Midwinter

"That was the first winter. I consulted my wizards and my philosophers, and none of them knew why it had happened. They suggested sacrifices and spells and dances to the long-dead gods of the sun and the winds. Deep in my heart, though, I knew the answer. I had failed my land and my people. In my devotion, I had lost my vision of what it was I had sworn to uphold. I had become corrupt, just as anyone with power is corrupted. I realized I was no different or better than anyone else; I was just more powerful."

Mauritane tried to focus his eyes on the two women before him and found himself unable. They seemed to be at a distance from him that his eyes could not register. Suddenly his perspective shifted and he could see that the Queen's lips were no longer moving. Her voice was coming from the girl, Elice.

"Desperate, I begged Aba for the answer. I called him down from his palace in the sky and I asked him what to do. And what he told me is something I have never forgotten. `All that is flesh is corruptible,' he told me. `All that is in order will one day decay.'

"It was not the answer I wanted. My people loved me, needed me. Or so I thought. And in my desperation I came upon a solution, one that only I could provide. I searched the kingdom for an innocent soul that hearkened back to my own. I found her, finally, in the far east. She was the daughter of a baron whose name I once swore never to forget but have long since forgotten. The epitome of innocence and ambition, just as I had been. I brought her to me."

The shimmering of the air began to recede. Mauritane looked again, and it appeared now as though the Queen were sitting to the right of Elice, though he had not seen them change position.

"I brought to bear the magic of change upon her and upon me. I gave her my memories and my desires, and I took hers into me. I gave her my face, my form, my voice, and in return I took my leave from the cage I'd built around myself. Regina Titania walked from the throne room on that day, and Laura Crete Sulace ruled in her place. Her fresh spirit allowed the rivers to melt and the warm breezes to blow again. Summer returned to the land, and all was well.

"At least, it was for a time."

The two women rose. The motion of the air was gone, and now it was indeed Elice who stood on the left and Queen Titania who stood on the right.

"Her reign lasted one hundred years. And when her heart faded, winter returned. She cast her net for a replacement and found one, just as Regina Titania had done.

"As the centuries continued, a new heart was brought to bear on the kingdom every hundred years. And that secret became the most treasured and most dangerous of all. For if anyone were to discover that Titania no longer ruled in the City Emerald, the Seelie Kingdom would fall away like sand. Mab could press her ancient claim to the throne, and an age of darkness would come to the Seelie Fae. And I am not yet prepared to let that happen. Soon, but not yet.

"So," said the new Queen, "you understand that the secrecy and the deceit that accompanied your errand were of unfortunate necessity.

She smiled. "That is my story, and the moral of it I leave for you to discern. I trust you will take your lesson where you can find it."

The Queen returned to her throne, and Elice stepped slowly down to where Mauritane stood. The girl took his hand and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Thank you," she whispered.

"What boon do you ask, Mauritane?" the Queen said. "Anything in my power to provide I will give you."

Mauritane struggled for words. "All I want I have," he said. "Only now I would like to go see my wife."

The Queen's face was somber. "You have served Us well, Mauritane. We will hold your boon in abeyance."

Mauritane nodded.

"Is there something else?"

He paused. "Something yet troubles me."

"Speak."

"Twice during this mission I have been called `He Who Clears the Path,' once by the Thule Man and again by an Arcadian."

"Ah, the Thule Man. We knew him once, when we were both much younger. And you wish to know what this means."

"I do."

Titania leaned forward in her throne and rested her chin in her hands. It was a girlish posture for a Queen.

"It is a prophecy, nothing more; prophecies surround Us like gnats. But We see that it troubles you."

"I do not wish to be the slave of fate," said Mauritane.

The Queen giggled. "We are all slaves," she said. "Not to fate, though, but to our own hearts. Not even your Queen is exempt from that."

"But if a prophet sets a path for me, then my own honor means nothing. I am a puppet."

"No, you misunderstand. The Prophet sees, yes. But to see is not to cause. The title of `He Who Clears the Path,' like any other such, is simply a pedestal upon which your own choices have placed you. Had you opted to be a coward or a fool, someone else would eventually have stood there."

She gestured him closer and almost whispered. "It is one thing you and I have in common. Greatness casts a long shadow; cast forward by the sun and backward by the moon."