As she spoke Lara saw Noss standing holding the hand of a small girl. She did not need to be told it was her own daughter, Anoush. When she had finished speaking Noss came forward to greet her, but Lara could see her manner was more wary than friendly. “What is the matter, Noss?” she asked the young woman.

“Will you take the children?” Noss wanted to know, and Lara understood her concern was not so much for Dillon as it was for Anoush.

“Vartan and I gave them life,” Lara replied quietly, “but they are Fiacre, and should remain with the Fiacre. Dillon will always know me, but Anoush knows only you as her mother. As she grows old enough to understand, she will comprehend that I gave birth to her, but you will still be her mother as I cannot.”

Noss began to cry softly. “I am so sorry,” she sobbed. “I know it is selfish of me, Lara, but I love Anoush so very much. And though I seem only able to produce sons, I have always wanted a daughter. I carry another son to be born in midspring.”

“And I have given you a daughter,” Lara replied. “Do not feel guilty, dearest Noss. I am so grateful that you want Anoush, and love her as you do. Vartan’s children are a symbol to the Fiacre. I should never take them away from their clan family. Soon I am to marry the ruler of Terah, and I will give him children. I shall not leave them, Noss, but neither will I forget my firstborn son and daughter. I will be able to visit them in safety here, which I could not do in Hetar.” She knelt, and smiled at Anoush who stood half hiding in the folds of Noss’s skirts. “Hello, Anoush. I am Lara.”

Anoush stared at her with large eyes, but said nothing.

“She does speak,” Noss quickly said, “but I think she is shy of you.”

“Yes,” Lara agreed, but her heart was sore with the realization of it. “She would be, for she does not know me.”

Suddenly Anoush reached out, and touched Lara’s crystal star with her dainty finger. “Pretty,” she said.

Lara smiled. “Yes, it is,” she replied. “Perhaps one day you will have one, too, Anoush. We shall see.” Then she stood up. “I must go now, for Liam and I need to visit the other villages and tell them what has transpired while they slept.”

“Do you love him?” Noss asked softly.

“The Dominus? Yes, I do love him. You will meet him one day,” Lara promised. “Goodbye, Anoush.” Then she turned about to find her son. Together mother and son spoke in low tones for several moments, and then Lara bent to hug Dillon and kiss his cheeks once more before departing.

The Shadow Princes had divided themselves into two groups so they might keep on schedule. The Piaras and the Tormod would be easy to bring, for their mines would be left behind, and that was their greatest wealth. But the last two clan families would require great effort to transport, for their wealth was in their herds of horses and their flocks of sheep. Nonetheless when the ninth morning dawned over the Terahn plain all the Outlands tribes were in place in their new homes, and the Devyn had recorded the story of their miraculous journey.

On the tenth day the Shadow Princes and Lara brought the clan lords together at the Gathering place, whose stones had been set at its new site. Each clan lord expressed satisfaction with his new home. Floren could hardly stop rhapsodizing over the fertility of the new land to which he had already put a plow, there being no frost in the ground yet. Torin of the Gitta concurred with Floren’s analysis of the land. Imre and Vanko had already made contact with the mountain gnomes, asking their permission to open new mines and work them. Negotiations were underway, and success was imminent. Liam, Roan and Rendor agreed that the grazing lands were lush beyond any in the Outlands.

“Then you are content?” Lara asked them.

“We are,” Rendor spoke for them all.

“Then,” Kaliq told them, “we are content knowing you are safe.” He looked to Lara. “I will return to our desert. My brothers and I need to rest. Who knows when you will need our help again, and we are greatly weakened by this task we have just completed, and the months we have spent keeping the Outlands safe.”

“Will you be all right?” Lara asked him anxiously.

“Yes,” he assured her. “By the time Gaius Prospero and his Mercenaries are ready to invade the Outlands our strength will be restored.”

“Magnus wants to go to the City and observe the Hetarians,” Lara told Kaliq.

The Shadow Prince nodded. “I understand his reasoning. Keep safe, my love.”

“We will,” she promised him.

“Will you be his wife when you go?”

“The wedding is scheduled in just a few days’ time. I must go home today, Kaliq,” she told him. “There is a final fitting on my gown, and Sirvat will want to confer with me on the wedding feast, although it is actually better left to her judgment. And I must arrive before Magnus’s mother, for she has sharp eyes and ears and will ask a hundred questions, some of which may have no answers,” Lara said with a chuckle.

