The Realm of the Sun

The Intruder

                  Nessie welcomed her adoptive daughter with open arms and a tender smile, "Oh, Raina, I'm so glad you've come, I was wondering when you'd—" she stopped herself, pulling away to look at her, having noticed the despondence in her eyes, "what's wrong?"

"Finnian," she shook her head, "when Tara was invaded, they...he's...we lost him." Nessie covered her mouth with her hand and closed her eyes before throwing her arms around Eirainna again, because there was nothing else she could think to do. Eirainna, who previously thought she had no tears left, was now overwhelmed by a surge of love and sorrow all at once. For so many weeks, she was forced to hold herself and her family together. She had been a pillar of strength for her siblings and her nephew, a statue: stoic, but not unfeeling. Now she was the child again. Every time Nessie's safe arms were around her, she was that innocent little girl again, the girl with wide golden eyes and mahogany curls—the little girl so blissfully unaware of the evils and possibilities that existed in the vast and unforgiving world.

"Nessie, I fear for Cillian. He's absolutely distraught, but he's afraid to show it. He does everything Maeve tells him to do, and yet I know if she ordered him to grieve, he wouldn't," Eirainna wiped the tears from her eyes and sat beside the fire, weary from her journey.

"And foolish as I am, I feel for Maeve, for she does not feel so deeply as Cillian and I...and it harms her in its own way. She's changed, Nessie. She is numb."

Nessie instinctively wanted to object to this statement, but remained silent. A neutral ally would most benefit Eirainna at this time, and she knew it was wiser here to swallow her pride. Frustrated by her own constant indecision, Eirainna sighed, "How is it that the very woman that has caused me so much anguish and suffering is the one I still worry for? Something about what she is made of and what the rest of us are made of is significantly different, Nessie. I try to understand her—her motives, her decisions, her lack of...empathy, everything...but I do not get on at all. How can we be made of the same flesh and blood and yet we are complete strangers to one another?"

"Maeve has always been removed..."

"Removed, yes. Quiet, yes. But now she is beyond just that. She does not feel as you and I feel and because of this, no human being can reason with her. She is beyond all reasoning...it troubles me greatly, Nessie, I don't know what to think..." she fiddled inadvertently with the pendant of Tara that hung from her neck, "It is awful of me to say she does not feel, for surely she must...I just haven't any evidence of it thus far."

"I am so sorry," Nessie offered, eventually. Eirainna shook her head for she wasn't seeking pity and yet knew there was no other response to her unanswerable questions. Nessie was just being kind as always, though she was the rare kind of person that truly knew the difference between sympathy and empathy. In this instance however, even for Nessie, the discernment was difficult.

"I just don't know how she can wipe out entire villages of innocent people and still sleep soundly each night," Eirainna murmured, her eyes widening as her vision blurred and lost focus, "I don't understand how she doesn't hear their helpless screaming."

Nessie swallowed hard in the silence that followed, unable to speak. Instead she kept a firm, but gentle hand on Eirainna's upper back to reassure her of her presence and love.

"How are you feeling?" Nessie finally asked.

"Gigantic," Eirainna smiled sadly and shrugged. She removed her cloak, revealing her large, rounded stomach. Through a valiant effort, she stood and walked to the hearth to stretch her aching back and legs.

"Oh, my dear," Nessie sighed shaking her head with pain as she watched Eirainna, who looked like a small child struggling to carry a cask full of iron, "you should have come earlier."