I didn't know what to deal with first ... the strange man claiming to be a Royal envoy, or my girlfriend and Mom collapsed on the floor. My first loyalties were definitely with my girl and my family, so I ignored the man for the present and knelt down to make sure the girls were all right.
Mom was not having a good day at all. This was the second shock she had received in a short space of time, and both had been enough to make her faint. No doubt if it wasn't for the fact that I had already faced near death, the shock of the envoy's words would have affected me much worse than they had.
Despite the worry that the girls may have hurt themselves, I was still mentally alert enough to question why Brenda had fainted. The envoy had spoken in Gaelic. How had my girlfriend understood what he had said?
My concern for Mom and Brenda was quickly dispelled when they regained consciousness after only having been unconscious for a few moments. Both of them sat up and the first thing they saw was the man in the ill-fitting brown suit. That brought a moan from Mom.
A small test for my girlfriend sprang to mind and I went with it.
"Brenda, could you make a pot of coffee, please? I think we could all do with it, and we definitely need to be good hosts for Cormac."
I said it all in Gaelic and waited to see what Brenda's reaction would be. Even from my first words I could tell she understood. She'd reacted to her name and then acted normally, as she would when listening to me speaking in English.
"Sure ... but don't make a habit of it. I'm not your servant, you know," she replied.
Things were getting really strange now, as Brenda had automatically replied in Gaelic. Somehow my girl had learned to understand and speak the Gaelic language - how did that happen? When did it happen?
Brenda looked from me to my Mom and then back again. I could see that Mom had also cottoned on to what I'd noticed and she too was now puzzled.
Brenda's face was starting to pull into a frown.
"Why are you both staring at me?" Brenda said, again speaking Gaelic.
"Errm, in case you haven't noticed. You're speaking Gaelic," I told her.
She was a quick study - there was no doubt about that.
"Hold on - that guy also spoke in Gaelic, didn't he?"
"Yes."
"I think I understood him. Did he say he was looking for Prince Sean?"
"That's exactly what he said, yes."
"And did he say he was an envoy from King Kenneth the Second of Axon?"
"Yep."
"All right, I'm going to make the coffee. This is just too much, I understand Gaelic now? My boyfriend is a Prince?"
Mom had fully recovered and in doing so remembered her manners. She wasn't at all happy that Gael had somehow caught up with us, but she would still be polite.
"Please forgive me, Cormac. Won't you come in and take some refreshments. Then we can discuss the mission that my husband seems to have laid upon you."
If there had been any doubt that the man was who he said he was, it vanished with Mom's use of 'my husband'. She could only be referring to this King Kenneth the Second. Kenneth had also been the name Gwendolin had used when she had talked to Charles about my father.
It began to look as if Aquilaire's use of 'Prince' hadn't been a mistake, or a figure of speech. I began to get the sense that I might actually be a Prince of Axon. That was just mind blowing!
Cormac had also picked up on Mom's reference to 'my husband' and his attitude and posture changed dramatically. Suddenly he was bowing from the waist with a flourish.
"Highness, forgive me. I did not recognise you dressed as you are, in such..."
His sentence tailed off, probably because he realised he was about to say something that could be taken the wrong way. No doubt the clothing we wore in the 'other-world' wasn't something he was used to - his own suit made that clear.
"Yes, well you're one to talk," Mom shot back.
Mom led the way into the sitting room and invited Cormac to take a seat. It immediately became obvious that he wasn't comfortable sitting down while Mom was on her feet. Mom laughed at his unease and flopped down in one of our easy chairs.
Brenda brought in a pot of coffee, and some mugs on a tray. She set them down on our coffee table. I poured coffee into mugs and added milk. Cormac looked at his mug with suspicion when I handed it to him, but he took a hesitant sip. He must have decided it wasn't poisonous.
"I hate to sound ungracious, Cormac, but the sooner you deliver Kenneth's message, the sooner you can be out of my house and on your way back to Gael," said Mom.
Cormac now seemed extremely nervous. I was guessing it was because he was now in the presence of a Queen. That thought made me laugh out loud, and Mom gave me a dirty look. Her message was crystal clear: 'behave yourself, Sean!'
