There were days when Mider really wished he were anything but a pixie.
This was one of those days.
Mider sighed as he watched the young human girl picking flowers in the Stone Valley. Her long golden hair was braided into a long ponytail down her back, her blue eyes twinkling with mischief, her skin lightly tanned. She wore a green, shimmering court-dress; and Mider knew all about her. Gabrielle, Garrett of Reghed's sister.
The little man also doubted very highly that she would ever have anything to do with him if he were human sized. Of course, look how Aideen had turned out after Maeve had made HER human sized. Maybe if Maeve would do that for him; just for a day or two; he could speak to Gabrielle, one on one, human to human.
Yes; that was the right idea. Now that he was no longer evil; and couldn't care less for any throne; perhaps Maeve wouldn't mind doing him this one little favor...
"Mider! Please; don't hurt me!" Maeve said, backing away from the little man. Mider held up his hands.
"I'm not a bad guy now, Maeve! I've changed, I swear! I just have one little favor to ask of you..."
Maeve tilted her head and narrowed her eyes uncertainly.
"What would that be?"
"Make me human-sized, Maeve. Please; it isn't a matter of crowns or kingdoms, but of...love."
"Love? You...Mider, who could you possibly love that requires you to be human-sized?"
Mider smiled wistfully, and Maeve had to force her laughter back in her throat. He had the...dumbest grin on his face that she'd ever seen...
"Gabrielle," he whispered, and Maeve smiled, nodding.
"Alright. I may as well; but I have no magic powers. They left when Torq used his second wish to save my life."
"I will lend you enough," Mider said, pointing his fingers at her. A shaft of green flowed from Mider to Maeve, and she pointed her fingers back at him.
"Magic of the very wise, I now make you human-size!"
Mider began to grow taller, more handsome. The pixie marks on his forehead disappeared, his hair became shorter, his fingernails nice and pink; no longer long and black. Instead of the smooth face of a young pixie, Mider grew a small pointed beard and mustache. His clothing changed, becoming those of a well-off human male; a kilt in red, blue, white, and green, a white poet's blouse with buttons undone and sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows. He had soft brown leather boots laced up to mid-calf, socks up to the knee. All in all so handsome a creature that Maeve herself would have considered...if she weren't married to Torq, who had recently taken to wearing a similar costume, except his plaids were in shades of brown with two thin white stripes.
"Thank you, Maeve," Mider said, turning in an effort to look at himself. "I think Gabrielle will like me in these clothes, at this size," he said happily and hurried out of the castle to go find the girl of his dreams.
"ANGUS!"
The thief hid beneath the druid's bed as Cathbad cried his name, angrily at that. *I knew better than to take HIS plum tarts!* Angus thought wryly, unwrapping the pastry even as he thought it.
"If it's the last thing I do today," Cathbad said, loudly enough that the young man could hear him should he be near, "I'll make sure that boy regrets taking what is not his!"
Great, Angus, just great. Now you've made him angry! What next!
"Angus! He's gone," said Rohan, reaching under the bed and pulling his friend out by the ankle. As Angus brushed himself off, Rohan crossed his arms over his broad chest and shook his head. "You have to find a better hiding place than that, my friend."
"Rohan, when something works that well for eleven years, you don't tinker with it," he replied, speaking of the bed. The warrior shook his head at the grinning thief.
"Well, anyway; have you heard the news? My mother made Mider human so that he could chat up Garrett's sister."
"Ah, really? Good for him, then. Meanwhile; I'm taking Bridie on a picnic."
"Really? Deirdre and I are going riding in the Blackwater Valley. Maybe...a bit more than riding horses, wouldn't you say?"
"Sure Rohan. I'll wish you luck if you'll wish me luck."
"Now remember Angus; we made a vow when we were kids; 'no ding-ding without the wedding ring', remember?"
Laughing at the childish rhyme, Angus nodded, clapping his friend on the back.
"I remember."
Mider watched Gabrielle as she placed another bundle of flowers in her basket. He leaned against a towering oak, his arms crossed over his chest, and smiled.
