"I keep wondering why, with Ali's powers, she just can't whip up a decent meal. She is simply useless

in the kitchen."

Dagon reached for a cranberry scone. "Have you ever watched Ali attempt to whip something up?"

"No, but I've seen the battlefield when she's done."

Dagon laughed. "The kitchen does look like a war zone when she gets finished."

"She's battle scarred herself," Sebastian said with a laugh and a shake of his head.

Dagon spread a liberal amount of honey b.u.t.ter on his scone. "Watch her in the kitchen when she is

about to prepare a dish."

"Only if I get to wear full protective armor," Sebastian joked.

"You'll need it. Ali has a tendency to change recipes as she goes along, adding this, taking out that.

When we were young, she even changed the recipe for mud pies."

"Mud pies? But mud pies are nothing but mud and water, what could she change?"

"She decided that the pies needed crunch so she added sand, and then she thought the pies too dark,

so she added gra.s.s for color, then she felt they needed a topping, so she placed a ring of pebbles around her pie."

"What did the finished pie look like?"

"You don't want to know, and besides, it didn't matter. She claimed my mud pie as hers and won the acclaim of the forest fairies for the best structured and prepared mud pie of the cla.s.s."

"And you?" Sebastian asked, attempting to hide a laugh.

"While the fairies praised my creative nature, they explained that the ingredients and consistency of a

mud pie is what gives the pie its character, therefore, I was given extra lessons in mud-pie making." "So what you're basically telling me is that Ali marches to the beat of a different drummer." "She doesn't even hear the same tune as anybody else." Both men laughed. With his laughter subsiding and his smile still warm, Dagon said, "But Ali is a gem you are lucky to have." "I couldn't agree with you more. I'm a very lucky man." "That you are," Ali said, entering the room. She wore a pale gray knit dress that wrapped and curved with precise precision around her body, down to her ankles, where it met with black suede boots. Her hair was pinned haphazardly here and there. Several free blond strands tickled her face and neck and made her look utterly appealing.

Sebastian held his hand out to her. She took it and kissed him softly on the lips. "Hmmm, blueberry,"

she said with a lick of her lips after tasting him. "I must get the recipe."

Dagon mouthed good luck to Sebastian. Sebastian simply shook his head.

Conversation turned to old friends and the approaching holiday.

"Will you be home for the Winter Solstice and Christmas?" Dagon asked of them.

Ali answered. "Yes, the Wyrrd Foundation has several holiday events planned, and with this, our first holiday season together, we hoped to spend it at home."

"What about you?" Sebastian asked Dagon.

"There are usually a number of parties to attend; invitations have already come in for several."

"You don't sound enthusiastic about them," Ali said.

"I was thinking that perhaps this year I would spend a quiet holiday at home."

"Doing what?" Ali asked, staring directly at him as she waited for an answer.

He tapped her nose. "Decorating the castle, stringing popcorn for the tree, greeting the dawn of a new

tomorrow after the pa.s.sing away of the longest day of the year." Ali reached her hand out to Sebastian. "You should share the joy of the Winter Solstice with someone." "I love the Winter Solstice," Sarina said, entering the room with a platter of steaming scrambled eggs. Her face was flushed red from the rising steam, and she wore a broad smile that was too contagious to ignore and brought a round of smiles from the table. Janey followed her in placing a platter of sausages and bacon on the table and then taking her leave.

"Join us," Dagon said, though it was more of a demand that was not meant to be ignored.

Sarina gladly took the seat to his right across the table from Sebastian and Ali. It took no coercing for everyone to help themselves. Everyone immediately dug in, and the conversation continued around the flourish of pa.s.sing plates.

"I love gathering the pine to make swags and wreaths and then decorating them with berries and pinecones," Sarina said with excitement. "Oh, and picking a Yule log, that's so important because it must last and burn steadily. And of course there are the special candles that must be made and empowered with the birth of a new dawn. Margaret and I were just discussing how we should get started on the preparations."

Sebastian listened with interest to Sarina.

