Shadows and Light

because he would have dug in his heels about me getting something for him that cost so dear.” Ari hesitated, took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “All those years when Neall lived with Baron Felston, he never had anything new, anything fine. All his clothes were Royce’s cast-offs. But this is Neall’s home; this is his mother’s land. He’s gentry here, and a Lord in his own right. So I want him to have something new and fine. And I want it to be a surprise, so I can work on it only when I’m supposed to be resting because that’s the only time when Neall takes care of chores that aren’t close to the cottage and I can be sure he won’t walk in before I can hide the shirt.”
    What’s going on in your head and heart, Ashk? Morag wondered as that mixture of pain and pleasure filled Ashk’s face again before the woman looked away.
    “Fair warning,” Ashk murmured. “The young Lord approaches.”
    Ari started weeding vigorously.
    Morag rose to her feet, feeling oddly protective but uncertain why that was so.
    Neall strode toward the kitchen garden. He frowned when he reached the wall and saw Ari.
    “You’re supposed to be resting,” he said.
    Ari looked over her shoulder. “I rested. Now I’m teaching Morag how to weed the garden.”
    “I already told her how to do that.”
    “And now I’m showing her how to do it.”
    Before Neall could say anything more, Ashk said briskly, “Come, young Lord. While Morag has her lesson, it’s time for yours.”
    Morag watched Ashk and Neall walk toward the woods. Neall looked human, but his father had been half Fae and his mother had been a witch, a Daughter of the House of Gaian. Ever since their arrival here last summer, after he and Ari had fled from Ridgeley and the Inquisitors who had come there to destroy Ari because she was a witch, Ashk had been teaching him how to nurture the power that had lain dormant within him, how to be a Lord of the Woods.
    That much Morag had learned from Neall in the handful of days since they had welcomed her as friend and family and invited her to stay with them. But there were things she sensed weren’t being said when she spent time with the Fae who lived in this Old Place. More often than not, when she asked a question, the answer was, “That is for Ashk to answer.” And Ashk, who could be quite forthright about many things, turned away far more questions than she answered.
    Who are you, Ashk? I’ve never seen a Lord or Lady of the Woods rule over a Clan the way you rule this one. Who are you that you can command this kind of obedience? That’s the real question no one will answer. Not even you.
    “The weeds are down here,” Ari said.
    “What do you do with the weeds after you’ve pulled them from the soil?” Morag asked, putting aside the questions that had no answers.
    “They go in the compost piles at the end of the garden,” Ari replied. “The heat of the sun, the rain, and the wind all help turn them into a rich food for the earth.”
    Earth, air, water, and fire. The four branches of the Great Mother. The four branches of power that were the heritage of witches.
    Life and death. Shadows and light. Witches understood those things, too.
    Morag sank to her knees beside Ari. “All right. Show me what to weed.”
    Ashk wandered the forest trails with Neall, her thoughts and feelings too scattered to remain focused on the intended lesson. Neall wasn’t paying much attention either. There were times in the woods when one could drift peacefully with one’s thoughts turned elsewhere. And there were times when a moment’s inattention could be fatal. A snapped twig, a subtly different scent in the wind were enough warning for her, but Neall was still learning to use the gifts that had come from his father and couldn’t afford to be careless.
    Although, Ashk thought, when the teacher’s mind wanders, it’s hard to fault the student for the same thing.
    “Since it’s only your body that trails along with me, should we end the day’s lesson?” Ashk asked mildly.
    “What?” Neall looked puzzled; then he smiled an apology. “Sorry. My mind was elsewhere.”
    “When you’re in the woods, young Lord, keep your mind with you.”
    “Yes, Lady.” He hesitated. “There’s nothing wrong, is there? With Ari or the babe?”
    “Why would you think there was?”
    “You all seemed so serious when I approached the kitchen garden, so I wondered if Ari had mentioned something to you and Morag that she