Consideration for Scoundrels

FOUR

"Pass me that will you darling." Evy, as always the night before a trip, was fretting around the room as she packed her bags. As if she hadn't narrowed the basics down to a near perfect science.

"Are you sure you'll be alright here by yourself?"

"It's two days Mum." Selena tossed her mother the scarf. "Then I'll be on the train back to Bristol."

"And your father and I will ring you there as soon as we get settled in Greece with your brother."

"How long will it take you to meet with Alex?"

"Two days by ship to France." Rick recounted. "Then from there the train from Versailles to Athens is another two." He stood in doorway, arms crossed across his chest; "Ya know Evy, planes do exist."

"Oh hush, bring these downstairs, won't you?"

Rick swung the suitcases over his shoulder.

"Hey you." Selena's mother tapped her lightly beneath her chin with the back of her knuckles. "I promise Ya 'amar, you'll have the rest of your life to explore the world." Evelyn moved a loose lock of dark hair back behind her daughter's ear; "And seventeen isn't nearly as old as you think it is."

"Well," Selena leaned against the doorframe, "I'm eighteen."

"Not yet you're not. Oh! I'd almost forgot." Evy reached into her suitcase and handed Selena a leather bound book.

"The Táin?" It was heavier than Selena had expected, and required two hands to hold.

"Untranslated." Evy remarked proudly. "A little something to keep you occupied between Antony and Cleopatra."

It was a bribe, Selena was sure of that, but one she was willing to take despite the fact.

"Thanks Mum."

The following evening, Selena felt very small, alone in the house. The quiet was maddening; it swallowed her up, pressing on her until her lungs felt flat. The entire place felt more like a museum then home, though at least museums had the benefit of other people milling about.

Her parents had left just after breakfast, an exchange of quick embraces, her mother still fretting. "You're sure you'll be alright?"

"If you were sincerely worried," Selena angled; "you'd take me with you."

"None of that. We'll see each other soon enough for Christmas." Evelyn dusted off her daughters shoulders. She cupped Selena's face between her hands and planted a quick peck between her eyes.
"The car will come to bring you to the train station the day after tomorrow." She instructed. "In the meantime, behave."

"At least, don't get yourself into too much trouble." Rick hugged his daughter goodbye. "Love ya kiddo."

"Bye dad."

Selena stood at the end of the long driveway until the car disappeared from view.

She wandered aimlessly though the halls.
When night fell she rummaged absentmindedly through the ice box for dinner, and after that, purposefully through her father's liquor cabinet.

She'd lit a small fire in the fireplace before she'd grown too drunk to stand, letting it burn away until only dim embers remained. But the heat of it had clung to the space, for which Selena was grateful.Her legs too heavy to carry her to bed, Selena draped them over the arm of one of the armchairs in the library, drink still balanced in one hands while she cradled the book her mother had gifted her between her knees.

Everyone in the family had their niche interests; for her mother it had always and forever been Egypt, for her father guns and whiskey, and for her older brother Alex, China. But for the youngest O'Connell, her own love lay in the British Isles herself. More particularly Ireland.

The Táin Bó Cúailnge, or in English as it was known, the Cattle Raid of Cooley, spun the epic tale of gods and heroes. of a war against Ulster by Queen Medb and her husband King Ailil, whose pillow-talk turned squabble devolved into the plot steal the prized bull Donn Cuailnge. Within its layers were other heroes of course, Cú Chulainn and the vengeful curse of Macha.

Selena knew the bulk of the saga through the oral tradition, having attended several lectures on the subject with her mother, but combing through the old Irish text provided fresh challenge.

Engrossed, she almost didn't hear the phone ring. She ignored it, but after the first four or five rings, with a disgruntled sigh she picked up.

"What do you want Alexander?" She grumbled into the receiver, knowing it could only be her brother this time of night.

"Oh boy, full Christian name already huh?"

"You've interrupted my nightcap."

Her brother's warm humor resonated through his voice, even hundred of miles away. "Did you leave Dad any of his whiskey left?"

"There's plenty of the cheap stuff left." Selena admitted.

"I'm just calling to check up on you. And by the sound of it, it's a good thing I did before you passed out in the foyer."

"You say that like I'm a downright scoundrel."

"You're an O'Connell." Her brother told her. "Scoundrel is in your blood." He cleared his throat, tone suddenly far more serious than it had been a moment before. "I got a call today from Professor Wolfe. Said he's been exchanging letters with a colleague in Oxford."

Selena, who'd been about to take another drink paused. "Oh?"

"According to Wolfe, there's new evidence of a passage grave in London."

A passage tomb was a Neolithic structure, a burial chamber covered with either earth or stone. While Newgrange was typically the most well known, very few were noted among the other great burial structures of the world. They were no pyramid of Giza or Tomb of Jahangir, but they were a marvel of ingenuity nonetheless.

And to Selena, they were something else entirely.

"Well that's interesting." She paused, heart suddenly in her throat. "Did Wolfe happen to say where?"

"The Shallows, but if I had to guess those suits at the museum could probably tell you more precisely."

"If Alexander, IF they tell me." Selena gnawed are her lower lip. "That place is enormous."

"Please, Evelyn Carrahan's daughter? They'll unlock the Rosetta Stone if you asked them to let you take an etching."

"Uh huh."

"When's your train leave for Bristol?"

Selena glanced at the clock. "Technically tomorrow."

"Might be enough time to check it out."

"Not like I'm doing much else in this house all by myself." She glanced down at the bottle swinging lightly, neck caught between her fingers. "Other then finish this bottle of Glen Grant."

"Christ, you've got to be kidding. Dad's going to kill you when he finds out."

"I'll mix something strong and cheap and he'll be none the wiser."

"Alright well, I need to run. You should get some sleep. And Selena..." Her brother warned. "Behave."

"Everyone keeps telling me that." Selena rolled her eyes. "Honestly, it's as if you all think I've been some feral war horse while I'm away."

"I've read the reports."

"Embellished, I can assure you."

Alex barked a laugh; "Goodnight Lena."

The line went dead before Selena could reply.