The envoy swallowed and then took another sip of his coffee to delay what he had to say.
"I am sorry if my presence upsets you, Highness. I'm only doing my duty as a Royal Envoy. With your permission, I will pass on the message King Kenneth has asked me to deliver."
Mom nodded to confirm she was content for him to continue.
"King Kenneth hopes that you are well, Highness. He reminds you of the bargain you struck together and that the time for Prince Sean to 'emerge' is almost here.
"The King would like the Prince to pay a short visit to Axon in advance of his coming of age. The King thinks that this is necessary so that certain details can be addressed in advance of the Prince's formal return to the Kingdom.
"The proposal is for a visit of three days, in the first week of February. King Kenneth has provided me with the necessary funds to take care of all of the arrangements.
"The King has asked me to inform you that I will remain here until the time of the visit. I will act as a guide to Prince Sean to ensure he makes his way to Gael without any inconvenience. King Kenneth also ordered me to assure you, Highness, that the Prince will be heavily guarded from the moment he sets foot in Gael."
Cormac seemed relieved that he had managed to pass on his entire message. His shoulders visibly sank and inch or so as he relaxed.
Mom's face on the other hand had been growing blacker and blacker as the envoy spoke and it looked as if her temper was going to explode. I had only ever seen her this bad on two other occasions - once when I'd been suspended from school for fighting with another boy, and once when I'd gotten a 'D' for English.
"After all this time? He expects me to give up my son after all this time? I will not let my son go back to that hell! It is too much to ask. Do you hear me? I WILL NOT GIVE UP MY SON!"
Cormac suddenly found his coffee mug to be hugely interesting, so much so that he couldn't look at anything else.
"When I made that agreement seventeen years ago, I assumed the King would father other children. I did not expect to have to honor my side of the bargain, sir!"
The envoy realised that Mom was expecting a reply from him at this point. He squirmed, but Mom let the silence drag on until he was forced to speak.
"The King never re-married, Highness. There are no other children. As things stand, Prince Sean is the sole heir to the Kingdom."
I looked across at Brenda. Her mouth was hanging open in amazement at what she was hearing and what its implications were. I smiled to try to reassure her, but inside I was finding it difficult to take it all in myself.
"What? Why didn't he remarry, he has responsibilities and if he doesn't live up to them then the entire kingdom will suffer!"
It was at this point that I think I finally realised just how much my near death experience really had changed me as a person. Normally I would never have dreamed of even speaking when Mom was in such a bad temper, never mind try to impose myself on a discussion. But, incredibly, that's just what I did.
"Mom, what was this bargain you made with my father?" I asked.
Once again it looked as if Mom was going to come down on me hard, but I held her gaze, my own expression level and unflinching. It became a battle of wills and somehow I knew I was going to win this one. Mom was first to drop her stare and her shoulders sagged a little.
"This is not the time to discuss that, Sean," she said.
That sounded like a tactic to avoid the issue and I had plenty of experience of that approach with Charles.
"Did you agree that I would return to Axon when I turned eighteen?" I asked the direct question.
Mom looked up at me, her eyes were pleading with me not to continue with this, but I knew I had to. I held her eyes again and she eventually nodded to confirm that she had indeed agreed to that.
Mom then quickly tried to qualify her nod.
"I didn't think it would ever come to this, Sean. I assumed that Kenneth would marry again and have other children that could carry on his line."
"Mom, you always taught me not to assume. What was it you said? Yep, that's it - never assume because it makes an ASS out of U and ME."
"Sean! You don't know what Gael is like - it is hell. I had to take you away from there. Even as a baby there were attempts to assassinate you and your father agreed it was the best thing to do, the safest thing. You cannot go back there now. Please, don't even consider it!"
Our exchange had gone far enough for now, probably too far in front of the envoy.
"Cormac, where are you spending the night?" I asked, my mother's lessons on manners still standing up to the situation.
It was clear that the envoy had managed to figure out that I was the 'Prince Sean' that his message referred to. That was obvious in his reply.
