Post by Queen Beathag Aberdeen on Dec 22, 2010 1:50:39 GMT -6
Seclusion or Reclusion
"Age does not protect you from love, but love to some extent protects you from age."
Queen Beathag
The Bant Chan Ser Valley and this very estate had revealed things to them over the years. It was here the Lady of the Valley told them of children when they had little hope left, only to return year after year with another edition to their family. It was here that beauty seemed to continue to flourish no matter what came to rip at the heart of the land. Beathag came to understand just why the Valley was so special to those who lived here even before the coming of the Lady, and who would remain now that she remained. Had destiny not had other designs would Adam and she have chosen to live here too? By now he had been subject to an amazement long since settled in her to produce humor where in him it produced shock. Now it was a time to calm as the sun slipped away to give the moon its time. In the window she watched as one of the household's strange halls fell away in to the line of trees. Silver streams lit the world like a roman candle. She leaned in to the window glad to be here one more time.
"Adam," she grinned to the man who looked as if he had much on his mind. The world was one of burden for a King but she had the advantage of days here where he'd had only hours. "Come, sit. Rest yer mind."
King Adam
Trickery and deceit would often offend the man…but in this case, he assumed he deserved it… for Ealora being alive was more than worth it. But the real shock was how the woman looked… no longer the general’s wife… nor the pirate… but a woman who could turn the heads of court… She was alive !!! and for this he was pleased…
What better place to deceive the king… in a special place of peace… mystery… and beauty. It seemed that Bant Chan Ser could even be considered Skye’s own niche of reclusion… a place a King could hide and flourish in well-being… And now, after the trick had been played… Adam, and his beloved Bess, strolled the gardens… hand in hand… and then she pulled away and sat upon a stone bench along a path and beckoned him.
Sitting next to her, he scooted close… “My mind tis at peace naew…” he offered her a smirk. “But still… Yer an evil woman Beathag Aberdeen… Tis this a way to traet a king… yaer husband…?” then he laughed. For moments, both uttering rememberances of the trick, and sights he saw, but the mind refusing to embrace it… and the final outcome of Ealora being alive… he laughed again. “Such a folly as I… I saw, yet I was blind…” his hand squeezed her leg lovingly.
Looking around the garden that seemed the many shades of gold and reds… then back to her… She was so beautiful… white, gold, with hints of black, was worn well by her… her, backdropped by the changing of seasons made him smile. “Seems we ‘ave been here before… was it not here that Eirian predicted you with child?” The royal hand found her thigh and he patted it lovingly. Sea-green eyes would drink of her… then compare his surroundings, only to return to her. “I am glad we can coom ‘ere faer a visit… tis enough to take away all the strains upon a man’s mind…” he leaned against her slightly. “The Tamazgha, Spain… all the rest seems sooo far away… too far to reach us here…” and he chuckled a bit. “Mabbe Ah should leave a reservation here with Eirian, eh…” and he laughed.
Queen Beathag
A garden was a paltry name for this place. What was brought in by design now grew seamless with the rest of the surrounding world. Creeping moss alongside beds of roses. Ivy twist over the boughs of willow trees down to the patterns of lily, sleeping now. Autumn's wild blooms mixed with petals in fountain water to spread the heady scent around. From the window of the open hallway to the pavilion, Beathag had walked, down to the paths to get lost in them with Adam. From Death came life. With Ealora's return, she had no doubt that a hidden guilt inside of the King dissolved like the mist on the edge of a yellowing leaf. "Aye twas a way tae treat a King who needed the love o' his wife and the sight o' one o' his people tae be whole. It was quite far gone o' me tae dae sae, but we promised long agae that e'en as we rose tae meet this life we now lead we would nay forget the core o' ourselves. Would ye truly expect anythin' else o' the woman whom as a girl child led a pious boy tae place dice, n' cards, n' hide away when he was called?" Couldn't he see it? She was not a woman of fancy but if she looked through the groves long enough she could see the ghost of their youth, her hand in his. Their laughter joined the night songs until it was nothing but the magic of the land.
She craned her head aways back over her shoulder until a particular point of light caught her attention. From here, the house was above them. "As if it came from this place n' always was. It remained quiet when we were children save tae those who came hence. Tae think if we walked here, ne'er knowin'. Yet we won't forget it now. It was here..aye as ye say. Here when Eirian came down with Hope in her arms, n' told us tha' we would have many heirs. We didn't believe her, yet hoped e'en as she told us. Now we indeed have many heirs, each as beautiful as the one afore, and each one sae special." More lights from lanterns and candles were born until the lot twinkled through the line of trees. She looked down at the black clad thigh. His hand gave it a pat, he wasn't able to take it back because she let her fingers thread through it. "We have proven sae many wrong, e'en ourselves. Ah thought Ah was barren n' yer hope waned. We thought ne'er tae ascend beyond wot we first came tae dae. We are all subjects o' a higher cause, n' as such subject tae the whim o' a higher place. Ah have nae regrets tae tha' place." Shades of light criss-crossed at their feet. Red and gold tones seemed sparked by silver until the world was bent around the moon's halo. She saw rainbows where none should exist.
Her arms wrapped around him as he leaned in to her. "Nothin' can touch us 'ere," she whispered in to the hollow part of his ear only for it to slide inside, craddled in his brain. "Nothin' can find us. Nay Spain, nor the Tamazgha. Her doors are e'er open tae us." Here she was not Queen nor was he King. They were only themselves, whatever it was, whomever they desired to portray. In the chance to make a choice, she chose to be the woman who had softened enough to let a man in to her heart one more time. Soft lips kissed the line of his jaw before she let her head go against his shoulder.
King Adam
At times, he was enslaved by his thoughts, never occuring to him that he could become free from their grasp. The chatter of the mind continuing incessantly from the moment he woke to the moment he slept. The habit of constantly thinking was deeply ingrained in him. Nevertheless, it was Beathag, that was able to alter the habit to be undone. His mind was a great and useful instrument, but it was not be allowed to rule his, nor his family’s lives. Now, he smiled as he was able to silence it when he wanted to. Especially in the garden, his wife’s fingers interlaced with his.
He had attained mastery over his mind, and able to focus it on whatever he wanted; able to use it in better and more useful ways. But emotion… oh that would still get him into trouble. Whether it was playing with his children, to watching a friend marry, or the birth of a child… or the anger and resentment caused by a death… his emotions would run the gamut of intensities… He simply looked to Bess… “Twas goot tae find Ealora alive… an’ naew guilt long shouldered bae lift’d…” he gave her hand a slight squeeze… “yae gave mae quite a surprise… wench…” he teased, pausing a bit before calling her a name. “Aye, Ah shudda knew t’would be the devil in ya…”
His emotions got the best of him again when she spoke of the days barren… and Eirian’s foreboding of what was to come… She spoke… he listened… and he smiled… peacefully.
