“Ah, daughter—” the Lady laughed once more, “be not so certain that you understand what your vows mean, and where they will lead you! This much I will tell you: only when you understand who you truly are will you know your way—”
From somewhere, words came to me. “Eilan I am, and Elen shall guide me…”
The Faerie Queen looked at me and suddenly, unexpectedly, smiled.
“Just so. And if you know that much, then you have set your feet already upon the path. But enough of such serious matters—for now, you are here, and that is a thing not given to many mortals. Come, my little one, and feast with us in my hall!” Gazing at me with a sweetness that touched the heart like pain, she held out her hand.
“If I go with you… will I be able to return to Avalon?” I asked hesitantly.
“If you wish it,” came the reply.
“And will I find Dierna?”
“Is that what you truly wish?” the Lady asked.
“With all my heart!” I exclaimed.
The Faerie Queen sighed. “The heart, again! I tell you now that if you find her, you will lose her, but I suppose you cannot understand. Come and be happy for a little while, if that is the only gift that you will accept from me…”
Then the Lady took me by the hand, and led me by ways winding and unknown, and we came presently to a hall all built from wood, not cut and pegged, as I had seen in the lands of men, but woven and grown all together, so that the beams were of living wood, roofed with branch and leaf of living green. Jutting branches held torches along the walls, their pale flickering light dancing in the bright eyes of the folk who sat at the high table there.
They gave me a sweet, yeasty drink in a cup that was neither silver nor gold, and as I drank, I found my weariness dissolving away. There were baskets of strange fruits, and pies with roots and mushrooms in a rich sauce, and bread with honey.
The food refreshed my body, although, as I remembered tales I had heard about the Faerie country, I wondered if it were illusion. But the harping fed something in my spirit that I did not even know had been hungering. A young man with merry eyes and a wreath of golden wheat upon his dark curls took my hand and swept me into the dance. At first I stumbled, for this was nothing like the stately measures that were thought suitable for the maidens being trained on Avalon. The rhythm was like the drumbeat that came from the Tor when the initiated priestesses danced with the Druids at the Beltane fires and the girls in the House of Maidens lay in the darkness listening, their blood pulsing to a beat they did not yet understand.
I laughed and let the music lift me, but when my partner would have drawn me away from the dancing into a leafy bower, I knew it for another temptation and slipped from his embrace and back to the feasting table once more.
“Was not the young man to your liking?” asked the queen.
“I liked him well enough,” said I, and felt my cheeks grow hot with a betraying flush, for though his beauty struck no answering chord in my heart, his touch had stirred my senses in a way I did not entirely understand. “But I have stayed here too long. I hold you to your promise, Lady, to lead me to Dierna and thence back to my home.”
“There is time and enough for that. Wait just a little: the greatest of our bards is about to sing…”
But I shook my head. “I must go. I will go—Eldri! Eldri, come to me!” I looked around in sudden terror lest the little dog, who had after all brought me to this place, should have abandoned me. But in the next moment I felt the drag on my skirts as the dog pawed at them. I bent to scoop her into my arms and hugged her fiercely.
“Yes… your will is very strong,” said the Lady thoughtfully. “What if I were to tell you that by returning to Avalon you will take the first steps on the path that leads away from it, and in doing so, you will set events in motion that will end by forever separating it from the world of men?”