"Guests, Councillors, welcome. Was that not an extraordinary meal?" Libuse asked the gathering. She laughed delightedly when she was answered with claps, cheers and stomping feet. It was good to see everyone enjoying themselves. When they had quietened, Libuse addressed them seriously. "Tonight, we welcome amongst us my god-daughter Rosemonde." There were several gasps from the guests and some murmuring from the Councillors. Libuse waited for silence before she began speaking again, "Her parents were both Councillors, and her brother a Warrior candidate. They were all taken from us too soon. No doubt some of you will remember Annette, François and Jean-Paul. I promised to watch over their daughter Rosemonde, and I have done so, with joy. Please help me welcome her officially now."

Libuse gestured to Rosemonde to stand beside her. Applause and shouts of welcome filled the hall as she joined her godmother. Noting her terrified expression, Libuse whispered, "I know you hate being the centre of attention but you will need to prepare for exactly that shortly. This is a safe environment my dear. You have nothing to fear. You needn't say anything, but it might be nice if you did."

Rosemonde gulped. After taking a deep breath, she began to speak in a clear voice that concealed her nervousness, "I have only recently regained memories of the work that my parents did and the reason that they were taken from us. They were the victims of the black eyed Children of Azazael, the assassins also known as the Shadow Eaters."

Mairead gasped and gripped her son's arm tightly. "Did you know this?" she asked quietly.

Drew paled and shook his head, slowly. He held his mother's hand and whispered, "You'll have to show me the diary she found. I need to read it and understand completely what it contains, so that I know how to protect her."

They turned their attention back to Rosemonde who continued speaking. "That I remember now, suggests that they have need of me; which means I am likely to be targeted soon."

Drew stood up abruptly. "They will not take you while I have breath in my body!" he said loudly and several voices echoed his sentiments.

"Thank you, Drew," her voice shook. Tears were threatening. "Thank you, all of you, for the work that you do, for your light and for your love." Rosemonde turned towards where the Councillors were seated. "And thank you to Ben and Liam, who came to my aid, protecting and guiding me here to Tweldor." Further applause saved her the need to say anything more. Libuse indicated that she should return to her seat but she gestured for Drew to remain standing.

"Spoken in the spirit of true Luminous Warriors," Libuse said, once the applause had died. "All of us have pledged to love and protect one another. We are family. Let us then welcome our newest candidates. Please be upstanding Renweard Ben-Yorick, Mairead Wilson, Andrew Wilson, Christian Berg and Theodora Rossi. You have been appraised and accepted as candidates for training as Luminous Warriors."

The five joined Libuse on the dais to thunderous applause. The werewolf Vladimir seated beside Leonardo Berg, could be heard over the din, "Da, da, your father is good man. Vill be good varrior. Andrew too, da! And his mother, Mairead, nice lady, Theodora too, da!"

Rosemonde moved to sit beside Myrddin. "Are you okay? What does this mean for you? For us?"

"We're still in pre-candidacy. We've both been accused of murder. Until that's sorted, neither of us can be considered for candidacy. It's against the rules, but I'm hoping they let me, us stay here. I guess we're in limbo, but I'm feeling better about things. We're going to be fine, Rosie. We really do have a family now, both of us. No one is ever going to hurt us again."

"Let me introduce you to your Councillors," Libuse was saying.

"Shit! We better pay attention. I already missed that first guy's name," Myrddin said.

"That's Ben. He's awesome, you'd really like him. He knows all about bush survival and herbal medicine."

"Oh, so that's the Ben that helped you?" Myrddin said, a little too loudly. Ben turned towards them with a quirky smile and waved. Rosemonde waved back.

"Yeah, that's him," she said. "Oh, now I missed the second one. Looks like they're going through the humans first. At least, she looks human."

"Agatha," Myrddin said.

"Ah, of course!" Rosemonde recognised the name. She had heard what Agatha had done for Myrddin.

"Hannah — human, empath and computer wizard. Or perhaps that should be computer witch," a pretty flame haired woman introduced herself to the room with a nervous giggle.

