Grainne’s favorite thing to say seemed to be “You certainly are your father’s child.” It was her response to almost everything Eachtach was or did. Eachtach was a great hunter, like her father. She had curly hair like her father’s. She enjoyed telling stories, and playing games with her brothers, much like her father did. 

Diarmuid’s favorite thing to say was “you know your mother’s childhood was very different from ours.” Grainne was a princess. She grew up in a castle, and she never went hunting. All the stories she told were very boring. Diarmuid grew up in the Fianna, and later went on to join it. He taught Eachtach how to hunt, and only told stories about cool things, like fairies and monsters. 

Eachtach grew up being hunted. Something about how Diarmuid and Grainne weren’t really allowed to get married. She would wake up, run away, eat breakfast, run away again, go hunting, run away some more, eat dinner, and run away yet again before going to sleep each night. 

Sometimes they would talk to the druid Aengus Ógh, who would inform them that Fionn, her fathers old best friend, was still in fact trying to hunt them down. Very occasionally Grainne would get pregnant. That would make running away more difficult for a little while but also meant that Eactach would get a new brother to play games with which was fun. 

The closest Fionn ever came to catching them was when Grainne was pregnant with Eachtach’s youngest brother Ruchladh. Grainne got really sick and they had to go get berries from the fairies to help her feel better. On the way there Diarmuid saw Fionn playing a game of fidchell with someone. Diarmuid was the only one good enough to beat Fionn at fidchell so he started throwing the berries from his hiding place onto the fidchell board to help them know where to move the pieces. When Fionn lost he realized where Diarmuid was and almost caught them. 

Eachtach thought it was really cool the Diarmuid was smart enough to win against thee Fionn mac Cumhail. Grainne seemed less happy with the situation for some reason.

Grainne said “You certainly are your father’s child” twice that morning. Once because Eachtach’s hair was too difficult to comb and again because Eachtach would not sit still long enough to let her keep trying to comb it. It, of course, wasn’t Eachtach’s fault she couldn’t sit still. It was a really nice day out, and there was a raven sitting on a tree right in front of her and Eachtach wanted to know if she could catch it. 

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And besides, Eachtach could hear the hunting dogs catching up to them in the distance, which meant they had to start running again soon. 

“You better not go after that bird again” Grainne was still talking, she did that a lot. “It’s a raven, those signify death, like the type that will befall us if they catch up to us before I finish your hair.” 

Eachtach was lucky that Diarmuid replied before she could get in trouble for mouthing off. 

“Then perhaps you should not be trying to fix her hair right now.” 

“I can’t have her running around in the woods with her hair down. She already looks enough like she was raised by animals and she doesn’t need her hair to be a mess too.” 

Diarmuid was too busy trying to hide the evidence of their stay there to keep arguing. It unfortunately took long enough that Grainne was able to finish combing Eachtach’s hair before he spoke up again. 

“It’s time to go.” He had probably started to hear the dogs as well, “Quickly, now, we need to start moving.” 

Eachtach got to hold onto Ruchladh while they ran, he was still small enough that he couldn’t run all the time. Ruchladh was the most fun, because it was really easy to get him to laugh. The hard part was getting him to laugh without Grainne noticing because it was apparently “unbecoming” to make faces.

They ran for a while before Diarmuid decided that they were ahead enough. They weren't able to sit down, but they were able to switch to walking, and to start looking for things in the woods to hunt. 

Eachtach walked alongside him for that part, Ruchladh safely with Grainne.

The wild seemed endless on days like that. There was a faint fog settled over the land that made it difficult to see anything besides the trees towering on either side of them. Even Eachtach’s mother and brothers seemed to fade away despite not being far behind them. 

The raven was back. Eachtach knew it was probably a different one but it looked the exact same. It kept looking at her, just like the one from before. It made Eachtach want to run after it. 

“They don’t all signify death, you know.” Diarmuid could clearly see that her focus had drifted to the bird. “The Morrigna, the fey who fly with ravens, they are there for death but also for many other things. They are gods of prophecy, they look into the futures of great heroes. They are gods of sovereignty and leadership. I always knew them as the gods of battle rage, and courage. When you are running, and hunting, and fighting, and your heart is pounding in your chest, it is pounding in unison with the Morrigna’s wings.” 

The raven was still staring at Eachtach, it was on a low enough branch that she could climb and get it. 

“Now don’t tell your mom,” Diarmuid continued “and remember not to get lost or caught and to come right back. But I think you should go try to catch it.”