Terry McGarry (Author of Illumination)

This Terry McGarry (Author of Illumination) originally appeared in the March/April 1991 dilemma of Aboriginals.

Science Fiction magazine, edited by Charles Ryan, and was illustrated by 
Patricia Davis.

        On ascension day, Bridget ended up being the final to struggle through the bent 

and scarred opening into the entire world. Her eyes could maybe not fix the blur of grey 

and brown to start with, when she seemed up she nearly dropped, her eyes watering; 

the sky was not blue with a sunlight that is golden level and gray therefore vast she thought it 

must break her. She sat down and then lay level, pressing to the floor--the 

surface, she must don't forget to phone it, the soil--which this is certainly irish soft and manufactured from 

grains of earth and woven strands of growing things. The shouts were heard by her of the 

others, some afraid to move out of the hatch, some working wildly about with 

Mr. Fitzhugh ordering them to prevent; nevertheless they all seemed as though muffled through 

the wall hangings that embellished the survival this is certainly nuclear-war she as well as the 

various other members of the textiles team had just emerged from, and she started initially to 

determine what length ended up being. 

          "Oh, God," her mother had been crying, softly, continuously. She had fallen 

to her knees and drawn handfuls for the green development to her damp, purple face. 

Bridget relocated closer to peer during the short-stemmed, fragile plants. "Mam?" 

          "The clover, Bridget. It should only have three leaves, but four was 

considered fortunate, and Bridget, even with  the blast as well as a century's time, it really is 

nonetheless here...." 

          Bridget grew uncomfortable using the emotion that is unforeseen switched her 

eyes up to a row of black colored stumps enclosed by tufts of infant woods, recognizable 

though none exactly fit the movies she had seen. Air had been thick with odors, 

Acrid and nice, and she opened her lips to inhale just as if she could unravel its 

elements with her tongue. 

          After her seven many years within the caps below, the very last seven wakes were 

clearest inside her mind. She clutched the leperchaun embroidery in her own 

Pocket--leprechaun, Mrs. Simmons she's got already been corrected by the, informing 

her gently which they are not real--and remembered the in class when they day 

had talked about the ascension that is coming genuine terms the very first time, since the 

interaction limit had announced it was actually likely to happen. In 

preparation she had rehearsed to by herself the words that are prohibited rainfall and sunshine 

and sky--báisteach, grian, spéir--and counted in her own head the colors when you look at the tiny 

rainbow thrown on the all by her sibling David's bit of angled glass, to ensure that 

she'd recognize the ones that are huge she saw all of them. 

          "My dad says we don't determine if it's not all water above with no flooring 

After all anymore, that heat melted the ice near the top of the worldwide world and flooded 

our islands," David had stated. 

          "My parent said which was a-bomb the IRA could comprehend," Jimmy 

Hanlon had put in, not to be bested in dad- quoting. 

          The language had blurred into meaningless babble to Bridget, although she 

had been taught to memorize in the place of utilizing report that is limited disks; whenever Mrs. 

Simmons wasn't searching, she had slipped out a written book of fairy tales and allow 

rigid workroom fade away. 

          The thing that is next had known, David ended up being yanking the guide from her 

hands. "Lesson's over and Jesus will you leave that dreamworld of yours." 

          "Leave her," Glenn Fitzhugh had said lightly. "she actually is just a early wane, 

and you also're a bully, Dai." 

          Bridget had followed the altercation absently, her eyes nevertheless on the 

yellowish page. She appreciated Glenn's kindness and had already been sorry whenever David hit 

him, because Glenn couldn't fight back without harming. David had cursed her, 

which stung given that it designed that Father made it happen. He had stated she ended up being unwelcome, 

she was the child this is certainly third mama smashed the rules, Mother was a Catholic and they 

Had been stupid and bad but nobody wanted any more difficulty so they really pretended that 

Great-great-grandfather hadn't smuggled Great-great-grandmother down here, 

using the lightweight in bad faith, and Father pretended he had beenn't sorry because 

everyone else needed to get married based on genetics and lots of times it did not work out 

with no one else complained, and then he worked additional difficult as though it may replace 

The lips this is certainly additional feed, in addition to a fortunate note about ascension was being rid of 

Them.... 

