ten_fwd | Boldly going where one should not (OTA)

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Boldly going where one should not (OTA)

Grainne had been hard put to think of who or what she should ask about it. She wasn't experienced with the formal sounding, personality-less artificial intelligence the ship boasted. It made her miss Jeffers, surly as he was at times in that particularly sardonic British way; he never gave her nonsense about parameters or needing to define them.

Engineering seemed like the place to go, and it didn't occur to her to ask the computer to send a request. Even Jeffers hadn't been relied on to that degree. Besides, who knew the ship better than those who tended the engines? But she had also been told it was restricted, so she hovered about just outside, fidgeting with her tablet and trying to make up her mind.

As a result, she seemed to waver back and forth in front of the entrance, gathering courage and making a bit of progress, then thinking better of it and going back.

They probably wouldn't let her, anyway, but what harm would it be to ask?

Finally, gathering courage again, she settled on a compromise. "Hello?" Perhaps she could catch someone when they weren't busy. Besides, she was insatiably curious to see the engine.

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Oookay then.

"Nah. That's my uncle Rory. He's a seventh son of a seventh son." Kale grinned, making a bit of a bad joke.

"Sure. Um..." Not to quarters... ahaha... um... "I guess ten forward's a good a place as any..."

A small feeling of dread shivered down Grainne's spine. The view from that place always disturbed her no matter how many times she went inside.

"I suppose so. There are not many places to go here. I try not to go there very often." She shook her head and smiled again. "I could probably tell you more about my tablet, as well."

With that, she started to head to the turbolift.

"There aren't really, are there? I mean, I suppose we could go down to the shops and business but that always seemed strange to me... since they're not supposed to have money?" Kale said, following her.

"And yeah, that'd be good."

"I suppose that they have to do something to pass the time. It does not seem strange to me. I mean, what else would they do? If you enjoy cooking, it would make sense to share it." The turbolift opened, and she settled in. "Deck Ten."

Pausing a moment, her arms folded, she looked down, a serious expression on her face now. "Kale, could you tell me about the history of your Eire? It seems that somewhere, something happened that made the Christians invade-- or not, in your case. Can you tell me what happened between Conn of the Hundred Battles and..." Grainne trailed off, trying to think of a name that he might recognize. She decided just to go for a timespan. "Let's see... it was about two, three hundred years after that, that Patrick started his conversion movement."

"Yeah. Maybe." He shrugged.

Kale has no idea who Patrick is, but he can give her a history of about that time period, because he does at least know who Conn of the Hundred Battles and can move up from there. A lot of it is fairly similar except that there's quite few mentions of the McCallums helping in fending off invaders much better than in her world or removing a bad king from the throne. The gods are much more prominent. And once or twice a man named Rhys who seems to act almost like a trickster figure. When it comes to Grainne's own story, the McCallums are absent because it had naught to do with the land.

Generally, if she's looking for reasons why someone wouldn't be invading Eire it's because the McCallums were there to help send them packing back home, occasionally with their leaders in pieces, and because invasions are always harder when you're on a land not belonging to your gods. And the locals have some easily pissed off gods sanctioned guardians.

"I'm probably missing a lot," He admits, "I've never been too interested in history."

Grainne had made sure to sit down with her back to the view ports in Ten Forward when they made it there, listening intently. Some of it aligned with what she remembered, but very definitely the McCallums had never been part of her stories...

"It's all right. Nobody could know everything that went on at any moment in time. It is really quite different from my history. I am surprised that whole... thing with the Fianna chasing after the lovers didn't destablize the country, or deplete the defenses. The Battle of Gabhra meant the end of the Fianna in my world, and Fionn never tried to restore it. There were no McCallums ever in my stories. I wonder if they had been killed off early, before they ever became important? Between that, and the Fianna, it seems that is why Patrick and his... people could move in and convert- and the druids that did not convert, they killed."

She paused, then added softly, "Fate has such a strange way about it, where one choice can make a difference."

"They don't get involved in politics unless the land itself is being threatened. They have to be neutral. So, civil wars? Not their thing."

He frowned a little. "It's likely they might not have existed at all in your world. They're direct descendants of the Morrigan's eldest son who... seriously fucked up something major sometime after shorty after the Tuatha came to Eire and nearly destabilized everything. The others wanted to kill him. Instead, the Morrigan managed to convince the others just to curse him and his children."

Kale tugged on his brilliantly red hair. "This red here and the green eyes? It's known as McCallum red and green. Only McCallums who live at Thorn Hall for a great deal of time will have these colors. Some of my little cousins live in Dublin most of the year, but on Summer holidays they'll come down to the Hall and their hair always turns more red after spending the summer with us. It doesn't matter what color hair the non-McCallum spouse has, if they marry into the McCallums and live at Thorn Hall, their children's hair will be red, the eyes green.

"It's so everyone knows who we are. What we did. And that they should run away really fast or surrender if they see us coming for them. Because we're a one family army if need be. Even one of us can be dangerous."

