IN THE FIELDS OF THE New Outlands the cattle of the Fiacre grazed peacefully in the sunlight of a late summer's afternoon. Anoush, daughter of Vartan the Heroic, walked slowly through the meadow gathering the daisylike flowers and leaves of the chamomile plant. She carried a woven willow basket, rectangular in shape, that was divided into individual sections. Carefully she tucked her harvest into one of the sections.

"Hello, Anoush!" she heard a male voice greet her.

"Hello," she answered. She didn't know who the tall and muscular young man was, but she had to admit to herself that he was very handsome with his curly black hair and light blue eyes. And when he had smiled at her her heart had fluttered.

"You do not recognize me, do you?" he said.

"Nay, I do not," Anoush admitted shyly and made to move on.

He did not stop her, saying instead, "Well, perhaps you will remember me eventually. Will you be at The Gathering?"

"Yes," Anoush said as she walked away.

"We will meet again then," he called after her.

Arriving back at her fine stone house, Anoush said to her servant, Gadara, "There was a herdsman in my fields today whom I did not recognize. Do you know who it might have been? He was very handsome."

"Two of Sholeh's men came to speak with Lord Liam today," Gadara said, "but I did not see them, mistress."

Anoush cudgeled her memory, but she could not recall ever having seen the young man who had addressed her. If he was one of Sholeh's men she probably wouldn't see him again until The Gathering. But if she did she would ask him who he was. Anoush smiled to herself. He really had been very handsome to behold. She was so happy to be back among her father's people. It was where she belonged.

Lara noticed a sparkle in her eldest daughter's eye, and wondered what had put it there. Anoush was usually quiet, and more circumspect than her siblings.

"She met a lad while out gathering her plants yesterday," Noss said. "She didn't recognize him as one of our village. Gadara said she thought it might be one of the herders from Rivalen who came to speak with Liam."

"He was bold to speak with Anoush if he did not know her," Lara said.

"Ask your daughter about the incident," Noss replied. "I am only telling you what Gadara told me. She is very protective of Anoush. Once she had a mate and a daughter, but they died one Icy Season from some malady of the chest and throat. Anoush would be about her daughter's age, and Gadara has grown quite fond of her."

"I will speak with my daughter," Lara said, and went off to find her. Anoush was in her apothecary carefully spreading the leaves and flowers of the chamomile plants she had harvested the preceding day onto a flat surface so they would dry. She greeted her mother with a warm smile.

"Do not dry the flowers and leaves on the same slate," Lara said. "They have different properties, and you don't want them mixing."

Anoush nodded, and carefully spread the leaves onto another cool slate.

"Noss says a young man spoke to you yesterday in the meadow," Lara remarked.

"Aye," Anoush answered her mother. "He addressed me by name. He was very handsome, Mother. He said he would see me at The Gathering."

"You did not know him?" Lara spoke casually.

Anoush shook her head. "But he seemed to know me. He addressed me by name, and asked if I did not recognize him. I didn't. But he was very fair to look upon, Mother. Why do you ask? Do you think he might be a suitor for my hand?"

"I have never before heard you speak of marriage for yourself," Lara said.

"There was no one in Terah for me, Mother, so why would I bother to speak of it?" Anoush responded in a practical tone.

"He was a herder? You are certain?" Lara wanted to know.

"Aye, he wore herder's clothing. Why are you so interested in this young man, Mother? Is it so hard to think a young man might be interested in me?"

"Nay, darling girl," Lara told her child. "But you are now a woman of property. You have your own house, some land and a fine herd of cattle. And you are the daughter of a great hero of the Fiacre, of all the clan families. You are extremely eligible. But as your mother I would wish to know the name of those courting you, Anoush."

Anoush chuckled. Then she stopped what she was doing and hugged Lara. "Oh, Mother, I do love you. And I love that you would worry about a young man from another village who would pay a bit of attention to me. He is gone now, whoever he was, and unless I see him at The Gathering it is unlikely I will ever see him again. There is no harm done to me, or threat implied by this lad. It is nothing more than it was."

"You may not be at the castle with me any longer, Anoush, but I still worry about you," Lara told her daughter. "Especially given Zagiri's impetuous behavior."

"She is very happy," Anoush told Lara. "She sends me missives via faerie post several times a month. Does she not communicate with you?"

"Nay," Lara said tersely.

"You must forgive her, Mother," Anoush said quietly.

