FATE/LÚNASA FÓMHAR

"August Harvest"

Chapter 9: God of Light

Three days following Connla's meeting with Ozymandias, a group of Servants left on an excursion to Okeanos, the location of the Third Singularity where Ritsuka and her then-fledgling band met the famed pirate Francis Drake (revealed to be a rowdy woman rather than a man) and embarked on an adventure to protect the Holy Grail from Jason and his Argonauts. Drake and her pirates were long gone by now, and the Singularity was corrected. Considering how isolated the islands of Okeanos were from the rest of the world, it was a safe location for Chaldea's Servants to traverse to without worrying about interfering with human history.

The island they chose to vacation on was the largest one in the peninsula, with a long beach stretching for miles on end. The sand was so clean and white that it could have been mistaken for snow, while the cerulean ocean thrust wave upon wave against the shoreline. Palm trees swayed in the warm breeze, tall grasses protruded from the sand, and various wild fruit trees produced a large selection of edible goods that were ripe for the picking. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, allowing for the sun to beam both its light and heat upon the undisturbed paradise.

Naturally, the Servants came prepared to deal with such balmy weather. Everyone was clothed in swimsuits, although not everyone was particularly excited about this prospect. Connla was most especially nervous about wearing a bathing suit since she never wore one before, and was appalled by how much skin she would show off. This greatly upset her due to her countless scars, and she was most scared of Gilgamesh and Ozymandias being offended by the sight of them. Nevertheless, Gilgamesh was insistent on her accompanying him as his retainer, so she didn't have much choice but to go along with it. Of course, both kings promised that they would not be bothered by her injuries, and everyone else make the same assurances, which served to boost her confidence a bit.

This was where Connla found herself. She had been caught up in the rush of preparing for this vacation that the realization was only dawning upon her just now. She, Emiya Archer and Boudica were all on barbecue duty this afternoon, with Connla responsible for cooking dozens of corn on the cob and other grilled vegetables. She still looked rather nervous ever since Gilgamesh showed her a swimsuit of his choice and forced her to put it on, and the other two could tell by her quiet demeanor.

Her attire consisted of a charming one-piece black swimsuit, a pair of sandals, and a small Hawaiian shirt that was modeled after the one Cuchulainn Lancer sometimes wore. Sadly, the numerous markings on her arms and legs were fully visible for anyone to see, along with the tiny mitsudomoe tattoo on her collarbone that represented her three geasa.

As Connla turned one of the corn, Emiya leaned in over her and said, "Mm, those smell quite nice. It won't be long before Boudica and I finish up, so get those on a plate as soon as you can. I can already hear Jack and Nursery bugging the others about when lunch will be ready."

"Mm," she nodded and did so, refusing to look up at him.

"What's the matter? Still upset about showing your scars?"

"Yes."

"There's nothing to worry about. Sure, most of us might not get along, but I can guarantee that you're in the company of friends. No one will belittle you, unless they don't mind having an arrow shot in their back."

"O-Okay…" Connla murmured as she set the vegetables on a tray.

Boudica called out from her barbecue, "The chicken skewers are ready! How are the steaks and burgers coming along?"

"Just about done. Get your stuff out first," Emiya replied.

"Got it!"

The red-haired Goddess of Victory eagerly took her food to the table they had set up for communal dining on the beach. She was clad in a simply white bikini that showed off a decent amount of cleavage and skin on her buttocks. Sakata Kintoki approaching the other two as they finished their grilling, did a quick glance at Boudica, then grumbled, "I know it's hot, but can't she practice even a modicum of decency? There are kids running around, after all."

The blonde-haired Berserker grinned at Emiya and proclaimed, "Ooooowhee, those smell mighty golden! I'm callin' dibs on the medium-rare steaks!"

"That's if you can beat Proto to them," the Archer muttered, gesturing toward the 'young' version of Cuchulainn as he played volleyball with Jack and Nursery.

"Aw, not to worry, boss. If it comes down to it, we can always kill another Demon Boar."

"Geez. Do you think I live in front of the grill or something? These ones already took long enough to cook."

"Then maybe a chimera?"

"Proto will yell about how there might be dog meat mixed in there. You know he's not allowed to eat it."

"Oh, right. Say, I know! How about those Hermit Crabs that keep harassing us? I bet we could have a clam bake one of these days!"