He laughed a bit. "So, I guess you're right. One choice can have lasting consequences."

At that, Grainne gave him a very, very critical eye. "Claiming descent from... from her is a very dangerous thing. I have never heard such a story before. What exactly did he do?" It said a lot that even though the gods had disappeared, she still avoided speaking the Morrigan's name.

"Caelum...," Kale stared up at the ceiling for a moment. This isn't really something they talk about with outsiders. "There were people he was supposed to be protecting... children... and he did something ... stupid... beyond stupid... and he got them killed... in a horrible way... just... horrible... I won't say it wasn't his fault... because he should have known better... but he was tricked, too... Caelum wasn't the brightest guy around, Rhys said... and he was punished for it... and his children were punished for it."

She waited, sensing discomfort, and didn't try to press him when he paused. She understood how something might be difficult to speak or think about. By the gods, how she knew.

"He sounds... rather like your average idiot warrior." It was spoken softly though, with compassion. "Often they mean well, but, still... perhaps it was meant to be in your world, lest Eire would have fallen as mine did. It is more unusual for tragedy to result into a positive in our stories than the other way around. Your Eire does not know what could have happened."

He laughed mirthlessly. "Yeah. Caelum wasn't the brightest guy. And yeah... maybe Eire would have been worse for wear if it hadn't happened... but..." he shrugged.

It's hard to be hopeful or think about it positively when you know one of your uncles, your mother's favorite sibling, is trapped in a haunted grove of trees that hunts for the souls of anyone to join its misery, trying to prevent it from roaming into the mortal realms. That the entire family woke up to what was supposed to be a happy thirteenth birthday for his youngest uncle and aunt (twelfth and thirteenth child) to find him gone and your grandmother crying but no one will tell you why and you have to find out on your own years later... and knowing there's no power alive strong enough to free him... so he hangs there in misery...

"It still happened and it sucked for the rest of us."

"I'm sorry." Grainne offered that apology sincerely, her face falling a little. "It seems misery is the payment for every honest action. I don't... I don't understand why it is always Eire that suffers this way. What I know of other countries, and their counterparts in other realms, they never seem to have the problems we do with just trying to do the right thing."

"Probably to prevent us from taking over the entire world." Though he says this completely straight faced, there's definite mischief in his eyes.

Grainne paused significantly, one eyebrow raising halfway to her hairline.

"You may have something there. I think that is precisely why fate contrived such things in my world." The mischief in her own eyes matched his, and grew brighter. "We already own half the world as is through our descendants. I am not sure the planet could handle a complete takeover. Things would actually make sense."

Kale is as full of bullshit sometimes as his hair is red.

"Exactly!" he said. "So, it's really, for the good of everything that we're stuck on one little island."

"Do you think they would let us have an uninhabited planet around here? I am rather curious what would happened..." Grainne's smirk made the question rather playful though. "But on a serious note, I was wondering if there were still druids in your world, or... any literature I could borrow?"

"I doubt it. That would make it harder for them to keep an eye on us," Kale said. For her second question, he looks mildly surprised. "Well... yes. My aunt is a priestess for the Morrigan - my mum almost was one but she got married. As for books - literature? No. I didn't bring anything except on my phone and ... I don't want to hand that out. Though I could maybe download you something..."

"Understandable. My tablet is dear to me as well. I would love to have what you can spare. There's so much lost to us." Grainne looked delighted at the idea of getting some uncorrupted literature, even if it was downloaded. She could probably ask the computer to fashion some form of real book if she wanted. But something makes her pause. "Why would marriage keep her from being a druid?"

"Because she couldn't be queen and the Morrigan's priestess and do both jobs properly. Eire needs a queen. The Morrigan chose Aunt Grace instead," Kale said with a shrug.

How his mother felt about that, he didn't know. She never talked about it. Everyone just assumed she would be. But it never happened. And then she met his dad and...

That made sense. Running a household as large as Almhuin had taken up much of her time, and she still remembered how few hours she ever got with Cormac or Eithne.

"Ah... that would take a lot of time. One does not question the will of Her on any case."

"That and running the military. Mum apparently questioned Her a lot before she married Da. Mostly to see if it was a good thing to do. Balance is important, you know?"

Grainne just stared a moment. "She questioned Her? ...But perhaps it is different with your family. My family would not have dared but we are affiliated with Manannan. It is hard to go think against something so ingrained. But, yes, balance is important, in all things."

"Well, marrying da' was the hardest thing she ever did. She was giving up a lot and she wanted to know what she was giving up and what benefits she would be getting. She had to take his name. The king can't be a McCallum."

Well, put that way... "She sounds like one I would much like to meet." Grainne smiled. A shrewd lady, if she's any judge. "It is no small sacrifice to marry, and no small gain."

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Boldly going where one should not (OTA)

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sorry for the delay

Same

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