Blood & Ivy

i gconai

The melody of nearby mockingbirds invaded Josephine's ears, and warmth danced across her face. She slowly opened her eyes, nearly blinded by the brightness of the sun shining through her open balcony. She looked and realized she was laying on her bed. Confused, she sat up. She remembers sitting on the balcony under the moon with Keeran last night, but doesn't remember ever going to bed. Her dress was still the same wine colored one she dressed herself in yesterday. She looked around the room, and saw Keeran at the table in the corner, setting up tea. As soon as he felt her eyes on him, he turned and smiled, “Good Morning, love.” Josephine smiled, relaxed at his presence. “Good morning, Keeran,” she whispered, not used to such an intimate greeting. Josephine took in Keeran's appearance, dressed in navy riding pants with black buckled boots, his white cotton shirt loosely flowing, as his navy jacket with intricate designs rested on the hooks near the door. His black, curly hair was tied with a leather tie at the nape of his neck, and his muscles rippled slightly with the calm movements of what Josephine realized was preparing tea. “Do you like cream and sugar in your tea, love?” Keeran asked her, which brought her out of her silent appreciating stares. “Yes, just a little,” she replied. Josephine rose out of the bed, stretched her arms out and shook her curls to look less crazed. “I like your hair like that,” Keeran's voice sounded from across the room. She turned and looked at him, a small smile across her lips, “You don't think it looks positively medieval?” He chuckled at her joke, “It does, but that's exactly why I like it. Your hair would have been deeply sought after and desired if you lived only 300 years ago.” His words rang in her head, her smile still present, and a small laugh escaped her. “Keeran, are you a historian?” He smirked cheekily, “Something like that..”  The pair enjoyed their simple breakfast of tea, toast, eggs, and sausage, while they listened to the ever growing bird songs and cicadas out the open balcony door. Josephine loved nature, and always wanted the windows open when it was warm. Mistress Mary disapproved; she hated all things outside, said the human race moved inside for a reason. Josephine had sneaked outside, more times than she could ever count, to pick flowers or read. It was a small reprieve from the hell of the estate, as the Baker estate was large and well kept with many hiding places. Josephine's favorite was a large weeping willow tree, old and covered in ivy, in the middle of a grove. As Josephine reminisced, her eyes looked outside as she sipped her tea while she enjoyed the peace it brought her after 17 years, Keeran's voice struck her ears. “Are you still wanting to travel with me, Josephine? I shan't be disappointed if you were to have changed your mind,” his voice was quiet. He tried to stay a gentleman, not pushing Josephine into doing anything society might look down upon, but he so desperately wanted her to travel with him, so he lied when saying he wouldn't be disappointed. He would follow her anywhere, if she allowed him. “Keeran, as I told you previously, I would love to. I have no where to be anymore. No longer required to submit to a future I despised the thought of,” she smiled sweetly over her tea cup. Anything to cut contact with that life. Keeran smiled, bright white teeth that made her weak in the knees. “Splendid. I'll go and prepare everything,” he stated, while he rose to a stand and rubbed his hands together excitedly. Josephine smiled and nodded, the need to enjoy her tea in silence kept her quiet as Keeran exited the room. Once gone, Josephine moved to the balcony with her tea, the heat of a southern spring day already started to fill the air. While she sat, she looked into the woods below, the mountains expanse beautiful in the morning light. She could hear the horses and carriage wheels from all around the hotel, the departure and arrivals of travelers, trying to find some semblance of civilization as they travel place to place in this new world. The colonies are still so new, many leaving the countries their ancestors hailed to get a new start, with the promises of freedom or riches spread among the world. Her parents were like that, coming to the colonies from Scotland with the promise of riches and freedom. Scotland had changed and suffered so much at the hands of the English, and with Josephine's mother, Shiobhan a healer; a practitioner of the ancient ways, she was most certainly marked for death if the knowledge was ever found. Whatever Josephine knew of her parents, were from the few small journals of her mother's from before their disappearances. It was the only thing that connected her to her parents, a comfort to a lonely girl in a miserable world. Josephine continued to watch nature until her eyes landed on a nearby willow tree, that looked so much like the one on the Baker estate. Where she sat and read her mother's journals in secret or drew, a solitude to study in a way she pleased. Until the memory of the one time Johnathan found her, shortly after her 17th birthday, right after he returned from his first training with his regiment. His words, his disgusting demeanor, the fear he instilled in that younger Josephine by just his presence that day, had Josephine's breathing suddenly ragged and labored. Her heart began to race as his eyes continued to fill her thoughts, those evil, icy eyes that chilled her blood and brought a fear back to her soul. She was breathing hard, her heart aching, a feeling of drowning within herself, tears falling silently as they literally choked her. The way that monster defiled her, the fear of being unable to protect her own virtue, her own autonomy, showered her in rage and terror. As Josephine sat leaned forward, she tried to release the panic and pain in her thoughts, when two soft hands placed themselves upon her shoulders. She screamed, the sudden presence of someone touching her body, of the thought of him trying to force himself upon her again, brought the shrill scream from her throat. She turned, and was instead met with beautiful eyes of the lightest jade green, instead of an evil ice blue. Her scream stopped, and instantly she threw herself into his arms, the sobs released fully at the comfort his arms gave her. Josephine ignored the fact this behavior was deeply scandalous, being unattended with a male outside of her family or guardianship, in such an intimate position, but neither cared. Josephine longed for comfort, and Keeran longed for an end to his never-ending loneliness. Keeran's arms wrapped around Josephine's petite frame, his cheek resting atop of her auburn curls. He allowed her to sob into his chest; he knew she needed to release her emotions she had been forced to bury for 17 years. Josephine's hands grabbed at Keeran's clothes, in a desperate need to keep him close, his soothing scent of smoke and fresh rain to wash over her, to cleanse her of that monster's touch.     