The Singing, page 6
‘Right.’ Stephan said, concentrating properly for the first time on the spread of three runes. ‘Bugger,’ he said. ‘I hope like hell Tiwaz comes after the others.’
Erin shook her head. ‘They’re intimidating, aren’t they? They freak me out a bit actually, I don’t mind telling you. And since they’re in no particular order – Tiwaz could mean the situation now, since, you know, I consider the last few months, and the changes I’ve made, to be a bit of a victory…’
‘All right,’ Stephan said. ‘Remind me what your book says about them?’
Erin got up from the table and went to the bookshelf in the sitting room and found the book on runes straight away. She’d learnt her way around Teresa’s books perfectly well now, and they felt just as much her own.
Erin tucked the book under her arm, squatted down to put another log on the fire, and gave Burdock an affectionate pat. ‘You have absolutely the best spot in the house,’ she told him.
He thumped his tail, took the pat, basked in the warmth from the fire, and felt very content in his soft bed.
‘Here we go then,’ Erin said, sitting back down at the table and flicking through the book. ‘I’ll start with Tiwaz.’ She cleared her throat.
‘Victory and honour comes when one grows into the life demanded by spirit, not heedless of the difficulties and trials along the way, but upright and full of the conviction that comes when one unfurls in balance with the universe.’
She closed the book for a moment and looked glumly at the stones. ‘It’s not awfully encouraging, is it?’
‘Well, I don’t know,’ Stephan said. ‘It does tell you how to go about it. Gaining victory.’
‘Yeah,’ Erin agreed on a sigh. ‘It just doesn’t say don’t worry; it’s going to be a piece of cake.’
‘True!’
Erin looked back at the book. ‘Anyway. The next one is…right, here it is.’ She grimaced. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever drawn this one before.
‘Thurisaz. The threats of the world seem to loom over you and their shadow looks vast and dark. Know however, that all problems must be dealt with in spirit before you can act in the world, and the spirit is bright enough to cast aside all shadow.’
Erin put the book down and gazed at the rune. ‘Great,’ she said. ‘What’s the other one?’
‘Isaz,’ Stephan answered.
‘Okay.’ Erin flipped through the pages. ‘Isaz. The winter landscape freezes. The wind howls across the ice. Know too, that if you are frozen, unable to act, that after the winter freeze comes the thaw, and new life is born from the time of cold and stillness.’ She looked up and gazed over the table at Stephan. ‘Why does this feel like a warning?’
Stephan shook his head. ‘What else did the old woman have to say to you?’
Erin blew out a breath. ‘She said welcome to your initiation. Or something like that.’
‘Wow,’ breathed Stephan. ‘Not heavy at all.’
‘Nope.’ Erin sighed, slumped for a moment, then sat straighter. ‘Well, at least we’ve some sort of warning, you know? Whatever is going to go wrong, or whatever trial is coming, then at least I know it’s coming, right?’
Stephan nodded. He pointed to the runes. ‘And you know the way to deal with it.’ His finger moved to Isaz. ‘For starters, bear in mind that winter is not never-ending, and in fact, a bunch of plants couldn’t complete their growing cycle without that period of stasis.’ He sniffed.
‘And Thurisaz?’ Erin asked.
‘Well, this is pretty much everything we’ve been learning, don’t you think? To step forward, spirit first, I guess. That if we’re not fit and healthy in spirit, if we’re not bearing in mind the reality even, of our spirit, then we’re just mice on a…what are those wheel things?’
‘Treadmill?’ Erin said, pressing her lips together. She was biting down on the urge to whine – to heave a giant sigh and think about how unfair this was. To bleat that she’d been through enough already. Hadn’t she been through enough, already?
But she didn’t say any of that, and she thrust even the thoughts themselves away. She had, after all, everything to be thankful for. She had a secure place of her own to live, any number of fascinating things going on, and people around her whom she loved and trusted.
That, Erin decided, ought to make her certain of being able to see through whatever was coming her way next, if indeed something was.
And at least, her initiation wouldn’t be anything like Kria’s.
It couldn’t be.
