Was it all a dream? I glance warily over my shoulder as Winter Mist and I approach the fire. I thought there were dogs, hounds, wolves? Whatever was stalking us has faded back into the shadows. The baby Conall nestles against me, safe and secure. Familiar ground underfoot makes every step like a caress. Magh Croimor opens her great heart to welcome her children home!

Familiar faces glow beside a fire. Aedan and Faolan, at the same instant, leap up in a flash of metal gilded by the flames. Ciara cries out in joy. Faolan's face crinkles into a lop-sided grin as he sheathes his sword. "Well, I'll be - "

Aedan stares at us with a mingling of horror and relief. I slip the baby from the sling into Ciara's eager arms. Aedan hesitates, his pale eyes searching me for the painful ending he's been dreading since we left. I force a smile and a shrug to let him know all is well. His anxiousness melts and he joins Ciara in a gleeful counting of Conall's arms, legs, fingers, toes, and perhaps even the golden curls on his head.

"Go raibh maith agat! Thank you!"

"Don't thank just me," I protest mildly, "Winter Mist too."

Where is she? For a cold heartbeat, I fear she's gone back to - where were we then? Then I see that she's at the edge of the firelight with Faolan. Slowly she turns away and disappears into the darkness. Faolan pauses, then follows. He must be taking her to Sean. The thought of their reuinion makes me smile, easily this time. My face feels not so frozen now that I know we're all home and safe.

"Baine," Ciara tugs at my arm. Something in her voice warns me that something is not quite right. "Look at Conall, Baine. His skin, well, it wasn't like this before. Look!"

She holds him near to the fire. Expecting the worst, and not even sure what that could be, I take a deep breath. Looking down at the smiling baby boy, I notice for the first time that he is freckled all over with flecks of what appear to be golden dust. "Usquener," I whisper, remembering how he dissolved into a powdery sheen before the Huntress.

"What is it? What did you say?" Ciara brushes his cheek but of course the freckles are there to stay.

"It's a gift from Faery," I explain as best I can. "I think it makes him quite beautiful, don't you?"

(to be continued)