title: Reconciliation
author: Dewaruile, Lily
description: Christophe Maides has conquered Cwmdu and the flaxen-haired woman bred of the valley. The mountains that surround his new home pose no threat, nor does Morgan Cwmdu whose venom has tormented his beloved wife, Caryl Gernant, for months yet he cannot conquer the dreams torturing his nights and separating him from the only woman he has ever loved. With the appearance of three hunters, Christophe is catapulted into a past life he has striven to forget and sees in the eldest hunter the man he might have been, the man his wife deserves. The pain of his young manhood has driven him to live apart, to conceal his heart even from his closest friend. Reluctance to confront the truth drives him to an act of violence fueled by jealousy that costs him all he has fought to win. The eldest of the hunters claims to be Christophe's younger brother and the two boys to be his nephews, the sons of brothers Christophe knows to have died before reaching manhood. Caryl Gernant has always known in her heart that Rizah Izberec loved Christophe's father and is eager to hear Rizah's youngest son's story despite her husband's resistance and discomfort. Christophe, to make reparation for his violence, faces his past and listens without protest to the story of his father and mother's life together. Though he denies there can be any truth in the tale this hunter tells, Christophe cannot deny the resemblance he shares with all three of the hunters, a physical similarity that links them all to his father, Gilles de Maides. Jedeh Maides, the fifth son of Rizah and Gilles, was born six months after the death of his father. He was raised in the village of his mother's birth, with his elder brothers in the shadow of the one brother most like their father, the only brother who was not raised in the safety of their family home. Throughout Jedeh’s life, Rizah grieved for the loss of her beloved husband and for the son she could not save as she had her three eldest sons. He and his nephews have traveled from Haiastan to find Christophe, learn from him and reassure his mother that Christophe lives and is well.