Sky and Stones
Fiona studied the map that she had of the area. The hill of Tara, apparently from the earliest period of which there was history, had long been the celebrated seat of the Irish Kings. After the death of Dermot, the son of Fergus, the seat had been deserted, having been said to be cursed on a pronouncement of Saint Ruadan of Lorha against Dermot and his palace. After all this time, the elements of the city, which at that time would have been considered remarkable, could still be distinctly traced. They consisted for the most part of circular or oval enclosures or mounds, within or upon which the city had stood. The names by which the various areas were presently known according to the Ordnance Survey map laid down by Dr. Petrie and J. O'Donovan Esquire were based on ancient documents. The primary Rath, called Rath Righ, was apparently now nearly level with the ground. Oval in shape, it ran nearly 850 feet north to south on the land and was built of stone Within the enclosure were the ruins of Forradh, a mound of considerable height which was flat at the top. In its centre stood a remarkable stone which used to stand by a smaller mound within Rath Righ, known as the Mound of Hostages. Fiona wondered if this might be a possible site for the missing silk. It had some poetic justice given the plight of the swans held hostage in those forms for so many years. She marked the spot on the map as a potential area and continued with her reading. Apparently Rath Righ also included the Teach Cormac, the house of Cormac. Fiona discarded this as a possibility as they had not yet come across any references to Cormac in any of their wanderings, as important as he might be in the line of Irish history.
As she read on, she was struck by the continued discussion of the pillar stone. Apparently it was moved to the Dumhana-n-Giall, the Mound of Hostages, to mark the grave of some men slain in an encounter with the King's troops during the rising of 1798. More importantly, Dr. Petrie suggested that it was extremely probable that the stone was no other than the Lia Fail, the actual Stone of Destiny. Fiona paused. This was really quite amazing since so many had thought that this stone had been removed from Ireland to Scotland for the cornonation of Fergus Mac Eark, a prince of the blood-royal of Ireland. It was amazing that it would truly have been brought back, this ancient stone upon which the monarchs of Ireland had been crowned for so many ages. She looked at the map again. Perhaps this was actually the correct site. After all, the swans were the transformed children of a king. She circled the site more heavily on the map.
She read further, and three other primary Raths - Rath Caelchu, Fothath Ratha Graine, and Rath Graine - were listed. Fiona drew up short at the mention of the last two. Something rang with the mention of Graine. It tied in so easily with Lin's dreams. Rath Graine, according to the literature which accompanied the map, was said to have belonged to and to have been named after Graine, the daughter of Cormac Mac Art and the eventual wife of Finn Mac Cumhail. Rath Graine lay to the northwest of Rath Righ. She put the map down. It seemed that there were two likely places, at the feet of the Stone of Destiny or somewhere in Rath Graine. The only decision was which to try first. Consulting the map, she decided that given her location she would start with Rath Graine and, if that did not yield results, circle to the Stone. She could only hope that the clouds would lift soon and she would be able to find Lin and Roary. Perhaps they were already at Rath Graine. With this in mind, she put her things away and set off.
The clouds were so dense it was like walking in grey soup. She could barely make out her own feet as she moved through it. She wondered if it was a good idea to be attempting to find Rath Graine with such a hazard in her path. She moved on, taking smaller steps. The sun provided brief streaks of light that revealed her path in quick panes like snapshots of clarity. She trusted in these as she moved forward, reaching into her pocket to grip the star stone, rubbing it with her fingertips and drawing strength. She found herself on a rise and, sensing that she had reached the edge of Rath Graine, she moved up carefully. A bold ray of light found her as she neared the upper plateau. It stayed with her as she crested the ridge. She walked a tight spiral, winding her way inside to an outward loop, testing her field of vision for any possible opening into the world of Rath Graine. Seeing none from her vantage point, she moved down the other side, hoping to find more. The light stayed with her almost to the very bottom and then suddenly she was surrounded by cloud. She grasped the star stone. She stumbled and ended up in a sort of half-gaited run just short of a tumble that took her to the bottom in a rush. There she stood, trapped by the thick cloud, feeling completely blind and utterly alone. She shuddered, wishing that she had not lost Lin and Roary; company would enhance this moment.
