"And what about me?" Mericlou said in a small, plaintive voice. She turned and faced Aldrec, her amber eyes moist with repressed tears. "Will I be able to leave with you, or will I be the wife that you leave behind?"

"You're still young yet, love," Aldrec replied tenderly, though his voice trembled with the hurt that it caused him to say this. "It would probably be best if you did stay behind. There's so much you have to learn."

"But I can learn it when I'm with you," Mericlou retorted. "I love you, and I don't want to see you go!"

"Nor do I wish to leave you," Aldrec said, and then after a long pause, laughed, as if to shake off the heavy chains of such a dismal subject. "But who knows when that will be anyway? It could be a hundred, or a thousand years from now, for all I know. There's no use worrying about the things you can't change, so let's just focus on the moment. You're happy, aren't you?"

"Supremely," Mericlou said, leaning into his arms, thankful for his change in demeanor. "And you're right. We only have the moment. Let's live in it, and cross that bridge later."

The night was peaceful, and the grass outside free of dew, so that her wedding gown would not be stained. She sat enfolded in her new husband's arms on the bank of the stream in the glade. The moonlight shone through the canopy just as strongly as before, and the sparkling leaves of light added a hauntingly beautiful glow to the atmosphere.

Some ducks swam out of the surrounding forests upon the stream. Mericlou gasped and sat forward. These were the first animals she had seen in this glade since her arrival here. "Look!" She said, pointing their way. "Where'd they come from?"

"They were always here," Aldrec said. "They were just sleeping."

"Sleeping?" Mericlou had never heard of ducks that slept in the day. But her expertise was in plants, not animals.

"They're nocturnal," Aldrec explained. "Most of the animals here are. It's safe here that way."

"Safe?" Mericlou was now more confused than before. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nocturnal animals find the night as an easier time to find prey, or to hide from predators," Aldrec explained. "And the animals that come here, into my domain, are safe. The magic that keeps this place hidden from the eyes of the lesser races also keeps all animals that come here hidden from predators. Wounded animals often come and ask for my help, and I heal them."




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