Author's note: Hey Dominic! I was getting worreid, actually, but I'm glad you're still with me.

If I can't post on a Friday in future I'll post the following Tuesday. I know I sometimes post at odd times, but from now on it'll be one of those two days.

Discoveries

["What did Der-vla mean?" Taylor asked. She'd wandered into the courtyard a few minutes earlier.

"There were two meanings for Deirbhile. Daughter of a poet; or daughter of the land."

"Well, we know which one you were using." Alyssa said.

"Yes. Where was I?"

"You were asleep." Taylor prompted her.

"Do you even know what we're talking about?"

"More or less. Go on!"

"All right. I woke up early the next day…]

Cerbhall yawned as he sat up. A month or more of sleeping outside had accustomed him to the aches, but he could never get used to rising so early.

"Deirbhile?"

"Over here." He turned to see her sitting by the fire, poking absently at it. "I don't have any bread or anything, only the stew. Is that all right?"

"I have bread. I think. Let me have a look." He rooted through his pack, eventually hauling out a loaf well-wrapped in cloth. Thariin took it from him and cut some hunks, handing him back the much smaller loaf when she was finished. She served up the stew and they ate in silence.

"Tell me something, Cerbhall." she said when they'd finished. He looked up expectantly. "Why don't you wear jewelry?"

"It attracts bandits."

"You attract bandits." Surprised, he stared at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Your clothes and bearing indicate nobility. Even this." she held up a piece of bread. "This didn't come out of any village oven. It's too fine. No villager has flour this well-milled."

He grinned, shaking his head. "I've been wandering for a month, and no one who didn't know me figured it out…certainly not after one night."

"I was raised in a royal court." She turned away, busily cleaning her plate. "It wouldn't be like yours, but some things are always the same. So who are you?"

He rose to his feet and bowed. "Prince Cerbhall, son of King Cathal of Kells, heir to the throne of Tara."

"Nice to meet you." She looked him over carefully. "No, you're just going to have to change your clothes."

"Excuse me?"

"Your clothes. We'll have to trade them in the next village."

"Excuse me?" he repeated helplessly.

"Were you planning on leaving?"

"I…what? No, I…"

"If you're planning on traveling with me you'll have to change your clothes. I haven't been royalty in a long time, so I know how to hide it. You don't. So we'll have to get you new clothes."

"What if I wasn't planning on traveling with you?" She grinned.

"I know your customs…no prince in your family would ever leave a lady to travel alone. Even a lady he didn't like, or one who could protect herself. It's Just Not Done."

"Maybe I'm not a very good prince."

"Ah, I know your family as well. There hasn't been a bad prince in the last twenty generations or more." She grinned up at him.

"You don't know my cousins, obviously." he muttered, packing up his belongings.

"Good thing they're not in line. Tell me, Cerbhall—you know this place. Where shall we go?"

Cerbhall looked around, orienting himself.

"There's a village not far from here. We can get more supplies and you can decide where you're going from there."

"Sounds good to me."

["That started our journeys. We traveled for a month, maybe two…we weren't keeping track." Tara sighed faintly. "I enjoyed it, very much. Cerbhall was sweet, and not hung up on being a prince. His subjects obviously liked him…" She trailed off.

"You liked him!" Max said suddenly. The Shark Ranger had come out to get a drink earlier and, just like Taylor, had been caught up in the story.

Tara sent him a withering look. "What did you think we were talking about?"

"He wasn't here for the start of the story." Alyssa reminded her.

"Oh. Right." Tara rose to her feet. "I need to get a drink; Alyssa, you want to explain?"

"Sure." Alyssa agreed quickly, and by the time Tara came back everyone knew what was going on.

"So where was I?" Tara asked, settling back down.

"You'd been wandering for a couple months." Max supplied.

"Where was this, anyway?" Taylor asked.

"It had a different name then…Ireland."

"Ireland?" Max repeated.

"Yup. Back then it was Banba."

"I thought the old name was Erin."

"It was. Banba was older than that, though. Remember this is thirty-one hundred years ago." She shifted slightly, looking back into the fire again. "So we wandered…and yes, Max, I liked him. And during those months, he started to like me too. And then it got to be winter…"]

"Deirbhile?" Cerbhall asked quietly. Thariin looked up from the fire she'd been building.

"Yes?"

"I need to go home."

"Oh." She looked back at the fire. Cerbhall knelt beside her.

"It's just…my father will need me during the winter."

["Wouldn't you have been speaking Latin?" Taylor interrupted.

"Proto-Gael, actually. You want me to repeat this verbatim?"

"No, but…you're very informal."

"I'm paraphrasing. Give me a break, Taylor, it's thirty…"

"…one hundred years ago!" the three Rangers chorused. "Ok." Taylor added. "Objection withdrawn. You can be informal if you want."

"We were very formal at the time. You'll just have to pretend." She hesitated.

"Cerbhall's father would need him during the winter." Alyssa supplied. At Tara's surprised look, she grinned. "You keep forgetting where you are."

"People keep interrupting me." Tara corrected her. "So Cerbhall was groveling…"]