Chapter 17: Concerning the Celts
Returning to the round guest house felt like coming home after a hard day’s work. They were all utterly exhausted, yet they had returned without the black cat, who had accepted Arr’s invitation and was now making a reconnaissance tour of the circular hillfort.
The plan was to blend into the local landscape without drawing attention to themselves until the waters in Oweynagat had receded and a safe return home became possible.
Seated side by side on one of the sleeping benches with blankets draped over their shoulders, Anemo and Remi discussed things calmly, having Sirocco and Aeolus practically curled up on them.
"Aeolus, it wouldn’t hurt if you told us just about everything we ought to know about the Celts in the territory of Ireland, around the year one or two Before Christ!" Anemo said, stroking the back of Sirocco who, huddled in his arms in human form, was asleep but remained highly active, dreaming of goodness knows what.
"I shall try to condense everything I know and consider important for ensuring our survival, because I find their society both fascinating and paradoxical," the little mouse on Remi’s knee replied. "Only you, with your writers’ minds, can fully comprehend its complexity."
"Paradoxical? What do you mean?" Remi asked, running her index finger along the mouse’s spine.
"Oh, ma belle, as Mistral would say, for you—the one who wrote 'Women Cannot Be Tamed'—it will be a true delight to learn that the women in their society are indeed not tamed by the men of this era. They enjoy equal status; they hold astonishing rights according to the local laws. They can own property, inherit land, and have the legal right to divorce if their husbands fail to respect them. You already know about the trial marriage..."
"That is a concept which would be extremely useful in modern society," Remi interjected immediately. "Just think of how many failed marriages exist and how expensive divorce is."
"Furthermore, they have the right to study," Aeolus continued. "They can even be druids, as you yourselves have seen. They are trained in weaponry just like the men and fight side by side with them if necessary. Their community is quite close-knit; families assist one another and raise their children together, because to the Celts, family does not mean merely a mother, a father, and children. The basic unit is the fine—a vast structure comprising four generations related through the paternal line. They own the land in common, share the fines if a member commits a wrong, and take vengeance together if anyone is harmed. When Mother Rorria and the king breathed a sigh of relief at dinner, they did so because they can now view you as human beings whom they can temporarily integrate into the dynamics of their household, without the fear that a deity might destroy their crops out of pure caprice. Their society is not an empire, but a federation of small, independent kingdoms. A man’s loyalty belongs exclusively to his tribe. As strangers without a tuath, you are... we are completely outside the law, but our good fortune is that we are protected by an even more powerful concept: the extended family."
"And the druids?" Anemo asked. "I’ve read a bit about them, but in my mind, only images from historical fantasy films remain... I never truly understood much."
"The druids fascinate me the most!" Aeolus said. "Just think what high-performance brains these people must possess if all accumulated knowledge is transmitted by word of mouth... everything is memorised. They have that writing system inspired by trees, yet they do not record their knowledge; everything remains secret, known only to them. The training of a druid takes place over the course of twenty years. Can you imagine?"
"Brr," Anemo shuddered. "What are they, magi?"
"Druids are no mere priests or common wizards. They represent the supreme intellectual elite: judges, physicians, astronomers, and advisers to kings. A druid’s word carries greater weight than that of the Rí. If a druid steps between two armies poised for battle, the fighting ceases instantly."
"It gives me the shivers, boys! I haven’t mentioned it until now, but the old druid who met us whilst chanting that prophecy describing us looks spit and image in his features to the High Priest Ay of Amarna. That one had no hair or beard, but... even their vocal timbre is similar... upon my word."
"They memorise tens of thousands of verses, laws, constellations, and secrets of nature. Therefore, when the Chief Druid uttered a prophecy regarding the Oweynagat cave, the entire tribe took it as absolute truth. The fact that you have stated you are mortals will not make the druid believe he was mistaken; he will logically analyse every detail through the prism of his vast knowledge to find your place in the equation. Brr, it’s making me cold too! And besides you, I have an extremely serious reason of my own for concern... You saw for yourselves what their cats look like. Well, whilst Mistral will probably feel very valuable, he has good reason to, since a cat is worth as much as three cows. Yes, yes, you heard correctly, three cows! Whereas mice and rodents in general are pests and hunted by these super-cats. If someone strikes a cat, they must pay serious compensation, whereas if they kill a mouse... nothing happens, there is no punishment... possibly a reward!" Aeolus sighed deeply. "You realise that I dare not even poke my head out into the world on Mistral’s back anymore. And now, the traitor has found himself a sweetheart!"
"Do not despair, Aeolus, they still believe we are gods, so they will not touch you. The Rí and his family are our allies; they will not betray us. Besides, that boy... one of the twins, I believe, is preparing to become a druid and is practicing his Ogham script because of it. Well, the boy said that it was us the druid’s prophecy spoke of, and from the way he repeated it to me, I don’t know how to tell you, but it seemed to make sense."
Remi began to recite the druid’s prophecy in a low voice, almost a whisper:
" 'Two from the fire in the sun' are you and I, Anemo, coming from Egypt, and 'Three from the cold and the rain' are them, the furry ones coming from Ireland."
Anemo continued, as if spellbound:
" 'Winds come in foreign garb from the depths', meaning from the cave, 'From mists, from tomorrow and yesterday'... Remi was there, in the wall of ether in ancient Egypt..."
Aeolus spoke the remainder of the incantation in his tiny voice:
" 'When hunger assails us
May it find solace
Three from the cold and the green
Two from the sand that vanishes
Winds come from yesterday and tomorrow
To quench hatred and hunger with bread'... that is us. We all have the names of winds. All of us. Even Remi, who is a storm, is also Bise by her official cat name."
Anemo held Remi by the shoulders and they looked at each other for a minute in silence, after which they found themselves speaking both at once:
"Do you remember?"
"Do you remember?"
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