Emiya raised an eyebrow. "A clam bake, huh? Not a bad idea, actually."

Kintoki glanced at Connla's plate and noticed some skewered green vegetables she had set aside. He asked her, "What are those supposed to be?"

"Brussel sprouts."

"Eh? Why did you make those? You know no one is going to eat them!"

"Don't worry, they're for me."

"Seriously? You actually like them?"

"Of course I do. That bitter, nutty taste is to die for."

Kintoki shuddered, "Good grief. If I ate one of those, I'd be doing a different kind of dying. In what conceivable way did anyone figure out those ugly things are edible? Same goes for asparagus, beans, spinach and mushrooms."

Connla shrugged and said, "Sometimes, people had to make do with what they could find."

"Boy, it'd suck to be one of the ancient people who had to figure this stuff out."

"Quit bellyaching," Emiya retorted. "The kid's got low enough self-esteem with her appearance without you butting in on her epicurean tastes."

"Hey, I wasn't picking on her," Kintoki said, then snatched an ear of corn and munched it without any care of how sloppy he was. "Besides, it's not like I hate all vegetables. Take corn for instance. It's one of my top favorites."

"Because they're supposed to be sweet?" Connla asked.

"That, and they're golden! How can you go wrong with a vegetable that is as dazzling as this!?"

"So you wouldn't have a problem with yellow beans or bell peppers?"

"Ah… Well, uh…"

Emiya placed his hand on her shoulder and muttered, "Give it up. He's the complete opposite of you – a kid in an adult's body."

"So what if I am!?" Kintoki blurted. "If I don't like something, I'm going to say it as loud and clear as a booming thunderclap!"

"Fine, fine, I get it. If you're not going to help us, then could you make some space already? We need to bring this stuff out now."

As the Archer said this, Connla put the last corn on the plate and attempted to lift it off the table. It turned out to be much heavier than she anticipated, and she stumbled a bit from the sudden weight. Kintoki kneeled down to support her, then said, "Why don't you let Big Bro handle this? Wouldn't want to spoil all of this nice food because you were trying too hard."

"If you don't mind," she murmured sheepishly and passed the plate to him.

"Leave it to me!"

The trio brought everything over to the communal table. Jack, Nursery and Cuchulainn Prototype were already eating the chicken skewers that Boudica cooked. At a side table, Jing Ke poured glasses of juice and alcohol, frequently pausing to take sips of sake from her cup. She wore a black one-piece that resembled a china dress except there was no skirt, and the top split around her navel and cleavage before converging back at her neckline like a haltertop. As Jing Ke was about to drink the contents of a beer mug, she felt something hard hit the back of her head, causing her to spill beer all over herself.

"Three times!" Florence Nightingale suddenly shouted from behind, tightly gripping the megaphone she just smacked the assassin with. "I've already told you three times to stop drinking so much alcohol! Do you not have any common sense!?"

"Damn it, that hurt," Jing Ke growled and rubbed her head. "And I keep asking you what the problem is. I'm a Servant, so no amount of booze is going to affect me."

"That's not the issue! There are children running around here! Do you have any idea how much of a nightmare it will be for me if I have to treat future generations of their liver problems because they were inspired by your bad behavior!? You have to understand the dangers you are exposing those young minds to!" Nightingale objected, flailing her arm about so hard that it caused her cleavage to wiggle beneath the garish yellow bikini she wore. The garment was so small that it showed off a copious amount of the underside of her breasts, along with her midriff and legs.

"If anyone is a danger around here, it's you! I know you're supposed to be on lifeguard duty, but what kind of flashy outfit is that!? I'm worried that the kids will be inspired to dress like you, and then they'll attract all sorts of bad company and contract STDs or something!"

"Preposterous! These colors I wear are loud on purpose! Anyone who is drowning should be able to see me coming from a mile away!"

Under his breath, Emiya whispered, "Drowning in water or lust?"

Jing Ke loudly retorted, "I don't have an issue with the colors. It's the design!"

Nightingale shrugged. "It cannot be helped. I simply picked what was available and adapted to the situation."

The assassin laughed, then took another swig of beer. "'Adapted', my ass."

