Rebirth and Second Chances

The Gods left as abruptly as they came. The Sacrifice of blood and sex was accepted and used to change the sculpture I had created from metal and Silinium to something more. The basin that I had sculpted to accept offerings had also changed, becoming more a large reflecting pool than a small bowl.

Even with their departure, a small amount of their Divinity remained. The Sithern adjusted the surrounding field the Yeti, and I had used to ask for the [Boon of Blood Ties] from the Tuatha de Danann. The space was reshaped with the newly created temple positioned in the center.

A spring of water began to cascade from the hands of Danu, a life-affirming blessing that contained the gift of fertility for any who drank or bathed in it. The Sithern continued manipulating and adjusting the ground cover so that the [Divine] aura from Danu, Beleros, Cyronax, and Arianrhod were contained as if in a coating of amber.

That spark of the Divine nourished and protected in the sacred grove that had sprung up. The new temple constructed from the metal I had used would remain forever. A place gifted by the Sithern, empowered by the Tuatha de Danann, and a place of hope and remembrance for the Sidhe people.

The Sidhe did not worship like other people. We were more tightly bound to the vagaries of nature. We were more in tune with our Gods and the world around us, even as they were endured during [Sleep]. I believed that was because we were so closely tied to the aspect of whichever God was the progenitor of our bloodlines. Those Gods that served as the wellspring by which we existed.

We sacrificed tithes of blood and sex as we conducted [Rituals] to gain their attention, but we did so because we knew those sacrifices were a way to return the gift of the divine bloodline the Tuatha de Danann had shared with us. We were, in essence, returning to the Gods the holy seed of creation they had used when giving birth to each Sidhe.

Blood makes the crops grow. And the Sidhe were the crops the Tuatha de Danann had nurtured. The seeds they had planted. The fruit that they had watched grow into the people we had become.

On Talahm, Sidhe were living whose great-great-great-grandparents had spoken with the first people born, the first Sidhe. Those that had been gifted with the breadth of life personally by the Gods. Those first Sidhe who learned what it meant to be a descendant of a God, firsthand from the Gods, as they were given life. And those people spoke reverently, wistfully, longing to return to the time of those memories when the Tuatha de Danann walked among the Sidhe.

The Yeti, finally freed from their sexual frenzy, found some had been gifted with more than a new start. Made Sidhe, but perhaps more important for a people this close to extinction, made parents. Arianrhod had blessed each Yeti with fertility, that blessing extending to the co-mingling of their essence.

There were hundreds of Yetis holding newly created lives. Babies born and gifted to a people that had been blessed with a second chance. Even the Yeti Elder was not immune. He to, had been blessed with a child. It would be remarkable to track how these people rebounded, how they would fit into the structure of Sidhe. When their population was slowly restored, and they no longer had to worry about the threat of extinction, how would their community evolve?

With the gift of immortality, the Elder was barely an adult, at least by Sidhe standards, and they had much to learn. The Yeti as a whole would probably fall under the banner of Unseelie if faction mattered on this world. But it didn't, that they were Sidhe was all that mattered.

"Deisei," the Elder said, gaining my attention. He dropped to the ground, careful not to jostle the child he was holding with holy zeal. The rest of the Yeti followed, becoming a sea of white kneeling in a field of milk and honey.

It was a humbling experience. One I hadn't experienced before, even as King of the Tuatha de Danann faction. Most of that was because I refused to allow the Seelie and Unseelie who joined my faction to venerate me in such a manner. More importantly, my people were Sidhe, and Sidhe did not bend the knee before anyone.

The term 'Deisei' was more worrisome than humbling, roughly translating into God-King in this instance. The way the Yeti communicated, using variations of temperature and changes of coloring for fur, meant there was little chance for me to misinterpret what they said. Words like Deisei had a deeper meaning, one nuanced and could mean anything from Divine Son, Chosen One, or Yeti Savior.

My affinity with cold and my [A Rank] mind allowed me to translate and understand even those words specific to Yeti and based on their culture. The designation proved appropriate, even though I might wish otherwise. Because as the kneeled, the [Mantle of the Divine] I had claimed responded. I felt the tendrils of energy, the power of faith and worship, begin to empower my new [Domain].

I would eventually take my place as part of the Tuatha de Danann Pantheon, and the Yetis would be my children, my gift to the Sidhe. Unknowingly, Danu had tied my blood with the Yetis, establishing them and anointing them as one of the First.

