The House Of Gaian

sounded terrifyingly like a laugh changing into a whimper. “
    Mother’s mercy, what if I win?”
    “You get to be the Lady of the Moon.”
    “I’ll be expected to give orders to people I know almost nothing about.”
    “That shouldn’t bother you. You’re always bossy.”
    Selena just sighed. Nothing would be gained by pointing out that Rhyann could be equally bossy.
    When she thought her sister had fallen back asleep, Selena whispered, “I’m afraid I’ll change.”
    Rhyann stirred. Propped herself up on one elbow. “The moon waxes and wanes. The tides ebb and flow.
    The seasons turn, each in their own time. Ever changing, never changing. Of course you’ll change. The dance of life spirals, remember? Even when you return to a point, you’re not in the same place. The dance would have changed you, whether you’d come here or stayed home.” She leaned over and kissed Selena’s forehead before laying back down. “Don’t worry. If you start to act too much like them, I’ll still be nearby to help you remember who you are.”
    Selena smiled in the dark, Rhyann’s sleepy reassurance giving her more comfort than anything else could have.
    “Good night, little sister,” she said softly, feeling love swell inside her.
    “Good night, mouse breath.”

 

     
     

Chapter 8

 

     
     

     
    new moon
     
    Aiden sat in the shade of one of the Clan’s courtyards and plucked idle notes on the harp, letting his mind wander just as idly, drifting on the sound. He looked up when a boot quietly scuffed the paving stones.
    “Are you working on a new song?” Taihg asked. The Clan’s bard looked ready to retreat if the Bard wanted privacy—and also looked hopeful that he could sit in the courtyard and listen to a song come into being.
    “No, just thinking,” Aiden replied, smiling when he noticed the whistle tucked into Taihg’s belt. “Why don’t you sit down, and we’ll see what two bards can do?”
    Taihg pulled the whistle from his belt and hurried over.
    For the first few minutes, harp and whistle played idle notes that twined around each other. Then Taihg slid into a gentle tune, and Aiden let the harp follow and fill in, absorbing the whole of the tune as easily as he breathed.
    When the song ended, Aiden stilled the harp strings. “You wrote that?”
    “Yes,” Taihg said.
    “Did you write a harp accompaniment as well as the whistle melody?”
    “No, I think you just did that.”
    They grinned at each other. Then Aiden looked away.
    He’d met Taihg a few weeks ago, when he and Lyrra had stopped at this Clan house while searching for the Hunter. He had threatened to strip the bard of the gift of music when the man refused to tell him what the western Clans knew about witches— and had been stunned when Taihg said he’d prefer to lose his gift rather than his home and Clan.
    If I’d been fool enough to strip him of his gift, the loss of his music would have been on my head.
    He’d backed down, and Taihg had yielded enough to send him and Lyrra to Ashk, Bretonwood’s Lady of the Woods, And there they had found the Hunter, who was not what they had expected ... and more terrifying than he could have imagined.
    Needing a rest from troubling thoughts, he gave his attention back to the music, and said, “Let’s try it again to make sure it’s set in the hands and the heart.”
    They went through it twice more before Aiden nodded, satisfied. “Can you get the part for the harp written in with what you’ve got for the whistle?”
    “I-I haven’t written anything down. It was just a little tune I—” Taihg swallowed hard as Aiden’s blue eyes flashed with annoyance.
    “Write it down,” Aiden said. “Lyrra will need the music to learn the whistle part.”
     
    “Learn the— You actually want to play it outside of the Clan here?”
    You’d think I’d just asked him to jump off a cliff. Maybe I have . “Yes, I want to play it. I want it heard. I want other bards to take it up and send it on.” He began plucking idle notes again. “And I do want you to go with me for part of the journey.”
    “Me?” Taihg’s voice rose close to a squeak. “Why?”
    “The Ladies of the Moon are gathering somewhere in the midlands,” Aiden said quietly, “but there’s something not quite ... right... about this. Dianna’s power isn’t waning, no one has come forward as the challenger who wants to try to take her place as the Lady of the Moon, and this isn’t the phase of the moon