"I will do well enough, my Prince."
"Nonsense. Mom, I take it that it would be all right for Cormac to use the spare bedroom?"
She wasn't happy about it, but accepted the inevitable by nodding her agreement once again.
"I'll show you where it is, Cormac. Maybe I can find something else for you to wear, something a little more comfortable?"
The spare bedroom was upstairs and I led the way before telling Cormac to make himself comfortable. He looked around the same size and build as I was, so I found some old jeans and a few shirts he could try on and hopefully change out of his ridiculous suit.
His feet were smaller than mine were and he would be able to make do with an old pair of my sneakers until we could buy him a pair that fit.
"Please thank whoever has made the loan of the clothing, Highness."
"Don't mention it. They're just some of my old stuff," I told him.
"Highness! I cannot accept your clothes."
The 'Highness' had started out as being quite amusing, but the more he used it, the more it was clearly causing him to act inappropriately and the more annoying it was becoming.
"Cormac, they're old clothes. It's no big deal, honestly! And enough of the 'Highness', all right? We aren't used to that kind of thing around here. I'll give you an hour to wash and change and then you can have something to eat."
I realised that the 'Highness' thing was annoying me in the same way that Charles' view of the worth of an individual annoyed me.
While some people might take great delight in knocking the US education system, I'd obviously paid enough attention in citizenship to form strong opinions.
The views expressed by first Charles and now Cormac were not the American way. I felt strongly that people should earn respect and that we were all born equal. I decided that my Midwestern upbringing could be a cause of some difficulties if and when I travelled to Gael in 'real' time.
Once back downstairs, I rejoined Mom and Brenda, determined to have a more detailed discussion now that Cormac couldn't hear.
"Okay, Mom. He's not here anymore. Why don't you tell me about the bargain you made with my father? While you're at it, why don't you tell me why you've never told me anything about my family before or about where I'm from."
Immediately it was clear that Mom still didn't think she could talk about this. She glanced at Brenda and I realised she thought that talking about Gael wasn't something we should do with my girlfriend around.
I quickly set her straight on that score.
"Mom, you recognised that Brenda was talking in Gaelic?"
I paused and Mom nodded.
"Well, Brenda has also been to Gael. I brought her into my dreamtime and..."
"That's not possible! You're making that up, Sean. I know enough lore to recognise what can and can't be done. No one can 'take' another person into dreamtime."
"That's what Charles said. He said that it had never been done, before, and that I was the first to manage it. I can promise you, Mom, Brenda has been to Gael."
Mom was wide-eyed and she looked at Brenda for confirmation. Brenda simply nodded to confirm what I had said was true.
"Oh no. By the mother let it not be so," Mom moaned quietly.
She had lapsed into the kind of speech I would have expected from Gwendolin, which was completely out of character. I assumed that she was praying that Brenda hadn't been in my dreamtime, but as I knew she had, I ignored Mom's worries.
"I don't think you should put it off any longer, Mom. Why don't you tell us the whole, sorry, story?"
What followed was enough to fill in a few gaps that still existed, but left me with a sense that there was still a lot that I wasn't been told.
Mom explained again about the enmity between Axon and Scania. Her description of it made it clear that she had found life in such circumstances very difficult to bear.
Her marriage to my father carried an air of mystery about it. Mom made it clear that she wasn't in love with Kenneth. Reading between the lines, I guessed that it had been an arranged marriage and one that my Mother wasn't happy with.
She explained that murder and assassination were commonplace and that she herself had foiled two attempts to kill me when I was a baby.
One attempt had involved a maid with a dagger. Mom said that she happened to get up in the middle of the night to feed me and found the maid over my crib. She had managed to wrestle the woman to the ground and called for some guards. The guards had overpowered the would-be assassin and she had been executed.
The second attempt had involved poison and resulted in the death of another maid. This one had been given the responsibility of tasting all of my food after the first attempt on my life had failed. Mom said that it had been a precaution, but the maid tasted some food with poison in it and had died. The poison had been intended for me.
