Chapter 23

The Órarduine gathered in the conference area after breakfast on their third day at the retreat. As they were preparing to sit down they were joined by their Mentors. Their Mentors arrival was followed by that of their hosts so they remained standing. Together with the Mentors they raised their hands to salute Them as they entered.

Together the Deities said, “Good morning. Mentors, it is good to have your company again.”

Canu then added, “We like the way you greet each other with hugs, and sometimes a kiss, and have enjoyed sharing that form of greeting with you. At large gatherings we appreciate the honor you give by saluting as you just did. I have to admit that we prefer the hugs and friendly kiss. However you should not surprise us with them as it can have unpredictable consequences.”

Ariu said, “If we were Órarduine we feel that we would have grown impatient with all the questions we’ve thrown at you, and possibly walked away. Thank you for your patience. Now, we feel that it is your turn.” She paused then added with a big smile, “So ask away.”

There was a lengthy pause before Sarah said, “I think that over the last two days You’ve answered many of the questions we have had. We know that all of You are real, which is very different to just having faith that You exist. Have You decided on how the rest of our family will learn of Your existence?”

“From what we sense nearly all of your family believes in a deity, so they will learn of our presence as they call upon us for assistance or advice. We will use that occasion as an opportunity to introduce ourselves. I believe the two women we helped survive the attempted drowning will soon begin remembering their encounter with us. Their memory of our appearance will be different from how We appear now. Our current appearance is the one we will usually have when we are physically among your family. The stories Jodie and Leisl tell of our assistance will prompt others to speak of interacting with us. At some point we will visit your family looking as they believe we appear. As to timing, we see no need to rush it, in fact rushing it could cause future difficulties.”

“Thanks.”

After several more questions Canu said, “Aine, I thought all the Mentors were here.”

“Creidne and Fidelma returned to Tara Ardchlár last night. Before leaving they asked that we convey their regrets at missing this, but thought it was wiser for them to remain there.”

Harshly Laghdha asked, “Was anyone injured?”

“Only the animals they subverted into attacking a Clan.” After a few moments Aine realized that he expected more. “The attack was by four young people who had taken control of 4 very large cats. The cat’s species is not one that is native to the island. Two of the cats lured Briana’s Clan some distance from Tara then when the four cats had the Clan between them they attacked. Their intent was to kill and devour some, and let some survive severely maimed. These young people definitely chose the wrong group to attack as the animals are now hanging in a meat locker. In the fighting those behind the attack were injured. Creidne believes that their injuries will require treatments that only one of You can give.”

“Father,” said Airmida, “Druantia and I will go see what we can learn. It is likely that they wouldn’t expect us to respond. While this is a grave issue that normally you would attend to, we think it is better for you to continue as host.”

“Reluctantly, I agree. Go and be sure to let Creidne and Fidelma know of your presence.”

“We will,” they both replied before vanishing.

Aine felt the concern among the Órarduine and said, “Everyone in Briana’s Clan is fine. While they would have prevailed without Creidne’s and Fidelma’s assistance, it did shorten the engagement. Creidne said that Briana’s Clan has learned their lessons well and responded as well as we would have in the same situation. However, they are a little shaken up, especially since this was a totally unexpected event as the wild life has previously shown no interest in attacking anyone. They have not been told that the animals were bewitched.”

“There are predators on the other continents, as well as those in the ocean, that will see you all as a meal,” said Cabd. “Some of the aquatic predators resemble the dragons in the Órarduine library.”

It was approaching lunch time when Sarah’s Clan heard Airmida tell Laghdha, “We’ve found them on the 6^th planet. Do you object to us resolving this?”

“No. Do you need assistance?”

“Neala and I are willing to help if you desire,” said Morrigan.

“I am agreeable as long as you can control your anger.”

“Aye, I won’t risk the others.”

“Good. Go. If you need more assistance call before it becomes critical.”

Airmida asked, “Mother, what about the planet?”

“Do what you need to do but do it safely!”

“To be safe is our plan.”

With his attention back on his guests Laghdha said, “What you are witnessing is an unusual event and one that is a bit embarrassing so I will try to give you a little background. There are entities in the universe who are the result of a union between a Deity and a mortal. Unfortunately some of these unions have resulted in a few that delight in causing chaos. These bastards have some of our abilities, but that varies as does their ability to control them. In particular, these four have already caused problems in several systems but were able to disappear before being discovered. Their efforts usually focus on causing chaos among mortals in a way that leaves them distrustful of immortals. While doing this they have conned several deity families into assisting them which resulted in anguish for those families. Obviously Morrigan has come across these individuals in the past and we know that other Mentors have had battles with them. After such an attack it takes a long time for the disrupted civilization to recover to where they were before. Unfortunately some never manage to do so, so the turmoil continues and breeds more turmoil.