          "You're half one if that which you say is true," Glenn had stated with bovine, 

implacable reasoning through the pile of fabric into which David had forced him. David 

had possessed a tantrum then and Mrs. Simmons had can be bought in and scolded them for maybe not 

being at tea and Bridget had squeezed her leprechaun tightly and looked up from 

the sewing benches and dietary fiber recyclers towards the smooth wall space that are gray illumination 

pipes above, above, where there wouldn't be any combat anymore. 

*** 

          "It is not that they may be bad and we also're good, Bridget," Mother had 

whispered later on, attaching the hangings within the alcove orifice and switching on 

The generator that is white-noise. Bridget connected the hiss which can be fuzzy the rows it 

was resulted in noisy to drown out--rows about her. "It is exactly that we are 

various; we're the people these people were attempting to hold completely once the capsules were 

Made, and although most of these personal people are great men and women, and our buddies, there 

are some which still resent us even with  all this work time. Hate dies difficult, love." 

She had smoothed Bridget's hair straight back and braided it, deftly, gently. "Now say a 

Hail Mary in my situation." 

          "I would rather say a poem. We see clearly within a written guide concerning the fairies. 'Up the 

airy hill, down the glen this is certainly rushy we daren't get a-hunting, for anxiety about 

little--'" 

          "You while the fairies. You're because bad as my mom ended up being. Nonetheless, it's our 

custom, and it also no one will. whenever we don't preserve" 

          "we are the last, aren't we, Mam?" Bridget had said quietly, the poem 

forgotten. 

          "Ah, now, Bridget, I don't realize that. We are the final in this limit, 

anyway." 

          "And David and Anne? Glenn said..." 

          "Glenn's a chap this is certainly good he doesn't understand everything. No, I was youthful 

whenever David and Anne were created, I let the Compact have actually them. I became afraid they'd 

do to me whatever they performed to your grandma when they found out she had been teaching 

me personally the methods which can be old. You are our opportunity this is certainly last. This is exactly why you were had by myself and 

That is why you need to remember the expressed terms and prayers." 

          "I'm afraid, Mam." 

          Her mother had made a clucking sound. "What can they are doing, with 

ascension therefore shortly? The cap that is whole about us anyhow, and there's bad feeling 

by what ended up being done to your grandma." She had paused, and swallowed. 

          "Do you think...above..." Bridget had desired to inquire about the fairies, 

but her mama had misunderstood her. 

          "no body knows, mo chroí. But I'll let you know what I believe. Our individuals 

were left up there to die by individuals with the income therefore the industry to build the 

limits. But our people are survivors, Bridget, and I also think they are nevertheless here. 

In my opinion they took back once again the land that was theirs whenever most of the Orangemen hid 

under it, and that they--" 

          "You'd best decrease your sound before the cap that is entire and lynches 

you after all." Father's voice had preceded him through the fabric this is certainly hefty the 

alcove home. Bridget had glanced at her mommy's tight face and scurried past 

him to your chamber this is certainly outer where David and Anne were breathing lightly inside their 

goals. The tape that is thirdsleep of thunderstorm had looped simply audibly between 

their particular cots. Bridget had crawled in close to Anne and believed how understanding that 

liquid didn't always originate from synthtanks but fell from above in small drops 

that made the noise from the tape had not been rather the same as discovering that mom 

and Father hated each other. But she had discovered them during the time that is same and so they 

were both only things to understand. It was fine. She understood about leprechauns, 

too. 

          Bridget remembered the length of time the next six wakes had seemed to extend 

before her. And from now on, miraculously, right here these were.... 

          Then your leprechaun had been seen by her. To start with it absolutely was thought by her had been one of several 

other young ones that has wandered down, but it had been an form that is odd didn't go 

precisely. It seemed to feel her stare and, having a appearance that is crazy disappeared. 

