Hello everyone. Thanks for your continued support and lovely reviews! Here is a new chapter. Enjoy!

Dsclaimer: All SVM characters belong to CH and AB

SPV

"Thrust . . . Do not drop your guard . . . good!" instructed Callan as Mánus and I spared on the north lawn. Mánus was a dragon and was stronger than any supernatural being I had ever encountered. Where Manus used brute force, I countered with precision and agility.

I was surprised to find that my sword skills seemed to be innate from the moment I grabbed my first practice sword. It was like dancing for me; something I was very good at doing. Once you mastered the basic footwork, you could add your own personal style.

I parried Mánus next strike, twirled behind him, and then placed the tip of my sword to the nape of his neck, the only spot of vulnerability on a dragon. The skin when in human form and scales when in dragon was impenetrable except for behind their neck.

"I win!" I exclaimed while jumping up and down like a kid in a candy store. I just bested Mánus for the first time.

Mánus huffed in defeat, "Just wait until you transform and we can use magic, and then we will see if you can win."

"Mánus, do not forget your place," Callan reprimanded.

"Ah. . . You spoiled sport," I said jokingly while sticking out my tongue at him.

Then we all turned around at the sound of clapping. Callan and Mánus immediately did a low bow and said in unison, "My Lord."

"Niall!" I said in surprise and did a little curtsy, I guess those etiquette classes are paying off also.

"Blood of my Blood," Niall said in greeting.

"How long have you been standing there?" I questioned my great-grandfather. I had not even picked up his mental signature on my radar or that of his dragon guards that were also circling overhead in the sky and breathing fire.

I still could not read fairies but I could usually pick up the opaqueness of their brains and definitely the fiery brains of dragons. I guess I was too elated with my win to mentally scan my surroundings.

"Long enough to see you defeat young Mánus," replied Niall.

Mánus blushed in embarrassment. "Come dear one, I have a gift for you."

"Really!" I said in excitement.

Mánus and Callan fell in behind Niall and me as we walked to the Royal Gardens. We traveled through a labyrinth of hedges and eventually ended up at a marble statue that I had never seen before. "This is your great-grandmother, Einin Ó Canain. I tasked Michelangelo's to sculpt it after her death." Niall said somberly.

I knew that my grandfather Fintan had lived to be seven hundred years old and had outlived my human great-grandmother by most of those years. I mentally did the math; the statue was sculpted at earliest two hundred and fifty years after my great-grandmother's death. I then realized that Niall loved my great-grandmother and still mourns her loss. I could see the sadness in his eyes at the very thought of her.

"She was very young when we first met and quite beautiful," he said wistfully.

I studied the sculpture. She was wearing a floor length gown that came down to her ankles. It had a full skirt and long fitted sleeves. She wore a broach at her chest and a hooded cloak over her dress. Her hair was quite long and wavy with a couple of braids on each side that was pulled back with a hairpin. She was beautiful.

"I was a very ambitious fairy then. I ruled over many clans in Northern Ireland at that time and she lived on my lands. You remind me much of her, not only in physical appearance, but also in courage and loyalty. I loved her very much.

I stayed with her several years after she gave birth to Fintan and Dermot, but it soon became abundantly clear that they could not thrive in the Earth realm, they were too faery. I retreated to our realm with the children and she stayed behind to manage my affairs in the realm. She died two years later from the plague, but I often think it was from a broken heart.

Niall then paused to collect himself. I had never seen my great-grandfather show this much emotion before; seeing him in this light endeared me to him a little more.

"I would like to give you something of hers," he said, and then with a pop there was a small box in his hands.

He gave me the box and when I opened it, my breath caught at what was inside. It was the antique silver broach and hairpin that my great-grandmother Einin was wearing in the sculpture.

"They are beautiful," I said as I gingerly ran my finger across them. The broach was an open circle intricately decorated with birds and rubies; along with the broach was the matching long pin The hairpin was a celtic knot with a hair stick.

"I would also like for you to also have something from me," Niall said and then I heard another pop and saw that Niall was holding a much longer box. Inside the second box was a matching longsword and flame dagger. The blades were double edged and made completely of silver. The guard and pommel had a crescent moon design made of gold. Engraved on the hilt of the longsword was, si shaer paeraeli, and engraved on the dagger was, air ei kyr oraeli.

"They're equally beautiful great-grandfather," I said as a tear rolled down my face. I had not received many gifts in my life, "Ai shor shaes saes shor vodi."

si shaer paeraeli: the best defense

air ei kyr oraeli: is a good offense

Ai shor shaes saes shor vodi: I will wear them with pride