Lys: Follow The Fellow Who Follows A Dream

Driving cattle and fighting. Aithne knew what they were talking about, then. Cathair had spoken to Lord Ambrosius about his future- their future. There was only one way such a conversation would've come about, and that was it.

She smiled. She couldn't keep the look off her face. A house! A house and a herd. And a husband, at last.

She pulled a fold of her cloak up over her head. "Then I'll be up looking at the cattle, should anyone need me." With a swift little curtsy, she hurried out the door and into the drizzle, up the path to where the cattle grazed.

The grass was greener than it should've been for Autumn. Everything seemed to stand out all the brighter for the mist of rain. Eventually she could see the figure of a man working alone. A few more yards made her certain it was Cathair.

"Cathair!"

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He turned and looked down the hill, shielding his eyes against the rain. A little ways down, a small figure wrapped head to toe in plaid was waving one white arm. He smiled and waved back, motioning her up.

She picked her way up the path as quickly as she could, slipping once where the path had washed out.

"And what is it that brings you all the way out here in this rain, gra?" he called. She's grinning like a cat, too.

At that, she started running. Reaching him at top speed, she leaped into his arms. "It's a house! It's a house, isn't it? We're going to have a house and tend the cattle, just as before, aren't we?" Cathair was all but bowled over by her enthusiasm. He pulled back a bit, loving how bright her expression was. "Sure, and I've already begun. Come, I'll show you." Her excitement was infectious. "I've got it paced out for now, but you can see by the stakes in the ground what it'll look like." If anyone could, she, with her limitless imagination, could see it.

She stepped over what would be the threshold, looking around as though it was already built around her. "It's beautiful, Cathair..." He came up behind her and pulled her into his arms, resting his chin on her shoulder. "Will be, muirnait. Will be beautiful. Right now it's just a pile of sticks."

She turned around with a serious expression on her face. The joy was still there, but the giddiness had fled to make way for solemn intensity. "It is not. Right now it is a dream. A beautiful dream which, when we awake, will turn out to be reality."

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She kissed him then. She could see the dream- almost as solid as reality- and it was within her grasp. ...As she was within his. He pulled her closer and for the next few moments, she all but forgot the rain and chill.