          Mam had gone down to talk to Mrs. Simmons; Bridget made certain she wasn't 

focusing and begun to operate toward the woods. She had never run on surface 

prior to; it absolutely was more difficult compared to the treadmill machine, and her feet that are short her as 

haltingly as her tongue pronounced the words being old. Because of the right time she achieved the 

trees there was clearly no sign of the animal that is small. Her heart fell, but she 

Remembered that they were decided and shy to take a seat on a stone and wait. She had been 

far adequate in to the forests to feel concealed from Mam therefore the sleep, though it had been 

hard to know very well what could be seen from far away. It had been chilly right here, but in a brand new 

Way; she knew that the fresh air ended up being blowing against her with water on it, not 

rather rainfall however a moisture that is good and she raised her face and shut her eyes and 

smiled in to the snap. 

          She sensed its existence practically prior to the crackle was heard by her of its 

tips, and started her eyes slowly, keeping her breathing against her beating heart. 

It had been dirty, and no taller that it had been a than she was, and she knew at once 

leprechaun, because they were the fairies which are worst-looking. 

          "concern," the animal said. 

          The noise startled Bridget, therefore little had he had been expected by her to speak. 

She frowned. "No, i am perhaps not afraid." 

          He shook his mind at her, so vehemently that their hair that is matted swung 

backwards and forwards. "Neel, iss fear may." 

          Bridget, no more confused by this than she frequently had been by Mrs. Simmons, 

memorized the noises and then attempted to fit them to English. "Are you afraid? 

You shouldn't be afraid--" She reached out to him and he nodded vigorously. 

          "concern, fear," he said, pointing to himself and smiling. He truly 

seemed unafraid, although is teeth which can be awful in frightening Bridget. He then 

pointed to her. "Colleen." 

          "My name's Bridget," she said. He don't seem to comprehend, so she 

directed to herself and continued her title until his rheumy eyes widened and then he 

grinned. 

          "Bridget!" he said, pleased. Then, pointing once more to himself, he 

said, "Shay!" 

          He jumped-up and down with apparent glee and then pointed and sat 

systematically to every thing around all of them. She comprehended he had been naming 

things, nevertheless the noises made less and less feeling, and Bridget had stopped trying 

to mentally catalogue when he pointed up and said, "Spare." 

          Her heart hopped as if he had uttered an obscenity, and she 

automatically seemed available for eavesdroppers. Then she stared at him. "Spéir," 

she stated, pointing up. He nodded, encouraged, and presented his hand at her mind (it 

Had been so crooked and filthy she flinched) after which large above it. "Colleen. Ban. 

Colleen anish. Ban amawruck." 

          "Cailín," she repeated gradually. "Girl." 

          "Colleen." 

          "Fear," she said, pointing to him, and she visualized the while he nodded 

Irish spelling in her head. "Anxiety! Man! You're trying to say you are a guy in the 

old language! Oh, but it is said by you so oddly. Is worry tú! Is cailín mé!" 

          He laughed, an audio this is certainly hacking might have frightened her had she not 

already been so happy, and she started initially to laugh herself, the motions of the muscles 

unknown inside her stomach, way too long had it already been. 

          Shay and Bridget sat laughing among the list of black stumps of this old 

woodland, repeating the shared terms until the rainfall arrived. 

*** 

          She came across Shay regularly next wakes--days which can be few she learned to call 

Them, just as she discovered to accept the going and coming of light without 

switches. It absolutely was very easy to fall away; the job of erecting shelters ended up being and that's hefty 

rushed, and she ended up being informed to help keep out of underfoot. 

          At first they shared language, since she knew only a few 

full expressions. After a few years they certainly were able to carry on a discussion this is certainly easy 

while eating fruits and strolling through the woods being simple. His Irish was 

altered, with altered English mixed in, and all sorts of from it was garbled by their 

Queer mouth this is certainly crooked but it ended up being simpler to find out than Mam's because with Shay she 

could speak aloud and sometimes. 

          She would not tell her mother about Shay; she wasn't only jealous of 

her key but afraid. She had asked if there were other individuals like him; nodding, 

Shay had explained because he had been crippled and may not hunt which he had been alone 

("the lips that is additional feed," David's terms echoed inside her brain), and he had hinted 

darkly that others wouldn't be friendly. 