"That's the kind of place Gael is, that's why I brought you to this 'other-world' and that's why I would prefer it if you don't go back!" Mom cried.
The bargain was straightforward. The King, my father, had agreed that Mom could leave for the 'other-world' so she could raise me in safety. In return, Mom had agreed that I would go to my father when I came of age. As she had already explained, Mom had agreed thinking that she would never need to fulfil her part of the bargain.
"That's certainly not the way you've brought me up, Mom. You've always taught me that I had to live up to my obligations. Whatever happened to 'a promise is a promise'? What about accepting responsibility for our actions?
"Anyway, don't I have any say in this decision? What kind of a father is it, that lets his child go off for seventeen years without trying to get in contact with him? I'm not sure I like the idea that a man like that happens to be my father. Why would I want to visit him when he has shown no interest in me?
"You know, it feels as if there's more to this story than you're telling me, Mom. You sound just like Charles - only telling what you feel you need to, only going as far as you think necessary to stop the questions, but never going the whole way!
"No, I'm not at all sure that I want to go to Gael. Apart from some of the creatures, nothing there seems worth bothering about. I've got what I'm looking for right here."
To emphasise what I meant, I put my arm around Brenda's shoulder and pulled her tight up against my side.
"There are two other things you need to consider," Mom began, "if you don't return to be sworn in as your father's successor, then from what Cormac says, there are no other àn Tàcheart (Taggart) heirs. If that is the case, then the Kingdom of Axon will pass into the rule of Scania when your father dies."
That there was a low blow! Mom was in effect putting the responsibility for an entire Kingdom on my shoulders after she had wailed and moaned about me not going back to Gael. I tried hard, but I couldn't find any logic in that.
"I don't think I should be burdened with that! What chance do I have? What right do the people of Axon have to expect me to save them from their fate?
Mom ignored my questions and instead carried on to the second issue that she felt I needed to consider.
"Your kind normally 'emerge' on their eighteenth birthday. I'm not sure what will happen if you are here in the 'other-world' when that happens. To my knowledge it has never happened before and there is a risk that the 'science', here in this 'other-world', might kill you."
Mom had just earned herself an entry in my little black book (the book was imaginary, but contained the names of all those who annoyed me by using the phrases 'our kind' or 'your kind' without explaining themselves).
"All right! Time out! I am not going to let another person use the phrase 'your kind' without explaining what they mean by it. You're my Mother - so I know that you can tell me - just what is 'my kind', Eh? What am I, Mother?
"And while you're at it, could you please explain why everybody seems to get their knickers in a twist at the idea of science and technology?"
I could tell by the dirty look Brenda was giving me that I'd gone too far, so I tried to calm down while I waited for Mom's response. When it came, it was just another in a long line of surprises.
"I might be your Mother, Sean, but I have no idea what you are. Only your father or someone like Charles can tell you that. As for science - or what is called technology here in the 'other-world' - all I know is that it is considered bad on Gael by those of 'your kind'. I was very young when I left and there is a lot I don't understand."
"Damn it!"
Mom's answer was almost the last straw. How was it possible that my own Mother couldn't tell me the answers to my questions? Jumping up from the sofa, I grabbed my jacket and slammed the door on my way out.
A long walk was exactly what I needed to try to get things straight in my head. Too many things had come at me, too quickly, and I guess I was a mess.
Was I asking too much? All I wanted was for someone to tell me what I was, tell me where I fitted into what was going on. Shit! Even finding somebody who would stop speaking in riddles, would be something!
There was a park close to my house and I found myself walking through it. Benches and tables were set up for families to use for picnics and I cleared the snow and sat down at the first one I came to. I put my elbows on the table and let my head rest on my hands.
It looked like I had a number of major decisions to make. Brenda and I had discussed our future and the possibility that it could include living in Gael. That was before finding out the things that had come to light today. I didn't know then that I was a Prince. I didn't know then that my father was a King who hadn't bothered to try to contact me for seventeen years. Knowing these things, did I still see our future in Gael?
Something else Mom had said was nagging away at the back of my head too. She'd said something about there possibly being a problem when I emerged if I was here in the 'other-world'.
