Crystal Rose (60 page)

He came into the room, his face eloquent with concern. Light
from the windows gave it a frame of radiance and shadow, accenting planes and
hollows that she had not noticed a day or a week ago. He moved into full light
and became a child again, face boyishly round, wide eyes on her.

“You shouldn’t grieve for her. She’s woven her own pattern.”

She laid a hand to his shoulder. “It’s her husband and her
sons I think of, mostly. They did nothing to be so disregarded, but Deardru is
a woman caught up in her own self—in her own past.”

Airleas nodded. “Catahn says we’re ready to go. He thinks we
can make the top of the Cauldron by nightfall.” He glanced at the floor then,
expression suddenly shy.

“In a moment. First, you’ve something you wish to ask me.”

He glanced back up at her, determined, tentative, pleading.
“You once said when I was ready, I’d have a rune crystal of my own to Weave
with. I’ve done my Crask-an-duine”—did he gain an inch or two in saying
that?—“and I’m to be set before the Stone when we reach Halig-liath. Am I . . . ?”
He frowned and set his shoulders. “When shall I be ready, Mistress? What must I
do to be ready? Tell me, and I’ll do it, learn it, be it.”

She smiled and put her arms around him, felt him return the
embrace. “You’ve done it, Airleas. You’ve learned it. You’ve become it.” She took
him by the shoulders and held him away that she might study his face. “You
could have destroyed Daimhin Feich, but you didn’t. You remained true to the
Art, true to the nature of the Spirit. You gave him into the Spirit’s hands.”

Airleas’s face flushed. “It wasn’t my right to destroy him.
You could have destroyed him, too. I wondered why you didn’t. I was afraid,
sometimes, that he
was
more powerful
somehow. More powerful than you—than all of us. Then I realized that you had
the power to destroy him—it was something else that prevented you. Then I knew
that that something was what you just said—the nature of the Spirit. It wasn’t
your
nature
to destroy him, wicked as
he was. If it wasn’t your nature, then it couldn’t be mine either, not if I was
to be the Cyne you wanted me to be.”

She opened her mouth to comment and he flushed again and
added, “That I wanted to be. Daimhin Feich’s destruction,” he said as if the
thought was just now being born, “was written in his nature. It was inevitable . . . wasn’t it?”

She nodded and told him, “When we reach Halig-liath, on the
day of your coronation, you will receive your Weaving stone.”

His smile was a little boy’s, bright and jubilant. He gave
her the biggest hug he had and ran to tell his mother, the Cwen.

And now, Malcuim, stand,
and facing west, and taking up the Crystal, bow down. From this quarter, the
Meri, the Firstborn of the Spirit, divine and enlightened, lives, abides,
sustains Herself and teaches the Art. Pure in name, glorified in every corner of
the world of being, the blessed Meri, Her manifestations equal to the sand of
the Sea, giving the Tell of the Spirit, She answers the needs of men eternally.
This Name you must honor, celebrate and glorify.

—Rite of Coronation
Taminy-Osmaer to Cyne Airleas Malcuim

Airleas let his gaze wander the great central courtyard of
Halig-liath, taking in the brilliance of the day, the colors of sky and bright
clothing and House banners snapping in the clean cold breeze. Beneath those
banners the Houses gathered, Chieftains to the fore, their families about them,
their people arrayed behind.

All the Chieftains were here and all of their Elders. From
Iobert Claeg, eyes like Sun-kissed frost, to Leod Feich, still mourning the
loss of his miscreant son.

Airleas shivered, but not with chill so much as excitement.
This was his rite, his coronation, his moment of standing before the eyes of
Chieftains and Elders, Osraed and Ministers, Eiric and citizens. All of Nairne
was here, in this courtyard, and representatives from villages and settlements
from all over Caraid-land. They were here from Creiddylad in the south, Eada to
the west, Norder in the north, Cuinn holding and Moidart to the east.

All were here to watch him stand before the Stone of Ochan,
awesome in its splendor beneath the winter Sun. To watch Osraed Saxan, Apex,
set the Malcuim Circlet on his brow. They had come to hear Taminy chant the
words of ceremony that called upon him to respond as, six hundred years before,
the first Malcuim Cyne had responded.

