“Oh, what rot!” Rosie countered. “Shut up and let him finish the story.”
“As I was sayin’, and it sounds like you’re both ahead of me, naturally the boys were both drawn to the same female. The new way of sayin’ it is that they both originated from the same egg that split in two. The old way of sayin’ it was that they were of the same heart and mind.”
“What did the girl do?”
“Ah, the young female. Garineen. A tragic victim is what she was, susceptible to the same matin’ impulse as the princes. She loved the both, no’ one more than the other and could no’ choose between them. It was breakin’ her heart to see them fallin’ out on her account. Thinkin’ she could stop the feud by removin’ herself from the equation, she had one o’ the witches cast a spell to disguise her so that she would be invisible to them.
“I would like to tell you that the story ended there, with the ruin of three lives, but sadly that was no’ the way of it. When the lads deduced that the object of their affection had been hidden by magical means and could no’ be found, well… I was told that they were so enraged that their fury made the seas boil and the earth tremble, but I suspect that part was poetic embellishment.
“The brothers regarded each other with a hatred so complete they could no’ tolerate the idea of occupyin’ the same land mass. ‘Twas at that point the children of Danu split into factions. Some sailed to the west with Galfine and claimed Ireland for their own. Some sailed to the east with Galfae and claimed Scotia for their own. A few stayed on the island of the witches, but no’ many.
“The fin, or elves, of Ireland taught their children to despise the fae of Scotia and t’other way ‘round. Generations went on, separated by the sea and no desire for contact. The speech gradually became different enough so that the Dana could identify one another as elf or fae on hearin’ the tongue spoken. No doubt both clans are of a mind to believe the differences run deeper than a turn of syllable, but ‘tis all there is to it.
Glen and Rosie sat for a couple of minutes in silence as if they were waiting for Finrar to say something else. Finally, Glen cleared his throat and asked, “Why do you think more people don’t question the status quo?”
“Because the thin’ about comfort zones is they’re comfortable. ‘Tis as much philosophy as may be expected from an introverted cave dweller such as myself.”
Glen understood the cue and stood to leave. “It’s way more than I expected to tell you the truth. We thank you very much for your time and for the information. It was, in fact, exactly what we needed.”
“Yes,” Rosie said. “Thank you for the tea. And you have a lovely, um, environment.”
Finrar smiled. “Shall I show you out then?”
“No. No,” Glen said. “We know the way.”
“Well, then.”
“Yep. Going right now. The way we came. Won’t tell a soul we’ve been here.”
After a minute the echo of footsteps had faded into silence.
“You can come out now.”
Deliverance emerged from the shadows. “You know what rhymes with introvert?” Finrar said nothing. “Pervert.”
“Certainly you would know.”
“So what’s the game, Archie?”
“Don’t call me that, demon.” Kellareal resumed his innate form. “You know I’m not an archangel.”
“Sensitive. Again, what are you playing at?”
“It’s no game. It’s Council business, which means it’s none of yours.”
“Maybe not, but my granddaughter is my business.”
“I’m not going to hurt her and you know it.”
“All the same, it won’t hurt for you to know I’m watching.”
The angel sighed. “If you must know, we’re setting the wheels in motion to resolve this elf fae conflict.”
“We?”
“They. The Council.”
Deliverance gaped. “Excuse me while I fall down laughing. The seven of them couldn’t agree on a movie, much less resolve a two-thousand-year-old war. Fairies and pixies sharing a Coke?” He was shaking his head when he said, “Not in this dimension.”