*
At the fall festival, the belts Jirvel and Kannak made were quickly snatched up. They bartered for a new shovel, two hair brushes the fishermen brought from England and then ordered a new pair of shoes for Kannak and the still growing Stefan. The mood, Stefan noticed was not as lively but then, Mistress Macoran and her wayward sons were back.
As before, Macoran sat on the platform with his wife and watched Jirvel, and just as before she occasionally looked at him. But once they were home and Kannak was asleep, Jirvel slipped out of the cottage and went off some place to cry. Stefan wanted desperately to comfort her, but he wasn't supposed to know about her love for Macoran, so he went to bed instead. That kind of love, he decided, was not worth the pain it caused.
A fortnight later Macoran sent a man. His name was Eachann, and Eachann informed Jirvel that he was to teach Stefan how to fight. But a week later, after Eachann lost every match to Stefan despite the boy's awkwardness, he ventured to speak to Jirvel alone, "The laddie fights like a Viking."
"Many Vikings live in the north."
"I have heard o' a very tall lad in the north, but he be slow o' hand and mind."
"I have heard that too."
"But Stefan be not slow, though I cannae imagine too many lads…even in the north will be as large as he. How old be he?"
"Not yet sixteen."
Eachann shook his head. "He will grow still."
It was the last they saw of Eachann except on their occasional trips to the village.
*
Stefan suffered a growing spurt in the weeks following, his awkwardness increased and the women in his life never missed an occasion to laugh at him. It was time, he decided, to learn the dress of the Scots and once he became accustomed to the pleating and the belting and the tucking, he found the one long strip of tartan made into a kilt both comfortable and likeable. Kannak presented him with a new belt and he marveled at how accomplished she had become.
But in the fall, the clan's livestock began to grow thick, warm coats and the heather plant bloomed profusely and cast off thousands more seeds than normal. It was a sure sign of a harsh winter. As well, the water level in the river started to drop. Already the rain in the mountains had turned to snow.
*
It happened on a day when they were bundling fire wood and taking it to the shed. Kannak suddenly let the bundle she carried fall to the ground and grabbed the top of her head. A few yards behind her, Stefan threw his bundle away, ran and got to her just before she collapsed. "Jirvel!"