Beyond the Highland Myst(320)
That even my life within thy lips I left.
Sensyne (since then) from thee my spirits
wald never shed.
—To His Mistress/Alexander Montgomerie
* * *
CHAPTER 29
"doona think this means i forgive you for seducing my mother," Circenn said later.
"I didn't ask you to," Adam said with a chiding, paternal expression that made Circenn uncomfortable. "She was irresistible, you know. Rarely has one of our kind successfully bred with a mortal, and had the child survive to maturity. But you Brudes have such life force that it was possible, as I'd suspected when I seduced her."
"You destroyed my father."
"His own jealousy destroyed him. I did not raise a hand against him. And that man had nothing to do with siring you. You are my son, and mine only. No seed of his made you. When Morganna died, I refused to lose you, too."
"So you made me immortal. I hated you for that."
"I know that."
The two men were silent for a time.
"Is it truly possible to alter her future and return her to a better one?" Circenn asked.
"Yes. We will go to her future and change it, twice. Actually," he amended, "we will likely need many trips to her time to get it right. Then we will go to Morar, and we will send her on to the new future."
"But won't she have lived portions of it twice?"
"She will have the equivalent of five years of dual memory."
"Will it damage her mind?"
"Lisa? Need you ask that? The woman is nearly Brude."
Circenn felt a flash of pride. "Aye, that she is." He was silent for a moment. "But I doona understand how to do it."
"Patience. You've been a quick study on your own, you know. I've watched you. I know you use heightened speed, I know you scry, I know you've altered space around you without even being aware of it. We will proceed slowly."
"Slowly is good," Circenn said. "My head pounds with too many strange concepts."
"We will move at a snail's pace," Adam assured him. "There is much to be learned about our kind, Circenn, but you must learn it in stages. The madness doesn't result from immortality. It is an annoying and temporary side effect of our far-vision. We see how everything interconnects, and if you seek that knowledge too quickly, it can make you lose perspective, even cause madness."
"Someday I will be able to see those things too?"
"Yes. I learned too quickly, arrogantly certain that nothing could ever harm me. When the understanding came, it overwhelmed me just as Aoibheal had warned it would. But I will bring you to the knowledge of our race slowly enough that you can absorb it while learning it."
"Adam—the spear," Circenn said hesitantly.
"What of it?" Adam replied, a hint of amusement curving his lip.
"The spear and the sword are the only weapons that can kill immortals. The spear was used to wound Christ."
"You're beginning to see connections. Keep looking."
"But what—"
"You will find your own way. These are the things that must come slowly. You cannot expect to overthrow too quickly everything you've thought was true. You are still a ninth-century man in many ways. There will be plenty of time to talk of these things later. For now, let us concentrate on Lisa, and you discovering who and what you are. This is all I ever wanted from the beginning, Circenn—for you to accept that I am your father and be willing to learn about your heritage. I am the only Tuatha de Danaan who has a full-grown son," he added smugly. "Some of them resent me for it."
Circenn rolled his eyes, and Adam, caught up in adoring himself, ignored it.
"I can teach you to sift time, but a fuller understanding of your abilities will not come for many years. Are you certain you wish to proceed? I will not have you later cry foul and be angry with me again. Five hundred years of your bad temper is all I can stand."
"I am certain. Teach me."
"Come." Adam extended his hand. "Let us begin and regain your mate. Welcome to my world, son."
* * *
Circenn's instruction at Adam's hands commenced the next morning, and the laird of Brodie began slowly to understand what he'd always sensed within him, and feared: the potential for unlimited power. He began to see why it had frightened him, he—a warrior who feared nothing. Such power was terrifying because the ability to use it carried immense responsibilities. What had once seemed a vast unexplored wilderness—his country, Scotland—was now put into astonishing perspective.
There were other worlds, far beyond the one they inhabited. He realized why the Tuatha de Danaan seemed detached to mortals. The tiny bit of land called Scotland and their tiny war for independence was one of millions in the universe.