Rebirth and Second Chances

Chapter 255: Safe Harbor

I was grateful the meeting concluded not long after King Teigh's decision. Lord Clive and Huig, his aide, had already claimed office space that the Sithern had created and were happy to retreat to their new offices. My parents and Herd Patriarch Garr left with them to give King Teigh and me some time to discuss Sithern permissions and settings.

At least that was their excuse. I knew my mother planned on dragging my father to the nursery to see her grandchild. Herd Patriarch Garr was probably planning to visit the fields and lakes the Sithern had created. He hadn't offered, but I knew he would ask for Kelpie volunteers to emigrate and from herds now that the Sithern was alive.

His scouting venture was probably so that he could get an approximate number of Kelpie the Sithern could support without expanding further. It was best not to ask the Sithern to expand much the first year, not until it had stabilized and strengthened the anchors that bound it to the planet.

Changes in building types, moving a hallway, the transition from one point in the Sithern to another, none of these changes added any real stress on the Sithern. They didn't expand or shrink the size of the dimension; they were cosmetic changes, if anything.

One of the Volar-fey escorted them to the creche where my daughter was resting. It was unsurprising that they were already familiar enough with the Sithern to act as a guide. Their ties to Fairy and magic allowed them to see the way those elements moved.

I wanted to join them, to visit the creche again. It was frustrating to know that I had been within arm's reach of my child and not known. A child I had certainly comforted when Saanvi and Manju had woken and began crying. My heart hurt that I hadn't known she existed, that she was mine when I had extended my aura to comfort and suppress, without really focusing on any of the other children. And it was aggravating that my mother would get to hold her before I would.

I was certain she and my father were already mapping her entire life out. They would have decided her name, who they would send to help raise her, and with Garr what people to send to establish a Kelpie Herd here on Derva. They would have decided on tutors, trainers, and people that would make suitable mates. More important, at least a more immediate concern, they would have a wet nurse hired and ensconced as the child's nanny.

"The first thing you should probably change," King Teigh said, drawing my attention back to the conference room and the topic of the Sithern, "is the Sithern's name. Talahm Embassy works as a placeholder, but the Sithern is so much more than an Embassy.

"You will be building a country here, a world blessed by Fairy and the Wild Magic. And we both known names have power. Consider what power you hope to embrace and choose a name with that in mind.

"Saor o Shlabhraidhean has meaning. I named the Sithern knowing it would become the Tuatha de Danaan capital. I named it using the old language, Sidhe language that is barely remembered. Saor o Shlabhraidhean means Free from Chains. The name was both a promise to our people and a proclamation to the Universe.

"Saor o Shlabhraidhean was a gift from System. A reward for completing a System quest that rooted out the virus that Olympus had introduced. Not only were the Sidhe freeing themselves from the chains that we had allowed to bind us, so was System. Once free of those chains, System integrity was restored," he recounted.

For some, King Teigh's words may have been taken as provocation. A taunt by someone that had accomplished so much, suggesting that you could never live up to his accomplishments. But I knew better. Teigh had an ego. No Ranked: King could have gotten where they were without one. But his ego was rooted in shared pride. His accomplishments were part of the Sidhe history and accomplished because he had depended on his Vassals and friends.

Knowing that made it easier for me. I didn't feel the need to compete, to try to do better than he had. He had adopted me, accepted me as a member of House Teigh, and sent me to Derva to heal my soul instead of casting me out. I knew his words were meant more as a means of encouragement, instructive rather than boast.

And he was right. The Sithern was a pocket dimension. It was able to grow and adapt, expanding to the size of an entire planet if needed. It was sentient, as much a species of Sidhe as the Seelie, Unseelie, or Tuatha de Danaan were. I think that understanding of what it meant to be Sithern and what the Sithern gave to the Sidhe was too often lost. People always forgetting that it lived, grew, and protected us as part of a symbiotic partnership.

If the Sithern prospered, the Sidhe prospered.

Even now, I could feel the connection between the Sithern and me becoming firmer, more substantial. I felt its intellect as it watched and explored the curiosity of a new child investigating and learning about the world around them. I could feel it adapting, changing spaces as it reacted to the needs of the Sidhe that were waking, those that had been lost to drunken Revel.

Ritual was complete, and it was time to begin exploring their new home.

Saor o Shlabhraidhean was a promise. The place where change would start. A Named Place that would become the epicenter for the Sidhe, a shining city of Fairy that would stand against the tides and trials that anything the Universe and Sidhe enemies would unleash.

I wanted something different for this Sithern. I hoped to build a place of succor, a place where the Sidhe could visit to heal. Talahm would remain as a bulwark for our people, protecting and fighting for who we were. It would always serve as the headwaters, the springboard for our expansion. And if Ryu was successful, Ijal would be a symbol of hope, proof that we had lived up to the promise that Saor o Shlabhraidhean had offered.

Cuan Sabhailte would be something else, I decided as I renamed the Sithern.

It would be a Safe Harbor.

A place where the Sidhe could go to heal. A home that was as close to the ideal the Summerlands espoused as possible. A place where a person could put down worries, at least for a while, and ignore the Sidhe's battle to carve out our own destiny.

A place to heal the soul. To build a life free of politics.

This Sithern would still act as an embassy. There was no way to completely ignore Derva and the Universe at large. But I could partition the Sithern, create Cuan Sabhailte behind the backdrop of diplomacy and politics. I would strive for something more, not exactly Shangri-La, still a place divorced of worries and intrigues. I doubted I could build the utopia I was thinking of, but perhaps I could model the Sithern on those ideals. A place to retreat and recharge.

[Faction Message (Seelie, Unseelie, Tuatha de Danaan): Talahm Embassy has been renamed Cuan Sabhailte. Plenipotentiary Irvin A'Teigh has established the Sithern as a 'Safe Harbor'. Sithern Portal settings have been set to 'Open'.]

"Your reasoning?" King Teigh asked after he finished reading the System message.

"I am still a Peace-maker at heart, even if I have forsaken the profession" I began by way of explanation. "Belisama has never lost faith in me, even when I lost faith in myself. And Her.

"She wanted a place where Kelpie could live in harmony with the rest of Sidhe. Free of exploitation and subjugation. As Host, I have been given a gift, a world of Fairy where I can make Her hopes real.

"Cuan Sabhailte will be compartmentalized. The embassy will exist to deal with real-world issues. But those issues have nothing to do with the Sithern and the people who come to live or visit.

"I hope to establish a place where the Sidhe can go when they need to escape, to heal, or to recharge.

"A place where they don't have to worry about machinations or intrigue," I concluded.