The young girl was riding atop the mule as they emerged from the canopy of trees at the west gate.  Dot is what they called her, but Reda referred to her as the welcoming party because she was always in those trees, hopping around the canopy and startling those who came and went below with a great belly laugh and a smile.  Dot was not quite ten and darted around with the energy of a firefly, appearing and disappearing, a speck in the trees, hence the name.  Her older brother Sylwye, who was called Syl, insisted on calling her Oppida, her birth name, which she cared little for.  Their mother and father, Etain and the carpenter Boadhagh, lived in the house nearest the stream.  

Dot had adorn...

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