Getting to where they needed to go was the easy part. Just a jump across the Irish Sea to Ireland, then follow it around until they hit Northern Ireland, and then towards Murlough Bay. It really only took them two hours, with the winds favoring their sails. Northern Ireland was not Isleen’s home, but she had been there before, and sighed when she saw the forests and green hills. She stood by AJ’s side at the railing and smiled. “Tis good to come home.” She said softly.

 

 

AJ wrapped an arm around her waist, tucking her loosely against his side. “It’s good to see you having such peace, Isleen.” He told her gently. Those emerald eyes tipped up to look at him and for a moment AJ was lost in their depths. For just that split second he saw underneath the façade; the persona that she put up around others. He saw down to the heart and soul of her, and the pain that sat there. He spoke without thinking, only responding to the pain. “How long will you hold those wounds close, Isleen? Six hundred years has gone by since your feud with him. Is it worth carrying this hurt on your heart?”

 

 

Her eyes grew wide in her face, but she never broke the stare between them. It was as if she couldn’t. Her voice was shaking when she spoke, and seemed to be pulled up from that deep, dark place inside of her that was throbbing in her eyes. “He hurt me, Alyck. More than anyone, mortal or immortal, ever has before. Would you have me forget it?”

 

 

“The curse of immortality is that we have all of eternity before us. A grudge can be held for a long time, and is even more dangerous to our minds. They fester, the wounds never healing if we don’t allow them to. As it festers, it grows on our hearts, changing who we are. How do you want to spend the rest of your eternity, Isleen ó Ceallaigh? Hating a man who once brought you great joy, or finding joy and peace in forgiveness?”

 

 

“I’m terrified to let my guard down. Tis hard enough to look at him; to feel what he feels. Me heart be breaking for wanting of him, mo slánaitheoir.” My savior, she named him. In her pain she reverted back to the broken English that she had once spoke, and her accent thickened. As if he had her empathic abilities, AJ swore he could feel her pain. He could see the wound on her heart as if it was a living, breathing thing, throbbing with each word she spoke. How could he not try to help her heal it?

 

 

“You’ve closed yourself off from feeling him, mo stór. I have watched you two suffer for six hundred years for a moment of idiocy. If you would listen to him, you would know. I tried to tell you myself. Howi said the things he did, and did the things he did, not because they were true. I know he mocked you. I know he made a mock of your abilities. I know he called you a witch.”

 

 

The pain in her eyes grew as she was trapped back in that night. AJ brought his hands up, cupping her face between them. He had no idea what had possessed him to mention this now, or what he was doing, but his instincts were kicking in, and he spoke from a place deep inside his own heart. “That night he came to you, he was so cold, so distant.” AJ said quietly. In his eyes, Isleen saw visions of the past; an ageless look that she’d only seen one before in her life. In the eyes of the elves.

 

 

She couldn’t look away from him. Couldn’t break the stare that was reaching to all the dark and bleeding places. His words transported her back in time. Back six hundred years.

 

 

“He walked in your cottage, and you were so full of joy. Always the joy at seeing him. But your heart felt the coldness inside of him, and you feared. You reached to him, and he pulled back from you, making the first crack to your heart. The things he said to you then were hurtful. That you used your magic on him. That he was tired of having someone that he had no secrets around. He told you he resented having someone constantly reading his emotions before he even knew he was feeling them. Your heart broke under his words, for words are powerful.

 

 

“You wanted to beg him to stop, to talk to you, but you couldn’t speak. You stood there as he took your love and treated it like it was dirt. Then he said the last thing, the final knife. He said he could never be with a witch. Your temper snapped, and you used all the magic you had to remove him from your house. You told him that he was never to set foot on Irish soil again.”

 

 

Tears fell from Isleen’s eyes. “I never thought he’d hurt me like that.” She whispered.

