The Coral Kingdom - Douglas Niles [4]
Robyn knew that the Moonshae Islands stood at a critical time in their long history. Only once before, under the reign of the hero Cymrych Hugh, had the four kingdoms of the Ffolk stood united under a single throne. Yet Cymrych Hugh had died with no clear heir to the throne, and within a generation, the isles had again broken into political fragments, easy prey for the northmen invaders who had gradually claimed much of the land.
Now Tristan Kendrick, the second High King to unite the Ffolk, had perished. He left a queen-a strong queen, Robyn reminded herself-and two daughters. Though the Ffolk, unlike the northmen, had never disparaged the rulership of a queen simply on the basis of her sex, Robyn knew that she would have to prove her fitness to continue the Kendrick line, and in that process, she must ensure that Alicia would inherit the kingdom upon her own death.
Her goal seemed clear, but there were so many obstacles, and as she thought of those obstacles, she came back to the plans that had caused her to pause, musing, at the window in the first place.
A harsh knock at the door, though not unexpected, broke Robyn's reverie. "Come in," she said.
The door opened to reveal Deirdre Kendrick. The princess's black hair floated behind her, unbound and silky long, as she moved softly into her mother's chamber. The two women looked remarkably similar, though the maturity and sorrow of age had unmistakably marked the mother with lines around her mouth and eyes and a fringe of gray that had begun to lighten her long black hair. "You wished to see me?" Deirdre said.
Robyn knew what she needed to say to her daughter, and she knew that Deirdre wouldn't like it. She found it difficult to begin.
"Yes, my daughter. Please come here. I was enjoying the view."
Silently the princess joined her mother.
"Summer," observed the queen. "Such a vital, vibrant season. Doesn't it make you feel alive?"
Deirdre smiled, but her eyes remained hooded. "Books make me feel alive, Mother-and they do so even in the dark of winter."
Robyn suppressed a sigh, turning to face her daughter squarely. "I wish to speak with you about those books, about the forces you read about and touch. You bring a shadow around yourself. There is a darkness that surrounds you-a darkness you wear about your shoulders like a cloak. It disturbs me. You've opened the doors to places that can't help but change you. The powers you touch are very dangerous things!"
"Of course they're dangerous! But I know how to use them, and every day I learn more!" Deirdre's reaction was anger, and her green eyes flashed with the heat of her emotion. "I follow a pathway to power without limit, without restriction-a road I've chosen for myself!"
"Without the limits, for example, imposed by a god-or goddess?" Robyn asked pointedly.
Deirdre shrugged. "You have your own life, Mother, and the goddess has chosen to favor that life. Once again you wear the mantle of the Great Druid, but that's not the way for me!"
"Your sister shows a growing awareness of the Earthmother," the queen said. "She wears the bracers of a druid, and soon she will bear the staff that I'm making for her. I should like to grant you an equal gift, my daughter-but I don't know what it should be."
"There is something that I desire very much," Deirdre replied, her tone level, her eyes serious.
"If it falls within my power-"
"It is freedom, Mother-freedom from you, from the goddess! I have to be free to follow my own course, through the spellbooks and scrolls of wizardry. I need to see the hallowed places of magic in the Realms, visit the great sages, have the freedom to learn!"
Her impassioned voice rose as she spoke, and when