"Excuse me? Do you know the way to the library?"

A small child softly pulled at Beara's long woollen skirt to get her attention. This was interesting, seldom a child was brave enough to look at her let alone actively try to get her undivided attention.

"And why are you looking for the library young man?"

It was a beautiful child, polite and clean with flaming red hair and green eyes. He looked as if he was from around the area. Yet he did not know that asking old ladies with white hair and an eye patch, on the brink of autumn too, was never a good idea.

"My mother said that was where she would be waiting for me, but I wandered too far away and now I don't know the way back."

She rubbed her coal stained hands together in contemplation. She could of course help this child, it was the correct, the nice thing to do. On the other hand.

"What is your name, young man?"

She was hungry and winter would arrive soon.

"Ruadán, but my mom calls me Ruadh."

Her hands stilled in the motion of grabbing the young child in the neck and pulling him to her hiding hole in Ben Nevis.

"Ruadán you say? Come I'll walk you to the library and tell your mother to watch you better."

She was careless, hopeful and careless with life. It was to be expected then, but that she was still this way now. It wasn't something Beara could understand.

"This isn't a place for children to walk around alone."

She really needed to explain the stupidity of this action, otherwise there wouldn't be a child left to bring home.

"Thank you very much."

Beara grumbled a bit about well raised but stupid children and marched Ruadán to the library where an anxious woman was walking around. From time to time she would raise her hands as if to wave at her child that wasn't there, before dropping her arm again and continuing her stalking.

It was pathetic.

"Oh! There you are my dear, I've been looking everywhere for you."

The woman ran towards them and dropped on her knees in front of the boy, the chilly stones still wet from the rainfall penetrating the thin layers of her skirt. It gave Beara an amazing vantage point to look down at the other woman.

Would she, or would she not.

No matter what she would choose to do, it would be easy, like snatching newborn birds from their nests. Nothing to worry about.

She had fought this fight before and she would again.

"Brigid, you have to watch your child better, imagine what could have happened to him here. Have you forgotten how it all ended last time?"

She had lost, but that was a detail she wouldn't think too much about.

"Oh, thank you so much! You have no idea how much he means to me, I wouldn't have known what to do with myself if he had disappeared."

She had spectacularly lost, in a way she had never imagined it would have happened.

"I think I can, a mother's love is strong, isn't it?"

To gaze upon the mother and son she had once known so well, before the world had gone up in flames.

"Make sure you don't lose him again, next time I won't be there to help."

Nor as forgiving and helpful.

-

That had been the first time in centuries Beara had lain eyes on them. She had been certain that would have been the end of it, but lo' and behold. Not even a fortnight had passed before she had found the small boy striding across the autumn lands all on his own.

She had been wandering through the vast forests around her home, looking for some good wood to hoard for later, when she had heard the clear and high voice of a young boy.

"Ò hì shiùbhlainn leat"

Of course she went to see who it was that dared to cross her borders so blatantly. None of the townsmen even dared to look at her home, not since that one incident a century ago. No, they knew far too well what happened to them once she was angered.

"Hì ri bhò hò ru bhì"

This was an easy feat to accomplice so no one even thought about trying to see how much it would take.

"Hì ri bhò hò rinn o ho"

None had tried, yet this boy did, and he would never forget what the price for his insolence would be.

"Sé do bheatha, a bhean ba léanmhar"

She hadn't listened to the voice, to the song it sung, it was a mistake she would never dare to forget.

"Do b' é ár gcreach tú bheith i ngéibheann"

The insolent child had mixed songs together, letting the flow of his soul decide the next line.

A child she knew far better than she wished she did, dancing where the snowflakes rained down. Nothing good had come of it, and none would come of it this time.

The child and his mother might have forgotten in the sea of time but Beara hadn't, she couldn't.

"Ò hì shiùbhlainn leat"

The voice of the mother joined her son in a timeless tune.

"Gura mise tha fo éislean"

The words had haunted Beara a lifetime ago, years had passed, but it had lost none of its power to draw her in.

"Moch sa mhaduinn is mi 'g éirigh"

She was as powerless now as she had been then, the first time that voice had invited herself in. She had to come and follow, to see like all the other forgotten creatures of the dark forest.

