As I recount the history I can remember, the mists have begun to thicken once more, passing over us…the Faerie world is close at hand again. Tonight, there are strange things afoot around. Almost as if to underscore my tale, I can hear a harp playing, and a voice in the distance. Is it somewhere now or in the distant past that it plays? I pause for a moment, taking in the beautiful voice, whose words are so occluded by the mists I cannot understand them.

“I traveled with the Bard o’ Leinster from tha’ point, Eldrich, learnin’ what I could from him, and we came to Ballinshruane a’ the Port of Galway, and spent some time there, with the war chief, Feargus, an’ the healer Moss. The pair of them were handfasted tha’ Spring, an far as I know, are still together this day. It was t’be the great druid’s last act, for soon thereafter, on Midsummer’s Eve, he was called to Manannan’s lair.”

I do not show my feelings as I share the tale, for I have learned to channel those emotions into the intonation and breath of my words, in that my listener may feel what I will not express. I can see Ladee’s eyes well up in moisture and I force myself to turn away.

I raise my voice then, demonstrating a shock and a change in the tale. “The Crannog was soon occupied by a wandering tribe, the people of the Hawk. The Aracos would presume to find our abandoned home and claim it for their own! Our warriors heard the news and were enraged. No one could take our home from us. Niall gathered and marched to Lough Mask, to restore our birthright! With the daughter of Eldrich, Ruis, as the spiritual leader of our clan, the Aracos would learn to fear us.

“The battle was ended before it began. For the one and only casualty was the Aracos druid, the daughter of the chief, clubbed from behind in treachery. Niall treachery. One of our own had slipped behind the lines, in the guise of an Aracos, this coward, and ended the woman’s life. But none would find out who he was.

“We could not fight on. We were shamed and dishonored, and the treacherous coward was never revealed. The brehon was called from Ballinshruane to decide, and months passed before he arrived, where Niall and Aracos lived side by side in unease. Then he came, and Niall and Aracos presented their case. There would be no question as to the disposition of the Crannog. Due to the disgraceful murder of the druid, the daughter of Glyn, the chief of the Aracos, the Niall lost any claim over the Crannog.”

I lower my voice to a whisper. “The land now belonged to the Aracos.”

I close my eyes, and put my hands together in resignation. Though I do not see her face, I believe that Ladee, a bard herself, knows that the tale is not yet over.