She looked at the woman and was surprised but pleased that she was returning her gaze. Something about the woman looked very familiar to The Second, but she couldn't place it.

"I am glad to see you but made it through your ordeal. That must have been quite a fight on your part. Meera tells me that they must not have fared much better than you."

Meera had told her some preliminary findings the turn after the woman had been found. Their investigation had followed a trail of blood until they came to a river, where the trail ended. She had said that one person was carried to the river and another had barely limped their way to it.

From the size of the bootprints, Meera had guessed that there were two women and one man. Meera had two scouts continuing to check for any further signs of the attackers.

"I hope that Berth told you your dog is fine."

The Second didn't see the dog, guessing that Jenna had taken him away for awhile. She silently fortified herself to be patient with Jenna's bird this turn, upon their probable return.

"You may not remember me from when we found you, but I am The Second of Woden. The women just call me Second. Terrible name, is it not?"

It had long ago been considered proper to call her by the title of Second as it was to refer to their main leader as The Highest. The Second had never really liked it, but had accepted it. She was seldom referred to by her real name and suspected that most had even forgotten it.

May walked in, "Here is your sweet, Second."

The Second looked at the injured woman, smiled and winked. Point made, terrible name.

May said, "I see that our visitor is ready for some food as well, so here be some nice warm broth I made especially for you."

She sat the sweet, tea and broth on the small table next to The Second.

May looked at her, smiling, "She looks much improved."

The Second thought that a big stretch, but her bruises weren't so vividly colorful this midturn. The woman followed the conversation, but said nothing. She kept looking at The Second.

"Enjoy your food. I will return directly to pick up the dishes."

The Second decided to give the woman some background to Woden as she fed her, while trying to ignore the ongoing conversation in the meeting room. She was hoping that the woman would be able to speak soon.

- 21 -.

The Second took the bowl of broth and began slowly spoon-feeding it to her, noticing that she seemed to want it.

"I know not if you are acquainted with our community. Perhaps a little background would help you as you eat."

The woman nodded slightly. From the nod, The Second assumed that she was easily able to follow conversation.

"The community used to be called The Town until we grew into a good sized place and changed the name. That was well long prior. It is an all-woman community. There are no men except during allowed visitations, festivals, or trading of goods. It has been a closed community since its beginnings."

She wondered if the woman understood what she was saying. Her eyes followed movements, however, so The Second thought she just needed more moments to recover from the attack as well as from Berth's well-meaning but overly done potions.

The Second kept feeding her the broth as she talked. "Women apply for entrance into the community, but can leave at any moment. Not many do, but there be a small of amount of turnover. We have many more requests of permission for entry than we take. We take only twenty-five new community members a cycle, but do have some plans for future expansion.

It has more complexity than that, with the addition of children, but we do monitor our growth.

"We claim an area of twenty-two squares and presently credit a small part of it to a men's community. They pay us in trade items, security or labor. Most of our land be but unused, and we plan to keep a good portion of it in the more natural states. It is extremely good land. Three major rivers run through it and there is an abundance of wild grassfields. Our sides border the forest, mountains and sea. So we easily supply our need for wood and food. My archivist advisor but tells me that our founding women took two cycles scouting for this location. We have fought and won many battles over this territory. We also chose it because it be so distant from other communities, as you know from your long journey. Some think it odd that we work hand-in-hand with Hengist, the men's community, but it serves both of us well. We trade with each other, protect each other when attacked, hold five of our festivals together, and utilize one another for reproductive purposes."

Neither the men nor the women liked the notion, in general, but if someone wanted children, it was the only way they knew to conceive.

Karan had informed The Second that some of the festivals had arisen out of a need to formalize the breeding process.

"In terms of leadership, there be The Highest, me, our Sea-Duty Second, Oisin, then our counsels. The Highest appoints all her positions, and - 22 -.

the same with The Second. The Highest is selected either through appointment by the retiring Highest or by vote of the community. Hengist is governed through a Third, Briggon. They follow all our laws and rules, and whenever we change them, we include them in the discussion."

The Second paused, "That be quite a lot of detail for you at this moment."

The Second guessed that she was wearing the woman out with all this information. She had finished her soup broth, so The Second put the bowl down and picked up the sweet.

"Here, try one little bite of this. I love May's sweets."

The Second gave her one very small bite, mostly just for taste. She knew she wasn't to give her any solids, but thought that, "Sweets are, well, sweets". The woman smiled a bit at the taste.

The Second thought to herself, Ah, sensual awareness. Good. She will recover quickly.

She would need to eat again fairly soon, but this had been a good start.

The Second imagined that the woman would be feeding herself with her good hand as soon as the potions wore off. She seemed to be more alert, and The Second guessed that the food helped offset the overly done potions.

"Our community has about 1,500 women and female children at present, and we have plans to halt expansion at 2,500."

The Second had wanted to halt it at 2,000, but it was a battle she didn't mind losing. She thought that they certainly had enough room for the growth.

"Every community member contributes toward the community projects such as the gardens, the farms and livestock, our sentries, sea-duty, building and maintenance, or whatever be needed. It is a good system and has served us well. But it does rely on the able oversight of a lot of strong and fair women leaders. Hengist has about 1,200 men right now. They have most recently decided to let in a few more numbers, but that is a change as they had closed their community to new entrances for a while."

The Second started to give her some tea to wash down the sweet, when the woman's right hand grabbed her arm. A surge went from The Second's arm to the injured woman's.

Nothing was said, but The Second suddenly was able to sense the woman's thoughts, I'm here to help The Highest.

