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"Excellent," Fand said "Please let hione Manannan must have been close behind him, for he entered almost as soon as the faery disappeared, a scowl on his face
"What’s this?" he said without greeting us, eyeing Granuaile’s bare arht hand It was etched with knotwork, so it was probably a na in the sea "Siodhachan, I thought you were binding her to the earth"
"I was, but ere interrupted," I said
"Interrupted?"
Before he could ask by whoht have a private word, Manannan?" The sea god’s eyes flicked to his wife and back to us, and then he nodded
"Of course"
It wasn’t Fand I orried about but rather her faeries I bowed to the lady of the castle "Fand, your hospitality reendary Please excuse us"
"You are welcome anytime," she replied
We followed Manannan to a roolass Granuaile’s li Mell, the bacon of youth, and the plate of good health A faery ducked out just as we entered, saying the fire had been laid The hearth gloarmly in contrast to the cold appointray stone lined the walls, and on these rested books bound in leather and various objets d’art There was an enorue of an open oyster shell, softly gloith reflected firelight Four golden high-backed armchairs with dark blue cushions waited in front of the hearth for us to be seated, and Oberon leapt onto one, considering hi conversation
"The faeries juet to sit in a comfy chair"
Manannan raised an eyebrow at Oberon’s behavior but made no comment His eyes turned to the door and lost focus--or, rather, refocused in theand sealed us in; no one outside the room would be able to hear us Unless …
I turned on ht have been up to in here I trusted Manannan implicitly, but he lived in a castle full of the Fae and he wasn’t around often to watch the on the oyster shell--subtle but barely discernible against the natural shis Unfas over here?" I pointed at the shell He stepped closer and peered at the
"I’ht be hars in me own library Especially when I want privacy"
He unbound the knots and they fizzled away, leaving only the shell behind
"We should look for ested "I want to be sure no one else hears e have to say"
"That bad, eh?"
"Aye"
"It ht be better for us to leave the castle entirely, then," Granuaile said "Shift to somewhere isolated on earth, where on’t be overheard"
"I know just the place," Manannan said "Not another word until we’re there"
We followed him out of the castle in silence to a tethered tree, and then we shifted, following his lead, to Emhain Ablach, the Isle of Apples I’d never been to this particular Irish plane, but it was i else, with the ocean behind us and an orchard in front of us
"All right, what is it?" Manannan asked
"Pie!" Granuaile said, delighted with the scent filling her nostrils
"Yeah, but it’s a fruit pie If you want ie promised land, the Land of Canine Instead of milk and honey, there’s steak and kidney"
"Pie is the probleod of the sea looked lost
"No, that’s not the problem," I clarified "Manannan, ere set upon by a band of assassins on Mount Olympus"
"A band?"
"Yewmen and some others They meant to kill us They poisoned a steak and left it forofwith the Svartálfar"
We recounted the whole harrowing tale and watched storate," he said
"That is kind of you," I replied "But htn’t you have any ideas now about who’s responsible?"
Manannan sighed "Ye haven’t been keeping up with the Court, that’s sure," he said "These days it could be almost any faery ye point to"
I frowned "Am I that out of favor?"
"I’m afraid ye are And ye did yourself no favors a while back with your audience Now that Aenghus Óg is dead andin brickshittin’ fear of a coup attean"--he suddenly balled his fist underpain--"and I’ll crush your scrotuulped "Very well I shan’t speak a word of it"
His fist returned to his side "Good Nohat ye have to understand is, there are plenty of Fae in Brighid’s caan because they can’t count ye on the side of Brighid They have half the brains of a pickled herring, we all know it, and so ye can iine how their fancies are runnin’ ahat little sense they have To their way of thinkin’, eli threat of the Morrigan They figure she’ll never finish that aed "I haven’t shown her the last part of the process That doesn’t mean she needs to be shown She knows the theory She could finish it without --can we call ’ehid if they can do anything to thwart the Morrigan They’re probably right, if we’re honest But o’ course none o’ theainst the battle crow Wave and tide, I don’t think I would have the spine t’do that! So they’ve decided you’re a tad easier to kill Nothin’ personal, y’see It’s not your fault that your life is in the way of their personal aht Now, there is one way I can think of to get the Pickled Herring off yer back for good"
"What’s that?"
"Ye could becohid’s consort"
"No way!" Granuaile, who’d been silently enjoying the s Oberon, clapped her hand over her mouth as Manannan and I turned to her