She caught a glimmer of light just beyond the edge of her shrouded enclosure and moved toward it. It seemed to travel away from her as she chased it, an ephemeral beacon of hope. She sent her fingers out ahead of her, one hand questing for the light, the other grasping her anchor, grasping the stone. When her foot twisted and she fell, she automatically threw both hands forward, landing roughly on the ground and wholly in the light. She rose, dazed by the fall and dazzled by the light. She raised a hand to shield her eyes and noticed then that her stone was missing from her hand. She immediately checked her pocket; it was no longer there. In a panic she began to search the grass around her, the long blades surrendering nothing but green and dirt to her hands. Growing more frantic she began to sob and tear at the grass, hoping that she could clear enough away to find the stone. The light began to fade as she ripped at the grass, the cloud roughly moving in as a wind picked up around her. "No," slipped from her in anquished recognition that soon she would see nothing at all. And then she heard it, the music, pulling her, tugging at her as the clouds covered her and she faded into them, becoming one with the mist.
She was swept from the ground in a whirl of music that curved into a staircase of stars. She found herself surounded by an indigo night, the music swelling to fill her, almost replacing the ache she felt at the loss of the stone. A warm breath moved across her neck, making her spine tingle, moving down all the way to her toes. A feeling of warmth, like the stroke of a hand traveled through her hair, down the curve of her cheek, around the swell of her breast and into the curve of her waist. She drew in her breath, gasping sharply, her eyes closing with the heat and the pleasure. She felt herself being drawn against the full strength of him, the lean hip, broad chest, the scent that was only him. She breathed him in. Finally, she dared to look. His warm dark eyes stared into her, reaching through to her belly and sparking her smouldering fire. Then he began the dance. They moved as only he could move with her. The music a perfect foil for the fluidity of their unique motion. It built slowly as they moved in their union and rose to a crescendo that was indescribable in its delicacy and perfection.
And then without warning, there was silence and the indigo slipped to black as the stars blinked and were gone. Fiona felt the sudden sting of his absence. She sucked in her breath as if she had been hit, the tears coming unbidden and flowing down her cheeks silently. She was ever so cold. The darkness was overwhelming. She heard a trickle of laughter and the ire that rose in her could not be put down. To have given her so much and taken it away so harshly. She steeled her spine and moved to wipe the tears from her face. As her hand neared her cheek, she felt the sudden rush of a sweetly scented current of air and the brush of silk through her fingertips, then the tug of something rough against her palm. Then the dark swept her down completely and she was empty of all thought.
Fiona drifted on the current of the clouds, finally breaking to consciousness as the light found her spread on the ground. She lay, one hand twisted into the grass and the other clutching something both hard and silky. She turned onto her back carefully. With an unsteady hand, she moved so that her lap provided as solid a base as possible and then dared to open her other palm. Curled in her fist was a trail of indigo silk, almost a perfect match to the sky she had so recently danced in. She fingered the silk and brought the edge to her face. It even smelled somehow both like the stars and like him. Unraveling it, she began to feel her heart pound. She thought perhaps it was her star stone, returned to her. She was disappointed for a moment when the unfurled silk revealed not the original stone, but a different stone. This stone was in the shape of two half moons, curved into each other, each half a perfect complement to the other, the stone complete only with the curves bonded together. It was absolutely beautiful. A curve of green, perhaps Connemarra marble and a curve of white, a stone she could not name. A stone that was impossible, yet here it was in her hand, almost as impossibly as the silk was.
She let the tears flow and used the indigo scarf to catch them. The silk soaking up the tears as if they were the purest of rains.
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