Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Celtic Series ❯ Tir na n'Og: Korf ( Chapter 1 )

The Celtic Series: Tir na n'Og (1/3)

Title: Tir na n'Og

Author: Mara202 (nanashi202@hotmail.com)

Genre: fantasy/supernatural

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of its characters. I'm writing this for fun, I'm not making any money for it. However, the original characters are mine ^__^ YAY! Tethra rulezzz!

Pairings: 2+1/1+2, no other pairings in this series (but in the next, Az Gwir a eveb d'ar Bed, will be other, slightly uh… unconventional pairings).

Warnings/classifications: AU, lime, OC's, shonen-ai/yaoi

Feedback: yes, please! I really appreciate any reviews, please tell me what you think of this story! You get a chocolate chip cookie if you do! :P

Author's notes: I _should_ be learning for my exams now…… but somehow… this is far more interesting :P The Celtic Series has been revised, the second and third part have been removed, and this short series, Tir na n'Og, which means 'Land of the Eternal Youth' by the way, is the first one of an arc. There will be at least three other series ('Az Gwir a eveb d'ar Bed', 'Mar n'ouzes-te-ket, Me oar' and 'Ceo druidechta'. Maybe after that I'll write a series focussing on Tro's and Quat's reincarnations or something…

At the bottom of this page, the chapter title Korf will be explained.

'blah' thinking

"blah" speaking

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Korf

It had been almost three months since my meeting with the mysterious creature. Even though I had tried to forget it and pretend it had just been a dream, I couldn't help but thinking about him. Those brilliant violet eyes kept on haunting me.

For some strange reason, I felt like part of myself was lost, was with Duo. But how was that possible? How could such a strong bond have been forged after one, short meeting? I didn't know. What I *did* know, was that I had to see the violet-eyed man again.

When the day of Imbolc neared, this feeling only grew stronger, so much stronger that I had difficulties concentrating on other things than Duo. Eventually I just gave up, told the High Druid that I didn't feel well and stayed the rest of the day in the forests, meditating until the night had fallen.

Then I slept, a restless sleep, haunted by violet eyes. The feeling of eyes watching me made me wake up, only to look straight into the eyes that had filled my dreams and thoughts the last few months.

Once again, the braided man was leaning against a tree, an expression of mild curiosity on his face. I could see him much better now, it had been dark when we had last met. I was glad to notice that I hadn't been mistaking when I had thought the violet-eyed… something… was beautiful. Now that I saw him in daylight and could take a good look at him, I wasn't the least disappointed; in fact, I was only more stunned by Duo's appearance.[1]

I frowned. Why did I think of him as beautiful? Wasn't I supposed to only think such things of women? Or not think them at all?

The braided man waited while I was trying to make sense of my thoughts. Eventually he said softly: "Are you ready?"

I looked at him, a look of acquiescence on my face. "Yeah. I don't know what for, but I'm ready."

He cringed a bit at the distrust showing from my words, but nevertheless smiled cheerfully and took my hand. I stared at him, not sure if I should tell him to keep his hands off me or to just allow him.

"Come, I'll take you to Tir na n'Og, the Land of Eternal Youth," he said. And with that, he dragged me with him, walking purposefully to a large rock. "When I say 'Now!' you jump on the rock, 'kay?"

I raised an eyebrow in question, but did as I was told. I jumped, but instead of ending up on the rock, I saw a totally different landscape as I looked around. The open spot was gone, the rock was nowhere to be seen. Apparently we had gone through some kind of gate…

"Behold, the Land of the Eternal Youth," my companion announced proudly.

Wait a sec… Tir na n'Og was the land of the Tuatha Dé Danann, right? But Duo had told me he wasn't one of them… Then what was he that he could walk in here, just like that?

