o’clock.’
‘We’ve got about an hour, then. Less if we get dirty or wet and need to change when we get back.’
She raised an eyebrow. ‘Afraid of getting a little bit dirty or wet?’
‘Not at all. I’m just afraid of missinglunch.’ He caught himself, and smiled. ‘I’m beginning to sound like my brother. God forbid.’
‘Do you get on well with him?’
‘That’s simple to ask but not so simple to answer,’ he replied, uncomfortable with the question but wanting to answer it honestly. ‘We’ve been apart for a while
– well, I’ve been away. Abroad. We’ve obviously both changed since I left, and I think we’re both tryingto work out what our relationship is now. I don’t need to rely
on him the way that I did, but he needs to realize that we’re closer to equals now.’ He paused, wanting to change the conversation but unsure how. ‘What about you? Do you have any
brothers or sisters?’
‘Apparently I had an older brother,’ she said, ‘but he died when he was a baby, before I was born.’ Her expression turned serious.‘Lots of children die as babies
where I come from.’
‘A fair number die as babies where I come from,’ Sherlock said, thinking about cholera, and the various other diseases that ran rife through the poorer areas of the big cities.
‘Not that I’m trying to draw any equivalence between your background and mine. I know I was privileged.’
‘Hey, I grew up in a place of beautiful beaches andbeautiful sunsets where you could just pick your meals off the trees, and I’m now living in a castle. Believe me, I feel like
I’m privileged.’
‘Touché.’
She punched his arm. ‘Come on, let’s take a tour around the outside of the castle. We won’t go too far – we can save that for later.’
He followed her across to the door that led out of the great hall. The doors were half open, andshe slipped between them. Sherlock followed into the central square that lay between the
castle’s walls. In daylight, and facing outward rather than facing towards the doors, as he had been the day before, he could see that it was mainly paved, with scattered patches of grass. In
the centre was a statue of an armoured man on horseback. His arm was upraised, and holding a sword.
Niamh ledthe way outside through the entrance arch and crossed the moat quickly, but Sherlock paused to look down, into the moat’s murky water. He couldn’t see more than a foot or
so into it, because of the mud and vegetation in the depths, but there were things swimming in there – sinuous shapes that could be fish or could be eels, he wasn’t sure.
The bulk of the castle shielded them from the windthat had chilled Sherlock up on the roof. He stared out at the Irish landscape. The low clouds had disappeared inland, and he could see the
same low hills that he had spotted from the battlements. He looked around, trying to place where the tower he’d spotted was located, but he worked out that it must be around the side of the
castle.
Niamh set off in the opposite direction. ‘Let’s lookat the sea,’ she said. ‘I never get tired of it. Back on my island the sea is blue and green, but here it’s
always grey. It’s also always angry, always crashing itself on the shore rather than coming in as gentle waves.’
Sherlock thought about the different ways he had seen the ocean as he’d sailed to China and back. ‘It’s like people,’ he ventured. ‘Despite the fact that we all
look basicallythe same – two arms and two legs and a head – there’s an infinite range of personalities. The sea should be just as simple – chemically, it’s not
complicated – but the same stretch of sea can look completely different depending on the weather and the time of day.’
Niamh vanished around the edge of one of the towers, and Sherlock followed. He found her heading across the stretch of grassthat he had seen from the library – the one that separated the
castle from the cliffs.
‘We’ve got about an hour, then. Less if we get dirty or wet and need to change when we get back.’
She raised an eyebrow. ‘Afraid of getting a little bit dirty or wet?’
‘Not at all. I’m just afraid of missinglunch.’ He caught himself, and smiled. ‘I’m beginning to sound like my brother. God forbid.’
‘Do you get on well with him?’
‘That’s simple to ask but not so simple to answer,’ he replied, uncomfortable with the question but wanting to answer it honestly. ‘We’ve been apart for a while
– well, I’ve been away. Abroad. We’ve obviously both changed since I left, and I think we’re both tryingto work out what our relationship is now. I don’t need to rely
on him the way that I did, but he needs to realize that we’re closer to equals now.’ He paused, wanting to change the conversation but unsure how. ‘What about you? Do you have any
brothers or sisters?’
‘Apparently I had an older brother,’ she said, ‘but he died when he was a baby, before I was born.’ Her expression turned serious.‘Lots of children die as babies
where I come from.’
‘A fair number die as babies where I come from,’ Sherlock said, thinking about cholera, and the various other diseases that ran rife through the poorer areas of the big cities.
‘Not that I’m trying to draw any equivalence between your background and mine. I know I was privileged.’
‘Hey, I grew up in a place of beautiful beaches andbeautiful sunsets where you could just pick your meals off the trees, and I’m now living in a castle. Believe me, I feel like
I’m privileged.’
‘Touché.’
She punched his arm. ‘Come on, let’s take a tour around the outside of the castle. We won’t go too far – we can save that for later.’
He followed her across to the door that led out of the great hall. The doors were half open, andshe slipped between them. Sherlock followed into the central square that lay between the
castle’s walls. In daylight, and facing outward rather than facing towards the doors, as he had been the day before, he could see that it was mainly paved, with scattered patches of grass. In
the centre was a statue of an armoured man on horseback. His arm was upraised, and holding a sword.
Niamh ledthe way outside through the entrance arch and crossed the moat quickly, but Sherlock paused to look down, into the moat’s murky water. He couldn’t see more than a foot or
so into it, because of the mud and vegetation in the depths, but there were things swimming in there – sinuous shapes that could be fish or could be eels, he wasn’t sure.
The bulk of the castle shielded them from the windthat had chilled Sherlock up on the roof. He stared out at the Irish landscape. The low clouds had disappeared inland, and he could see the
same low hills that he had spotted from the battlements. He looked around, trying to place where the tower he’d spotted was located, but he worked out that it must be around the side of the
castle.
Niamh set off in the opposite direction. ‘Let’s lookat the sea,’ she said. ‘I never get tired of it. Back on my island the sea is blue and green, but here it’s
always grey. It’s also always angry, always crashing itself on the shore rather than coming in as gentle waves.’
Sherlock thought about the different ways he had seen the ocean as he’d sailed to China and back. ‘It’s like people,’ he ventured. ‘Despite the fact that we all
look basicallythe same – two arms and two legs and a head – there’s an infinite range of personalities. The sea should be just as simple – chemically, it’s not
complicated – but the same stretch of sea can look completely different depending on the weather and the time of day.’
Niamh vanished around the edge of one of the towers, and Sherlock followed. He found her heading across the stretch of grassthat he had seen from the library – the one that separated the
castle from the cliffs.
Similar Books