The microphone screeched as Nightingale brought it to the killer's ear and screamed, "NO DRINKING IN FRONT OF THE KIDS!"

"Gah!? Damn it, lady! Are you trying to make me deaf on purpose!?"

Jack and Nursery giggled at the debacle the two women were causing, while Connla skulked behind Kintoki to avoid getting involved. Then another female Servant's soothing voice broke through the cacophony as she urged, "Come on now, we're supposed to be having fun, aren't we? You should learn to loosen up a bit, Florence."

Behind then, Mata Hari approached while wearing a dancing outfit akin to what she normally wore in battle, except this one was far more ridiculous and improbable in design. It consisted solely of the bottom portion of an orange swimsuit held up by extraneous strings that connected to the small pieces of fabric that covered her voluptuous breasts, allowing for the majority of her thighs to be dangerously exposed. A long translucent cape flowed from her waist and furled over her legs. This was a type of swimsuit unofficially dubbed a shibarikini, or 'bondage bikini', since the strings resembled how rope would be tied around someone in a shibari position.

"Ugh…" Jing Ke groaned, then whispered to Nightingale, "If you want to lecture anyone on being a danger to society, it's her."

"Believe me, I will do so later," the nurse muttered in a rare moment of agreement.

Mata Hari took two cocktails as she wondered curiously, "Oh my. Is something the matter? You two became quiet all of a sudden."

Kintoki frowned hard and said, "Boy, I'm glad Boss Raikou isn't around to see this."

Connla munched on a skewer of brussel sprouts as she asked, "Why do you say that?"

"She'd go on an epic rant about the lack of decency and morals, or something like that. She's been fascinated with those old sukeban movies lately, especially since she's got a knack for commanding a group of dangerous folks like myself. Who knows how'd she react if she saw those four ladies gallivanting in such skimpy attire in front of you kids? I can golden guarantee you that it wouldn't end well for anyone involved."

"Why didn't she come with us anyway?"

"Because I didn't want her to know! If either she or Shuten found out about this, no one would be having fun anymore! It'd be a disaster of golden proportions!"

"I suppose so."

Mata Hari leaned over Connla so much that her breasts literally smothered the bewildered little girl's head as she reached for some food and said, "Pardon the intrusion. Gilgamesh and Ozymandias wanted me to grab some snacks for them after I finished performing."

"N-No problem…"

"Whoa. Talk about bold," Emiya whispered to Cuchulainn.

"No kidding," the blue-haired fellow murmured. "If it was the other Lancer, he'd be super jealous right now."

"Speaking of which, why aren't you behaving the same way? You're supposed to be the same Heroic Spirit, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm the 'young' Cuchulainn who enjoys fighting and training more than anything. Sure, I don't have a problem with women, but they're not the first thing on my mind unlike with that idiot or his Caster self."

"True enough. I suppose if I'm going to be stuck with any Cuchulainn, it would be with you."

"Just be sure not to provoke me, or I might get as nasty as them."

"I will keep that in mind."

While everything was going on around her, Connla kept gazing at the sun periodically. The chatter faded to background noise as Ozymandias' words kept echoing in her mind. She kept staring at the orb of intense light hanging high in the clear blue sky, constantly pondering the meaning behind his prophetic statement:

"Look to the sun for inspiration."

She absent-mindedly munched on her food. She still couldn't figure out why he would say such a thing, especially since she didn't have a particular affinity for the sun. Even so, he said that the sun shone bright within her, so for someone as esteemed as him to claim she had a connection with the astral body had to amount to something. Connla's eyes became heavy, and she seemed slightly dizzy as she quietly sat there in a limp posture.

Something cool was suddenly damped on her forehead, and she looked up to see that Nightingale had applied a wet cloth to her face. The nurse uttered, "You don't appear well. It seems you are suffering from symptoms of hyperthermia. You must be more sensitive to hotter temperatures like this than most people are."

"Heat stroke?" Mata Hari murmured. "Goodness, that's not pleasant. Why don't you go lie down for a bit, honey? You've been working nonstop ever since this morning."

Nursery added, "She's right. You haven't even played with Jack and I yet because you were so busy attending to Goldie's whims."

"I'm fine. L-Lord Gilgamesh wanted me to… wait, what was it again…?" Connla tried to object, but was simply too confused to remember what it was the king told her to do earlier.

