~ 40 A.D.The Goddess was drawn to her water, now known as the Shannon Pot, but then only known as the Well of Knowledge. Someone was there. Someone with a terrible sadness, more so than any she'd ever felt. She couldn't quite get a clear picture, but the emotion was so overwhelming that she knew she had to go.
She saw him. A man, sitting alongside the water, arms crossed over his knees pulled up to him, looking across the water, crying.
She was cautious. She hadn't noticed this man climbing to the Well. She rarely misses those in travel. She was unable to read his mind. This type of blocking was not unknown to her, but not common. She watched for a moment, but she couldn't allow this person to be alone in this sorrow when they are clearly looking for answers. That's why people sought out the well, looking for answers and solutions to their problems.
She took up the guise of a middle-aged woman and approached noisily. The man noticed and tried to calm himself. She sat next to him.
"Why, good sir, are you so sad?" She requested.
"My sorrows are of nobody's concern." He laughed. "And you couldn't possibly understand."
"I can understand more than you imagine. You've come to the Well of Knowledge. Those who come here look for answers, they look for me." She began to glow with a shimmer of green and turquiose, and allowed her true form to shine through her material exterior.
The man turned to look at her. "All I seek is peace and quiet and beauty. I don't require knowledge. I have more than enough." He looked directly at the woman-Goddess, and allowed his true form to slip through. The trained senses of the Goddess saw the flash of wings and unmistakable glimmer of Heaven in his eyes. "You don't want to talk with me." He turned away again.
She had been right to be cautious. This was an Archangel. Her kind did not deal with angels. They were interferences in human society, and lately, with the whole Jesus issue, many of her superiors were extremely unhappy with Heaven's persistent need to control humans.
However, she could not ignore the sadness she felt. Angel or not, he came to find something, and she would do what she could to help him.
"You are wrong. I do want to talk to you. You feel a pain so great that it drew me here from far away. No one, human or Angel, should bear a pain like that alone. I will stay."
The man nodded, he had already resumed his tearful demeanor and was in no position to fight this Goddess at this moment. She settled herself with her legs crossed. She gazed out across her pond and put her hand on his upper back and rubbed gently.
The Angel felt the aura of positive energy that she emitted and her unwavering commitment to his well-being, something he hadn't felt in nearly a millennium. This touch invoked deeper feelings in the Angel and he soon began sobbing into his still crossed arms. She reached around to encompass his shoulders with her arm and pulled him slightly toward her. He leaned on her without resistance and sobbed into the night. She remained steadfast and did not leave his side.
As the sun began to rise over Shannon's Pot, the two sat side by side, still. The Angel, still sad, but resolved to move forward, and the Goddess, knowing she may be ridiculed, but at this moment caring nothing about that, only about the one beside her.
After the sun rose, the Angel turned to the Goddess. "You've been with me all night, and yet I never told you my name nor have I learned yours."
"I am Ceibhfhionn." She smiled at him.
"Ceibhfhionn. That is beautiful. I am Gabriel."
"Gabriel. I am glad you came to my Well, Gabriel. I must go now, my people are calling for me."
"Will I meet you again?"
"If you stand by the Well and call for me, I will always hear. I believe I will see you again." The Goddess vanished, leaving the Angel still in wonderment at her unexpected aid, and possibly, slightly in love with this Goddess.