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.You live in the now, baby.The past means nothing to you. I m the same ageas you when Papa asked for your hand, she retorted to my last statement.Oh, Dana, was I ever as young as she? Gyron has already asked and I ve accepted.You can t break our betrothal, she said haughtily. Gyron? That young pup! He is certainly not ready to marry yet. I d raisedthe boy since he was two and sent him away to learn to become one of Arthur sCompanions almost three years ago.I think I cried as much that day as I didtoday. We ll discuss it while you show me the proper way to mix that poultice, Mama.We have to continue to care for the people here, no matter how much we long toride with our boys. Yes, Deirdre.I m glad I still have you to take care of me. It s about timesomeone took care of you, Mama.You ve taken care of all of Britain for toomany years. Quietly she led me to the stillroom where I kept our stash of healing herbsand medical supplies.Yvain wrote home often.His gossipy letters gave me more information aboutArthur than I could pry out of a dozen couriers.Arthur didn t speak often orvery much.But he spoke when necessary.Most of his words and ideas foundtheir way into lengthy missives that traveled the country by courier.Yvainbecame the favorite and best known of these fast riders.He rode as if he andthe horse were two halves of the same being.He continued as courier longafter he was ready to be a Companion.He d rather ride than bash heads.Deirdre grew into a tall and graceful young woman.She married Gyron by thefaery pool on her fifteenth Beltane in an ancient ceremony, both of thembarefoot and crowned with flowers.Later that day they recited their vowsagain beforeFather Thomas in the village church.Eventually age crept up on all of us.I became a grandmother one bright springday the next year, just after my thirtysecond birthday.With Deirdre spermission I took her twins, a boy and a girl, to the sacred spring andintroduced the newborns to the faeries.Cedar and his friends approved.Apparently the children had been conceived here in the forest just as theirmother had been sixteen years before.And through all these years of peace and growth, the cranky old ravenPage 255 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlcontinued to perch on the well and screech at me every time I passed.How longdo ravens normally live? As this one continued into his tenth year, and thenhis fifteenth, I gave up wondering, accepting his presence as part of my home.Perhaps one raven flew off and died and another took its place without meknowing.I talked to it sometimes.It stared back at me with an intensity thatreminded me of my father.Father Thomas and his brood crossed themselves andmuttered prayers every time they encountered the bird.They tried chasing himaway.He always returned, cackling in tones that sounded like my father, too.Couriers and messengers continued to use Caer Noddfa as a resting place offnormal routes, but I made the stop worth their while with hot meals and cleanbeds and peace.Through them I learned everything that happened at court.Ifollowed the politics of Britain closely.From time to time I passed alongsuggestions, I reminded people to respect the land forest, field, moor, lake,and river no matter which god they prayed to.Then the day came that the twins celebrated their fourth birthday.And Arthurrode through the gates of Caer Noddfa with a young Companion at his side.Curyll at fortyfive boasted a few more scars, and more wrinkles around hiseyes.Maturity gave him dignity and poise.I found him more handsome than ever.Atforty I should have been beyond physical longing for any man.I wanted Curyllmore now than the day we had lain together by the faery pool. Wren, he called to me as he dismounted. Come see who I have brought to meet you. He delved into his deep saddlebags for gifts for his grandchildren, not thathe d ever be allowed to acknowledge them.I hastened into the courtyard, scanning the face and figure of the tall manwho grabbed Arthur s discarded reins.His eyes were a deep, fathomless brown,almost black.In all else, from golden hair to broad shoulders and long legs,he could have been Curyll twenty years ago. Mordred, my son, has come to Campboglanna, Arthur announced proudly. He sto become a Companion next week in a ceremony at Camlann.You will come, Wren.Please say you will. Chapter 61Papa s tree had grown in both girth and height in the last twenty years.Someof the older branches had died and dropped.Locals gathered them almost assoon as they fell.Legends had grown up around the tree.Legends of sanctityand haunting.No two stories agreed.But the wood shed by the tree wasconsidered valuable and lucky.It was often carved in talismans but neverburned
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