It had been a year since Mairenn had disappeared. Conall stumbled to the sea’s edge with a bottle in his hand. He had never been much of a drinker before Mairenn had been taken from him, but it was all he had to cope. He hadn’t been out on his boat since that terrible day, instead opting to spend his days in a drunken haze at the local tavern, but he did visit the sea’s edge almost every night before returning to his lonely shanty. 

     Conall turned toward the sea and stared as the water line receded. Unlike the tide, his pain did not ebb. Though it had been a year already, even the whiskey could not dull his pain. As his eyes looked out past the sea, his sadness turned to anger and Conall threw the bottle at the water in a fit of rage. “How could you do this to me?” Conall yelled at the sea. 

     He continued to stagger down the shoreline until he came upon that boulder that he had visited for the first time a year ago. He came here often to sit alone with his grief. A seal was resting next to the boulder, as though it was waiting for him, but as soon as Conall approached, the seal scurried off into the sea. Conall simply starred out into the horizon, as he did every evening. By now, Conall had completely given up on his hope that Mairenn was still alive and would one day return to him. No one could survive the sea this long.

     He fell into the sand and began to lose consciousness as the waves gently caressed his body. Just as he was drifting out of consciousness completely, Conall felt himself being pulled out to sea by the soothing waves, but he didn’t care. There was nothing left for him on land anyway.

     Conall was vaguely aware of a seal swimming toward him as he was being pulled out to sea. Perhaps it was a spirit of the sea come to take him to were he belonged. He lost his remaining hold on consciousness as a wave bore down on him. 

     Conall awoke some time later, though he could not be sure of the time. He was laying on the floor in his own shanty by the sea, wrapped in furs next to the fireplace that had somehow been lit, though he was sure that he had put the fire out before leaving for the tavern. But how did he get here? The last thing he remembered was being pulled out to sea by the waves. The image of the sea flashed through his head, but this image meant nothing. Conall looked around the room. He saw the silhouette of another person standing in the doorway. 

     ”Who are you?” Conall asked. A sense of fear stained his voice. “And how did I get here.” The figure turned toward him. Conall could see now that it was a woman. She seemed to be illuminated by the light from the full moon in the night sky. Something about her seemed so familiar to Conall. 

     Conall watched as her red hair moved in the moonlight. Her green eyes seemed to pierce right through him. She looked just like his Mairenn and he was overcome with joy. But this joy was short lived, for, while the resemblance was staggering, this woman was much younger than Mairenn was at the time she was lost at sea. But, oh, she looked just like his wife when they had first met.

     ”My name is Moira,” the woman replied hauntingly. “I rescued you from the sea, and brought you back here. You were unconscious.”

     ”But how did you know where I live?” Conall asked bewildered. “And what were you doing in the water?” The woman did not answer either question and knelt down next to the fire. Conall watched as she stared into the fireplace. She seemed to be looking past the flames.

     ”Well, where are you from?” Conall asked the woman. She turned her head to look at him. 

     ”I cannot tell you,” Moira replied. “But I am here for you now. I will stay with you as long as you need me.”

     ”But why?” Conall asked. This didn’t make any sense. Who was this woman, and where did she come from? Why was she taking care of him? And why was she in the sea to begin with? Perhaps he was still unconscious and this was all but a dream. 

     Conall looked into her eyes and lost himself. For a moment he thought he was back with Mairenn, but he quickly snapped back to reality. Mairenn was gone, and no matter how much Moira looked like her, Mairenn was never coming back.

     ”Just get some rest,” Moira said. “Don’t worry, I’ll still be here when you awaken.” Even her voice sounded like Mairenn’s, Conall thought. How could the Gods have been so cruel as to send him a living reminder of everything he had lost? 

     Moira caressed Conall’s cheek as he drifted off to sleep again. Her touch was like a soothing wave that calmed his entire body. He hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in a year without Mairenn by his side, but he felt completely at ease as he drifted off to dreams. 

Chapter 2

Chapter 4