8
The shop door tinkled as Erin pushed it open. She grinned at the sound and waved to Krista, Burdock scooting in past her.
‘I don’t think I’ve heard such a terrific sound for months as your doorbell,’ she said.
Krista stood up from the proofs she’d been pouring over and smiled widely before bending slightly to give Burdock a good scratch behind his ears. ‘You’re right there,’ she said. ‘I was starting to worry we’d never open up again.’ She looked fondly around her shop. ‘It’s not the same, working in here on my own – it’s meant to have people bustling in and out, browsing and finding treasures.’
Erin tripped lightly across to the table and beamed down at the cards spread over the pitted surface. ‘These are them, then?’ She peered closer, scanning them one by one. ‘They’re amazing,’ she breathed. ‘The colours are really luminous.’ Erin shook her head. ‘I’m so glad you persuaded me to try using watercolours.’
‘They’ve come up beautifully, haven’t they? I really like the technique you’ve been using with them,’ Krista said. ‘I’ve a bunch of different envelopes for you to choose from, for the card selection, and then I think we’re pretty much ready to begin selling them in the shop and online.’ She paused and pointed a finger at one of Fox peering shyly from behind a tree. ‘I’ve already had one person ask if they could have a larger print of this one to go one their wall.’
Erin glanced over at Krista, eyes shining. ‘Really?’ She shook her head. ‘You’re not having me on?’
‘I would not lead you on about such an important thing,’ Krista said, then burst into smiles. ‘It’s going to be wonderful,’ she said. ‘They’ll be a hit; I know it in my bones.’
Erin blew out a breath. ‘I’m a bit overwhelmed,’ she admitted, looking down at her artwork spread over the table. These were her paintings, turned into prints and cards. For people to buy. And apparently, people wanted to buy them. ‘I know it’s been the goal all along, but really seeing that people are responding to what I’m doing – to my art, you know – it’s just blowing my mind.’
‘You’ve found your niche, all right, I think,’ Krista said.
Erin frowned suddenly.
‘What?’ Krista asked. ‘What’s wrong?’
Erin shook her head. ‘Nothing,’ she said dubiously, then looked at Krista, at her clear, dark eyes. ‘Well, it’s just that…’ She trailed off.
But Krista raised her eyebrows. ‘Just that what, Erin?’ she asked, her voice warm with empathy.
‘It’s just that, will I have time to do this?’ Erin blurted, looking back down at the table covered in cards made from her artwork.
‘What do you mean, time to do it?’
Erin shook her head again and nipped a tooth at her lip. Burdock came and pressed against her side. ‘Well, I mean…’
Krista waited, but Erin had wound down into silence. Yet, there was obviously something on her mind. ‘Look,’ Krista said. ‘Let’s go into the other room and have a coffee.’
‘What about the shop?’ Erin asked, startled. She hadn’t had any idea, coming here full of excitement, that she would suddenly find…this…on her mind.
‘We’ll hear the bell,’ Krista said.
‘Where’s Minnie?’ Erin asked.
Krista laughed. ‘She had to go back to school, and you should’ve heard the fuss she made about it too.’
‘She didn’t want to go?’
‘She absolutely did not want to go.’ Krista led Erin into the next room in the little warren that was Haven for Books and made her way to the coffee machine. ‘I had to talk her into it, in the end.’ She brought two steaming mugs over to the table where Erin had propped herself onto a stool.
‘All right,’ Krista said. ‘Tell me what’s on your mind.’
Erin looked down at the table, ran a finger over a groove in the grain, shrugged, then looked across at Krista. ‘It just occurred to me, is all, whether I will have time for all this.’ She spread an arm around to gesture at the room, at the various projects that Krista had going on all the surfaces. The books she made and bound, the talismans she produced.
‘Why wouldn’t you have time for your art?’ Krista asked, cupping the mug in her hands. The heating in the old shop was cranky and despite it being summer now, the temperatures in this part of the country were still a bit low for her liking. It was the one thing she hadn’t entirely gotten used to. She’d have to have another poke at the boiler or see if there was enough in the budget for a new one.
