“I am. And you are Mistress Elspet.”
“I am.” Elspet turned to face her, putting the men at her back to keep from being distracted. “Is there aught I can do for you?” She was sure her mother had arranged for whatever the woman might need, but habit had her asking.
“Nay, lass. I need naught. I am here only until the Summer Star begins to light the night sky with its long brilliant tail.” She turned her attention to the cloud-rimmed dome of the late afternoon sky. “It should arrive this very night. Will you join me upon the wall walk as dark descends to watch it approach?”
“I should like to see such a sight.” She scanned the sky to see, perhaps, if there was a hint that such a wonder was upon them, but it seemed just another beautiful summer’s day. “Never have I heard of the Summer Star. How do you ken ’tis coming?”
“I have a way of knowing things,” the woman said, still peering at the sky, the corners of her mouth tipping up. “’Tis said that those who wish upon it three times with an open heart are transformed.”
“Into what?”
The woman’s face was serene as she glanced over Elspet’s shoulder. Elspet turned, belatedly realizing the woman’s attention was back on Uilliam and Kenneth. She turned back to Brighde before the men could notice.
“Tonight, lassie…” Brighde placed a hand over her heart, and Elspet realized she had automatically mirrored the woman’s gesture, just as she used to do when her mother was teaching her the blessings of the Guardians. “…think about what you most want…” Brighde reached out and touched Elspet’s hand, then nodded toward the men, drawing Elspet’s attention back to Kenneth. Kenneth looked up at the same moment and met her gaze with a steady strength. “…and be ready, when the star is in the sky, to make your wish.”
They stood there for a long moment, until Uilliam noticed the direction of Kenneth’s attention and drew him away. Elspet didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath until she was released from his gaze. Once more, she returned her attention to Brighde, who only then let her hand drop from her heart to her side and without another word, wandered away.
Elspet watched the woman move past the people there, her hands by her sides, palms turned out toward those she approached, just as Elspet often did amongst her plants to get a better sense of where her attention was most needed in the garden. Brighde turned back when she reached the far side of the bailey, her hand back upon her heart, and stared at Elspet for a moment.
Chills swept up Elspet’s legs, and she was sure the woman measured her character, as if to determine if she was worthy of such a promised wish.
Chapter 4
Kenneth was just finishing up his evening meal when he noticed a woman with beautiful hair and a ragged dress rise near the head table. As she did, the scrape of benches and chairs echoed through the hall.
“What is happening?” he asked Uilliam, who had been his constant companion all afternoon. Fortunately, the man was easy company, taciturn at times, voluble at others. His good humor was reflected in all who Kenneth had met … except for Rab.
“That woman,” Uilliam pointed at the one who led the clan out of the hall, “Brighde, is a wandering seer, if what she says is true. She arrived yesterday saying a new star will appear in the sky at dusk this evening. I expect they are all going to see if she is right.”
“Do you think she will be?”
“I dinna ken, but we will know soon. Are you curious enough to go watch?”
Kenneth nodded as he pushed the last bite of stew into his mouth. The two of them shoved away from the long table and followed the others out of the hall. As they descended the outer stair, he spotted Elspet standing near the well, watching as others followed the seer up another flight of stairs to the wall walk.
“Are you not going up to see if Brighde is right about this star?” Uilliam asked, as he steered Kenneth over to Elspet.
“I am,” she said, but her gaze was still on those climbing up the stair.
“Do you not think you might see it better from up there?” Uilliam asked.
She gave a quiet laugh and finally turned her attention to the men. Kenneth liked the way she did not demure from meeting his gaze.
“I am thinking about something she said to me earlier today. If a wish could come true, a wish dear to your heart—not more sweets after the evening meal, Uilliam…” She tried to be stern, but no matter how hard she tried, the right side of her mouth kept trying to twist into a grin. “…Nor to change anything in the past…” she said to Kenneth, making him wonder what Drostan might have told her of their shared history. “…What would you wish for?”
Neither man had a ready answer.
“That is why I stand here,” she said. “‘I cannot decide what wish is truly deep in my heart. What wish would transform me?”
“This is what the woman said to you today?” Kenneth asked.
“Essentially. She said if I wished for something with an open heart three times under the star, that I would be transformed, but she did not say in what way.” She drummed her fingers against her lips, clearly deep in thought. “I am not even sure I want to be transformed.”
“Aye, we could all be transformed into ogres or midgies,” Uilliam said, winking at Kenneth.
Elspet laughed, a sweet tinkling sound like flowing water. He liked that she was able to laugh at herself. It was something he often found difficult to do.
“Perhaps if we go up and allow the star to inspire us,” Kenneth said to the other two, surprising himself by fulfilling one wish when he took Elspet’s hand in his and led her toward the stair. “we shall think of something better to wish for than such a transformation as that!”
Elspet missed the feel of her hand in Kenneth’s. She had been startled when he boldly reached for her, but she was not offended. Nay, she was pleased, flattered, and stirred. She put the hand he had held on her heart as she had with Brighde earlier, and stared at the bright spot in the darkening sky, a tail of golden stardust trailing behind it like the train of a Fairy queen’s gown, waiting for a wish.
