“When do ye leave?How long will ye be gone?”
Muire breathed out and looked relieved to have the subject changed as well.“A sennight at most, I presume.Uncle Cormag wishes to show his support and, I’m sure, make yet another fine Highland marriage alliance.”
“Two birds with one stone, eh?”Ailith commented before she realized the modern cliche exited past her lips.
“What birds?”Muire asked.“I dinna have any birds.”
Ailith’s lips quivered with mirth as she sat back.“Um, ‘tis a way of saying that ye can accomplish two tasks with one act.The full phrase is killing two birds with one stone.A hunting saying, I think.”
Muire and Sine exchanged a brief glance.“’Tis an odd phrase,” Sine said with a crinkled brow.“Yet, ‘tis accurate.Many a hunter would prefer to get two birds for one.”
“And Uncle Cormag is as canny as any hunter.Aye.With this visit, he hopes to achieve much.”
Ailith noted that Uncle Cormag had a lot of control over the lives of his nieces.“What does your father have to say about it?”
Muire shrugged one shoulder.“He’s Cormag’s man.Since mother died, he’s been devoted to his brother.”
“Aye,” Sine agreed.“Like he had to turn that devotion for mother to something else.To us and the rest of his family.But Uncle Cormag and the whole of the clan are like that.Close, aye?”Sine threaded her fingers together as she spoke.
Her explanation made sense, especially given what Ailith knew of the early clan history of the Highlands.Kin, clan, alliances, those were sacrosanct.Loyalty above all else.
No wonder the mad King Donald had been killed.The clans would not risk any division to that loyalty.
“So while I would love to dig in the mud with ye,” Muire said as she stood and patted down her gray skirts, “ye will have to go without me.I leave first thing on the morrow.We ride out with Eoghan and his sister and the rest of the remaining wedding guests.”
Ailith rose and hugged her sister-in-law.She had been a devout friend, and Ailith was going to miss her the week she was gone.And she did not care to think about Muire leaving permanently if a match was made between her and Daric MacIntosh.The prospect of losing someone who understood her made her chest hollow.
“I shall miss ye while ye are gone,” she said as Muire hugged her back.
“I’ll go with ye on the morrow,” Sine said to Ailith.“Ye can show me how to plant these wee stools if they are so important to ye.And mayhap ye can show me how to use them once they are grown.”
Oh, no, I can’t.That thought flashed through Ailith's head.She hadn’t thought that far ahead.What would happen when someone did ask her how to use them?To justify their importance?She didn’t know if they could even be drunk as a tea without causing harm!Perhaps Teagan would know.She’d have to ask next time she saw the woman.
Ailith gave her a flat smile, one designed to hold back her appreciative tears at Sine and her kindness.“Aye.I’d love to have ye help me.I’m trying to plant them all over the Highlands.For ease of access,” she added quickly.
Oh, Teagan, help me figure out something with these mushrooms!
Sine strode to the desk and grabbed the ink, quill, and a fresh parchment, then handed them to Ailith.“Come with me.We’ll go to Caitir’s solar.She has fresh ink and wine, so we can thin this down and ye can write.”
As Sine and Ailith parted ways with Muire and made their way to Caitir’s solar, they did not notice Betris, who lingered in the shadows, watching them.
She did not mean to be hiding – she was trying to find a moment of peace away from Eoghan, who took his role as her older brother seriously and hadn’t left her side for the past sennight.‘Twas important to have a chaperone, but his overbearing attention was driving her to the brink of lunacy.
The seat in the arched window offered the perfect place to enjoy a bit of dappled sunlight and time alone.The entire keep had been overrun with people, events, and crowding, and while she had enjoyed her time with Mairi, once she had left, it was just her and Eoghan.
And Ailith, the odd Gordon daughter.Betris had always thought her wild and willful, but, as of late, with the gossip, rumors, and peculiar behaviors, she had seemed even more odd.
What was going on with her?
One rumor that did not sit well with Betris was the suggestion that Ailith had something to do with the clans’ successful attack on Dunnottar Castle and the mad king.While Betris knew the death of the king was beneficial for the clans, so many lives had been lost in that battle – Grant and MacIntosh lives in particular.One MacIntosh that Betris had lost her heart to, Kendrick MacIntosh, had perished at Dunottar, and that pained her the most.How much did Ailith have to do with his death?
Betris tapped her chin and turned her face to the cut glass window.Odd.
And some of the stories Mairi had shared about Ailith, including how she spoke about Dunnottar – also odd.And the shift in behavior Mairi had noted, jokingly calling her a changeling.
Now the rumors of Ailith fighting a Keith to defend a lass from Eire?What woman did such a thing?Was she truly fae?
Mayhap no joke.
