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abruptly jerked to the side and he looked towards the long table in the centre of the clearing, around which the Fae Court was seated.
    She looked that way also with a frown. “Did someone call you, Nuallán?” she asked hesitantly, scanning faces to see if anyone was looking their way.
    Her heart skipped a beat when she realised that everyone was watching them .
    He turned his face back towards her just as swiftly. “Yes,” he replied after a moment, nodding his head. “Prince Finvara requests our presence.”
    Chelsea blinked at him in surprise, looking back and forth between her companion and the crowded table. “You heard that?” she questioned in disbelief. They were metres away and she hadn’t heard anyone call out. The Fae lord’s hearing must be incredible!
    “Most assuredly.” Nuallán drawled sardonically, his silver eyes darkly amused by her incredulity. “We Fae have enhanced senses, far superior to that of humans.”
    “Amazing!”
    She went back to scrutinizing the party - no, the feast. It became even clearer that the tree, in the very centre of the field of grass and flowers, was incredibly ancient and even huger than she had thought at first glance. It fairly towered over everyone and the forest itself. She wasn’t sure how she had not seen it from the other smaller clearing where she had awoken, or even from the waterfall where she had bathed. It must be hundreds of years old! Maybe a thousand.
    That thought boggled her mind.
    On the right side of the huge tree, there were two bonfires, set about two metres apart. The fire-pits both had what looked like a thick spear of wood that served as a spit for a roast, but nothing was rotating there yet. She wondered if it was for a boar, (or deer) or some other kind of woodland animal.
    They fire-pits were sunk into the ground inside a circle of grey stones that looked as if they had been used for this purpose many times. For decades or more. The stone was covered in grey and black ash from the extreme heat of the fire that had seared into its surface over time.
    Lying around the circumference of the stone were flowers of yellow and white, perhaps marigold and primrose, interwoven with twigs were deep purple grapes, and what appeared to actually be gold and silver apples.
    Chelsea peered closer, overcome with a deep need to eat that fruit. Her mouth was practically salivating until Nuallán noticed her preoccupation and gently turned her face away with a hand to her chin.
    “No,” he said firmly. “Mortals may not eat those apples.”
    “What are they?”
    “Do not ask, Maiden.” His tone was icy and forbidding, which shut the red-haired girl up immediately.
    Chelsea sighed and looked away from him, carefully not turning her eyes back towards the fires. There were many torches around the edge of the clearing, spaced evenly on wooden poles, but they were not truly needed, because the bright fullness of the moon that was almost right above them, was illuminating the forest with a silvery, ethereal glow. She could see everything.
    There were mostly Fae there, at least one hundred or more of them, but there were also a mix of dozens of other types of creatures. Some were stunningly beautiful and others were quite ugly. There were creatures that were tall and red and lanky, with dark penetrating eyes, that were almost as tall as a tree, and then there were tiny flying creatures, so small that she could not even make out their features.
    She was astounded by them all, creatures that had stepped right out of the mythology books, all alive and well in this forest, safe from mortals, who thought them nothing but the figment of someone’s imaginations.
    Chelsea realised that her awed staring was rude, when several creatures began to glare back and sneer at her. She bit her lip and looked down at her feet for a moment, as Nuallán spoke to another nobleman in the same beautiful robes of silk, but his colours in light blue and gold.
    The two Fae lords had