The Realm of the Sun

"Abhaile"

       Eirainna and Connor lay in the soft, green grass beneath the clearing in the canopy, waiting for the sun to shine through and create the resplendent circle around them. The great mass of fire slowly hovered over them and seemed to stop just at the right spot over the round opening in the trees again. The sound of the linnets' joyous whistling filled the air as the warm light caressed their skin.

"I wish we could stay right here forever," Eirainna sighed, stretching out her arms in an attempt to embrace the awesome light.

"Then we will," Connor sat up, suddenly alert, formal and dignified, "We'll create our own realm. A safe place where justice is always served and no one goes hungry or has to fight for something they don't believe in," he declared, standing up and bearing his face to the open sky that lit the heights of the leafy forest canopy. Eirainna laughed as he lifted her off the grassy ground and spun her around wildly until they became dizzy.

"A place where love and freedom reign!" he cried out. Without care or a single adverse thought, they laughed and twirled around mindlessly in the divine light. Everything they had carried on their shoulders since the war was declared had momentarily lifted. They were weightless. Suddenly, Connor spun Eirainna into him and their laughter ceased. For a moment they stood face to face, breathing in synchronization.

"What shall we call it?" Eirainna asked, her chest moving up and down as her heart swelled in it.

"The realm..." he began, with a spreading smile, noticing the way her eyes captured the effervescent light, "The realm of the sun." She smiled endearingly, still trying to catch her breath. They looked at one another now as though they had never touched, never confessed their innermost fears, feelings and desires, as though they were meeting now for the first time, like the day she first noticed him amidst a sea of people in the Great Hall and had a strange feeling that something remarkable was about to begin.

"You have beautiful eyes," he said, unable to look away.

"Do I?" she laughed dismissively, sitting back down in the grass.

"They're green and brown and gold all at the same time—like the sea and the land. I can look into your eyes and see the whole world, it's extraordinary," he followed her to the ground and sat next to her, studying her like a work of art.

"You're mad," she laughed and laid on her back, sheepishly escaping his profound stare.

"Maybe I am," he said, climbing on top of her playfully, his hands and knees planted on either side of her to prevent her from trying to escape his complimentary gaze. She looked up at his marble face, outlined now by the circular patch of blue sky. Completely and utterly bewitched, Connor continued in a quieter, entranced voice, speaking as if he were looking at an exquisitely life-like painting of her, "I can see so many things...your eyes are like a kind of map. And in it, is not just places—but people too and their dreams and their struggles and what they've seen. It's as if you're holding them there, keeping their...I don't know, their..." he wondered aloud, now overcome by this inexplicable mystery of nature, "I cannot explain it right. What is the Gaelic word for 'mind's heart'?"

She laughed at first at his failed attempt and his passionate rambling, not wanting to talk about herself any longer. But his manner was serious and inquisitive and his dedication to finding the word he sought was adorable to her. He had seen something real in her eyes and could not express it in words. She held his face for a moment in her delicate porcelain hand, making a memory just as the sun moved over the trees and their leafy shadows fell on the circle of light. Eirainna watched little swaying shadows dance across his forehead. Connor gave up trying to explain the exact observation he had made and resorted to a simplified version: