The House Of Gaian

join the other western Ladies, Selena touched her arm to indicate she wanted to speak to her and walked far enough away to keep the conversation private from the other Fae.
    “Where will you go now?” Selena asked.
    “Home,” Gwynith replied.
    “Are you needed there right now?”
    Gwynith gave her a wary look. “I hope I always have something to offer my Clan.”

    “I wasn’t questioning your value to your Clan.” Selena looked away. Sometimes pride could chafe. “I’d like you to travel with me for a while.”
    Gwynith’s eyes widened in surprise. ‘Travel with you? Me? Why?“
    “Because you understand the Fae, you understand how to travel in Tir Alainn—and because I’m comfortable with you.”
    A gleam came into Gwynith’s eyes. “If I go with you, would you teach me the moon dance?”
    Selena smiled. “I can try. Come on, then. Let’s get your saddlebags packed. I want to leave as soon as possible.” She heard a loud snort. “And I’d better explain to Mistrunner that he needs to be patient a bit longer.”
    “If you want to stay with him, I’ll run back to the Clan house and pack.”
    Snort. Stamp.
    “That’s probably wise,” Selena said dryly.
    Gwynith rushed toward the Clan house, then rushed back. “Huntress?”
    “Selena.”
    Gwynith smiled. “Selena. I’m really wiccanfae?”
    “Yes, you’re really wiccanfae.” Selena shrugged. “Perhaps in other parts of Sylvalan, the word no longer means the same thing as it does in the Mother’s Hills.”
    “And Dianna and Lucian are wiccanfae?”
    “Yes. She anchors to the branch of earth, and he obviously can draw power from the branch of fire.
    Having another form is what distinguishes the Fae from the rest of Sylvalan’s people, regardless of what other talents that person has. Being connected to a branch of the Great Mother is the heritage of the House of Gaian. Long ago, people who had another form and that connection to the Mother were called wiccanfae—the wise Fae.”
    “By the fields, full and fallow.” Gwynith shook her head. “Last summer, when the Bard was trying to find out anything he could about the wiccanfae, he guested with Lucian and Dianna’s Clan. I wonder what he’
    ll say when he finds out he was dining with the very thing he was searching for and didn’t know it.”

 

     
     

Chapter 14

 

     
     

     
    waxing moon
     
    Ashk made herself as comfortable as possible on the stone bench that ran along the terrace wall.

    Tomorrow, or the day after, she would have to drop the glamour of appearing male so that she could spend a few quiet hours in the women’s communal room at the Clan house where they would guest.
    She was glad she’d made the decision to make her first appearance as male, however. The Clans had been startled, and uneasy, about the Hunter’s sudden reappearance—especially when the Hunter rode into their Clan territory with the Gatherer, the Bard, the Muse, the Sleep Sister, and fifty huntsmen from the western Clans who had come with her to be her personal guard and fighters. Despite their uneasiness, the midland Clans had been resistant to her command that the Fae go down to the human world and join forces with the witches and the humans to defend Sylvalan from the Inquisitors’ army. Resistant and surly, each Clan insisting that their Clan was safe and they were keeping a close watch on the witches as the Lightbringer had told them to do, so there was no danger for them —and no reason to soil themselves with further contact with witches, let alone humans.
    There wasn’t time to argue, so she and her companions traveled through the Clan territories with as much speed as possible. When necessary, they stopped to rest themselves and the horses for a few hours, or left the others to rest while Ashk and a few escorts went down the shining roads to deliver the letters Padrick had written to particular barons he thought would join them in the fight.
    Soon, though, she would stand in a Clan’s territory and issue one command that would be sent to all the Fae. They would either obey that command... or discover how much power the Hunter truly had over them.
    But there were other concerns tonight. A bard had ridden in a short while ago and had been terribly relieved to find Aiden guesting at this Clan. Perhaps now they would finally have some news about whether or not Dianna was still the Lady of the Moon. Something must be going on, because Aiden and the bard had been standing in