"Your sister disobeyed me, and by doing so has put herself in a terrible position although she is too foolish to realize it," Lara said. "Jonah of Hetar thinks Terah will come to his aid if he needs us because he is wed to the sister of the Dominus. But that is not necessarily so, Anoush. I will do what is best for Terah first. Hetar is neither my province nor my responsibility, Anoush. Zagiri is young and romantic. She has no idea of what is involved in keeping these worlds of ours safe from the darkness. I will wager I know what she writes about. The luxuries of Hetar that are now all hers. Of the servants who serve her and grant her every wish and whim. Of her husband with whom she enjoys pleasures and who would appear to adore her."

"Well, yes," Anoush said slowly.

"Does she speak of the poverty afflicting Hetar? Or the corruption of its magnates and Merchants Guild? Does she ever venture outside of the Golden District in which she lives to see the filth in the streets? Has she seen the Mercenaries who are idle, and wander the streets ill, hungry or drunk on Razi? Has she visited the Garden District to meet with her grandfather's wife, and her uncles now living in the genteel poverty of the Crusader Knights' faded glory? You must answer nay to all of these things for even if she were curious, and she is not, Jonah would not allow her to see the truth of what Hetar has become, Anoush. The beautiful daughter that I bore Magnus Hauk has become the prized trophy for a corrupt man," Lara concluded bitterly. "You want me to forgive her, but how can I? She has veered from the path of light."

"But she has not gone into the dark, Mother," Anoush said earnestly. "And she will not. What she has done has a purpose. I know it! I don't know what that purpose is, Mother, but there is one."

"I hope you are right," Lara said bleakly. Zagiri's defection to Hetar had hurt her more than anything any of her children had ever done. She was puzzled by it, and she didn't like feeling helpless. Feeling helpless was a mortal trait.

The summer finally came to an end. The time for The Gathering, a yearly event held by the clan families, drew near. When it was over Lara and Taj would return to the castle on the Dominus's Fjord. They traveled with the Fiacre clan families to The Gathering Place where tents were set up, campfires started and the eight clans of the New Outlands came together. Each had brought something for the several days of feasting and trading. The Fiacre brought beef. The Felan brought lamb. The Blathma and the Gitta were growers of produce, which they brought to add to the feast. The Aghy were ready to trade and sell horses. The Piaras and the Tormod had gold, silver and jewelry for sale. The Devyn were the Memory Keepers and Bards of the clan families. Their contribution to The Gathering each year was to sing the history of the clans. Each evening they would entertain around a large central fire. The Gathering would conclude with a meeting of the New Outlands Council headed by Rendor, Lord of the Felan.

Lara loved this time of the year for it allowed her to meet with old friends. Her years among the clan families had been happy ones. Now she noticed that many of those whom she knew were growing older while she appeared to have changed not at all. While Lara was revered by all of the clan families, she found the younger members of these families looked upon her either with suspicion or indifference. She supposed it was natural that to them Vartan the Heroic was a legend. Nothing more. The fact that he had been married to a faerie woman was but part of the legend for them. When they looked at Lara they saw a beautiful, young and desirable woman, not the widow of a legendary hero.

But Anoush was another matter. There was nothing magical about her. She was a healer with the Sight, which they both respected and admired. Once this had not been so, but as they had come to know Anoush it was accepted that she was just a lovely maiden with rare talents. And the fact that she had no husband and was propertied made her a magnet for men seeking a wife. She was never without her admirers this particular Gathering. But Anoush's soft blue eyes searched the crowds about her seeking one man.

And then late one afternoon he appeared before her. "Hello, Anoush," he said with a smile. "Have you remembered who I am?" He towered over her, and Anoush felt suddenly small and fragile.

"Nay," she said. "I do not remember you. Who are you, sir?"

"You do not remember a Gathering long ago when we played together by the water?" he said, low. "I wanted to kiss you then, Anoush, but your brother prevented it."

And a picture suddenly bloomed in her memory of a sulky boy who put his hand beneath her gown, and stroked her leg with knowledgeable fingers. She had been but a little child then, and it had been very wicked of him. Anoush blushed, remembering. "You are Cam," she said. "You are my cousin Cam."

"I am," he admitted. "We have both grown up some since those carefree days, Anoush," he said with a charming smile. Then he kissed her cheek.

"You were our grandmother Bera's favorite," Anoush recalled.

"Only because my parents were dead, and she felt sorry for me," he said. "It is fortunate when Lord Liam realized how spoiled I was becoming he sent me to our kinswoman Sholeh," Cam said. "I was not spoiled in the village of Rivalen." Cam chuckled. "I was taught how to become the man I am today. Now, my pretty cousin, take me to your mother. I should greet her, and obtain her permission to court you."

