by Karen Myers
“Are you sure you want to do this?” his grandmother asked.
“Who can be sure? But at least I get to make a choice.”
His grandfather deflected the awkward emotions by turning businesslike. “So, how will this work?”
“I’ll be back for visits, and soon. I’ll need to arrange to move a few items. May I take my parents’ things for a while when I come back?”
Gilbert waved his hand. “Of course. What about your job, your home, your friends?”
“I’m going to need some help winding things down, but we can make a plan together. I’ll come back in a few days and we can swap notes about the best way to do it. I want to ask Gwyn how he arranged his affairs at Bellemore, too. Maybe I should set up something like that.”
“Alright,” his grandfather said briskly. “I’ll jot some ideas down. Can you arrange some regular communication so we have some way of reaching you?”
“I don’t see why not, but I’ll have to figure it out.”
They spent a few more moments sketching things out.
George stood. “I’ll take the dogs with me now—thanks for looking after them.”
He glanced around the kitchen.
“What is it, dear?” his grandmother asked.
“I’d like to bring someone a gift.”
“What sort of thing?”
“Oh, just a token, you know, like flowers.”
She smiled. “Has she ever tasted oranges?”
George laughed. “I don’t know—what a good idea. How did you know it was a woman?”
She brought him a net bag of oranges from the fridge. “You have the look of a courting man, I’ve seen it before.” She clung suddenly to his free hand. “Bring her to meet us someday.”
She stepped back, then, releasing him. “And tell my father that I miss him and wish him well. Invite him to come see an old lady sometime.”
Angharad walked out the kitchen door when she heard Cabal barking, Ermengarde eagerly trying to keep him company with her yips. She was surprised to see George trot into the work yard in his old red coat, and then she noticed the dogs at his heels, a tall lanky blue-tick hound and a medium-sized yellow dog with upright ears and a pointed muzzle.
He’s been home, she thought, dismayed. Has he come to say good-bye? She held her breath.
The dogs sniffed each other over carefully, wagging. George gave her a cheerful greeting as he dismounted. “I’ve brought some of the family to meet you.”
Relieved, she said, “This must be Hugo, I suppose,” looking at the handsome hound with his long ears.
“Yes, and the feist is Sergeant.” The yellow dog looked up at his name.
He reached up and removed the bag of oranges which he’d wrapped in his grandmother’s kitchen towel to keep clean. “These are from my grandparents. Do you know this fruit?”
He opened the bag for her, and she took one out, holding it in her hands and inhaling the fragrance. “I haven’t had one of these in a very long time. They don’t travel well.”
She turned back to the kitchen door, saying over her shoulder. “Come in and we’ll share them.”
He put Llamrei away in the stable and walked up the back steps bringing all the dogs along with him. They flopped in a pile near the woodstove and lost little time in drowsing off.
Angharad looked at them in amusement. “That didn’t take long.”
“They know friends when they see them,” George said. She glanced up at him and caught his eye.
She busied herself cutting up two of the oranges and they sat at the table, peeling them messily and devouring them with simple enjoyment.
They stood side by side together at the basin of the sink to wash the sticky juice off their faces and hands. George smiled at the pleasure of being clean again, his mouth tingling with the tart sweetness of the fruit.
Still smiling, he looked down at Angharad who was saying something he didn’t hear. He turned and bent his head, drawing in the scent of her hair. She stopped talking. He exhaled and did it again, and then he kissed her, strong and lingering, wrapping her in his arms, and breathing in her scent all the while, intoxicated, focused.
He felt her arms slip around him under his coat, holding him tight as she returned the kiss. He loosened one arm, freeing his hand to hold her head as he tilted it back to pull her closer against him. Finally he drew a shuddering breath and stopped, just holding her, softly upright in his embrace.
Angharad leaned back in his arms, her eyes shining. They looked at each other for a few moments, speechless.
He released her and groped his way, weak-kneed, to the kitchen table. She laughed shakily and joined him there, at her customary seat on the opposite side. They didn’t say anything, then Angharad reached out one hand across the table, and he grasped it loosely. They smiled at each other, content.
She let go of his hand and reached for the sketch book that was always somewhere within reach. “So, you’re staying then?” She turned to a fresh page and began idly drawing something.
He looked at her fondly. “How else will I ever get a picture of my oak tree? I found it, now I want to remember it.”
“I have other scenes in mind, too.” She sketched for a moment without speaking. “So, how do you feel about children?”
His eyes widened and his smile, at first tentative, bloomed across his whole face.
She smiled back. “I’m not getting any younger, after all.”
