The ol’ lady has gotten very soddy, she ‘as. Askin’ Kern to make his way to the lost crannog because she fears tha’ if the young lad an’ lass o’ Niall, go into the Crannog wi’out foreknowledge, there will be some danger.

But Kern is ever her faithful servant an’ what she says, Kern does. It’s her daughter, Mai, tha’ Kern canna understand—ol Siobhan is ever knowin’, but the lass is always tellin’ her not to tire ‘erself wi’ seein’, as if the ol’ mother can stop ‘erself!

“Kern, deliver a message to the lad and lass,” Siobhan told, “tell them it’s not their kin that lives in the Crannog. They must be on their guard.”

“An what be these children’s names?”

“They are not so young to be children. I do not know their names. Their father…mother once lived in the Crannog. You will know them.”

“Bu’ milady, wha if the Aracos try to ‘old Kern captive?”

“Don’t be daft man, you’re just a messenger.”

An’ tha’s how she left it. The bairns an’ their family ne’er visited the Brugh so the ol’ lass wouldn’a know them. In o’er sixty years she ne’er left ‘er ‘ouse more than to go to the shore, less than a stone throw away. An so she relies on Kern’s memory…’er ol’ messenger. But Kern’s memory is no’ to be trusted any more either, I think.

An’ so, with walkin’ stick in ‘and, an’ a brim ‘at to cover me baldin’ ‘ead from the sun, Kern set out for the Crannog afore the sun ‘as rose.

An’ just as he nears the Crannog, in th’afternoon, ‘oo shoul’ be arrivin’ right before ‘im than the lass an’ lad Siobhan tol’ me of, in’ tattered greens and browns, on ‘orses no less! For certain they ‘ave the look of Niall about ‘em, fact, a certain ‘ealer ‘oo lived around’ these parts many a year ago bu’ lef’ afore the war wi’ Coirpre’s brood, an’ the scattering.

An’ movin quick enough t’not heed th’ look on the faces afore ‘em an’ Hawk insignia tha’ rests on the chests of most o’ the folk around ‘ere.

“Oy, Lassie an’ Laddie!” usin’ me loudest voice. They young woman turns around, and then her brother turns as well. “Is ye the children’ of Flannan, th’ ‘ealer? Wait up, Kern ‘as a message for ye!”