by Pandora Pine
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I would also like to thank each and every one of you who have read my books. I would especially like to thank all of my MM readers who followed this series into an MF novel. An author never had better fans!
AUTHOR’S NOTES:
Moone Castle is modern day Carbury Castle located in County Kildare, Ireland. Moone is the name of one of the towns in County Kildare. The hill on which the castle sits is called Fairy Hill, however, fireflies do not exist in Ireland.
The English did not actually start wearing red coats until about 1650. I moved this backward to 1433 as the red coats are so distinctive and as Cadence says, makes them an easy target.
The myth of the four ancient treasures or jewels of Ireland originates around 1800 BC. It tells of ancient travelers bringing the treasures with them when they settled in Ireland. The original treasures were a stone, a spear, a sword and a cauldron. I adapted that myth to the three jewels of Ireland with Carter’s moonstone talisman being the first of the three jewels.
Obsidian does not naturally occur in Ireland. The closest location where it is found is Greece, Italy and Scotland. This of course meshes perfectly with the idea that Three Treasures of Ireland are items brought to Ireland from other countries. Islynn mentions cat’s eye which occurs naturally in Sri Lanka. Gloine is the Gaelic word for glass. Gealach is the Gaelic word for moon. Sul Cat means cat’s eye.
Ò Ciardha means O’Carey in Modern Irish. The name Ò Ciardha originated in County Kildare in Carbury.
I’d like to address the issue of Fionn preferring men and being the ruler of Moone Castle. I have chosen to make Fionn’s people Celts. They did not have any tenets in their religion banning homosexuality. It was considered the natural course of things for men to take male lovers when they were on campaign and I extended that to when the warriors were not facing battle conditions far from home. We are going to see this issue again in Book Three of the Out Of Time series when Islynn reunites with her beautiful Breena!
Handfasting is an ancient Irish custom celebrating the “marriage” of a man and woman. It gets its name because the hands of the bride and groom are tied together. It’s also where the phrase “tying the knot” comes from.
In modern times before same-sex marriage was recognized, many gay couples would go through the handfasting ceremony as a way of pledging themselves to each other. Carter’s foraging for items to represent sea, land and air is also part of the ceremony. Fionn would have gathered items that represented those things to him. In a handfasting between a man and a woman, the woman holds a drinking horn and her husband-to-be places the tip of his sword into the drinking horn. I had Fionn and Carter both hold their swords.