Was it the day? The Location? Nay, none of that… it was his wife… in her embrace, he was unstoppable… a stalwart entity… He needed no armour… for she was his steel… his sword and shield… his torch to light the path. In their lives together… when life tore them one from the other… they would always find their way back… somehow… someway… Their lives converged once more as she lay her head upon his shoulder… and his arms tightened around her. Sensations heightened… his breathing a bit rapid… yet a simple whisper…. “Tha gaol agam ort…”
Queen Beathag
Adam was an intelligent man. He was a brash man, a foolish man, a man who thrived on ambition. He was one who paid the price with his flesh, blood, and a bonded life of service to the crowns he made of two dead men. Out of all of it, he was still a man that remained under the gaze of his woman with no less love than first was ever paid to him. What a life they led! Scenes of it played now behind her shut eyes. A marketplace in Iverness where a dirty knight carried a child in a banner for swaddling. An empty home built by his own hands waiting to be given on their wedding day. Him in armor and she, for the first time, going to meet him under the black and gold he created to be the heraldry for a common name from a common place. Further still were children who romped in gardens playing hide-go-seek or lulling in flower fields. He indulged her love of daisy chains or both played with her elder brother. Days as of yore precious strung on a chain one by one for her to see. Pulled from this by his voice, she chortled, "Aye, wench n' devils bride Ah be but wot make ye then, husband? Wench's tryst, devil bride consort? Hmm." The winsome wife wouldn't let him go, though. She had spoken only after he had said all of his peace. The jest faded away though to settle back in the simple objective of him being in her arms, of being his love. "It has been sae long since ye have said it sae." Ever known as the Warrior Queen, he knew that he held the heart of a genuine woman. She shivered, burying her face more in to his sleeve to be spoken to in the Gaelic, as if to bury the word and memory of him better in her mind through touch, through scent.
All she had wanted for no less than a year was to have him for even a few days with nothing to be done of it. No missives to read nor proclamation to sign. As any wife or Queen duty was done with due diligence, and to the trial of the clans folk, their wars and whims she sat beside her husband at all times. It ended but needed it ever to have begun? She asked herself the question many times when silence settled over her mouth to rob all the words leaving only the ones inside her head. In her advancing age she thought often. She was better read now that at any other time in her life, not merely of the people of the Isles, but of the histories of Rome as to what they thought of a world held. She read of empires built only to be the dust on which their world was built. Thoughts on the Christ child and the ponderings of wise, wise men. Why, it was not even unusual to find the Queen at Mass when the children would attend so at the least they could make a choice of faith yet function in it for state's sake, if nothing else.The world changed with Beathag to meet the tide. Still, for all of it she wanted nothing more than to love the man beside her. A season spent in disdain as well when she had hardened against him. It was her right but she still regretted it. It was lost time.
She brought a hand to the side of his face, turning it so the back smoothed the length of it near her. "Ye have nay shaved yer face," she noted with a little grin, "Tis been a day, mayhap two. Will ye hide yer boyfish face behind such hair?" Too busy to even have so basic a need tended or to do it himself? It wasn't unlikely. Blessed be whatever face he saw fit to present. Applying her lips to the growing shadow softened it a little. Her legs turned the opposite way of his on the bench now, they could look at one another while arms were entwined. The mind of a man was as different, as marvelous a place as the mind of a woman. Each was different but no less revered. He had mastery over the mind. His heart? It bobbed and swayed, roared and laughed as much as her own outward self had when expressing her own heart now so wrapped in age's transformation. As much as she rued his heart wrought logic, she admired him for its fore. She felt as though age, and now this place, softened that side of herself to a point where to reveal all of its longings, angers and frights would dishonor the crown she told him no less to place on his head. Oh but she expressed it well enough! She smiled again for no reason, content to lose herself in his eyes.
"After the year turns, tae Aberdeen?" She posed the quizzical inquiry not expecting it to be latched on to easily,"Perhaps after time for ourselves we might begin tae look upon o'er things tha' we could nay. We might have your brother n' his wife join us, and the bonds between ye make better than wot might have been had your father lived. Reconcile them tae our family whole...n' with it Leodhas agus na Hearadh will quarrel nay more. Tha' will be second tae the first, which is kin. Mayhaps e'en seconded still, tae us." She looked in to her lap. Overhead clouds dwarfed the moon for an instant, and so too was the brightness on her face covered as she said, "Ah wish tae reconcile fer the season we missed, for the quarrel we had e'en afore we should venture elsewhere sae tha' this autumn n' wintertide, tha' the Yule with it might be more beautiful than ye remember. Ah wish for our people's happiness tha' they nay longer see themselves sae torn but joined by somethin' greater, be it a love o' light or old or Christ-Child or merely love itself.In order tae dae tha', though, it has tae be exuded. Ah was sae hard 'pon ye in Bracadale. Would nay wot befell Dun Darroch n' Struan had never come knowin m'self, it would have been long time passed when we spoke again." She looked at his hand, capturing it to kiss it, "Ah have doubted ye more than ye know, n' upheld yer will when it felt in me a whim. Ah nay only questioned ye or challenged ye, tae much dismissed ye with yer thoughts. Ah know ye mean more than well. We would nay be sae crowned had we nay gone toward it taegether..- had I nay....told ye tae take wot was yur due e'en as yer heart cried nay. Ye are a stronger man fer bowin before tha' crown than e'en me who moved toward it with blind resolve. Ah hope in it all ye ne'er doubted my love for ye fer o' all things Ah dae know as ye said, Ah may cut with nay sword. Tis, this woman only wants tae love ye as one, n' stand by ye as more fer ye are more, nay tae see ye face these things alone. Ah know ye would nay wish me tae pay any price, but it is a price gladly paid all in yer love. Tis good company always kept, ruin or rapture"
King Adam
Adam smirked wickedly… “Aye.. a wench’s tryst… a devil-bride’s consort… An’ Ah woot trudge Hades tae be wit yae… Ah woot move a mountain one stone at a time… if’en said mountain was betwixt us…” Their time together was oft less than desired, but their private time was as if the world stopped around them… or maybe, it continued whilst they were in seclusion and their world stopped… either way… there time was inpenetrable. So well matched… were they… that they operated as one. No one could proclaim a King was saddled by his wife’s decisions… nor the Queen encumbered by her husband’s decisions. It was royal decree, whether spoken by the King or Queen… for as anyone outside the intimacy of the royal duo, knew not two crowns… but one united. He rubbed his chin and felt the two… maybe three… day beard… “Yae prefer the face o’ youth tae the bristles of a sage?” he teased her. Leaning to her ear… “…or doth the bristle wear thin upon fine thighs…” he smirked evilly with a saucy wink as he pulled back.
Adam’s English was formal and political… his Gaelic was personal and learned… well learned and born deep… Among other languages he knew… it was I Love You in the Gaelic that he felt the deepest sentiment… And his moist eyes peered at her as she spoke of Aberdeen… the flood of memories of their earlier past the reason… “Mae luv… wot tis past tis past… t’was mae own reason… and maybe, your means justified the end…” he offered her a smile as she kissed his hand. “This year ‘as been difficult… and Ah be truly repentant tae ‘ave been a burr under yaer saddle…” he looked down at her hand in her lap… then he looked up to her beautiful eyes… “Leodhas agus na Hearadh ‘as been beset upon mae mind… James moreso… afeared tha Ah been deglecting them… and Ah think yae be right in seeking reconcile…” he looked down once more… “Ah know Ah promised yae a trek of the lands… and ‘ere tis the best place tae start… with the whole family in tow…” he glanced up briefly. “The Beloved sisters as well…? T’would be good for them…”
Oh what a spectacle it would be for the entire family Griffin to venture the land… What strength the land would get from seeing the royal family… healthy… and interested in the people’s welfare… After the debaucle at Dun Darroch… the country needed to know the health of a nation… and his wife was promised a tour of the realm. Why didn’t he think of it before? The pageantry? The discord minimal. His head rose and looked at her… “Tha gaol agam ort…” he said in a whisper… and embraced her as they sat upon the bench.
Queen Beathag
By whatever means necessary or whatever whim ruled from the beyond the pair made a life together, and made it well. When he told her the past was the past, a wave of relief swept over her. Adam was always easier to forgive than his wife, she thought, but it felt as though he scooped all the hard thoughts out of her soul. Her eyes welled with tears that spilled over their joined hands as he reconciled all the worry to a present free of it, and agreed that the family might have the same chance. Would he worry with the tears she shed? A small smile gave him a little hope they weren't serious. She put curled fingers over her mouth.
