“Neither of us is very good at keeping a relationship going.”

“Maybe you were just never in the right one.”

“Maybe. But what if it doesn’t work out? I’ll lose my best friend.”

Lizzie gave a slow shake of her head. Her gaze met mine across the fire.

“And what if it does?” she asked.

Timony nodded in agreement.

“Love is the great gift all creatures can share,” he said. “It’s our only chance to be a part of the Grace.”

“The Grace?” I asked.

I heard a capital when he said the word and instinctively found myself repeating it the same way.

“I learned that from the First People,” he said, “who call themselves the cousins. Like our friend Honey. Fairy would say it’s the blessing of the moon. It might not last, but to not dare her gift . . . “ He shrugged. “One might as well not be alive.”

“I understand what you’re saying. It’s just . . . ”

“Don’t let fear choose the outcome,” Timony told me when my voice trailed off.

“I suppose.”

“You need to distract yourself. Too much heavy thinking’s not good for human or fairy.”

“We should play some tunes,” Lizzie said. “You could show me one of those fairy ones you were talking about.”

I was afraid that would only remind me too much of Galfreya, but music’s always been my way out of my head. When I’m playing, the rest of the world dissolves away. I might be unhappy, or broke, or lonely, but music could change that. It didn’t so much make me forget, as give me a new perspective, and lord knew I needed a new perspective right about now.

I pulled my fiddle case closer and opened the clasps.

“Sure,” I said. “Why not?”

“Music has a magic of its own,” Timony said. “Maybe your playing will help Jilly return more quickly.”

I already liked the doonie, but when he said that, I felt a real warmth toward him.

Lizzie and I rosined our bows and checked the tuning of our fiddles against each other.

“Okay,” I said. “I got this from a troll whistle player, if you can imagine that. It sort of feels like ‘Shenandoah’ when it starts, but then it gets into this funny modal section that really gives it a lift. Let me show you.”

I played it through, slowly, smiling when she started to pick it up by the second time around.

Rabedy

The only thing that saved Rabedy from sharing a fate similar to that of his uncle and the other bogans in Big Dan’s gang was a bad case of nerves.