“Does that mean he liked it?”
“He did indeed. And it appears he’ll make the trip to the mines after all.”
“We’ll go there on him?”
“We’ll ride, but all this he’ll take, as we’d need a packhorse otherwise, and that’s too slow for the trip.” Standing in the wet, Keegan scanned the sky. “The weather should clear by midday, but it’s best if we leave a bit earlier yet. I’ll come round to Marg’s when it’s time.”
He snagged two cookies, and as he walked back to his dragon, broke one in two. Tossed half to Bollocks, the other half to Cróga. Ate the other as he swung back into the saddle.
“Sure the gods would weep, Marco.”
The dragon glided straight up with his wings sending the air into a whirl. Then they were gone, swallowed by the clouds.
“I fed a dragon a fruit tart.”
“Yay. Let’s get all this to the farm. I’ll take Nan’s after we drop them off. I might not see you until it’s time to go back.”
“I’ll be okay. I know the way to Finola’s if Morena’s not here at the farm. Plus, I fed a fruit tart to a big-ass dragon.”
She carried the box to Marg’s and spent the rest of the morning learning and practicing a barrier spell.
When the rain cleared as Keegan predicted, Marg led her outside and into the woods.
“Now, tell me what’s here.”
“Here?” Breen looked around. “Trees, the stream, your workshop.”
“You are one with the air, with the earth. You are always connected to the light, to the water. All is connected, all that lives. Open yourself to hearts that beat, to what reaches for the light, what spreads through the earth.
“Hear the beat of my heart.”
Understanding the first step was to quiet her mind, Breen closed her eyes, deepened and slowed her breathing. Opening herself to Marg had become as simple as that breathing.
“I hear you, Nan, your strong heart. I feel your light. And Bollocks. The thrill of chasing a squirrel—no, no, a chipmunk. Its heart beats so fast as it races up a tree. A chestnut tree. Old, the tree, it’s old, and its bark is deeply furrowed, but its heart is still strong. Its leaves have gone gold for the fall and have begun to drop as the wind stirs them. Year after year, decade by decade, birds sing and shelter and nest in those leaves, green in the spring.
“But the chipmunk’s young, and he scolds Bollocks from the safety of the branch. He doesn’t understand Bollocks wouldn’t hurt him. He only wants to play.”
Stunned, as she’d seen it all so clearly, knew it all so surely, she opened her eyes. “Nan—”
“What else is here?”
“The buck, the one I saw only yesterday. He’s deeper, so Bollocks hasn’t scented him. A doe and their fawn—still spotted—walk behind him. They cross the stream, and the fish scatter away as they pause to drink. Birds, so many. Nuthatches and jays, magpies and starlings and ravens and woodpeckers.
“A fox.” She gestured west. “Streaking from the field to the trees. He has a mouse clamped in his mouth. No heartbeat there. Under an oak, fiery red, a rabbit nurses her young in a burrow, keeps them safe from the hawk. Nearby, mushrooms sprout on a downed tree, finding life where death came.”
“There now, that’s enough. Too much at once can make you dizzy.” Marg reached out to take her hand.
“There’s so much, so much life. Beating and growing, sleeping and feeding, hunting and hiding. Can all the Fey do that, feel that?”
“No, no indeed. Elves have their bond with the trees, the stones, the earth, but it’s a different knowing than this. As Weres have this bond with their spirit animals. The Sidhe are closer to what you have, and those drops of their blood in yours enhances what you have from the Wise.”
“So you can do that?” Breen asked as they walked back toward the cottage.
“Not as quick or far or deep as you.”
“It was wonderful, the sensation of it.” Filling her, Breen thought. Lifting her. “Affirming.”
“It is, aye. And like the barrier spell you’ve learned, is both defense and offense.”
“Because I’ll know the heart—or intent—of an enemy?”
“As you didn’t before Yseult harmed you, as I hadn’t yet taught you the skill.”
“I wasn’t ready before. I wasn’t strong enough before.”
“She’s powerful, and wily. Her hunger for more, her desires drew her to Odran.”