The Wee Free Men

'Ye ken anyone who keeps bees?' said the kelda. When Tiffany nodded the little old woman went on, 'Then you'll know why we dinnae have many daughters. You cannae ha' two quins in one hive wi'oot a big fight. Fion must take her pick o' them that will follow her and seek a clan that needs a kelda. That is our way. She thinks there's another way, as gels sometimes do. Be careful o' her.'

Tiffany felt something move past her, and Rob Anybody and the bard came into the room. There was more rustling and whispering, too. An unofficial audience was gathering outside.

When things had settled down a little, the old kelda said: 'It is a bad thing for a clan to be left wi'oot a kelda to watch o'er it e'en for an hour. So Tiffan will be your kelda until a new one can be fetched.'

There was a murmur beside and behind Tiffany. The old kelda looked at William the gonnagle.

'Am I right that this has been done before?' she said.

'Aye. The songs say twice before,' said William. He frowned, and added: 'Or you could say it was three times if you include the time when the Quin was—'

He was drowned out by the cry that went up behind Tiffany:

'Nae quin! Nae king! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna' be fooled again!'

The old kelda raised a hand. 'Tiffan is the spawn of Granny Aching,' she said. 'Ye all ken of her.'

'Aye, and ye saw the wee hag stare the heidless horseman in the eyes he hasnae got,' said Rob Anybody. 'Not many people can do that!'

'And I have been your kelda for seventy years and my words cannae be gainsaid,' said the old kelda. 'So the choice is made. I tell ye, too, that ye'll help her steal back her wee baby brother. That is the fate I lay on you all in memory of me and Sarah Aching.'

She lay back in her bed, and in a quieter voice added, 'An' now I would have the gonnagle play The Bonny Flowers, and hope to see yez all again in the Last World. To Tiffan, I say, be wary.' The kelda took a deep breath. 'Somewhere, a' stories are real, a' songs are true...'

The old kelda fell silent. William the gonnagle inflated the bag of his mousepipes and blew into one of the tubes. Tiffany felt the bubbling in her ears of music too high-pitched to hear.

After a few moments Fion leaned over the bed to look at her mother, then started to cry.

Rob Anybody turned and looked up at Tiffany, his eyes running with tears. 'Could I just ask ye to go out intae the big chamber, Kelda?' he said, quietly. 'We ha' things to do, ye ken how it is...'

Tiffany nodded and, with great care, feeling pictsies scuttle out of her way, backed out of the room. She found a corner where she didn't seem to be in anyone's way and sat there with her back to the wall.

She'd expected a lot of 'waily waily waily' but it seemed the death of the kelda was too serious for that. Some Feegles were crying, and some were staring at nothing and, as the news spread, the tiered hall filled up with a wretched, sobbing silence...

... the hills had been silent on the day Granny Aching died.

Someone went up every day with fresh bread and milk and scraps for the dogs. It didn't need to be quite so often, but Tiffany had heard her parents talking and her father had said, 'We ought to keep an eye on Mam now.'

Today had been Tiffany's turn, but she'd never thought of it as a chore. She liked the journey.

But she'd noticed the silence. It was no longer the silence of many little noises, but a dome of quiet all around the hut.

She knew then, even before she went in at the open door and found Granny lying on the narrow bed.

She'd felt coldness spread though her. It even had a sound—it was like a thin, sharp musical note. It had a voice, too. Her own voice. It was saying: It's too late, tears are no good, no time to say anything, there are things to be done...