The mist breaks at the edge of the lough, and I find a good place to moor. I pull my curragh, fixing it securely upon land, and I climb the embankment, to the clearing outside the ring of oaks. There, I find a great moor, a bower for the sídhe-folk! It cannot be anything less, for I have never seen so queer and beautiful a moorland. Then I see them! Remarkable! They almost seem to appear from nowhere. At first perfectly hidden against the backdrop of grass and oaks, the two fair folk fade into view until their cloaks and hair are so stark in contrast to their surroundings that I can hardly take my eyes off them. I would think that I was dreaming...only I know that my dreams are real!

One of them is a noble-looking man in bardic dress, with a nose and chin of an angle too proud to be of the Fir Bolg. And yet his colorful raiment appears grey and dulled, as though his magic has diminished since the Golden Days.

Sitting opposite him is a woman who appears of the same rank. Her clothes are more difficult to discern through her long silv'ry hair, but they are most certainly of the same stock - an elegant race, to be sure! My hiding place may not be as concealing as I hoped. Though they are engaged in an emotional conversation, I suspect they have one ear and eye turned in my direction.