I know as I lie on the soft mattress that I am no longer afraid. I wonder if my mother worries for me. Whether she knows more than I did of the Britons across the sea and trusts I am safe and well. I think of King Mark and his bravery, facing Morholt and the wound he has suffered. I do not know what will happen to Acha and me, whether we will be returned to Ireland. But I think no harm will come to us in this castle on the coast of a land I had once thought savage. It was our men who were savage; I see that now, the great castle stood proud and strong against the sea-storms raging, holding wealth my people desired. I wonder who will command the men of my homeland now Morholt is gone, and whether his men returned to the island to take his body home. No woman will taste the stench of his breath or his rage, no man will feel his blade tear them in two, and for that I am thankful. And I think of the young nephew, of Tristan. I think of the way he caught Acha as she fell and his jests, and of his wanting to prove himself against Morholt.
