Jenny: Words

Ambrosius made no more move than a big dog-wolf would when a pup has barked in its face. Master Lucius wondered that Cathair had even the nerve to throw such a charge at the Hawk's feet until he remembered that Cathair came from a world beyond the Roman limes, and the Greek wondered how Ambrosius would make the young man understand a world which was, in all things, unfamiliar and, in many things, hateful. In the blustery, whirling world that was opening its mouth and howling at Ambrosius, one barking pup was of no concern, and Master Lucius saw it in the eyes Ambrosius turned to Cathair.

"Your father-in-law is dead," he said after a little pause, and it was odd how his voice sounded like a stone dropping over a tomb's mouth - as though his words made the man's father-in-law deceased. "Your father-in-law, your chieftain, is dead and his unceasing Word has returned to the Mouth that spoke it. But for you, Cathair of Erin, his Word-Among-You must remain, and you must continually honour it. You must never destroy a man's Word."