Remembering now the wicked and devious boy Cam had been, Anoush was not certain her mother would give her permission, but certainly Cam had changed. Lara must be made to see that. "Come along, then," she said, offering Cam her small hand, which he took in his large one. Then together they sought out Lara. They found her laughing with Roan of the Aghy, Rendor of the Felan and Rendor's wife, Rahil, who raised an eyebrow at the sight of Anoush and Cam.

"Mother, this is the young man I told you about, and I have remembered who he is," Anoush said excitedly.

Lara turned, smiling, but, seeing the young man with her daughter, her smile faded. "Cam, son of Adon the Curst and his wife, Elin," she said. "I would never forget you."

Cam dropped to his knees before Lara. "Lady, I was but a child when the terrible deed was done. Do not, I beg you, hold me responsible for my parents' crimes. But for my own childish wickednesses I do beg your forgiveness." He looked up at her hopefully. "I have admired Anoush since we were children, and would ask your permission to pay her my court."

"He has made himself invaluable to Sholeh," Roan spoke up. "He is one of her finest herders, Lara."

"Bad boys can grow into good men," Rendor added.

"This man's father killed your father," Lara said to her daughter. "Knowing that, can you allow him your company?"

"His father was the one at fault, not Cam," Anoush responded. "But I am not Zagiri. If you forbid it then I will send him away, Mother."

Lara looked at Cam as she debated what to do. Perhaps he had changed, and Anoush liked him. If she forbade them each other her daughter would do her best to obey, but forbidden fruit was always sweetest. Eventually Anoush would be unable to keep her promise to her mother, especially if the young man begged and begged. Better she not forbid them. If Cam misbehaved in the slightest Anoush would chase him away. Anoush had been sheltered, it was true, but she was past twenty. It was time for Lara to let her eldest daughter fly. She sighed. "Very well," she told them. "You have my permission to pay Anoush court, Cam of Rivalen. Anoush, you have my permission to receive this suitor but only in public, or if Gadara or some other suitable woman is with you. Do you both understand me? Remember, Anoush, remain with Cam for two nights, and you will be considered wed among the clan families. Do not do it. If this association progresses to a point where you both wish to wed let us do it properly."

"I swear it will be so, my lady Lara!" Cam said, and then he stood up, grinning.

Anoush was wearing the same silly look on her face as Cam.

You did the right thing, Ethne said. He is her first suitor. She should tire of him soon enough. But I will admit he is handsome.

His beauty is almost ethereal, Lara said. I am not easy with this, but how could I forbid her? I do not want another incident like Zagiri.

Zagiri's fate is a different one from Anoush's. Remember she is Vartan's child, Ethne said. This place is her world. You have seen how happy she is here.

I know, Lara replied, looking at her daughter, who was now in animated conversation with Cam.

"That would be an interesting match," Roan of the Aghy said.

"They are cousins," Lara responded.

"Cousins marry," Roan noted. "But would Vartan approve, I wonder."

"Vartan had a large heart," Rendor of the Felan said. "He would not have held the lad responsible for his parents' evil."

"I remember him as a boy. He was wicked," Lara recalled. "Dillon disliked him intensely, and felt he had designs on Anoush that he should not."

"Of course he was wicked. Everyone expected it of him because of Adon and Elin. And old Bera was never right in her head after Adon murdered his brother. She clutched at Cam, and spoiled him terribly. Taking him away from her was the best thing Liam could have done. It's made a man of him. Ask Sholeh if you are concerned," Rendor told Lara. "She will tell you the truth of the matter."

"I will ask Sholeh," Lara said, and, leaving the two clan lords, she went off to find Vartan's kin, who was head woman of Rivalen village.

Sholeh was aging, as were the rest of them, Lara thought as she greeted her. The long auburn hair was streaked with silver-gray. The two women embraced, and Sholeh said before Lara might speak, "Cam came to me to ask my permission to speak with you about Anoush. Has he come to you yet?"

"I am not comfortable with his interest in my daughter," Lara said candidly.

"He is not the boy who came to me," Sholeh said. "We have made him a Fiacre to be proud of despite his grandmother and his parents. You cannot hold Adon's behavior against his son."

"Nay," Lara agreed, "I cannot, but I remember him as a young boy. He was wickedness incarnate. Yet now he seems to have become a fine young man."