After several minutes, Josephine's sobs softened, and her hands relaxed but did not completely release Keeran's shirt. She looked up into his beautiful eyes, her emerald green ones moistened and red with her tears, and he wiped a few from her cheek. “Don't say anything, love. Don't apologize. I understand,” his soft voice, more accented than usual from his own emotions that bubbled under the surface, sought to comfort and reassure her. Keeran despised that vagrant, for the pain and fear he instilled Josephine with. For the false honor that monster held by being a King's Officer, which he used to his sick advantages. Who knows how many innocent women fell pray to him, thoughts of help and protection the red coat promised, only to be betrayed in the most foul way.  Keeran silently vowed to kill him if he ever got the chance. He knew this panic which Josephine had felt, and knew it would be awhile until it was gone. Josephine simply nodded at him, and continued to stare into his eyes. They held a power over her that she never wished to part from, like they knew her inside out, secrets and desires. It chilled her but excited her to the bone. Josephine was shocked at herself, to be able to feel something for a near stranger, to think the thoughts she has about him, to agree to travel with him to unknown places. Never would she had thought she would be so immensely bewitched by a man like she is with Keeran upon first glance and only a few hours together. Society always operated so differently than she did, always feeling out of place, as she stumbled through the dark side of society and hierarchy, her refusal to completely submit to how a man thinks she should behave. She believed she was defected, unwanted, by the pure fact she didn't belong. The green eyes of Keeran made her feel like he was like her, two lost souls traveling through a faux society, just looking for a small piece of happiness within a world they couldn't relate to.   Her tears finally ceased, and she forced herself to release Keeran, thankful for the privacy the balcony on the back of the hotel offered. Keeran released her as well, a soft smile upon his lips as his large hand placed itself upon her still flushed cheek. “Are you alright, love?” He whispered, care and worry saturating the words. Josephine smiled meekly back at him, “Yes, quite. Thank you..” her whispered words heavy with emotion, especially appreciation. “i gconai” The word was whispered, so sweet, so sincere by Keeran that Josephine's heart skipped but she had no understanding. “What does that mean?” She whispered into the space between them, the want to be closer to him again overwhelmed her. He chuckled, a soft, husky sound that made Josephine's heart skip again. “It means 'always' in the language of my homeland, Ireland.” Josephine smiled again, that ancient utterance wrapped around her heart and made an unmentioned promise. Always. He would always be there for her. She realized that belonging feeling she felt with him, that he felt it with her. She grabbed his hand and intertwined her fingers with his. Keeran's smile grew at the delicate action, and showed all of his white and at this closeness Josephine noticed, pointy, teeth on display. That detail was perplexing."I had a few thoughts on where we are to travel to, would you like to hear?" He asked, excited to share his plans with her. Josephine chuckled, and nodded her encouragement for him to share. "We travel from here to Delaware. It's only a few days ride north from here. Once we arrive there, we will seek a boat that will set sail.... for Scotland." Josephine gasped, surprised at his plans. She had always wanted to go, to seek her distant family that she secretly hoped was still alive. To find part of herself that was lost with her parents. Keeran surprised her, and she wondered if he knew something he wasn't sharing. "Keeran.. How.. How did you know? How did you know I had always wanted to go..? That my family was from there?" She questioned, now slightly anxious. Keeran gave her a gentle smile, "Your name gave it away. McCallum is a very prominent Scottish clan, from up in the highlands. Being raised by a stranger, who was British none-the-less, who would have denied you your culture and your ancestors history, would have only engrained a curiosity to know where you came from. To know who your parents were. That maybe the family you craved still existed and thrived in a faraway land."

Josephine laughed, all anxiousness gone with his words, "Keeran, you can read me like a children's book! I've never uttered my secret desire to travel to Scotland to a single soul, and within a days' time you've discovered it." Josephine knew right then, that was why his eyes called to her so. That he did belong with her, that he was some sort of missing piece she didn't realize she had been missing. Keeran's deep laugh joined in with hers, he enjoyed the way her laughter sounded like small bells tinkling in the wind. "Keeran, let us travel to Ireland as well. I would like to see the land you came from," she told him wholeheartedly as she squeezed his hand that was still intertwined with hers. It was Keeran's turn to look surprised, he did not expect her to suggest that. The surprise was washed over with a deep appreciation, for the beautiful goddess before him did not know what she just ignited in him. "Do you mean it?" He asked her. He still needed her reassurance even though she just announced it. She laughed that sweet laugh again, "Wherever you go, I'll follow." She smiled sweetly and determined at him, Keeran in bliss at her words. His smile matched hers as he leaned his forehead on hers. 

"I gconai"