Chapter 4 #4
“William!”
He groaned. Ailith heard him say, “What now?” under his breath and bit her lips so as not to giggle at his irritation.
They turned around to find Muire and Sine standing just inside the darkened hallway, and Ailith had a burst of memory – they reminded her of the hall monitors she had in middle school!
All they were missing were the bright yellow sashes.
More lip biting to stop the laughter that bubbled up in her throat. Muire and Sine looked so serious!
“Where are ye taking her?” Muire asked, her arms crossed over her breasts.
William hung his head, his dark blondish-brown hair falling over his face.
“I was hoping to take her back to our chambers,” he said with emphasis.
“I dinna think so!” Sine chimed in. “No’ our chambers yet. Your chambers. Ye are no’ wed to the lass yet!”
But she had stayed the night only two days past? What were William’s sisters up to?
They rushed her, elbowing William out of the way and each woman taking one of Ailith’s arms.
Then Muire turned her face to him. Ailith could see her cheeks twitching. She was trying not to laugh at her brother! “Ye will spend your last night as an unmarried man alone. Ailith will bed with us, and in the morn, we will dress her for your wedding.”
“Are ye sure ye are no’ doing this just to irritate me?” William added.
Sine didn’t try to hide her laughter. She burst out loud enough that it echoed in the hall.
“‘Tis exactly why we are doing it!” she giggled.
“Shoo,” Muire said, flapping her hand at her brother.
“Have a wee bit of drink, but no’ too much.
Ye have to make sure ye can secure the marriage after the ceremony.
” Both Muire and Sine barked out another laugh at that.
“Eoghan is at the tables near the door with Betris. He is like a lost puppy waiting to see ye. Have a wee dram with your friend and family, enjoy your last night without Ailith, and go to bed at a decent hour, aye?”
Left with no options, William nodded his head at his forceful sister’s commands. Then he kissed Ailith on the cheek and put his lips to her ear. “But ye are no’ leaving my bed at all on the morrow,” he vows.
Her skin burned in a fierce blush as he spun on his toe and left the hallway.
“Let us get ye ready for bed,” Muire said as she and Sine led her toward the tower.
Muire and Sine brought her to their chambers. They’d had a wide cot carried to the room, and Muire gave Ailith her bed while she and Sine slept together on the other side.
In her léine with her freshly washed face and plaited hair, thanks to Sine’s quick fingers, Ailith rested in the bed and waited for sleep, which she knew would be a long time coming.
How could she sleep when she was marrying William the very next day?
A man she’d known a month in a time she didn’t belong?
The only light in the room came from the amber embers of the banked hearth.
Muire had extinguished the candles once they were ready for bed.
The only sounds in the room were Muire and Sine’s steady breathing and the lingering strands of music and laughter, heavily muted by the stone walls, but still able to slide around from the yard and enter through the loosely shuttered window.
She tried to focus on the low sounds and let that rumbling fade into the background to help her sleep, yet her mind kept returning to tomorrow, her wedding day, and the finality of that commitment.
This was not the way she thought she’d be getting married.
Who could have believed such a thing? However, it was here now, and better that she embrace it than fight it.
Ailith had to save her fighting energies for her mushrooms.
A wave of satisfaction wafted over her at the thought of those tiny, reddish-tipped fungi.
They hid in the grasses and around other mushrooms, blended in, and would one day be used to combat a dreadful disease.
And she, with the help of William and the MacDougals, had managed to stop mad King Donald and prevent him from laying waste to the land that would have destroyed her precious mushies.
She had come to think of them as hers – William even teased her about it.
But he helped her replant them near Glenbervie just in case the king had destroyed the field where they grew.
And he understood she needed to guard over them, plant more, and become the medieval version of Johnny Appleseed.
That thought made her giggle. His agreement to aid her in that endeavor sent a surge of warm joy through her.
Those were the last thoughts she had as sleep finally claimed her late in the night.
And with that sleep came another dream of the mysterious woman Ailith had come to call dream-Eladon, after the Romani woman who had sent her back into the past. She’d had a few, in which the woman made prophetic announcements, and the most recent was telling Ailith to marry William.
Since she had no other advice to rely on, she relied on dream-Eladon to guide her.
This night, though, instead of a kaleidoscope or night stars, there was smoke. Everything was a blur in the dream. The voice of dream-Eladon seemed to come from all sides.
Keep planting.
In the dream, Ailith spun around, trying to see through the smoke. Why couldn’t she see anything? Why was dream-Eladon hidden? Ailith had seen her in the dreams before!
It seemed like the misty smoke was moving, as if Ailith were walking or traveling past something. She could see shadowy outlines of people within the mist, but not someone who stood out as dream-Eladon. Who were these people? Why were they obscured?
Your work is not done. Do not be distracted. Some will try to stop you, but your work is not done.
Who? Ailith asked in her dream. Who will try to stop me? How?
Keep planting. And listen to those who know.
Who knows? In her dream, Ailith panicked. Was there someone who knew Ailith had traveled into the past? Was she the person who would try to stop her? Then why listen to them?
Eladon!
The smoke thickened, and Ailith had the sense that Eladon was gone.
Ailith’s heart raced when she sat up quickly in bed.
The room was unfamiliar, and it took a minute for her to gather her wits and see Muire sleeping on the other side of the room. She was in Muire’s room.
And it was her wedding day.