Reservoir Of Power Ch 03

The clan is of the utmost importance to every Celt, but there aint a red-headed woman in the land who wouldn't throw us aside in favour of her sister. ~~ J. Milton O'Leary

Reservoir of Power: Chapter 3

Lena curled luxuriously into her warm bed and pulled the covers tighter around her. It seemed as if it would be a wonderful time to just remain underneath her quilt and just let the day drift away. She had nothing to do except catch up on some sleep, and there were hours to go before she'd have to rise and begin to think about tonight's practice. She smiled a happy smile as she rolled over and prepared to go back into a blissful sleep...unfortunately, she hadn't counted on Ylva.

Lena had just closed her eyes again when her door crashed open and allowed a spinning tornado to intrude into her dreams. This particular whirlwind was armed with a fresh box of doughnuts and two large cups of designer coffee. Ylva was aware that she could have sat her burdens down long enough to open the door normally, but kicking it open had been so much more fun! Besides, crashing the gate was part of her chosen strategy.

Oh, Ylva knew that Lena would be irritated by her abrupt arrival, but after the dirty trick she had played on her best friend the night before; Ylva had wagered that the best defense against Lena's anger might be a good offense. "C'mon Grizzly Mama," she prodded, "get your sorry ass out of that bed and help me drink this coffee!"

Lena buried her head in her warm quilt and moaned something completely inaudible to Ylva... or maybe it was

at

Ylva, Ylva couldn't say for sure; the quilt muffled whatever Lena was mumbling. So the small girl remained in attack mode, not pausing her attack for a moment, "Now don't go bitching at me just cuz you decided to stay out all night long to get naked with the berserker!"

"Fuck you! I did not!" Lena yelled from under her comforter.

"Well, you should have! Now, uncover your head and take this coffee before I spill it."

"Did you bring food?"

"How long have we been roomies? After the stunt that I pulled last night, I'm aware that you need to be bribed so you won't hurt me!"

"Oh yeah," Lena shouted as she shot upright in her bed. "I'd almost forgotten that I was going to kill you for that!"

"Oh no you don't...I brought doughnuts. I brought lots of doughnuts and a large cup of that honey hazelnut coffee that you like so much. So, no killing me until after I get the whole story, and I mean every last moan!"

"That was an extremely dirty trick Sylvia!"

"Ouch...you

are

mad at me. You even used my given name. So...did you kiss him?"

"No. Just no... you will

not

be interrogating me about this!"

"Oh yes I will! Here, take your coffee and start in on these doughnuts."

And Ylva had played her gambit correctly... Lena growled, but rather than killing Ylva right away, she grabbed for her chosen poison. Lena began to eat and Ylva was smart enough not to press her momentary advantage right away; she was content to bide her time and allow Lena to finish a couple of the doughnuts before she made her next move.

After the fourth one had disappeared, Lena glared at Ylva, and her friend prepared to duck. The larger girl saw the look on her friend's face and said, "You are getting ready to take evasive action aren't you?"

"Maybe," Ylva said guardedly.

"Don't bother; I know where you sleep, and believe me, you will never see it coming. I'm only really considering two options; the first one involves poisonous snakes, and the second involves iced water."

"Was your date

that

bad?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"So, his dinner wasn't poisonous?"

"Since we both know that you are going to annoy me until I spill my guts, let me say in advance that you are not getting your birthday gift back. You've more than used it up for this year, and since that might have been the dirtiest trick that you've ever played, I think you've used it up for next year too! I can't believe that you made me show up almost two hours early for a date, while you casually broke into his house and then left me to face his reaction all by myself. You realize that you should be deeply ashamed of yourself... but you aren't are you?"

"Okay, okay, I admit it," Ylva started, but then she paused... "Wait a minute, if it went badly, you wouldn't be telling me that I'm not getting my present back. It went

really

well didn't it?"

"Don't change the subject. Just answer the question!"

Ylva was starting to relax. It was looking less and less likely that her friend would be killing her anytime soon, so she decided to play it straight and answer the question... She said, "No, not particularly."

"Yeah, that's what I expected. No story for you then!"

"Oh come on Lena," Ylva whined. "That's not fair! I've already figured out that your date must have gone really well. So you can't be all that mad at me; we both know that you never would have agreed to that date on your own. You just needed a teensy tiny push."

Lena replied incredulously, "A teensy tiny push? Really?!"