-

"Hey ma'am, good to see you again!"

Ruadán came running towards Beara on Samhainn, completely oblivious to the day and the significance it carried.

"Would you know where I can find a doctor? Mom is sick."

It didn't surprise Beara one bit that Brigid had become sick, but it would do no good to tell the kid that.

"Yes, but none of them will come to help today; don't you know what date it is?"

Obviously the child did not know, what had she expected of him. He hadn't know either to never approach an old lady with white hair and an eye patch; no, why would he know the significance of Samhainn on himself, his mother and Beara.

"Of course, I do, it's Samhainn, but what could that have to do—"

He trailed off as if finally realising something was extremely wrong.

"Go home, and don't leave again without your mother till Imbolc. It is not safe outside here during the winter months."

Fortunately the child listened to her order and ran back home. The shadows that rose from the alleys and tried to follow him, were quickly subdued by Beara's glare.

"Don't you dare."

She was still the master of this space and her subjects would listen to her voice and commands, no matter how unreasonable.

-

Snow, ice and flickering lights in the dark.

It was an unheard paradise for the creatures that thrived in the cold.

Her kingdom untold.

-

Imbolc would arrive soon Beara could feel it in her bones, but she was weary. The outside world was cold and her fire not strong, her woodstock almost depleted. She would have to go outside or let the winter go.

Tomorrow she would leave her home and get some more fuel, the cold would keep up for a bit longer.

-

"It is such fool weather outside, now we won't be able to play in the snow."

Ruadán was sitting by the window together with the neighbour's child. He had hoped that today he would finally be able to enjoy the winter festivities for once, but the universe had decided otherwise.

"Be grateful child, the Cailleagh is sleeping, spring will soon arrive."

The name didi ring a bell, but he couldn't remember who exactly it was. Probably one of the many goddesses that ruled the outside world, and this one not favoured by any.

"Oh, well in that case, I suppose it is not too bad."

He still wanted to play outside, but if this meant his mother would soon be better than he supposed he could accept the answer.

-

Imbolc had creeped up on her and now Beara had to leave. Winter had come and gone, making place for the softness of spring.

She wanted to be angry, but had no one to blame but herself. She had slept through the day, had forgotten its importance, let the world move on.

Brigid would feel a lot better now.

She was still angry though. Always waiting, never ready, and no one waiting for her home after a long day.

Imbolc made her tired, just as Samheinn had injured Brigid.

This was why she had severed the bonds and left them behind.

It was never meant to be.

-

"Mrs, can you hear me? It's very nice outside and I was walking through the forest when I saw your home. Would you like to go eat dinner with me and mom?"

Ruadán had been knocking at her door for the past fifteen minutes and Beara was sick of it. Why couldn't the two of them just leave her alone?

She was done, it was over, they had won.

She didn't want to rule the winter for all eternity with only the other monsters in the dark as her friends.

It was all she had ever known, and it wasn't too bad in itself, but she was sick of the loneliness. And people insisting on spending time with her, people full of light and spring weren't making it any easier.

"No! Leave me alone."

She had done it before, she could do it again.

Walk away, never look back, disappear on a winter's night and make her house in a new spot. The world was big after all, surely there would be a spot where they wouldn't find her.

"Please, I really missed you during the winter. I wanted to make a snowman, to dance in the snowstorm and skate on the ice with you. Mom was sick and I was all alone."

The door opened, it had never been closed and locked to begin with.

"Please, I want to be happy with the three of us, not only mom and me."

His hand was stretched out, not unlike the first time she had met the child. His hair hadn't been firy red then, covered by the first snow of the year that had caught him off guard. Her staff raised and ready to let him join her army of eternal winter. 'Hello ma'am, nice to meet you. Could you show me how you did it? My mum does it much the same, but with flowers.' She had taken it then, like she would now.

His hand was small and warm unlike her own that was colder than winter itself.

He had turned her world upside down before, and now he would once more.

"Let's go home."

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Author's note:

The songs mentioned are: Óró, sé do bheatha 'bhaile  and Ailein duinn. 

The named characters are based on the Cailleach, Brigihde and Ruadán from Irish Mythology