Midday came and went. Saoirse was still out.

I poured myself some leftover oatmeal for lunch, and continued to break my head over this caesium problem. What in the absolute hell do I do??

Come on, Radha… I need to figure this out… three days…

I glanced at the door. There seemed to be no sign of Saoirse returning any time soon. So, I decided to dig through her stash of church documents. Maybe there’s an answer in Pater Noster or whatever.

Let’s see… prayer sheets… registry entries… baptism records… nothing on physics or chemistry though. A real shame, but entirely expected.

Going through her stash I realized the true extent of her curiosity. She was so desperate to understand what Father Padraig was chanting every Sunday, that she took a risk stealing stuff from him. My respect for that woman shot up even further.

I was about to put the stash away when I spotted something: one particular baptism record, from 1612.


NOMINA BAPTIZATORUM EX FAMILIA Ó HALLMHURÁIN IN PAROCHIA DE CILL ROIS

MDCV, XIX NOVEMBRIS ~ Baptizatus est SEÁN filius SEOSAIMHI Ó HALLMHURÁIN et MÁIRE conjugum.
MDCVII, VI MAII ~ Baptizata est BRÍD filia eorundem.
MDCIX, XVII OCTOBRIS ~ Baptizata est MAIRÉAD✝ filia eorundem. ~ defuncta parvula.
MDCX, V DECEMBRIS ~ Baptizata est MAIRÉAD filia eorundem.
MDCXII, IX DECEMBRIS ~ Baptizatus est TADHG filius eorundem.

~Ultima manu posita die XI Decembris Anno Domini MDCXII~


Whoa.

I blinked. This is the actual baptism record of Saoirse and her siblings!

I looked at it again. The page was a bit yellowed, and the ink, undoubtedly iron gall, was brown and slightly faded. According to this document, Saoirse’s parents were called Seosamh and Máire. Their family name was “Ó hAllmhuráin”… however the hell that’s pronounced.

But what made my heart leap with excitement was the fact that Saoirse was baptized on 5th December, 1610. It’s late Spring now, so that makes her 26 years old: just two years younger than me. No wonder we get along so well!

I glanced at the door again. Saoirse was still not back. This doesn’t seem like her, unless… is she trying to avoid me? And if that’s the case, is it because of what happened this morning…?

I wonder what that’s about.



I paced around the cottage for a couple more hours, my mind focused on caesium and nothing else. Unsurprisingly this was still getting me nowhere, and so I decided to step outside and get some fresh air. But not too far of course, just in front of the cottage.

It was early evening. I sat down on the cottage doorstep and stared out at that castle thing on the horizon, over the sea. I meant to ask Saoirse what that was, but I kept forgetting.

There are several conflicting emotions at play here. I need to go home within three days, or else I won’t have my hormones. I also love Saoirse, and I don’t want to lose her. But my hormones are more important. I don’t want to go back to what I was like before I started transitioning, which is, angry and miserable. Sure I had a girlfriend back then, but even Angelina will tell you just how depressed I was compared to now.

I am gonna miss this though. The sea view, the fresh air, the enchanted forest out back… Saoirse’s bright, beautiful, blue-green eyes–

“Radha.”

I looked up, and my heart jumped. She’s back!

“Oh, hey!”

“Come inside.”

She was carrying two bags of grain, one of which I helped her with as we re-entered the cottage. I wanted to ask why it got so late, but decided against it.

Saoirse then reached into her sling pocket and pulled out a steel casing.

“The last part, from Aodh.”

“Oh nice, thanks!” I said, taking it from her. I couldn’t help but notice a sort of… forlorn expression on her face. I wonder what that’s about.

“Um…” began Saoirse. I looked at her.

“What’s up?”

She hesitated.

“Did you want to tell me something…?” I said. She looked around awkwardly, then spoke softly.

“Your… hair… is black and soft… like… wet peat.”

We both stared at each other for a couple minutes. Finally I couldn’t hold it any longer and burst into a fit of giggles.

“Wet peat?? Brilliant!!”

I didn’t notice Saoirse’s face turning bright red. She frowned, turned her back on me, and started preparing dinner.

By the time I finally finished laughing I was actually on the ground, and had tears in my eyes. Wet peat!

I wiped my laugh-tears, and then spotted something scattered on the ground: the Pokémon sketches I did for Maebh this morning.

“Ha… I can’t believe I told Maebh about Drifloon and Hypno,” I said, picking them up. “They’re considered creepy even in my time!”

“Hm,” said Saoirse, not looking at me. I think she’s upset.

But Drifloon though, it’s a sentient balloon that tricks children into holding them, then takes them away. And Hypno, well… there was that whole thing in the games where one hypnotized a kid, who you then had to rescue. Insane!

Hypnotized… with a pendulum… that oscillates… at regular intervals–

“HOLY SH–”

I banged the table. Saoirse, startled, now turned around to look.

“W-what… ?”

“I’ve been thinking about it all wrong,” I said, going over to her. “It’s not about the caesium, it’s what it does! I JUST NEED SOMETHING THAT VIBRATES AT REGULAR INTERVALS, LIKE… QUARTZ–”

I started digging through my things. Saoirse was a little freaked out now, in the entire month I was here she’d never seen me this worked up.

“Aha!!”

I found the object of my quest. The translucent white fairy stone from the field, glittering as I held it in the firelight.

“Just from looking at this thing you can tell it’s full of quartz! But I can’t use this alone… it needs a controller… something that reacts violently with water like caesium does…”

My eyes darted around the cottage. I knew what I was looking for, but I also didn’t, if that makes sense. Saoirse was now thoroughly confused.

And then my eye fell on the bowls that we’d be eating dinner from. I washed them this afternoon with that smelly soap-paste... made from animal fat and ashes from under the cauldron... or pot... ash... pot-ash–

“POTASSIUM!!”

I ran over to Saoirse, excited like a schoolchild.

“Quartz and potassium! By combining the two I can get a good substitute for caesium!! I’LL BE ABLE TO GO HOME!!!”

I was so excited, I actually started doing a jumpstyle dance around the cottage. But once or twice I caught Saoirse’s face. She seemed sad… like, very sad.

I wonder what that’s about.