Brighde stood not far away along the west wall, her voice weaving a spell of wonder and love around the knot of people with her, as she recounted a slightly different version of the tale of the star’s power than she had told Elspet.
“It seems an unlikely story,” the deep voice of Kenneth came from her right. “If she is right and ’twill only cross the sky for a few nights, ’tis not sufficient time for anyone to be transformed, or to fall in love.”
“And you have much experience with falling in love?” Brighde asked, moving out of the cluster of those gathered around her towards them. Somehow, she had overheard the man from a distance that would normally be too far. This was just further evidence, in Elspet’s mind, that there was something unusual about the woman, something akin to Elspet’s own unusual gifts.
As Brighde drew near, Elspet found herself watching Kenneth’s face with great interest. She told herself that Kenneth was intriguing simply because he was so unknown to her…of course, it did not harm her curiosity a bit that he was also tall and braw, with the strong build of a warrior, and a smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes—a smile that had made her just a little dizzy when he had gifted it to her outside the gate.
“Me, mistress?” There was note of laughter in Kenneth’s words. “Nay, I have never had experience with love, but I have seen many a mad fool fall over himself in pursuit of a woman, only to regret it when she let him catch her.”
Uilliam guffawed, loud and filled with surprise. Elspet was both pleased and disappointed with his answer. Pleased that there was no woman he pined for, but disappointed that he dismissed any interest in falling in love. And yet, he had taken her hand…
She shook her head, as if she could dislodge the disappointment, but she also found her hand once more resting over her heart. A whisper of a wish begin to form in her mind, as if her heart knew it and was finding the words to express it.
The woman laughed alo
ng with Uilliam. “You speak like a man who has not yet found the woman he is meant to spend his life with.” She met Elspet’s eyes with a question, then looked to where Elspet’s hand still rested over her heart. “Transformation is always possible,” she said to both of them as she moved to another cluster of people watching the spectacle in the sky.
Elspet did not want Kenneth to see her thoughts, so she pretended to admire the star as she let the conversation replay in her mind.
“Your brother does not seem to regret ‘catching’ his wife.” Elspet was surprised at her own whispered words and peeked at him to see if he had heard. Apparently he had, for he was frowning now, and his attention was on the distance, as if he hoped to spy his brother out there, somewhere.
“Perhaps,” Kenneth said after a long moment, “but until I see my brother and meet his wife, I cannot agree or disagree.”
“’Tis fair,” Elspet said, returning her attention to the celestial visitor, but continuing to speak to Kenneth, in spite of his unwillingness to concede his brother might not be a fool in love. “I also have never fallen in love, but I think it must be a wonderful thing. Else why would the bards sing of it so often? Why would so many couples proclaim it a lifelong state?”
Her words surprised her even as they flowed out of her mouth, though they were but the truth. It was why she could not surrender to a marriage that came with less than such a strong binding together of souls. Duty, even friendship, was not enough for her.
Kenneth said nothing.
“’Tis a mystery of the ages.” Brighde’s voice drifted to them, as if to answer the question she surely could not hear.
“Is she your kinswoman?” Kenneth asked as he moved a little closer to Elspet.
“Nay, a traveling seer. I had not met her until yesterday.”
“And she says it foretells a great transformation?”
“Aye.”
“Do you believe her?”
She knew he turned to face her but she kept her attention on the star that now lit up the night sky as brilliantly as a full moon. “Such things can be true,” she said after a few moments. She looked over at him and found him watching her, his head cocked just a little to one side as if he were puzzled by her.
“Would you like to fall in love?” he asked.
“I would, if the right man came along. I do not want less in a marriage.”
“How would you ken the ‘right man?’”
She considered him, thinking hard about his question. It was not something she had tried to articulate before. When she could not find an answer, she shook her head slowly. “I dinna ken.”
He laughed and surprised them both when he reached out and smoothed a wayward lock of hair behind her ear. His touch sent the same unfamiliar shivers over her skin as when he took her hand in his. Her breath caught in her throat. She swallowed slowly, but words failed her.
“Elspet has a fondness for things magical.” Uilliam startled her. She’d forgotten that he stood on the other side of her. “Dinna you not, Elspet?”
She glared at him, both for interrupting a very interesting turn in their conversation, but also because he knew better than to make any reference to her gift or her place in the clan to an outsider.
“So you believe the story of this particular star?” Kenneth asked Uilliam.
“Me? Nay. But Elspet?”
“Did you find your wish?” Kenneth asked her.
She took in the brilliance of the star, and felt her heart thump in an odd way. She closed her eyes, waiting to see if she could hear her wish, but there was only the whispering dancing along the edges of her mind.
“I dinna think so,” she finally said, opening her eyes to find him staring intently at her. “Did you?”
“I can have but one wish, Elspet.” He turned his back to the star and leaned against the wall.
“And ’tis what?”
“To make sure my brother is safe.”