Slowly the smile turned in to a little laugh, "Tha goal agram ort, Ahdam." Happiness was her arms around him, holding him as the world turned or ceased to turn, she cared not. "Och, Ah'm sorra," she murmured, "Just feels like a relief is all, a relief been waitin' fer a long while tae hear. We just have nay been alone like this in months, for sae long. Simply to speak. Tae put it all before one another. Sittin' beside ye each day with hardly but a few words at night, n' then the argument… did nay realize just how lonely fer ye Ah was. By yer side n' felt it. Twill diminish. Husband." Of all the words she said the last sounded the sweetest. "Ye did nay think on Leodhas agus na Hearadh because oh wot seemed like ye would have tae subdue them," and they could, in one blow, for as powerful as du'Chere thought he might be, it was not the weight of an entire royal navy to assemble from the surrounding lands. One blow, one decisive seige and it would be over, "and in daein' sae ye would put the last sword through wot family ye have left. Ahdam, Ah know wot ye think e'en if my love o' yer kindred seems small. It was only by Gods' whims tha' the Lord Guardian n' Sir Lucius McLeod gave back tae me m'brother Caldean n' my nephew Bryce after the other children perished o' sickness n' the res to' the family hung sae precarious. Twas only the utterance o' a childhood rhyme tha' Eamonn n' Ah learned we shared a past, but the point is tha' because o' these strange fates Ah have two brothers, and a nephew o' blood. Aye we share our neices n' nephews through Eamonn n' Aislin, look tae wot great aunts n' nieces Bryce may one day 'ave n' should Caldean bless with more… but they… those men, are my blood, n' fer all the heart kin we have naught can replace knowin tha' blood is whole, and flesh. James is yer brother by blood o' yer father and tha' boy a part o' ye both, and Gods willin' a better part. Tae spearhead them would be tae ne'er know tha' part, e'en in him tha' is better than what fortune made. Ah wish fer ye tae have like ah have, n' fer his wife and I tae have peace, tae look on the face o' the son they have and see in him greatness."
With her head against his chest now she told him, "let us first gae home, n' grace tha' home… some are there tae winter with the court. Let us celebrate tha', n' if we take outin, let it be tae the homes just out o' the city first. Sae many estate we have nay seen n' sae many who need tae look on yer face tae know sacrifice is worth it can. Then, when the year is new let it come forward at Aberdeen, n' the children might see all about Scotland wot homes be theirs," for the households they might have at pleasure when of a comely age to settle in, but they were always well kept and prepared, just as the lands around them. One day a child might come there even if to study! "Should it please ye n' should it please the young ladies tae, let us take them tae. They are still sae new tae this world," she remembered sitting at supper and looking toward Eleanor, seeing the struggle one instant to remain in the present only to see a free girl, a spirited thing, in the next instance. Joan was a jewel they should never have thought to inherit, quiet and beautiful. "Mayhap encourage them out a little before hand, tae see such estate if they make friend nearby nay? Ah'm happy ye received them in tae our company. Here we have ourselves, and our smallest. Nay yet but...but let us return within a day or sae, and when we dae, let us look at our world but only in quiet with a select few fer a time. Nay parliments tae eat at yer mind or mine. Nay audience for frivolous things.Sae tha' when we sit with our courtiers we… sit with them, eat with them, have reason tae make good accord. Tis all Ah want, and I believe tis nay a fools errand fer Ah believe e'en with all the foolish things in the world our people are good people."
King Adam
Simply put, he would wipe away the tears…whether from regret or joy… with a strong, yet now present genteel hand; and he would offer her that intimate and charming smile… not the one who charmed Parliament or a people, but one offered especially for her. And the boyish face, darkened by a three day beard, would smile at her vow of love… He would remain silent whilst she spoke… as if he loved her voice. It was as if the voice and harp was one in the same, playing a melody to soothe painful ears…
She was right about James… and Lewis-Harris… He could beat James in a fight… and the Griffin Army could devastate the small, but profitable, isle. But what would he gain from either. A true display of weakness brought on by force unyielded… Once more he smiled. She was right most of the time… and he knew that.
“Bess…” he tried to speak… “Beathag… Woman…” he tried again and again but she kept talking… his interjectures seemed to be ignored as she kept talking… He pulled her to him forcefully, his mouth crushing upon her own… and he kissed her everso passionately… and in doing so, excited a part of him pulling her tightly to him. Interjecting failed, where a kiss would not… This was their time… not any others… and she so eloquently worded his thoughts, but words were fruitless to a mind elsewhere… so he kissed her to shut her up.
Queen Beathag
To give a tear to his hand was a gift as precious as pearls. Here in the soft autumn dark he received the happiness along with the sadness. She had him again. It was so good to sit at length to talk and be heard for more than the hour before sleep, or to hear him before he was stolen away to business. No quarrels, no bitter words. Words that would repair feeble bridges, strengthen a road for them to walk on the journey. Only after had they gone round it could others be brought with them. Beathag laughed again, in part at seeing him so spellbound by her words with a youth's face in a man of nearly forty-one, while another seemed to drink in the words as if he'd been parched. She stayed in his arms talking on and on. Even beyond when he tried to interject she couldn't help but go on with a half curious grin only to be silenced by a very direct gesture. This gesture held what words could not. The last sound of a verb faded as she tangled her hands gently in his hair before moving one to the back of his neck, the other his shoulder. She felt her body move along the bench until there was no space left between them.Breathing in his scent, her head lulled back a little allowing the kiss to deepen. Crushed mouth opened to allow him in. It continued this way for awhile before she pushed him away, standing.Gently she walked ahead of him, pulling the pins from her hair so that the two braids comprosing the coronet fell down against her back. "Come?" She grinned at him, walking ahead with lifted skirts for freedom of ankle.
Her brogue remained ever-thick no matter how much English she spoke. A sense of adventure lingered no matter how much more patient or willing to invest in thought tedium she was. "Or are ye gaein tae sit there ass tae bench," and no matter how refined, the woman with her roots dug down so hard in the land it rivaled trees lived beside the woman who wore the dresses, the skirts, with no breeches to speak of now. One enduring quality was that there under the skirts, finely made though they were, were boots. She had soft click wherever she went on her lifted heel, or even a diminished hush if the heel were flat. "It be tae beautiful here tae sit on tha' bench all night. How quick be the King, how far can he walk or will he fall down at half past a mile? How quick more so be the man tha' makes the King, Good Ahdam son o' the MacRauri. Ah recall ye were bested mightly by my brothers." She ran-a-skipped three steps along toward the woodline. Only the light of the moon and the twinkle of stars. No one before or aft of them, no one to the side but the trees and the Gods.
King Adam
“We fit together so well...it's like pieces of a puzzle, the way my hand fits the curve of your hip and the way your head rests on my shoulder, the way our hands just melt into one, and the way I feel complete when I'm with you...
like the picture's finally completed and I'll never have to wonder what I'm missing.”
