“Maybe Mother and the baby will both survive and Eilis need never know how close it was,” I said. “But then, if we don’t warn her and the worst happens, she won’t be properly prepared for it. That would be even crueller.”

“Clodagh,” said Sibeal.

I looked at her and she gazed solemnly back.

“You’re very scared, aren’t you?” she asked. “Frightened and upset and worrying about everything, not just the big life-and-death things, but the smaller things too, like keeping the household running while Mother’s so unwell and Father’s so distracted, and making sure all of us do our mending and eat our breakfast . . . You can’t do everything, Clodagh. Sometimes we simply have to wait and see what happens.”

“You’re far too wise for a twelve year old,” I told her. “Tell me, what do you think of Cathal?”

Sibeal gave me a penetrating look. “I thought Aidan was the one you liked.”

“I’m not asking because I like the man,” I retorted. “I just wondered if you think he’s . . . I don’t quite know how to say this. You saw what happened earlier, Sibeal. Cathal acts very oddly. There’s being eccentric, and there’s being downright suspicious. He did manage to get lost rather quickly. He had no good explanation for going off the path. And . . . well, he’s behaved strangely toward me a few times already. I don’t trust him.”

Sibeal looked owlish now as she gazed out across the lake, her eyes on the small group opposite. Doran and Aidan were making a fire; it seemed Eilis couldn’t wait to eat her fish. “Clodagh,” my sister said, “you just explained to Cathal about the paths, how they move about to trick unwary travelers. You can’t turn around now and say he’s suspicious because he lost his way.”

“But he was with us, and we’re the family.”

“He isn’t with us,” said Sibeal. “He isn’t with anyone.” And before I could ask her for an explanation, Eilis hailed us from the other side of the water, beckoning us back.

Since Aidan had been honest with me on the matter of Rathnait, I let him ride home alongside me. He seized the opportunity to tell me about his home in Connacht and his family. I learned that Aidan had first gone to Inis Eala seeking to acquire superior skills in war craft which he could bring home in order to help his father in a territorial dispute. But the problem had resolved itself by more peaceful means. Meanwhile, Aidan had liked what Inis Eala had to offer and had decided to stay on. He made sure I understood that he had put a length of two more years on this; after that time, his place with Johnny would be filled by someone else.