It was a couple years after that that my mother died. I don�t remember much about it, really. After the funeral, da whisked us away to Inverness. I didn�t mind. I imagine he needed some time away from Salaise, and I�ve always been fond of Scotland.
My grandmother, kind soul that she is, ruled her house with an �iron fist,� or so they said, and she certainly made sure everything was handled just as it should be. She was the backbone of our family in those days, and has been ever since, I suppose. She took things over with a no nonsense attitude and there were very few tears there. I don�t think it was for a lack of caring. She could be as gentle as anyone when there was a need. But at some point you have to move on, and Scotland was the place to begin, with no memories to haunt us and her walking beside us to keep us moving forward.
It was there I heard the first and only reference to my maternal grandparents, at least the only reference to them that I remember.
�Some family,� one of the ladies had said. �Can�t be bothered to go to their daughter�s wedding or her funeral. It�s a wonder she didn�t turn out as cold as the rest of them.�
It did pique my curiosity. Years later, I met them. I should have just left it alone, but unfortunately I don�t always know when to leave things alone. It didn�t go well at all. Cold was a very good word to describe them.
My father had to go back to Salaise eventually. I stayed in Scotland a lot though. I spent all of my summers there, and sometimes winters too. That was just my life for a while: back and forth between two very different words. It wasn�t so bad though. I loved Scotland and my grandmother, and my father was around as much as he could be. If he would have asked me, I would have told him we could go on like that forever. Apparently, he didn�t think so.
He brought Anne Carraway and her son James into our lives when I was 12 years old. I wasn�t exactly thrilled to have a stepmother. I suppose I should have been more accepting of her. She wasn�t anything like a wicked stepmother. But she didn�t like me either. It was hardly a situation I could approve of. He may have been remarried, but I was in no way convinced he was any happier. At least that�s what I told myself until my little sister Kat was born. I think maybe he just needed a family to take care of, and I didn�t mind so much once she came along. She was an angel. She�s probably the only part of my new family I�ll ever really cherish. It�s hard to hold a grudge against a baby. I had no problem with helping out with her. It was much preferable to putting up with James, who amused himself by teasing me. I had no doubt that he had always been one of those playground bullies.
So, I had mixed feelings when I found out I would start high school at a boarding school in Ireland. I was, I will admit, very hurt by the suggestions, but on the other hand, how could I complain about anything that got me away from James? Oh, there were plenty of tears over being sent away from home ,but they didn�t last long.
Scotland will always be the country dearest to my heart, but Ireland doesn�t fall behind. It was easy to be at ease there. I had work to do, nice new people to meet, and a whole new landscape to explore. However much I missed my father, I loved this new place, and shy though I was, I did make new friends.
Things were uneventful my first couple of years there. I spent the school year in County Galway and much of my summers in Inverness.
The only major change came when someone decided James should be a Thaumatur. Living in Scotland and Ireland so much ad really made me doubt the Thaumatur/Sansorce class system anyway, but that just solidified my beliefs. What sort of country would give someone like him reason to lord himself over others? It was unjust. It was indecent. I hardly saw him after that, but when I did he was unbearable. It just gave me one more reason to hate the way things were done in Salaise.
By the time I graduated, Galway seemed almost like home to me and going back to the little town of Lisieux was a daunting thought. I had to go back though, and with time at Wellington looming ahead, I didn�t spend any time in Inverness that summer either. I spent all of my time preparing for my new school. I don�t know why my father thought I had any place there, but he encouraged me to go, and he was so very proud when I was accepted. Seeing that almost made it worth it.