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“Don’t worry so, she is finding her way to adulthood. I do have to admit to you love, Gwenth and I had another row today. Something’s changed though, I’m usually beside myself about it all but I’m feeling more optimistic. I believe it will eventually sort itself out.” Meredith leaned over and reached across James bare chest to pick up the jar of cider from where it stood on the bedside table.
         “I worry about that, you know. What if she never accepts you,” he said, his voice turning thick with emotion.
         Meredith swallowed the heady cider and considered James’ fear. Her intuition told her that it all would somehow be ok. She’d at last recognized the underlying truth that her sisters pointed out to her. She finally knew to the depths of her soul that accepting the love she had for this mortal was somehow part of the key that would free them all. “No it’s going to be ok. She’s just been hurt as any child would be. As time goes on she will come to grips with the love we share.”
         “Hmm, if you say so, wife of mine.” His eyes twinkled, as he reached out for more of the meat. “God the meat seems so good tonight, why is that? Did you make it differently?”
         “No, no, same as always, maybe it’s just your hunger giving it flavor.” Meredith laughed, as she reached under the covers and stroked his muscled thigh.
    “Here now,” he hollered in surprise. “Aren’t you too tired for that?”
    “Aye, if the truth be told, I am.” Meredith leaned in to kiss him, his lips slick with meat juices, “I find though I can’t ever quite get enough of you, either.”
         They finished the rest of the meal in silence, each caught up in the privacy of their own thoughts. When they were done eating, James set the plate down on the floor, and blowing out the candle he pulled Meredith into his arms. “Aye, I feel the same way myself,” he said, kissing her deeply. “Let’s just lie here and watch the fire. You could tell me about when you were a wee lass, maybe it will help me with Gwenth somehow. Girls are so much more difficult than boys I think. With a boy you just cuff his ear and go on. Girls are so blasted emotional.”
         Meredith lay against James’ great muscled chest and listened to his heart beating.  “Someday husband I will tell you about my childhood, but not now. Let’s just lie here and enjoy the comfort of the night.”
         “Aye, let’s.”
         Outside, the sea wind had risen, it was blowing hard against the cottage walls and off in the distance they could hear the water slamming into the cliff side; but here, in their room the fire was warm, as were their two hearts, and both felt at ease in a way they had never known before. It wasn’t long before James’ breath deepened and he nodded off to sleep.
    Meredith lay staring at the fire. She knew life was full of incongruities, on one hand love had come into her life, bringing with it a delight she had never known in her crow form and yet on the other hand she was here to help or force the girl to break through the curtain that hung between at least two time lines, in order to bring a new race of people into this world. Meredith shivered, the dangers were great. She must help Gwenth and keep her safe at the very least for her husband’s sake, she feared even his great strength would not be enough to survive a second death of a loved one.
    As a child, Meredith had always been enamored of the story of the red-haired girl who saved the Fey. In the ancient myth, the crow people were said to have aided the youth in bringing the Fey forward. The story had always been vague how the girl had traveled to and from the other timelines, but tonight when Meredith saw the letters glowing on the branch, she knew the branch could only be from the Great Rowan. In her tribe it was still a matter of contention if the Rowan was the tree of life or the tree of knowledge. Even now after a