 

 

“If you could get past the pain of that night, you would see what I see. You would see the pain in his eyes as he did what he did. He’s tried to tell you before that he didn’t mean a word of it, but you won’t allow him to explain. You won’t allow him to tell you of the threats he received. Of how Roth found him one night while looking for me, and cheerfully told Howi that if he didn’t stay out of his way, he would find the girl that he loved so much and rip her immortality from her. How he lied to Roth and said that you were a fling, nothing more, and that he didn’t care. It worked, and Roth has never bothered to find you. But to make sure, Howi felt it was safer to make sure you hated him, so that there was no way you could ever be hurt, or used to hurt him, like Brian was used to hurt me.”

 

 

Isleen’s tears flowed faster, but under them, in that place deep inside, AJ saw the beginnings of healing. He kissed her brow gently before letting her go. She stared at him a moment before walking away. He had given her enough to think about, and done the best he could to repair the damage there. The rest was up to them. There was nothing he wanted more than to see his friends happy together. They loved one another, and one thing he had learned was that love shouldn’t be squandered away.

 

 

Speaking of loves, he felt his lover coming up behind him, and smiled when those warm arms closed around his waist. “Hey you.” Brian whispered in his ear, placing a soft kiss just underneath it. AJ shivered slightly, placing his hands over the ones at his waist. “Hey back.”

 

 

“Geoff says that it looks like there’s a good spot to anchor up close, but it’ll take him a bit with the water to get it just right.”

 

 

“Mm.” AJ leaned back into Brian’s embrace, enjoying the simple feel of the arms that held him, the strength of the chest against his back. He loved being in Brian’s arms almost as much as he loved having Brian in his.

 

 

They stood watching quietly as the boat inched toward a small cove. If Geoff got them inside, which AJ had no doubt of, it would be a perfect hiding spot. AJ didn’t bother trying to help. If Geoff needed him, he would call for him. Right now he was simply going to enjoy the view with the one he loved.

 

 

“Alex, can I ask you something?”

 

 

Brian’s hesitant voice broke through AJ’s tranquil musings, pulling him back to reality. He heard the worry in that voice and instantly turned himself around. Brian’s arm’s stayed locked on his waist, so that when AJ finished turning they were chest to chest. “Of course you can, baby.”

 

 

“Are we going to, well…do you think they’ll know my family?”

 

 

That question was laced with hope and fear all rolled together. AJ cursed himself for not having thought of this sooner. Damn, but he was focusing too hard on everything else, and letting other things fall to the wayside. Well, that was one thing he could rectify. He brought his arms up and around Brian’s neck, playing with the curls at the base of his skull. “Most likely. There’s a chance that some of them will be your relatives.”

 

 

“Relatives?” Brian asked in shock. His eyes went wide. “Oh man. I hadn’t thought about that. God, that’ll be weird.”

 

 

AJ gave him a wry grin. “Yeah, well, no weirder than the fact that you’ll meet my extended family too. I have two Aunts who lived here at last count, and my grandfather. The rest of my family lives at the home in Scotland, and some at a different home in Ireland. I think some went to America too, but I’m not sure.”

 

 

“So basically I’m being brought home to meet the family? Oh great.”

 

 

“Yeah, well, if they let me in at all, they’ll love you.”

 

 

A soft grin spread over Brian’s face, lighting it with humor. “Let you in, huh? Were you a naughty boy last time you were here, Alex?”

 

 

AJ backed up enough that he could hop up on the railing. Brian’s hands still held his waist, and he still held Brian’s neck, but it put them more eye to eye. “You forgetting the problem we had with the faeries? Elves have longer memories, an though they’re generally loving and sweet and all that, they are not people you want to slight. Me running off will leave them feeling slighted. Add on me finding someone to love and not bringing him back home to meet them, or to meet the oldest member of my family, well, that gets me in even more trouble.”

 

 

“Ahh, so you have been a naughty boy. Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

 

 

“Protect me, my ass. You think all your new magic and changes makes you the boss now? Boy, I thought I taught you a long time ago who the boss is in this relationship.” AJ teased him. Both of their eyes sparkled with that old teasing light. It felt good to them both to banter as they once had, back before everything had changed. For the time being they didn’t have to stress about everything going on. They could just be themselves and have fun.

