Love is in the air.

Balgair's Bannaichian Arrive

When the scribe continued to knock on the door, Balgair sighed softly and slid the report into a black folder before putting the folder into his desk drawer.  “What is it, Delilah?”

“Sir,” the brunette offered as she pushed the door open and peeked inside.  “I have a message from the lookouts on the Northern Wall.” 

That caught his attention, and he looked down at the calendar on his desk.  “What day is it?”

“Dihaoine, sir.”  She affirmed as he watched the slow smile that crossed his lips.  It was the look of a man who was about to rejoin with his other half, or in Balgair’s case, his bannaichian. 

When he looked up from the calendar, the smile shone all the way to his eyes.  “What’s the report from the Northern Wall?” 

Why am I so nervous about this?  The scribe wondered as she crumpled her skirt between her fingers.  “There is a transport approaching in a direct line with the quartermaster's drydock.  The lookouts report that it’s flying a craobh na Cruinne banner on the mainmast.”  The mention of the World Tree, Balgair grinned.  “It’s about time,” he whispered with profound feeling.  I’ve missed them more than I thought possible.  Balgair closed his eyes as he felt the reawakening of the long-dormant bond between himself, Amelia, and Nell.  His mind was flooded with the sensations of bitter berries and sweet lilacs. 

“Delilah.  Is Heather going to be there when the transport lands?”  I know she wants to be there to meet them, and if she isn’t, Amelia and Nell might do something drastic. 

The scribe nodded tersely.  “I’ve sent Samson to get her.  We can take the office buggy and meet her at the quartermaster's.” 

The Reeve pushed his chair away from the desk and rose to his feet.  After taking a few minutes to stretch, he pulled the navy cloak from where he had draped it over his chair and wrapped it around his shoulders before shrugging it so it fell down his back.

When he was ready, he moved toward the door.  “Shall we go then?  If we aren’t there when that transport lands, I fear my bannaichean will tear this town apart until they find me.”  If they do that, it won’t be pretty.

>As they walked out the door, Delilah cautiously asked, “Would they really tear the town apart to find you?”

Maybe not, Balgair thought. “It’s been about six months since I’ve seen them, so yes, they might just tear the town apart.”  Has it really been six months?  Sometimes it didn’t feel like it, and sometimes it felt longer. 

“In that case, we had better go,” Delilah teased as she climbed up into the buggy and waited for Balgair to join her.

While he still wasn’t completely comfortable with carriages, Balgair had to admit that he enjoyed letting someone else drive.  In this case, it was one of the new deputies. 

“Ready when you are, sir,” The deputy said as he glanced back over his shoulder at Balgair and, at the Reeve’s nod, snapped the reins, starting the horses cantering down the road. 

Both Balgair and Delilah watched as the transport cleared the outer wall and then slowly descended.  The scribe looked on in awe as the ship slowly headed toward the ground.  “They are going so slow.” 

Balgair nodded.  “They have to.  They have to be dead center on the landing dock, or they’ll snap the keel.”  He continued to watch as the transport hovered for a handful of seconds before starting to descend again. 

The buggy arrived just as the transport ship slipped into the dock and slowly settled into place.  The transport sat there; the only motion was the sailors that secured the sails. When the deck was cleared, a plank was set up between the ship and the dock, and two women stepped onto the dock. 

Delilah heard a gasp from Balgair and glanced at him, only to see the look of a man who had found water in the desert.  She turned her attention back to the two women, closely examining them.  One was roughly five and a half feet tall with fiery red hair.  She was wearing a green skirt that barely fell to her knees, which complimented a lighter green blouse.  When she leaned over and whispered something to the other woman, Delilah could see the delicate tips of her ears poking out from under her hair.  The other woman listened, then began a slow search of the dockyard, searching for something or someone.  The second woman was a head taller than the first, topping out at just under six feet tall.  She was dressed similarly to the first woman, save that the white blouse complimented the blue skirt.  She looked right at Balgair, and a slow smile crossed her lips.  When she dipped her raven locks to the redhead, both sets of eyes fell on Balgair. 