"Hello, Gabrielle," he said. The girl jumped a little, then looked at him and smiled.
"I know you," she said, setting down her basket and approaching him as she dusted grass and dirt from her palms. "You're Lord Mider. Queen Maeve has told me much of you."
"And I know you. Princess Gabrielle of Reghed. I've been watching you today; picking flowers like some village maiden; a princess should have servants doing such things for her..." Mider took Gabrielle's hand, turning it over and removing a sliver from one of the fingers she'd been worrying at. "Otherwise you end up getting things like this in your hands. And you have such nice hands..."
"Do I really?" Gabrielle asked, blushing as she brushed a long strand of hair behind one ear. "I've never noticed myself..."
"But others notice," Mider said. He took a step nearer to her. "I noticed, didn't I?"
Gabrielle nodded, and Mider retreated a step, as if being too close to her might make him do something he would regret.
"Would you like to go for a picnic?" He asked, not releasing her hand as she bent to pick up her basket and they walked along a wooded path. Gabrielle smiled.
"Alone with a handsome young stranger and no escort?" She asked, a rueful grin crossing her face. She nodded eagerly. "Let's go!"
"Angus; where are we going?" Bridie asked, clutching his arm as he led the blindfolded young woman into the woods.
"You'll see," he replied, grinning as he sat her down on a soft blanket. With gentle fingers he pried the blindfold loose, letting it fall from her eyes to rest on the soft black dirt. "It's where we first met," he whispered in her ear as she looked around.
"The glen at the Boyne River," she grinned ruefully. "I can't believe you remembered this place; I didn't think you saw much after I threw you into the river."
"I saw nothing but you, my darling princess," Angus replied as he kissed her. Drawing back, he ran his fingers through Bridie's hair. "I'm amazed I lived for so long without seeing your face every day. I saw you in my thoughts...in my dreams as I slept...but I couldn't really bear the thought of living without holding you in my arms," he said, looking deeply into her eyes. "Promise me you'll never leave this place again."
"You mean the valley?" Bridie teased. Angus shook his head, tracing his finger along her arm, making her shudder.
"I mean Ireland. Your home. OUR home."
Bridie nodded, pressing her nose and forehead to his.
"I promise. I'll never leave again."
Angus seemed suddenly nervous, glancing down at his shoes, licking his lips. Bridie took his hand and squeezed gently, willing him to look at her even as she tucked her own chin to look into his eyes.
"Angus what is it?"
"There's something I've been meaning to ask you, since even before you...you know. Died." Angus said breathlessly. A moment passed in which he held his breath and then exhaled excruciatingly slow. "I'll be asking for your hand, then," he said. "Your hand in marriage."
For the two lovers, time stood still. Bridie felt as though she were about to faint, and her hand flew up to her mouth as she smiled and began to laugh. She nodded, at first hesitantly, then fast as lightning.
"Yes, I'll marry you," she said softly, and Angus picked her up in his arms, holding her close as he twirled around with the love of his life held so close to his heart.
"Rohan, this was a wonderful idea, thank you," Deirdre said as she and the young man paused by the river. "I'm glad not to be back at the castle with father and the chieftains."
Rohan dismounted in one smooth leap, tossing Moonlight's reins over a fallen log as he reached around Deirdre's waist to lift her off of Leandra.
"It can't be all that bad, can it?" He asked softly as they settled within a hollow tree. "I mean, I've always envied the fact that you got to make such decisions about the future of Kells..."
"And now we're even," Deirdre replied as she fiddled with the laces of Rohan's boots. "You are free to make such decisions about Temra..."
"But it's not the same," Rohan said. "Kells has always been my home...my kingdom...and Temra the enemy of myself and that kingdom. Now I am the prince of Temra; it's a situation I don't admire and would wish on no man...not even Torq."
"Everything has changed so fast, Rohan. It's like...all of the pieces are falling into place."
Rohan nodded.
"I wonder what Angus and Bridie are up to..." He thought out loud.
