Pure

Maigred pressed her lips together. She raised her hand to knock. She let her hand drop to her side and squeezed her eyes shut.

Earth sister, give me strength.

She pictured Sinead in her mind, set her jaw and knocked.

There was a long moment of silence, and Maigred wanted more than anything to turn around and walk away before someone came to the door, but she didn’t. She heard the bolt being drawn back. The latch lifted and the door opened. A large man with gray hair peered out. His eyes widened.

“Papa.” The word left Maigred’s mouth without any thought on her part.

“Maigred.” He sounded hopeful.

“Is mother home?”

He nodded and pulled the door open wider. “Will you come in?”

Maigred swallowed. “Yes. Thank you.”

She passed through the doorway into the large kitchen. Her mother was on the other side of the room, putting a stack of clean plates on a shelf.

“Who was it?” She asked.

“Saoirse.” Maigred’s father said.

“Yes?” She turned. Her eyes fastened on Maigred and she froze. “Maigred?”

“Hello, mother.”

Maigred’s mother swallowed. “How are you? How’s Sinead?”

“Sinead is fine.”

“And…and you?”

“I’m fine too, mother. Can I talk to you?”

“Of course. Can I get you tea?”

“Tea would be nice. Thank you.”

“Do you…do you want me to leave?” Maigred’s father asked.

“I was hoping to talk to both of you. If you don’t mind.” Maigred answered.

“Of course I don’t mind, lass. I’d love to talk to you. Would you like to sit?” He gestured at the family table surrounded by chairs, that was placed to one side of the stove.

“Thank you.” Maigred sat in the spot that had been hers for so many years, out of habit.

Her father took his usual spot at the foot of the table. He stared at her as if he were afraid she was going to vanish.

“How have you been?” Maigred asked.

He nodded. “We’ve been well. How are you and the little one? What is she, twelve now?”

Maigred gave a jerky nod.

“How is Cara, and the inn?” Her mother asked, still working at the stove.

“Cara is doing as well as can be expected. She keeps her spirits up and her hands busy.” Maigred smiled tightly. “How have you been?”

“Good.” Her father nodded. “Good. Business has been going well.”

“I heard that Lon got married?”

“Yes.” Her Mother answered.

“Did his wife come into the business, or did he go into hers?”

“She was the third daughter in her family, so she came into the business with us. She’s pregnant again, so they’ve been going to bed earlier.” Her father gestured towards the upper level of the house and smiled softly.

“That’s nice. How many children to they have now?”

“They have a six year old daughter and a three year old son. It’s nice to have the little ones running around the place.” Her father said.

Maigred nodded again.

“How about you, Maig? Have you found someone you want to settle down with?” Maigred’s mother asked, going to the shelf with the dishes on it.

Maigred’s mouth tightened. “That’s not something I’m ready to discuss with you yet.”

Her mother came to the table and set three mugs on the table. “Come sit down here with us, sweetheart.” She said to Maigred’s father then she went back to the stove.

He grinned sheepishly and moved to the seat across from Maigred. He looked down at the table for a moment before looking back up at Maigred. “Is Sinead apprenticed yet?”

Maigred shut her eyes and swallowed. “I’m sorry. I’m not ready to talk to you about any of that yet.”

“It’s all right, Maig, I’m just happy you’re here. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I’m just…I’m just excited to see you after all these years.” Her father smiled ruefully.

Maigred nodded. “I know. I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t have come, but…I need to know.”

Maigred’s mother came to the table with the hot tea pot. She poured water into the mugs. “You need to know what?”

“Why did you make an agreement with Hadeaon?”

Her parents froze and glanced at each other, then looked back at her.

“I didn’t come here to fight, or to accuse. I just want to understand,” Maigred clarified.

Maigred’s mother put the pot back on the stove and came to sit in her seat at the head of the table. Her father reached over and offered her his hand and she took it.

“What would you like to know?” Her mother asked quietly.

Maigred stared for a moment at their clasped hands on the table. Then she took a deep breath and looked up at her mother. “Why did our town make an agreement with Hadeaon instead of trying to fight him?”

Maigred’s mother smiled bitterly. “Some did fight, they paid for that choice with their lives. Alvie and the men with her, took control of the city after they killed Caevah. We knew we could either cooperate with her, or die. She made that very clear. Examples were made of the people who tried to stand up to her, and of their families.”

Maigred nodded. “I remember that. But what happened after Finten and his men came back?”

Her mother shut her eyes and smiled tightly. “As soon as Finten and his men got home, they came looking for any of Caevah’s acolytes that had survived the purge. He wanted to try to connect a new maiden and Tarasque to the land before Hadeaon got here. We refused to allow you to get involved. We felt it was too dangerous. Which proved to be correct. Once Hadeaon arrived, all the girls and the tarasque that were involved in that little project were either killed, or forced to swear allegiance to Hadeaon. Most of them chose to die.

“After that, Hadeaon wanted to kill all the women and have his men bring in women from other towns, so that his claim on the land could never be contested again. Finten managed to convince him that he needed the rest of us to keep his tie to the land alive. So an agreement was made that Finten would lose his ability to fight Hadeaon, and Hadeaon would bed every woman in the territory to keep them from being able to channel the earth sister’s powers.

“Hadeaon’s claim was safe, and our girls kept their lives. ”

“You chose to sacrifice me to Hadeaon’s greed, without giving me a chance to fight? Without fighting back yourselves?” Maigred asked tightly.

Her mother pressed her lips together, shut her eyes and turned her face away.

“You have a daughter yourself now.” Maigred’s father said softly. “Are you telling me you would rather gamble with her life, than do everything in your power to keep her alive?”

Maigred’s throat tightened. She shook her head. “No. I can’t say that I wouldn’t have made the same choice. But…was it worth it?”

“Of course it was. We saved your life.” Maigred’s mother said. “I would do it again.”

Maigred bit her lip and nodded.

“No. It wasn’t worth it.”

Maigred and her mother looked at her father in surprise.

“We thought we could choose for you better than you could choose for yourself. We made decisions for you without talking to you. We betrayed your trust, Maigred. I’ll always be sorry for that. Because of how we acted, you took matters into your own hands. You were hurt, Cathal was hurt. We lost our relationship with you, your brother, and our granddaughter, Sinead. I probably would have still made the same choices, but we should have talked to you first. I’m sorry.”

Maigred frowned and nodded.

“You’re right,” Maigred’s mother said. “We should have talked to you. We were afraid. We let our fear make our choices for us.”

Maigred nodded again. “Thank you.”