“Like Sidhe champagne, best there is. Why don’t I take you home, girlfriend?”
“I guess. Oh, look. Dragons.” She pointed up as Cróga streamed through the sky alongside Harken’s dragon, and Mahon beside them.
Mahon swooped down, snatched a son in each arm, and with their squeals soared up to spin them.
Harken swung off, landed lightly beside Morena.
“I was about to come up and have a ride,” Breen heard her say.
“I’ve the milking yet. Give me a hand with it, and we’ll have one at sunset.”
“Fair trade.” She took his hand. “Tomorrow then,” she said with a wave to Breen.
When Keegan dropped down, he nodded at Brian. “You made good time.”
“We did. Do you want me at the portal?”
“Not tonight, as we’re well set, but tomorrow, you’ll relieve Dak an hour past dawn. You’ll hold there until I send word or come myself. I’ll want you patrolling the far west down to the south and back. You’ve the night free.”
“Thanks for that.”
“I’ll get cooking.” Marco rubbed his hands together. “Want in on that, Keegan? I’ve got a taste for chicken and dumplings.”
“It’s kind of you to ask, but…”
When Keegan looked at Breen, she shrugged. “I’m okay with it. Marco makes the world’s best chicken and dumplings.”
“Then I’ll come and gladly. First I need to take Breen for a bit.”
“Then I’ll get started, and get Brian settled in. How about we take Bollocks?”
“Yeah, okay.” Breen bent down, gave him a rub. “You go home with Marco and Brian. I’ll be there soon. He’s going to want a swim.”
“No problem. See you on the other side!”
“Where am I going?” Breen asked as the men went to get their bags and walk across the road with the dog leading the way. “Why am I going?”
“I told you I needed to take you if there was time today, and there is.”
“Brian rode Boy back, and it’s a really long trip.”
“We’re not going by horse,” he began, then took a good look at her. “Are you drunk then, Breen?”
“Maybe a little. Slightly.”
“Well, the flight should clear your head.”
“We’re going by dragon?” She perked right up. “This has been an excellent day! Now I get a dragon ride and chicken and dumplings.” She cocked her head. “And maybe, if I’m in the mood, I’ll let you have sex with me.”
He took her hand as he called Cróga. “What were you drinking, so I can see about getting more of it?”
“Sidhe champagne.”
“That might have to wait a day or two.” He gave her a boost onto Cróga, swung on behind her.
“You didn’t say where we’re going.”
“You’ll see for yourself, as you must and should.”
Too relaxed to object, she looked down as they rose up. “It’s so beautiful. The valley, yes, but the farm. Whenever I see it, I know why my father loved it. I know why you do. It says everything about the peace you work so hard to hold. Where did you live before? I don’t think I ever asked.”
“The cottage where Aisling and Mahon and the boys make their home.”
“Of course. That’s why it has the same feel.”
As they flew west, she picked out other spots she knew. Nan’s cottage, of course, and the one where Mina and her family lived, where clothes snapped on the line and smoke puffed from the chimney. And to the south, the ruins, the dance, her father’s grave.
Then they soared up, higher, over towering trees, and on a gasp, she reached back to grip Keegan’s hand.
The cliffs, sheer as glass, rose over a tumbling sea. The water beat at their base, spewed up over rock and shale and sand to fold back into itself. Then rushed in to pound again.
On the clifftops, she saw trees bent and twisted from the wind, and high grasses swept down at each blow.
“It’s breathtaking. It was from the mountain, but even more now.”
“The Far West.”
“Marco and I saw the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. It’s like that, only wilder. There are boats coming in.”
“The sea’s there to be fished.”
Her breath caught again as they flew over the sea, and below a whale white as chalk sounded.
Dolphins leaped, and Mers with them.
On the clifftops she saw another stone circle, larger than the other, a few stone buildings, a handful of cottages.