He glanced to where the waljan stood, his mother among them,
before the gallery. The look of loving pride in her eyes, the radiance of peace
that smoothed her brow—that was the world to him. In that glance Airleas fully
realized that his perception was no longer limited to what he could see or hear
or touch. He could feel the pride his mother’s heart held, he could scent the
perfume of affection that rippled to him on the crisp currents of river air
from the others who had shared his exile.

Even sad Iseabal smiled at him, even sober Wyth, even
Taminy’s new husband, the unreadable Catahn. Even bristly Aine’s face was
softer this morning—gone, the scowl that usually flirted between her garish
brows.

Of course, he realized, his eyes shifting to Saefren Claeg,
who also stood among the waljan, he might not be entirely responsible for that
miracle.

He found Gwynet Alheart, front and center. Felt her touch,
warm and sweet, within his very soul. Playmate, sister, dearest friend, closest
confidante. She smiled at him, tears glistening in her eyes. He returned the
smile, not quite sure that was appropriate to this moment of moments, but not
caring.

Lastly, he let his eyes and aidan go to Taminy who stood
with him upon the low gallery against Halig-liath’s eastern wall. She did not
block him, just now, and what he received from her made his heart swell almost
to bursting. She had finished the verses and now waited for him to make the
refrain.

Around him, the air stilled, anticipating, the only movement
in the banners of cloth and breath that unfurled in the crisp air. He turned,
facing the Western Sea, and removed the Osmaer Crystal from its pedestal. It
woke to a blaze in his hands, brighter than the Sun or the clouds that framed
it. He came to his knees on the stones of Halig-liath, and bowed his head to
drink the stillness.

Then, raising his face to the sky, he spoke in a clear loud
voice, wanting all of creation to hear him.

“I look to the Meri, Firstborn of the Spirit, divine and
enlightened. She who lives, abides, sustains Herself and teaches the Art. Pure
in name, glorified in every corner of the world of being, the blessed Meri, Her
manifestation equal to the sand of the Sea, gives the Tell of the Spirit and
answers the needs of men eternally. Her Name I honor, celebrate and glorify.”

Osraed Saxan moved then, stepping forward to place the
Circlet on Airleas’s head. Airleas smiled at him, unable to resist the gladness
bubbling up from inside. Saxan returned the smile and bowed. That was not part
of the ceremony.

Airleas turned his eyes to Taminy, but she was not looking
at him. She now faced the great gathering spread out before the gallery and
said, “I give you Airleas Malcuim, heir of the First Malcuim, Cyne of
Caraid-land.”

Airleas rose to the cheers of the crowd, some sincere, some
perfunctory.
Soon
, he thought,
they will all be sincere. I will be a good
Cyne.

Holding Ochan’s great Crystal before him, he faced his
people, bowing to each quarter to make of himself a humble offering. Then, he
moved to return the Osmaer Crystal to its pedestal.

Taminy stopped him.

In the moment of chaotic thought that followed, he was
vaguely aware that the crowd had, once again, stilled. Taminy smiled at him,
moving her fingers to cover his upon the Stone.

Turning her gleaming face to the assemblage, her voice
ringing to the farthest corners of the courtyard, she said, “I give you Airleas
Malcuim, Osric. Cyne by Divine right.”

While the crowd around them reacted to her words, cheering,
crying, gasping in astonishment or outrage, she leaned close to him and
murmured, “You asked for a stone to focus your gift. Here it is. Use it with
wisdom.”

Hands quaking, Airleas held the Stone before his face and
let it pull his gaze deep into its brilliant heart.

“My first decision must be to appoint a Durweard,” he said,
and glanced at Taminy. “May I have two?”

Her mouth tilted with humor. “You can have as many as you
please, Osric Airleas.”

“Then I’ll have two—you and Catahn. I doubt I could do
better than that.”

Taminy smiled. “Humility prevents me from commenting.”

Airleas laughed, and raising the Osmaer Crystal over his
head, turned back to the embrace of the people to whom he now belonged.

THE END

ay
= “ay” as in “hay”

bh
= “v” as in “victory”

dd
= “th” as in “the”

dh
= a soft “d” with a slight aspirant

ey
= “eye”

fh
= the softest possible “f”; almost a “v”

gh
= a hard “h”

th
= “th” as in “the”

y
= a long “i”

Claeg
(Clayg): “House of Earth” — midland House of
traditional warriors; sword-cleft rock on a field of red.