Ali and Dagon listened with curiosity.

"Candles empowered with the birth of a new dawn?" Sebastian asked.

Sarina realized then she had said too much.

Dagon answered his question. "It is a very old custom known and practiced by wise witches. The Winter Solstice is considered a time of death and rebirth. The day is dark for the longest time of the year, the sun dies, the harvest cycle ends, and with the dawn of a new day comes a birth, an awakening of a new cycle and life begins again. The wise witches would cast candles on the solstice imbibing them with their powers. Legend has it that the candles cast by a witch on the Winter Solstice will last all year long."

"Wow," Sebastian said, impressed, and asked his wife. "Can you do that?"

Ali slowly shook her head. "No, my powers aren't that old or strong."

"You're not a wise witch yet," Sebastian said, beginning to understand the nature of the craft.

"Not in the true sense of the word," Ali confirmed and looked to Sarina. "How do you know of the legend?"

"You mean it's not true?" Sebastian asked disappointed.

"It's true," Sarina a.s.sured him with a forced smile. She was on shaky ground here, and while she could not deny the truth of her heritage, neither could she admit the whole truth of her existence.

Curiosity had Dagon on edge, but Sebastian's need for solid reason had him beating Dagon to the question. "How do you know this?"

How did she avoid telling them that she was a wise witch who cast candles on the Winter Solstice? How did she avoid admitting her secret?

Sydney solved her problem by strolling into the room and calmly announcing, "The Ancient One arrives in two weeks' time."

Twenty-four.

All in the room remained silent and looked to Dagon. He spoke with a confidence that startled everyone. "It will be an honor to have her here, and I look forward to her arrival." Sarina stood and offered Sydney her seat. "Please sit, I'll bring fresh coffee and hot eggs for you." She gathered her dishes in her arm and carefully moved a clean place setting in front of the seat. With a soft, "Excuse me," she left the room. Sydney took the vacated seat and directed her remark to Dagon. "She will arrive how and when she pleases, as is her way."

"She cannot give a precise time?" he asked, annoyed.

Ali answered abruptly, "You requested her presence."

"That doesn't mean she can't be civil," Dagon snapped back.

"With her powers she can do as she likes."

Dagon was about to argue when Sydney interrupted their tirade. "Enough, she will arrive in her own

good time, and she will certainly be civil unless circ.u.mstances prove vexing, then you may find her demeanor changing."

Ali interpreted for him. "She is attempting to warn you to be on your best behavior."

"Which is why you won't be staying around for her visit," Dagon said bluntly.

Sebastian entered the debate. "I don't know. She sounds like a witch worth knowing."

Ali turned wide eyes on her husband. "We are leaving tomorrow." She stood, dropping her napkin to the table. "I am going to pack now."

Sebastian protested. "But I'd like to meet this Ancient One. I bet she'd let me levitate her."

Ali paled, shook her head, and hurried out of the room.

"That wasn't nice," Sydney scolded.

"But most effective," Sebastian informed her and stood. "I better go help her and soothe her ruffled

feathers."

Dagon held his hand out to him.

Sebastian took it. "You owe me for that one, pal. Otherwise we would have spent the next week here with Ali instructing you on your behavior with the Ancient One."

"Thank you, I won't forget."

Sarina returned with hot eggs and fresh coffee surprised to see only Sydney and Dagon remaining. She silently placed the platter on the table and filled Sydney's cup with steaming coffee. She then scooped up the remaining dirty dishes.

Dagon was about to protest her domestic flourish when he felt Sydney's hand to his arm. He remained silent until Sarina had vacated the room.

"You wish to talk with me alone?" he asked.

"No, I sensed Sarina's unease with the situation. It would be best for you to speak with her alone concerning this matter."

Dagon's irritation returned. "There is nothing to discuss with her, I have the matter well in hand."

Sydney sighed and added a drop of cream to her coffee. "Do you, now?"

"I know what I'm doing," he insisted.

"If you say so."

"If you have advice to offer, then offer it and be done with it."