The Epistles of Eithne & Eowain

The Fourth Missive

Dolgallu, 13th day of Nion, Year of Settlement 1496

Dear Eowain,

I was delighted to receive your latest letter last evening. Your man said he had the most awful difficulties reaching us, running a-foul of not one, but two processions of Cailech noblemen across his path. He had to secret himself and his steed in both cases, lest they waylaid him. He is a brave man.

I am grieved to learn that the child of Lord Niall has fallen ill. Do tell his parents that my prayers go out to them. Lord Niall seemed a fine retainer and a loyal man when I met him. My heart aches at the thought of parents having to bury their own child. Gods forfend this should happen!

And what villainy is this? Another kidnapping? And of a common child barely old enough to walk? I do not understand what evil has befallen your lands. This Cael the Viper has no decency, none at all. I pray you tell me in your next letter that you've found both the children, hale and whole, and have strung that brigand up to serve justice.

We have tales here in the mountains of such strange and savage men such as you describe. We call them 'cruith.' An ancient people, inhabitants in Iathrann long ago, before even the Shynn came. Perhaps even before the Great Cataclysm so long ago. But none have been seen here in any living memory, nor are told of in any save the oldest of tales. They were said to be a cruel people, so I am glad to hear you drove them off. Pray Gods, they will not trouble you again.

I assure you, it was no intent of mine to cause you any great distress with my frivolous questions. Yet I must say how glad I am that you agree we are yet strangers to one another, and that such answers as yours, honest and true, bring us closer in admiration, and nearer yet to the love we both seek in such a match as ours.

It was a pleasure for me to read your answers, and from them to devise an answer to one of your own questions. Honorable and loyal, true to word and deed, humble yet certain, generous and merciful; these are all admirable qualities in a man. I could ask for none finer.

But as to your other questions, I now appreciate the height to which I asked you to hurdle. How do I express my joy? Why, with laughter and mirth, like anyone, I would say. It is not the custom of my people to constrain ourselves where it comes to great joy and sorrow. We make merry, we dance, we feast, and I am pleased to say I am no stranger to the lyre and the harp. And Breda, my dear maid, reminds me that I giggle like a young girl at times.

As to what a-frights me, I must say, very little anymore I think. It is no easy land in which we live. Even now, there is snow outside as tall as a man's thigh, and one can hear the chorusing howls of wolves away in the woods, echoing from the mad slopes of Ydrys. And yet, if I think on it (and I am as honest as I bid you be), I suppose I must admit to an abiding hatred of spiders and other crawling things of that sort. The very sight of one sets me to trembling, and to my chagrin, even perhaps a little shriek. How anyone can bear the sight of them mystifies me more than the Gods' own will.

On the matter of describing myself, I would say I am a goodly woman. I honor the Gods, the Shynn, and the Ancestors, as is proper. I admit, the Shynn frighten me in their way. As you say, the tales paint them both for good and ill, and often capricious in their treatment of Men. Thankfully, Shynn are far more seldom than spiders!

I enjoy preparing meals, it is one of my joys. I dare say, at risk of boasting, I'm rather good at it, or so I'm told. I have become skilled at taking whatever I may find in the kitchens and gardens here and transforming it into a feast.

And perhaps I am a bit prideful, now that I read back my own words. But is a small share of pride so terrible? Am I not a granddaughter of Turloch of the Gwynn, after all? From a bastard son with little hope for inheritance, he successfully won back our little corner of Ivearda from terrible demons and monsters and made himself a lord here. He earned the respect and acceptance of our tribe and our king's court. It would be disrespectful of my notable forebear and our Ancestors if I were not proud of our lineage.

But are these few exchanges enough to decide my heart? Have your pleas served your desire? I think I should not be much of a good and honest woman if I were so easily swayed. Nay, my lord, this tower remains yet unbreached. It would demand more of you. For if I am wise, then I am wise enough to know that deceits may still flourish on an ambitious man's tongue after yet so few fair words. I think it is only when fair words have been exhausted that I will find the truth of your nature in the coarse words that follow.

And so I task you further, answer these thoughts, and find your way perhaps into my heart.

Tell me true, what has been your greatest accomplishment yet? And what is your greatest regret? Who is your best friend and why? And who your greatest enemy?

And more than this, tell me: To what day do you look forward? And what is it you avoid at all costs?

Know again that it is my most ardent prayer that you find both the missing children and the viper Cael before this missive reaches you. I look forward to hearing that they have all been served with the justice they each deserve.

My thoughts and prayers are with the child of Lord Niall and his mother and all their kith and kin. May the Lord-Drymyn and the Gods preserve them against the dreaded plague.

With kind thoughts and wishes,

Eithne

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