Gwyn walked into the stables late in the afternoon. Ever since this morning people had come to him to tell him about George riding out, wearing his old red coat. Idris asked Alun about it, but couldn’t get any definite answer from him.
It didn’t seem like him to just leave without a good-bye, Gwyn thought. He had to check for himself, and he found George’s big gray horse still in his stall. Surely he wouldn’t leave his horse behind, would he?
I shouldn’t be this concerned, he thought, as he walked back out into the yard. I have many descendants, and a whole year to make a plan for the great hunt, if I must. But this felt right, he was the right man.
Movement caught his eye, and there was George riding in through the curtain gate, followed by two strange dogs. He had a broad smile on his face, and when he caught sight of Gwyn, he shouted, “Yes!” across the intervening space, with great good cheer.
His delight was infectious, and Gwyn returned the smile, hiding both his uncertainty and his relief. While George dismounted and introduced him to his dogs, he thought about what this would mean. Will he someday be my rival for Annwn, blending the blood of Cernunnos with my own?
As he dismounted George thought, Gwyn seems happy to see me stay. Though I suppose everyone would look happy to me, at the moment. He couldn’t stop smiling.
He checked on Mosby and Afanc, and then dropped in on one of the grooms. “Can I change my icon? Is that possible?”
“No problem at all,” was the reply.
Alright, then. No more staring into the past, to Talbot, and Gwyn, and Cernunnos. Time to look forward, to found his own family. Let it start with me, whatever brought me to this point.
“Make it a big bare winter oak, please,” he said, “instead of the lion.” He sketched out what he meant on a scrap of wood.
George sat in the huntsman’s office alone in the evening.
The glow of all the good wishes at dinner and afterward at the hunt staff meeting was beginning to fade. I’m glad everyone seems so pleased at my decision. I hadn’t realized how much it mattered to some of them.
It warmed him, but he couldn’t tear his mind from the afternoon with Angharad in the kitchen. That shone so brightly it cast all the other smiling faces into shadow.
He looked down at his green sleeves. Alun couldn’t move fast enough when he got back, peeling that red coat off of him. I must’ve given him a scare, he thought.
Well. Better read up on where we’re hunting tomorrow in the old logs. He half rose out of his chair to walk to the shelves, then dropped
back down again.
No, he thought, there’s something else I need to do first. He pulled the current hunt log to him and opened it onto a fresh page. He wrote the year with a flourish as well as he could and started to write.
Saturday, 31 Hydref / Sunday, 1 Tachwedd - Nos Galan Gaeaf
On this day…
GUIDE TO NAMES AND PRONUNCIATIONS
MODERN WELSH ALPHABET
A¹, B, C, CH², D, DD², E¹, F², FF², G, NG², H, I¹, J, L, LL², M, N, O¹, P, PH², R, RH², S, T, TH², U¹, W¹ ², Y¹
¹ These letters are vowels. The letter ‘W’ can be used either as a vowel (when it is said ‘oo’ like in the Welsh word ‘cwm’ (coom) meaning ‘valley’) or as a consonant (when it is said like it is in English, for example in the Welsh word ‘gwyn’ (gwin) meaning ‘white’). This is the same with letter ‘I’ which can also be used as a consonant (when it is said like an English Y like in ‘iogwrt’ (yog-oort) meaning yoghurt).
² Letters that are not in the English alphabet, or have different sounds. CH sounds like the ‘KH’ in Ayatollah KHoumeini. DD is said like the TH in ‘THere’. F is said like the English ‘V’. FF is said like the English ‘F’. NG sounds like it would in English but it is tricky because it comes at the beginnings of words (for example ‘fy ngardd’ - my garden). One trick is to blend it in with the word before it. LL sounds like a cat hissing. PH sounds like the English ‘F’, too, but it is only used in mutations. RH sounds like an ‘R’ said very quickly before a ‘H’. TH sounds like the ‘TH’ in ‘THin’. W has been explained in the sentences before about vowels.
It helps to remember how Welsh is pronounced in order to translate the unfamiliar orthography into familiar English sounds. The language has changed over time and so has the spelling. People with very long lives tend to be conservative in how they spell their names.
Some nicknames are descriptive, occupational, or locational, as they are in English (e.g., Tom Baker, Susan Brown, John Carpenter, Meg Underwood)
Bongam - Bandy-legged
Goch - The red(-haired) one
Owen the Leash
Scilti - The thin one
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS & PLACE NAMES
HUMANS
Conrad (Corniad) Traherne
Father of George Talbot Traherne, husband of Léonie Annan Talbot.
George Talbot Traherne
Huntsman from Virginia. His parents are Conrad Traherne and Léonie Annan Talbot.