They would share the same gifts and protections that the First Sidhe of each species claimed. And when I finally claimed the full [Authority] of my Godhood, they would be able to proclaim themselves the First Children of Teigh, God of Illusion and Glamour.

"Get up, Elder," I demanded, stunned at what I had just realized.

"Everyone up.

"The Sidhe do not kowtow," I informed them. "We do not prostrate ourselves. Even our Gods don't require that sort of humility."

"Deisei, how can we thank you?" The Elder asked, refusing to stand. "You have saved us, given us such gifts to tempt the eyes of any mortal, and have blessed us with children. The first children born in years."

I knew that I would have a hard time getting them to treat me like any other Sidhe. Their obsequiousness was evident when they began kowtowing, something made harder when at least a third of them were now saddled with newly born children, but it would come, in time.

They didn't question the children they were now holding. Or how they had been created. That spoke more to their desperation than anything. They moved with reverence being careful not to jostle the children they held—each child a miracle accepted as a benevolent gift.

I could try to get them to stop but decided it wasn't worth the hassle. I knew it would be a losing battle. The Tuatha de Danann had blessed them far beyond what they could ever have hoped for or expected. And I had been the instrument of that blessing.

"There is no need for thanks," I said, responding to the Elder, my illusion allowing me to mimic their language large enough that every Yeti could see my words. "You will learn that the Sidhe bargain and bargain fiercely. It is one of our characteristics as a people, a trait that others find frustrating.

"We cannot lie, so we have learned to master language, to use inflection and intention to confuse and beguile. And while we use those talents with each other, I did not try to bargain or make a deal with you before acting. The changes our Gods have made were gifts from the Tuatha de Danann. If you want to repay those gifts, then learn.

"Learn what it means to be Sidhe. Learn what it means to be Tuatha de Danann.

"Master the magic of illusion and glamour that you have gained. Perfect your control over snow, ice, and cold to create fearsome spells that can protect not only your young but all Sidhe young.

"Live here, in Sithern Breith. A place of birth, in a Sithern named Birth. Let this be the place where you regrow your numbers. Train your warriors and mages. And nourish your young into intelligent Sidhe able to contend with anyone, mortal or Immortal," I said, watching as the enthusiasm of worship grew in the eyes of each Yeti as I translated my words into their language.

Whatever response the Elder might have made was interrupted when Clan Lord Innis entered. The Sithern had continued to change and warp the area where the Tuatha de Danann had incarnated as I spoke. The statues were now protected, placed within a shine formed of marble and Silinium. A structure completed with relief murals depicting the events that had just transpired.

The building was surrounded by branches of hawthorn and ivy and clusters of fruit grown to work as gnarled columns. The vines and branches were protected by thorns created from the same Silinium I had donated when I made the sacrificial basin.

The land around the new alter had also been modified. It had taken on a duality, a blending of warmth and cold, life and death. Snow blossoms were the predominant species of plant, a tribute, and food source for the Yeti, but there were a wide variety of other flowers. Black roses with thorns glistening with poison. Sunflowers burgeoning with the weight of seeds. Nightshade ready to be harvested.

Innis was followed by a crowd of Loan Maclibuin, those of his clan that had faith in his abilities and trusted him enough to immigrate to a part of the world that had yet to be explored. Behind them were a contingent of other Sidhe, people of each species drawn to this room, to the shrine that had been created and would radiate with the [Divine Providence] of the Tuatha de Danann until the world was destroyed.

Word would spread about what was created here. The Sidhe would flock to this Sithern in number. As a people who had never encountered the Tuatha de Danann had thought them nothing but a myth, they would come to see for themselves that the Gods were real.

The Gods had provided a symbol and proof of their existence. And although they were not always benevolent, they weren't cruel enough to turn their back on their children now that they had been found. They wouldn't be so monstrous as to accept the Yeti as Sidhe, change them, and make them children of blood and then abandon them. And the Sidhe that had become stunted and lost. Those that had been forced to flee were now found and made whole.

I had done what the first Sidhe to arrive on this world should have done. I had held [Ritual] and [Sacrifice] to make this place known to the Tuatha de Danann. I had given the Gods a foothold on this world. Now that they had arrived, the Summerlands had been re-established, and [Fairy] was restored. There was nothing or no one who could sever the connection between the Sidhe and the Tuatha de Danann..