“Tell me about her. Maybe I can figure it out for myself.”
“All right. Just keep quiet and I’ll tell you everything I can remember.”
Obediently, Gwydion sat on the hearth and kept quiet. Myrrdin sank onto a stool in front of the fire, occasionally stirring the simmering stew. Then he began to speak quietly, lost in his reminiscences.
“I first saw her when she was just a little lass of seven. She was a pretty child, with wide, green eyes and black hair. Her aunt, Llawen, Dudod’s wife, had recently died, drowned in a lake while little Rhiannon was sleeping. I don’t think she ever got over that.
“Rhiannon’s father, Hefeydd, never liked the child, never even saw her until the day that Llawen was drowned. He lost his head that day. Accused the child of killing everyone he loved. Sad, that was, and horrible for the child. Dudod said that she just seemed to close up within herself that day.
“Just a month after that Dudod brought her to Y Ty Dewin. She was clairvoyant and telepathic, you see. At that time I had just become Ardewin. I was busy with my new duties, and didn’t make the time I should have to watch over her.
“She slipped into the life at the college as best she could. She was quiet and shy, never making any trouble. But soon I began to hear that she was disappearing for a few days at a time. She always turned up eventually, never saying a word of where she had been. I discovered that she was slipping off to Neuadd Gorsedd in the hopes of finding her father, who was a teacher there. But he always refused to see her. Finally, after about a year she stopped going. I never tried to stop her. I kept hoping that one day Hefeydd would consent to see her. But he didn’t, and she gave up.
“When she was seventeen she graduated to journeyman. She was still shy and awkward, and felt herself to be plain—although in truth, she wasn’t. She had the most extraordinary eyes. But she was frightened to death of men, and used no arts to attract them. When she returned five years later to graduate as Dewin she had gained some outward confidence but she was still somewhat shy. On the outside she was tougher than ever. And more frightened.
“The day of the graduation, Rhoram was there. He was only the heir to Prydyn then, for his father was still alive. Rhiannon was alluring that day, for she was happy and excited, and she forgot to think that she was plain. Well, you know how Rhoram looks at women. You know how much he likes them. He can make them feel at a glance as though they were the most desirable women in the world. And I saw it happen. She fell in love. He stared at her through the entire ceremony.
“Up until that moment I had planned to send Rhiannon to Rhoram’s court as the Dewin there. But I changed my mind right in the middle of the ceremony, after I saw what was happening. She was too young, too untried to understand that a man like Rhoram would only want her for a short time. You know Rhoram. There’s no harm in him but he’s not the faithful kind. I could see what would happen to her in Rhoram’s court. So I assigned her to another post. To protect her.
“Just after the ceremony word came from Neuadd Gorsedd that Hefeydd was dying and that he had asked to see his daughter. But Rhiannon refused to go. That night Hefeydd died, and the next day a Bard came from Neuadd Gorsedd bearing Hefeydd’s harp. He had left it for her. She took it, stowed it in her saddlebags and left for her new post in Brycheiniog, without a good-bye to anyone.
“Well, she was gone, and I thought I had arranged things so cleverly by sending her out of danger. But I reckoned without Dinaswyn. Unfortunately, the bloodlines of the House of Llyr dictated that Rhiannon should have a child by Rhoram. Believe me, I argued with Dinaswyn long and hard about that. But there was no stopping her. I knew it would be a disaster.
“I tried to help by sending word to Rhiannon that after she became pregnant she was to begin training as my heir. I wanted her to understand that there was a future for her as Ardewin of Kymru when it was over with Rhoram, as I knew it would be, one day.
“Well, she went to Rhoram’s court, as Dinaswyn ordered her to. Rhoram was King by then and his wife had recently died. And you know what happened then. I think Rhoram truly meant to marry her, as he said he would. I really do. But Rhoram wasn’t a one-woman man. Eventually he fell in love with someone else. When Rhiannon found out she left Arberth with the baby. And she hasn’t been seen since.”
Myrrdin sighed. “I realize now that I should have gone to Arberth myself, before she discovered that Rhoram had tired of her. I should have been there to remind her that there was life after the death of love.”
THE TWO MEN were silent for some time. Gwydion was disgusted with Rhiannon and her behavior. Her story had given him no feeling for her pain, only contempt. Did she think she should have been happy? No one was happy. She had thought that love would last and had been angry when it failed. When did love ever last? Love was of no use to anyone. It clouded the mind, it weakened a man. He had done without for many years, and he hadn’t run away like a spoiled child. He had stayed in the world and faced up to his duty.