Jaelle blinked to try and break the hold Breth had on her in his woaded glory, but it didn’t work. He was stunning. More so because he didn’t realize it. Branches of an oak tree swirled over his chest this time, waving whenever he moved his pectorals. The usual wolf pack covered his back, and as he turned to lead her down the carved stone staircase between the two outer walls of the broch, she was mesmerized by her view — around his sword — of the wolves leaping from rock to rock down the cliffs of his back and wagging their tails in the half-light provided by the sun peeking through the cracks between stones in the broch wall.

But Jaelle’s mind was busy talking herself out of worrying. Why hadn’t Kelsey appeared in her dreams? Was she all right? No, of course she was, and she’d been here before. She was probably just waiting a while to visit again. Feh. Just when having a druid friend would be convenient. Figures.

She and Breth passed into the main room at the bottom of the broch, and people turned to stare at Jaelle. Some of them were resigned to having her here — and she knew this was only because she was with Breth. Most of the people were regarding her with suspicion.

And who could blame him? She was a stranger, and so what if they thought she was in with the future Druids. And they doubtlessly all knew about Morna’s arranged marriage to Breth. It was the way things were supposed to go, and Jaelle was gumming up the works, so to speak.

Well, she wasn’t going to just grin and bear it. She was a fighter, and it was time she acted like one. She raised her head up high, pulled her shoulders back, and put on the calm competence of a warrior glancing at all the people.

And breathed a little easier when she saw that Breth was not oblivious to the reactions of the people — only to the effect he had on Morna. He noticed their stares, and he turned back toward Jaelle and raised an encouraging eyebrow.

Her heart melted a little more for him.

He searched her face with his kind blue eyes, made all the more captivating by the blue woad egrets which flew from brow to brow as he studied her.

“They will accept you once we’re married. The sooner we are, the better. Come with us today to the next broch. Don’t go back to your time. I’m not going to beg you, though I will admit I want to.”

How sweet! She felt her resistance weakening. It was on the tip of her tongue to agree with him. To say she would stay here and become his wife immediately in order to please all these people and gain their respect.

It was way too soon, though. What was she thinking? She could take the time. She’d go home for a day instead of a week. She’d beg Jan to give her a leave of absence. That was it. She needed a leave of absence from the museum. Jan could hire someone else to help out in the meantime. Six months’ leave would be enough time to get to know Breth and decide whether or not to stay with him and become his wife. Yes, that was what she’d do.

And maybe the druids would still come up with a way for no time to pass while she was gone. They had all day.

But here Breth was right in front of her, blue eyes and all, and everyone was watching and waiting to see what she would say.

She put on her most flirtatious smile and swung her hips at him so that her skirt swayed playfully against his ankles. She locked her fingers together behind his neck — carefully so that she didn’t disturb the woad.

When she spoke, she looked up into his eyes and beseeched them to see all the affection she had for him and all the hope she had for their future together.

“I am considering it. Very strongly. I want to stay with you.”

She looked over her shoulder at all the people and lowered her voice to a whisper for only his ears.

“Deoord and Boanne and Ia are working on having the helmet bring me back here the instant I leave. Then my only concern will be getting from where it deposits me in the woods to wherever you are, so it’s extra important that I be able to find the next broch. Are you certain you can’t tell me now?”

For just a moment, she thought he took his deep breath because what he was about to tell her wasn’t quite true. For just a moment. But then the genuine affection he had for her was back in his eyes, and he pulled her closer to him, staring at her and intensely radiating that affection as he spoke, pleading with her.

“You don’t know what it was like for me. You had the helmet. You could come back any time you wanted. But me? Jaelle, I didn’t know whether you lived or had breathed your last. I need a woman who’s here with me every day, not just every month, every week, or even every other day. I have a clan to lead in battle. Someday, I will even be the planning chieftain of our clan. I cannot be wondering where my wife is and whether she will return to me. My mind needs to be unencumbered so that I can see how to defend us and provide for us without a nagging worry all the time. For the land’s sake, Jaelle, stay with me. Be my wife.”

If she answered him, it would be to say ‘Not yet,’ but her gut told her he would take that as a no. So she didn’t answer. She held him and enjoyed his nearness, willing him to respect her need to go slowly.

As he turned toward the main door to leave the broch, he pulled her closer and whispered with a husky voice into her ear.

“Let’s get on with this. I’m eager to watch you get decorated with the woad again. Such a treat.”

She did her best to hold her head up and her shoulders back and walk like a warrior through the crowds of people she had never seen, but it was difficult when she knew she was blushing. A change of subject was definitely in order.

“How often are all the clans together like this?”

He squeezed her hand and swayed in his walk from side to side, playfully.