Mata Hari held the girl's shoulder and said, "Don't stress yourself out. I'll let him know that you're resting. If he needs anything, I'll deal with it. Nitocris is there to help too, although she's more concerned with keeping Ozy happy."

"My apologies."

Jack and Nursery watched in concern as Nightingale carried their exhausted friend back to the makeshift cabin. Before the Servants left for this vacation, Da Vinci had already constructed an advanced, portable facility which the Servants could literally 'pop up' and use for living accommodations since they planned on staying here for a while. It was certainly state-of-the-art, since it could be set close to the beach and provided enough space for everyone to sleep in. Furthermore, its design was reminiscent of a quaint summer cottage while still providing futuristic services like refrigeration, air conditioning, chairs that could cool their users' backsides, and a large mana reactor for stabilizing the Servants' Spirit Origins while Ritsuka wasn't around.

Nightingale laid Connla on one of the cooling chairs and covered her sweltering body beneath layers of cold wet towels to cool her down. The girl fell asleep soon after, and the nurse tucked Mini-Cu beneath her arm as a finishing touch. The doll remained inside the cabin the whole time, uninterested in mingling with the others and preferring to take nice long naps by himself. However, he woke up immediately when he saw that something was wrong with Connla.

"Damn it," he grumbled sourly. "I told her numerous times not to strain herself, and what does she do? Get bloody heat stroke, for crying out loud."

"If you want to get angry with anyone, it's Gilgamesh. He's the one milking her dry of her servitude," Nightingale said.

"I knew it. That bastard can't even be bothered to cut his own meat. Hasn't he heard of the concept of child slavery?"

"Well that's your problem, not mine. I'm simply here to make sure her condition doesn't get any worse. I'll try to talk to Gilgamesh myself, but I can't promise that my attempt at convincing him won't wind up sending him to the ICU."

"Heh heh. That would be a sight to behold," Mini-Cu chuckled. "Don't worry about the kid. I'll look after her for now."

"Thanks."

It was approaching 7:30 PM when Connla woke up from her fever nap. She couldn't initially remember why she was sitting inside the cabin, but soon realized that she had passed out during lunch. She felt a lot better now thanks to the cooling chair and wet towels, and she looked around to see if anyone else was present. No one other than Mini-Cu was, although through the front window, she spotted Nursery using her magic to start a bonfire, and an elated Jack immediately started roasting marshmallows on a stick so they could make s'mores.

Connla yawned and shuffled off the chair, absent-mindedly dropping both the towels and Mini-Cu on the floor so she could go see what her friends were up to. She took her time getting to the beach, and the other girls noticed her approaching. Nursery ran up to her and exclaimed, "There you are! How are you feeling?"

"A little woozy, but I should be fine with some rest," Connla replied.

"Jack and I chewed Goldie out for making you work so hard. He didn't like what we said, so we threatened to hide all of his wine bottles all over the island and force him on a scavenger hunt. He immediately piped down and cooperated after that."

"Of course he would…"

"Come over here. Jack and I just finished making some sweet sammies," Nursery brought her over to the bonfire and sat her down on a large piece of old driftwood.

"We know you don't like sweet things, but try the graham crackers at least," Jack offered her some cookies. "They're super yummy, and not sweet like the chocolate and marshmallows are."

"I'll… try…" Connla murmured, then stared intently at the confection for a long minute. Without realizing it, she started trembling.

Her hesitation was much too apparent to the other girls, so the Assassin asked, "What's the matter? You look even more pale than usual."

"I'm, uh… I'm not sure I can do this…"

"Why not? Is there a reason you dislike sugary food?"

"Um…"

Nursery sat next to Connla and asked, "Did something happen? Is it something you don't want to tell us?"

The Lancer turned her gaze to the vivid setting sun, still unsure of why Ozymandias wanted her to think about it so much. Soon, she gave up and handed the cookie back to Nursery while murmuring, "I'm sorry. I just can't do it."

"It's okay. Don't force yourself if you don't want to."

"Even so, I feel like I'm ruining this fun atmosphere with my moodiness. It's still much too difficult for me to relax and have fun when I don't even understand the concept in the first place."