"Okay fine... a huge shove that directed you right into the heart of traffic. Better?"

"Uh huh...and?"

"Well. I can't tell you that I'm sorry. Mama taught me not to lie."

"Ha! Like telling me that '

we'

would be having dinner with Lochlainn wasn't a lie!"

"Little white lies don't count!"

"Little?"

"Ok fine, have it your way; it was a big honkin' lie, and I should feel awful about it! Now...tell me about your date!"

Instead of answering directly, Lena asked her friend a question, "Miss Ylva, do you know why Lochlainn wanted us to show up at 9 p.m.?"

"Not a clue, but it seemed awfully late for dinner."

"Oddly enough, and despite the fact that you put him on the spot by inviting us over for dinner, he pivoted quickly and came up with an activity for the three of us."

"Like a threesome?" Ylva said, with a smirk.

"You are

such

a slut, and no, not a threesome. He's got this huge telescope, and he took me star-gazing after he had fed me."

"Oh..."

"Yeah... 'Oh...' He didn't tell us to show up at 9 p.m. just because he was trying to shorten the length of time that he spent with us. He'd set it up that way, so we could eat dinner as it was getting dark...and I think he may have intended to catch a quick nap before we showed up. He'd taken the time to go out and catch fresh trout for dinner!"

"Umm...Oops?"

"Oops? Just 'oops'? Ylva, you are incorrigible!"

"Yeah, but I wanted to set it up so that the two of you could get to know one another before dinner. That way, if you guys didn't click, you could have made it home before nightfall!"

"Uh-huh...and..."

Ylva was improvising now. "...and that way, you two could get all the uncomfortable parts done before your stargazing!"

"Yes Ylva, you got lucky on that one." Lena said snidely.

"Yeah," Ylva grinned maliciously, "but did my sister 'get Lucky'?"

"No Ylva, I did not bang him, although I did kiss him a couple of times."

"How was that?" Ylva asked with a big smile.

"Oh my God... When he kissed me, my knees just about gave out. It was the best kiss of my life!"

"So I get my gift back," Ylva asked hopefully.

"Not a fucking chance, bitch!"

"Yeah...well okay, I probably deserved that, but you'd better not try to get even when your birthday comes up. It sounds like you made out like a bandit on this! Hey, how did he know that you liked stargazing? I didn't tell him!"

"He didn't! It turns out that he loves it. The telescope actually belongs to him, and he'd taken a bunch of astronomy classes in college. He knew more about the constellations than I did."

"So...when's the wedding?"

"Stop it Ylva! It's bad enough that I have to admit that you were right about him being perfect for me."

"So he treated you right and didn't try to jump your bones?"

"Yes...unfortunately."

"Oh my! Our darling Lena is finally growing up!"

"I hate you Ylva!"

"No you don't; you wuvs me... so stop delaying this and tell me every last slobbery detail," Ylva said, putting her chin on her hands as if in rapt attention.

"Well, first things first; I think I may have made a huge mistake last night."

"Oh do tell!"

"I committed to something that I'm already starting to regret. I made the mistake of telling him that I needed my skate-name by tonight... and just how badly I'm stumped for a good one. So he offered to come up with something that I would like by the time tonight's practice started."

"That doesn't seem so bad; what's the problem?"

"Umm... I'd rather you came up with my skate-name," Lena mumbled.

Ylva stared at her friend for a long moment before saying, "You are leaving something out aren't you?"

Lena blew out the breath that she'd been holding before she answered, "I can't tell you that part of it yet, but I'll make you a deal: if you can come up with my skate name, I'll give your birthday request back...but only if you stop pressing me for details. Will that be fair enough?"

Ylva sat back with a stunned expression on her face; this was new. The two of them had always shared everything; Lena had always been an open book to her. She'd never kept any secrets from her bestie before, and negotiating to avoid exposing whatever arrangement that she'd made with Lucky...well, that was almost ominous!

Ylva thought about that for a second, and then she made the only decision that seemed like it would be fun... she said, "Okay girlfriend, we've got about five hours to brainstorm on this before it'll be time for practice, so we'll find you a name, but one day, you are going to have to tell me the whole story. Do we have a deal?"

"Thanks Ylva, I love you!"