“This isn’t all the clans, just those close enough to make it here to this sacred grove. There are many more in the far north, mostly along the shoreline, where brochs protect the land from the seagoing invaders.”

Still clinging to him, she kept up this neutral conversation, lest he press her for an answer.

“Aye, I’ve seen maps in my day of all the brochs, and there are far more on the coastline to the north than down here by the wall. I guess no one told you the invaders were coming from the south across land.”

As soon as she said it, she regretted it. What an offensive thing to say. She was trying to put him at ease, not challenge him.

But he didn’t let go of her hand.

“Nay, the Druids always were telling us to make more brochs down here in the center of the land. I do think they knew. After all, they have time travel, so they probably did know. And now that we have proof of that in you, perhaps the chieftains with listen to them. You must admit, this being an island, defending the shoreline makes sense, aye?”

She squeezed his hand in apology.

“Aye, it does make sense, and I can tell you with assurance that far more raiders are coming, from―”

He returned her hand squeeze, pulling her around to gently put his mouth over her lips for a moment.

“Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. I want to think I can make my own future, understand?”

She was yearning to deepen their kiss even after he had pulled away.

“I do understand. Must never tell you the future. But sometimes I may not be able to help myself. I will try, all right?”

He put his arm around her then, hugging her close as they walked, just like he had when she first arrived. Good.

She didn’t want to risk her mouth saying anything else that might offend him, so she just looked around, drinking in the movements of his people, whom she did want to be her people. Unlike yesterday, they definitely were preparing to split apart and leave this place. All the children were herding animals now, as were many of the adults. They herded sheep and goats and cattle, enough to keep a thousand people fed. The children herded with sticks, and their dogs helped ― the oddest looking sheepdogs Jaelle had ever seen. In addition to children and herds of animals, there were adults pulling carts heaped full of bedding.

A man of about forty stopped in front of the two of them, wearing his woad determinedly, rather than joyfully. He nodded at Breth with respect, then turned a questioning look toward Jaelle.

This time, Breth didn’t move on.

“Etharnan, I want you to know this is Jaelle, my love.”

Whoa, his love! Had he really said that?

Etharnan held out his forearm. This was new. She looked at Breth to gauge his reaction.

He nodded the slightest toward Etharnan.

So she reached out her arm and they shook, much the same as business people shook hands in her time. But she noticed that while clutching sword arms, neither of them could reach their swords, not even with their left hands.

The fortyish Pict was speaking.

“I am honored to know she is your love, and I wish you much joy of each other.”

Breth bowed his head to the man.

“I thank you.”

And from then on, he introduced her in the same manner to everyone who stopped to talk.

Her heart swelled with hope, and yet she still didn’t dare allow him to ask her again if she would stay beyond today, so she plied him with questions of her own on what was usually a safe topic, asking him about his work.

“Can you tell me what the meeting of the chieftains was about?”

When he didn’t answer right away, she looked up at him, anxious that she might have committed a faux pas.

But his eyes held a faraway look that told her he was pensive about something other than her question, and when he saw her looking at him, he smiled at her reassuringly.

“Aye. A new chieftain has come up out of nowhere, swearing he will unite the clans whether we like it or not. He’s given us a week to join him, or he says he’ll take us by force. I say he and his ragtag crew are no better than the barbarians, and we should have nothing to do with him. But other chieftains are buying into the load of dung he has to sell.”

Ah, asking about work had been a good move. Breth was back to his normal enthusiasm. She encouraged it as best she could, showing interest in her face as she rushed to keep up with his suddenly longer strides.

“I take it this is something new, the idea of all the clans joining up?”

He gave her a little side hug, as if to claim her.

“Yes. And I was on the fence about it at first. However, Father made me see that the larger a clan gets, the fewer folk have a say in what the leader decides, until almost everyone is out of the leadership circle. He’s right, and I plan to stand by him and resist this Drest.”

Breth‘s parents came up from behind and joined them.

Jaelle felt her knees shake a tiny bit.

But Breth’s dad was charming, in an ancient-world kind of way.

“You don’t know how glad I am you came back to us, Jaelle. Breth here has been missing you something awful.”

Breth actually blushed a little! It was fun to see him treated as a younger man. This was a side of him she hadn’t seen before, and she was enjoying it.

He regained his composure soon enough and shook his head teasingly at his father.

“I imagine you’d miss Mother if she were gone for two moon cycles too, eh?”

Breth’s arm around Jaelle’s waist was more firm and snug, and his hand caressed her hip with a tenderness that she would never have guessed he possessed, fierce warrior that he was.

But when she turned to look at him, she saw a face conflicted. He was enjoying this repartee with his father, but it made him sad. Why?