1Emelda squinted at the pages of her book. It was hard to read, she decided that the problem was that it was getting dark and that she should go inside and use the miracle of incandescent light. She looked up.

And realized that she didn't recognize her surroundings. The California palms had been replaced by marble headstones. She stood and stepped out of her circle of mushrooms, scowling at it.

"I guess that's why they told me to stay away from the mushrooms." Emelda walked around the hill, and found no one. She sat down between a head stone marked "Adelaide" and her mushrooms. Not knowing what else to do, she began to sing. It was an old song, one which she had known as long as she lived.

And she's hoisted up her petticoats,

A bit above her knee,

And so nimbly she's run over the plain,

And when she comes to the merry green woods,

She's tore them branches down, down,

She's tore them branches down.

The singing became much clearer as Ellebere paced along the tunnel to the surface. When he emerged, he saw a young girl sitting with her back to him, singing. She was about thirteen, skinny with a black t-shirt and grass stains on her knees. Unusually for her age, her long brown hair was held back tightly in a neat bun. Ellebere paused to listen to her sing for a moment, marveling at her audacity to sing "Tam Lin" so close to the court. He dismissed the thought that she didn't know about the fey folk, because anyone who was raised on the story of Tam Lin and Lady Margaret had to know about the fey.

Then she spied a bright young man,

Stood underneath the tree,

Saying, "How dare ye pull these branches down,

Without the leave of me, Lady?

Without the leave of me?"

Emelda jumped when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She looked up at a pale man with red hair and red eyes dressed in black armor. "You know," He said, "That isn't a safe song to be singing around here." Emelda squinted at him.

"And where is here exactly?" She asked. Ellebere sighed and sat down in the grass beside her.

"New Jersey." Emelda could hear the disgust in his voice. She laughed.

"And pray, why shouldn't I be singing 'Tam Lin' in New Jersey?" Her visitor pointed at the dying patch of grass beside "Adelaide's" marker.

"You're annoying the queen." Emelda looked at him critically.

"Bright or Dark?" Ellebere was stunned. Why would a teenage American have any knowledge of the Courts?

"I'm from Scotland," Emelda answered his unanswered question. "Bright or Dark? Although, judging from the surroundings, I'm going to guess dark." Ellebere nodded.

"Welcome to the Unseelie Court. Lady Nicnevin wants to have you flayed alive. I'd rather not see that." He wrinkled his nose in disgust. There was an audible pop as Emelda cracked her knuckles. Ellebere grabbed her wrist and frowned at the caluses across the back of her knuckles.

"You fight?" he asked. Emelda nodded, grinning.

"Tung su do karate."

"Hm..." Ellebere felt an idea forming. His squire had been killed during a tournament a couple of months ago, the girl could replace him. It would be an excellent place to hide her from the wrath of Lady Nicnevin.

"So," He opened his proposal, "I'm guessing that you got here through that faerie circle." He said, nodding at the mushrooms. Emelda opened her mouth to speak, and Ellebere held up a hand to quiet her. "And you wouldn't have fallen through it if you hadn't wanted to leave where ever you were, so I'm also guessing that you don't want to go back." Emelda nodded. Ellebere smiled. "Well, in that case, how would you like to be my squire?" Emelda thought. She was over 3000 miles away from home, and, upon reflection, she didn't really want to go home. She could fight already, being a squire sounded like a good deal.

"All right, Sir Knight, you've got yourself a squire. I'm called Emelda, by the way, friends call me Em." She held out her hand. Ellebere was glad that she already knew enough not to give her full name, or to ask anyone else's. "You can call me Ellebere. Or just sir in front of the rest of the gentry." They entered the hill.