*** 

          They arrived on the day this is certainly 5th. They were quiet and very quickly, 

appearing just at twilight as Bridget began right back for dinner. The leaves performed 

perhaps not crackle under their foot, therefore the noises that are first heard were a sickening 

thwack and Shay's yelp of pain. She turned upon her and saw bloodstream because they were 

On Shay's face, made more grotesque by anxiety and trend. He tried to wrest her 

from their store but ended up being driven down with stones that thudded having a rustle in to the 

bracken after hitting him. She drew breathing to shriek and inhaled just the stench 

of the hand this is certainly hairy clamped over her lips and nose. She had never ever passed away out 

before; she struggled violently against it, with bursting lungs, until the 

glittering blackness loaded her mind and she couldn't any longer see Shay. 

*** 

          Bridget had never before felt something like the horror that is cold 

filled her when she found. She informed by herself why these brief, ragged guys were 

trouping fairies, friendly people who desired perhaps to swap a fairy child for a 

genuine one. However their fingers were too harsh, their sounds too harsh, and additionally they had 

tied her up as if she had been a case of mending. She ended up being carried through the forest, 

through darkness therefore total that she wondered if she'd actually woken up. After a 

while--perhaps a hundred breaths--a that is precious light began to develop, and 

she heard sounds. She had been fallen into the ground, pulled past a huge, scorching 

fire, and left within a rock structure that is wet. A man stationed himself at the 

orifice; within the firelight, his hair this is certainly white and eyes made her cringe. 

          Shay had not followed all of them. By, that understanding ached inside her dawn 

very nearly up to her requirement for Mam. But she looked up from her distress and saw 

that the guard had opted, and she managed to move by herself to your opening and 

keep an eye out. 

          There were eleven other huts, no two alike, standing in a ring around 

the hole where in actuality the fire burned. Near it, creatures grazed and picked and lots of 

tiny kids played. 

          She unearthed that somebody had left her some food, but she ended up being unwell after 

It absolutely was consumed by her. Her retching received a blended band of silver ladies to hover over her, and she 

thought comforted once they stroked her locks and cooed over its red color. 

          "will you be banshees?" she asked in Irish. They drew right back in surprise at 

These words that are initially her. One of those, evidently the youngest though they 

were all wizened and hollow-eyed, offered her a dish that is created of and sat 

She consumed before her as. 

          "we're maybe not banshees," she said gradually, just as if sensing Bridget's 

newness to their tongue. "we am Mora. Are you regarding the Tuatha?" 

          Bridget seriously considered the legend associated with Tuatha and said she don't 

know. "Bridget is my title." 

          This elicited a nod this is certainly solemn. "They stated you'd get back and make the 

land one day." 

          Bridget remembered exactly what her mom had stared and said during the 

wrinkled, pale face before her. She thought desperately of something to express with 

Her shop that is tiny of that would show she was a buddy; then she remembered 

her leprechaun swatch, and reached aside with her hands which can be bound tug in the 

female's rags. "More, I can fix these," she said, and managed to draw the little 

needle from the sheath in her pocket. Mora's eyes expanded large during the sight of the 

Gleaming metallic this is certainly stainless and she viewed in fascination as Bridget unraveled a 

long strand from her embroidery and threaded the needle deftly, barely hampered 

by her bonds. "Look," Bridget said, and stitched up the largest opening in Mora's 

tunic as neatly as she could. "See? Better." Several of Mora's clothing were woven, 

however some were of the fabric that is solid had never ever seen before, fastened with 

big, harsh thongs. Bridget's whipstitching seemed sophisticated and fragile 

by comparison, and also to her relief, Mora beamed broadly. 

          Bridget spent the rest of the utilizing the women, just who told her that day 

the males were out hunting. She discovered to milk a goat and also to tell time from a 

rock's shadow. Mora had an old, crack-faced watch, and Bridget wound it for 

her, because astonished as they certainly were that she that they had forgotten this easy thing 

didn't understand what pet epidermis was. 

          If the men came back, Mora told her she was to start to see the priest-king. 

Frightened, she struggled a little as she was delivered to the hut that is largest, this 1 

made of obstructs of planet by way of a grass that is woven, and she sat trembling by its 

cold fire gap, looking at the priest-king. He had been almost bald, with one green 

attention and another milky one that is blue as well as a great mauve splotch over half their face. He 

Leaned down and untied Bridget's chafed wrists, then kindled and sat a fire, 

completing the area by way of a pleasant, turfy smoke. 

