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lugging wood or water; she bows her fiery head to Mary, as to anyone she might meet on a trail, and walks on by without missing a step.
    Sometimes Mary wears a flower crown on top of Her wooden crown. Then I know that Ivie, or Alanna, has actually stepped up close and laid these flowers on Her. It must be they cannot even feel the pulse and throb of Her great, blue aura!
    Percy has no fear of Her. And yet, I have seen him kneel before Her, raise his hands, and pray—even as the Lady prays to the Goddess. At these times I sometimes see Mary shine on him, and his face and upraised hands glowing with Her light. I do not watch this. I turn away.
    Blackbirds sing now around me. Insects hum and whine. From Alanna’s bower I hear voices, but not what they say. They talk Human, which I don’t know that well. But the tones tell me that Alanna is awake and frightened, and gentle Old Sir Edik is trying to calm her.
    Why is Alanna so often frightened? Does she lack the powerful Human Heart she should have? Or maybe she does not know how to use it. A magic wand in an ignorant hand is of little use.
    Crack! Snap! Thud! That’s Big White Percy, coming up behind my yew.
    He strides by without a glance up the yew, never dreaming my presence; no scent, no breath alerts him. If I spoke, he would hear only blackbirds singing. In shadow his aura glows wide, orange and green. He swings into the clearing. Sun burns in his hair, and his aura fades.
    Inside the bower, Alanna shrieks.
    Percy breaks stride with a little, small jump, like a dart-struck hare. Quickly, then, he gathers himself and advances again on the bower.
    The deerskin curtain is ripped aside. Alanna charges out, arms stretched to Percy, mouth wide with a shriek.
    Sir Edik, following, stops in the entrance. There he pauses, arms folded, curly gray head cocked. Shadowed, his green aura ripples around him. Like me he spies, unobserved.
    Alanna hurls herself against Percy. He rocks back on his heels and flings his arms around her to hold her up. She sobs a torrent of Human words at him. “Mother…break…stay…”
    Hah! Percy said to me that Alanna would not let him go out to the Kingdom, even if the Lady of the Lake allowed it. I said to Percy that she could not stop him. How could she stop him? Percy growled and glared.
    Now I see. These words, these cries, are weapons that wound a Human Heart. As Mage Merlin told me, Heart is dangerous.
    Percy answers at first with murmurs, then with clear words. “Knight…King…Sky…” Alanna shudders and threatens to fall at each of these words, so Percy has to hold her up tighter. They are two trees that lean together, swaying in a high wind. I have seen some strange Human things from this yew, but nothing stranger than this.
    Alanna hiccups and squawks. Leaning on Percy, she beats his shoulders, his arms, with her fists. “Listen!” she gasps, and follows with a string of incomprehensible words. “Listen!” Another string. “Listen to me. I was there, I know!” And another string. She’s telling him about the Kingdom, how fearful and terrible it is.
    She’s telling him what he must do there—how he must walk, talk, breathe, so as to be Human. So as to survive.
    Gods! I’m grateful I walked away from my mother while she slept! I’m glad I don’t remember her face.
    Percy murmurs understanding.
    Alanna pushes herself upright and away. But she still grips Percy’s hand. She points past him to Mary. She turns him around by his hand and leads him to Mary, as I have seen a peasant woman lead a bull by its nose ring.
    Alanna expects Mary to help her. But why? Percy told me that Mary’s son went away from Her too.
    Alanna crashes to her knees before Mary. She pulls Percy down beside her and screams.
    All through this storm Mary has been quietly glowing, without even me noticing. Now I notice, because the quiet glow becomes lightning. As a lightning