A steady parade of people beat a path down Maura’s street. Some stopped to catch up with Sorcha and Caitlín. Some exchanged ingredients with Maura, offering a basket of vegetables for the one of the cleaned foxes and rabbits which hung from a rack alongside her house.

  Peering between the houses at the streets on either side of her block, after-dinner strolls and visits were clearly common in úllord. Donal was certain, however, that Maura’s strange visitors were a draw of another kind. Most neighbors made a point of speaking only to Maura and Sorcha while staring at Donal’s group the entire time. An occasional resident took the opposite approach, asking the newcomers questions of increasing scrutiny until Maura politely bid them goodnight.

  “Do you know everyone in this town?” Donal asked, waving after a departing well-wisher.

  “I doubt it,” Maura said. “The town’s bigger than it looks. Are you telling me this isn’t normal behavior where you’re from?”

  Donal looked at the ground at Siobhan’s feet, away from Caitlín. He hoped the stream of walkers and neighbors past the house would stay at a brisk enough pace to keep Caitlín distracted from hearing Donal’s reality.

  “I don’t think so,” Donal told Maura. “But my brother and I live on our own out of town.”

  “But surely you have neighbors,” Maura said. “Surely you visit and gather, don’t you? I hear you hold a fair lock of festivals.”

  Donal tipped toward Maura as far as he could without alerting Caitlín. “In the past few months, sure. Before then, we had to keep to ourselves.”

  Maura’s eyes narrowed. “What was wrong?”

  Donal’s eyes raised to Siobhan. She read his face and cleared her throat. “Donal and Finn—”

  “—Clearly,” Caitlín said, leaning in to bump Donal’s shoulder, “they didn’t want people beating a path to their door at all hours of the day. It’s more work tending the fields there.”

  Donal scratched the cheek closest to Caitlín to hide the rush of color.

  Maura pursed her lips as she studied Donal’s face. “Clearly.”

  “You’re too kind,” Donal told Caitlín. “Honestly, it wasn’t always easy bein' around me. Sometimes it’s still a challenge.”

  Caitlín’s smile faded from her eyes, forcing her mouth to work harder to keep her face bright. “We all have our challenges, Donal. How did you get over yours?”

  Maura shook her head. “He just told you he hasn’t.”

  “S’alright,” Donal said, easing a hand in Maura’s direction. “I did say it was improving. Caitlín, I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone, but running around the countryside fighting beasties did wonders to show me how much my family and friends cared for me—no matter what.”

  A quick glimpse of Siobhan was all he could muster. Judging from the reflection in her eyes, the moment of sincerity surprised her.

  Caitlín’s face softened at his response. Her smile opened her mouth, pinched her eyes and raised her ears. “I love that,” she said, leaning into him once more. “Maybe your brother isn’t the only bard in the family.”

  Brigid dropped herself down between Maura and Siobhan. “Please tell me I missed something,” she said.

  “Nothing new,” Maura grumbled.

  “What’s wrong?” Siobhan asked.

  “I can’t be around those two for very long,” Brigid said.

  “Brendan and Ciara?” Siobhan asked.

  “Don’t get me wrong, I hate that wan with the heat of the oversized sun they have here,” Brigid said. “The two of them together, though, are just awkward all the time. It’s even worse when the rest of you aren’t there to distract me.”

  “You know yourself why that is,” Siobhan said. “He’s worried about your disapproval.”

  “That’s a lie,” Brigid said. “You know how I know? He’d have shaken her out of his system four years ago when we captured her.”

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “Did you say, ‘captured?’” Maura asked.

  Brigid waved her hand at Maura. “I did. Long story. We’ll tell you all of it if you come with us to find your mam. I’m telling you, Siobhan, I don’t see what he sees. I never have.”

  Siobhan smirked. “Little wonder as to why.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “He’s your little brother, if only by a few minutes. You’re the warrior, he’s the scholar. It’s the nature of you two that makes you want to defend him. Even more so, given how you all met.”

  Maura raised a finger. “I’d like to hear that—”

  “—then come with us, lass,” Brigid said. “You might be right, Siobhan, but you don’t dare fault me for mistrusting her.”

  Siobhan chuckled. “I do not. I just can’t figure her part of it. She doesn’t seem the bashful type.”

  “She’s a miserable, deceitful shrew who’s likely never known human compassion and therefore has no idea how to react when my brother shows it to her.”

  Siobhan’s face blanched. Maura’s jaw clenched as her eyes slid down the street.

