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not sure how she had
    let herself be persuaded to come to Arilinn—her kinsman, Jeff Kerwin, known also as
    Lord Damon Ridenow, had convinced her that a few months there would be
    worthwhile, and she had been so exhausted from her adventures that she had agreed.
    Dio was being treated there, and that had settled the matter.
    When she had arrived on Darkover, she had never imagined the vast number of
    relatives she would discover here. After years of being the only child of Lew Alton, she
    was now, she felt, up to her hips in cousins and uncles—several of whom were either
    in residence at Arilinn, or frequent visitors. Ariel, Liriel's twin, was there, with her
    husband
    Piedro and their injured son Domenic, and their four other sons. She had become quite
    friendly with those children, particularly little Donal, whom she had inadvertently sent
    into the overwork!. He was a lively scamp, bored by being cooped up with his very
    anxious parents, and she had begun to teach him the rudiments of the Terran language,
    even though she knew that this would displease both the boy's mother and her aunt. It
    was a secret, and thus far Donal had managed to keep it, which gave her a good
    opinion of him. Donal never made her feel like a freak, but instead seemed to think she
    was an interesting person for someone so old. Lady Javanne came frequently to see
    Ariel, but she was most often in Thendara, intriguing and trying to persuade Regis
    Hastur of this or that.
    Liriel! One thing she had managed to learn in her months at Arilinn was not to shout
    mentally, which was a problem most young telepaths encountered. With the Alton Gift
    of forced rapport, she had rather a lot of mental voice, and finding the discipline to
    control it had been one of her few triumphs to date.
    Yes, Marguerida.
    I am having one of those headaches that I get when I have premonitions. Is Dio all
    right?
    1 monitored her half an hour ago, and she was quite as usual. I stayed to listen all the
    way though that Thetan voyage song — the rhythm is almost hypnotic.
    You didn't hear all of it — only the portion I know, which is the part that the folk on our
    island owned. And the rhythm is the movement of the waves, so of course it is hypnotic.
    Are you sure she is well?
    As sure as I can be.
    Then something else is wrong — or is going to be wrong soon. Dammit! Why do I have
    to have these stupid scraps of foreknowledge? You would think that I would either have
    nothing, or a clear, concise lump of stuff that I could deal with.
    That would certainly make it easier, Marguerida. Like so much else, the ideal is very
    far from the reality. When did it start?
    About half an hour ago. I thought it was just one of my usual headaches from being
    around matrices — only I haven't been around the Tower much this afternoon. I worked
    with
    Jeff this morning, had my second breakfast, and was just going to go over to the
    scriptorium to see how the work is progressing on those records that Haydn Lindir
    found, when, bang, my brain was being attacked by skewers. So I sat down in the
    fragrance garden, thinking that I just needed to get some sun and relax, and it got
    worse and worse.
    I see. Well, for the moment, I cannot find anything amiss.
    It might not have anything to do with Arilinn, I suppose. I mean, Mikhail could have
    fallen down a cliff and broken his neck.
    Stop that right this minute! I will put up with that sort of thing from my sister, since she
    has such a vivid imagination, and no self-control whatever! I expect better of you!
    -Yes, Liriel. Margaret's response was almost meek. She accepted criticism from her
    cousin as she did from no one else, not even her father.
    There, that is better. If anything had happened to my brother, you would know it, and
    there would be no uncertainty whatever.
    You are probably right. I do wish that my father and yours were not being such
    stubborn idiots.
    Wish yourself to the moon and it will be easier, chiya. They are men,