All have been searching for food and we can feel their eyes staring at us as we ski silently pass them, acknowledging their presence. They stay quiet ...o they don’t disturb our first day in my princess’ beautiful winter forest. As we glide along the open trail, we move as one in the quiet woods on this snowy day. We approach the barren willow tree and Thalia says this is the perfect place to stop and rest. The trees are laden with snow, and the sun shines on them, casting a white icy shadow. It. I was delighted with my guest and his chat. About that time Marmalade padded lazily out of my bedroom where he’d been catnapping and took a long look at Forrest. Forrest stared right back at my feline friend, blue eyes looking hard into golden topaz, slanted ones. I thought for a moment we were going to have a war, but Marmie leaped up into Forrest’s lap and arranged his shorthaired butt to where he was comfortable. Marm doesn’t take to many men, preferring women, but quickly began to purr when. Now we have over two hundred wells producing a good flow of oil.”“I never knew this about you, Eli. How many acres do you own here?”“I’d have to guess we own close to twenty-thousand acres here on Crow Ridge. My adopted son Jon David could tell you to the half-acre how many we have. He takes care of our books and sees to it we get the best prices for our oil, whether we refine it ourselves or sell it as crude.”“You own your own refinery too?”“Well, we own the biggest share of it and we operate. Buried as it is within a cluster of some of the highest peaks on Gaen, getting there and living there can be a formidable task. The air is thin so high up, and travelers can take some time to accommodate themselves to breathing it.Live there people do though, for here is a place where Gaen has been torn open to reveal the riches that lay beneath us all. Gold and silver mostly, and silver in particular, as dearly as it is treasured by kings and wizards. Gold, being somewhat more plentiful and.