"She was at Gwendolyn's art show!" Rosemonde and Myrddin said at exactly the same time.

"Well there's no law that says a Luminous Warrior can't be an art lover." Myrddin laughed.

"Liam — elioud, shapeshifter." Liam beamed in Rosemonde's direction. She smiled and waved at him.

"And that's Liam," she explained to Myrddin. "I've seen him shift, but what's an elioud?" she asked.

"I guess we'll find out soon." He shrugged.

"Myrddin Emrys, now known as Rhys but best known to all as Merlin — cambion, shapeshifter and wizard.

"Did-did he say Merlin, as in THE Merlin?" Rosemonde asked in disbelief.

"The one and only," Myrddin replied. "Libuse used a spell he'd suggested to change me back from my raven form, and he gave me herbs to help me heal. Nice guy. I was named after him, actually. Myrddin is Welsh for Merlin, did you know that?"

"Two Myrddins is going to get really confusing." Rosemonde mused.

"No, it won't. He prefers Rhys these days," Myrddin said.

"I always pictured Merlin as an old man, with a long white beard but wow, what a hottie!"

Rhys turned his violet eyes towards Rosemonde and winked. Myrddin burst out laughing.

"I said that aloud, didn't I?" Rosemonde was mortified.

"Yep."

"He heard me, didn't he?"

"Yep." Myrddin laughed again.

"Fletcher — master of archery, elf." A tall dark-haired man with clear blue eyes and a goofy smile bowed with flourish to the candidates before turning and bowing again to Rosemonde. She giggled and curtsied back.

"Chantal — siren, need I say more?" She blew a kiss in Myrddin's direction and this time it was Rosemonde laughing at him, when he almost fell off his chair. The siren was gorgeous with her dark bronze skin and long black hair.

Myrddin groaned when he saw who was approaching the dais next. He tried to hide behind Rosemonde, which was farcical considering their height difference.

"Tallulah — elioud, succubus."

"It's okay." Rosemonde was trying not to laugh again. I don't think you're her type. Once more, Tallulah had made a beeline for Christian but she was behaving herself, and only went over to congratulate him before going to chat with Gianna and Leo.

"Aneurin — Seelie court fey, glamour and spell craft." The male fairy with vivid green eyes and salt and pepper hair had an endearing cheekiness about him. Rather than walking like the other Councillors, he had suddenly appeared behind Mairead with a magical pop and said, "Boo!" She of course jumped, and acting on reflex lashed out, almost breaking his nose. "Oww!" he moaned but most people including Libuse were laughing.

"You sort of asked for that one, Nye." She chortled, before beckoning the next Councillor to approach.

"Ylva — werewolf." Ylva was a slight but very pretty girl with soulful brown eyes and a radiant smile. If she hadn't declared herself a werewolf, Rosemonde would have picked her for an elf or fairy. Then again, the elves at Tweldor seemed quite tall.

"Amaryllis — Seelie court fey, glamour and healing." This Councillor was more in line with what Rosemonde pictured when she thought of a fairy — petite and ethereally beautiful, with raven black hair and sapphire eyes. She seemed to float rather than walk when she left the dais.

The final Councillor was approaching the podium. "Morgan — elioud, incubus." With ice blue eyes and white blonde hair, Rosemonde understood how some women would be in danger from this creature. Morgan smiled at her and she blushed.

The Warrior candidates were returning to their seats, so Rosemonde rejoined Drew. "Congratulations," she said, kissing him and teasingly biting his bottom lip.

"I swear I'll do everything I can to protect you," he said huskily.

"I know. I'm not afraid anymore. I love you Drew."

"I love you too."

The gong rang out again. Libuse had a final announcement. "The hour is late and tomorrow we meet to determine how best to assist both Rosemonde and Myrddin. We shall also begin with training. Before we retire, I would ask that the candidates and also Rosemonde and Myrddin, think of any questions that they would like to have answered by our Councillors tomorrow, at our Symposium."