Again it seemed like Duo had read my mind, even though I was sure nothing of my inner discussion had shown on my face. "I guess I owe you an explanation. I couldn't tell you everything when it wasn't sure yet that you would come with me, but now I can." He paused for a while, then continued. "I'm not Tuatha Dé Danann, at least, not entirely; so I wasn't really lying to you. My mother was Tuatha Dé, my father Elatha is Fomoiri. You heard about the Fomoiri, right?" he asked with a uncertain glance in my direction.

I nodded shortly. I had learned about the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomoiri from the other druids, their history was seen as an important part of our education.[0]

"OK. Well, you might've heard about my brother Bres, he isn't a really uh… nice person, almost destroyed Erin and stuff. I'm nothing like him, just that you know," he added with a grin. "Besides, now that he isn't king anymore, he's much less jerky.

"But enough about me. I'm not allowed to tell you about your heritage, so I'll take you to our former king Nuadu Argatlámh. He'll tell you everything you wanna know."

Nuadu? I was going to meet a god? It is that I'm not easily impressed by high ranks and such, otherwise I just might've gotten really nervous after this statement.

I followed Duo as he walked in the direction of a small cottage.

"Nuadu likes living in a peaceful, tranquil environment like this. After his time as king on the castle, he's fed up with large buildings and large groups of people," the braided half-Fomoiri explained.

The door opened after Duo had knocked on it, revealing a middle-aged man with friendly features. His most striking quality was his left arm, which was made of silver.

"So you are Heero…" the Tuatha Dé said thoughtfully. "Come inside, then I'll tell you everything." Then he turned to Duo, "I'll call you when we're ready."

Duo nodded and left for the woods. Soon he was out of sight.

Nuadu gestured at a chair. "Please, take a seat."

I hesitated, not wanting to make any mistakes, but then I figured it would be better not to do anything that might displease a god, so I sat down on the gestured at chair.

"So, tell me, what have you been doing al these years?"

I was pretty sure he knew exactly what I had been doing, but nevertheless I told him about my education as druid, the things I'd learned and my meeting with Duo.

Nuadu nodded sometimes, or asked a question. I have to admit, it kind of surprised me that he was so… normal. After all, he *was* a god, and he was the former king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the children of the goddess Danu.

He asked me some things to test my knowledge about the Tuatha Dé and the Fomoiri, and was apparently satisfied by my answers. Eventually he said: "Well, I can see you have been paying attention to what the druids taught you. It was a wise choice to send you to them.

"And that brings us to the topic of your origin." He looked me straight in the eyes, as if he were looking right through me. And maybe he was…

"First, I have to tell you that…" he hesitated, "you're not entirely human."

For the first time in years, I wasn't able to keep my expression blank: I stared at Nuadu. Now *that* was something I would never have considered… I mean, I looked like a normal human. But then again, Duo and Nuadu didn't look really different too.

"You are the son of a female Tuatha Dé Danann named Scáthach and a human druid. Time was frozen, so you could be begotten and born on the same day. Scáthach died after giving birth to you. Normally Tuatha Dé Danann are brought back to life by Dian Cécht, but in order to fulfil a prophecy she couldn't be resurrected. Catalín, the druid, took you to the other druids, where you were raised. He himself died shortly after that.

"You're probably wondering why we didn't raise you in the realm of the Tuatha Dé. Well, that's because your training as druid is essential for your future missions. You will have to be able to be the personal counsellor of Kings, and as a druid, you've had the perfect training for that purpose."

So I had a task here… I realised that somewhere deep inside, I'd always known that. I hadn't been doing my best just because I wanted to become a druid; no, I'd been doing my best because I knew the knowledge would be useful sometime.

"I see you're beginning to put the pieces of the puzzle together," Nuadu said with a slight smile.

Now that I knew that I wasn't an orphan, and that the person in front of me knew about my parents, I couldn't help but asking the question that was on my mind: "Could you tell me… about my parents?"

"I'd be glad to," Nuadu answered, and began talking about my mother, how beautiful she had been with her long, black hair and piercing blue eyes. "You have her eyes." He also told me about her achievements, her craftsmanship in the forging of ornaments and weapons.