"Don't worry about it. A lot has happened to you. Your mom was terrible to you, your dad did some awful things, and you have so much going on around you. Just know that Jack and I are here to help you out if you need anything. Take it slow and learn at your own pace, got it?"

"Mm."

Jack sat on the other side of the driftwood and asked, "I'm super curious to know what happened though. Did you have a bad experience with candy before?"

"Come now, Jack!" Nursery blurted. "It's not nice to pry into other people's pasts like that!"

Connla shook her head and said, "No, it's fine. It's not a nice story, but it might help if you two knew. Of course, it's all because of Mother's influence."

"I knew it! That awful woman did something to you, didn't she!?"

"Yes. One day, she found me going through her barrel of apples. I was really just organizing them by type, but because I didn't ask her permission first, she thought I was stealing some for myself. So she sat me down at the table and offered one to me, which I ate. Then she gave me another one, and I ate that one too. Then another, and another, and another, and another. She told me I had to eat everything she gave me, even if my stomach was terribly sore."

"So she force-fed you tons of apples in one sitting!?" Jack yelped.

"Not just apples. She gave me juice, berries, and honeycomb as well. By the time she let me go to bed, I had already vomited numerous times on the floor and was crying for mercy. Of course, she'd kick me each time I begged, but it was impossible for me to keep it all down. I think I was incapacitated for two full weeks after that, but Mother took off on a hunting excursion during that time anyway."

"That's terrible! Force-feeding and neglect! Are you sure we're even talking about a human being anymore!? Your mom sounds like one of those trolls who live under the bridge and are only good for causing trouble!" Nursery cried out.

Connla stared down at her shivering hands on her lap. Telling that tale had taken up a lot of her energy, so she felt way more exhausted than usual. After a moment, she murmured, "Let's not talk about it anymore. I don't want to rain on this party any more than I already have."

"All right. Jack and I won't tell anyone else about it unless you say we can. Isn't that right, Jack?"

"Yeah!" the irate Assassin agreed. "At the very least, Goldie will be grossed out if he heard about it! And we promise not to offer any more sweets to you, okay? We don't want you to have those bad memories haunt you all the time."

"Thanks," Connla nodded.

"Forget about all of this and tell us an actual story instead!"

"An actual story?"

"Nursery's already told me a bunch of the same old fairy tales! I wanna hear something different!"

Connla mumbled to herself as she once again turned her eyes toward the bright red setting sun, which was nearly cloaked by the thick clouds rolling in. Ozymandias' advice kept resurfacing as she took in the beautiful change of colors in the sky.

Inspiration from the sun. The sun… the sun…

That was when she had an epiphany as she uttered a single word:

"Grandfather."

Nursery perked up and asked, "What did you say?"

Connla glanced at her friends and said, "Maybe I can tell you guys about my grandfather."

"Is he famous or something?"

"Have you ever heard of the Celtic God of Light and the Sun, Lugh? He's one of the most prominent gods in Celtic mythology."

"Hmm… A little bit. Something about how there's a harvest festival in Ireland named after him."

"Yes, the Lughnasadh, or what we call Lunasa in modern terms. Grandfather's tale is quite notorious throughout the region."

"Ooh, tell us more!" Jack exclaimed and bounced about impatiently. "I wanna know about your famous grandpa!"

"Okay," Connla nodded, then explained, "First of all, Lugh was the son of Cian, a member of the Tuatha De Danann."

"Tuatha De-what now?"

"Think of it as the Celtic pantheon of gods, like how the Greeks and Romans have their own pantheons."

"Oh, okay."

"Lugh's mother was Ethniu, the daughter of the Fomorian king Balor. The Fomorians were a race of malicious supernatural deities that caused havoc and destruction wherever they went. Think of them as the jotnar of Norse mythology. Balor was especially tyrannical in his rule, and the Fomorians always opposed the Tuatha De Danann. You could liken the Tuatha's deities as representing 'good' forces like life, light and creation, while the Fomorians' gods represent 'bad' forces like chaos, destruction, blight, drought and such."

"So your grandpa is the child of two people from opposite sides of some ancient war between gods?"

