He nodded as he eased back, taking Miri with him. “Oh, I've missed you, my little feathered girl.” He kissed her cheek.
“Grandpa, I made Uncle Gabriel shut up!” Miri's wings rustled.
Killian, Rowan, and Eibhleann stared at her with wide, wary eyes while my father raised his eyebrows at me.
“We had an incident.” I gave him a bright fake smile.
“Ah.” My father looked over my glowing armor and then went back to the table with Miri. “Sweetheart, could you look after the girls for a little while?” He handed Miri to Eibhleann.
“Of course!” Eibhleann took Miri. “You can tell Grandma and Ro-Ro all about your adventures.”
“Rowie, I went underground!” Miri said to her sister.
Unsatisfied with using everyone else's nickname for Rowan, Miri had to come up with her own. Gods forbid she ran with the pack. Not my lone wolf. But Rowan loved it. She handed Miri a flower as I stepped up to the table.
“Where did you go underground?” Rowan asked.
“L.A.” I kissed the top of Rowan's head. “I'll be right back, okay? I've missed you.”
“Okay, Mom.” She looked over my armor. “Why are you dressed like that?”
“Oh, uh. I had to shift in Seelie.”
“Would you like a robe?” Eibhleann offered as she set Miri down on the bench.
“Yes, please.” I followed Eibhleann into her tree.
The hollow interior of the ancient oak felt as magical to me as Twilight Castle. It had magically grown this way, not been carved, and that boggled my mind. Eibhleann and her oak had been born on the same day, the tree emerging from its acorn as she emerged from her mother. As Eibhleann grew, so did her tree, forming itself into her home. Every detail, from the kitchen cupboards to the lookout in the branches, was pulled from Eibhleann's mind. It was truly the home of her dreams. Within the living trunk, I felt safe.
“I'll just be a moment.” Eibhleann hurried toward the staircase that wound up the side of the trunk and into the ceiling just a few feet above my head.
While she was gone, I ran my hand over the living wood surfaces. A circular table took up most of the bottom floor, growing right out of it. Chairs gathered around the table, though they were mobile and fashioned from other wood. Acorns filled a bowl in the center of the table, waiting for Eibhleann to snack on. The tree sustained her in more ways than one, and she sustained it in return with her love and magic.
“Here you are.” Eibhleann came downstairs with a green velvet robe in her hands. She was smaller than I, so I couldn't borrow a dress.
“Thank you.” I released the Light and pulled on the robe. Although harmless in that form, I didn't want to be walking around clad only in magic.
Eibhleann handed me a belt next, and I used it to hold the robe together. “Is all well?” she whispered.
“We saved Seelie, but we haven't found Danu. We were told that there would be more incidents in Unseelie and here.”
“Told by whom?”
“Tiernan's father.”
“His deceased father?” Her dark eyebrows lifted.
“Yes. Tiernan summoned the Shining Ones to defend us, and his father was among them.”
“Oh, what a blessing!” She held her hands to her chest and, as if sensing her emotions, the tree creaked happily.
“Yes, Tiernan got some closure, but now we have to prepare for something similar to the blight happening here.”
“The blight.” Her stare went up.
“Your tree should be fine within the castle walls. And we don't know if it will be another blight. Just something like it.”
She nodded. “I see.”
