The next morning was spent attending services at the gorgeous Havenwing cathedral, after which we returned home and were joined for lunch by a few of Uncle Oruc and Aunt Monria's friends.

Even that 'casual' gathering made me nervous with its pomp and opulence, but I hoped it might prepare me for my first Havenwing ball, which Aunt Monria had informed me the day before, was taking place in three weeks' time.

When the grass grows long and thick in the back,
We run through the yard; it before us expands
It becomes a forest, a tangled wilderness
filled with the things that inhabit our dreams
Owls in top hats, falcons and lightning,
the little folk in their tiny wood homes
Wigwams and tree forts, catstles and kings
towers and caves filled with mysteries untold
wizards and horses, the wind that can speak
and tell me all the places it's been,
and all the things it has seen
Brave heroes, cunning villians,