          "My girl tells me you are a mender," he stated quietly. 

          Intimidated and bashful, though no further shaking, Bridget seemed down. "I 

would you like to help. Don't hurt me." 

          He did not answer, but his craggy, discolored face was somehow both 

Merry and grave. "Do you realize exactly what a seanchaí is?" he asked then, in English. 

          "A storyteller," she replied. 

          "And more than that, aswell. The books had been all burned for gasoline very long 

ago, when you look at the time that is cold the seanchaí recalls all the stories and all sorts of the 

Record, and recites them and so the social individuals will understand their last. You can find tales of 

the Tuatha Dé Danann, gods whom went to the planet many thousands of years ago; there 

are numerous which think that is who you are, but more which say your folks have arisen 

from the earth not quite as gods but as our enemies that are true cursed and abandoned us." 

He did actually observe that she could not follow even their English, and frowned with 

your time and effort of simplification. "We suggest you no harm, but we don't know your 

men and women. We took you out of anxiety from similar that they would strike us 

ignorance. You may go home tomorrow and present your if you wish to help 

folks an email of peace from us. It is vital and you also shall need 

Learn a complete large amount of terms, as being a seanchaí. Do you want to do this?" 

          Bridget nodded, the obligation making her solemn. She was remaining by him then 

so she could rest. There was clearly no guard, along with her hands were free; she curled up 

from the room's emptiness additionally the embers' unearthly glow, and thought hard 

about comfort and Mam in addition to limits and what was real and exactly what were stories, until 

at final she fell asleep. 

*** 

          Shay came for her that night. She woke to feel him bundling the furs 

Her to the screen around her and holding. The fireplace had been filled with ashes, and 

from far came the sound of several voices arguing. She tried to struggle as 

Shay lifted her out to the floor and hopped down she ended up being beside her, but 

Half-asleep, and also by just the right time she untangled herself from the covers he had one half 

held, half dragged her really away from picture of the band of homes. "Shay, i'd like to 

down," she protested. He let her stand but would not allow her to get. "I do not wish 

to go out of today." 

          Shay shook his mind and jumped up and down, they first while he had whenever 

came across. He stated which they had taken her buying that she ended up being only a trading thing 

safety, that they would kill her if her individuals tried to make the land away. 

          "No, Shay, that won't occur now, maybe not she said, but he if we return 

would not be persuaded, and then he began to go her in the way associated with the limits. 

          It did not happen to her to try to escape from him. She attempted to change 

many times, but Shay would have none from it, and soon she ended up being lost into the 

black colored, moonless woods together with no choice but to follow along with him. Exactly what would the 

priest-king say, she wondered miserably, as he found that she had abandoned 

all of them? Would there be another war that is bad? If there is, it could be all her 

fault, and she started to cry while they stepped. Shay patted her just a little but would 

Maybe not stop, though they were both ill-shod and fatigued. She stumbled within the mud 

and bracken and started to shiver as her garments were wet through by water shaken 

through the saplings while they passed. Odd pet noises made her hang nervously 

on Shay's supply, uncertain he was powerful enough to protect her. He could not go 

in that way, therefore he disengaged her clutching hands making her walk behind him. 

This rejection that is tiny a new flood of tears that lasted many actions, but 

whenever she was all cried out and trudging blind and numb behind Shay's rhythmic 

limp, it stumbled on her in a flash of light compared to program, she could supply the 

peace message anyhow, inside her words that are own. It was going to be all right, she 

thought, and a springtime crept into her step. 

          They appeared from the woods as seeped redly in to the eastern dawn 

clouds. The shelters seemed smooth and large and clean now to Bridget, compared 

with where she'd already been. She took a breathing that is deep started toward them, but Shay 

hung back, shaking his mind. "It really is okay," she told him. "I'll tell them 

you are my buddy...." But he would not tune in, and she eventually forget about his 

hand, saying a goodbye-and-thanks being unwilling he switched. 

          There was clearly a shout through the protection behind her therefore the flash of a 

energy gun; Bridget screamed as Shay fell, stunned, along with her father came 

running out to grab her up roughly in the arms. "It's all right now, Bridget, we 

got the tiny bastard." 