"I don't think that's a safe question to ask," Deirdre replied with a grin on her face. Rohan tilted his head back to look into her eyes, and she looked away, her eyes dancing.
"Why not," Rohan asked. The princess shrugged.
"It's just not, that's all," she said. She wouldn't elaborate, and Rohan took advantage of her silence...and her mouth...
"Mider, really; you're a very nice man and all, but I'm not ready for marriage. Nor would my brother agree to it; I am a princess...you're a fairy disguised as a human. Where would such a relationship lead us to?"
"Anywhere we wished!" Mider replied as he tried to catch Gabrielle's eye. She shook her head.
"All this," she said, referring to his choice to be made human, "for nothing."
"For you," Mider said.
"No," Gabrielle whispered. "For the hope that I would love you. Human hearts..." she said, trying to explain yet let him down gently, "...human hearts don't work that way."
Mider's head fell, his chin touching his chest.
"I tried to fool you, Gabrielle," he said. "I'm sorry. But from the moment I saw you, out there, in that meadow, picking wildflowers, I felt...that feeling...that you humans call love. And now I am doomed to walk the earth as a human...mortal..."
Gabrielle placed her hand on his arm.
"When Garrett returns to his homeland, you may go with him as his bodyguard," she said. "You can make a new life for yourself there, in Rheged. And still be near me, as my friend."
Mider nodded and smiled warmly at the young woman, and they returned to the castle.
Xena was there when the three couples returned.
"Numaine tried to attack the castle while you were away," she said, her sword still in hand, the blade still streaked with blood. "She's called legions of the Dead for her army; they're nearly impossible to kill. I wasn't sure how long we would be able to hold out without you," she said to Rohan. The young knight studied her...she obviously hadn't decided to call on her armor as yet...but then she was a woman more ready to use her own skills than any given her by the fates. He nodded, drawing his own sword.
"Did you defeat them, or will they return?" He asked.
"They'll be back," Garrett said from behind Xena. When she moved, the companions saw that his arm and ribcage were bandaged, and some blood showing through.
"They hurt you? This badly?" Angus said.
Ivar nodded. He, too, wore a bandage about one arm, and his leg had been injured, for he had a bad limp.
"They don't fight like what we're used to," he said. "Their weapons...cut clean to the bone. We may not be able to hold them back."
Xena nodded, her face grim.
"Yes we will," she said. She turned, motioning to the remaining soldiers and the knights, forming them into a large semi-circle about her.
"The fighting we saw today is REAL! REAL fighting!" She cried, rallying the men. "It is the same as the battles in my homeland, where there are no mystic weapons, and where the only magic comes not from the druids but from the gods! If we are to defeat this foul woman who has taken it into her head and heart to destroy us, we must do more! We must use the same tactics as she is using! And Draganta will lead you all to VICTORY!"
Xena's eyes met Rohan's, and they raised their swords together. The other knights raised their weapons as well, and for the first time in nearly a year, they called their armor for the purpose of war.
"Fire within me!"
"Virtues within me!"
These two were said at once, and the soldiers looked on while the armor covered the warrior Draganta, cheering as the two knights stood forth encased in full body armor. They would not yet call their Battle Fury; not only because it was not yet needed, but because they were unsure of what might happen. The fusing of two great and powerful energies...or disaster?
"Air above me!"
"Earth beneath me!"
"Water around me!"
"Forest before me!"
With all the knights assembled, the entire force of Kells marched against Numaine's Dead army.
"It was a great victory, my king; not only for Kells and Temra, but for each man individually," Rohan said. Xena and Deirdre cleared their throats and Rohan rolled his eyes. "And woman," he said. The two ladies smiled.
"I hear the battle was a bloody one," Conchobar said. Rohan nodded.
"Yes my king. I've never seen so much death and destruction. If this is what battles will be like from now on against Numaine, I hope we defeat her soon. I cannot condone all of this meaningless killing."
"One day soon, Rohan," Xena said. "I promise you, one day very soon, Numaine will pay for her crimes against humanity; once and for all."
