Cymbril heard her own name several times. The Sidhe smiled at her and offered warm, strong hands to help her onto firmer ground.
"They're keepers of the gate," Loric explained, "guards of our country's edge. The seers of my people have been watching our journey from afar. They knew we were coming."
At the beckoning of a Fey man in a long green coat, his belt glowing like the moon in silver mist, they started along a path that wound to and fro among the trees. In the limbs high overhead nestled houses like giant baskets woven all of branches, blanketed with moss. As Cymbril watched, Sidhe appeared in the windows of some, waving down at her and Loric with pale, lithe hands.
Branches swayed. A man and a woman came along the path to meet them. Their hair was long, the woman's twined with blossoms.
"My parents!" cried Loric, pulling Cymbril forward. She felt a happy relief at the kindness and love in their eyes. Laughing, Loric's parents swept him into their arms, and without even knowing who she was—or maybe they did know—they pulled Cymbril in, too.
In the tree limbs, a bird warbled on and on, fluttering from perch to perch. Cymbril couldn't hold back a giggle at the bird's wild excitement. "What is he singing about?"
"Oh, you know birds," Loric answered. "All sorts of things in a jumble, not finishing one thought before he starts another. Mostly, he's repeating 'The sun is coming up! The sun is coming up!'"
Rose-colored light grew in the east. Cymbril stood bathed in its glow, the darkness flowing away. The bird was right.
The Green Leaves of Eireigh
Words © 2010 by Frederic S. Durbin
Music © 2010 by Dorothy VanAndel Frisch. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Blue Were Her Eyes
Words © 2010 by Frederic S. Durbin
Music © 2010 by Dorothy VanAndel Frisch. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Star Shard Page 20
