Oisin lies in bed, listening to the torrential Atlantic rain batter hard against the stone vaulted roof. Despite being underground, the noise from the surface penetrates the rock almost like a regular thatch roof. He’s sure it was enchanted this way to give residents a sense of normality to the surface world. His mind races over the day’s events. Oisin never had as clear a picture explaining why they never felt like they belonged in their hometown. But this only created more questions, like why their uncle was so determined to have Cormac exiled. How could the bonds of brothers break down to the point where flesh and blood were disposable? He thinks about all his quarrels with Fionn, wondering if there was a time when they hated each other so much that one would exile the other. Fionn was
