�Um, Zullo? I think that we have perhaps made a wrong turn,� suggested Nokuma. �I think we should turn back.�
�You can�t be serious,� said one of the bandos drily. �You are surrounded. You cannot go back, for you have entered the realm of the Lady of the Fields. She is waiting for you.� He strode off, and the other bandos fell in behind them, herding the company along with them. As if in his head, Chris thought he heard a voice saying,
Welcome, Chris Glassburn of Butternut. You bring great evil to my fields . . . Diskbearer.
After a long trek, they arrived at the center of the Bando Practice Fields, where a tall, elegantly dressed woman with flowing dark hair awaited them. She was standing next to a large, ornately carved birdbath.
�Welcome,� she greeted them, and the voice was the same as the one in Chris�s head. �But I see only eight of you.�
�Yes,� said one of the bandos. �Where is Papa Resek? He was my golf partner for this Saturday. I bet he chickened out.�
�No,� the Lady disagreed quietly, gazing at Chris. �He has fallen into darkness. The quest hangs on the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail.� She looked pointedly at Kevin, but only Chris noticed. �Yet hope remains,� she went on calmly, �while the company remains true. But you are weary from your travels. Rest here for a while, and leave your worldly cares behind for a little while.� With that, she departed. A bando escorted the party to a soft assortment of cots in the shelter of the trees.
Shortly after midnight, Chris was awakened. He looked around, but the only person around was a bando standing guard with a flute. He shrugged it off and tried to go back to sleep. After fifteen minutes of this, he decided that perhaps a walk would help him relax. He got up and walked out of the arbor into the field. He was not entirely surprised to see the tall Lady standing alone next to her birdbath with a jug of water. A faint glow was emanating from her, but Chris attributed it to the moonlight. He found himself walking toward her, and stopped about ten feet from the birdbath.
�Will you look into the birdbath of Beebefinch?� she asked solemnly as she poured water from her jug into the birdbath, which Chris suddenly realized had been empty on his arrival.
�What will I see?� he asked, moving closer.
�Even the wisest cannot tell,� she replied. �The past, the future, alternate planes of reality. Papa Resek saw himself riding a giant alpaca. I saw myself getting rich beyond my wildest dreams, though that has not occurred. Ah, well,� she sighed. �Usually it tells the truth.�
Chris stepped up to the birdbath and looked into it. He saw nothing but dead leaves.
�Oh; sorry about that!� Beebefinch explained. �I tell them and I tell them, but they never remember to clean it out.� She dipped in a pale white hand and scooped out the refuse. She smiled sweetly. �Try it again.�
Chris stepped up to the birdbath and looked into it. He saw various images passing quickly before his eyes. He saw Susan disappear at her party. He saw himself and his friends under attack by cloaked figures (something that happened all too commonly, he thought). He saw himself lying as if dead. He saw the Witch-King holding up the Disk and laughing triumphantly as North Olmsted burned in ruins behind him. Lastly, he saw a glowing green eye and then a burning red one. He tilted forward, the Disk almost falling from his pocket into the birdbath. He gasped and jerked back.
�I know what it is you saw,� commented Beebefinch gravely. �They are the eyes of Merrill and Conner, both of whom are desperately seeking the disk.�
�They will kill me over this!� said Chris desperately. �If you want it, I will give you the One Disk.� He held it out in his hand, offering it to her.
�Yes . . .the One Disk,� she murmered. �I will not deny that I have greatly desired it.� Her voice grew dark and menacing, and thunder boomed in the distance. �Instead of a Dark Lord you would have a Queen - beautiful and terrible as the dawn! greater than the foundations of the Earth! All shall love me . . .and DESPAIR!!� She gasped with the dark currents running through her, then put her hands on the birdbath to steady herself, giving one last shiver. �It is over. I passed the test. I will diminish, and migrate south with my brethren.�
Chris looked at her slightly askance. Was this woman crazy? Well, she seemed normal enough now. He went back to his cot, suddenly tired. Beebefinch watched him go.