Disclaimer: The Sookie Stackhouse Series is the creation of Charlaine Harris. Don't sue me Charlaine! I love your books.

A/N- This story follows "The Gamble" and "Gambit". If you haven't read those two, it won't make much sense. Those two stories follow "From the Beginning" and "Sookie's Revelation".

A/N 2- As an Irish woman, it's easy to see the Morrígan as a proto-feminist.

Desiderata

III.

Niall was silent and reflective.

Eric looked at me and nodded his head. Of course, this was less troubling to a spouse who was a vampire, I suppose. "That would be the Morrígan influence," he said. "I'm sure you'll go and read everything you can on her." At that he chuckled. "But Sookie, while the forces she controlled could be destructive, they could also be positive. She was very independent in an age where women had few rights and women who asserted themselves were seen as evil. You have to understand any descriptions of her in the context of her time. Some aspects of her nature are very much your own- she wanted recognition for her abilities and partnership in an age where women were little more than baby factories."

Niall still said nothing.

"You don't say anything grandfather. Why?"

"I am thinking, that's all. Pythia knew that you had lost your friend and she also likely knew then that you were at great risk of harm. Perhaps she just wants to protect you, as a member of this lost race. Even if she cannot exploit your abilities directly, you still have importance and could use your abilites for other things eventually. In thinking about it, I do not believe that Pythia's intentions were are all bad, Sookie. Though the emotions that you describe in your attempts to broaden your gift are worrisome. They could overwhelm you, and even damage you without proper training. She has not contacted you in any way since that night?" he asked.

"Well," I said, hesitating. "She has not spoken to me since then, but she sent her handmaiden with a gift, before we left Memphis."

Eric looked surpised. "A gift? What kind of gift? You never said anything about it?"

I was beginning to realize some of the distance I'd felt from Eric since Memphis was my fault, not his. I was the one not sharing information, everywhere I looked.

"It's a bracelet. I'm just afraid to wear it."

"May we see it?" asked Niall.

Silently, I went up to my room and took the bracelet out of the dresser drawer, leaving it wrapped in the scarf.

Once downstairs, I handed the scarf wrapped bracelet to Eric to see. He opened the scarf over the coffee table so Niall could see it as well.

The bracelet was a gold serpent wrapped around and around. Its eyes were emeralds. It was delicate in workmanship.

Niall asked me, "Have you ever put it on?"

"No," I said. "I just get an odd feeling from it. As if she could see me if I was wearing it."

"Perhaps she can," he said with a smile. He reached out to touch it.

"Don't!"

He pulled back puzzled.

"I don't trust her. Not with you, anyway."

"What do you feel when you touch it?"

"I feel peace. And calm."

Niall looked at it closely and placed his hand above it then spoke some words. A white flame emanated from his palm and engulfed the bracelet without touching the scarf surrounding it. He withdrew his hand and the flame turned a vivid emerald green. He gestured for me to pick up the bracelet, which I hesitated to do, since it appeared to be on fire.

"It will not burn you," he said.

As I reached for the bracelet, the color of the flame appeared to darken. Niall grasped my wrist to slow my hand touching it and then slowly moved my hand to within an inch of the metal. The flame changed color, from green, to blue and then to an intense violet. Then he let me pick it up.

"And now?" he asked, curious.

"The same. Peace. Calm."

"Eric?" asked Niall. "It does not affect you? Does not affect your feeling of bondedness to Sookie?"

Eric looked puzzled by the question. "No. Do you think that it could?" He looked apprehensive.

I looped my fingers through the bracelet, giving it more contact with my skin and then held Eric's hand. Still, no change in what I felt from the bracelet, or from Eric.

"Are you sure that the bracelet is not somehow…" I searched for the right words. "Malevolent?" I asked my grandfather.

"It is yours now, Sookie. The green flame was Pythia's. You resonate differently. I truly think that she does not mean either of you any harm," he said looking almost surprised. "Try putting it on."

"What if I can't get it off?" I asked apprehensively.

"Don't worry," assured Niall. "I can remove it."

I slipped the bracelet over my right hand and on to my wrist. The gold began to glow and yet felt cool to the touch. It seemed to adjust its shape to my wrist as if the snake was alive.

Good. I heard somewhere deep in my mind. I jumped!

"What?" Eric and Niall asked simultaneously.

"I think she said 'Good'. I could hear her in my mind." I experimented with taking the bracelet off. It slipped off easily. I put it back down on the table, on the scarf.

Niall looked at me, questioning, "What will you do if her teacher arrives?"

"I do not wish to further my abilities, grandfather." I paused to frame my thoughts. "It is not what I desire."

I continued, "I don't want more power of any sort. I am happy with my life as it is. With myself and my abilities as they are. With Eric." I felt a swell of warmth through the bond at that last bit.

Niall looked at me intently. "That is why, then," he said nodding his head to me.

"Why what?" I countered.

"That is why she will protect you. You have many things that Pythia did not have Sookie. You have choice and freedom. You have love. You are not interested in giving up what you have for what you could become. She does not tempt you. You would never use what she has to offer for your own gain. You have what you want. Even when you broadened your ability that night, you did it to protect another."

I puzzled about that thought. "If I had things she did not have, wouldn't that make her envy me?"

"We are old Sookie. She is much older than I am, almost twice my age. Sometimes when you grow very, very old, you are quite content to see that others have things you did not have and you really no longer crave them for yourself. Sometimes you wish to preserve their right to have them, and you enjoy the happiness vicariously. If the bracelet bestows peace and calm, it is perhaps a tonic to exactly what you feared that night, when you felt the hatred and destructiveness in your undeveloped abilities. Perhaps it is an answer to what you saw in yourself. Pythia is difficult and she is demanding. But she is also quite wise. Perhaps she thought that you needed what she has offered you. I would wear the bracelet. If it gives you trouble, you have only to call me."

"You're sure it is not something bad?" I asked earnestly?

"I am," he said firmly.

I picked it up, looking at the emerald eyes. I put it back on my wrist.

That bastard fairy! I heard in my mind.

Hush! I said internally.

There arose in my mind a mirthful laughter that seemed unlike that I would have expected from the Pythoness.

I will know when you are ready for more. Just live your life, child. Ignore Niall's worries. At least I have forced him to pay better attention to you. To tell you about more of yourself. I do so enjoy threatening him. He was so agitated, was he not? More laughter.

I smiled. I understood a playfulness in her nature that I had not seen before. In spite of Niall's power, she'd toyed with him, teasingly.