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The laird cleared his throat "Respectfully, Gors clothed in riddles and rhyht Aye, there ’s a lass, you’ve the truth of it there But you don ’t know the weight of it I ’htful ho you brew the tea leaves or do what it is you do to see the way of it for ue with the old worandfather once told him omen spoke in ht would be o, "the witch wouide the fall of your feet, she will light your step "

More than once she had favorably advised the lairds of his clan, and he knew the great risk it would be to ignore her words, but singing a song and insisting Lily was soht froravity in her voice roused Ewen froht of it The star road lets but a few pass Mind ht his eyes back to hers "You neglect its signs at your peril "

"Are you saying" Ewen hesitated "that she ’ -- -- sor t ’other " She paused to consider her next thought "Tell your lass, a person has but one present and best she open her eyes to it "

Ewen stared into the fire He had just assumed Lily would return to her own time That she could choose to stay suddenly seemed so simple, so obvious, but was nonetheless a revelation to the laird In that moment, he experienced a flash of relief so profound, Ewen realized how his feelings for Lily had deepened To hear Gorht actually be ordained by a greater force that, in bringing Lily across time to him, played destiny’s own hand

But then Gore, "If you ’ve not the heart, boy, here ’s her path home" She thrust a soiled sheet toward the laird The paper was ancient, its creases nearly disintegrated froently up to the firelight, studying the series of lines and points, surrounded by an ancient runic pattern It was a crudely rendered star chart that Ewen recognized as integral to returning Lily to her own ti toward the old parchment

"And what Cameron doesn ’t ken their first laird? Black Donald led the clan over two hundred years ago And what has he to do with this business?"

"Patience, lad, " Gor the steiveher time, the old woht her pipe, took a few thoughtful puffs, then began, "There’s always been bickering betwixt Highlanders, oft times full war And the earliest days of Clan Cameron saw no different They’d the usual skirmishes over cattle and lands, and one day the chief Donald Dubh Cameron saw a friend become his ene pipe as she considered "it isn’t like a Cameron-- laird to shrink from battle, but for whatever reason, the Black Donald fled to Ireland"

Ewen interjected, "And Donald ’s enemy took Ca happened to Donald Dubh when he was in Ireland Say what you will of the Irish"--she cackled softly "an Irishman may fritter the day, nose in -- the trees on the hunt for elves, but they ’re a canny bunch They’ve one foot in the world of the fae, and Donald Dubh Cah the stars to other ti his lands back, and beating his ene to tell me that Black Donald returned from Ireland with a fairy’s star chart and er glinted in the old woman ’s eyes and she snatched the paper from the laird’s hand She spat, "Those are your words, boy I know not what transpired with the man, just that he returned with a bit of fae lore about the traveling through time " Her voice calain the Donald struck, but this chart seeood of the clan at its heart You ’ve seen with your own eyes that the h, who knohat for"

"Och," Ewen interrupted, "Robert cah his role is clear as crystal"

"M on the stem of her pipe, "and now it’s the lass, your Lily, who’s so to her shoulders and handed Ewen the star chart

"But what use are any of your papers, woman, e can’t even find this rinned, pipe clenched between her teeth "Of course you can’t find the maze, lad, it’s not yet built, aye? ’Twill be built by one who comes later than you, who seeks retreat from his fate "

Ewen stared in impatient confusion