“It is time we both went,” he told her. “My lords, I bid you farewell and good fortune in your new homes.”

“How can we thank you and your brothers, my lord Prince?” Rendor said. “Will we ever see you again?”

“No thanks is necessary, Lord Rendor,” Kaliq replied graciously. “And as to whether you will see us again, only the future can know the answer to your question. Lara, my love, goodbye!” He kissed her lips softly, regretfully, and then he was gone, disappearing into the shadows of the afternoon.

“And I must go, too, for my wedding day is near,” Lara told them. “But first you must all be returned to your homes. Take your horses, and ride back the same way from which you came. You will each reach your villages within the hour. In future, however, you will find this Gathering place several days’ journey away as it has always been.” She turned to go.

“Wait!” Rendor called to her.

“What is it?” Lara asked him, surprised.

The clan lords gathered themselves about her, and Rendor spoke quietly. “We have all pledged our loyalty to Magnus Hauk, Lara. Now we would pledge that same fealty to you, for you are the true leader of the Outlands clan families.”

Then each man knelt before her in turn, taking her small soft hands into their big rough ones; pressing them to their foreheads, their hearts and finally kissing the backs of those dainty hands as each spoke in his turn their oath of loyalty. Lara’s green eyes filled with tears that spilled silently down her pale cheeks. And when they had concluded the rite they saluted her, raising a single arm in tribute to her as they cried with one voice a single word: “Domina!”

She bit her lip, and swallowed back the emotion that threatened to weaken her entirely. “Thank you, my lords,” she somehow found the voice to say.

They smiled at her, and then the clan lords mounted their horses, traveling off in different directions, disappearing from her view almost instantly. Lara drew a long breath in, and then whispering a single word, “Home!” she was herself gone from the Gathering place, and quickly found herself back in the castle in her own apartments.

Sirvat was awaiting her anxiously. “Thank the Great Creator you are here!” she cried. “My mother’s ship has just been sighted coming around the point into the fjord. Magnus is beside himself with worry. You were gone longer than he anticipated.”

“Go and tell him I am home,” Lara instructed Sirvat. “I will bathe and dress quickly so I can be ready to greet the lady Persis.” She began to pull off her garments, handing them to the serving women who hurried to help her. She washed herself quickly in the small private bath that was now hers. Her hair was filthy. She soaped and rinsed it twice before wrapping it in a towel. The serving women dried her, and handed her a soft light wool gown. It had long fitted sleeves, a simple rounded neckline and a straight skirt. It was a dark burgundy-red in color, Lara sat while two women vigorously rubbed her damp hair dry with silk cloths. One of them plaited it into a single braid, tying the end with a silk ribbon to match her gown. Lara slipped her feet into a pair of delicate leather slippers as a servant clasped a dainty gold chain about Lara’s waist.

Sirvat rushed into the room. “Praise the Great Creator! You are ready. She is just disembarking now from her vessel.” Grabbing Lara’s hand she hurried her from the room, from her apartments, and through the castle. They quickly reached the quay platform entry where Magnus Hauk was already waiting to greet his mother, along with his brother-in-law. “Here she is!” Sirvat gasped.

Lara smiled at him, and pulling her into his arms he gave her a long satisfying kiss. “I have missed you,” he murmured in her ear.

“I have missed you, but I did not realize how much until this moment,” she told him with another smile.

“Mother’s coming!” they heard Sirvat whisper nervously.

The platform creaked and squeaked as the giant in charge drew it upwards. They saw the top of Lady Persis’s head first, and then the whole of her appeared as she reached her destination. The Dominus came forward to open the gate. He bowed.

“Welcome, my lady mother,” he said formally, helping her from the platform.

“I hope you have something hot for me to drink,” Lady Persis replied. “I am frozen from being out on the water these many hours. Lara, beautiful as always. Sirvat, Corrado, you do not look bored with each other yet.” She acknowledged them all, taking her son’s arm and encouraging him to lead her to his Great Hall.

“You should have a fur-lined cape,” Lara told the older woman. “Marten, I think. The warm brown of that fur would flatter your lovely complexion.” She walked on the other side of Lady Persis. “It is rarely warm upon the sea, as I remember.”