “Hawks can’t swim. Can they?”
    “There are fishing hawks who live around big rivers or along the coast near the sea,” Nuala said.
    “But he’s not one of them,” Breanna said. “So how’d he catch a salmon?”
    “Maybe he changed to his human form to catch it,” Keely said.

    “Then why not stay in human form at least until he was close to the edge of the woods instead of trying to hold on to it while he flew here?” Breanna said.
    “That would have been easy,” Nuala said.
    “He didn’t hold on to it very well,” Keely said, wrinkling her nose. “It’s very dirty.”
    “His feet weren’t meant to hold a fish,” Nuala said thoughtfully. “Perhaps the effort is part of the gift.
    Perhaps this is his way of saying he’d like to be your friend.”
    “Or more than your friend,” Clay muttered darkly.
    “If that was his purpose, he’d have come in his human form with a pocketful of trinkets,” Breanna snapped. At least, that’s what the Fae in the stories did.
    “If he’d brought you a necklace or a fine bracelet, would you have been impressed?” Nuala asked quietly.
    “Of course not!”
    “So he brought something you would value.”
    Breanna opened her mouth to argue, then discovered she wasn’t sure she could disagree with Nuala’s interpretation. She’d told him she didn’t need another rabbit, so he’d brought her something else.
    Something he’d obviously worked hard to bring.
    “There’s no point standing here watching it rot,” Glynis said. She stepped forward, hooked her fingers under one of the salmon’s gills, and picked it up. “I’ll just clean it off and see what we’ve got. Should make a nice meal for all of us.”
    After she walked away, Keely headed for the kitchen garden, and Clay and Edgar went back to their work.
    “Why would a Fae Lord want to be friends with a witch?” Breanna asked.
    “Aiden and Lyrra wanted to be friends.”
    “That’s different. They’re different from the rest of the Fae. Why does this one want to be friends?”
    Nuala smiled as she ran a soothing hand over Breanna’s hair. “That’s something you would have to ask him.”
    Late that afternoon, she saw a hawk soaring overhead, but she couldn’t tell if it was the Fae Lord or just one of the hawks that lived in the Old Place.
    Glynis had washed off the salmon, pronounced it fresh enough to eat, and had made them all a delicious meal.
    Too bad Breanna couldn’t tell the hawk that—especially after one of the Small Folk showed up at the edge of the woods and asked her if she’d enjoyed the fish. There’d been laughter in the small man’s voice. Apparently, several of the Small Folk had watched that little journey through the woods and had found it highly entertaining. And his parting words, “That one’s not like the others,” gave her another kernel of thought to chew on.
    When Idjit started barking, she went to see why the foolish dog was dashing back and forth in front of the archway. She saw the carriages, wagons, and riders slowly coming up the road. One of the riders raised his hand in greeting.
    “Clay!” Breanna shouted, looking back over her shoulder. “Rory and the others have come for their visit.
    ”
    After she saw him lift a hand in acknowledgment, she ran out to meet her kin—and wondered why there were so many people with them.
    The travelers reined in to wait for her. Rory and the rider beside him dismounted and walked to meet her.
    It took Breanna a moment to recognize Fiona, with her hair bundled up under a hat and wearing what looked like an old set of Rory’s clothes.
    “Merry me—” The grim expression on Rory’s face and the exhaustion and anguish in Fiona’s eyes killed the greeting.
    “Breanna,” Fiona said hoarsely. She stumbled into Breanna’s arms and held on tight.
    “Can the baron who rules this county be trusted?” Rory asked.
    Still holding Fiona, Breanna stared at him, puzzled. “If you’d asked a few months ago, I would have said no. But Liam is a good man. You met him.”
    “I met him,” Rory said. “But things can change.”
    Breanna felt Fiona shiver—and felt an answering shiver run through her own body. “What’s happened?”
    “The barons have gone mad,” Fiona whispered. “They—”
    “The baron who rules our