But all that was just a fleeting thought, and Krista brought her attention to bear on Erin sitting on the other side of the high work table. She’d been radiant when she’d blown into the shop like a fresh breeze, and yet here she was, suddenly wilting.
Erin worried at the groove in the table again, shrugging her shoulders. She took a sip of coffee. ‘It’s just that, you know, training to be Morghan takes a lot of time.’
Krista’s forehead creased in surprise. She paused before she spoke. ‘You know you’re not actually training to be Morghan, right?’
Erin’s eyes were clouded as she looked at Krista. ‘Aren’t I?’
‘Are you?’
Another shrug. ‘Well, aren’t I? I’m supposed to be training to be the next Lady of the Grove, right? Because I was Macha in another lifetime.’ She squeezed her eyes shut and corrected herself. ‘Because I am Macha in another lifetime, and she is part of the original Grove and now I’m me, and I’m here, and it all fits neatly together.’
‘Do you not want the job?’
Erin shook her head. ‘It’s not that at all,’ she said. ‘Although some days I’m not even really sure I know what the job is.’ She subsided into brooding silence for a moment. ‘What I do know, though, is that Morghan doesn’t have a business on the side.’ Erin blinked. ‘From what I can see, she doesn’t even have any hobbies on the side. It’s all Lady of the Grove all the time.’
Krista looked at her. ‘How long have you been thinking this?’ she asked.
But Erin shook her head. ‘I haven’t,’ she answered. ‘Or at least, not consciously, you know? I didn’t even know I thought this way until I stood out there and looked at all the amazing cards we’ve made.’ She stared into her coffee mug. ‘I don’t want to have to stop doing it, Krista,’ she said. ‘But you know – art takes time. I already have barely enough, what with working at the care home, and then keeping up with everything Morghan and Ambrose want me to do.’
She heaved a sigh and they sat in silence for a long minute. Burdock looked from one to the other, then lay down.
‘Does she do anything else?’ Erin ventured. ‘Morghan, I mean?’ She shook her head. ‘I still don’t have a real, true idea of what she does as Lady of the Grove.’ She blinked. ‘I mean, I know she does a lot of walking in the woods, and stuff.’
Krista couldn’t help it, she laughed out loud. ‘Okay, she does a bit more than that.’
Erin laughed too. ‘I know. I didn’t mean it to sound like that.’
‘You know she has a job, don’t you?’ Krista said.
‘What?’ Erin was startled. ‘A job?’
‘Well, more like her own business, although even that sounds wrong,’ Krista said. ‘It was more of a calling, really – a bit like your art is for you, I expect.’
Erin was still having trouble with the image in her mind of Morghan popping off to work every day. ‘What does she do?’
‘She works with the dying,’ Krista said. ‘It used to take up a good deal of her days. She worked with people in their own homes, and with those in the care homes and hospices, before the pandemic.’
‘I didn’t know that,’ Erin said, shaking her head slowly from side to side. ‘I did not know that.’
‘Isn’t that how she met Wayne?’ Krista asked. ‘You knew that though, right?’
Erin nodded now. ‘Yeah, but I guess I never thought that happened because…’ she snorted. ‘Wow, am I an idiot, or what? Of course that’s how that happened. God, it all makes so much sense, now.’
Krista watched her. ‘So, you know, if the Lady of the Grove had time to basically work a full-time job, don’t you think you’ll have time for your art, and taking that in a solid direction?’
‘I guess so,’ Erin said, her face lighting back up.
‘And excuse me for pointing this out,’ Krista continued. ‘But Morghan isn’t old or past her best before date, you know.’
‘I know.’ Erin took a breath. ‘Of course she isn’t. I’ve been an idiot.’ She looked across at Krista. ‘I just really couldn’t see it for a moment. Isn’t that weird?’
It was Krista’s turn to shake her head. ‘You got afraid because you realised how much you wanted something.’ She grinned. ‘Happens all the time – the trick is not to get caught up in it, so you can see a way past the sudden mental block.’
