by Jane Stain
Eileen disappeared around the hearth into the kitchen area again for a while and then once the children were finished drinking their broth she came back around, once more covered in flour.
“Aodh and Niall, ye two set the table, aye?”
“Aye!”
“Aye!”
The two miniature men made a game of it, mock sword fighting with the knives and using the wooden plates as shields.
Sasha had to dodge them twice as they came by, even though she was making her presence known with her coaching comments.
“Aodh, his left side is open. Niall, ye need to block better, lad.”
She was itching to take a movie. It would be difficult with her hand in a tankard though, so it would have to wait. But she would at least get pictures of these adorable mini adults before she left.
There was a knock at the door, and Deirdre ran over and opened it, then turned her head to yell over her shoulder.
“Maw! Seumas is come with the ice! And he brought yer new man!” She turned back to Seumas. “I’m sae glad ye returned.” She made a grand gesture into the house. “Will ye come in?”
Seumas gracefully bowed his head to Deirdre and came over and plopped a small chunk of ice in Sasha’s water tankard before he nodded toward a door Sasha hadn’t noticed before.
“Sasha, this is my brother Alfred. Now go on intae the bedroom and put on those dry clothes sae we can all eat supper.”
After Sasha and Alfred exchanged pleasantries, Deirdre scampered up to Sasha and spoke solemnly.
“May I help ye? I’m verra good at putting on clothes.”
Sasha breathed a sigh of relief at this and took her tankard with her on the way to the door, speaking just as Eileen opened her mouth to reign her daughter in.
“I would be delighted tae hae ye help me, Deirdre. The clothes here are just different enough from where I come from that I dae feel the need for a bit o help.”
Understatement of the month. These clothes were riddled with little tie strings, and not a button nor a zipper in sight. Sasha hated to think how long it would’ve taken her to figure it all out on her own, but with Deirdre’s help she was changed in a few minutes.
Eileen had told her to leave her muddy clothes in a pile on the floor and she would wash them, and Sasha hadn’t known what to say. She’d always dry cleaned her wool suits, but she couldn’t exactly tell Eileen that. And the woman was a weaver, so after an awkward pause she had agreed on the condition that she could help. It wouldn’t hurt to find out how to wash wool by hand without it shrinking, now would it?
Eileen was shorter than her, so on Sasha, these skirts didn’t quite reach the floor the way they did on Eileen and all the other women who’d been out in the market. But otherwise, the skirted shirt with huge sleeves and the plaid overdress fit well. Fortunately, her long hair hadn’t gotten muddy.
Glad that it was the style in this time for women to wear their hair down and long, she got her hairbrush out of her purse, but before she could brush the second stroke, Deirdre was squealing and jumping up and down in excitement. Oops.
“That is the brawest thing I did ever see! May I try?”
With the tiniest bit of trepidation, Sasha handed Deirdre the brush and turned her back to her so that the little girl could brush her hair.
“Sure.”
The brushing she got only hurt a little bit and only snagged once. Deirdre was pretty skilled with a brush. It didn’t go so well when Sasha brushed her own hair, so she didn’t complain. Just closed her eyes and clenched her teeth to bear it.
When it was done and she turned around to take her brush back, Deirdre was gazing at it in awe.
Ack! No wonder. Her hairbrush was made of see-through pink plastic with little silver flecks of glitter inside.
Hm. Her impulse was to give the brush to the little girl as a gift. But something Kelsey had said lingered in the back of Sasha’s mind. There was danger here from some Druid named Brian who was locked up in a tower, and maybe there were more Druids about. And they were all dangerous.
All she knew about Druids was that they used the magic of the natural realm — they thought of it as the life force that ran through all living things. And she only knew that from the occasional comments she would overhear during her brother’s weekly Dungeons and Dragons games in the basement of their parents’ house when she was a kid. Okay, she had hidden at the top of the stairs and cracked the door open and leaned into the crack so that she could overhear as much as possible, the games had been so entertaining. The point was, she didn’t really know very much about Druids, only what some game said about them.
But she knew Druids could definitely be dangerous. And they had sent Tavish here, so they knew about time travel and would recognize this as being from the future. And time travel was a big secret, judging by the lengths Tavish and Kelsey were going to in their disguises. Who knew what the Druids might do to poor little Deirdre if they thought she knew their secret?
So Sasha decided on a different gift for Deirdre, and held out her hand to be given the hairbrush back.
“Yer turn.”
With a huge pretty smile, Deirdre turned around and fluffed her long blonde hair over her shoulders so that it hung down her back.
Sasha knew that after supper, she was going to need the privy she had seen on her way in, and she was not looking forward to that. Ooh. Except that would give her the chance to get her phone situated someplace where it couldn’t be seen but where she could use it to take movies of all these precocious kids.
Excited at the prospect, she finished brushing Deirdre’s hair and jumped up, grabbing her hand and taking her into the other room to find Tavish and Kelsey standing just inside the front door, looking around in visible apprehension.
Kelsey relaxed and smiled when she saw Sasha enter the room.
“There ye are, Butterfly! Dinna dae that tae me ever again!”
