'Tis the season for it. In summer, all manner of strangers are on the roads to and from Inver Colpa. I love and loathe this time of the year. The Sea Hag prospers from all the trade passing through. I love the excitement of news from faraway places, the clamor of different tongues chattering all at once, and most of all the exotic trinkets I collect as barter for our unsurpassed mead, not to mention the pretty baubles my besom finds under benches and tables when I sweep up in the mornings. I loathe the bloodshed that lurks in hidden daggers, shifty hands and most likely of all at the bottom of their drinking bowls.

Tonight there are the usual rumors in the air. I take in every whisper, boast and simper as I make my rounds, pausing here to wipe a table and there to refill a cup. The famous bull, Tine, was finally delivered to his summer territory yesterday, I hear. The heavy rains brought down a mudslide that blocked the road so Fraoch had to take him up into the hills by another way. No one has seen Fraoch since he left the keep a few days ago. His herd of faery kine is kept in a secret place over the summer and everyone guesses at where this might be. Then there is mention of raiders. The mysterious archer who put the arrow through Dobhar's neck last summer is supposed to be hunting for him now to finish him off. Where is our fian, still scattered to the north and the west? The Pictish princess who seduced the war-chief, will she make war upon us now from across the sea? Idle talk loosened by the drink, nothing odd for a summer's night.

When I hear the dabble of rain on the roof, I move through the crowd to prop open the door awhile to let in some fresh air. I have my good staff of heavy thornwood in hand. When I give the door a push, it opens wide and there are two shadowy figures just now dismounting from their pair of fine horses, one steed black as the night, the other reddish gold as the sun

I would know the Rian Flidais even in pitch darkness, but who is that beside her? I catch my breath. Could it be?

Fenian! Ah, this will be cause for a great celebration tonight!