 

 

A small fire lit Brian’s eyes, and that ring of sunshine around his blue glowed a little. AJ had forgotten about that little trick. The rings on an elf’s eyes didn’t just glow when magic was worked. It glowed with strong emotions as well. Intense happiness, rage, soul deep sadness, and passion. There was a husky note to Brian’s words that let AJ know it was passion building in his lover. “The boss, huh? I must of forgot that lesson.”

 

 

Just to be ornery, AJ stopped playing with Brian’s curls and instead gripped them tightly in his fist, yanking Brian’s head back slightly. “Well, you better start remembering, boy, before I gotta show you again.” He teased him as he released his hair.

 

 

By now the boat had stopped moving. They were tucked nicely in the cove, with Geoff’s talented working of water. The boat was anchored, and floated in the semi deep water.

 

 

AJ wasn’t prepared for Brian’s reaction to his joking threat, and so it allowed Brian the gap in his guard to do it. One second AJ was grinning at him, the next he was shoved backwards and was falling down the side of the ship. He could have used air to stop himself, but he just closed his eyes and pinched his nose shut as he hit the water. When he surfaced, gasping at the cold, he saw Brian’s laughing fast first, and then the face of his friends grinning down at him.

 

 

“Who’s going to show who, now, Alex?” Brian called down. He was laughing outright, leaning on his arms on the railing. What else could AJ do but retaliate? Before any of them could think about it, AJ created seven weaves of air and grabbed them all at once only long enough to yank them over the railing and down to join them in the water.

 

 

Brian was the first to surface, still laughing, and AJ quickly jumped on his back and dunked him under the water again.  Quickly it progressed to an all-out water fight between the eight of them. Everyone joined in, splashing and dunking one another, their laughter echoing around the cove.

 

 

It was Howie who finally stopped them. He dragged himself to shore and climbed on a rock. No one was paying attention, so it took three times before they heard him yelling. Soaked to the skin, they all turned to look up at him. He stood on his rock, hands on his hips, mock glaring at all of them. “Are you kids done, or would you like to play a little longer while we lose more of the day?”

 

 

Slowly the group swam toward shore. AJ was the last to come up. He splashed as he climbed from the water, saying “Party pooper.”

 

 

“Grow up, Alyck.”

 

 

“You first.”

 

 

AJ looked around at his friends as they all stood on the edge of the shore and he couldn’t help the grin that lit up his face. All of them were soaked straight through to the skin. They looked like drowned rats. “I’m supposed to let y’all meet my family looking like this? Oh Gods. They won’t let me past the front gates!”

 

 

“Well if you hadn’t dunked us in the water, we’d be more presentable.” Marzio teased him.

 

 

“Hey, Brian started it!” AJ exclaimed.

 

 

Brian put his hands on his hips and pretended to glare. “You did, pulling all that boss shit!”

 

 

“Well if you hadn’t….”

 

 

“GUYS!” Howie shouted. He looked so much the frustrated parent that the group dissolved into laughter again. Howie waited impatiently, tapping his toe until everyone was quiet. Once he had their attention, he shot them another glare. “Can we please get ready to go now?”

 

 

Wiping tears of mirth off his face, AJ straightened up and gestured everyone close. “One at a time come on over and I’ll get you dry and shit.” He told them, still chuckling. One by one they came to him, and he used air and a small trace of fire to warm and dry their clothes, trying to make sure he didn’t wrinkle them as he did so. Once they were done, he looked down at himself and shrugged. He took the shirt off, using air to float it up to the boat so he wouldn’t waste it. He still wasn’t wearing shoes, so his feet were already bare. That left him in just pants. “Works for me.” He said, grinning at Brian. “They’ll dry in the sun. It’s a warm enough day.”

 

 

“Can we get going now?” Howie demanded.

 

 

“Sheesh, Howard. Impatient much?” teased Brian. The twinkle in Brian’s eyes was hard to resist, and Howie’s frown melted away into a smile. “Oh shut up and get moving, Littrell.”