'All too much for you, my sweet,' whispered Erienne, tucking the doll under the sheets beside her and experiencing another wash of guilt. 'Sleep well.' She kissed Lyanna's forehead and left the room, closing the door gently behind her. Ren'erei was waiting.

'I'll stand here and listen,' she said. 'If she stirs and calls for her mother, I'll come for you.'

Erienne kissed her on the cheek, a sudden relief running through her.

'Thank you, Ren'erei,' she said. 'You're a friend, aren't you?'

T hope so,' the elf replied.

Erienne hurried back to the dining room to find the table laid with meat and vegetables in serving dishes sitting over candles. A flagon of wine stood on a tray with crystal glasses, and smoke from a long pipe in Ephemere's hand curled towards the plain ceiling. A clear memory of Denser flashed through her mind; of him sitting against the bole of a tree, calmly smoking his foul-smelling tobacco while The Raven debated the end of everything. She smiled to herself and wished again he was with her.

'She went straight to sleep then?' asked Aviana. Erienne nodded. 'Good. Good. Help yourself to food and wine and sit closer, then we shan't have to raise our voices.'

Erienne took a little food and poured half a glass of wine before sitting next to Ephemere, who wafted smoke away from her.

T do apologise for this appalling habit,' she said, sounding hoarse. 'But we find the inhalation eases our lungs and aching limbs. Unfortunately, as you can hear, it rather affects our voices.' She passed the pipe on to Aviana who sucked deeply, coughing as she swallowed the smoke that smelled of oak, roses and a sweet herb she couldn't quite place.

As if seeing them for the first time, Erienne took in their age and frailty. In the candle- and lantern light, Ephemere's skin looked so stretched across her face it might tear at any moment. It was very pale under her thick white hair, giving a stark backdrop to her sparkling deep emerald eyes, that displayed her magical vitality so effectively.

Her robes hung on a fleshless body from which her long, narrow neck, tendons and veins standing proud, jutted like a rock from a dark sea. Her hands were long, almost spidery, unadorned by jewellery and shaking slightly, her fingers ending in carefully tended short nails.

Erienne returned to those eyes and saw the light and warmth burning within them. Ephemere smiled.

'I expect you're thinking you didn't get here a moment too soon,' she said. 'And you aren't far from the truth.'

'Oh Ephy, don't be so dramatic,' scalded Myriell, her voice ragged from the pipe.

'Is it so?' hissed Ephemere, tone hardening. 'I, for one, will not hide from the risk we all take and the likely outcome for us all.'

'The girl must know the truth. All of it,' added Cleress.

'Know what, exactly?' asked Erienne, feeling a shiver in her mind. All the warmth had gone from Ephemere's eyes though the power still burned there, as it did from all their faces.

'Off you go, Ephy,' said Cleress.

'Erienne, as you can see, we are old, even for elves and there is a limit to how long even magic can delay the inevitable,' said Ephemere.

'And it would be fair to say we none of us would still choose to be alive were it not for our enforced wait,' said Cleress.

Ephemere nodded. 'You're going to see things here that you won't like. You're going to want to stop us doing what we do with Lyanna. You will fear for her safety and you have every right to, because she will be in danger every day of her training. I'm afraid this is an unfortunate consequence of the damage done by her Dordovan teachers.'

'Damage?' Erienne stopped chewing, heart thumping in her chest, her head thick with a growing fear.

'Calm yourself, Erienne, there is no lasting damage, either physical or mental. We have calmed the nightmares that threatened her in your College. The problem lies in that she is so very young to be accepting an Awakening. And if she fails to understand our teaching, the harm to her could be severe,' said Aviana.

'Death?' Erienne hardly dared mouth the word.

'That is the ultimate price any mage may pay for attempting to realise the gift of magic,' said Cleress. 'But for Lyanna, the consequences before death would be most distressing.' She held up a hand to stop Erienne's next question. 'We know that Lyanna had already accepted Dordovan mana as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and it was this that first alerted us through the mana trails we have studied for so long.

'But in her mind there is a conflict caused by her Dordovan training. Only part of her ability has been stirred and now we must awaken the rest, but we fear that the Dordovan-trained part of her

mind will resist unless we can retrain it not to. It's a difficult enough concept to grasp for anyone but for a child so young…' Cleress shrugged.

Erienne put down her fork and held her hands to her mouth, searching for a way out. 'Can you not just wait until she is older. Protect her from harm until she's ready somehow?'

'If we could, we would. But the process of her Awakening has been started. Unnecessarily.' Myriell's eyes bored into Erienne's.

'I beg your pardon?'

'Whatever they may have told you, the Dordovan masters hoped their magic would stifle the rest within her, so like fools they went ahead to bring it out. No doubt they told you it was the only way to save her,' said Myriell.

'Well yes, but…' There was a clamouring in Erienne's mind, like an alarm bell ringing but far too late. She felt on the edge of panic.

'What they wanted was to save themselves from her. But they had no real conception of what they were dealing with, Erienne, and your trust in them has put Lyanna in great danger from her own mind. And us with it.'

'No, no, no.' Erienne shook her head but couldn't make sense of the tumble of thoughts. 'You're supposed to be able to help. Make her like you. How can she be in danger now? We've come here to be safe.'

Ephemere put a cold hand on Erienne's arm.

'Child, relax,' she said, her tone soothing despite its roughness. 'Here is what you must know, but first keep in mind that you are not to blame for anything that has happened and that your bringing Lyanna here was her only hope. And ours too. Had she stayed in Dordover, she would surely have perished.'

Erienne breathed deep and felt her heart slow a little. She nodded and looked up into Ephemere's deep green eyes and waited for the Al-Drechar to continue.

'Within Lyanna is an ability none but one of her own can understand and nurture. She doesn't merely have the capacity to understand all College lores but has the innate knowledge of the base single force of magic that all mages once had. But to release it, she must first learn how to harness the individual strands. For her it will

be like visiting the ManaBowl in each College to accept the mana and lore. This should be learned as one but Dordover has upset the balance.

'I cannot begin to explain to you the sheer power she holds inside her but her ability to shape mana can already be felt over hundreds of miles. If we don't teach her how to control her power, she could do immense damage before she inevitably kills herself. I'm afraid that in teaching her there will be problems. And while she learns, her mistakes will be a beacon for those who would do her harm. You will be the steadying influence on her life while she is at her most vulnerable. You must protect her.

'She is so young and physically frail. The poor girl should not have had to face this until she was your age.'

'But you can make it happen?' Erienne searched those eyes.

'We have to.' It was Aviana who spoke. 'Because if we fail, there will be no Al-Drechar.'

'Why, what will happen to you?' Erienne thought she knew the answer and so did Ephemere, who laughed.