She is slim, tall, and beautiful… exceptionally beautiful for a woman entering the fourth decade of life. She has this indescribable smile and effervescence. I believe she is aware of me watching her. Perhaps everyone around me was aware... I cannot know – nor care… I am only aware of her and her effect on me. Some vibration is coursing through my body… but that happens everytime she is around me. Now, she is dancing and prancing around playfully before me… teasingly in a sort. I am aware of nothing else but her. There is an elegance which is associated with her transformation, over the years, from the warrior princess I knew to wife… to queen… but she never stopped being my wife!! There is an instantaneous dual reaction from me around her… Either one of protectiveness for the girl remaining in her… or… one of desire for the woman in her… or both. Could it be I have fallen in love with her again? I do not remember ever falling OUT of love with her. Then what can it be? Had I lost touch with what was most important? God, I pray that is nay true… but alas, I do love her… ever since the first day I saw her…
Adam stood slowly, recuperating from his thoughts… Long strides carried him behind her… Enthralled with her, he carried a smile upon his face… “The man is quicker than the King, lass. The husband is quicker still than the man…” he offered her a wicked smirk. Still he walked behind her, his pace matched to hers to keep him slightly distanced behind her. And he laughed at her statement about her brothers. Oh, the White Queen caused the moon and stars to pale, that he was positive about…
“Just as in earthly life, lovers long for the moment when they are able to breathe forth their love for each other, to let their souls blend in a soft whisper, so the mystic longs for the moment when in prayer he can, as it were, creep into God.” Soren Kierkegaard
Age does not protect you from love, but love to some extent protects you from age." Jeanne Moreau
Queen Beathag
"The man has a challenge the King may bid him tae persude, the husband will want o' his wife tha' belongs with the man n' the King may sae ordain, the Queen bids him take leisure, the wife moves always for his love n' joy, and the woman is a nimble bein' tha' all o' yerself parts must have." Beathag made her strides that much longer to avoid him. If he reached out, there was no guarantee he could have her just yet. She looked back over her shoulder to watch him move in to the line of trees with her. Dipping around a tree by way of a low hanging branch, her body by half came around the other side of the trunk. Her dress would have all matter of dew in the hems from being so close to the ground but she cared not. One gold plait passed her shoulder line and as she tilted her head, it swung off free in to space. What a jolly little game! "Slow, slow, slow." she clucked her tongue before skipping over to another tree. This one was thin. One hand up to hold it, she danced around it to the left so she could come around at the front. Standing still for an instant she regarded him. Her mind said thus:
He has a sense of humor that is greater than mine now. I used to have one more prevalent, but in this game he looks so happy as if he were reminded of what he thought might be lost with holding up what is his birthright. It is supposed to be mine, too, this Island but it is truly his and I was only his intended. Look at him there! His eyes are so bright, twinkling in the dark. Is he about to smile again or laugh? The way he looks when he thinks it's almost like he will speak, yet he doesn't. Half grin becomes a full smile. He looks so free. I want him to be free of soul. When we were young he was gentler than I, enobled. My mother raised me only to visit with the court on this island so I was no where near the lady to his early lord. All I wanted was to be worthy of him, but now... I see… worth is as simple as a moment like this. I have never loved a man as I have loved Adam Maubrey.
No, she hadn't forgotten what his name was, and what hers would be if he did not love what had all but died out until secrets revealed themselves. Now, their family was many in number, and thriving. There were more to remember those that were gone than those who would be gone and missed.
King Adam
“Ah shall show you slow…” and he reached out to snag at her arm, but his hand came up empty, and he laughed. “Nimble wench!!” and they danced around a tree, back and forth, until she dashed away again.
He runs after her and as he cuts across the gulley, upon the other side she has disappeared… Adam looks around, and by the large broken tree stump, he sees the dirty white hem of her dress sticking out…
In an instant, he was taken back to the days of youth… days of yesteryear that lay dormant and hidden in his mind… a time when he stole away from his religious studies to visit with the golden hair girl who was visiting with her mother::
Lady Murieall and Mother, some called her Lady Davina, were in the parlor, discussing something important… Father was to return last night but failed to do so… and I… I left the study with Father Gregory, who is not pleased with the interruption, once I heard that Beathag had arrived… She is so cute… Mother says she would be a grand match for me… but how can friends be matched? Phew, grownups!!
I feel odd when Beathag is around; all tinglely… That golden hair, so long… I would brush it for her, but Father thinks that is for the servants… Rest assured, she loves to play in the woods… but she is so much faster… those long legs… Will I ever be taller? Uh oh, here she comes…
“Tag? Of course Beathag!!” I covered my eyes and began to count to ten… “Ready or nay… Here I come…” and I see her white dress protruding behind a tree… but I pretend not to see and go the opposite direction… only to cut back later.
We run hither and yon… and even when I run fast, she is faster… and outside the parlor window… I see Father has returned… and I stop… Mother and Father are arguing… and Lady Murieall steps to father… and he slaps Mother… then takes Lady Murieall by the arms and begins to shake her… I feel flushed… angered… I want to kill him… and a hand rests gently upon my shoulder… tis Beathag… and she comes behind me, wrapping her arms around me.. and whispers. “Dunnae wory Ahdam… wot ‘e doth do naew, shall revisit him one day… stay yaer hand an’ anger naet… the Gods shall pr’tect us…”
Her voice is intoxicating… the lass could charm a cobra… and as I turned, she kissed me upon the cheek… laughing she runs away… “Catch mae Ahdam… if’n yae can…” I hear her say… and I run after her…
Dizzy at the thought resurfacing… he staggers a bit, his hand grasping a sapling tree trunk… “She has always been in my life… and I never realized it…” he whispered to himself… and the boyish smile soon returns… Instead of pretending not to see, he charges straight for Bess’ current hiding place… long strides leaping over fallen logs and across a small stream…
Queen Beathag
"Still slow, still as slow as snails on the laziest o' days, my lord..." she continued to tease him,lolly gagging by darting this way and that once more until she was completely out of his view. Alone with his memories, Beathag wished she could divert one to use as a looking glass to peer inside of his mind. The game had been a long one of catch if me if you can. So far he couldn't but Beathag had always been just that one step beyond his reach. With the advantage of his thinking, she thought, it was alright to settle in her hiding place.
These blooms were likely the last of the year she'd see like this, and certainly in the valley for a long time to come. The beauty of the place dulled her senses giving Adam the chance to catch up with his lady in white, who turned but a moment to late! What would he do with his prize? She stumbled back, laughing in a pile of moss, looking up at him, bested. It wasn't such a terrible fate.
King Adam
Before him run the girl of dreams… spouse of reality… his companion thru the hardest of times… the passionate lover of his free time… His beloved wife, his Queen. Times as these were fine possessions… treasures to be held dear… valued as none other really mattered. He was fast, she was quicker… using her knowledge of him as actions against him… and she seemed to disappear. “Wench, yae wait til Ah catch yae…” he bellowed out…
And he rounded a large dead stump, in a field of flowers… and lo an’ behold, she stepped right in front of him… and began to backpeddle and stumbled into a pile of moss. The wicked smirk foiled a smile as he stood over her. “Well, well, look at wot Ah found! Surrender yer heart wench…” Then Adam laughed and extended his hand to her. “Oh wait, yae already did…”
And as she stood, he pulled her into his arms once more, as he had so many times before…. “Tha gaol agam ort…”
Queen Beathag
Coming to her was everything that should have ever been in her life; a wrong was made right by his hands, by his glance. What had happened before only deepened her for the blessing of receiving him. She was his match, and he had always been her future. Laughing willy-nilly, she reclined back in the bed of moss until Adam turned around and found her. He, too, was pleased that his quarry was at least not going to evade him this time! "Well the moss helped yer majesty, bastard tha' ye are," she winked. Then he asked her to surrender her heart!
She grasped at her chest as if to keep the heart at bay only to agree with him when he pulled her upward, "Aye, years agae tae. Naught tae be done o' it...n' Ah dun want it back." Her voice from humor's heights moved down to lover's lull. In his arms she smiled, finding that she flew even as she stood still. "Tha goal agam ortfhèin"
"Age does not protect you from love, but love to some extent protects you from age."