The two girls hugged and then spent the next several hours trying out an endless variety of names for Lena. They tried multiple variations of Bear, Grizzly, and Honey, and then they even tried some 'Wolf' names (to link with Ylva's new tag), but not a single one of them had the 'it' factor that Lena was looking for.

First they tried scary names, and then they tried silly names, but none of them really seemed to fit the good-natured, but deep-thinking Lena. Finally, as they were leaving their house and preparing to head out for the roller rink, they settled on the one name that they hated the least. Both of them liked, but didn't exactly love it, so Lena penciled, "Grizzly Elda" on her application card before the two girls headed out the door.

As Ylva was driving them toward practice, Lena started to think that maybe she'd survive this predicament. She hadn't received any texts from Lochlainn today, and she began to hope that maybe he'd forgotten about their arrangement. Maybe he had been called into work or something...but just as the two women stepped out of Ylva's car, Lena's phone received a message with that gentle 'plink' sound.

"Is it him?" Ylva immediately asked.

"Lena reluctantly dragged her phone out of her bag and gave it a quick glance. "Oh God," she said, "It is. I hope it sucks; I don't think that I can pay this off if he wins."

"Pay off..." Ylva said suspiciously. "Like as in a bet?"

Lena nodded nervously, obviously unwilling to read Lochlainn's text message."

"Give it here," Ylva demanded. "I'll read it for you."

Lena's hands shook as she handed Ylva her phone. She had forgotten to breathe.

Ylva slapped the button and quickly read his message. "Oh girlfriend," she said worriedly.

"What," Lena snapped. "What does it say?"

"Here, read it for yourself; but I gotta tell you. I think you are in real trouble here."

Lena read the message and gasped. Ylva was right, Lochlainn's name was much better than anything they'd come up with. His text read, "For my beautiful stargazer, your skate-name should combine your size with your love of the stars. Name yourself 'Ursa Major', or since you are of the fair sex, call yourself 'Ursula Major'. Contact me after your practice and let me know if I've won."

With a stunned look on her face, Lena panicked and said, "Are you ready to go back to the training center now?"

There was no way that Ylva would be deterred any longer. "What did you bet on this Lena? Come on... fess up! I can't help you if you won't let me in. Tell me what you bet on this."

"Lingerie," Lena blurted.

"What do you mean, 'lingerie'?"

Lena took a deep breath and then quickly spat out her entire story. "I promised to wear an emerald green teddy and matching fuck-me pumps for him if he came up with the best name. Oh Lord, I am in so much trouble!"

Ylva's mouth dropped open, but then she started to laugh.

"Shut up, bitch," Lena howled at her friend, but this just incensed Ylva to laugh even louder, with tears beginning to roll down her face.

It took the small girl some time to regain her composure, but Ylva eventually managed to choke out, "All freaking day... you mean that we drove ourselves crazy, all freaking day, just so you could avoid doing something you were dying to do anyway?"

"But..." Lena started.

"No! I will not help you get out of this. You just stop right now! You lost, and you are going to pay-off that bet, and girlfriend... you are going to love doing it!"

"But," Lena started again.

"No! Just shut up. I already know that you don't have any suitable lingerie for this, so I'll order it for you. I know all of your sizes, and besides, you'd just click on standard shipping and then hope that it never showed up at all. When is his next day off?"

"Sunday, I think."

"No problem. I'll make sure everything is here by Thursday. Now, let's go skate; I think you need to work off some of your sexual frustration so you don't kill the poor boy."

"But..." Lena started again.

"Talk to the hand, girlfriend, 'cuz I aint listening," Ylva said blithely as she waltzed into the roller rink.

"I'm in so much trouble," Lena mumbled as she followed her preening friend into the building.

Lochlainn's day had been much less stressful than Lena's had been. For the first time since he'd left the university, he thought that he might have a real direction for the rest of his life. He'd spotted his target and now he just had to reel her in. Thinking of the coming seduction as a challenge, he smiled; Lochlainn loved to fish, and she'd never see him coming!

His first stop was Mike's place as he needed to talk to his boss. "Mike," he said, "I've found my reason for living in Kalispell, but I'm gonna need your help to pursue her. Can I have part of Saturday night off in order to see my reason skate?"

Mike was thrilled to hear that he might be keeping his new bartender, so he immediately agreed to help Lochlainn with whatever he needed. Thinking that Lucky was interested in the small girl, Mike asked about Ylva.

"No boss, not Ylva. I'm interested in her roommate."

