“Thank you, for your kindness,” Marie said to Finn and Noelle.
“You’re welcome. It’s been sometime since we’ve had guests within our castle walls and longer still since we had guests from Were Inc,” replied Finn.
“If I may ask, what are Were Inc operatives doing in Eiru? I thought after the last effort your company made, they would have learned from their mistake,” asked Finn as he poured wine into Marie’s glass.
Marie looked to Aisling in surprise then returned her leer to Finn, replying to his question with a question, “Can I ask, how did you know we’re with Were Inc?” she asked through pursed lips.
“Your weapon is Were Inc issued and it has Were Inc itched on the slide,” (the section of the gun that houses the barrel of the gun) Finn answered much to both Aisling and Marie’s relief.
“We’re no longer with Were Inc. They’ve abandoned us here once we completed our mission to restore power to the old facility and they used us, telling us we were going on a search and rescue mission,” explained Marie as she tightly gripped her wine glass and sipped plentifully to ease the tension as they spoke.
“They did the same with the last team they sent here; the team that created Project Mortal I mean,” Noelle snarled as she drank merrily from her glass.
“Captain Quis Podex told us what your council wanted to do with the mortal symbiotes,” Aisling replied to Noelle’s snarl.
“They sent Quis Podex back to finish what he couldn’t do all those years ago,” chuckled Finn.
“You see, we are all that remains of a number of clans, dedicated to the protection of Eiru. Once we were the largest and most powerful collection clans in all of Eiru, our numbers reached into the tens of thousands,” Noelle explained.
“What happened?” Marie asked, leaning herself over the table to get closer to Noelle thrusting, her fork into her dinner ready to take her first bite of whatever kind of meat it was.
“We were led to believe the ancient treaty had been broken and a war between clans was immanent, so our forces were spread tin across Eiru to maintain the peace, only to have our teams ambushed by those symbiotes!” announced Finn with an unchanged expression of dulled emotion while he spoke. He just pulled his meal closer to him and began to feast.
“If not for Michéal, our brother, who remained here where the bulk of the attack took place, both Finn and I would not be here today to tell the tale,” declared Noelle with a bright smile at the memory of her brother’s courage.
“King Fionn, our father, when he died, I lost all will to carry on. I just a waited death. After his death, the council took power while we were giving support to the remaining teams, they saw Michéal banished for, well, Aisling; you know more than anyone why he was banished,” Finn giggled with a mournful sigh, completing his side of the tale.
Aisling looked to Noelle completely puzzled, Aisling had not been to Eiru before nor she heard of it before been sent to the country by Were Inc, what did Finn mean? Aisling tried to form the words to ask what he meant, but she suddenly found herself frightened by the answer she would get. She noticed the air was changing and Finn’s expressionless face was now worried and slightly cross, she didn’t want to anger their host, she was frightened enough of the creatures that hunted them; the vampires that abducted her and the goblins she had fought in the facility, she could not afford to make more enemies.
“What about Kian?” asked Marie.
“Kian, how do you know about Kian?” Finn asked, but didn’t allow her a chance to answer as he talked across her.
“Kian was the traitor who helped Were Inc separate our numbers. With any luck, he got his overdue punishment,” Finn declared, his eyes burning in anger.
“But we found a man with a robotic arm that helped us escape from the facility, the chamber he was sealed in said ‘Kian’ on it,” Aisling frighteningly announced to the table, unsure what to expect. She hoped his anger would not be aimed at either her or Marie.
“Well now, that put me in very high spirits indeed. Coming morning, I’ll find Kian and return the kindness he showed our family, then I’ll rend that traitor asunder; but tonight we drink, we feast and converse on more agreeable topics, tomorrow; tomorrow shall be a very good day indeed,” Finn announced, overjoyed at the news that had been brought to his attention.
They did just that, they drank wine as it was water, they ate like wolves and talked a plenty. Aisling used the courage she found in the bottles of wine to ask the question she dared not ask earlier, while Finn and Marie danced as the servants played the harp and piano; they danced without a worry.
Aisling quickly jumped into the seat next to Noelle, bringing her glass of wine with her asking, “Earlier, Finn said I’d know all about your brother, Michéal’s punishment, what did he mean?” asked Aisling.
“You don’t know?” Noelle gasped, looking at her puzzled guest.
“You two were lovers, you were his true love,” Noelle declared, Aisling’s jaw dropped. “It wasn’t an easy path to walk. You feared your feelings for him at first, but you were both so in love that he broke the treaty to be with you; you went against Crown fall law to be with him,” Noelle spoke like she was rallying an army, “He fell in love with you completely, body, mind and soul, you can walk the length and breadth of Eiru; ask everyone you met, they’d all the same thing.”
Aisling listened to Noelle so intently, she couldn’t hear the music nor the laughter anymore, it was just Noelle’s voice.
“They would all say, the goddess Eiru herself couldn’t have created a more perfect couple than you and Michéal. For what my word