"He is!" Sholeh replied. "And he is an excellent herder, Lara. If one day he became a husband for Anoush it would not be the worst thing that could happen. And such a union would help to put an end to his parents' memory."

"It should never be forgotten that Adon killed his own brother, Vartan, Lord of the Fiacre, or that he was encouraged by his wife, Elin, to commit the deed," Lara said in a hard voice. "And it was done out of jealousy, malice and envy."

"Aye," Sholeh responded, "they should be forgotten along with the terrible murder they committed. They should be forgotten entirely. Only the memory of my kinsman Vartan the Heroic should remain bright among the history of our people, and of how his wife, the faerie woman Lara, took her singing sword, Andraste, and slew the murderers of her husband, Vartan, taking vengeance for herself and her children as was her right. But Cam should not have to suffer for his parents' crime."

"I can see you have come to love the boy, Sholeh," Lara said quietly. "Very well then, but I will hold you responsible for his behavior. If he should hurt my daughter in any way he will suffer the same fate as his parents."

"You are harsh," Sholeh said. "Will you never forgive Adon and Elin? Has your life then been so difficult since Vartan's death?"

"It is not up to me to forgive those two. That is the province of the Celestial Actuary, but I will never forget what they did. My life has been what it was meant to be, but I never thought that Vartan's life should have to be sacrificed."

"Yet you could not have wed Magnus Hauk had Vartan not been gone," Sholeh pointed out.

"My marriage to Vartan was not meant to be forever. I am faerie, and I love whom I choose," Lara replied.

"You have changed from the girl you once were though you look exactly the same as you did when we first met. I envy you that," Sholeh told Lara with a grimace.

"Because I am young in my own race's time I have never had to watch the friends of my early years age," Lara said. "I have to admit that I do not like it. That drop of mortal blood that runs through my veins has made me sensitive to the passage of the years. My mother says if I did not have that bit of mortal blood in me that I should not notice time at all."

"I suppose there are disadvantages to every race," Sholeh said.

The High Council met on the last day of The Gathering. Lara took her seat among the clan families' representatives. She brought Taj with her, and introduced the young Dominus formally to all the lords of the New Outlands clans. Taj promised to honor all of the promises his late father had made to the people of the clan families. They in return swore their fealty to Taj, and paid their yearly tribute. The clan leaders were impressed with young Taj's manner and air of assurance. And comforted that Lara was his mother.

"He will be a fine man one day," Rendor of the Felan, the council head, said to Lara. "Magnus would be proud of him."

"He was," Lara answered him.

"How long will you rule?" Rendor asked candidly.

"At least five more years," Lara told him. "I have appointed Taj's uncles as his little council, which satisfies the Terahns, and allows them to believe that Taj is truly their Dominus. Marzina calls me a Shadow Queen." She smiled at her old friend.

"We missed Marzina and her tricks this year," Rendor said with a smile.

"She is with Ilona, and very happy. It is safer for her in my mother's forest right now," Lara told him. "Especially after what Zagiri did."

"There is one thing I have learned from Prince Kaliq," Rendor said. "Everything happens for a purpose, Lara. You may not comprehend that purpose, but it is there. The Celestial Actuary, or Great Creator as the Terahns call him, does not make mistakes."

"You know how I dislike the mysteries in life, Rendor," Lara reminded him.

Rendor laughed. "I know," he said. "You would see everything immediately, and understand it all, but life even for a faerie woman does not work that way."

Lara nodded, and she bid her old friend farewell. Then she went with her son to each of the clan lords and said their goodbyes. After, her magic returned them all home quickly as it did each year. Coming to The Gathering usually took several days.

Back in Liam's village of Camdene the Dominus had a request of his parent. "Mother," Taj said, "could Gare and Sinon come back to the castle with me? They have some learning, but would have more. And I would like to have my two friends to study with me this year. With my sisters gone now the castle is lonely."

"If their parents will allow it I see no reason for them not to come," Lara told him.

"Let us find them now, then," Taj said excitedly.

The parents of both Gare and Sinon were at first reluctant to allow their sons to go, but the enthusiasm of the three boys convinced them that this would be a great advantage for their sons.

And Liam, Lord of the Fiacre, spoke in favor of such an arrangement. "Retaining the friendship of the young Dominus is a good thing," he said. "It is to the clan families' advantage for a new generation to be part of Terah. It is not like the old days when we were content to remain isolated in the Outlands. These are the New Outlands, and our survival requires a new tactic. Send your sons with the Dominus. You may be certain that Lara will watch over them herself. They will be safe."