Cuillean
(Kwil-een): “House of the Bear” — northern House;
brown bear on a green field.

Dearg
(Deerg): “House of the Red Man” — midland House;
red hand on a white and yellow field.

Floinn
(Flown): “House of
the Red Child” — breakaway northern House related to the Dearg; dagger-bearing hand on a yellow and white
field.

Feich
(Fyke): “House of the Raven” — southern neighbors
of the Claeg; raven on a yellow field.

Gilleas
(Gi-lee-as): “House of the Disciples (of the
Meri); midland House, traditionally strong allies of the Malcuim; golden star
on a midnight blue field.

Glinne
(Glin): “House of the White One” — House
traditionally dedicated to the worship of the Gwenwyvar or White Wave; white
wave cresting on a purple field.

Graegam
(Gray-am): “House of the Bray Man” — western
neighbors of the Feich; castle keep on a red and white field.

Jura
(Joo-rah): “House of the Broken Heart” — the
family of the martyred Osraed Gartain; twained heart on a white field with a
red border.

Madaidh
(Mah-dayth): “House of Wolves” — a sea-faring
House thought to be descendants of Deasach immigrants to Caraid-land; brown
wolf on a yellow and blue field.

Malcuim
(Mal-kwim): “House of the Sands” — the Royal
House of Caraid-land; clasped hands on a gold and green field.

Skarf
(Skarf): “House of the Cormorant” — a House of fisherman
and merchant seamen; white cormorant on a teal field.

Teallach
(Tee-lak): “House of Iron” — northern House;
sword on an orange field.

Aine
(Ayn): “fiery one”

Airleas
(
Ayr
-lee-as): a traditional Caraidin name meaning
“a pledge” or “an oath”

Ardis
(
Ar
-dis): “warm”, “ardent”

Arundel
(Ar-un-
del
): “dwells at the eagle’s grove”;
family estate of the Osraed Wyth

Bearach
(
Bay
-rak): “spear carrier”; heroic Cyne of
Caraid-land who won the First Battle of the Crystal against Buchan Claeg

Bebhinn
(
Beh
-vin): “melodious lady”; swift-flowing
northern branch of the Halig-Tyne

Bevol
(
Bay
-vol): Hillwild name meaning “wind”

Bitan-ig
(Bee-tan-
eegh
): “preserving”; Cyne and hero of
the Battle of the Chalice and the Skull

Brys
(Bryss): “quick” or “ambitious”

Caime
(Kaym): “crooked”

Calach
(
Kah
-lak): “companion”

Caraid-land
(Car-
ayd
-land): “land between the streams” hence,
“friendly land”

Catahn
(Ca-
tawn
): Hillwild name meaning “champion” or “warrior”

Ciaran
(Kee-
ar
-an): Hillwild name meaning “dark one”;
the most famous (or infamous) Ciaran was Cyne Ciaran, grandfather of Cyne
Colfre

Ciarda
(Kee-
ar
-da): a Hillwild name meaning “child of
the dark one”; a Cyne of Caraid-land and Colfre-s father

Colfre
(
Kol
-fray): Hillwild name meaning “a dove,” hence,
peaceful

Creiddylad
(Creh-
dee
-ly-ah): “jewel of the sea”; traditional
home of the Malcuims and capitol of Caraid-land since the reign of Malcuim the Uniter

Cuinn
(Kwin): “wise”; family name of Taminy-a-Cuinn;
from a small settlement east of Nairne

Daimhin
(
Day
-fin): “poet” or “savant”

Deasach
(
Dee
-sak): “southern”; Caraidin word for the
country beyond the southwest arm of the Gyldan-baenn; also used to refer to its
people

Desary
(
Deh
-sa-ree): a Hillwild name meaning “longed for”

Doireann
(
Dwa
-ree-an): “sullen”

Eada
(
Yah
-da): “prosperity” or “blessedness”; large
seaport to the north of Creiddylad situated on the mouth of the Ead-Tyne

Ealad-hach
(Ay-lad-
hak
): “ingenious” or “a scientist”

Faer-wald
(
Fayr
-wald): “mighty traveler”

Feich
(Fyke): “a raven”; one of the Caraidin Houses

Fhada
(
Vah
-dah): “long”