trees and picking up my pace. I shouldn’t have let the children run after Cathal. I should have insisted on keeping them in sight all the way back.
“The children will be quite safe, Clodagh.” Aidan’s expression was quizzical. “There’s no need to worry.”
“How is it the two of you are friends?” I asked him. “You’re so different.”
“We were raised together. We’ve become used to each other.”
“You are foster brothers?” I could not recall Aidan making any mention of Cathal during his last visit here.
“Not exactly. He grew up in my father’s household; we were born within days of each other. His mother was a local woman of humble origins. Father took Cathal in. We became friends and shared an education. When I decided to try my luck at Inis Eala Cathal came with me, thus ensuring I would not shine in feats of arms. On the island he’s considered second only to Johnny. He was supposed to come to Sevenwaters with us last year, but somehow he argued his way out of it.”
“Well, he can certainly climb,” I conceded.
“He can do many things, including beat me in a fight, but that doesn’t trouble me. I’m happy enough that I earned a place as one of Johnny’s personal guards. I won’t stay at Inis Eala permanently. I plan to return home in a couple of years, settle down, make a different sort of life for myself. My older brother will inherit Whiteshore. But it’s a big holding; there’s a place there for me.”
He wouldn’t have bothered to tell me all this, surely, if he were not seriously interested in me. “Is Whiteshore right on the coast?” I asked, feeling both pleased and awkward.
“It’s on a hilltop looking out over the western ocean. It can be bleak in the wintertime; the wind is like a whiplash. You’d enjoy the summers, Clodagh. Walking on the sand, collecting shells, exploring the rock pools. Seals come in to lie on the shore there, and it’s a resting place for many birds. I wish you could see it. Of course, your home has its own kind of beauty.”
“Yours sounds lovely. So I suppose you know lots of sea songs?”
He smiled. “A few. Most of them are too colorful for Lord Sean’s family gathering. What about some reels to follow our lament? Which ones do you know?”
By the time we emerged from the forest I was in a far better frame of mind. We found Eilis and Coll balancing along the top of the dry-stone wall, led by Cathal. Eilis had her skirt tucked up into her belt. I shepherded the children up to the house, leaving the two men to their own devices.
I sent Coll off to tidy himself up and took Eilis to her chamber so I could make sure she looked presentable before Mother saw her. Sibeal was there changing her shoes, and I left her in charge while I went to my own chamber next door. The embroidered gown I had worn for the hand-fasting was no longer fit for company, so I found myself a plainer one of a color somewhere between blue and gray, with discreet flower motifs on the undersleeves. I brushed out my hair and replaited it. I put on clean slippers. Then I fetched my harp and went downstairs.
After the bustle of recent days, the hall seemed quiet this afternoon. Low sunlight slanted in through the narrow glazed windows, bringing out notes of vivid color on the wall hangings. These tapestries held much of our family history. There was one Mother had made in the early days of her marriage, showing the tower on a green ground that was her own family symbol, and beside it the blue torcs of Sevenwaters on white. Deirdre and I had spent a whole winter making a piece of our own, which now took pride of place opposite the hearth. We had fashioned the image of a girl walking beside a lake, with six swans in the distance. My grandfather had been especially fond of this one, since the girl pictured had been his much-loved wife. My own favorite was a little tapestry made by my father’s older sister, who had died before I was born. This was filled from corner to
“The children will be quite safe, Clodagh.” Aidan’s expression was quizzical. “There’s no need to worry.”
“How is it the two of you are friends?” I asked him. “You’re so different.”
“We were raised together. We’ve become used to each other.”
“You are foster brothers?” I could not recall Aidan making any mention of Cathal during his last visit here.
“Not exactly. He grew up in my father’s household; we were born within days of each other. His mother was a local woman of humble origins. Father took Cathal in. We became friends and shared an education. When I decided to try my luck at Inis Eala Cathal came with me, thus ensuring I would not shine in feats of arms. On the island he’s considered second only to Johnny. He was supposed to come to Sevenwaters with us last year, but somehow he argued his way out of it.”
“Well, he can certainly climb,” I conceded.
“He can do many things, including beat me in a fight, but that doesn’t trouble me. I’m happy enough that I earned a place as one of Johnny’s personal guards. I won’t stay at Inis Eala permanently. I plan to return home in a couple of years, settle down, make a different sort of life for myself. My older brother will inherit Whiteshore. But it’s a big holding; there’s a place there for me.”
He wouldn’t have bothered to tell me all this, surely, if he were not seriously interested in me. “Is Whiteshore right on the coast?” I asked, feeling both pleased and awkward.
“It’s on a hilltop looking out over the western ocean. It can be bleak in the wintertime; the wind is like a whiplash. You’d enjoy the summers, Clodagh. Walking on the sand, collecting shells, exploring the rock pools. Seals come in to lie on the shore there, and it’s a resting place for many birds. I wish you could see it. Of course, your home has its own kind of beauty.”
“Yours sounds lovely. So I suppose you know lots of sea songs?”
He smiled. “A few. Most of them are too colorful for Lord Sean’s family gathering. What about some reels to follow our lament? Which ones do you know?”
By the time we emerged from the forest I was in a far better frame of mind. We found Eilis and Coll balancing along the top of the dry-stone wall, led by Cathal. Eilis had her skirt tucked up into her belt. I shepherded the children up to the house, leaving the two men to their own devices.
I sent Coll off to tidy himself up and took Eilis to her chamber so I could make sure she looked presentable before Mother saw her. Sibeal was there changing her shoes, and I left her in charge while I went to my own chamber next door. The embroidered gown I had worn for the hand-fasting was no longer fit for company, so I found myself a plainer one of a color somewhere between blue and gray, with discreet flower motifs on the undersleeves. I brushed out my hair and replaited it. I put on clean slippers. Then I fetched my harp and went downstairs.
After the bustle of recent days, the hall seemed quiet this afternoon. Low sunlight slanted in through the narrow glazed windows, bringing out notes of vivid color on the wall hangings. These tapestries held much of our family history. There was one Mother had made in the early days of her marriage, showing the tower on a green ground that was her own family symbol, and beside it the blue torcs of Sevenwaters on white. Deirdre and I had spent a whole winter making a piece of our own, which now took pride of place opposite the hearth. We had fashioned the image of a girl walking beside a lake, with six swans in the distance. My grandfather had been especially fond of this one, since the girl pictured had been his much-loved wife. My own favorite was a little tapestry made by my father’s older sister, who had died before I was born. This was filled from corner to
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