The Moon Ring

Chapter 4

Suddenly, Laoch came upon Feimeach’s house – she still lived with her parents.  As a woman, it was expected that she remain there until she finds a husband, only men moved out and built their own house when they graduated, but Feimeach always spoke of building a house for herself.  Laoch wondered if that was something else that had changed, especially now that she given up her training in favour of becoming a Houseminder.

He shuddered; Feimeach had to be going through something truly terrible to become a Houseminder.  She had always spoken of it with true loathing.

He rapped on the hard wood that made up the wall – the door being nothing more than a leaf-woven piece of cloth that hung from the roof.  After a few moments, a woman pulled the cloth aside, peering out from the darkness within.  Laoch recognised this woman as Feimeach’s mother, a Healer and old woman, though you wouldn’t know it by looking at her.

Everyone born on Tirnanog ages at half the rate of those from the Other World, and stop aging completely at 60 years old.  The only way to die in Tirnanog is to be killed, there is no such thing as a natural death.

“Laoch?”  She questioned, squinting at him, it was barely past dusk, the time light played the worst havoc with eyesight.

“Yes, ma’am, is Feimeach in?”  He asked politely.

Unexpectedly, the woman’s eyes turned sad and she cast her eyes to the ground.  “Aye, but she’s in a terrible state.  Hasn’t been right since – since that night.”  Her voice broke slightly and Laoch shuffled his feet guiltily, he should have been there for her.

“May I see her?”  He asked softly.  “I heard she quit the Academy and I – I got worried.”  It sounded like a pathetic reasoning, even to his ears.  He prayed she didn’t ask him about his absence until now.

She looked up at him, this time he was the one staring at the ground.  She could see the guilt etched into every line on his face and realised the Dwarf attack had affected him just as much as it had Feimeach.  She stepped aside.  “She is in her room.”

Laoch nodded his thanks and slipped past her, entering the warmth of their home.  He hadn’t been there very often but he barely spared it a glance before heading in the direction of Feimeach’s chambers.  Normally, it would be inappropriate for him to be alone with her in her chambers, but her parents knew him well, knew there would never be more than friendship between them, and he suspected he was given special permission, considering the circumstances.

He heard no sound emanating from her chambers as he approached.

“Knock, knock,” he whispered through the cloth guarding her room.  He heard her gasp at the sound of his voice.  The gentle rustle of fabric as she climbed off her bed. Padded footsteps as she hurried across her floor.  Her door was practically shoved out of the way in her haste to see him.  As soon as their eyes met, she threw herself into his arms and began sobbing into his shoulder.

Laoch was shocked.  He knew it must be bad for her to have quit the Academy, but he never dreamed it was this bad.  Feimeach, crying?  Yes, she had cried at the funeral, but that was expected, this was another thing entirely.

“I’m so sorry!”  She blubbered.  “I – I didn’t mean to!  I just thought since we were – since we were so close to graduation that – that we could go – that we would be safe!”  Laoch paled.  She was talking about that night.  He had avoided even thinking about that night and now here she was talking about it.  He waited for her anguish to turn to rage, waited for when she would start yelling at him.  “And then – and then I got so excited and I started playing and – and I’m the one that distracted them all!  I’m so – so sorry, Laoch!  And now you hate me, and I can’t bear to think about going back out there –”