"Fianna, A Conversation" by Anne M. Leath

“How long have you been together?” The shaky voice of the new feoil belied much trepidation about the week’s upcoming events.

Maggie raised her eyebrow at the young elf and smiled a wide grin, “Me and Angus? Time outta mind.  I don’t remember anymore.  Been together a while I reckon.”  She raised her arm and fired several rounds into the target at the opposite end of the range.  “He’s not a bad shot for a feine.  Can handle a weapon fairly well.  When he’s not clogging it full of dirt and jamming the trigger sensor.”   She disengaged the clip and took her gloves off sitting down on the well-worn tree stump nearby. 

“Are most of them not good with guns then?” Sinead looked at her briefly and Maggie noticed her quickly averting her eyes.

“Most of em’ aren’t good with hardware, tactics, weapons, combat—‘cept magical.   And of course, the practical matters of day to day.  Its not that they aren’t wise—they are the feine, after all.  It’s just—they have a lot on their minds.  They think much differently, and need to reenergize they magic frequently, not a lot of time for the mundane.  No pun intended.”

Maggie leaned back, arms behind her, as she crossed her legs and motioned with her boot at the unused target ahead of the woman.  “You gonna shoot at that or what?”

“Oh.”  Sinead turned and pulled her goggles on, “sorry.” 

Maggie watched her empty her ammo and narrowed her eyes, “not bad.”

“Yeah, have to say I prefer demolitions.”

“Well, Morna says you’re pretty good at it.  We all find our talents.”

“How do they know who to pair you with? I mean, is it based on what you’re good at?” Sinead holstered her weapon and leaned against the railing.

“I’m sure ‘tis part of it.  Who knows.  It’s not for a feoil to question.”  Maggie shrugged nonchalantly and stretched her head back, catlike. “We never know.  It always seems to work out, and if it doesn’t…it doesn’t.”

Maggie saw Sinead pale slightly at her answer.  She responded quickly, recognizing the jitters common to new feoil before they were bonded, “Look.  I am sure that you will be fine my dear.  You’re young and strong and a good, loyal girl.  Any feine would be lucky to have you.”

“But I’ve no experience in this kind of thing.” She swallowed thickly.

“None of us did, hon.  That’s why you’re training now.  You just take care of your feine, you’ll know it in your heart, it will be there, sometimes sooner, sometimes later.  It comes.” She continued evenly, “the feine use our energy sometimes for a complicated spell or one that they need to pack more power into…but we also protect them and take care of them.  They wield the magic that will save Eire, that will save us all.” She looked at the new feoil and smiled.

“Did you and Angus take to each other well at first?”

Maggie laughed heartily and shrugged.  “I guess that depends on which one of us you ask.” 

“Well, they say you two have been here forever—“

“Well that makes me feel young.” Maggie stated sarcastically.

“No, its just you’re the pair they point to when they tell us what its like.”

“Oh god, I hope they aren’t settin’ us up as an ideal example!” she continued to laugh, “We’re alright I suppose.” She winked at Sinead and sat forward, leaning on her knees with crossed arms, “We were lucky, we had a tight bond at the beginning, got us through our working out period.”

Sinead squatted down and traced her finger down the steel post of the fence, “What is the ceremony like then, how do they pair you?”

Maggie could tell she was still worried about the actual pairing, whether it would work out.  It was a common fear, one that she herself had at the time of her bonding.  “I don’t really remember, to be honest.  Not many of us do.  Or maybe we remember different things.” She gazed off at the sky, purple eyes reflecting the clouds rolling in, “The feine are fresh from their Ordeal..I know that.  They don’t talk about it much.” She remembered Angus telling her when she had asked, she remembered the strain that it took for him to put it to words and it was something she would not repeat. It was different in a way, for all the feine.  “You each will fast and have the ceremonial bath…and then..I don’t know, you just—wake up with them the following morning, or night…I am not clear.” She blushed.

“Does it ever not take? That is, what if the bond is weak?” Sinead wrapped her arm around the post and leaned in, her cheek against the metal.

“Sometimes.” Maggie closed her eyes and nodded remembering the faces of a few she had known to have a bad go of it.  “They usually don’t last long.” Her face grew solemn. “Sometimes, if the feine is too hot-headed or isn’t conscious of their limitations, the feoil pays the price.” She bit her lip and reddened slightly, “I shouldn’t say that.  It is not right for me to worry you.  And I should not speak badly of the feine, they’re job is a complicated one.”  She sighed, “And it’s not one or t’others fault always, sometimes the bond just doesn’t take-- that’s rare, or things happen.  This is a dangerous life.” She hesitated a moment before continuing, “ There are some, like Angus, that have had a different feoil before..” Her voice trailed off as she tried not to think about this.  It wasn’t something she let her mind think on often, but there were some mages that were re-paired with new feoil when their own had died.  She tried to place the thought in that part of her that was the soldier and keep it far from the part of her that was Angus’ wife.  “They won’t treat your sacrifice coolly Sinead, they bear the burden that we will never know... their life force can go on without ours, but a feoil never survives the loss of their feine.” She stared off silently.

“You said something about a ‘working out’ period?” Sinead smiled slightly trying to lighten the conversation after some time had passed.

Maggie came back to her senses slowly and forced a smile, “Oh, well—everyone goes through it.  Well, maybe that’s a lie too.” She grinned, “I was a bit hard headed back then…still am.  Still, everyone has to get used to t’other.”

“Some of us are still working on that last part.” Said a gruff voice from behind Maggie. 

She grinned and reached her hand back to take that of her feine.  Angus bowed his head to Sinead and winked at Maggie, setting his pipe back into the corner of his mouth as he looked up at the sky.  “Looks like rain Margaret.”

“See? Brilliant observers, the feine.” Maggie chuckled and stood up rolling her eyes skyward.

He gave her a dry look and dusted off the front of his jacket, “Pay her no mind, she is cheeky in her old age.”

“Well, I should hope than when I finally am old, as you, I will still be cheeky.” Maggie smiled and placed her hand on his shoulder, “We’re up to grab some supper at the mess Sinead, you want to come with?”

The brown-haired girl smiled and rose from her position, “Sounds great.”  She fell into step with the pair as they walked up the hill to the mess hall. “So is it true that you are married as well?”

Angus coughed slightly and held the pipe in one hand gesturing as he had wrapped the other around his feoil’s waist, “Shhh. Don’t use the M-word around my Margaret, ‘tis a bit like mentioning a bridle to a wild horse..”

“Go on you!” Maggie bumped him with her hip and frowned in mock-offense, “Aye—tis true I married him, though God knows why.”

“See.” Angus raised an eyebrow, “Already bucking and rearing at the thought again.”

Maggie tried to refrain from smiling, having been caught in the trap he had laid, damned if I didn’t prove him right.