  “You know, you could have shortened that sentence by half had you used the word ‘distrustful,’” Ciara said. The incongruity between her playful tone and the situation scraped against the back of Donal’s neck. “Your brother wanted to talk to you about tonight’s sleeping arrangements.”

  Brigid stood and lazily pointed toward Brendan. “I’ll… sure.” She nodded to Siobhan and walked away.

  Ciara sat down in Brigid’s spot, her hands behind her back for bracing. Her eyes shifted between the faces staring at her through the oncoming dusk and twitched her shoulders. “What’s with the gawking?” she asked. “She cares about her brother. As she should.”

  “That was a fierce cruel thing to say about you,” Caitlín said.

  “And I’d feel terrible if I cared about what she thought of me. But I don’t.”

  “I might not wait until the journey to hear that story,” Maura said to Siobhan.

  Caitlín stood and spun back and forth as she spoke. “This was lovely,” she said to the group. “A bit awkward in spots, but lovely. I’m going to go help Mam set up the sleeping areas.”

  Donal pushed himself up, his legs barely resting on the ground. “Can I help?”

  “That’s terribly sweet of you,” Caitlín said, “but we can manage. She pulled her hair back, bent over him and rested a hand on his cheek. Her sudden motion shifted his balance and he dropped to the ground. She pecked him on the lips and pulled back to look him in the eye. “Good night, you.” She stood straight and disappeared into Maura’s house without another word.

  Donal didn’t dare look at Siobhan.

  Maura rose from the ground and shook her head. “I’ll be back in a little while.” She dropped her face and curtsied. “It’s been lovely.” She traded a grin with Ciara before entering the cottage.

  “You know you have to make eye contact with us eventually,” Siobhan said.

  “I accept that challenge,” Donal said. He stared through the burning logs and tried counting the larger embers to quiet his mind.

  “Donal,” she said. “There’s something you should know.”

  Ciara tilted toward Donal. “Fun’s over, lad.”

  Donal clenched his jaw. You don’t get to joke with me, he thought.

  “Not helping,” Siobhan said. “Sorcha noticed what we all have, and she told me some things.”

  “To protect her daughter, no doubt,” Brigid said as she returned to the circle. She sat on the opposite side of Ciara.

  “Actually,” Siobhan said, “she’s worried about Donal.”

  “Worried about me?” Donal asked. “Why?”

  “She says Caitlín always was free, if not restless. She gravitates toward light and easy.”

  “Is that bad?” Donal asked.

  “Not in the slightest,” Siobhan said. “But there’s nothing light and easy about your life. You two are coming at this from different places.”

  This is not happening. We’re not talking about this as a group.

  “Please tell me you’re referring to our world and hers,” he said.

  “Unless you’ve been hiding someone from your brother and myself, this is new ground you’re treading on.”

  Run. Fake an illness. Time for bed.

  “I’m pretty tired, Siobhan,” Donal said. “Surely we can do this tomorrow.”

  “Sit,” she said. “This won’t be long, and it doesn’t have to be awful.”

  “That sounds like two lies in the making,” he muttered.

  “Well?”

  “I’m not totally new to this,” he said.

  Siobhan dipped her chin and pinched her lips, an unsuccessful attempt to hide her smirk. “That doesn’t count and you know it.”

  Brigid knitted her brow. “What doesn’t count?”

  “Whist! All I’m saying, Donal, is don’t you jump into the lake when she’s only dipping her toes. One person shouldn’t be doing all the swimming.”

  Ciara raised a finger. “Siobhan?”

  “This better be good.”

  Ciara straightened her back, rolled her neck and cleared her throat three times. “Could you tell me what exactly is the ‘lake’ in this metaphor?”

  Siobhan’s head bobbed forward and hung for a few seconds. She looked to Brigid, her eyes pleading.

  “Honestly, Siobhan, I’m curious myself,” Brigid said. “Caitlín was the one up to her neck from where I sat.”

  “You know my meaning,” Siobhan said. “We’ve all been where he is, I assume. It’s easy enough to get hurt without running headfirst into it.”

  “Now I’m confused,” Brigid said. “Are we running or are we swimming?”

  “I should have sent you two away.”

  Brigid snuck a wink at Donal while Siobhan rubbed the bridge of her nose.

  “I suppose you two eejits have better advice?” Siobhan asked.

  “I do not,” Ciara said. “It’s good advice that you’ve given him.”

  “Oh,” Siobhan said.

  Ciara shrugged. “I simply thought you should feel as uncomfortable as he does.”