Chapter 14

Hearing the story had been for Rhiannon much the same as finding out that her parents, Gavin and Fionnuala, had been burned to death. She felt physically ill. She returned to her seat and pressed her face against Rowan's shoulder thankful again for the shelter he offered, and that she wasn't going through this alone. But her parents, all four of them, had lost so so much, and now Lugh was left behind to deal with the fallout from his decision to leave the water and talk to the beautiful girl on the rock in the sun. Rhiannon wondered if he had regrets and then wished she hadn't. Her heart could hardly bear it. Stone Keeper was the first to break the silence after Gwydion had finished speaking. “I think that under the circumstances it would be appropriate to adjourn for now. We can reconvene later today or perhaps even tomorrow morning. I think that we all need some time to absorb the things that we've learned here today.”

Lugh seconded the motion. “Yes. I do not think that we would be delaying overmuch if we waited until morning to make decisions. I for one, am too overwrought to be useful at this time and it is well past noon. We all need a break.”

The meeting was adjourned. Rowan put his arm around Rhiannon's waist and lead her out of the great hall and into the warm sun. He lead her down to the beach and they sat on a log together watching the waves and feeling the sharp wet breeze that came up off of the water. “Both of my mothers had their children taken away. What if that happens to us?” she whispered to him.

Rowan looked into her eyes and took her face in his hands, “Rhiannon, I will never let that happen. I swear to you that I will do anything to keep that from happening. I made a mistake once and I won't do it again. I can't bear the thought of you worrying about this.” He kissed her and wiped away her tears then they watched the water in silence for a time before they heard voices.

“Just this way . . .” and, “Thank you,” drifted down the beach towards them and soon Nimue, Cole, and Thaylum were approaching. Nimue spoke first, “I didn't suppose that either of you would be up to lunch in the dining hall, but I figured that you would still need to eat, so I packed a basket full of food. Cole and Thaylum told me about the meeting and showed me where you were. We'll leave you if you need to be alone, but if you'd like, we could stay and have lunch with you?” The three stood there, waiting uncertainly.

Rowan smiled at them. It was a tired, sad, wan, smile, “You'd better stay. The company would do us good.”

“Yes, stay,” Rhiannon agreed. “The food will taste better if you stay.” Nimue nodded and began spreading the large blanket that she had tucked in the top of her basket, then passed Rhiannon a soft wool shawl, which she accepted gratefully. It was an odd time to find themselves, suddenly, in a social situation, sitting in the sun with other young like-minded people. At first the others were, Rhiannon could tell, unsure and self-conscious around herself and Rowan. It took her a moment to remember that she was a Queen and that Rowan was a military hero and Thaylum and Cole's commanding officer, but Rowan was used to this and broke the ice with ease. He turned to Thaylum, “We fought in the same regiment for three years and you never let on once! Your bunk in the barracks was right next to mine.”

“I thought about it,” Thaylum chuckled. “But the time never seemed right. Once you get used to keeping a secret, I guess it becomes a hard habit to break even if you know that someone else is keeping the same secret.”

Rowan nodded. “So how is White Feather anyway? I haven't seen her in six years. I'm right about that aren't I?” Rowan said it with a smile.

“Yeah.” Thaylum answered sheepishly, “She felt a little guilty disappearing like that, but we didn't think that we had any other choice. Sometimes she's lonely, but she really likes having her own home and she loves being a mother.” Then Thaylum smiled indulgently, “And I have to admit they're pretty cute kids.”

Nimue had finished spreading out the food. Rhiannon took a plate and helped herself. When they were all sitting and eating Thaylum commented, “The only drawback to spending time with the Fay is that, sometimes I would really like some meat.”

“I like fish!” Nimue and Cole both piped up at the same time and then both laughed.

“Crazy Selkies,” Rowan poked fun at them.

Rhiannon felt herself smiling. She let herself remember waking up that morning with Rowan, bathed in colour, and the feeling of the goodness that was happening in the midst of all of this sadness and upheaval. She closed her eyes and let the sun shine on her face. Cole and Nimue were defending their love of fish when something occurred to Rhiannon, “Do you two have a seal skin that you can slip into?” she asked, thinking about what she had heard about Selkies and their seal skins.