Sasha smiled and raised her shoulder and gave Kelsey her traditional star wave.
“I willna, dinna fash.”
But Tavish gestured out the door impatiently.
“Come now, Sasha —”
Oh no he didn’t. Couldn’t he see that everyone was just sitting down to supper and there were places set for them? She liked Eileen, and it would be rude to leave right now. She gestured toward two places together.
“Tavish, please.”
But instead of moving toward their seats, Tavish agitatedly whispered in Kelsey’s ear, plainly trying to get her to make Sasha leave.
Was he crazy? She didn’t understand it. Rudeness certainly was not the way to avoid calling attention to yourself.
Apparently Alfred agreed, because the captain stood from his seat and called his guard Tavish on it, gesturing at the two empty seats next to each other lest Tavish overlook them one more second.
“Ye are na going anywhere till ye sit down and eat the food Eileen prepared for ye.”
Tavish paused, which could not lead to anything good.
She needed to keep him from starting something ugly. In order to distract everyone’s attention from the two of them, Sasha picked that moment to steer Deirdre over to the empty seat between Aodh and Niall.
“Thank ye again for the loan o yer daughter, Eileen. She was a verra big help, even brushed my hair for me, see?” She made a show of turning around and showing off how nicely brushed her long red hair was.
Deirdre glowed with pride, and Eileen smiled at her daughter and caressed her cheek.
Sasha moved herself toward the empty seat between Seumas and Alfred.
Seumas pulled the chair out for her, and when she smiled her thanks at him, he gestured at her new outfit and smiled his approval. This pleased her way more than she thought it should, and to avoid gawking at him like a fool, she looked back over toward Tavish, truly interested in whatever he was going to choose to do.
He and Kelsey were whispering back and forth quite agitatedly, but at least they were taking their seats and no longer in
danger of angering Alfred.
Sasha was embarrassed for her friends and had half resolved to distract the group once more when she noticed that no one else was paying them any mind. In fact, she caught quite a few winks and nods and eye rolls on her friends’ behalf. Alfred had sat down and was being passed a dish, Eileen was busy cutting up food on Sìle’s plate, the little boys were pretend sword-fighting with their forks full of food behind Deirdre’s back, and Seumas … was sipping his ale, amusedly observing her over the rim of his tankard.
“How did ye earn yer nickname, Butterfly?”
Grateful for the presence of the social lubricant, she grabbed her own ale and gulped some down. It was surprisingly light, but good.
“Hae ye na heard the saying, social butterfly?”
“I canna say I hae.”
She buttered her bread, doing her best to look at him coquettishly over the top of it now and then.
“Och, wull now. Kelsey does think I am a social butterfly, which is a person who flits from one conversation tae the next, never staying quiet.”
His eyes twinkled at her as he chuckled and buttered his own bread.
“Wull now, ye are a bit o that, tae be sure. Ye hae only just met Eileen, and already Deirdre is dressing ye and the wee lads follow yer commands like those o a queen.”
Thank goodness she hadn’t taken a bite of her bread yet, because this made her laugh. She made it as pretty a laugh as she could, letting the sound come out her nose in a high pitch that she had found most men enjoyed.
“Stop it. I was only playing along with their game. In truth, I thought they were gaun'ae run me ower and just was saying things sae they would notice me.”
He had taken a bite of his bread while she was speaking, and he chewed it with a knowing look in his eyes. She took the opportunity to eat some of her bread as well, and it was delicious. She’d forgotten how good home-baked bread was. He noticed her enjoyment of the bread and left off talking for a while, eating and taking obvious pleasure in watching her eat.
As she basked in his glowing admiration, she heard other conversations at the table and noticed that Eileen had succeeded in getting Kelsey’s attention.
“Sae dae ye and Sasha both hae rooms at the castle now, or will ye take me up on my offer tae stay with me, the two o ye?”
Kelsey took a deep breath and turned to Tavish, and they whispered and grunted and groaned a lot before he answered Eileen.
“Aye, the lasses will be staying with ye, at least this evening and mayhap a fortnight or more, depending on the sort o duty I get. If that is nay trouble?”
Eileen gave Sasha and Kelsey each a friendly smile.
“’Twill be my pleasure to hae the lasses stay.”
Sasha wiped her mouth and kept Eileen’s eye, nodding toward the bedroom and then admiring her new outfit.
“We hae tae launder my clothes sae I can give ye this back.”
Eileen shook her head prettily as she sipped from her tankard.
“Nay, it suits ye. Keep it. We can work on lengthening the skirt. Yer clothing is like tae raise some eyebrows, and I want for ye tae enjoy yerself while yer with us.”
Sasha had just eaten breakfast, and so she wasn’t very hungry. Curiously, she saw that Tavish and Kelsey were devouring their food.
“Seumas, finish my food if ye want. I’m done.”
The large red-haired man happily dug in.
Sasha got up and played some more tunes on her new flute while everyone else finished eating. Each time she finished a song or took a breath, everyone applauded and cheered. Some even whistled, very much like they would in her time. She took this as encouragement to play even livelier tunes, switching from those she’d learned in school to her favorite pop music.
