Chosen, Chapter 39: Because I Will Protect You

BrighidThe RealmsThirdday, 4th week of the 7th month, Godless Age 597Early EveningStarchaser village, Mistvale Highlands

Brighid looked up as Aidan came storming into her forge, his face contorted into a scowl. Unsettled by his unusual mood, she did not react at first when he pulled down a leather apron, but by the time he had it tied behind his back, she was moving towards him. He reached for one of her smith's hammers, but she caught his wrist in her hand. "I do not know what happened to make you so angry, but I will not allow you to work in my forge like this."

"Will not allow it?" Aidan hissed, turning on her.

Brighid weathered his anger calmly. "Correct; I will not allow it. Anger and smithcraft do not mix. A smith needs to be calm and precise; anger will rob you of control, ruining the quality of whatever you craft and making dangerous accidents more likely. Go inside and sit down; I will finish this piece, then you can tell me what Mother did to raise your ire so."

"Since when do you give me commands?" Her ears drooped at those words, but she stared him down, unyielding.

"Since you needed to hear them. I love you with all of my heart, and I gladly obey when you command me with pleasure in mind. I am yours, Aidan. You, however, are also mine, and I expect you to listen to me regarding my expertise and your safety. Now, love, please go inside and cool down. I will not be long."

His face sagged, and his eyes fell from hers. "Shit, I was acting just like her. Sorry, flame of my heart." He slipped out of the apron and hung it back on the wall, then hugged Brighid tightly. She kissed him and stroked his cheek, but did not return to the anvil until the door shut behind him. She turned back to her work, but only to retrieve the unfinished blade on the anvil and place it into the sand barrel to cool. She had too much work to do, but nothing was as important to her as Aidan. I will not leave him alone again, whether to fight that city or himself.

When she opened the door of her house a few minutes later, Aidan was seated on her bed, his face buried in his hands, muttering. His words were soft, likely only intended for himself, but her elven ears granted her keen hearing. "The stress is getting to me. I'm not usually that volatile. Fuck, I hate this. I hate living a lie. Having to watch everything I do or say. And what's worse, even keeping everything secret, the whole village despises me." He did not look up as Brighid approached, even though the sound of her hooves on the stone floor was hardly stealthy. "I'm damned if I do and dead if I don't; what a way to live."

Tears stung the corner of Brighid's eyes as she listened to her love's misery. She knelt down in front of him on the bed and gathered him into her arms, nestling his face against her bosom. She felt his tears soak into her shirt; her own splashed down onto her hands as she ran her fingers tenderly through his short hair. She wished she could soothe his wounds, chase away the pain, but the truth was that this was not a fight Brighid could handle. She could not force her people to accept him, and trying would only make matters worse. Still, she doubted that a few glares and whispers would have upset him so severely.

"What happened, Aidan? You said you were 'acting just like her'; did Mother do something? If she did..." Anger swelled in Brighid's heart. Can that witch not leave well enough alone? Is she so far lost that even the power of the Gods does not give her pause any longer?

"Yes, but I don't think it was intentional," Aidan mumbled. "She was excited and thinking out loud; she called me an 'asset,' and I lost my temper, yelled at her, dressed her down. I can see that it was an overreaction, now that you shook me out of my anger." He glanced up at her, ruby eyes rimmed with red. "She asked me what I would want in trade for additional lessons, and I bargained for a lesson in Beast Magic. She was skeptical, but when I was able to cast the starter spell on her, she grew excited. She actually offered to make me her apprentice."

Love welled up in Brighid's heart. Even as he was crying into her chest, Aidan defended his tormentors. His heart was truly in tune with Birgitte's teachings; love thy family, love thy friends, and, most of all, love thy enemies. War brings an end to life, but love brings an end to war. Brighid kissed the top of Aidan's head and told him, "Your generous heart will win over the tribe in time. They only act the way they do because they do not know you. I wish with all my heart that this is a battle I could fight for you, but I cannot. Only time will win this."

Aidan shook his head, and his lips turned up in a slight, wry smile. "Time and quests. I have a quest to get the Council to perform the Rite on me, and among the rewards is increased reputation with the whole tribe. That's the reason I asked your mother to help me with the other Councillors, actually; I get additional rewards, including more reputation, for each of them that votes 'Aye'."

Brighid smiled at him. "See? I know it hurts now, love, but there is a path forward, and I will be by your side the whole way."

A brief flicker of pain crossed Aidan's face. "If I don't chase you away first. I'm sorry about earlier, love. You were right to stop me, and I was so horribly wrong to respond as I did."

"You were," she agreed, "but unlike some others I could name, you would have recognized it and apologized even had I not said anything. I only helped the process along. I forgive your mistake, so long as it does not become a habit."

Her lover stretched his neck upwards and kissed her. As always, the feel of his lips on hers caused Brighid's blood to burn and heart to pound. She parted her lips, inviting his tongue into her mouth, and moaned when he obliged her. The fire inside threatened to consume her when Aidan slipped his hand under her shirt and slid it up onto her breast. When his fingertips found her nipple, she had to summon all of her willpower to break the kiss and gasp, "It will need to be fast. I must be at the town hall tonight, and we will need to wash."

"The whole village will be there, right? Then let them smell us. There are already rumors, so fuck it; I want them to know you are mine." Aidan's growled response sent the flames surging through her, and Brighid allowed herself to sink into the haze of lust that accompanied them.

