Page 58 of A Celtic Memory
“Yet you were not.” He held her for another moment before he cupped her cheeks and looked into her eyes. “What just happened? Where did you go? Because there was nothing left of you but a ghost.”
Only then did she realize everyone, to a man, had fallen to one knee and bowed their heads. Even those who must be the tree’s guardsmen. So before answering his question, she told them all was well and to stand. She had yet to commune with the gods.
Though clearly uncertain, they slowly stood while she explained to Cian what had happened. How the two trees were connected. The voice Riona had heard. The familiar presence Madison had felt.
“Who do you think it was?” She shook her head. “I’m certain there’s no danger connected with this tree, so Riona’s not in danger, but...”
She trailed off and narrowed her eyes when she realized where she had felt that presence before.
“I felt that same essence, or sense of familiarity, in Declán’s fallen warrior.” She glanced from the tree to Cian, certain. “He was there.Declánwas there somehow speaking to Riona.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive.” She smiled. “Which only points more to him not betraying you.” She shook her head. “Not if he was able to access this tree’s magic.”
“True.” Cian met her smile and brushed his lips across hers. “’Tis welcome news, indeed.” He looked from the tree to her. “Did you experience anything else while you were gone? I know you didn't commune with the gods, but perhaps you sensed them?”
“No, not yet, but there’s still more for me to learn here.” She looked up into the branches again. “Something I need to know...maybe even remember.” Oran, who sat on a branch above, snagged her attention. Only this time, she saw him differently. Still a raven, but so much more. “I know you....”
Contact with the tree had opened her eyes in new ways. Allowed her to see what she couldn’t before.
“Ye do know me, m'Lady.”The air shimmered around Oran much like it did Aisling on occasion.“For I once watched over yer ancestors. I was a spirit guide, so to speak. A seer when they could not see clearly.”
“And now you’re my guide.” She felt him out, stunned she hadn’t sensed it earlier. “And you’re Fae!”
“I am.”He eyed Aisling with amusement when she flickered around him.“Just of another variety. The ancestor of another type of Fae as ye are the ancestor of another type of druid. We are what came before evolution and time.”
While it sounded like he was telling her they were primitive and unevolved, she knew they were anything but.
“Why not tell me who,what, you were sooner?” She cocked her head. “It might have made all the difference.”
“’Twould have made no difference as I’m but a guide. Here to help where I can and watch over ye.”He eyed her in that wise way of his.“’Tis ye who must walk the path back to yer destiny. To yer part in all this.”
“That sounds pretty cryptic,” she said dryly, yet she wasn’t ready to give up. “So, if you were aware that Cian and I have known each other for a long time, why not share what happened? How we first met? Why we got separated?”
He gave no answer other than to say,“’Twill not be long before ye see things more clearly.”
Of course. Keeping with vague and cryptic.
“I hope so.” She eyed the tree again. “More specifically, I hope I find everything you’re not telling me through this tree.”
“’Twould seem the best place to start.”Oran eyed Aisling when the fairy grew playful.“I would stay for at least one night, ta?”
Though clearly unsettled with her remaining so close to Raghnall’s border, Cian nodded in agreement before Oran took flight and Aisling dashed after him.
She might not have liked Oran being so vague, but she couldn't help but watch them flitter through the trees with amusement. “They really are hooking up, aren’t they?”
“They certainly seem to be doing something.” Cian smiled and shook his head. “’Tis good. Aisling deserves to be happy. To find someone other than me.”
Before she had a chance to ask him about that, he informed everyone that they would be staying there the night with double the watch. When he properly introduced her to his guardsmen, they seemed in awe. Happy to have her there. Pleased she would become their queen.
“How did things start between you and Aisling anyway?” she asked when everybody got busy setting up the encampment. “And why was she so afraid to travel far from you before Oran convinced her to?”
“I came across her in the woodland when we were children,” he replied. “She was lost and couldn't find her way home, so I stayed with her until her parents found her. After that, she made it her duty to keep me safe in return, and our friendship only grew. As can happen with fairies when they bond, she grew rather attached.”
“So attached that it became difficult for her to wander too far from you?” she concluded.
“Ta.” He smiled and eyed the trees. “Until now, that is. I imagine because she trusts you to keep me safe, and she's become taken with your familiar.”
