Part 2

In which a tryst is formed.

Part 2

 

"Aislinn, you need to find a man and settle down. It doesn’t do well for the people to talk about thee," stated Aislinn’s father, "especially with these nighttime visits of yours, they believe that thou have a tryst or even a dight going on with some lover! Dost thou want to create a fare?"

 

Aislinn looked up from her sewing at her father. She studied him, thinking of how to answer, "If I was to be with a man, he must be very gentil, I would be fayn to be with him. He must know of the malisoun if we were to be together." With that Aislinn turned back to her sewing. Tonight was the full moon; Luna would be at its brightest tonight, her tryst was with Darach who she had not seen for a while. Aislinn sincerely hoped he would remember their meeting.

 

Placing what she had been sewing down gently upon the banister, she went into her room. She locked the door quietly and sat on her bed watching Luna slowly rise in the sky. Aislinn picked up the brush beside her and began to brush her blonde hair, waiting patiently. Thankfully her family had been rich enough so that she did not have to share a room, her dame being an amazing cloth maker, her father a great potter, her brothers’ great knights, and her sister a merchant. Aislinn herself was a great mage, but it was kept quiet fearing repercussions from the townspeople.

 

Aislinn placed the brush down on the dresser; she stood and stripped off the dress bathing in the light of Luna’s fullness. She quickly dressed in dark tunic and pants; she then bound her hair up. Aislinn prayed that no one would notice her escape. She slipped out the window and tumbled out with a mutable thump. Quickly, Aislinn slipped into the woods, hoping to go unnoticed.

 

She broke into a run to her grove, her heart pounding in her chest, whether in fear or in hopefulness, she did not know. She stopped for a moment bending down to catch her rigid breath. Aislinn then walked into the grove calm and not expecting. There he stood bathed in the moonlight. What a glorious site of a Sidhe Lord! Darach was dressed in fine clothes looking ever a gentil Lord. Gracing his head was a circlet of his rank among the Sidhe nation. Darach extended a hand out for her to take and she placed her gently in his in good faith.

 

"Aislinn, thee looks like a cat on the blackest of nights," Darach said with a growing smile.

 

"Thee may saith so of me what you think, but I am proud of my night clothes," Aislinn grumbled.

 

"I did not mean to tread upon such great honour," he joked in an apologetic tone.
 

"M’lord, tis fine with me."

 

"I told you Aislinn, pleased call me Darach, I am thy freend, unless thee has wont of me calling thou m’lady." Darach’s voice promising her she would if she continued.

 

"Alright," Aislinn replied, touching his cheek gently. He seemed so cadaverous and otherworldly, almost translucent in this quality. Darach’s eyes fluttered close as she caressed his cheek. He was real, he was really with her. A smile appeared on his lips; his hand lifted up and held her hand in his. Beautiful eyes opened and looking at her; the colour of his eyes contrasted brown and emerald reflecting wildness, feralness, fierceness – and…something else she could not identify entirely, she was worth in his eyes to be a companion, to be a friend.

 

"Are thou ready to go…" his voice trailed off into the moonlight grove. Aislinn smiled and nodded. He whistled and a most noble white horse appeared. The gentil horse glowed in the moonlight, for it was of no normal breeding. He was of the noble breeds of horses maintained by the Sidhe.

"She is the daughter of horse lords. Beautiful is she not?" Darach smiled at Aislinn’s apparent admiration which filled her eyes.

 

"Yes, does she have a name?" The horse trotted up to them. Moonlight glow glinted off the horse’s mane. Aislinn gently touched its nose and the horse snorted.

 

"Nay, it is not the Sidhe way to name such noble creatures." Aislinn smiled.

 

"I am ready to go-" Aislinn caught herself from saying m’lord.

 

Darach rubbed Aislinn’s hair fondly in a brotherly way. Her pins fell out and her hair tumbled down part her shoulders. Aislinn glared up at him, and then sighed.

 

"Sorry," he said quietly.

 

She nodded only smiling slightly, "It is…okay. We better not be late, Sir Darach."

 

"You are not calling me that either," he grumbled angrily as he helped her mount up on the horse and then mounted up behind her. They were going to ride bare back. The Sidhe never claimed animals as their own and would not hinder them in such ways. Sidhe believed all animals to be their friends, unless of course, they were rabid. Darach set the horse on a light trot out of the forest and then became a canter when they broke free of the dark moonlit forest. Aislinn stared around, her eyes trying to capture every sight and her body tried to memorize all that she felt – it was if she was flying through the forest. Yes, Aislinn was blissful, upon a noble horse with a new friend.

 

"Enjoying yourself," he inquired in a whisper beside her ear. It startled her - the hot air of his breath instead of the cool air of the night made goose bumps run down her spine.

 

Aislinn smiled, her teeth flashing white in the darkness, "Yes. How long till we art there, Darach?"

 

Darach chuckled, his green eyes flashing concupiscence, "Finally you call me by name! No ‘tis not much longer till we are there at the circle, we must stop just before. It would be considered rude if we rode into the Moon Circle, this is not Samhain, dear."

 

"That is acceptable!" In a way, all too quickly the horse stopped and Darach descend from the horse. He slid Aislinn off the horse tenderly and let her feet meet the ground. Aislinn beamed again, her face radiating light through her eyes. How a spark seemed to be ignited by each and every smile that was for him. Her happiness glinted in her eyes. He did not notice the flicker of something bestial that lay inside her. Soon, the dance of the Sidhe would begin.