Of course, I had won the wrestling match.
My brother may have been a boy, but he was still smaller and a year younger than me. But this wrestling match had been friendly. Earlier we had both been hesitant to jump into the lake, and both too prideful to test it tentatively with a naked toe. Tuatha de Denaan though we both may have been, we still did not like to jump directly into cold water. Neither of us could take the chance, so we decided to wrestle on it. Whoever lost would jump into the water first.
"Come on!" I chided, somewhat out of breath as my brother hesitantly walked to the edge of the lake. "You coward!"
Aodh turned to face me, a mixture of pride and fear contorting his childish face, his pale blue eyes wide.
"I am not!" he denied vehemently. I could tell that he wasn't convinced at his own words.
"If you are not a coward," I began, folding my arms and smiling smugly, "then you would have jumped in already."
He paused for a moment, and I could tell that he was trying to find a retort.
"You are as much of a coward as me!" Aodh finally sputtered. "Because you would have jumped in too, if you were not!"
I could not argue with that, and a wide grin broke upon my face.
"Well then, let us be cowards together and jump in the lake at the same time," I said, ending our short verbal spar.
Soon Aodh mirrored my grin.
I struggled with my green dress as I tried to pull it over my head. Once that was accomplished, my dress a heap on the soil, I took my thin gold circlet off, letting my long red hair fall into my face. Then I pulled my shoes off my feet. When I looked up, my brother, too, was completely undressed, his tunic and pants lying in a pile next to his feet. We were but innocent children of six and seven years of age and did not have the qualms of the Christians who were not yet heard of at this time.
Walking to my brother, I reached out to grab his hand and I held it firmly. We both made our way to the edge of the lake and I craned my neck as if to discern how cold the water would be by examining it. Finally, I looked at my brother, my face solemn. He nodded and looked determinedly at the water. We both bent our legs and held our arms forward to get ready to jump.
Then we sprang.
The water wasn't too cold but cold enough to jolt us as we dove through it. I let go of Aodh's hand and made my way to the surface. Soon after I released the air I had been holding in my chest, my brother's head broke the surface, gasping at the coldness of the water.
"Fionnuala!" he exclaimed, his eyes wide. "It's so cold!"
"Be tough!" I chided. "It's not so bad." Of course, that was a lie, as I was shivering slightly but unnoticeably. But my words became truth as we swam around, the activity warming our bodies. Soon the water was tolerable.
Then we heard a faint rustle in the bushes. My imagination began working actively and I lowered myself farther to the water until only my eyes were above the water. It could have been a boar, which was common around this forest, with its sharp tusks and beady eyes. My father had always warned me that boars liked to eat little children. I took this warning to heart.
Another rustle—closer now—and then a snap of a dry twig.
"Fionnuala?" a deep and familiar voice asked. "Aodh?"
I lifted my head above the water and asked, "Connl?"
Indeed, it was Connl, my father's right-hand man. He made his way out of the bushes and, his green eyes wide and his face pale but his blonde mustache pulled up at the corners in a smile said, "Fionnuala, Aodh, get dressed! You are about to get two new brothers!"
Aodh and I exchanged quick, excited glances before we clambered out of the pool and put our clothes back on, despite our wet bodies. Connl waited patiently, though I could sense tension and excitement about him as well.
Finally Aodh and I set off, our little legs pumping as fast as possible as we made our way towards our home.