"Precisely. He was the product of a royal intermarriage between Cian and Ethniu. I don't really know the details, but I believe it was more of a strategic move rather than out of any sort of love between them. Anyway, Cian gave Lugh to Tailtiu, an agriculture goddess, and she raised him as a foster mother so that Balor wouldn't hunt him down. Then when Lugh grew up, he approached the Tuatha and implored to be inducted into their ranks. He was repeatedly turned down because they already had a member who demonstrated a skill that he possessed. He then asked if they had someone who could do all of them simultaneously, and they had to give up and let him in. That's why Lugh is known as 'One Equally Skilled In Many Arts', and it's thanks to him that it's customary for Celtic warriors to possess multiple skillsets rather than just one or two."

Nursery clapped her hands together and beamed, "So that's why you dabble in so many different skills! You're mimicking your grandfather, aren't you!?"

"W-Well, it's more because it was my teacher's style to educate her pupils in multiple arts," Connla stammered. "I suppose I picked up her lessons quickly because of Grandfather though."

"That's amazing! So what did Lugh do next?"

"It's not easy to say that Lugh was quite as righteous as his moniker 'the God of Light' would imply. The stuff he did was not as pleasant as you would think."

"That's okay. I could probably count the number of 'nice' gods out there on one hand."

"Good point. So Lugh was allowed into the Tuatha, but then his father Cian was killed by the three sons of his mortal enemy Tuireann. They kept trying to bury Cian, but the earth kept spitting his body back out, so it was impossible for them to cover up the crime and they were forced to admit to Lugh that they murdered his father. All of them agreed that death would be the only acceptable sentence, so he tasked them with completing a series of impossible quests. They accomplished all except the last one, which would surely kill them. Tuireann begged Lugh to forgive them, but he demanded that they continue their adventure, and they perished in the end. Tuireann grieved over his sons' deaths so much that he wound up dying himself."

Jack pouted, "That totally sounds like something an Avenger Servant would do."

"Well, a crime is a crime, and a sentence must be carried out, no matter what culture you're dealing with."

"I guess so…"

Connla poked a stick into the bonfire to rekindle it, then continued, "Following that was a massive clash between the Tuatha and the Fomorians in the Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh. Remember how I said that Cian gave Lugh to Tailtiu for adoption? That's because the Fomorian king Balor heard a prophecy that his grandson would be the one to kill him. He had tried to keep his daughter Ethniu locked up, but Cian impregnated her with Lugh and took the child away before Balor could find out. So now, Lugh was a prominent member of the Tuatha who did battle against Balor.

"It's said that Balor was a one-eyed giant who could cause untold amounts of destruction should he ever open his eye. However, the moment that eye was opened, Lugh hurled a sling-stone through it with such tremendous force that it not only decimated Balor, but also a good portion of the Fomorian army behind him. Following their victory, Lugh found the half-Fomorian king Bres alone and unprotected in the battlefield. Bres begged to be spared in exchange for fulfilling a promise, like the cows of Ireland would always produce milk, or that there would be four harvests a year instead of one. Lugh spared Bres on the condition that he teach the Tuatha vital agriculture skills.

"After Bres taught all he could, Lugh then had him killed during the Assembly of Tailtiu, or what you could call the Celtic Olympics that Lugh assembled in honor of his foster mother. Lugh had 300 wooden cows stuffed full with a poisonous fluid and offered them to Bres to drink. Since Bres was obligated to not refuse hospitality, he drank it all without pause, and inevitably died."

"Well that wasn't very nice," Nursery grumbled. "Why would Lugh kill someone who surrendered so easily?"

Connla gazed up at the darkening sky, growing ever thicker with more grey clouds, and surmised, "My guess is because Bres was half-Fomorian, and was known as an incompetent king who favored the Fomorians over the Tuatha. Due to a loophole regarding the god Nuadha, Bres was once the king of the Tuatha and made them work like slaves for the Fomorians, so maybe this was Lugh's way of getting payback. Or perhaps Bres could have resurfaced as a threat in the future, so Lugh wanted to eliminate that possibility."

"Oh, I see. So Bres was a total jerk towards the Tuatha, yet turned himself in to Lugh like a coward when Balor was killed."

"Yes. Bres was given royal authority, and he essentially squandered it to hide his own inadequacies."

"Okay, gotcha."

"Now we come to Lugh's death. One of his wives had an affair with another man, and Lugh had the suitor killed out of revenge. However, the three sons born from the affair speared Lugh's foot so he couldn't move, then drowned him in a lake."