Queen Beathag
The Bant Chan Ser Valley and this very estate had revealed things to them over the years. It was here the Lady of the Valley told them of children when they had little hope left, only to return year after year with another edition to their family. It was here that beauty seemed to continue to flourish no matter what came to rip at the heart of the land. Beathag came to understand just why the Valley was so special to those who lived here even before the coming of the Lady, and who would remain now that she remained. Had destiny not had other designs would Adam and she have chosen to live here too? By now he had been subject to an amazement long since settled in her to produce humor where in him it produced shock. Now it was a time to calm as the sun slipped away to give the moon its time. In the window she watched as one of the household's strange halls fell away in to the line of trees. Silver streams lit the world like a roman candle. She leaned in to the window glad to be here one more time.
"Adam," she grinned to the man who looked as if he had much on his mind. The world was one of burden for a King but she had the advantage of days here where he'd had only hours. "Come, sit. Rest yer mind."
King Adam
Trickery and deceit would often offend the man…but in this case, he assumed he deserved it… for Ealora being alive was more than worth it. But the real shock was how the woman looked… no longer the general’s wife… nor the pirate… but a woman who could turn the heads of court… She was alive !!! and for this he was pleased…
What better place to deceive the king… in a special place of peace… mystery… and beauty. It seemed that Bant Chan Ser could even be considered Skye’s own niche of reclusion… a place a King could hide and flourish in well-being… And now, after the trick had been played… Adam, and his beloved Bess, strolled the gardens… hand in hand… and then she pulled away and sat upon a stone bench along a path and beckoned him.
Sitting next to her, he scooted close… “My mind tis at peace naew…” he offered her a smirk. “But still… Yer an evil woman Beathag Aberdeen… Tis this a way to traet a king… yaer husband…?” then he laughed. For moments, both uttering rememberances of the trick, and sights he saw, but the mind refusing to embrace it… and the final outcome of Ealora being alive… he laughed again. “Such a folly as I… I saw, yet I was blind…” his hand squeezed her leg lovingly.
Looking around the garden that seemed the many shades of gold and reds… then back to her… She was so beautiful… white, gold, with hints of black, was worn well by her… her, backdropped by the changing of seasons made him smile. “Seems we ‘ave been here before… was it not here that Eirian predicted you with child?” The royal hand found her thigh and he patted it lovingly. Sea-green eyes would drink of her… then compare his surroundings, only to return to her. “I am glad we can coom ‘ere faer a visit… tis enough to take away all the strains upon a man’s mind…” he leaned against her slightly. “The Tamazgha, Spain… all the rest seems sooo far away… too far to reach us here…” and he chuckled a bit. “Mabbe Ah should leave a reservation here with Eirian, eh…” and he laughed.
Queen Beathag
A garden was a paltry name for this place. What was brought in by design now grew seamless with the rest of the surrounding world. Creeping moss alongside beds of roses. Ivy twist over the boughs of willow trees down to the patterns of lily, sleeping now. Autumn's wild blooms mixed with petals in fountain water to spread the heady scent around. From the window of the open hallway to the pavilion, Beathag had walked, down to the paths to get lost in them with Adam. From Death came life. With Ealora's return, she had no doubt that a hidden guilt inside of the King dissolved like the mist on the edge of a yellowing leaf. "Aye twas a way tae treat a King who needed the love o' his wife and the sight o' one o' his people tae be whole. It was quite far gone o' me tae dae sae, but we promised long agae that e'en as we rose tae meet this life we now lead we would nay forget the core o' ourselves. Would ye truly expect anythin' else o' the woman whom as a girl child led a pious boy tae place dice, n' cards, n' hide away when he was called?" Couldn't he see it? She was not a woman of fancy but if she looked through the groves long enough she could see the ghost of their youth, her hand in his. Their laughter joined the night songs until it was nothing but the magic of the land.
She craned her head aways back over her shoulder until a particular point of light caught her attention. From here, the house was above them. "As if it came from this place n' always was. It remained quiet when we were children save tae those who came hence. Tae think if we walked here, ne'er knowin'. Yet we won't forget it now. It was here..aye as ye say. Here when Eirian came down with Hope in her arms, n' told us tha' we would have many heirs. We didn't believe her, yet hoped e'en as she told us. Now we indeed have many heirs, each as beautiful as the one afore, and each one sae special." More lights from lanterns and candles were born until the lot twinkled through the line of trees. She looked down at the black clad thigh. His hand gave it a pat, he wasn't able to take it back because she let her fingers thread through it. "We have proven sae many wrong, e'en ourselves. Ah thought Ah was barren n' yer hope waned. We thought ne'er tae ascend beyond wot we first came tae dae. We are all subjects o' a higher cause, n' as such subject tae the whim o' a higher place. Ah have nae regrets tae tha' place." Shades of light criss-crossed at their feet. Red and gold tones seemed sparked by silver until the world was bent around the moon's halo. She saw rainbows where none should exist.
Her arms wrapped around him as he leaned in to her. "Nothin' can touch us 'ere," she whispered in to the hollow part of his ear only for it to slide inside, craddled in his brain. "Nothin' can find us. Nay Spain, nor the Tamazgha. Her doors are e'er open tae us." Here she was not Queen nor was he King. They were only themselves, whatever it was, whomever they desired to portray. In the chance to make a choice, she chose to be the woman who had softened enough to let a man in to her heart one more time. Soft lips kissed the line of his jaw before she let her head go against his shoulder.
King Adam
At times, he was enslaved by his thoughts, never occuring to him that he could become free from their grasp. The chatter of the mind continuing incessantly from the moment he woke to the moment he slept. The habit of constantly thinking was deeply ingrained in him. Nevertheless, it was Beathag, that was able to alter the habit to be undone. His mind was a great and useful instrument, but it was not be allowed to rule his, nor his family’s lives. Now, he smiled as he was able to silence it when he wanted to. Especially in the garden, his wife’s fingers interlaced with his.
He had attained mastery over his mind, and able to focus it on whatever he wanted; able to use it in better and more useful ways. But emotion… oh that would still get him into trouble. Whether it was playing with his children, to watching a friend marry, or the birth of a child… or the anger and resentment caused by a death… his emotions would run the gamut of intensities… He simply looked to Bess… “Twas goot tae find Ealora alive… an’ naew guilt long shouldered bae lift’d…” he gave her hand a slight squeeze… “yae gave mae quite a surprise… wench…” he teased, pausing a bit before calling her a name. “Aye, Ah shudda knew t’would be the devil in ya…”
His emotions got the best of him again when she spoke of the days barren… and Eirian’s foreboding of what was to come… She spoke… he listened… and he smiled… peacefully.