What she could not tell was if it was a heart wish, or a duty wish, or perhaps it was both. Either way, it seemed he was as duty bound as she, and their paths were not the same. He would be moving on when Drostan made his next visit to Dunlairig. She swallowed at the sudden thought that Drostan could appear at any time, even upon the morrow, and Kenneth could leave here, leave her.
“I will wish you both a good night,” she said, suddenly in need of a little distance from the crowd, and the light in the sky…and Kenneth.
It would not do to let herself grow fond of the man. There was no future in it.
Chapter 5
The next morning Elspet wandered through her garden, picking early berries in one area, and checking the elecampane in another, which would be ready to begin harvesting in a few more weeks. She had always loved tending the garden with her mother until, by the spring she was ten-and-two, it had become her responsibility to plant and tend the kitchen garden for the entire castle. Not that she did all the work by herself—she had plenty of young lasses who were learning plant lore from her as they took care of much of the weeding, pruning, and feeding of the bountiful garden—but she was the mistress of it and she spent time in it almost every day. There was a simple ease and joy that rose up from the ground as the plants broke through the dirt, then stood tall into the sunshine. In the winter it was a hushed place, but the joy was still there, softer, as if the garden was drowsy as it awaited her attentions again in the spring.
Today she gave herself over to the pleasures of the heady scents of herbs and flowers that gathered around her as she strolled between the patches of plants, assessing what could soon be harvested and what needed more time. In the distance, down the slope toward the loch, there was a field of oats that others tended, but now and again Elspet would spend time in that field, too. The farmers swore that when she did, their crops grew faster, and stronger, and yielded more grain. Elspet didn’t know if that was true or not, but she did not mind the time among the plants at all.
Especially today.
She drew in a deep breath of the cool morning air, trying to ease the tension that had made for a restless night. The warmth that had passed into her from Kenneth’s touch, and their conversation last night had lingered in spite of her intentions to put him out of her mind. Yearnings had taken hold of her, creating a heady lightness that seemed centered around her heart, as if she had laughed too long and too hard. Her imagination ran wild with thoughts of…
She cut off those thoughts swiftly. She was daft. It was only that Kenneth was not known to her the way all the men of the clan were. He was a mystery with a gentle smile and a warrior’s form. She could not be the only lass in the castle to feel such stirrings. And yet, there had been other braw men to visit Dunlairig but she had felt nothing more than a passing curiosity at what had brought them there and where they were bound after.
If she were honest with herself, the moment she had shared a smile with him—was it just yesterday?—she had known there was something different about him, as if she had always known he would appear.
Foolish lassie, that’s what her father would say, and Rab. But Mum had seemed quite taken with Kenneth, too.
She laughed at herself. The pressure to choose a husband had become a burden, overshadowing her otherwise joyful life. Apparently, even though she held her ground that she would not marry for convenience, she grew weary of the wait, too, and had unwittingly woven a girlish dream around this traveler the moment she’d seen him, heard his voice, felt the warmth of his gaze.
Saints, she was a silly lass after all.
Very well. She took another long breath to bolster her decision. She would treat him like any other visitor and nothing more. She would remove him from her thoughts — her heart actually skipped a beat, thumping hard in her chest as if to deny that possibility. She would not allow herself to form an attachment to someone just passing through her life.
“You are like a fairy princess walking amongst your loyal subjects.” Uilliam’s familiar voice startled her out of her thought
s.
“You are daft,” she said, rolling her eyes as she turned to face him. “A fairy princess would never be seen in the full sunlight of this garden.”
“Och, you are right, lassie.”
“Were you sent to find me, or were you just seeking a reason to remove yourself from Rab’s scrutiny?”
“Can I not simply enjoy a bit of fine weather?”
“Nay. You cannot.”
He grinned at her.
“Then do not take offense,” he said, scratching at his beard, “if I say ’tis the latter, though I was fairly certain I would find you here.”
“It does not take a swift mind to know I would be here, Uilliam.” She squinted against the bright morning sun, and set her hands on her hips. There was something off about Uilliam, a discomfort that she had seen before.
Recently.
“Did your da send you to woo me again?”
The man’s entire face, what could be seen between his close trimmed black beard and unruly hair, went bright red as he shifted uneasily from foot to foot and stared over her head. Elspet felt bad that Rab continued to put his son in such an uncomfortable position, even though it was none of her doing.
“He will not stop until you declare for another, Els.”
“I have told him and my own parents that I love you like the brother I never had, and I will not marry my brother. I do not ken what more I can say to any of them. You ken both our fathers to be very stubborn men when they get their minds fixed on something.”
“I ken it well, but…” He would not look at her.
“Speak your mind, Uilliam,” she said. “Dinna dance around whatever it is you wish to say…unless it is to woo me. Ye ken that will not go well, aye?”
“Och, aye!” he said, his cheeks going even ruddier. He scraped his hair back from his face in a familiar gesture of discomfort, leaving his hair even more disheveled. “’Tis only that there were many who noticed you and Kenneth on the wall walk last evening. There is much speculation about your…interest in the man.”
The Summer Star: One Legend, Three Enchanting Novellas (Legends of Scotland Book 2) Page 29