Both Charles and Grandma had used the word 'emerge' too, but I had thought it was simply another way of saying 'coming of age'. The way Mom had said it hinted at some kind of almost physical change.
This was getting too freaky for words. Flying had been fun and the power of the Road had been fun. Damn it, even Charles had been fun, sometimes. At that moment I think I would have given it all up, just to be a 'normal' American high school kid again. I yearned for the simplicity of my gardening business. Was it only a few months since this had all started?
Thinking about gardening reminded me of some of the rules I used for my little business.
The most important rule was to get the foundations right. That could apply to lots of things ... making sure you understood the soil you were working with, only using good quality tools, seeds and plants, or establishing a good relationship with the people you worked for by being honest, etc.
Don't let fear hold you back, was another rule. I had adopted that one after I almost lost out on six new customers, because I had worried about spending too much money on buying a much bigger mower.
Another rule was only to worry about the things you could do something about. This one made sense after I found myself worrying about whether it would be a hot summer, or whether it would rain, or whether some other kid might set himself up in competition to me. I wasn't getting any sleep, because I couldn't do anything about those things.
Finally, I firmly believed that if I looked after all of the little things, the important things would tend to look after themselves. I blamed this one on Brenda, after she showed me the importance of good maintenance on my tools. I realised that the same logic applied to other things, such as picking up after myself following each job, or remembering to always be polite to my customers.
Even things like good personal hygiene. Good hygiene helped keep me healthy and also ensured that my customers didn't complain about the smell of stale sweat.
One set of thoughts subconsciously morphed into the other and I found myself measuring the 'Gael' problems I had been considering, against my 'rules'.
Did I have the foundations right in thinking about Gael and what was going on around me?
Was I letting fear hold me back?
Was I worrying about things I couldn't do anything about?
Was I looking after the little things?
The foundations between Brenda and I were most definitely right. I wasn't so sure about the relationship I had with Charles, or with Mom. I didn't have a relationship at all with my father. Perhaps I wasn't being totally fair with Charles and Mom. I could do something about that. I could manage those relationships better. My assessment concluded that the 'tools' I had to work with were of mixed quality. As another example, I couldn't fault the eagles or Mòr Dubh, but my own studies were incomplete.
Being completely honest with myself, fear was most certainly holding me back. There were different degrees of fear. Fear of physical danger such as the rats or the Magates, but also fear of the unknown and fear of the responsibility of being a Prince.
Was I worrying about things I could do nothing about? The answer to that was also 'yes'. I was worrying about what was going to happen to me when I turned eighteen. What did Mom mean by 'emerge'? I realised that whatever it was, I couldn't stop it, so why get myself into a state worrying about it?
I was worrying about my father. That was a revelation! It hit me that I was worried that my father might not be proud of what I had become. I knew nothing about this man other than the fact that he had all but abandoned me! Yet here I was realising that I wanted my father to love me!
That was a painful moment. Somehow I had managed to get through life, through school, through sports, through lots of other things where the other kid's fathers were there and mine wasn't. I had never consciously put that feeling into words, or even recognised it as a thought. Now it was clear that it had always been there. I had to admit it to myself that I felt I had missed out on something the other kids had.
Well, either my father would be proud of me or he wouldn't. It was far too late for me to do much to influence that. So, by my 'rules', I should stop worrying about it.
Then I thought about the final rule: looking after the little things. That made me accept that I had allowed too many loose ends to remain loose, when I could have pressed harder to tidy them up.
Charles was the key. There were so many unanswered questions that he could resolve. If I had a clearer picture of what was going on then there would be fewer unknowns and my fear would be less.
If Charles filled in the gaps then perhaps some of the other problems would make more sense, and I would be able to make decisions feeling more sure of my ground.
I got up from the bench and started to walk back towards the house. My time alone had helped me to come to a decision. I was going to make another visit to dreamtime and this time Charles was going to tell me everything I needed to know.
Once I did that, I would decide how to respond to the call from my father. My father, King Kenneth the Second of Axon. It still sounded ridiculous!
Edited By TeNderLoin