Melgiana spent another half-year as advisor to Uruth's court, but she departed after that. "It wouldn't be fair," she explained, "for the archdruid to spend all her time attending to only one kingdom."

So, instead, they sailed down the Wide River, whose branching basin drained half of all Ysc, leaving Uruth's court to other druids that, perhaps, would be listened to by men less stubborn than Raango. (When he said that, Melgiana laughed and pointed out his own stubbornness. But he felt there was a difference in being stubborn in his beliefs and refusing to accept judgment.)

After sailing downriver, they passed for a time through the Atur and Nurinor archipelagos, but in time they once more turned north, to Taba, where the conclaves of the druids gathered every time winter ended. There were other conclaves, in the southern rainforests and in the snows of the north alike, in lands too distant to easily reach Taba. But Taba had been the first, and it was the greatest in number, and so it was the one the archdruid most often attended. After, they sailed for a year north, between the trees of Mara Peninsula that were as tall as fifty stories, across the long and islandless Sep Passage, and between the spider-filled isles of the Huriat Archipelago, where the sun only rose once a year, but stayed up for half of it. There, they heard tales of new islands being discovered to the other side of Huriat, the Grand Work of mapping all Avalon stepping slowly towards completion. And then they sailed back for a year, following different coasts with similar terrain, until at last they came to Taba again on the third year after Ri's finding.

All this time, Melgiana taught him about plants and animals, seas and isles, kings and wars, and the basic foundations of a hundred different crafts, so that disputes between them could be judged. She taught him also the lore of the ancients, the sciences of the heavens' design and that of Avalon itself. She spoke of other worlds, all of whose seas mankind had once sailed, and of the great works of stone and steel of which some still stood as ruins. Many of these things were half-secret, but she did not reveal the true secrets of the druids, which were those of magic and of religion; and Ri did not ask, for he remembered what Melgiana had said that first year. But even so, she taught him more than perhaps she should have, for Ri came to understand that she enjoyed teaching too much not to.

When they returned to Taba, it was in full bloom, the hills and valleys, which now looked childlike to Ri (then again, he had grown to far greater height and strength than a normal man could) covered in a rainbow of flowers, some with pollinating flies buzzing around them and others with slab-bugs. There was a certain commotion on the western, seaward shore of the isle, which revealed itself to be because a capsule had washed ashore; and Ri recognized it instantly.

"This is what I came from," he said.

He described it all, the little of it that he could remember. As he did so, he traced its surface, uncorroded despite spending three years underwater. The numeral VII was distinctly marked on its surface - did that mean that there had been six others like him, sometime before?

"There is little we can glean from it," Anaka, a Yscan druid who already wore the green robes of a master despite her youth, said. "Perhaps it should remain as a memorial?"

Melgiana shook her head. "You know my opinion of memorials. Bad enough that half the kings in Avalon try to litter the countryside with them... Regardless, it is Ri's to do with as he wills."

Ri asked for time to consider. In truth, though he did not wish to merely discard the capsule, he was not sure how much use there could be in it. A piece for a roof of some building, perhaps. It could as well be put to use, indestructible as it seemingly was.

Later that night, though, Melgiana took him aside. Wangar, an envoy of King Uruth, was there, on the camp by Ysc's shore - for Taba was forbidden during the holy nights - and it was he that wished to speak to Ri.

"Melgiana has said you will be counted a man tomorrow," Wangar said without preamble. "With that, your life is yours to do with as you will."

That was news to Ri, though now he realized Melgiana had hinted at it several times over the past few weeks.

"For a man of your talents," Wangar continued, "there will always be a place at King Uruth's court. As a knight, perhaps, though I imagine you do not need a moa, or as a captain in the fleet. Or as a craftsman, if you prefer; I imagine you could learn any trade within a year anyhow, if half the tales that are told are true."

Melgiana nodded. "Ri," she said, "King Uruth is a good man, and that is rare for a king. Tomorrow you will be a man, but whatever path you choose - well, many paths lead through Ritanspur." She laid a hand on his shoulder.

Ri paused. He knew the essence of what he must do. He had a duty - a duty to all Avalon, perhaps to realms beyond Avalon. He could serve Uruth, for Uruth was a worthy ruler -

But Uruth was, nevertheless, only one ruler of many. And his people were only one tribe of many.

"I thank you for the offer," Ri said. "And perhaps one day I will be at Uruth's court. But, if Melgiana approves it, I would become a druid."

Wangar took it in good grace, perhaps because he had expected it.

The next day was a stormy one. Under the drenching rain, Ri sailed alone from Taba to the islet of Tamanch, and there cut a lock of his hair and a mear flower and threw both into the sea, to represent the passing of youth. There were many different ceremonies among the many different peoples, of course, but Ri had chosen to imitate that of the Whach that Melgiana had once come from. In the end, despite what she had said when taking him in, they did have a familial bond of love and loyalty both.

With the leaves floating away on the swells, he walked up to Mataarth. "Ri of Taba," he said, "do you wish to join the All-Circle?"

"Yes," Ri replied.

"Why would you step among our ranks?"

"To protect Avalon and its people," Ri answered, "from time and from each other."

Mataarth exchanged a few words with the four other druids in his council - mere formalities, of course, for the decision of whether to accept him had been made hours ago. "Then welcome to the All-Circle," he said, "Initiate Ri. What is your path?"

His path-name, which as always was his alone to choose and his alone to follow. "Domaan," he said. It was a meaningful word in two of the ancient languages - 'land' in the Mirrortongue, but in the more obscure Apowa, it referred to stewardship or protection.

Thus did Ri Domaan join the All-Circle of Avalon, and there, no matter what distant powers would in later days say, was the true beginning of his tale.