Eileen: I am glad to see You again, wise Ciaran na.


Ciaran na: You’re always welcome Eileen. What brings you here?


E: It has been a long time since I have been in these surroundings so close to my nature; I am going through a long period of study which will last for long. But I want to ask You to spend a period here in Kia Sidhe, when I finish temporarily my study. I ignore how much time, if You'd want, I could remain, and maybe it will be useful to settle a laboratory. Sorry if I express what I mean in these words I recognize to be rough for Your Court, but my life and my study are inseparable fellows...


C: If you want, this will be your home for all the time you like. I can't hide my sorrow, my delusion when I see you going away, every time. Didn't you recognize your nature yet? Your blood tells you the truth.
Anyway I won't permit the construction of a laboratory inside this Holy Wood. A laboratory for hermetic arts...what a weird idea! This you double nature, this your forward step and then the backward one, they don't lead you to nothing good. Trying to conciliate these two things, you often fall into mistakes or stumble in considerations which are hard to understand. You’re not just a Merinita, fold of my people. We share a similar nature, my blood is yours.
You’re welcome, you know it, but try to deal without your science when you are among us.


E: Giving up what You call “my science” would be like entering a labyrinth with my eyes blind. How I can't give up my nature inside the Order of Hermes, so it’s difficult, if not impossible, that I can abandon the Order while I am into this faery wood. Building a laboratory could be a weird idea for You, but let’s consider I am used to live inside four walls, deep in my books. And I'll be, even if I am in a farm, without nothing related to the ground or to his work; I'd consider a little chamber as my own laboratory, and by now I think I've lost the custom to sleep among plants as well, if I have ever had it; my childhood is a period not so clear to me.


C: Instead, I want to ask you a favor: we are really interested in these “books”, if I can remember correctly. Bring me one of them, bring me this present and teach me to read it.


E: A book is what remains of a man’s knowledge when he dies.


C: Ah, interesting. Death...


E: There are many books covering a lot of matters and anyone who knows enough can write a book with his own knowledges; for example, recently, I've wrote a book about what Barbalbero of the Holy Wood told me about the Beanntraí (Bantry) Bay. Right now I can't access many of the books held in my Covenant’s library; some are about events invented by men, one is about the Church, others investigate legends o mythical beasts. Told me then, what are you interested in?


C: I’d like to know about human world, their behaviors, their needs and their projects.


E: Some book I can use to teach You to read? But I am forgetting to tell You that all my Covenant’s books are written in latin...


C: And what’s this cabin? Who does use this cabin?


E: Latin. It’s the common language used to write books by the wise men of my time, to spread knowledge all over the world as much as possible.


C: Ah, the language of wise men and doctors! They should be full of astounding theories and genial ideas. Well, let’s know these wise men. I’d like to receive one of these books in... latin, right. And you should teach me to comprehend the language too...


E: I agree, we’ll do this after some Springs when, as I told You, I’ll have finish the study which at the moment keeps me busy. I think to return before that day, though for short times, among the Kia Sidhe’s trees.

Title

Aswick: I'd like to talk with you about Cliffheart. What are your feeling, your future projects, after the unlucky events of some months ago ? I'd want you to speak sincerely, to let me better understand the situation and rule it.

Eileen: Salve Excellentissimus Primus.

A: This will be an informal discussion, among brothers.

E: Of course. I guess you know that, according to my House, I've visited the Court of Kia Sidhe. My study of Arts of Hermes is sincere, but equally strong my blood is and the desire to know as much as I can about the people I am pooled. Before starting the long study which now keeps my busy, I went to Kia Sidhe and I am going to do the same, if you like, as Ciaran na did.

A: I'm sure that your behavior will not damage your sodales. Explain, then: what did you learn from those creatures ?

E: I am trying to know them, because in this manner I will better know myself. But it will takes a long time, I guess.

A: I can't hide it’s hard, for me, to understand your motivations, what makes you disregard the Order. However, I trust you. Did you consider the possibility to leave your brothers for a while, so to achieve your goal in a shorter period ?

