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her to learn
everything she could so that she could protect herself in the
future. Knowing their family , she would need all the skills
she could get.
    But, no matter how logical his
justifications, this was greatly frowned upon by other members of
the family. Sometimes a member of court tried to use this against
him, but his many friends in court supported his quirks. As long as
none of their women were affected by his views, they saw to it that
no action was taken to interfere with his running of his own
household. So the daughter of the popular, powerful Laird of
Donnach had learned to read, write, think, and reason as had few
other women in the country.
    “I suppose,” Caena continued, “that I should
think myself fortunate that any Scotsman would have me to wife.”
She giggled, “While other women spent their entire days in
wasteful, womanly pursuits, I was given a rare gift—instruction in
Scots, and of course English, mathematics, and sciences.”
    Learning the languages had been confusing she
thought. But she stubbornly studied both, since English was rapidly
pushing the Scots’ own language aside. She feared that someday, her
own language would disappear completely. While many still spoke the
old Gaelic, it was rapidly being replaced. How much longer Scots
could hang onto their own language was a question that upset her
greatly. How much more could her people lose?
    “The English hornies take every opportunity
to degrade us. They even use our language as an example of their English superiority ,” she sneered. “They dare to think that
our Scottish language is a lower form of their English —that English is being degraded by us Scots!” She
laughed scornfully. Any self-respecting Scot, she thought,
disagreed with this point of view. It was just one more proof of
Scots being thought of as a lower society than that of their
southern neighbors—just one more matter of contention between the
two societies.
    Caena smiled, the humor now reaching her
eyes. “But Ròs, even with all I learned, I still had to learn the sewing and the embroidery ,” she said, as she reached
over and patted Ròs’s knee gently as they both laughed.
    “Aye, I remember how you fought it for weeks
until you were given the choice of doing both or getting no more
tutoring.” Ròs reminded her with a broad smile on her handsome
face.
    Caena laughed as she too recalled it, “Yes, I
can read and write better in both languages than either of my
cousins, my sums are more accurate, as is my aim with a bow and
arrow,” she said. Then, as she leaned close to Ròs in a posture of
conspiracy, she whispered, “Much to Mordag’s chagrin!” They laughed
together. Then Caena’s expression changed to a scowl as she added,
“But, of course, the important thing is that I can sew!”
    “Ah, Ròs,” Caena sighed, “I have never felt
so trapped. All my life our society will hold me down at every
opportunity. Now comes the biggest chance I may ever have to
determine my own future, and it is a decision that could end any
chance I have to be happy.”
    Once again the tears started to flow. Ròs
just held her and let her cry.

    **************************

    Chapter 3: Meet Blair
    Paris, France - March 1912

    Blair woke up pulling herself from the dream
that had plagued her for as long as she could remember. While the
nightmare hit her perhaps once a month as a child, now that she was
full grown it had come upon her more frequently—now appearing more
often than not. She never knew what it was about—it just hovered
there, dark and unsettling as she awoke. It was as if it held a
secret message of dark foreboding.
    Refusing to give in to the mood in which the
dream unvaryingly left her, she rose from her bed. She was a
determined young woman. She simply made up her mind that she would
not let the dream ruin her day. She threw off the coverlet that
entangled her body using the same determination with which she had
fought off the dream.
    Reaching