Lochlainn saw the look of realization on Mike's face as Mike began to understand that his huge bartender was interested in Mary's huge blocker. He smiled and then mumbled to himself, "Two birds with one stone. Who could have guessed?"

"What was that?" Lochlainn asked.

"Never mind that right now, Lucky. Here's what we will do on game day... No one really arrives at the tavern until the match is over anyway, so we'll just have Earl let himself in with his key."

"Earl has a key?"

"Yeah, if we give it to Jimmy; he usually loses it. That's why we call it 'Jimmying the lock'."

Lochlainn frowned at the bad joke, but he didn't say a word.

Mike continued, "Just make sure that you are the first one out of the rink when the match is over. That way, you can beat the boys back to the bar and be waiting for 'em when they come storming in. That's what I used to do when it was just me running the place by myself. You won't get a post-bout kiss from your gal, but she'll show up here anyway. Fair enough?"

"Thanks boss!"

"Don't thank me; I just want to keep you. I'm tired of running the Tavern by myself."

The two men shook on their deal, and then Lochlainn headed out for his second stop of the day. He headed for a type of establishment that he had not patronized in several years... a barbershop.

Sean O'Hara, the owner and operator of O'Hara's hadn't actually met Lochlainn yet, although he had been warned that there was a large, new Celt in town. Sean had been eager to meet a fellow Celt; his hair was as red as Lochlainn's, if indeed, not nearly as long.

As Lucky walked through the door, Sean bowed theatrically and said, "And it be Tuesday morning; me chair be waitin' just for you, me friend." The barber then pointed to the chair with a flourish and said," What can I do fer ya? Ya don't look like the crew cut type."

Lochlainn snorted at Sean's words, but he sat down and said, "I like it as long as I can get it. Can you just hack off the dead parts and maybe get rid of the tangles?"

"...and what about the beard," Sean replied.

Lucky fingered the beads in his beard momentarily before saying, "same thing."

Sean threw the sheet over his large customer and said, "cé chomh fada is atá tú sa bhaile?"

Lochlainn was surprised, but he responded, "Bhi me mbaile ar feadh 2 seachtain anois."

"Cac naofa," replied a shocked Sean as he spun the chair so the two men could face one another. "Your accent is odd, but you know the old tongue. What are you doing in Kalispell?"

"Well...until yesterday, I was just wandering around aimlessly, but now, I think that maybe I'm going courting."

"Thus the trim?"

"Yup."

"Celtic gal?"

"Nordic for sure, I'm guessing that she's a Swede."

"Not that great lass who skates?"

Lochlainn snorted again before replying, "I keep forgetting how small this town is."

"I'm guessin' that was a 'yes'," Sean said with a wink.

"Yes. That was a 'yes'."

"...and here and I thought she'd probably find herself a wee-man like Mary found for herself."

Lochlainn grinned before replying, "I'm guessing that Jimmy and Earl come into this shop too?"

Sean laughed as he began cutting Lucky's hair, and then said, "Once a week, like clockwork, the old guys usually like to stay tidy."

"Do they always come in together like they do at Mike's?"

"Unless they are fighting about something, and then it's really quiet for awhile."

Lochlainn thought about that for a moment, and then he decided to give in and ask what he'd been wondering, "Are they gay?"

Sean roared in laughter before he regained control and said, "stop making me laugh, I'm gonna mess up your cut. And no, they are not gay, but they have been best friends for at least fifty or sixty years. They've lived in town their whole lives, so if you need to know something that's happened in Kalispell, they will be your 'go-to' guys! They know where every last body is buried."

"So, you are telling me that I shouldn't tell them anything," Lochlainn guessed.

"No, I'm telling you that it wouldn't do you any good to try and keep them in the dark about stuff. They'll just discover all of your secrets anyway."

Lochlainn grunted... after all, he had more secrets to keep than most people.

Sean grinned and then said, "Yeah, that's how most folks tend to react to those two."

The two men chatted for a few more minutes while O'Hara finished Lochlainn's long-delayed trim. Sean did most of the talking, but Lucky did speak more than he had in some time. It may have been because he heard the barber speaking the old tongue, or it may be that he was just happy with his haircut, but the large man seemed to be opening up to those around him. He did know one thing for sure however; he had not looked so sharp in years. When the job was done, Lochlainn gladly paid the bill before asking Sean if there was a decent furniture store in town.