Georgia Rice Annan
Mother of Léonie Annan Talbot, wife of Gilbert Payne Talbot, daughter of Gwyn ap Nudd (Gwyn Annan).
Gilbert Payne Talbot
Father of Léonie Annan Talbot, husband of Georgia Rice Annan.
Léonie Annan Talbot
Mother of George Talbot Traherne, wife of Conrad (Corniad) Traherne.
FAE & IMMORTALS
Alun (AL-an)
Servant to the huntsman of Gwyn ap Nudd.
Angharad (ang-KAR-ad)
Artist affiliated with Gwyn ap Nudd’s court.
Arawn (air-AH-oon)
Prince of Annwn, predecessor of Gwyn ap Nudd.
Beli Mawr (BEH-lee MA-oor) - Beli the Great.
Father of Lludd Llaw Eraint (Nudd) and Llefelys.
Brynach (BRIN-akh)
Great-nephew of Eurig ap Gruffyd.
Ceridwen (ke-RID-wen)
Scholar, healer, magician at Gwyn ap Nudd’s court.
Cernunnos (ker-NOO-nus) - Master of Beasts.
A god who takes the form of an antlered man (the horned man) or an antlered red deer-man.
Creiddylad ferch Nudd (krey-THIL-ad verkh NIDH)
Daughter of Lludd Llaw Eraint (Nudd), sister of Gwyn ap Nudd and Edern ap Nudd, one-time wife of Gwythyr ap Greidawl. Lady of Edgewood (Pencoed) to Gwyn ap Nudd.
Cyledr Wyllt (KIL-eh-der WILT) - Cyledr the Mad.
Son of Nwython. Warrior of Gwythyr ap Greidawl.
Dilys (DIL-is)
Mother of Thomas Kethin, mistress of Thomas, Lord Fairfax.
Edern ap Nudd (EE-dern ap NIDH)
Son of Lludd Llaw Eraint (Nudd), brother of Gwyn ap Nudd and Creiddylad ferch Nudd, father of Rhys ab Edern, grandfather of Rhys Vachan ap Rhys and Rhian ferch Rhys.
Edneved ap Gwilt (ed-NEV-ed ap GWILT)
A scholar.
Eurig ap Gruffydd (EI-rig ap GRIFF-ith)
Husband of Tegwen, great-uncle of Brynach. Vassal of Gwyn ap Nudd.
Gwyn ap Nudd (GWIN ap NIDH) - Gwyn Annan.
Son of Lludd Llaw Eraint (Nudd), brother of Edern ap Nudd and Creiddlyad ferch Nudd. Father of Georgia Rice Annan. Prince of Annwn.
Gwythyr ap Greidawl (GWI-thir ap GREI-dul)
Ex-husband of Creiddylad ferch Nudd.
Hadyn (HAY-din)
Weapons-master to Gwyn ap Nudd.
Hefina (heh-VIN-a)
Assistant to Ceridwen in the infirmary.
Helyan (hel-I-an)
Guard training with Hadyn.
Huw Bongam (HUE BON-gam) - Hugh Bandy-leg
Innkeeper of the Horned Man in Greenhollow.
Idris ap Hywel - Idris Powell (IH-dris ap HIH-wel)
Marshal to Gwyn ap Nudd. 2nd in command.
Ifor ap Griffri - Ifor Moel (IH-ver ap GRIFF-ree), (IH-ver MOYLE) - Ifor the Bald.
Steward and administrator to Gwyn ap Nudd under Idris Powell.
Iolo ap Huw (YO-lo ap HUE) - diminutive of Iorwerth.
Huntsman to Gwyn ap Nudd.
Iona (YO-na)
Breeder of ponies and small horses.
Iorwerth Goch (YOR-werth GOKH) - Iorwerth the Red(-haired).
A scholar.
Islwyn (I-sluin)
A whipper-in, great-great-grandson of Iolo ap Huw.
Ithel (IH-thel)
A lord, father of Merfyn.
Llefelys (lhe-VEE-lis)
Son of Beli Mawr. Brother of Lludd/Nudd. Uncle of Gwyn ap Nudd, Edern ap Nudd, and Creiddylad ferch Nudd. King of Gaul.
Lludd Llaw Eraint (LHIDH LHAU er-AYNT) - Nudd/Lludd of the Silver Hand.
Son of Beli Mawr. Brother of Llefelys. Father of Gwyn ap Nudd, Edern ap Nudd, and Creiddylad ferch Nudd. King of Britain.
Madog ab Owen Gwynedd (MAA-dog ab OU-ain GWI-nedh)
Son of the Prince of Gwynedd. Discovered a way to the new world around 1100.
