Staked

Oberon and Orlaith sat down side by side in the grass, tongues lolling out and tails wagging like the happy hounds they were. Granuaile and I sat down facing them, legs crossed beneath us. I nodded at her and we both flipped our vision to the magical spectrum, where we could see the hounds’ auras and the bindings that linked their minds to ours. We had long promised the hounds that we would bind them together eventually so that they could hear each other, but since we had never actually done it before, we didn’t tell them what we were planning, in case it didn’t succeed.

We began to work on the new binding in tandem, Old Irish streaming out of our mouths in almost identical patterns. The only difference was in our targets: I was starting with Oberon and binding his thoughts to Orlaith, and Granuaile was binding Orlaith to Oberon in turn. For now they were also connected to us: We’d be able to hear both sides of their conversation, but out of necessity we would soon give them the equivalent of their own private line, or else we’d constantly hear them chattering when we were trying to sleep or concentrate on something else. When the bindings were complete, no chimes or sirens went off in their heads. They would have to be told the link was there and then discover that they could use it. We had agreed to tell Oberon first and let him be the uncertain one.

“Okay, Oberon,” I said aloud. “You should be able to talk to Orlaith now. Go ahead and try it. Think something at her rather than at me.”

“What? Like, now? I mean … do I just say hello? Hello?”

Granuaile’s hound replied and got to her feet, her entire rear end shaking back and forth in her excitement. “Hey! It’s Oberon! I can hear your words! Can you hear me? Hi, Oberon!”

Oberon got to his feet too, every bit as excited. “Oh, yeah! Wow! Hi, Orlaith!”

“Hi! This is great!”

“Yeah, finally! I’ve been wanting to tell you that I think you’re an amazing hound. I knew from the moment I first sniffed your ass that we would get along!”

“Aw, that’s so nice of you to say! I thought the same thing about you!”

Oberon reared up on his hind legs and pawed at the air in Orlaith’s direction, and she mirrored his action, as if they were boxers instead of wolfhounds. Then they jumped around in tight little circles. “Oh, wow, three kinds of cat shit, Orlaith!” my hound said. “I know I should be saying very impressive things right now, but I’m too happy to think! I just want to run in circles!”

“Me too! Let’s do it!”

“Really? Okay! You’re so perfect!”

And then the two of them tore off through the forest, carried away by their joy, leaving Granuaile and me behind, facing the river. We exchanged a glance and laughed at our hounds for a few seconds, and then Granuaile leaned over and kissed me. She pulled away an inch and murmured in a low voice, “I knew we’d get along too, you know.”

“Wait, what? Like Oberon knew?”

“Ha! No. But the first time you walked in to Rúla Búla, I just knew. I was attracted on first sight, not first sniff.”

“Because Laksha was in your head and told you I was a Druid?”

“No, no. I saw you first. Laksha didn’t tell me about what you were until later.”

“Ah, that’s a fine salve for my ego.” Her lips remained close to mine and I could smell her strawberry lip gloss. It felt the way it used to again. “You still drive me crazy, you know.”

“Yeah,” she said, smiling. “I know.” And then we broke our eavesdropping link to our hounds so that they could enjoy their privacy, and we enjoyed some privacy of our own right there on the riverbank, not caring in the least how chilly it was outside.

There was bliss for a few days. They were the kind of carefree days you dream of having someday, the kind of days you spend most of your life working and suffering for. And then Orlaith came into heat and the hounds disappeared into the woods for long periods, until one night they sat us down by the fireplace for a Very Serious Talk.

“Atticus and Clever Girl, we have been discussing this for a while, and we think you should know something,” Oberon said.

“Yes,” Orlaith added. “This is a very important thing. Are you paying attention?”

Granuaile and I assured them that they had our full attention.

“I’m pregnant!” Orlaith gushed.

“That means you’re going to need to buy a lot more sausage,” Oberon explained.

We both clapped and squeed and gave them hugs. “This is fabulous news!” Granuaile said.

“Yes, indeed! I think we should celebrate,” I said. “Oberon, I never did goulash you when we were in Prague. Let’s all go get goulashed!” Granuaile and Orlaith didn’t know what that was all about, but they got on board with the idea quickly enough.

I’ve decided that, apart from the herb greenhouse, I’m going to plant a flower garden around the cabin and keep some bees. The puppies should be here in time to play around in the spring blossoms. They’ll be simply adorable, and harmony will have found us.