When I feel sad I remind myself that when I reach Winterfalls you will be there, and I think of sharing poems and songs and long walks in the woods, and that brings the smile back to my face. I will be pleased when this endless journey is over.

Bramble is much disturbed; at night she burrows under her blankets and refuses to show so much as the tip of her nose. I think my little dog longs to reach Winterfalls as much as I do!

My host, Lord Muadan, has offered the services of his messenger to bring this letter to you, which is most kind of him. I will seal and send it now. I hope that I will not be far behind it, dear Oran. Flidais of Cloud Hill

My heart beat fast. She was in Ulaid! That meant only a matter of days before her party reached Winterfalls. Of course, she might decide to spend a while enjoying Muadan’s hospitality. The horses would need to be rested, or fresh mounts obtained. I recalled that Muadan loved to hunt, and kept a pack of wolfhounds for the purpose. Bramble would hardly be comfortable there.

I bade myself be calm. I was the head of my own household; I was the heir to the Dalriadan throne. Such a man did not greet his intended bride in a lather of nervous sweat, with trembling hands and a mind wiped clean of rational thought. I must not let love make me foolish.

I stood by the window looking out across my grazing fields, and made a list in my mind of what preparations still remained to be completed before my sweetheart’s arrival. The list was not very long – thanks in part to my enthusiasm, and in far greater part, I suspected, to the efficiency of my household, the place was all but ready. There was a riding horse to be brought down from Cahercorcan, a wedding gift to Flidais from my father. Some further improvements to the bathing arrangements were still to be made. And the matter of the wise woman. But Donagan was right, that was not truly urgent. This Blackthorn would present herself at my house in due course, as I’d requested, and I could have a word with her then.

10 Blackthorn

10

~BLACKTHORN~

The day we’d moved into the cottage, I’d had to make a decision. The place had one main room with a hearth and a couple of shelf beds, and a falling-apart lean-to at the back. The only place for a healer to conduct her business was in that main room, and it was plain I’d be sleeping there as well. Which had left the question of Grim. I’d already told him, somewhat against my better judgement, that he could stay awhile and work on the repairs, since there was so much needing to be done on the place.