Arm in arm, both women walked across the dock, heading toward Balgair and Delilah.  “Doesn’t he look yummy in that uniform?”  The taller woman said with a mischievous flash in her blue eyes.  “Balgair Eriq Moeldr, if you don’t kiss me, you’ll regret it,” the redhead stated, a similar flash in her green eyes.  When she saw the flash of hunger in Balgair’s eyes, she drew in a deep breath and yelped as he enfolded her in his arms and pulled her in for a kiss that stole her breath away.  She raised her left hand to brush her hair over her left ear and whimpered as she drank of Balgair’s desire.  When he finally let her go, she almost sagged to her knees.  “Oh, I’ve missed you, mo Maighstir.” 

“Amelia,” he groaned her name into the air.  He took a deep breath and drew in her scent.  Lilacs.  Then he turned his attention to the other woman.  “Nell.”

The brunette’s eyes widened in mock fear before she stepped into his arms and cuddled close.  “I have missed you so, mo mhathan mòr,” she whispered as she rested her head on his shoulder. 

Balgair buried his face in her hair and fell into the Wild Berry scent. 

Delilah watched the reunion, almost getting lost in the happiness.  She was brought back to reality when the redhead spoke.

“Where is our umhail, Maighstir?  We were looking forward to meeting her.”  Amelia cast a look at the scribe.  “Who is this?” 

“Heather is on her way,” Balgair replied, reluctantly releasing his women.  “This is Delilah, she’s my scribe.”  When Nell raised an eyebrow, Balgair amended, “She’s the office scribe.  Her maighstir was the former Reeve.” 

Amelia nodded, “She’s not bonded, right?”  When Balgair nodded, Amelia stated, “You said the former Reeve.  Is she living at the house?”

“Ah, yes,” Balgair commented, “She and her bond sister have stepped down from their positions at the Manor.”  A fond smile crossed his lips.  “Heather has been in an uproar.  She wanted to make changes but realized that you two have seniority.” 

Nell chuckled. “I knew she was smart.”  She held Balgair’s left hand in hers.  “We finally get to settle down, and you get to spend more time with us.”

Amelia stepped up beside him and looked up.  “Can we finally have children?  I want a family, Maighstir.” 

“Yes, please, Maighstir,” Nell tried to pout.  “We’ve waited so long.” 

They were so caught up in begging Balgair that they didn’t hear the landau stop, nor did they hear Heather creep up behind them. 

“Waited so long for what?”  the Blonde Umhail inquired as she peeked around Balgair and batted her eyes at the two women.

Upon hearing her voice, both women got quiet and peeked around Balgair as well, almost identical smiles appearing on their faces as they reached out and pulled Heather around Balgair and held her at arm’s length. 

Suddenly self-conscious, Heather blushed and tried to back up against her maighstir.  “I hope I am what you expected,” she mumbled.

“Ooooh, girl,” Nell exclaimed.  “You are exactly what we expected.”  Surprising Heather with her strength, she yanked the blonde umhail into a three-way hug. 

“Welcome to our family,” Amelia whispered, hugging her tight.  After a few minutes, she pushed Heather back a step and looked at her dress.  “That’s beautiful.  Where did you get it?”

Heather nervously brushed her hands down her maid’s dress.  “Maighstir Samar’s store.” 

The brunette eyed the dress, “Do you think Balgair would like it if I bought one?” 

Heather laughed softly.  “I’m sure that he couldn’t wait to get you home so that he could remove it.”  She held onto the two women’s hands.  “He’s missed you so much, and now you’ve made his day.”  She leaned into the pair and sniffed.  “Oh, lilacs sweet and berries tart.”  Her eyes widened in delight.  “I see what he meant.” 

Amelia and Nell shared a look between them, then pounced on Balgair.  “You, great cuddly bear,” Nell teased as she cuddled into him.  “You still think of us that way.”