Was it the day? The Location? Nay, none of that… it was his wife… in her embrace, he was unstoppable… a stalwart entity… He needed no armour… for she was his steel… his sword and shield… his torch to light the path. In their lives together… when life tore them one from the other… they would always find their way back… somehow… someway… Their lives converged once more as she lay her head upon his shoulder… and his arms tightened around her. Sensations heightened… his breathing a bit rapid… yet a simple whisper…. “Tha gaol agam ort…”
Queen Beathag
Adam was an intelligent man. He was a brash man, a foolish man, a man who thrived on ambition. He was one who paid the price with his flesh, blood, and a bonded life of service to the crowns he made of two dead men. Out of all of it, he was still a man that remained under the gaze of his woman with no less love than first was ever paid to him. What a life they led! Scenes of it played now behind her shut eyes. A marketplace in Iverness where a dirty knight carried a child in a banner for swaddling. An empty home built by his own hands waiting to be given on their wedding day. Him in armor and she, for the first time, going to meet him under the black and gold he created to be the heraldry for a common name from a common place. Further still were children who romped in gardens playing hide-go-seek or lulling in flower fields. He indulged her love of daisy chains or both played with her elder brother. Days as of yore precious strung on a chain one by one for her to see. Pulled from this by his voice, she chortled, "Aye, wench n' devils bride Ah be but wot make ye then, husband? Wench's tryst, devil bride consort? Hmm." The winsome wife wouldn't let him go, though. She had spoken only after he had said all of his peace. The jest faded away though to settle back in the simple objective of him being in her arms, of being his love. "It has been sae long since ye have said it sae." Ever known as the Warrior Queen, he knew that he held the heart of a genuine woman. She shivered, burying her face more in to his sleeve to be spoken to in the Gaelic, as if to bury the word and memory of him better in her mind through touch, through scent.
All she had wanted for no less than a year was to have him for even a few days with nothing to be done of it. No missives to read nor proclamation to sign. As any wife or Queen duty was done with due diligence, and to the trial of the clans folk, their wars and whims she sat beside her husband at all times. It ended but needed it ever to have begun? She asked herself the question many times when silence settled over her mouth to rob all the words leaving only the ones inside her head. In her advancing age she thought often. She was better read now that at any other time in her life, not merely of the people of the Isles, but of the histories of Rome as to what they thought of a world held. She read of empires built only to be the dust on which their world was built. Thoughts on the Christ child and the ponderings of wise, wise men. Why, it was not even unusual to find the Queen at Mass when the children would attend so at the least they could make a choice of faith yet function in it for state's sake, if nothing else.The world changed with Beathag to meet the tide. Still, for all of it she wanted nothing more than to love the man beside her. A season spent in disdain as well when she had hardened against him. It was her right but she still regretted it. It was lost time.
She brought a hand to the side of his face, turning it so the back smoothed the length of it near her. "Ye have nay shaved yer face," she noted with a little grin, "Tis been a day, mayhap two. Will ye hide yer boyfish face behind such hair?" Too busy to even have so basic a need tended or to do it himself? It wasn't unlikely. Blessed be whatever face he saw fit to present. Applying her lips to the growing shadow softened it a little. Her legs turned the opposite way of his on the bench now, they could look at one another while arms were entwined. The mind of a man was as different, as marvelous a place as the mind of a woman. Each was different but no less revered. He had mastery over the mind. His heart? It bobbed and swayed, roared and laughed as much as her own outward self had when expressing her own heart now so wrapped in age's transformation. As much as she rued his heart wrought logic, she admired him for its fore. She felt as though age, and now this place, softened that side of herself to a point where to reveal all of its longings, angers and frights would dishonor the crown she told him no less to place on his head. Oh but she expressed it well enough! She smiled again for no reason, content to lose herself in his eyes.
"After the year turns, tae Aberdeen?" She posed the quizzical inquiry not expecting it to be latched on to easily,"Perhaps after time for ourselves we might begin tae look upon o'er things tha' we could nay. We might have your brother n' his wife join us, and the bonds between ye make better than wot might have been had your father lived. Reconcile them tae our family whole...n' with it Leodhas agus na Hearadh will quarrel nay more. Tha' will be second tae the first, which is kin. Mayhaps e'en seconded still, tae us." She looked in to her lap. Overhead clouds dwarfed the moon for an instant, and so too was the brightness on her face covered as she said, "Ah wish tae reconcile fer the season we missed, for the quarrel we had e'en afore we should venture elsewhere sae tha' this autumn n' wintertide, tha' the Yule with it might be more beautiful than ye remember. Ah wish for our people's happiness tha' they nay longer see themselves sae torn but joined by somethin' greater, be it a love o' light or old or Christ-Child or merely love itself.In order tae dae tha', though, it has tae be exuded. Ah was sae hard 'pon ye in Bracadale. Would nay wot befell Dun Darroch n' Struan had never come knowin m'self, it would have been long time passed when we spoke again." She looked at his hand, capturing it to kiss it, "Ah have doubted ye more than ye know, n' upheld yer will when it felt in me a whim. Ah nay only questioned ye or challenged ye, tae much dismissed ye with yer thoughts. Ah know ye mean more than well. We would nay be sae crowned had we nay gone toward it taegether..- had I nay....told ye tae take wot was yur due e'en as yer heart cried nay. Ye are a stronger man fer bowin before tha' crown than e'en me who moved toward it with blind resolve. Ah hope in it all ye ne'er doubted my love for ye fer o' all things Ah dae know as ye said, Ah may cut with nay sword. Tis, this woman only wants tae love ye as one, n' stand by ye as more fer ye are more, nay tae see ye face these things alone. Ah know ye would nay wish me tae pay any price, but it is a price gladly paid all in yer love. Tis good company always kept, ruin or rapture"
King Adam
Adam smirked wickedly… “Aye.. a wench’s tryst… a devil-bride’s consort… An’ Ah woot trudge Hades tae be wit yae… Ah woot move a mountain one stone at a time… if’en said mountain was betwixt us…” Their time together was oft less than desired, but their private time was as if the world stopped around them… or maybe, it continued whilst they were in seclusion and their world stopped… either way… there time was inpenetrable. So well matched… were they… that they operated as one. No one could proclaim a King was saddled by his wife’s decisions… nor the Queen encumbered by her husband’s decisions. It was royal decree, whether spoken by the King or Queen… for as anyone outside the intimacy of the royal duo, knew not two crowns… but one united. He rubbed his chin and felt the two… maybe three… day beard… “Yae prefer the face o’ youth tae the bristles of a sage?” he teased her. Leaning to her ear… “…or doth the bristle wear thin upon fine thighs…” he smirked evilly with a saucy wink as he pulled back.
Adam’s English was formal and political… his Gaelic was personal and learned… well learned and born deep… Among other languages he knew… it was I Love You in the Gaelic that he felt the deepest sentiment… And his moist eyes peered at her as she spoke of Aberdeen… the flood of memories of their earlier past the reason… “Mae luv… wot tis past tis past… t’was mae own reason… and maybe, your means justified the end…” he offered her a smile as she kissed his hand. “This year ‘as been difficult… and Ah be truly repentant tae ‘ave been a burr under yaer saddle…” he looked down at her hand in her lap… then he looked up to her beautiful eyes… “Leodhas agus na Hearadh ‘as been beset upon mae mind… James moreso… afeared tha Ah been deglecting them… and Ah think yae be right in seeking reconcile…” he looked down once more… “Ah know Ah promised yae a trek of the lands… and ‘ere tis the best place tae start… with the whole family in tow…” he glanced up briefly. “The Beloved sisters as well…? T’would be good for them…”
Oh what a spectacle it would be for the entire family Griffin to venture the land… What strength the land would get from seeing the royal family… healthy… and interested in the people’s welfare… After the debaucle at Dun Darroch… the country needed to know the health of a nation… and his wife was promised a tour of the realm. Why didn’t he think of it before? The pageantry? The discord minimal. His head rose and looked at her… “Tha gaol agam ort…” he said in a whisper… and embraced her as they sat upon the bench.
Queen Beathag
By whatever means necessary or whatever whim ruled from the beyond the pair made a life together, and made it well. When he told her the past was the past, a wave of relief swept over her. Adam was always easier to forgive than his wife, she thought, but it felt as though he scooped all the hard thoughts out of her soul. Her eyes welled with tears that spilled over their joined hands as he reconciled all the worry to a present free of it, and agreed that the family might have the same chance. Would he worry with the tears she shed? A small smile gave him a little hope they weren't serious. She put curled fingers over her mouth.
