The Sylph Queen of Edenworld

CHAPTER 3 - NILLY

The smell of burning wood tickled her nose as she spun the stick between her hands.  One blow of her breath to its base was all it took for the bright orange flames to begin dancing in the kindling.  Nilly smiled with a sense of accomplishment.  It reminded her of the first time she eavesdropped on the ranger apprentices trying to make fire from flint or tinder for the first time.  Nilly was but five years old while the crannog boys struggling with the task were eight or nine.  Their hands were scratched raw with exertion, their idiot faces pinched with effort.  Just the same, one blow of her breath was all it took to light a fire in the lump of dry straw she was practicing on, hiding behind the Ai'Ruairc hut.

Her smile dissipated when she remembered the blaze her fire had caused when it rose to an uncontrollable height and engulfed the hut.  The Ai'Ruairc family barely escaped with their lives that day.  She remembered the revulsion in the crannog folk's faces when they dragged her out of Nana Tena's hut by the feet⎯ as if she had purposely made the flames erupt from her fingertips.  They hated her for being different and she hated them for it.

            'What's the matter, Nilly?' Eveen asked, catching her scowl as she turned towards her with a rabbit in each hand, skinned and spitted.  

            'Nothing.  Get them on the fire.  I'm famished.' 

            That morning, they had docked their currach on the Esterlake and hiked for two hours north, aiming for higher ground and denser woods, closer to the base of the Spine.  They did not speak for the duration of the hike to avoid drawing attention, which suited Nilly perfectly.  When they found an appropriate spot, Eveen busied herself foraging while Nilly had set snares for smaller game and traps for anything larger. 

        It was now mid-afternoon.  Eveen had a full basket of different plants, twigs and rocks.  Nilly had snared eight rabbits and missed the chance at a stag because of Eveen's infernal singing.  Still, there were no strange happenings or any sign of larger beasts on the hunt.  The weather had worsened.  Snow was falling in blankets, the air more frigid on higher ground.  As neither had eaten since yesterday, Nilly decided they would shelter inside a cave mouth for warmth and spit two of the rabbits.  They would make their way home shortly and face the ire of the crannog, but at least they would do so with some heat in their bodies and food in their stomachs. 

            Eveen set the spits over the fire and sat across from Nilly staring at her, silently. 

            'What?' Nilly asked. 

            ‘Why is it that we are family and this is the first time that we have been alone together?

Nilly hissed, rolling her eyes.  With this sliver of new-found respect for her cousin, she would not want to purposely hurt her feelings.  ‘Because…because…’

‘…because you hate me.’

Nilly jumped to her feet.  ‘Hey…It’s not only you I hate.  I hate everyone.  I am more comfortable being on my own than with any idiot from the crannog.’  Nilly immediately regretted her choice of words when tears danced in Eveen’s eyes.  ‘Not that you’re an idiot.  Well, you are…you were.  Today is the first time I’ve ever see you be more like…’

‘…like you.’

‘No.  Well, yes.  Not just me.  Like Nana Tena and my mother, too.  We don’t accept what people tell us to do.  We decide what we want to do and to Filiasfire with what other people think.

‘Do you think about your mother Rose often?'

            'Eveen, just because you whacked Mhic O'Duinn in the face with a paddle, does not mean we are the best of friends and get to trade secrets with each other like fluff-headed crannog girls.'