“However there are many more people who have mortal and immortal parents who are just the opposite. They have excellent control of the abilities they have. Often they are able to assist mortals in dealing with situations that we have difficulty anticipating or seeing.

“The reason Airmida asked about the planet was to be sure she was not limited in how she used her abilities. Based on what we know of your plans we don’t believe you have any interest in it.”

Rusty said, “Not really. At one time we considered it an alternative to Ananu but its inclination to Celia’s celestial plane and its axial tilt caused us to hesitate. Its inclination to the plane leaves it more exposed to asteroids.”

“True. In the worst case, the planet will be uninhabitable for several centuries.”

“Another reason was that the planet’s composition doesn’t seem to fit with this solar system. In trying to understand this our physicists hypothesized that it was ejected from another system then captured by this one. While the hypothesis fit the facts, it didn’t seem very likely.”

“It doesn’t, or not exactly,” replied Canu. “It was some time ago when we saw it coming toward us on a trajectory that would bring it through our System. We chose to alter its velocity to increase the possibility of it being captured by Celia’s gravity. For us this was an exercise that we hadn’t attempted before. I have to admit it took a lot more effort than we expected. Primarily for that reason we haven’t tried it again, but then neither has the opportunity arisen. After we had a chance to examine it we were a little disappointed by what we found so we decided to leave it alone to see whether it would recover on its own. Like you, we have concerns about its inclination to Celia for the reason you mentioned. Since it began orbiting Celia it has been struck several times by fairly large rocks. Now, shall we get back to the purpose of today?”

“Does Ananu have tectonic plates?” asked Claudette. “If so, where do they meet?”

“Yes, it does. As to where they meet, I’ll leave that to you all to figure out but I will give you a clue. There are several and they currently slide past each other in a vertical sense. The planet’s surface swells and sinks but that change occurs over a very long period, most of the time.”

“Thank you. I will make some suggestions to those working in that area as they were thinking that there weren’t any.”

“So you don’t want to tell them that you learned the information from a Goddess,” Canu responded with a smile.

“No disrespect intended, but I think it is best if they discover it on their own. I think we should save invoking Your name for more significant issues.”

“Good. I agree with your approach besides discovering it themselves will be much more satisfying.”

It was late in the afternoon when Ariu said, “While we enjoy your company, we think it is time to draw our time together to a close. We hope that we’ve not worn you out with our intense discussions.”

“Not at all,” replied Sarah’s Clan with nods from the others. “We’ve enjoyed our time with all of You. We are looking forward to building a dynamic relationship with You. While we know that it is not likely, please ask if You feel there is anything we can do to assist You.”

Josefina studied the group for a moment before saying, “There may be a time when we could use your assistance, especially in conjunction with your Mentors.” Noting that Niamh was about to speak she added, “Yes, we know we would need permission from the ‘Old Ones’ for the latter. As has been said, I’ve enjoyed our chats and think I’ve learned a lot. I think this is also true for us as a family.”

Sarah said, “You are all welcome to join us for dinner, or just to visit, at any time.”

“We will, perhaps more often than you expect,” responded Cabd with her family nodding in agreement. With that the two groups began exchanging hugs and quick kisses as they said good-bye.

Canu said, “We are headed home but you are welcome to stay and enjoy this venue, however we would suggest that you don’t stay much longer as your family will soon be looking for you all.”

Ariu said, “Very good Mother. Órarduine, this location is between our realms and is available to the families currently here. Enjoy.”

With that the Gods and Goddesses joined hands and began walking across the field. A little ways off they looked back and waved then, just as Ariu, Cabd, and Iodla had done before, they took a few more steps and simply vanished from view.

The Órarduine were quiet as they looked off in the direction that the Deities had taken before vanishing. A few moments later they heard Star say, “Good afternoon Command Staffs.”

“Good afternoon,” they replied.

“It is good to have a strong link with you all again.”

“Well it is good to hear from you. How is everything?”

“About normal, although we’ve recently had a few incidents on our primary ships and at Tara. They’ve all been dealt with very effectively, however this has resulted in some concerns among the family.”

Terry of Sarah’s Clan asked, “What is the most serious of these incidents?”

“Probably the attack on Briana’s Clan by four large cats that strongly resembled Earth’s Saber Tooth tigers, perhaps a bit larger. This was the first sighting of any animals like them on the island. The puzzling part is that the Clan is fairly certain that they were lured to the location of the attack. Fortunately they effectively countered the attack and put the cats down.”

“Were they injured?”

“No. They are fine, well perhaps a little shaken up. Creidne and Fidelma assisted Briana’s Clan in the final stages of the engagement. Both of them praised the Clan for their handling of the attack.”

“What else?”