Slowly the smile turned in to a little laugh, "Tha goal agram ort, Ahdam." Happiness was her arms around him, holding him as the world turned or ceased to turn, she cared not. "Och, Ah'm sorra," she murmured, "Just feels like a relief is all, a relief been waitin' fer a long while tae hear. We just have nay been alone like this in months, for sae long. Simply to speak. Tae put it all before one another. Sittin' beside ye each day with hardly but a few words at night, n' then the argument… did nay realize just how lonely fer ye Ah was. By yer side n' felt it. Twill diminish. Husband." Of all the words she said the last sounded the sweetest. "Ye did nay think on Leodhas agus na Hearadh because oh wot seemed like ye would have tae subdue them," and they could, in one blow, for as powerful as du'Chere thought he might be, it was not the weight of an entire royal navy to assemble from the surrounding lands. One blow, one decisive seige and it would be over, "and in daein' sae ye would put the last sword through wot family ye have left. Ahdam, Ah know wot ye think e'en if my love o' yer kindred seems small. It was only by Gods' whims tha' the Lord Guardian n' Sir Lucius McLeod gave back tae me m'brother Caldean n' my nephew Bryce after the other children perished o' sickness n' the res to' the family hung sae precarious. Twas only the utterance o' a childhood rhyme tha' Eamonn n' Ah learned we shared a past, but the point is tha' because o' these strange fates Ah have two brothers, and a nephew o' blood. Aye we share our neices n' nephews through Eamonn n' Aislin, look tae wot great aunts n' nieces Bryce may one day 'ave n' should Caldean bless with more… but they… those men, are my blood, n' fer all the heart kin we have naught can replace knowin tha' blood is whole, and flesh. James is yer brother by blood o' yer father and tha' boy a part o' ye both, and Gods willin' a better part. Tae spearhead them would be tae ne'er know tha' part, e'en in him tha' is better than what fortune made. Ah wish fer ye tae have like ah have, n' fer his wife and I tae have peace, tae look on the face o' the son they have and see in him greatness."
With her head against his chest now she told him, "let us first gae home, n' grace tha' home… some are there tae winter with the court. Let us celebrate tha', n' if we take outin, let it be tae the homes just out o' the city first. Sae many estate we have nay seen n' sae many who need tae look on yer face tae know sacrifice is worth it can. Then, when the year is new let it come forward at Aberdeen, n' the children might see all about Scotland wot homes be theirs," for the households they might have at pleasure when of a comely age to settle in, but they were always well kept and prepared, just as the lands around them. One day a child might come there even if to study! "Should it please ye n' should it please the young ladies tae, let us take them tae. They are still sae new tae this world," she remembered sitting at supper and looking toward Eleanor, seeing the struggle one instant to remain in the present only to see a free girl, a spirited thing, in the next instance. Joan was a jewel they should never have thought to inherit, quiet and beautiful. "Mayhap encourage them out a little before hand, tae see such estate if they make friend nearby nay? Ah'm happy ye received them in tae our company. Here we have ourselves, and our smallest. Nay yet but...but let us return within a day or sae, and when we dae, let us look at our world but only in quiet with a select few fer a time. Nay parliments tae eat at yer mind or mine. Nay audience for frivolous things.Sae tha' when we sit with our courtiers we… sit with them, eat with them, have reason tae make good accord. Tis all Ah want, and I believe tis nay a fools errand fer Ah believe e'en with all the foolish things in the world our people are good people."
King Adam
Simply put, he would wipe away the tears…whether from regret or joy… with a strong, yet now present genteel hand; and he would offer her that intimate and charming smile… not the one who charmed Parliament or a people, but one offered especially for her. And the boyish face, darkened by a three day beard, would smile at her vow of love… He would remain silent whilst she spoke… as if he loved her voice. It was as if the voice and harp was one in the same, playing a melody to soothe painful ears…
She was right about James… and Lewis-Harris… He could beat James in a fight… and the Griffin Army could devastate the small, but profitable, isle. But what would he gain from either. A true display of weakness brought on by force unyielded… Once more he smiled. She was right most of the time… and he knew that.
“Bess…” he tried to speak… “Beathag… Woman…” he tried again and again but she kept talking… his interjectures seemed to be ignored as she kept talking… He pulled her to him forcefully, his mouth crushing upon her own… and he kissed her everso passionately… and in doing so, excited a part of him pulling her tightly to him. Interjecting failed, where a kiss would not… This was their time… not any others… and she so eloquently worded his thoughts, but words were fruitless to a mind elsewhere… so he kissed her to shut her up.
Queen Beathag
To give a tear to his hand was a gift as precious as pearls. Here in the soft autumn dark he received the happiness along with the sadness. She had him again. It was so good to sit at length to talk and be heard for more than the hour before sleep, or to hear him before he was stolen away to business. No quarrels, no bitter words. Words that would repair feeble bridges, strengthen a road for them to walk on the journey. Only after had they gone round it could others be brought with them. Beathag laughed again, in part at seeing him so spellbound by her words with a youth's face in a man of nearly forty-one, while another seemed to drink in the words as if he'd been parched. She stayed in his arms talking on and on. Even beyond when he tried to interject she couldn't help but go on with a half curious grin only to be silenced by a very direct gesture. This gesture held what words could not. The last sound of a verb faded as she tangled her hands gently in his hair before moving one to the back of his neck, the other his shoulder. She felt her body move along the bench until there was no space left between them.Breathing in his scent, her head lulled back a little allowing the kiss to deepen. Crushed mouth opened to allow him in. It continued this way for awhile before she pushed him away, standing.Gently she walked ahead of him, pulling the pins from her hair so that the two braids comprosing the coronet fell down against her back. "Come?" She grinned at him, walking ahead with lifted skirts for freedom of ankle.
Her brogue remained ever-thick no matter how much English she spoke. A sense of adventure lingered no matter how much more patient or willing to invest in thought tedium she was. "Or are ye gaein tae sit there ass tae bench," and no matter how refined, the woman with her roots dug down so hard in the land it rivaled trees lived beside the woman who wore the dresses, the skirts, with no breeches to speak of now. One enduring quality was that there under the skirts, finely made though they were, were boots. She had soft click wherever she went on her lifted heel, or even a diminished hush if the heel were flat. "It be tae beautiful here tae sit on tha' bench all night. How quick be the King, how far can he walk or will he fall down at half past a mile? How quick more so be the man tha' makes the King, Good Ahdam son o' the MacRauri. Ah recall ye were bested mightly by my brothers." She ran-a-skipped three steps along toward the woodline. Only the light of the moon and the twinkle of stars. No one before or aft of them, no one to the side but the trees and the Gods.
King Adam
“We fit together so well...it's like pieces of a puzzle, the way my hand fits the curve of your hip and the way your head rests on my shoulder, the way our hands just melt into one, and the way I feel complete when I'm with you...
like the picture's finally completed and I'll never have to wonder what I'm missing.”