Whenever she caught Kelsey’s eye while she was playing with the pop tunes, her friend burst out laughing and hid her mouth behind her napkin. By chance she caught Tavish’s eye once, and he gave her a ‘told you so’ look. At first, she had no idea he was thinking, but then she realized she was dancing sort of jig around the table as she played the music, and it was her turn to burst into laughter.
The dishes got done in record time, with three women and young Deirdre helping. And then they all joined the men and boys around the roaring fire they had built in the center fireplace.
Alfred’s smile for Eileen was like the moon and stars when she reentered the room.
“Tavish and Seumas and I will get ye more firewood tomorrow, tae make up for all that we’re using this evening.”
Eileen sat very close to him, and they cuddled a bit by the fire. Their closeness gave Sasha a warm fuzzy feeling, and she savored it, smiling down at them before she looked around for her own place to sit down.
Seumas gave her a more mischievous smile with an alluring twinkle in his eyes as he patted the seat next to him.
She made a show of looking around for any other place to sit down as she slowly made her way over to him, holding her skirts and moving them from side to side. And then Deirdre rushed over and grabbed her hand, and she had another vision.
Oh no.
Deirdre’s lifeless body soaking wet and being pulled out of the water onto the seashore. Her face so white, not even a tinge of pink in those sweet little cheeks.
As before, Sasha tried to remember anything and everything she could from the short time she saw it. But that was it. That was all she could find in the vision. How awful.
When she came back to herself, Seumas was now standing next to her, supporting her by her elbow with his strong hand, with his other hand on her back, while Deirdre was sitting at her mother’s lap, looking confused. Eileen stroked her daughter’s hair and gave Sasha a worried smile.
Seumas spoke softly near her ear once Sasha met his eyes, which looked more worried about her than curious.
“Dinna tell me this time ‘twas but a case of déjà vu, Butterfly.”
Abashed, she gave him an apologetic smile.
“I tell ye true, this has never happened tae me afore today, and I thank ye for being here for me both times.”
They stood there gazing into each other’s eyes. His worry had given way to skepticism and doubt, but the majority of what she saw on his face was admiration for her, and good humor. She did her best to show the admiration she had for him, and the fun she’d been having today.
Someone cleared their throat, and Sasha looked over to see that while Eileen remained seated with her arm around yawning Aodh and holding Sìle in her lap, Alfred had stood up.
“We’re keeping these bairns from bed tae late, and we men hae duty in the morning.” He turned to Eileen, who smiled up at him in a way that let Sasha know the two of them had already discussed his leaving. “So we bid ye all good evening with the hope o doing this again tomorrow.”
Seumas took Sasha’s hand and squeezed it once, then started walking toward Alfred. Eileen nodded at Alfred and escorted the men to the door among many more pleasantries and a very clingy goodbye between Tavish and Kelsey, with a dozen more whispers.
When the wooden plank door had closed and the men were on the other side, Eileen explained that Sasha and Kelsey would have the children’s bed out here and she would take the children into the bedroom with her.
Once all the children had hugged her goodnight and the two of them were safely alone in the room, Sasha whispered to Kelsey.
“So what’s the plan?”
But instead of answering her directly, Kelsey rolled over so that her back was to Sasha and said in a falling asleep voice, “It would take way too long to explain. Go to sleep, and once you’re dreaming, I’ll show you.”
Còig (5)
At first, Sasha found it hard to fall asleep. She was in a strange place, to say the least. But her best friend was with her, the pile of blankets on the bed was heavy and comforting, and last but not least, she’d had a very exciting day. Once she allowed herself to relax, sleep came swiftly.
Almost as soon as she succumbed, she found herself with K
elsey in what she knew was a dream, because they were sitting in Eileen’s dining chairs in their twenty-first century clothes. Pants felt comforting after a whole day in long skirts with nothing under them. Even the pantyhose she hated would have been better.
Unsure how much time they had, Sasha rushed to speak to her friend.
“Kelsey, I’ve had the oddest visions lately. When Seumas first touched me, I saw him lying outside wounded, with terrible burns on his shoulder. It was awful. And then after dinner tonight, Deirdre grabbed me and I saw her pulled out of the water sopping wet. She was drowned, Kelsey. Both of these visions have really upset me. I don’t know what to make of them, and I know it sounds crazy, but somehow I know my visions are going to come true.”
Kelsey didn’t seem at all surprised. Hm.
“Sasha, I’m going to tell you a bunch of stuff that seems unrelated, but bear with me, okay?”
“Uh, okay.”
“When I first came here to the thirteenth century, Brian the Druid looked at my uni ring and called me Priestess.”
“He called you Priestess?”
“Yep.”
“Are you sure he wasn’t joking?”
“I’m sure. He was not joking. He’s not the type who jokes, at least not with women. More like against us.”
This sounded bad, especially with the sour expression on Kelsey’s face. Sasha took her friend’s hand.
“Kelsey, if you need to talk about anything, I’m here for you, anytime. You know that, right?”
Kelsey gently squeezed her hand and let go.
“Thanks. Maybe later, but right now there’s a lot of other stuff I need you to understand.”
There was more?
“Okay.”
