But building fortresses and planning campaigns took time. Long before the log walls were finished or the grain that had survived the rains had been harvested, Bendeigid returned to escort his daughters to the Forest House. He brought gently paced mules for Mairi and the children to ride. Eilan rode with Mairi’s older child before her, warmly wrapped against the light rain. She was not used to riding and it took all her concentration to balance behind the excited child. The distance was not great, but the unaccustomed journey seemed long.
Darkness was just falling as they came within the palisaded walls. Within the compound were half a dozen large buildings; Caillean took Mairi and her children to a guest house, lifting the little boy down from his perch before Eilan, and pointed out a large building of stout timbers, thatched almost down to the ground.
“There is the House of Maidens,” she said. “The chief of the younger priestesses, Eilidh, has been told of your coming, and she will welcome you there. I will come later when I can; but first I must go and see if Lhiannon needs me.”
The new moon – the first of Mairi’s newborn’s life — rode low on the western horizon. As the serving woman led her into the building and across an inner enclosure, Eilan was surprised to, find that already she missed her sister.
Then a gate opened and the woman led her into the inner court. Ahead of her was a long building something like her father’s feasting hall. As she passed through the door a sea of strange faces surrounded her. She looked around, feeling abandoned. The serving woman had left her alone at the door. The hall seemed very large and there was a faint scent of sweet herbs in the air. Then one of the priestesses came forward.
“I am Eilidh,” she said.
“Where is my kinswoman, Dieda?” asked Eilan nervously. “I had hoped to see her here —”
“Dieda attends on Lhiannon and is secluded with her in preparation for the rites of Lughnasad,” said the priestess. “She is your cousin? I would have thought you even more closely akin; even twins.
“Caillean has asked me to take you in charge, for now that she is back she will have to attend Lhiannon. You are almost as beautiful as she told me.”
Eilan colored shyly and lowered her eyes. The priestess was herself quite beautiful; fair-haired, with curly short hair that circled her face in the lamplight, like a delicate halo. She was dressed like the other junior priestesses, not in the dark robes they wore outside the walls but in a dress of undyed linen of an extremely old-fashioned cut, girdled with a woven belt of green.
“You must be half dead with fatigue,” Eilidh said kindly. “Come to the fire, child, and get warm.”
Eilan obeyed, feeling a little stunned by all the strange faces. She had not thought what might confront her here. Now she wondered what she would find, and whether she had made a decision she would regret all her life.
“Don’t be afraid of us,” said a grave voice behind her. The new speaker was tall and sturdy, with reddish hair. “There aren’t half as many of us as there seem to be. You should have seen me when I first came here, staring about me and sobbing like a wild thing. My name is Miellyn. I have been here five or six years, and now I cannot imagine any other life. All my friends are here, and one day you will have friends here too. For all that we must seem so strange to you now.” She took Eilan’s cloak from her, and laid it aside.
“I think Lhiannon wishes to speak with you before anything else,” said Eilidh, “so come with me.” So saying, she led Eilan across a blustery courtyard to a separate dwelling and rapped on the door. After a moment they heard footsteps and Caillean peered out.
“Eilan? Come in, child,” she said, gesturing to someone behind her. “Dieda, you see, I have brought Eilan to you at last.”
“So you have,” said Dieda, emerging from the shadows behind her. “My father, the Arch-Druid, is here too; and Bendeigid, so we shall be a regular family party, I suppose.” She laughed, and Eilan thought she had never heard so cynical a sound. “And if he has his way Cynric will be brought here as well. I have heard they want to use your Sight, Caillean.”