‘Well, thank goodness you were here to talk me back to sanity.’ Erin frowned. ‘You realise though, it’s brought up an important point?’
‘What’s that?’ Krista asked, taking a sip at her coffee, and hearing the doorbell suddenly ring in the other room as someone opened the shop door.
‘Well, it turns out that I really don’t know what the Lady of the Grove does.’ Erin raised one eyebrow. ‘Don’t you think I ought to? I mean, don’t you think I need to? Since I’m being trained for it?’ Another thought occurred to her. ‘What if I’m not even the right person for the job?’
Krista shook her head. ‘You’ve only just begun. You can’t know you’re not the right person for the job, yet.’ She looked through the doorway. ‘Got a customer, I’m afraid. Hold your thought.’
Erin waved her away, and then followed her into the main room where she stood and gazed at the first proofs of the greeting cards they’d made from her paintings. They’d turned out better than Erin had ever expected they would, or could, and now she was drawn into considering them again, seeing where she could make improvements for the next lot, where she could turn in a slightly different direction and really work the medium for best effect. It made her itch to get back home to her sketchbook and her paints.
‘Can I take a couple of these with me?’ she asked, as Krista finished ringing up her customer’s purchases and wandered back to the table.
‘You can take them all,’ Krista said. ‘They’re yours, after all.’ She turned and picked up pile of envelopes. ‘Take these as well and let me know which ones you want to go with.’
‘This is amazing,’ Erin said, grinning. ‘And you really think people will buy them?’
‘People are already asking to,’ Krista said. ‘You’ve got an audience for them. A lot of us out there love this mystical, mythical, folktale, nature thing you’ve got going on.’
Erin shook her head, but it wasn’t in disagreement. Another thought occurred to her, like a bright lightbulb going off in her head.
‘Wow,’ Krista laughed. ‘You look like you’ve just had a bit of inspiration.’
‘You’ve no idea, Krista,’ Erin said. ‘I did my first journeying yesterday – my first, proper, planned one – and I gotta tell you, there’s so much I could paint from it.’ She thought briefly of the runes and their disturbing message, then pushed them aside. The old woman on her stool on her hilltop would make an amazing painting, and so would the horse, and the pear, and the boat, and the lake…
She shook her head. ‘Thanks so much Krista, I’m absolutely bursting with ideas now.’ She paused, putting the cards and envelopes into her bag. ‘And thank you as well, for you know, arresting my silly fears.’
‘They’re not silly, Erin,’ Krista said. ‘And perhaps you ought to talk to Morghan properly about what being the Lady of the Grove entails.’ She gave Erin a pointed look.
‘I’m sure it’s not a position for everyone, you know.’
9
Erin stepped out of Haven for Books with bemusement on her face. Not for everyone?
Perhaps she should have stopped and asked what Krista had meant by that, but the shop door had opened again, and a small stream of people had come in, their eyes shining to be allowed once more to go browsing in any shop other than a chemist and grocer’s.
Maybe Krista had been referring to Selena. Morghan’s aunt, as far as Erin knew, and the Lady before Morghan.
She’d left. Upped sticks and gone who knew where.
Well, Erin realised, Morghan probably knew.
Erin took a long, slow breath. Hadn’t she thought this through before – Morghan wasn’t Selena, whoever Selena was, and Morghan wasn’t going to leave the Grove, and certainly not before Erin was ready to take her place.
That was, if Erin wanted to take her place.
She whistled for Burdock to come back from the alleyway he’d scampered down, and they crossed the road. The Copper Kettle was open, and a little further up the street, backing onto the village square, was the Green Man. It would be open soon too – the grand reopening, everyone was thinking of it as – and Stephan especially was excited about it, and the possibility of being able to play live music again.
Erin looked back at The Copper Kettle. Maybe she should stop and talk things over a bit with Lucy, if she wasn’t busy.
She shook her head. Krista, as usual, had been right. She needed to pin Morghan down about what exactly being Lady of the Grove entailed. But the trouble was, that every time she talked to Morghan, she didn’t end up being much more enlightened than when she started. She only ended up with more things to do.