She didn't understand how she sensed that. The injured woman held on tightly and tried to pull The Second forward as if trying to speak to her.

The Second had no fear of her, so bent close to listen, "Highest . . . poisoned . . . anti-poison."

- 23 -.

The Second was so shocked that she dropped the cup of tea as she stood up. What she sensed had been truth. The cup broke into pieces as it landed on the floor, causing much noise, while the woman's arm dropped back to the bed. Some facts were finally coming together for The Second.

The guard, Berth and May all came running in asking questions.

"What happened?"

"Are you hurt?"

"Is she well?"

"Where did the noise come from?"

"Did she try to hurt you?"

The Second wasted no moment answering their questions but commanded the guard.

"Get Meera!"

May saw the cup and began to clean it up. The guard ran to get Meera, who was yet with the other advisors in the sitting room. Berth just looked perplexed.

"Thank you, Berth. Everything is under control."

Berth left the room without question.

"I am here, Second." Meera had arrived and the guard was with her.

The Second said, "Have your guard wait outside for a moment." The guard stepped outside without waiting for Meera's order.

"May, thank you for picking that up."

May understood that The Second was asking her to leave, and did so.

The Second turned toward Meera and indicated toward the injured woman. "Meera, remember the object she but gave us? It is an anti-poison. She said that The Highest has been poisoned. I believe this so.

Retrieve it and come back. Before you go, though, get more guards around this place. I will tell you more upon your return."

Meera looked at the woman. The Second could see the cautiousness and concern in Meera's gaze. Meera went to her guard, "Get four more guards around this dwelling right now, and be very alert."

Meera turned to go, then looked back and almost whispered, "How do you know the object contains no poison? How do you but know that someone is not trying to poison her further?"

The Second didn't, for certain, and thought them good questions on her part. "I know not, but somehow I sensed the truth in her statements.

For your benefit, though, get whoever of the healers you trust the most that might be able to identify an anti-poison, and bring her back with you."

That satisfied Meera for the moment, and she left on her mission. The Second sat back down and looked at the injured woman. The Second had pulled away from her as she stood up, so looked to see if she had hurt her some in the movement.

- 24 -.

"You are certainly full of surprises. I fear that created quite a lot of commotion. How are you?"

The Second took the woman's hand in her own to examine her dressing. She wanted to see if she had caused her wound to open when she had stood up so suddenly. As she touched her hand, the strange feeling passed through it again. As it did so, the woman's eyes opened wide with the same feeling. She felt the woman say ' Thank you' but knew that the woman hadn't spoken. The Second wondered what the feeling was, but let the feeling and voiceless message pass. She saw some new signs of blood on the woman's wound and called for Berth.

The woman simply whispered, "Fine," and let go.

The Second wondered, Who be this woman? then said, "No, you are not.

I have caused your stitches to open. Lie still and Berth will tend to it."

The Second was glad to see her recovering though, and could tell that she would be able to converse soon. Then she could get their questions answered.

"We have been calling you the injured woman overly long that soon it will be your official name, unless there be a more appropriate name you prefer?" The Second was trying to provide a calm appearance, but a million thoughts were going through her head.

How does this woman know about the poisoning? Why would she have been sent to provide an anti-poison?

A soft, strained voice replied, "Keddi."

"Keddi? Well, Keddi, you may well be the hero of the turn." The Second was fairly certain that Keddi had indeed come to give them the anti-poison. What she didn't know was why. The Second wondered how Keddi knew about The Highest's condition, and decided to talk to her about that later.

Berth entered and bowed her head, "Second?"

The Second informed her about Keddi's hand and blood, then left to dismiss the advisors before the next round of commotion began. When she returned, Keddi was asleep and Berth was gone. She sat down and waited for Meera and the gang to return.

Elsewhere, across The Realm "Her powers begin to emerge, Highness."

The High Queen responded, "It has taken overly long. But she knows not what they are. She should have been told of them far prior to this moment. They have kept this overly hidden from her. I should rescue her from them. We will have great need of her, soon."

"You have vowed not to interfere, Highness."

- 25 -.

She nodded calmly, "For now I will honor My vow. But I sense trouble. And I sense something else in this small human town. Some other power that is not human. Different than her, though. But I can't make it out. I will keep my senses focused on her development."

- 26 -.

Chapter II.

Woden The Second had also fallen asleep while waiting for Meera's return.

She had spent too many long eves with The Highest of late. Meera walked in and saw the injured woman awake and The Second sleeping. Since she didn't trust the injured woman, she was angry at herself for leaving The Second alone with her. Meera suddenly felt sorry for The Second. She hated to wake her, but knew she must. She also knew that The Second was shouldering the entire burden of the community now. As she shook The Second's shoulder lightly, she felt a sudden slight surge enter her body through her hand and wondered what it was.

"Second, I have returned with the anti-poison and Nill. If anyone can determine if it is an anti-poison, Nill will."

The Second awoke to Meera's talking and noticed that Keddi was awake.

"Give it to Keddi and let her tell us how to open it."

Meera and Berth just looked at Keddi in amazement, and both uttered simultaneously, "Keddi?"

The Second had forgotten that they yet hadn't learned of Keddi's name.

"We had a short discussion after you left. She seems to be doing better and is conversant. But I will let her show you that herself."

Meera held the object out to Keddi, but she just struggled to speak, "cup . . . " Meera called on May to bring in a small cup. With her good hand, Keddi moved one of Meera's fingers to the very middle of the object with the thumb on the opposite side, and said, "press . . . over cup."