          Torn between your love inside the words which are first the cruelty within the rest, 

Bridget froze for a brief moment, then clawed her method liberated to bounce on the springy 

turf and into her mother's hands, during the time this is certainly same toward Shay, who was simply 

currently manacled by Mr. Hanlon. "Stop it!" she cried helplessly, grasping at 

Shay's coarse tunic. "Mam, make them stop it!" 

          "We've discovered her, Fitzhugh," Father stated once the limit frontrunner accompanied 

all of them. "And Jamie right here has found their particular camp; we could attack in a time, before 

The opportunity is had by them in the other young ones." 

          Mr. Fitzhugh produced indication at Mr. Hanlon, and Shay had been released to 

tumble at Bridget's feet. She crouched down next to him and saw Mr. Fitzhugh 

turn toward her daddy. 

          "Looks more to me you. like she found" 

          "Ah, she is maybe not light; she'd brought us a hostage, I'd say, and then we'd be 

rock angry to let the possibility slide by." 

          Bridget tried to object, but her mom shushed her, though her very own 

hands were anxious with fury on Bridget's shoulders. 

          "we did not would you like to live up here, the good news is that We have I'm damned if I'll 

are now living in worry," her parent completed. 

          "But they may be scared of you!" Bridget burst out, and also at final Mr. 

Fitzhugh looked to her. 

          "Let's hear from early Bridget he stated before we stop half-cocked, 

and looked down at her. 

          "this can be Shay," she explained quickly, desperately. "He's my friend, I 

met him on ascension day, he wouldn't harm any person. I became taken by the clann away 

You'll you will need to use the land away once more like into the because they had been afraid 

old times. Nonetheless they're great individuals and they were great to me. I will talk with 

Them--Mam, they talk Irish!--and I happened to be told through the priest-king to create that you peace 

message, but--" 

          "Catholics." Mr. Hanlon spat the expressed word in to the turf. "I would figured as 

much. Macdonald, let's go--" 

          "You certainly will perhaps not." Bridget's mommy endured up slowly, plus one in her own 

face made the other individuals fall quiet. "David Macdonald, the issue i have seen in you 

All these for our child has made me question when we've quarreled for nothing 

years. But you shall maybe not start this hell on the planet yet again. Did we invest 

five years within a gap into the surface for nothing? During the Problems they 

Utilized bombs that are little have actually we not seen what the big ones do that we should start it 

all again?" 

          "No one's speaking about bombs, Mary," stated Father uncomfortably, but 

much more gently than Bridget had heard him talk to her. 

          "Mrs. Macdonald features a real point," said Mr. Fitzhugh. "I say we head to all of them, 

react to their serenity provide, possibly even learn--" 

          Mr. Hanlon swore. "stroll straight into their particular trap." 

          "this has been many years that are numerous we'd soldiers, Jamie. It suits us poorly 

today. We are the foreigners up here." Mr. Fitzhugh scraped their beard and switched 

into the crowd that had gathered. "Everyone here should get back to work. We'll 

Leave in an complete hour to take Bridget to Shay's men and women, attempt to earn some type of 

contract." 

          The crowd erupted into noisy debate, but Bridget wasn't paying attention. She 

aided Shay out from the metal cuffs and also to their legs, then told him in Irish that 

he'd a house him straight back together with her if his folks would not simply take. He nodded and 

grinned his smile this is certainly awful they turned together to Mr. Fitzhugh. 

          For that, at the very least, there is no combat, and Bridget refused to day 

hesitate even if her mother warned her not to hope too hard, that people were 

tough and quite often didn't keep their guarantees. That in her own cot night, 

after-hours of more speaking than she had done in a very long time, Bridget paid attention to 

the patter of real rain in the refuge roofing. "You thought in legends, and you 

became one yourself, my wee changeling," her mother said as she fixed the 

covers we lost a human baby along with a fairy girl returned to me personally. around her. "" 

Through the window, Bridget viewed the streaks of rainfall weave into gleaming 

pools on the floor and hoped there is a rainbow each day. In her own 

head she traced a droplet's path back-up in to the sky, above which even her 

imagination could not go.