Day 11 of Midwinter, Sunset

Heart-shaped Pool, Midlands

Annwn

Tadg and I sat around a fire, away from the rest of the camp. He told me that he had come directly from Falias and discovered that his brother, Ethadon, had detained me for swimming in the Pool. Somehow, Tadg was not surprised.

“You are different than I remember,” he said, looking me over in the firelight. “You appear to have literal scars from your trials here in Annwn.”

It occurred to me how brief my time in Annwn had been…even though it felt like a lifetime already. “How is that possible?” I asked.

Tadg looked me over again, more carefully. “When someone in our family dies and is baptized in the water of Mother Life, they are left with reminders of the wounds suffered from the previous genesis.”

I felt around my face and head. He was right. I could feel a slight difference in the skin around my right eye. I wondered if that scar was from the beating Balor had given me or from getting my skull smashed by the hungry ogre. “I wonder what other scars I have.”

Tadg abruptly changed the subject, appearing done with the topic of my physical imperfections. His tone was sharp. “Tell me what has transpired with you in the last week. You are bigger. Your muscles are more defined. More than that, the way you hold yourself has completely changed. I wish to know of your adventures with Ruadan after we parted ways in Gorias.”

He was right, I realized. I felt different. I hadn’t noticed my muscle mass, but I had noticed my strength increase. “Roo and I made our way across the wild places of Emain Ablach until we came to Lough Dearg. We fought…and killed an oilliphéist.” I paused there, unsure how to broach the subject of what had happened with Cai and Tethra.

He could sense my hesitation. “What is it?”

“There is a reason Roo did not like Brigid’s declaration about Cai killing Bres back in Gorias. After our battle with the oilliphéist, I wasn’t doing so well. While I was recovering, Ruadan took the Stone of Destiny and brought Cai Maccán and Tethra into our camp.”

I had never seen someone’s jaw actually drop open before, but that’s exactly what happened. Tadg couldn’t hide his surprise at what I was telling him. “So Cai has the spear and the stone?”

“Yes,” I remembered, then, the importance of the items in relation to the Tuatha. No wonder Tadg was concerned with the relics. “And the cauldron is still missing, right?”

“Yes.” Tadg seemed deep in thought. “How did you escape the Fomorians?”

“Roo led me away.”

“Interesting…I never trusted him, you know. Especially once he gained his domain.”

“What is his domain?” I asked, genuinely curious.

Tadg shrugged, looking frustrated. “No one has been able to ascertain that. My father believes it to be that of subterfuge or mystery.”

“That would actually make a lot of sense. But I don’t think it is as clear cut as Roo being on the “other side,” if that’s what you are thinking.”

“And why do you think that? Because he saved you?”

“It’s everything. Yeah, he’s sometimes a pain in the butt, but I truly believe he loves his parents. Why would he partner with the person who killed his father?”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Tadg’s jaw tightened. “Because he has succumbed to the lies of Maccán.”

I pondered that for a minute. “Maybe, but I’m still not sure.”

There was a lull in the conversation as we each stared into the fire. Eventually, Tadg broke the silence. “Please… continue your tale.”

I poked the fire with a stick. So much had happened. Where to start? “I went to Findrias but then wound up back in Ériu for a short time. I found The Dagda. Fíadan showed up not long after, and we came back here. Well… back to Findrias.”

“You have had an eventful week.” I could see Tadg’s smile in the flickering light of the fire.

I grinned back. “I haven’t even told you about storming Gorias with Nemain and the Fiacha. I met Aengus. Oh, and Balor and I fell off of Castle Arrow.”

Tadg stared. “And now you are here…which means you must have earned your domain.” His eyes shifted to the fire. While he didn’t seem angry, I could tell he was bothered. Then, I remembered that he was the son of Overking Nuada, and he had not yet earned his own domain. He remained a changeling, unlike Ruadan and I. That must be a hard pill to swallow.

I tried to lighten his spirits a bit. “Kinda. But I also haven’t told you the part about immediately getting eaten by an ogre in the meadow north of the Pool.”

He chuckled, and the tension melted away. “That sounds fun.”

We sat for a moment, both of us smiling at the absurdity of everything I had said. “So how did you get your brother to let me out?”

Tadg rolled his eyes. “Technically, I don’t need his permission. We are the same rank, after all.”

“But he’s your older brother,” I said. “Doesn’t that come with perks?”

Tadg nodded. “I suppose in important matters it would. Especially if Father were here, but I merely reminded him that we must all be related, based on your regenesis in the Pool. He couldn’t really argue with that.”

I thought about it. I wasn’t sure we were related. But then again, we must be, right? I thought about my last Power Rank notification. My race was listed as a Síorláidir, not Tuatha Dé Danann. I had left out the whole part about the voices on the path to Hy-Brasil…and the time with my mother.

I thought about the phrase Tadg had used earlier. He had referred to Danu as “Mother Life…” and Hy-Brasil was her domain. Was that who sang to me of the “Babes of the Mist?” She had given birth to both the Fomorians and the Tuatha. Was she the mother of the Síorláidir, too?

I pulled myself away from my spiraling train of thought. “Tell me about your trip to Falias with Brigid. What adventures have you had these last few days?”

“We traveled by sea to Murias. An escort was waiting for us there to take us to the capitol.” He sat back.

I waited a minute, then realized he was apparently finished with his recap. “You’re quite the storyteller,” I joked.

“I have never been accused of such a thing.” Tadg looked lost in thought for a minute as if he were trying to think of something from the last six days that might be of interest to me.

I nodded, then asked my next question.“Was Brigid furious when she learned of the Fomorian occupation of Flamebright?”

His eyes flicked in my direction, but away just as quickly. He frowned, still looking distracted. “She was, indeed.”

“Hopefully she has heard of our victory, at least?”

He gave me a short nod. “I guarantee it.”

Well, that was a flippant answer if ever there was one. “Hey, is everything OK?” I asked. “Is something bothering you?” Though I hadn’t known him long, his mood seemed out of character with what I’d seen of him so far.

Tadg sighed. “Bren, I’m afraid I do not possess much of the information you likely want to know. Father doesn’t allow me to be present for certain meetings.”

“Was Skinny Jeans there for the meeting between Nuada and Brigid?”

“Who?” Tadg looked at me, his face wrinkled up in confusion.

“Sorry, I meant your brother… Ethadon, was it?”

Tadg looked like he was trying not to laugh. “No, he was here, covering for me when I was between Gorias and Falias.”

I tried to remember what Morias had said about Tadg’s older brothers. Ethadon was closest in age to Tadg but took his lead from the thoughts and opinions of his father. If that was true and I someday met the Overking, that didn’t bode well for me.

Tadg joined the main camp off and on the rest of the night. On the last visit, I had just settled down to practice my fairy trance. I was sitting up with my eyes closed when he approached. I cracked an eye open when I felt the heat energy radiating off of his approaching body. There was also kinetic energy I noticed, now that I wasn’t trying to do my trance on a moving horse.

“I can see you,” I called.

Tadg had been standing across the fire from me, trying to figure out if I was somehow sleeping upright. “Are you meditating?”

“Something like that. What is it?”

“I wanted to tell you to get some rest, as we begin the first leg of our campaign against the Deep Realm tomorrow.” He turned and walked away as quickly as he’d come. He’d had the manic look of someone with a laundry list of tasks to do before he could rest, so I didn’t take offense.

Even I didn’t immediately settle back into my trance. Instead, I thought about what Tadg had said and let the now familiar sounds of Annwn blend with the crackling of the fire.

The peace of the outside world contrasted sharply with what I was feeling on the inside. Tadg had just invited me to go to war against my brother.