Chương 53: Aftermath

"Miriam." Her eyes felt gummy, like she'd not gotten enough sleep, though as she opened them she could see beams of light peeking through the curtained window. More and more she'd been feeling exhausted after training sessions - and earlier and earlier. She supposed it was because she had never pushed this body as hard as it was being pushed now, but as the sun started to touch the tops of the trees each day she was finding it harder and harder to focus.

She would just stare absently at one particular point in the jungle until Cian snapped her out of it.

"Miriam, there's a problem. We need you to get up," Cian said gently, floating over her bed.

"What?" Miriam struggled to her feet, rubbing her eyes.

"What's happening?"

"In the middle of the night, Maitiú stole Cormac's Drop of Intent. It seems he and Luíseach had agreed to get her the Drop so that she could rebuild herself out of non-Walk fórsa and leave. Instead he double-crossed her and left her unconscious on the floor." Cian's face was grim. His fists were clenched hard at his side.

"He absorbed the Drop and ran out into the jungle as a Third."

"Oh gods!" Miriam exclaimed, one hand flying to her mouth.

"Is Luíseach ok?"

"Not really. She'll be fine, but she's wracked with guilt over what she did and grieving the chance she thinks she's lost." Cian sighed deeply.

"This is my fault. I should have been more open about things. I should have kept a closer eye on Maitiú. No one accepts seclusion so quickly. I was just so excited by the new challenges your group posed that I just let him be. He was the boring one." They left Miriam's cottage quickly and made their way to Luíseach's house, where a clearly hungover Cormac was trying to soothe her as she sat on the stoop, sobbing.

Róise stood off to the side, glaring daggers at the woman - her protectiveness over Cormac was absolute, it seemed. Still, the world was swaying a little - she had activated Róisín Dubh. Cormac began to look a lot less green, and Luíseach's cheek lost the angry redness that had dominated her face only moments before. Sol too was standing by, though he seemed a little lost, with nothing to really contribute.

"Are you all right?" Miriam asked Luíseach. The woman scowled at her.

"Why do any of you care? I conspired to steal from you. I tricked Cormac and got rightfully stabbed in the back as a reward."

"Hey, hey," Cormac said.

"I'm not upset with you. It makes complete sense what you did. Look, I stole the Drop in the first place! You'll get no judgement from me." Luíseach shot him an angry look.

"You really are a saint, aren't you?" Miriam turned to Cian.

"Does Maitiú have any hope of making it?" The boy shrugged.

"He's got a chance. He's got the power, but he doesn't know how to use it. Plus, we haven't really gotten to talk much about Domhain and Scior. Scior has… extra challenges. Frankly, challenges I thought your Drop of Intent had a good chance of overcoming."

"Easy to get lost?" Miriam asked.

"Impossible not to," he said apologetically. Miriam shrugged.

"We'll figure it out. Cormac, are you all right?"

"Only my pride wounded, my dear. I can't believe I became so besotted after only two bottles of Third Ring Red." he shook his head.

"It was Fourth RIng," Luíseach mumbled.

"Oh, thank the gods!" Cormac lit up.

"I thought I was losing my touch. I feel very much better now. I have to admit that having the Drop felt like sort of a safety net. I could give it to one of you and feel confident that if you were in need you could absorb it to power through the end. I like to think that had he just asked, I would have given it to Maitiú too. His predicament is my fault. There is no question of that." Cian sighed deeply and knelt by Luíseach.

"I'm sorry," he said simply.

"It's me who's keeping you here. I wish anything else were true, but it's not. However…" he bit his lip and nodded sadly.

"Hope is not all lost." He gestured for Sol to come over. Sol looked surprised, but moved over to Luíseach.

"Sol, I hope you don't mind me revealing your secrets." The ship-turned-man shrugged.

"You're the only one who cared about keeping them." Cian spawned off a new Red Cian, and Sol put one hand on his chest. Sol's eyes blazed the same shade for a few minutes, then he removed his hand and cradled it to his chest. Slowly the glow faded and he held his palm open. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Inside was a tiny, perfect, blue sphere.

"Material Water fórsa," Cian said, plucking it from Sol's hand.

"Sol can convert fórsa he drains into solid power that anyone can absorb. This was an incredible feat on its own, but after I inspected it closely… he also converted my fórsa to the real-world variety." Luíseach looked up in shock.

"You mean…"

"I believe so. Sol can help you… help everyone in Láthair Maol." Cian hugged the sphere to his chest.

"I did not tell you all right away. I was just trying to find the courage to."

"You looked afraid, when you first inspected a sphere," Sol said, looking at his own hand.

"What frightened you so much about it?" Cian looked at Luíseach sadly.

"In the early days… I was little more than a beast, roaming the island by myself. I was all anger, and cruelty - and spite. It was only when I started to get visitors, washed-up souls just as lost as me, that I began to find the Sidhe in myself. I had a purpose beyond raging at my own circumstance." He looked at Sol.

