Instead of the usual dinner at the tower, a banquet had been spread on the rocks, as the swans were much more at ease outside the tower than in it. Otters had been sent to fetch pondweeds, which the swans had nibbled delicately, and Fingal had managed—by a huge effort—to listen without yawning to Lord Arcneck’s stories of his mighty ancestors. Now the swans had flown to a pond to rest, the dishes had been cleared, and small Mistmantle animals were listening to stories and snuggling into their nests.In the highest turret of the tower was a faint light. Brother Fir was sleeping, watched over by Mother Huggen and Hope the hedgehog. In the royal chambers, candles and lamps glowed. Juniper and Urchin, who had snatched a few minutes at the end of the day to walk down to the shore and skim stones, glanced up at those lighted windows and wondered what was happening behind them, but they could see only two silhouetted figures with their backs to their window.Crispin and Cedar were in the window seat.
