Jonathan didn’t see the road as he drove home. His horse knew the way, after all the years it had walked it, and brought him to his own gate, where he sat for a long time, blinking back tears. Life goes on, he told himself, and drove the cart into the yard. Life goes on.
And life did. The work was harder, having just the two sets of hands again. His mother was in good enough health, but wasn’t as strong as Fionn had been. But he’d managed before Fionn came, and he somehow managed after he had gone. He never came back to the farm at all. Johnathan had gone up to his attic room just once, to see his sword and mail shirt still sitting there. He’d left them, and hadn’t looked into the room again since.
Summer turned towards autumn, and then the winter’s snows fell. He didn’t go, this year, t