Cole and Nimue shook their heads sadly, “Only full blooded Selkies are born with a seal skin.” Nimue answered.

“Where does that leave you?” Rhiannon couldn't help asking.

This time Cole answered, “It leaves us always longing for the sea in a way that we can never truly have it. My brothers all joined the Navy because they have trouble leaving it. I joined the army to try to distract myself from it. It eases the feeling to admit to it out loud though.” He smiled a little and, like Nimue, turned and looked over his shoulder at the water. Rhiannon saw their eyes meet and she wondered what had passed between them.

The five of them lounged on the beach and spoke of things that they had never been able to speak of openly before. “I can't help wonder how many of us are out there,” Rhiannon sighed. “Half Fay, Fay involved with Humans, Human's with Fay? Does it happen more than anyone admits to?”

“I think it does,” Rowan answered. “So many times it's happened to me, that I'll feel a sense of kinship to someone, or have a flash of understanding, only to look away from that person as if it's automatically assumed that we don't talk about this. We just repress it. I've often suspected, but we've been conditioned not to seek confirmation.”

Cole nodded, “The same thing happens to me especially when I'm near the sea. I think that there are more chance meetings between Humans and Fairies than it seems. I think that there's an attraction that we can't deny. My mother always finds her skin and swims away, but after a few months, she always comes back. She says she can't help it. When she's with us she wants the sea, when she's in the sea she wants us.”

Thaylum had been listening to all of this quietly. “I think Cole's right about there being an attraction. I remember meeting White Feather for the first time. It was completely by chance. I was on my way back to my family's farm which is about five days east of here. I was on foot and I'd stopped to make camp. There's an old hollow tree not far from the main road, about twenty minutes walk into the forest. It makes a good shelter so I often used it as a place to make camp, and that's where I met her. I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life. She was incandescent and gossamer, sitting on a log stroking a unicorn. They glowed in the twilight. I stared and stared and then I stepped on a twig and the unicorn bolted. She looked up and I told her that I was sorry, that I hadn't meant to chase the unicorn away. I felt like a clod but she smiled and walked towards me, so incredibly light on her feet, and she said, “I've made soup. If you have some bread, we could share?” At the time it seemed so strange to me that she wanted me just as much as I wanted her. I felt so ordinary, but she told me that to her I wasn't ordinary.” He stopped and grinned, “We barely left that hollow tree for three days. It was summer. It was perfect.”

They sat for a time basking in sunlight and good feelings before Rhiannon asked the question that had been burning inside her for quite some time, “So, we pretty much know first hand that nothing bad happens when Humans and Fairies come together so why the taboo? Where does it come from?”

“I don't know but I wish it didn't exist,” Thaylum said bitterly.

Cole nodded agreement.

Rowan looked thoughtful, “I asked Gwydion once when I was about seventeen. He told me that according to the Druids, who have knowledge that goes back to the old country and even to the time of the Plague Wars, that it was the Angels who started the taboo just before they retreated into the mountains. But no one knows why they did it, or why we've adhered to it for so long.”

“The Angels?” Cole screwed up his face in incredulity. “I wasn't even sure that they were real.”

Rhiannon piped up then, “Gwydion told Rowan and I that he'd seen one. There is something that's bothering me though. In the other world, where I was raised, there is a concept there called science. I don't think that I'm articulate enough to explain exactly what it is, except that it's a way of doing and explaining things without magic, and according to the science of that world, if two creatures can mate and produce viable offspring, then they are the same creature.”

This brought on a long thoughtful silence followed by some good natured joking about viability. Then Rhiannon just had to ask, “I wonder what a Human Phooka cross would be like?”

This brought on gales of laughter. “Oh . . . Rhiannon . . .” Nimue gasped out, “Only a Phooka could love a Phooka, but maybe . . . someday we'll see.”

The sun was getting low so they packed up reluctantly and left the beach, knowing that it was the last time that they would spend a relaxed afternoon in the sun for a long time.