“For the last two nights there have been some dust ups in the entertainment area. Most of them occurred last night. These were the result of undesired physical contact between members of different breeds. A few of the construction crew don’t like being told ‘no’ and believe groping is acceptable and normal. This issue has been simmering between different groups for some time, but not enough to draw Security’s attention. The sudden increase in incidents is puzzling. In response to this Tara Security group has increased staff in the entertainment and recreation areas for tonight.”

Sarah scanned those with her then said, “We’ll stop by there this evening on our way back.”

“So you’ll be back tonight.”

Looking at the others before replying she noticed several were shaking their heads no. “Just a minute I need to check with the others.”

Joyce said, “We are at least 2 hours from Tara, plus they are 3 hours ahead of us so even if we left now it would be fairly late when we arrived.”

“I think we should discuss what we’ve learnt before we return,” added Keriann.

“Star, our preference is to return tomorrow afternoon due to the distance and time difference. We will stop at Tara and have dinner there. However, if there is an emergency then we will do what is necessary. Anything else?”

“There was an odd series of incidents on the Dóchas class ships and at our construction sites. Nothing serious occurred but resolving them was time consuming. The issues were different at each location. The oddity is that while they all appear to have been intentional there isn’t any indication as to who was responsible and in nearly all cases there should have been. It is very puzzling and has quite a few scratching their heads.”

With a smile Siobhan said cheerfully, “Gee, it seems like you missed us.”

“Well if your clans being out of touch leads to stuff like this then no one here will want you to ever be out of touch again.”

“Look at it this way, you all responded as needed so everyone should be very happy about that. You all just lived up to your capabilities that we know you have. As to the dust ups, perhaps it is the result of too many hours working and not enough time spent relaxing.”

“Some believe that that is a contributor for some of it, but the dust ups always involve the same group of people from the construction crew.”

“Anything else?” queried Sarah.

“Nothing that can’t wait until you are back and probably some of what I told you could have waited as well.”

“We appreciate the update, and we will see you tomorrow afternoon. We’ll send you an ETA when we depart tomorrow morning.”

“Good. We are all looking forward to your return.”

Once the connection closed Brandan of Maureen’s Clan said, “Looks like the bastards were busy creating mischief the last couple of days.”

“It would seem so,” responded Molly.

Sarah said, “Keriann, thanks for reminding me that we planned to discuss what we learnt before returning. Let’s go back to the meeting area for this discussion.” Everyone nodded their agreement and returned to the area.

After they sat down Jackie said, “Before we begin, I would like to propose that we set up our meeting area for the Councilors similar to this.”

“While I like this arrangement,” said Alma of Jackie’s Clan, “there really isn’t a place for visitors to sit so why don’t we add a section or two. We may also want to consider adding a balcony.”

“Aye,” replied the group.

Angie of Kathryn’s Clan said, “I think 2 sections. Also we should only sit as a Clan for formal occasions. I like the mixed seating as I think it makes communication easier, as it is easier to see my spouse’s expressions. With our links we know each other’s perspective on a topic but with the mixed seating it is easier to interact with others as well as giving us a different perspective on their thoughts.”

“Good point Angie,” responded Oriel of Keriann’s Clan. “While we can sense a person’s feelings seeing their expression is a lot more meaningful, even when I use my spouse’s vision to see it. I like Angie’s suggestion as she made some good points.”

Sarah said, “From what I am sensing we all agree.”

Jim of Amy’s Clan said, “We will advise site Engineering of the change.”

“Now, I think we have several things to sort out before we return. The first is, how are we going to respond to the issues apparently caused by the tricksters? Is any response necessary?

“The second is, what do we say about our visit here?

“To me those two points are key but another is, do we say anything about what is occurring on the 6^th planet? While I know we agreed not to mention meeting our Deities I have some doubts about taking that path. Primarily because, with very few exceptions, we’ve always been very open with our family.”

Aine said, “If you would like we can handle the trickster issue. We know from our travels that there are tricksters, demons, or similar beings, in other parts of the universe besides those alluded to on Earth. The incidents that happened recently definitely have all the earmarks of something they would do. From our perspective the likelihood of a repeat is reduced provided everyone continues to be as thorough in their work and continues to communicate. Our information indicates that, except for the four that Airmida’s group is dealing with, there are no others currently in this System or this galactic region.”

“Thank you. We accept your offer,” said the Órarduine.

Once they had sorted out how they would handle the issues they spent the rest of the afternoon with their children enjoying their surroundings.

Early in the morning they began the walk back to their shuttles. When they reached the garden’s entrance they all paused to look back at the site in the early morning light. Together they marveled at the beauty of the location before turning to head toward their shuttles in the nearby meadow.

They had just reached the shuttles when Deirdre exclaimed, “Wow!”