“It’s so pretty,” Liam breathed.
“It’s beautiful and perfect and…” Ciara’s voice choked and she couldn’t go on.
“And it is your home,” Etain finished for her.
Home…Brighid’s heart echoed. It wasn’t the open grasslands of her youth, but seeing it again made her feel settled and safe.
“They’ve done a lot the past two moons,” Cu said, working hard to keep his voice flat and emotionless, as if he was afraid that if he let any feeling leak into his words he would not be able to stop the tide and it would overwhelm him. “The four towers are completed, and much of the sentry’s walk.”
A shout helloed at them from the outer wall of the castle.
“Shall we let our Elphame know we’re here, my beauty?” Etain said, patting the silver mare’s neck.
Understanding perfectly, and without needing any further guidance from her rider, the mare pranced forward for several paces and then she reared gracefully, trumpeting a sharp greeting that was unmistakably amplified by the power of Epona’s presence.
The response from the castle was immediate.
“Hail, Epona!” called the sentry, and a moment later the newly installed iron gate was raised and figures rushed through the opening.
With a glad cry, Elphame sprinted forward. Her two powerful equine legs made her faster and stronger than the rest of her people, and she outdistanced them easily, reaching the group of travelers even before her winged mate.
Cuchulainn slid from his horse and just had time to open his arms for his sister as she rushed into them.
“Cuchulainn!” She hugged him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder.
“Shhh,” he murmured, stroking her head. “Don’t cry, sister-mine. Don’t cry…”
Elphame pulled back a little so that she could take his face in her hands and kiss him soundly. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“And I you.”
“And what about your mother?” Etain asked through her own tears.
Elphame stepped out of her brother’s arms and approached the Goddess Incarnate and the silver mare. “Oh, Mama-” her eyes shining happily “-who wouldn’t miss you?”
The mare bowed down so that Etain had only to step gracefully from the horse’s smooth back to take her daughter in her arms. “Don’t cry, precious one. Your brother has returned, and all will be well.”
Elphame kissed her mother on both cheeks. Then she turned to Brighid, and, smiling, was moving to hug her enthusiastically too, when she realized Brighid carried something…someone, on her back. The Clan Chieftain’s eyes widened as the scene expanded to include more than her brother and mother.
“Oh, Goddess…” Elphame gasped.
Without looking behind her, Ciara walked forward, knowing her people would follow. When she stood directly in front of Elphame, she knelt and placed her hands, with wrists crossed, over her heart, in an ancient gesture of respect and homage.
“Goddess, there will never be adequate words with which to thank you for the sacrifice you made. By accepting the madness of our forefathers you freed the humanity within us. You saved us.” The Shaman’s passionate voice filled the castle grounds.
Brighid watched her Clan Chieftain’s face carefully. Was she the only one who noticed the shadow that shivered through Elphame’s eyes, dark and malignant? Then Lochlan moved to one side of his mate, and Etain, the Beloved of Epona, moved to her daughter’s other side. Elphame seemed to take strength from their presence, and to draw herself up straighter. Like shadows retreating from light, the darkness in her gaze cleared. She reached down, took Ciara’s hand, and raised her to her feet.
“It is not me to whom you owe your debt of gratitude,” Elphame said. “Without Epona’s strength the curse could not have been lifted from your people.”
“And your debt to Epona has been repaid many times over by the fidelity of your foremothers,” Etain said.
“So we have no debtors here, only friends and comrades,” Elphame finished.
Then Lochlan stepped forward, and his deep voice rang throughout the Clan.
“Elphame, my Chieftain and my love, and Clan MacCallan-” he looked behind his mate, smiling at the humans and centaurs who crowded behind them “-this is Ciara, Shaman of the New Fomorians, granddaughter of the Incarnate Terpsichore abducted by demons more than one hundred years ago.”
Elphame returned Ciara’s elegant full curtsy with a regal tilting of her head.
“Chieftain, my Lord Lochlan, and Clan MacCallan, these are my people, who are now your people-the people your Chieftain saved-the New Fomorians.” With a graceful, sweeping flourish, Ciara stepped aside so that Elphame had an unrestricted view of the winged children and adults who still knelt, filling that part of the grounds like a beautiful flock of exotic birds.
Elphame’s eyes traveled over the silent group, and as her gaze touched each of them, face after face broke into tentative smiles. Then one little voice spoke from the front of the group.
“We are so glad to be here, Goddess!” And then a torrent of young voices joined hers.
“Yes, Goddess!”
“Oh, yes!”
“It’s so green here!”
“Everything is growing!”
Elphame raised her hand and the barrage of youthful exuberance was stilled.
“First,” she said slowly, “I am not a Goddess. I am simply touched by one. You may call me Chieftain, or my Lady, or even Elphame. Understand?”
Lots of bright little heads nodded ardently.
“Good. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way.” Elphame’s face broke into a joyous smile. “Stand, New Fomorians and be welcomed to MacCallan Castle -your new home!”
Taking their cue from their Chieftain, Clan MacCallan surged forward, greeting the children and adults until soon the groups were so co-mingled Brighid could no longer tell where MacCallan plaid ended and the wings of the New Fomorians began.
“Is this someone special I should meet?” Elphame asked Brighid.
Before she could respond Liam chirped a quick, “Yes!”
Brighid slipped a hand onto the boy’s leg and squeezed. With obedience that the Huntress was beginning to find surprising, the boy instantly quieted.
“Elphame, I would like to formally introduce you to my new apprentice, Liam.”
To her credit a small twitch of her lips was all that betrayed the Chieftain’s surprise and-Brighid was sure-amusement.
“Well met, Liam. A clan can always use another good…” She hesitated, and at Brighid’s inconspicuous half-nod she finished, “Huntress.”
“Thank you, my Lady! MacCallan Castle will be needing an extra Huntress with all of us here now.”
Brighid thought he sounded very mature, and she would have been fooled into thinking he had suddenly aged several years, had she not felt him squirm with barely suppressed excitement.
“That’s a very wise thing for you to say, Liam,” Elphame said without a hint of the smile Brighid knew she had to be struggling to conceal-knew it because her friend was studiously avoiding meeting Brighid’s eyes. “I can see why Brighid chose you to be her apprentice.”
“Oh, she didn’t choose me,” Liam said gravely. “I chose her. From the first time I met her I told her that I was supposed to be a centaur Huntress, just like her.”
Elphame pressed a hand against her lips, as if gravely considering the boy’s words. She carefully cleared her throat before answering the boy. “You know, you remind me of my brother. He knew from a very early age just exactly who he was going to be.”
Brighid could feel Liam sucking in a mighty breath with which to sustain what she felt certain would be a long barrage of very young and very excited words, when she saw Nara approaching them.
“Elphame, please meet the New Fomorian Healer, Nara,” Brighid said quickly.