The Realm of the Sun

A Mother's Sacrifice

               "It seems strange. How she won't know for many years that she is the heir to the throne of Connaught? It's amazing, isn't it? How someone so fragile and small holds within her such a powerful destiny," Eirainna held Tara to her chest and walked about the room to lull her to sleep, "then again, I suppose Maeve was once this small too."

Nessie smiled as she swept the floor with the bristly thatch broom. Eirainna fidgeted with her necklace, the symbol of Tara and of destiny, and raised an eyebrow. She ripped the necklace from her neck and held it in her free hand, the baby resting quietly in the other. It swung like a pendulum on its chain, the shiny copper hue flickering against the fire's warm glow. She handed the baby to Nessie and went to the hearth as if in a trance, where she held the necklace over the flames, the silver heating up. Nessie understood. She herself had held a newborn Clothra when the king and queen branded the symbol of destiny on her tiny wrist.

"Are you sure its safe?" Nessie worried that with all the trouble they were going through to mask the child's true identity, it would be foolish to have her boldly wear her destiny on her skin the same as the many heirs before her had. "Yes, she is the heir, but..." Nessie despised the word 'illegitimate' and sought a more sensitive word for what the precious infant she held meant to the rest of the world, "there has never been an heir...in this situation before..."

"It's the only way she will know someday—Nessie, you mustn't tell her anything. She will find out for herself if she wants to go out into the world, and only if she wants to. She must not be forced into this life if it is not what she decides. But she deserves to know when the time is right...and if this war ends next year, which it very well may, Nessie, then she will, in good time, come forth as the heir and there will be proof," Eirainna decided, dangling the shimmering necklace amidst the climbing flames, "it is ready."

Nessie brought the baby to the hearth and knelt down beside Eirainna, careful not to wake the child. Taking a deep breath, Eirainna pressed the scalding symbol firmly to the inside of her baby's little wrist and closed her eyes, using the cloth of her skirts to protect her own skin. She held it there for a moment as Tara stirred uncomfortably and woke up crying. Removing it quickly, she threw the blistering necklace to the ground, taking the child from Nessie's arms and cradling her apologetically.

"Sh Shhh," she whispered to the baby, who wailed initially but soon began to be lulled by her mother's calming voice, "I'm sorry..."

"She will certainly ask questions about it all, Raina. What the symbol means, where she came from," Nessie said, as she held a cold compress firmly to the burn.

"Yes, yes she will, but Nessie, you must tell her she was born with it. She has to stay safe in the sanctuary until the war is over and Maeve...until the war is over," Eirainna held her daughter's delicate head safely in the palm of her hand. Nessie rushed back to the table to soak the dampened piece of cloth in the cold water she had collected earlier from the well nearby. Gently, she pressed the rag on the baby's wrist again and Tara began to fall back asleep. There was a moment of silence as they stood there staring sadly at the precious infant.

"I've arranged for a carriage for you for tomorrow night," Eirainna's words passed inhumanly through her mouth, seeming to come from somewhere else, from anywhere but within her.

"Is it time already?" Nessie asked, quietly.

"I have to return to my duties; I've nursed her for a month and a fortnight now and..." Nessie saw that Eirainna was afraid to get any more attached, "if I stay any longer, I won't—I must go. And besides, it is not safe to be here in the village any longer for either of us...half of the southern end was in flames last night...and I cannot possibly blend in if there is no one else here to blend in with."