Mederei Badellfawr (meh-DER-ey BA-dell-VA-oor) - Mederei Great-Griddle.
A female bodyguard to Creiddylad ferch Nudd. Warriors carried iron pans for cooking on their backs while traveling.
Merfyn ab Ithel (MER-vin ab IH-thel)
A whipper-in, son of Ithel.
Mostyn (MOS-tin)
A tailor in Greenhollow.
Nudd
See Lludd Llaw Eraint.
Nwython (NWIH-thon)
A warrior of Gwythyr ap Greidawl, killed by Gwyn ap Nudd. Father of Cyledr Wyllt.
Olwen (OL-wen)
Cloth-mistress to Gwyn ap Nudd.
Owen the Leash (O-wen)
Leader of three men guarding people from the Cwn Annwn.
Pwyll Pen Annwn (PWILL pen ANN-un) - Pwyll head of Annwn.
An ally of Gwythyr ap Greidawl and friend of Arawn. Lord of Dyfed.
Rhian ferch Rhys (HRII-an verkh RHEESE)
Foster-daughter of Gwyn ap Nudd, daughter of Rhys ab Edern, granddaughter of Edern ap Nudd, sister of Rhys Vachan ap Rhys. Junior huntsman to Gwyn ap Nudd.
Rhodri ap Morgant (HROD-hrii ap MOR-gant)
Distant cousin to Gwyn ap Nudd, cousin to Rhian ferch Rhys and Rhys Vachan ap Rhys. Diplomat to Gwyn ap Nudd. Musician.
Rhys ab Edern (HREESE ab EE-dern)
Son of Edern ap Nudd, father of Rhian ferch Rhys and Rhys Vachan ap Rhys.
Rhys Vachan ap Rhys (HREESE VAKH-an ap HREESE) - Rhys the younger, Rhys Junior.
Foster-son of Gwyn ap Nudd, son of Rhys ab Edern, grandson of Edern ap Nudd, brother of Rhian ferch Rhys. Earl of Edgewood under Gwyn ap Nudd.
Scilti (SHIL-tee) - The thin one.
From Irish Cailte, Cao
lite.
Tegwen (TEG-wen)
Wife of Eurig ap Gruffydd.
Thomas Kethin (KETH-in) - Thomas the Swarthy.
Son of Thomas, Lord Fairfax, and Dilys
Trefor Mawr (TREH-vor MA-oor) - Trevor the Great.
A famous way-finder.
LUTINS (loo-TANH)
Armelle (ar-MEL)
Betrothed to Tanguy.
Benitoe (BEN-ih-toe)
Whipper-in. Betrothed to Isolda.
Brittou (BRIH-too)
Stable manager to Iona.
Huon (HOO-on)
Kennel-man.
Isolda (i-SOL-da)
Daughter of Ives, betrothed to Benitoe.
Ives (EVE)
Kennel-master. Father of Isolda.
Maonirn (MA-oh-NIRN)
Groom at the Horned Man inn.
Orry (OR-ri)
Handler of bloodhounds (lymers).
Tanguy (TAN-ghee)
Kennel-man. Betrothed to Armelle.
HORSES
Afanc (AH-vank) - Water-horse, monster.
Huntsman’s horse inherited by George. Black gelding.
Eleri (eh-LEH-ri)
Pony for Benitoe. Bay mare.
Gwladus (GLA-dus) - Ruler.
Pony for Benitoe. Gray mare.
Halwyn (HAL-wyn) - Salt.
Pony for Benitoe. White gelding
Llamrei (LHAM-ry) - Legendary horse of Arthur.
Huntsman’s horse inherited by George. Chestnut mare.
Llwyd (LHUID) - Gray.
Huntsman’s horse inherited by Rhian.
Mosby (MOZ-by)
George’s horse. Dapple-gray Percheron-thoroughbred gelding.
HOUNDS - CWN ANNWN
Cwn Annwn (COON AN-nun)
The Hounds of Hell. See Annwn.
Aeronwy (f) (ei-ROO-nui)
Anwen (f) (AHN-wen) - Very fair.
Briallen (f) (bri-AL-len) - Primrose.
Cythraul (m) (KEH-thral) - Devil, Demon.
Outsider.
Dando (m) (DAN-doe)
Elain (f) (eh-LAIN) - Fawn.
Outsider.
Goronwy (m) (go-RON-wee)
Outsider.
Holda (f)
Rhyfelwr (m) (hreh-VEE-lur) - Warrior.
Deceased
Rhymi (f) (HREM-ee)
Outsider.
DOGS (OTHER)
Arthur
A bloodhound (lymer).