"Your father was a druid, named Catalín. He wasn't very special or anything, he just happened to be on the right time on the right place, the time and place the prophecy had spoken about. He and your mother fell in love, but both knew that after the prophecy had been fulfilled, they would never see each other again. And so it happened: after your birth, Scáthach died, leaving you with Catalín. He took you to the druids and has spent the rest of his life looking for a way to be reunited with Scáthach, without committing suicide, because that would've disturbed his Krwi [2]. But you already knew that."

I nodded.

"Catalín was much like you; he had the same brown hair, but his eyes weren't as piercing as Scáthach's and yours. He had grey eyes, always showing an expression of compassion and wisdom. I hope he has found his rest now, in Gwenved [3]," Nuadu said, a glint of sadness in his eyes.

"Well, if you have any questions, you know where to find me." He rose from his chair, ending the conversation. "Your training will begin tomorrow at dawn; Duo and I will teach you everything you'll have to know to fulfil your destiny."

That didn't sound too promising. I didn't like the idea that my whole life was predestined, that I had no free will in whatever would happen. I decided to just do what they asked of me, but still believe in myself, and not that things weren't changeable.

Nuadu led me to the door, and after exchanging greetings, he left me alone. I wasn't alone for a long time though; almost the exact moment Nuadu closed the door, Duo appeared from the woods.



End of part 1
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OK, sucky ending… -_-; And now back to my homework… :S

Notes

[0] Probably totally not-true… As far as I know, the druids believed in only one God, and thus they wouldn't attach importance to other gods and god-like creatures in their education… I think…

[1] This is the explanation for the title 'Korf': Korf means the physical body, and Heero is physically attracted to Duo.

[2] Krwi: some kind of 'metaphysical juridical dossier', something like the Karma of the Hindus. When one commits suicide, one disturbs this, because one's life wasn't finished yet, and one's good and bad acts aren't in balance. Then one has to reincarnate again to compensate that. Something like that… :S

[3] Gwenved: 'heaven', more or less…

Background-information

The invasions of Ireland (Erin):
Partholón and his followers were the first ones to try and colonize Erin. He had come from Greece with his relatives and other followers, including three druids. They all died as a result of a plague. When the Tuatha Dé tried to settle down as lords of Erin, they had to fight and conquer two groups of mighty creatures, both having shaped the history of the country. The previous invaders of Erin, the Fir Bholg, were defeated by the Tuatha Dé Danann at the first battle in Magh Tuiredh and were expelled. This was the battle in which the King of the Tuatha Dé lost his arm and due to that had to resign from his power. Bres ('the Beautiful'), who was half Fomoiri, was appointed as temporary King. He was greedy, and his greediness almost caused Erin's downfall. The other group the Tuatha Dé had to face, was the Fomoiri, the Under-demons, a nation of demonic creatures, living permanently in Erin. When the Tuatha Dé Danann occupied Erin, the Fomoiri gave them lots of troubles, like predatory expeditions, extremely heavy taxes and terrible punishment for defaulters. Their leader was Balor with the Ominous Eye; everyone he looked at died in an instant. Eventually, he was killed by his own grandson, Lugh the Shining, just as predicted. After the defeat of the Fomoiri, Bres was allowed to live, but only if he agreed to give the Tuatha Dé agricultural advice. Till the day of today, the Tuatha Dé and the Fomoiri are still constantly clashing, but they are kept together by this promise. The are dependant on one another. Nuadu, the former King of the Tuatha Dé, was restored in his power after he had received a new arm, forged by Dian Cécht. From then on, he was known as Nuadu Argatlámh, Nuadu with the Silver Arm. When the Gaels invaded Erin and defeated the Tuatha Dé, the latter ones settled in a realm below the ground, a reflection of the Upper World. Although defeated, they were still able to keep grain and milk from the Gaels. This power was used to come to an agreement: Erin was divided in two parts, the Upper and the Under-world. The Tuatha Dé kept on controlling the supernatural with their magic and every god had an own sidh, which is part of the world of the gods.