E: I don't know if this quest will ever finish. If I disregard the Road of the Order that’s why I have to know myself.

A: I wish you to be successful in your quest, with no pain. Remember that, as it happens inside a family, our lives are linked, we float holding our hands, and every hold must be firm.

E: In each family, sometimes, the child takes his way to pursuit his needs, and then he come back stronger and more conscious then before. I feel I am halfway between the Order and the Faery Kingdom, like a tree with its roots in Arcadia but with hermetic branches. I am trying to understand if this tree is able to produce good fruits or if this forced living together can be dangerous for the entire plant.

A: What’s your opinion about Cliffheart’s situation, at the moment?

E: I think uncertainty is the better word. Al’gor’s death highlighted his obscure business; I am guessing what consequences we’ll have to face.

A: This is my task, managing this transition.

E: Unfortunately Cliffheart is not having a good period, and I don't hide I have obscure forebodings for the future of our Covenant.

A: Explain.

E: We’re a many colored family, and keeping us together is not simple, because of our different natures and styles; conflicts could raise and they would be not easily manageable. But I hope to be wrong. I hope that good sense can prevent us from taking silly choices and could take us away from the mundane and religious world; it is hoped a return to Nature.

A: And to the Order of Hermes, I guess.

E: Of course; I thought it was clear, because I've never left it.

The sound of the leaf meeting the wave

Eileen puts a bottle of wine in her bag and leaps to the Isle of the Mermaid. She’s swimming in front of the rocks. In her movements Eileen’s able to see the tail, sparkling in the sunlight. When she’s called, she stops and looks at the Maga for some instants: then she disappears into the water. Then, she appears again near the rocks and climbs on them. Two strong  legs replaced the tail. Eileen sets down and starts  talking.


Eileen: I told you I’d come back; I like to keep faith to my words. Discovering the fairy world is my very life, that’s why I am here. And drinking the same wine, I hope could endure our friendship.


Mermaid: You didn’t keep faith to what I heard: no boats have come here, recently. You promised me sailors. That’s not how a friendship can grow strong.


E: I am sorry to have told you that I had foreseen there would have seen more boats in these waters if you had released my fellow; but it didn’t happened and I consider broken that pact broken. Anyway I can’t exclude he could return here to draw his maps; his appetite for knowledge is so strong he ignores the dangers around himself. And then these waters could be crowded of ships and sailors, tough pirates are a deterrent for people traveling by sea.


M: You’re good at speaking, human. That friend of yours, so brave…or stupid, could be in danger, here. It’s a fact I had not what I’ve been promised. I do not like this. What are you here about? What’s this wine you have brought?


E: I am here because of what you said about a place of this isle animals avoid. This is a wine, a beverage humans obtain from a kind of fruit. I drank some with the wood fey, who appreciated it a lot. Usually the wine is drunk at feasts to be happier or to celebrate something.


M: What makes you think a human can access to this place? Did you bring this wine as a good of exchange? I have nothing to celebrate and there are no feasts on this isle. Other things make me feel happy.


E: Why can’t a human have access? May I know something? This beverage could be good of exchange if you like the taste; but you can’t know if you don’t drink it.


M: Do you want access to this place? Let’s have an exchange: and I don’t mean this beverage you bring. I am sure you have other things to offer.


E: Of course I can’t offer you any human life. It’s seems you have all you need, I offered you a gift but you’ve refused; tell me what you want to tell me more about this place.


M: You promised me routes would have changed for my pleasure. That’s not happening. I am enough nice not to kill you. Go away and don’t return.


E: You insist on a promise I can’t honor because of  a your denial and you’re an disputable guest too. You insist looking for the clash threatening me with death. I leave this isle and the possibility to know a bit more of the fairy world. May men and ships forget about these waters for the centuries to come. Woe on those who are against the laws of hospitality.


Eileen disappears and come back to Cliffheart with the spell "Leap of homecoming".