Niamh continues to train Barra in the ways of magic and healing as he becomes more comfortable in her service.
Niamh found it soothing to work with her stock of medicines when she needed to plan something. Barra's success the previous day in choosing his wooden staff showed his readiness for further development. She wanted to ensure Barra grew in spiritual strength as soon as he could. Usually the path towards completeness and connectedness with all things took time and effort. Druids were supposed to study for years until their awareness and knowledge reached that stage when magic flowed freely from one form to another.
Barra did not have years. If someone challenged him or upset him sufficiently, there would be blood on his hands. His life could be forfeit; she would not be able to save him again. There was another way; a way to teach him control and connectedness and inner peace. On the face of it, it would seem only to do with the body, something to which all acolytes were introduced once they reached sexual maturity.
Some of them accepted the teachings and practice whilst others did not. Some saw only the bodily pleasures; never reaching past the short moment of pleasure into the stillness and communion beyond. She remembered, with a wry smile, how difficult it was for her to submit to her teacher, Malcolm's, will during those first fiery years of her training in the Hidden Isles. She was determined to do everything her way, to seek and find the magic; bending it to her will, hers alone.
Niamh wondered how Malcolm kept his patience with her, never angry, never chiding, just the gentle offer of a different way of seeking. In the end she put away her stubbornness, realising how much she needed his guidance to achieve the inner peace she sought. In the end, it had been so simple, so easy; placing her trust in Malcolm to bring her to the place of perfect calm, where she could exist as a perfect being and from that, reach out into the all the other times and places where magic led her.
Niamh hoped Barra would trust her in the same way, so he, too, could meld his body and mind and reach out into the universe.
After the evening meal was put away and the lamp were lit, Niamh closed the door early; locking it securely before she came back to light the lamps and take up her place by the hearth. Barra was carefully inscribing his latest ogham message, blowing the dust from the cuts in the twig he was holding into the fire and watching the fire sprites play in the flames.
For some reason, he was very aware of Niamh's presence near him tonight. He knew she was watching him with a pensive look on her face - a look he only remembered seeing once before. That memory made his heart almost stop beating.
Niamh waited until he was content with his carving and offered it to her. She accepted it gravely, reading the short message and laughing quietly to herself at his humorous response. Although the message itself was short enough and to the point, their blood bonding enabled her to see the hidden pictures he'd planted with each sign.
She got up and put the message in the basket where she kept all the ogham sticks. If she did not resume her seat immediately, he did not notice, but suddenly the air crackled as a band of energy raced around the inner sides of the roundhouse, settling itself into a solid wall of protection as wards were set.
She had her back to him when she suddenly asked, "How many weeks since you offered your gift to the Goddess, Barra?"
He flushed, glad she could not see his face. Unusually for him, his voice shook, "Some weeks, m- my Lady!"
"Have you honoured Her since?" Niamh resumed her seat by the hearth.
"It is something that I am ... trying to learn. It does not come easily to me."
"You mean to tell me you have not used your hand to help yourself in all that time?" Niamh sounded genuinely surprised, "Not out by the midden in the morning?"
Barra's face grew redder. "My lady," he stammered, "it is not a thing to do at the midden. It is more private."
"It is a thing to be done if you are to keep your seed healthy, Bara. It gets stale if left inside for too long. There is always a reason why the Goddess wishes us to do something. Sometimes she helps us to understand what that reason might be, at other times, we follow her wishes as part of the path towards perfect love and perfect trust."
"Yes, My lady, if you say so...."
How did she know these things? Barra wondered. Even if she did know them, why would she talk about them? Men did not talk about these things, yet it affected them personally. Then he looked at her face, realising that although her voice might be that of the healer, there was something more in her eyes - she was genuinely concerned about his wellbeing. Something inside him shivered.
"So you are telling me honestly," she touched a finger under his chin, "you have not done this thing since?"
Barra's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. "My Lady, it was not a thing I was accustomed to think about as part of the warrior's training... No, Lady..." His eyes tried to focus anywhere but on her face, but he could not escape her frown.
"You do not feel the wish? the need?"