Nursery folded her arms and remarked, "Boy, Lugh has a lot of bad luck when it comes to dealing with three sons of an enemy."

"I guess so. I'm not entirely sure what happened afterward, but I would assume that Lugh achieved divinity and ascended as an important god of Celtic myth. I don't know how he would have gotten Cuchulainn's mother Deichtine pregnant when he was already dead otherwise. Some sources claim that Cuchulainn is actually a reincarnation of Lugh, but no one can say for sure. The only time Lugh actually appeared in the Ulster Cycle was to heal Cuchulainn after he fought a series of grueling battles during the Cattle Raid of Cooley. After that, Lugh essentially disappeared from the world."

"So why is he known as a sun god if he didn't have anything to do with the sun?" Jack wondered.

"Oh, I guess I didn't mention this," Connla said. "The battle between Balor and Lugh is said to symbolize the change between the old solar calendar, represented by Balor, and the new solar calendar, which Lugh represents. Not only that, Lugh oversees the summer harvest with his great light, so he's assumed to represent the sun. That's what the Lunasa festival is all about – to celebrate the harvest that Lugh protects from the evil gods so that mankind can enjoy it."

"So Lugh was a bad god to other gods, but a good god to humans."

"Well…" the Lancer stammered, not expecting to hear the Assassin say such a thing so bluntly. "I don't know what he's like with humans, but there's one thing I'm fairly certain of - no matter what came to pass, Lugh always put his family first."

As she pondered this answer, the setting sun was completely obscured by the encroaching night and the looming clouds that rapidly rolled in, indicating that a strong storm was approaching.

"Oh, now that you mention it," Nursery murmured in contemplation, "he really did! He named a festival after his foster mom, avenged his murdered dad, and healed his son! He might have been awful to his enemies, but he was incredibly caring with his family!"

"Hey, Connla!" Jack exclaimed. "What do you think Lugh would have been like if you two ever met!?"

"M-Me and Grandfather?" Connla blurted in surprise. The thought had never occurred to her until now, and the question left her genuinely baffled. "I… don't really know. By the time I was born, the Tuatha and Fomorians had all but disappeared from the world."

"Even so, what do you think?"

The Lancer shook her head. "I really don't want to make any assumptions. For all I know, my existence might have been too insignificant for him to even notice."

"There you go again, calling yourself weak. I don't like that! You're a Heroic Spirit just as much as Nursery and I are! That means you did something amazing, right!?"

"Well, I guess."

Nursery interrupted them by exclaiming, "You really shouldn't badger her like that, Jack. If she doesn't know, she doesn't know, and that's that."

"Aww. I really wanted to know," Jack whined, then relented, "But that's okay."

Connla murmured, "Sorry about that."

Right as she said this, several large droplets of rain pounded their heads and shoulders. They were so engrossed in Connla's tale that only now did they realize how terrible the weather had gotten. Nursery shot to her feet and barked, "Wow, this looks bad! I don't wanna get my doll joints soaked!"

"We better get back inside quickly!" Connla exclaimed. Suddenly, her voice was drowned out when a massive gust of wind blew across the beach. Tiny particles of sand blasted against their skin, and the wind speed increased so dramatically that all of them lost their footing. Connla dropped to her knees and shouted, "Stay low, you two! If we crawl like this, we should be able to make it back!"

"Waaah, help meee~eee!" Jack squealed.

Nursery held on to the driftwood and squealed, "I can't move like this! I'm gonna get blown away!"

The girls, unable to fight against this freak storm, could only watch helplessly as the violent waves splashed so far inland that the water extinguished the bonfire in one sweep. Then, they stared up at the sky… or rather, at the dark tsunami that blocked out their view of the sky! Connla's eyes narrowed into horrified dots as she breathed, "Oh, god…"

Before they knew what happened, the gigantic tidal wave crashed down upon them. For those few brief minutes, the ocean threatened to devour the entire shoreline in one hearty gulp. Fortunately, the island was already used to being pummeled like this, so it remained steadfast in its defense as the water continuously encroached, receded, encroached, and receded in the familiar rhythm. However, while the Servants' cabin remained intact despite being so close to the water, the same could not be said for the three child Servants.

All of them had disappeared without any sign that they had been on the beach just five minutes ago.