She is slim, tall, and beautiful… exceptionally beautiful for a woman entering the fourth decade of life. She has this indescribable smile and effervescence. I believe she is aware of me watching her. Perhaps everyone around me was aware... I cannot know – nor care… I am only aware of her and her effect on me. Some vibration is coursing through my body… but that happens everytime she is around me. Now, she is dancing and prancing around playfully before me… teasingly in a sort. I am aware of nothing else but her. There is an elegance which is associated with her transformation, over the years, from the warrior princess I knew to wife… to queen… but she never stopped being my wife!! There is an instantaneous dual reaction from me around her… Either one of protectiveness for the girl remaining in her… or… one of desire for the woman in her… or both. Could it be I have fallen in love with her again? I do not remember ever falling OUT of love with her. Then what can it be? Had I lost touch with what was most important? God, I pray that is nay true… but alas, I do love her… ever since the first day I saw her…
Adam stood slowly, recuperating from his thoughts… Long strides carried him behind her… Enthralled with her, he carried a smile upon his face… “The man is quicker than the King, lass. The husband is quicker still than the man…” he offered her a wicked smirk. Still he walked behind her, his pace matched to hers to keep him slightly distanced behind her. And he laughed at her statement about her brothers. Oh, the White Queen caused the moon and stars to pale, that he was positive about…
“Just as in earthly life, lovers long for the moment when they are able to breathe forth their love for each other, to let their souls blend in a soft whisper, so the mystic longs for the moment when in prayer he can, as it were, creep into God.” Soren Kierkegaard
Age does not protect you from love, but love to some extent protects you from age." Jeanne Moreau
Queen Beathag
"The man has a challenge the King may bid him tae persude, the husband will want o' his wife tha' belongs with the man n' the King may sae ordain, the Queen bids him take leisure, the wife moves always for his love n' joy, and the woman is a nimble bein' tha' all o' yerself parts must have." Beathag made her strides that much longer to avoid him. If he reached out, there was no guarantee he could have her just yet. She looked back over her shoulder to watch him move in to the line of trees with her. Dipping around a tree by way of a low hanging branch, her body by half came around the other side of the trunk. Her dress would have all matter of dew in the hems from being so close to the ground but she cared not. One gold plait passed her shoulder line and as she tilted her head, it swung off free in to space. What a jolly little game! "Slow, slow, slow." she clucked her tongue before skipping over to another tree. This one was thin. One hand up to hold it, she danced around it to the left so she could come around at the front. Standing still for an instant she regarded him. Her mind said thus:
He has a sense of humor that is greater than mine now. I used to have one more prevalent, but in this game he looks so happy as if he were reminded of what he thought might be lost with holding up what is his birthright. It is supposed to be mine, too, this Island but it is truly his and I was only his intended. Look at him there! His eyes are so bright, twinkling in the dark. Is he about to smile again or laugh? The way he looks when he thinks it's almost like he will speak, yet he doesn't. Half grin becomes a full smile. He looks so free. I want him to be free of soul. When we were young he was gentler than I, enobled. My mother raised me only to visit with the court on this island so I was no where near the lady to his early lord. All I wanted was to be worthy of him, but now... I see… worth is as simple as a moment like this. I have never loved a man as I have loved Adam Maubrey.
No, she hadn't forgotten what his name was, and what hers would be if he did not love what had all but died out until secrets revealed themselves. Now, their family was many in number, and thriving. There were more to remember those that were gone than those who would be gone and missed.
King Adam
“Ah shall show you slow…” and he reached out to snag at her arm, but his hand came up empty, and he laughed. “Nimble wench!!” and they danced around a tree, back and forth, until she dashed away again.
He runs after her and as he cuts across the gulley, upon the other side she has disappeared… Adam looks around, and by the large broken tree stump, he sees the dirty white hem of her dress sticking out…
In an instant, he was taken back to the days of youth… days of yesteryear that lay dormant and hidden in his mind… a time when he stole away from his religious studies to visit with the golden hair girl who was visiting with her mother::
Lady Murieall and Mother, some called her Lady Davina, were in the parlor, discussing something important… Father was to return last night but failed to do so… and I… I left the study with Father Gregory, who is not pleased with the interruption, once I heard that Beathag had arrived… She is so cute… Mother says she would be a grand match for me… but how can friends be matched? Phew, grownups!!
I feel odd when Beathag is around; all tinglely… That golden hair, so long… I would brush it for her, but Father thinks that is for the servants… Rest assured, she loves to play in the woods… but she is so much faster… those long legs… Will I ever be taller? Uh oh, here she comes…
“Tag? Of course Beathag!!” I covered my eyes and began to count to ten… “Ready or nay… Here I come…” and I see her white dress protruding behind a tree… but I pretend not to see and go the opposite direction… only to cut back later.
We run hither and yon… and even when I run fast, she is faster… and outside the parlor window… I see Father has returned… and I stop… Mother and Father are arguing… and Lady Murieall steps to father… and he slaps Mother… then takes Lady Murieall by the arms and begins to shake her… I feel flushed… angered… I want to kill him… and a hand rests gently upon my shoulder… tis Beathag… and she comes behind me, wrapping her arms around me.. and whispers. “Dunnae wory Ahdam… wot ‘e doth do naew, shall revisit him one day… stay yaer hand an’ anger naet… the Gods shall pr’tect us…”
Her voice is intoxicating… the lass could charm a cobra… and as I turned, she kissed me upon the cheek… laughing she runs away… “Catch mae Ahdam… if’n yae can…” I hear her say… and I run after her…
Dizzy at the thought resurfacing… he staggers a bit, his hand grasping a sapling tree trunk… “She has always been in my life… and I never realized it…” he whispered to himself… and the boyish smile soon returns… Instead of pretending not to see, he charges straight for Bess’ current hiding place… long strides leaping over fallen logs and across a small stream…
Queen Beathag
"Still slow, still as slow as snails on the laziest o' days, my lord..." she continued to tease him,lolly gagging by darting this way and that once more until she was completely out of his view. Alone with his memories, Beathag wished she could divert one to use as a looking glass to peer inside of his mind. The game had been a long one of catch if me if you can. So far he couldn't but Beathag had always been just that one step beyond his reach. With the advantage of his thinking, she thought, it was alright to settle in her hiding place.
These blooms were likely the last of the year she'd see like this, and certainly in the valley for a long time to come. The beauty of the place dulled her senses giving Adam the chance to catch up with his lady in white, who turned but a moment to late! What would he do with his prize? She stumbled back, laughing in a pile of moss, looking up at him, bested. It wasn't such a terrible fate.
King Adam
Before him run the girl of dreams… spouse of reality… his companion thru the hardest of times… the passionate lover of his free time… His beloved wife, his Queen. Times as these were fine possessions… treasures to be held dear… valued as none other really mattered. He was fast, she was quicker… using her knowledge of him as actions against him… and she seemed to disappear. “Wench, yae wait til Ah catch yae…” he bellowed out…
And he rounded a large dead stump, in a field of flowers… and lo an’ behold, she stepped right in front of him… and began to backpeddle and stumbled into a pile of moss. The wicked smirk foiled a smile as he stood over her. “Well, well, look at wot Ah found! Surrender yer heart wench…” Then Adam laughed and extended his hand to her. “Oh wait, yae already did…”
And as she stood, he pulled her into his arms once more, as he had so many times before…. “Tha gaol agam ort…”
Queen Beathag
Coming to her was everything that should have ever been in her life; a wrong was made right by his hands, by his glance. What had happened before only deepened her for the blessing of receiving him. She was his match, and he had always been her future. Laughing willy-nilly, she reclined back in the bed of moss until Adam turned around and found her. He, too, was pleased that his quarry was at least not going to evade him this time! "Well the moss helped yer majesty, bastard tha' ye are," she winked. Then he asked her to surrender her heart!
She grasped at her chest as if to keep the heart at bay only to agree with him when he pulled her upward, "Aye, years agae tae. Naught tae be done o' it...n' Ah dun want it back." Her voice from humor's heights moved down to lover's lull. In his arms she smiled, finding that she flew even as she stood still. "Tha goal agam ortfhèin"