BrighidThe RealmsThirdday, 4th week of the 7th month, Godless Age 597NightStarchaser village, Mistvale Highlands

As she stood before the Council's platform, Aidan at her side, Brighid was grateful for the distraction he provided. That afternoon, she worried and fretted about what she was about to do. Now, though, with the afterglow still coursing through her, she was too filled with contentment to feel anything else. Even the faint scent of her mate clinging to her fur served as a comforting reassurance rather than being embarrassing; despite his words, Aidan made sure they had enough time for a bath, proving once again that her trust was well-placed. She would have come here reeking of him had he told her to, propriety be damned, but Aidan only used that fact to make the pleasure sweeter for them both. She squeezed his hand; he squeezed back.

While she waited for the meeting to begin, Brighid examined her mother. As usual, Ailis looked like serenity and grace personified. She sat on her cushion, back straight, hair swept behind her neck and over her right shoulder, face carefully composed. Brighid caught her mother looking at her and thought she saw a flash of pain in those icy blue eyes. I wish I could trust that, but I have been used and misled so many times now that I cannot tell whether what she says and does is real or only another manipulation.

It hurt her that she could not bring herself to trust her mother. She still remembered the years before the war, before Ceallach Macht; before Ailis joined the Council. When she had been just a young girl, Brighid's life was full of joy and warmth. She was a curious child, and her mother encouraged it, happily answering every question Brighid asked. There had been no tests, no subtle guidance, no maternal pressure aside from what every child experienced. She had felt safe and loved, almost as much as she did now with her mate beside her.

Brighid leaned down and whispered in Aidan's ear, "You said that Mother offered to take you as an apprentice?" He looked at her curiously—she could almost hear him wondering why she was bringing this up now—but only nodded. "You should take her up on it. She is the best teacher and strongest mage in the village; you would learn much faster with her to guide you than you will on your own. Also, I think that she needs you as much as I do, if in a different way. You help moderate and direct my impulsiveness, but no one would accuse Mother of being spontaneous. Instead, she plots and plans so much that she loses sight of the fact that the pieces she moves in her head are people. I think that, if she had to interact with you every day, she would almost have to re-learn empathy, if only out of self-defense."

"That's if she'll still take me." Aidan sounded dubious. "I was not very kind to her this afternoon; I told her to come down off her throne and get mud on her ivory fur like the rest of us."

Brighid covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a giggle. "Oh, Birgitte, I wish I could have seen that! I bet no one has been so blunt and direct with her in half a decade. She will still have you as an apprentice, love. If there is anything that engages my mother's interest, it is a challenge, and you showed her that you would not just roll over for her. How much time did she give you to accept or decline?"

"Technically, she already declared me her apprentice; I previously told her that I needed to discuss it with you first, so that was part of what set me off. When I left, I told her that I would give her my answer after the Council voted on whether to let me join the tribe."

A short, sharp laugh escaped from Brighid before she was able to stifle it, drawing disapproving looks from the crowd. She ignored them and smiled at Aidan. "Oh, by the Three Flames, that is perfect. She will be stewing on that all week. If you want to really mess with her, pretend that you forgot her offer, make her come to you. Mother does not beg, but she also will not want to let you get away, now that she knows some of what you can do."

"The last thing I want to do is intentionally antagonize her, flame of my heart." Brighid's heart fluttered as it did every time he called her that, and she struggled to focus for a moment.

"It will take more than that to anger her. Even if she realizes that you are doing it intentionally, it will make her more interested in you and more determined to secure you as her apprentice. She will see it as a political maneuver, a reminder that she cannot use you as a pawn, and respect you more for it."

"You're sure?"

"No," Brighid snorted. "Every time I am sure that I have my mother figured out, she manages to outwit me in an entirely new way. However, I am reasonably confident. In the worst case, she withdraws her offer, and you go to the other mages; there will be at least one willing to train you, just for the prestige of having such a talented apprentice. That would be a net loss for you, but not a disaster; there are other skilled mages and teachers in the village. Having only the second or third-best teacher will not meaningfully stunt your growth, you cheater." She nudged him playfully with her elbow.

Aidan stuck his tongue out at her, but before the conversation could devolve further, Fionn strode onto the stage, and the other four Councillors rose to their hooves.

Ailis started the meeting. "A matter has been appealed to the Council before the tribe. Two days hence, Brighid Fireheart returned from a mission for the Council with dire news. She informed me of what she and the human Aidan Lostlorn found at Ceallach Macht; I will let her make that report before us all as part of her appeal, for it is only right to hear it in her own words. After she gave her report, I declared that the village would need to relocate." A susurrus of surprised whispers spread through the crowd; Ailis waited for the noise to die down. "That is the matter which is before the full Council tonight: what will our reaction to her report be?"

Fionn nodded gravely. "Brighid Fireheart, step forward and address the Council."

She squeezed Aidan's hand, then released it as she walked up to the stage. As her Companion, Aidan had the right to accompany her, but they both agreed that it would be best not to set him visibly against the Council in front of the entire tribe. She would stand alone in this, but she knew that her mate was with her in spirit, and she drew strength from his presence. It was time, finally time, to rally the people to retake Ceallach Macht.