‘The magic of the earth and the ocean. That’s where those folk came from, long ago. That’s why they cling to the Islands. They are no sorcerers. They don’t work spells. But some of them have the ability to speak to one another in the mind, without words. You don’t know how hard I tried to develop that. Wore myself out. Either you have it or you don’t. One or two of them can read the future. Powerful tools, both of them. And some of them have healing skills far beyond a physician’s.’
‘Is that all?’
‘All, she says!’ Her laugh mocked me. ‘Isn’t that enough? Those gifts shut me out of achieving my goal for nigh on two generations, girl. They took my son from me and turned him soft. But now it’s different. I have you, Fainne, and I have a new goal, a far grander one. You’ve got a little bit of everything in you, thanks to your mother. That was the one good thing she did for you, pathetic wretch that she was. I’ve never understood it. If Ciarán had to throw himself away on one of the Sevenwaters brats, why not choose the other sister? A child of that liaison would have had rare skills indeed. Never mind, Fainne. You bear the blood of four races. That has to count for something.’
This time I found it impossible not to challenge her. ‘I don’t like you to speak of my mother that way,’ I said, glaring.
‘No? I speak only the truth, child. Besides, what would you care? You scarcely remember her, surely. But I suppose all your attitudes come from your father. He’ll hear no ill spoken of his beloved Niamh. To him she was a princess, a creature of perfection who couldn’t set a foot wrong. He let losing her eat him up. Now, Fainne.’ Her tone had changed abruptly. ‘You’ve done quite well so far, child; we should be ready in time if you keep your mind on learning. Tomorrow I’ll outline what is expected of you at Sevenwaters. All this, you understand, the airs and graces, the easy conversation, the skills of the bedchamber, all this is only a tool, part of the means to an end. Tomorrow I’ll begin to explain what that end is. You’ve quite a task ahead of you, granddaughter. Quite a task. Now, off to bed with you, you’ll need all the rest you can get.’
That night, alone in my chamber with a candle for company and the ocean roaring outside, I opened the wooden chest and brought out Riona. She seemed a little crumpled from being squashed under blankets, and I thought I detected a trace of a frown on her neatly stitched features. I untangled her yellow hair and refastened the ties at the back of her gown. Tonight, suddenly I did not feel so grown up any more, and as I blew out the candle and lay down on my bed I kept Riona by me, something I had not done for a long time.
‘Is it true?’ I whispered into the darkness. ‘Is that all my mother was, a stupid girl who blighted my father’s life? Is that why he doesn’t want to talk about her? But he said he loved her. If he would talk about her, then maybe I would remember her. Maybe I would remember something. Some little thing.’
Riona did not reply. Her presence by me was comforting, nonetheless. My fingers touched the strange woven necklace she wore, stroked the cool smooth surface of the white stone threaded on it.
‘Perhaps it’s best,’ I said, to her or to myself. ‘Perhaps it’s best that I don’t know. She was one of them, the human kind, the family of Sevenwaters. I am of the other kind; I am my father’s daughter. Best if I never know.’ But my hand brushed the soft silk of Riona’s skirt, and as I fell asleep I was seeing my mother’s fingers, the swift flash of the needle as she sewed the little gown with tiny, even stitches. A gift for her daughter, to remember her by; a small friend to comfort me in the darkness when she was gone.
The next morning Grandmother set things out for me.
‘Now, Fainne,’ she said, watching me very closely as I stood before her in my plain gown and serviceable shoes, my hands clasped behind my back. ‘Why do you think your father wants you to go to Sevenwaters? Is not that the one place he longs to obliterate from his memory, yet cannot? Why would he send you there, his only daughter, into the heart of his enemy’s territory?’
‘I am the granddaughter of a chieftain of Ulster,’ I told her. ‘Father said the folk of Sevenwaters have a debt to repay. He thinks I must learn to move in that circle, since there is no real future for me here in Kerry.’ A shiver went through me. It occurred to me for the first time that I might never return to the Honeycomb. The thought terrified me. ‘I trust my father,’ I went on as steadily as I could. ‘If he wishes me to travel to Ulster, then that must be the right thing.’
Grandmother grimaced, awakening a network of deep wrinkles in her ancient skin. ‘Your confidence in Ciarán’s judgement is touching, my dear, if ill-founded. His decision is sound enough, it’s his reasons that leave something to be desired. I put that down to his druid training. That wretch, Conor, has a lot to answer for. He and those brothers of his robbed my son of his birthright, and muddled his head with foolish ideas, so he doesn’t know what’s what any more. They should never have survived what I did to them. But that’s beside the point. Your father only told you half the truth, Fainne. Ciarán’s sick. Very sick. He’s sending you away because he sees a day, quite soon, when he’ll no longer be here to provide for you.’
I felt the blood drain from my face. ‘What?’ I whispered foolishly.
‘Don’t believe me? You should. I’m in the very best position to know this. Ciarán won’t leave his precious little apprentice here with the fisherfolk, to become another wife with a gaggle of squalling brats at heel. He can’t leave you with me; I come and go as I please. So he’s left with only one option. Your uncle, Lord Sean of Sevenwaters; Conor, the arch druid; the elusive Liadan; those are the only family you’ve got. Your father sees no alternative.’
‘You mean – you mean this cough, this pallor, you mean he is – dying?’ I forced the word out. ‘But – but how can this be? Our kind are not like ordinary men and women, we live long – how can he be so sick? He said he was well. He said there was nothing wrong –’
‘Of course he said that. But there are some maladies beyond mortal remedy, Fainne; some sicknesses that can strike even the most powerful mage. He didn’t tell you the truth because he knew you wouldn’t agree to go, if you knew.’
‘He was right,’ I said, gritting my teeth. ‘I won’t go. I cannot leave him. How could he not tell me?’ The two of us had been so close, had shared such long times of perfect understanding, of wordless cooperation. Hurt lodged deep within me like a cold stone.
Grandmother was calm. ‘Let me explain something to you,’ she said. ‘It’s not the human folk of Sevenwaters that matter, child. It’s the power behind them: those Otherworld creatures with their fancy manners, and their grip on the rest of us. You will go to Sevenwaters, if not for your father, then for me. I’ve a task for you to undertake, a mission for you to complete. This is big, Fainne. Far bigger than you imagine.’
‘But Father said –’
‘Forget that. I’m his mother. I know what I’m talking about. There’s one reason for you to go to Sevenwaters, and one reason alone. My reason. Why do you think I came here, Fainne? I’ve been watching you, these long years; waiting until you were ready for this. You will complete what I started. You will achieve the success long denied our kind. You’ll show the Fair Folk that the outcast can be strong, strong enough to deny them their heart’s desire. You will thwart their long scheme. They will fall together, the folk of Sevenwaters and their Otherworld shadows. That’s your task.’
I gaped at her. ‘But – but, Grandmother, the Túatha Dé Danann? Who could challenge such power? I would be crushed.’
She grinned sourly. ‘I did it, and I’m still here. A little battered, but I have my will. And I nearly succeeded. They’re much weakened since the Islands were lost to the Britons. They had a plan for that girl, Sorcha, and her muddy-boots of a lover. They have a plan for Sevenwaters. I nearly ruined the first. But the girl was too strong for me. I forgot the Fomhóire streak. Never do that, Fainne. Watch out for it. Now you’ll thwart the second plan. The Fair Folk want the Islands back. They want it all played out in