Pure

It had taken Finten another thirty minutes to remember that his men were waiting on him in the dining room. But as it turned out that they weren’t waiting after all. Aoibh had told them they could go on to work, she and Cathal would keep an eye on Finten.

The kitchen got busy again as they started to prepare for lunch. To keep Finten’s mind off his worries for Maigred Cathal put him to work with Sinead, slicing vegetables for the stew and meat pies.

“You’re worried about my mother?” She asked giving him an appraising look.

Finten looked at her in surprise. “You’re Maigred’s daughter?”

She gave a nod.

Finten knew that Maigred had gotten pregnant eleven or twelve years ago, but for some reason he still had it in his mind that her daughter was still just a young, toddling thing. “How old are you?”

“Twelve.”

“Twelve? When did you turn twelve?”

“A few months ago.”

FInten was surprised. Maigred had gotten pregnant close to presentation day if Sinead was twelve already. He looked at her again. No wonder Maigred was desperate for something to be done about Hadeaon. Her daughter as growing up. He swallowed harshly.

“Why are you worried about my mother?” Sinead asked.

“She’s gone to see some dangerous people.”

“Oh.”

“That doesn’t worry you?” Finten asked.

She shrugged. “She’s done it before. She’ll be fine.”

Finten smiled. “I’m glad you have so much confidence in her.”

“She’s strong.” Sinead said seriously. “I’m going to be just like her when I grow up.”

Finten nodded. “That’s good. We need good, strong women like your mother in this town.”

Sinead pressed her lips together and nodded.

“Are you going to run the inn when you grow up?”

She shrugged. “No. It’ll pass to whoever Eoghan marries. Mother says that we’re just staying on to help out Cara till he comes of age and finds a wife.”

Finten frowned. “Why wont it pass to Aoibh? Didn’t Cara adopt her?”

“Yes. But…well, she barely has any connection to the land. She wasn’t born here, you know.” She bit her lip.

Finten frowned. “I didn’t know she couldn’t connect to the land here.”

Sinead nodded.

“That bothers you?”

“Well, it doesn’t seem fair. It’s not her fault that she had to leave her land, and now it’s destroyed, so she can’t go home. It’s very hard for her. She’ll probably never be able to have children or anything.”

Finten looked over at the Sinead. Her concern was written out clearly on her face. “You’re a good person, Sinead.” He said quietly.

She looked up at him in surprise. “What? Why?”

“You care about others as deeply as your mother does.”

“Oh.” Surprise overtook her face. She half smiled, then went back to work chopping carrots. “Thank you.”

They worked in silence for a moment before Sinead glanced up at him again. “So, what do you do for work?”

“Oh. I used to be the lord of the land, you know.”

She nodded.

“I’m still doing most of the same work. We’re surveying the roads in town right now to see which ones need repairing.”

She blinked in surprise. “I didn’t know you were still doing all that. Why doesn’t Hadeaon…well, I suppose it’s not interesting enough to hold his attention, is it?”

Finten let out an amused breath. “No. He doesn’t really care about any of that.”

“I don’t understand why he lives here. Why doesn’t he just kill us all?”

Finten smiled humorlessly. “He might be a wyrm, but he still enjoys human comforts and luxuries. Usually, once a tarasque turns he loses access to all that. Hadeaon has found himself a rare place to roost and he doesn’t want to ruin it for himself. He has us all at his mercy, we have just enough connection to the land to keep it from becoming cursed, but not enough connection to access any of our powers so that we can force him to leave.” He let out a soft sigh.

“Will it be like this forever?” Sinead asked in a small voice.

“No. The gods wont tolerate this forever.”

“But it’s been so long already. Do you think they’ve forgotten about us?”

Finten let out soft breath. “I hope not.”

“The gods don’t forget.” Aoibh said, scooping a pile of chopped vegetables into a bowl. “They are suffering too, they are in the land, in the water, the air and the fire. They are part of us. They wont forget. We just have to trust that they know the best time to move.”

Finten frowned.

“It’s true.” Cara said from her chair near the fire. “I’ve lived longer than any of you and I can tell you the gods always move when the time is right and not before.”

The back door opened and everyone turned towards it. Maigred stepped in. Her lips were pressed together and she looked a little pale.

“What happened?” Finten asked immediately.

“Nothing. Everything went fine.” Her voice was tight.

Finten saw Aoibh and Cathal exchange a glance, then they both went back to work. Sinead followed their example. Finten put his knife down next to the carrot he had been chopping and followed Maigred out of the kitchen.

He hesitated when she began going up stairs again.

“Come on up with me, Finten.”

He obeyed, following her at a slight distance. She went to her room, unlocked the door and opened it. Then she turned and gestured for him to go inside.

He stepped into her room. It was small, there was just enough room for her bed and the small trunk at the end. There was a blue rag rug peeking out from under her bed, filling the tiny space between her bed and the small fireplace, and a blue knitted blanket on her bed. There was a string of dried flowers handing in the window. The rose he had given her was hanging there, half dried, still fragrant.

She stepped into the room and shut the door behind her. Finten’s back pressed into the edge of the window sill, Maigred stood with her back against the door, there wasn’t much space between them.

“Finten, how many debts are you paying Treaseaigh interest on?”

He shifted. “A few.”

Her eyebrows raised. “A few?”

He nodded, feeling like a child who had been caught in the act of stealing cookies from the pantry.

Maigred let out breath. “Finten, I was hoping to buy off Ailbhe’s debt in full with those tansy seeds, but Treaseaigh informed me that you’re paying on over fifty accounts. He and I came to an agreement. Nothing will be owed for a month, but then he’ll start collecting again. That’s much less than what those seeds are worth, but he knew I had my back against the wall.”

Finten gave a nod. Something that he hadn’t realized was tight in his chest loosened. “Thank you.”

She frowned. “Finten, you’re still wearing the bandages from the other day. You’re…you’re not doing well. What happened to you on presentation day?”

Finten shrugged. “We haven’t had any hearth maidens to perform land binding rituals in thirteen years. Every presentation day, Alvie makes sure I stay connected to the land so that the earth will keep sharing its abundance with us.”

Maigred squeezed her eyes shut. “Finten…” She opened her eyes. “How long does it usually take for you to recover from whatever it is she does to you?”

He shrugged a shoulder and shook his head. “It’s taking longer. It takes longer very year.”

She gave him a long look. “What was your plan? You can’t keep going like this. Alive’s magic is killing you.”

He let out a breath and let his eyes drop to the floor. “I don’t have one, Maigred. I thought the wyrm’s doom would come a long time ago. Since Caevah died it’s felt like all I’m doing is trying to keep up a falling wall. I thought I could keep things going till Hadeaon was ended, then someone else would come take over, but it’s been thirteen years and nothing has changed.

“I’m starting to see that I might fail before Hadeaon does. And…I don’t know what to do. I’ve been doing everything I can and it’s not enough.”

One corner of her mouth pulled up in the semblance of a smile. “Well, we’re all still here, right? The people of this land are still alive, the land is still habitable. But…something needs to change.”

Finten gave a nod. He swallowed, wondering if she was going to ask to court him again. Knowing that she was by his side would give his heart so much relief, he wouldn’t feel that everything rested only on his shoulders.

“Well, thank you for clarifying the situation for me Finten. We’d better get back downstairs, I need to get to work.” Maigred took off her cloak and laid it on her bed, then opened the door and stepped out into the hall.

Finten followed her out. “Thank you for everything Maigred. I owe you more than I could ever repay.”

Maigred locked her door and started down the hall. “We’re all in this together, Finten.”