“No, no. The fairy courts. That’s where I saw Mother Crone before. It was at the wedding of Tatiana’s daughter Saireen to the Prince of the Golden Court in Demaskendale. Of course, being a doonie, I wasn’t a member of the court, but I had a good seat in the second hundreds.”

She gave his arm a little tug. “Well, let’s get closer so we can hear what they’re saying.”

“Oh, no,” he told her. “We must allow them their privacy.” He gave a slow shake of his head, then added in a tone of voice that Siobhan might have used after meeting some admired musician such as Johnny Doherty. “When Geordie told me he was a fiddler at her court it never really registered.”

“I think there was more going on than fiddling,” Lizzie said. “Or at least fiddling that didn’t involve musical instruments.”

Timony’s eyes went wider. “Do you really think?”

Lizzie laughed. The sound of it was odd in her ears until she realized that she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been able to laugh.

She gave the doonie a hug.

“You know what?” she said. “I think everything’s going to be all right.”

“I hope so.”

He gave Geordie and Mother Crone another look that seemed wistful.

“Now what is it?” she asked.

“It’s just . . . I never had a wife or even the possibility of one. I always thought it would be nice.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I think they’re overrated.”

Timony gave her a surprised look.

“Or maybe it just never works out for me, either,” she said. “I always seem to fall for musicians. But if they’re in my band, it usually gets awkward. And if they’re in another band . . . well then, they’re never around, because either they’re travelling, or I am.”

“Maybe you need to look for someone with a different sort of job.”

“You don’t exactly get to choose who you fall for.”

“But surely you’ve met other intriguing men,” Timony said. “What about that Grey fellow?”

Lizzie laughed. “Oh right. Hook up with a guy who hates the music that’s my life—not to mention that he hates humans, period. No, if I was going to get involved with anybody I know right now, it’d be Con—the guitarist in my band—but that would just be a big mistake.”

“Well, if it can’t work out for us,” Timony said, “I hope it works for them.”

He nodded to where Geordie and Mother Crone were still talking.

Lizzie shook her head. “I don’t know what their deal is, but did you not catch the way Geordie and Jilly were looking at each other?”

“But Mother Crone is a seer.”

“Doesn’t matter, if they don’t have the sparks.”

“I don’t know about that.”