"These seven hundred people mean the world to me. They literally are my world. I always regretted that it was my existence that kept them trapped… but if I'm honest it's always been a relief too. It wasn't my fault, I could say. They have to stay with me, but I would set them free if I could." Cian tossed the Material Water fórsa ball between his hands.

"I knew that if I revealed this secret to the villagers, I would be alone again. And I knew that it was the right thing to do. I just… needed to steel my nerves before I had the strength to do it. I'm sorry, Luíseach. If I had told you this even a day sooner, perhaps this could have been avoided." The banshee stood on shaky legs and wrapped her arms around the boy.

"Oh, Cian. It's not you we want to leave. You're our home. You've taken such care of so many of us… it's just the world we're jealous of."

"I know," Cian said, holding her hands.

"I'm jealous too. But now I'll be jealous of you all, as you make your way out into the world." Luíseach reached for the material fórsa ball.

"May I…?"

"Ah… It's really better if you wait," Cian said.

"The way you are now, all you have to do is walk to Scior with a couple of these, then just absorb them before you step out. Otherwise you're in the same dire position as these guys. The jungle will fight you." Luíseach nodded, tears of a different sort running down her face.

"I'm going to get to see the Einsreichh Market! To travel the world! And we can always come visit…"

"No," Cian said with finality.

"If you came back, you would be as stuck as anyone else. If you leave… you leave for good." Luíseach stood a moment with those words and hugged Cian again.

"We will miss you."

"I'll miss you all too," the boy said, his voice breaking.

"So nothing's really changed, then?" Róise asked.

"We still need to train to get out of here. The difference is we're going to be bringing a hell of a lot of people with us." Cian nodded.

"I would consider it more than repayment for the help I'm giving you if you would help my people get on their feet once they leave. They do not know the outside world, and they will need guidance."

"Great," Miriam said, rubbing her eyes.

"All's well that ends well, I suppose. Do we have time for another nap before we start?" Cian shook his head.

"I think it's time I put all our cards on the table. You don't have all that much time to get ready."

"Why not?" He looked at Miriam.

"Darling, you're starting to fade." Miriam started.

"What? What does that mean?"

"Whenever it is that you're looking off into the distance, distracted and sleepy? You're pining for your tree. You may not have been born a dryad, but you are one now. Interestingly, dryads are not native to the Tír. You have cousins here, the Draoi, who commune with the trees but are not of them. There is a Draoi god, who created that race at the beginning of the world. There is no dryad god. You only continue to exist here because the trees you bond with hold you together."

Cian floated into a seated position, hunched over.

"Your case is both especially troubling and especially hopeful. You know the tree to which you are bound?"

"I… yes. It's a tree in my world, an unbreakable willow. It's watched over us for more than a hundred and twenty years - my family, that is. It was already ancient when we arrived there." Miriam felt dizzy.

"Miriam, willows do not live that long. Nor are they that tough. I've been analyzing your fórsa with more depth than I have ever analyzed anything and discovered something fascinating. It's my belief that your willow is no true willow at all. It's a branch of one of the Crann Bethadh, the Trees of Life." Cian reached his hands to the sky.

"Just as Bodac and Pixie and Selkie and Banshee all arose from creating themselves from the compressed fórsa of the natural Tír, so too did the trees of the world. Five sacred trees, who would birth the remainder of all trees in the Tír - sometimes called the Defhid - god trees. Among them are the Eo Mugna - an oak. Bile Dathi, Bile Tortan and Craeb Uisnig are all ash trees. Finally, Eo Rossa is a yew tree."

"None of those are willows," Miriam noted.

"No. But some legends say there are Seven Sacred trees, not just five. Among them is Sailleach - the Tree of Death and Rebirth. And yes, she is a willow tree." Cian shrugged as if to say the conclusion was clear.

"These trees reach across the cosmos, bridging the Tír, the underworld and even the Realms Above." Miriam shook her head.

"How is there reason to be hopeful there? Eoin told me the only way back to the tree was through something called the Ruari Cistern at the center of the Tír. I always planned on getting there, but I'm not even strong enough to escape Cianán's Walk yet."

"Ah, but this is where the sacred nature of Sailleach benefits you. I think you just need to get to the Second Ring for now. The pressure of the fórsa in each ring helps to keep dryads bound with their tree - otherwise their connection just sort of floats apart over time. You've already thrived in the First Ring longer than any other dryad would ever have been able to. I think if you can get to the next Ring, it will buy you more time before you have to trek to the one after that." Cian shrugged again.

"It's just a guess based on my analysis though. I could be wrong." Miriam nodded.

"I see. This makes sense. When I'm staring off into the distance I'm just… looking at where Sailleach is."

"At the center of the Tenth Ring, yes."

"Well, hell," Róise said.

"How much time do we have?"

"I'd say… only another month before Miriam is incapable of maintaining focus enough to possibly escape Cianán's Walk." Cian winced.

"Not much time at all."

"Ok," Róise said, fixing a determined stare at Miriam.

"Let's get to work. What do we do next?" Cian grinned.

"I think we should have a party."