‘I do not understand.’ Eadulf frowned. ‘I mean, your reference to Mac Faosma’s name?’
It was Fidelma who explained.
‘It means “son of protection”, which implies that he was someone who was adopted because there was no one left in his blood family to raise him.’
‘Exactly. For someone to gain enough authority with the Ui Fidgente to become leader, they have to have a direct bloodline connection with our chief family. Eoganan’s line, as I say, was virtually wiped out.’
‘Then how was this Donennach accepted as your ruler?’ demanded Eadulf.
‘Because the genealogists could trace Donennach’s descent nine generations back to Brion. Eoganan descended from another son of Br on.’
‘So such a leader might exist, someone else descended from this Brion?’ Eadulf pointed out. ‘And Mac Faosma could be the catalyst trying to stir things?’
‘Both are possible,’ admitted Conri. ‘But I fail to see anyone who is popular enough to attempt to overthrow Donennach.’
Eadulf grinned sourly.
‘A few months ago Uaman might have been that man,’ he pointed out.
Conri sniffed.
‘Uaman the Leper, even living, would not have been accepted under our law,’ he reminded him. ‘A chieftain must be a man without blemish, physical or mental.’
‘Anyway, we might be travelling down a wrong road in considering this,’ Fidelma suddenly intervened. ‘Perhaps the argument over the Ui Fidgente between Mac Faosma and Cinaed has nothing to do with Cinaed’s murder. All I have put forward is that some strong emotions existed between Mac Faosma and Cinaed. We should not discount them.’
Eadulf sighed. ‘So where do we turn now in this matter? You told the abbot that we shall be leaving Ard Fhearta. To go where? Where do we start searching for the missing members of this community?’
‘At the place where they disappeared, in the lands of the Corco Duibhne,’ Fidelma replied. ‘I propose to ask Mugron to take us there when he sails. He told me he was due to go there within the next day or so.’
‘Have you given up on the murder of Cinaed?’
Fidelma frowned in annoyance. Abbot Erc had made a similar suggestion and she had wondered, for a moment, whether it had been made with desire.
‘I never give up on a task half finished. You know that, Eadulf. We can leave Ard Fhearta as soon as the weather is good and Mugron is prepared to sail. Meanwhile, I have not, as yet, questioned Sister Sinnchene or Sister Buan.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
Fidelma sent Conri to see Mugron, the merchant, in order to make arrangements for the voyage to the land of the Corco Duibhne when he was ready. After he had departed on his errand, she and Eadulf went in search of Sister Buan. They found her in the chambers where the Venerable Cinaed had lived and worked. It was soon obvious that these were Sister Buan’s living quarters as well.
Sister Buan was a fairly plain-looking woman, of an indiscernible age, although Eadulf judged her to be about forty years. She was a slight but sharp-faced woman with somewhat rounded shoulders, corn-coloured hair and bright blue eyes. Her features could have been pleasant had she allowed a smile to sit upon them. Now those features were moulded into an expression of sorrow, the eyes red-rimmed. She bore her grief in every line of her face and movement of her body.
When she opened the door to admit Fidelma and Eadulf she showed no surprise and did not question why they had come.
‘I have been expecting you,’ she said simply, as she stood aside to admit them into the chambers. ‘You are the dalaigh from Cashel and you are her Saxon companion. You were pointed out to me last night in the refectory. I will do my best to answer your questions.’
‘Thank you, Sister Buan,’ said Fidelma as they seated themselves in the cold chamber. The turf fire had been allowed to blacken and die. ‘We have been told that you were the companion of the Venerable Cinaed?’
‘I was his cetmuintir,’ she replied.
Fidelma glanced quickly at Eadulf.
‘You were his legally married wife?’ he asked in surprise.
Sister Buan raised her chin defiantly.
‘Does that astonish you?’ she demanded. ‘I would not take you for one
‘Of course not,’ Eadulf responded. ‘It’s just that-’
‘Then you must disapprove because Cinaed was a generation or so older than I was.’ The woman made it into a challenge.
‘I was going to say, it is just that no one mentioned your exact legal position,’ Eadulf continued evenly.
‘We are certainly not here to pass any moral judgements, Sister Buan,’ Fidelma added.
‘Buan — that is a martial name, is it not?’ Eadulf went on, trying to persuade the woman of his good intentions. ‘Doesn’t it mean “the victorious one”?’
‘No, Brother Saxon. It is a name which means “lasting” or, rather, “enduring”.’ She became suddenly sad again.
‘How long were you the wife of Cinaed?’ Fidelma asked.
‘Five years.’
Fidelma was wondering why no one at the abbey had bothered to tell her that Cinaed had died leaving a widow.
‘I presume there are no children of this union?’ Eadulf asked.
Sister Buan turned an almost pitying look on him.
‘We have not been blessed with children. Poor Cinaed was not capable of becoming a father when we joined our lives together. It was for companionship that we made the lanamnus, our marriage contract. Even if it were possible, children are frowned on among the community.’
‘How long had you known Cinaed?’
‘Seven years. Cinaed was here when I came to the community, but I did not really know him until I came to work for him.’
‘And you have been in this community for — how long?’
‘I was in this abbey for over twenty years.’
‘What brought you together?’
The slightly built woman shrugged.
‘He wanted someone to keep his chambers tidy. He was given special privileges because of his scholarship. He did not have to participate in physical work because of his age and learning and so he was allowed someone to assist him. He was one of only two scholars here who had that privilege.’
Eadulf grimaced sourly.
‘I suppose the other was the Venerable Mac Faosma?’
‘Just so. And he has Brother Benen to help him.’
There was a tone of censure in the woman’s voice. Fidelma looked at her keenly.
‘You disapprove of that?’
‘What a man does in his private life is no concern of mine,’ she replied, as if uninterested.
Once again Fidelma caught Eadulf’s eye and this time shook her head slightly. It was obvious what the woman meant.
‘So you began to clean for Cinaed and that led to your relationship?’
‘I did and it did.’
‘And you became interested in his work?’ Eadulf asked.
For the first time the woman actually smiled.
‘His work? I had no understanding of it. I am no scholar.’ She held out her hands. ‘These are not the hands of a Latin scholar, Brother Saxon.’
Eadulf glanced at them. They were rough and calloused.
‘What would a scholar want with someone like me?’ There was no bitterness in her voice. Neither of them responded to her question. She went on: ‘Human beings want companionship at times and not simply for intellectual discourse. In Cinaed’s case he wanted someone to nurse him and fetch and carry for him.’
Eadulf looked uncomfortable but she went on without seeming to notice.
‘I knew there was no meeting of minds with Cinaed but he was a wonderful man. I came here to escape poverty.’ Sister Buan sounded slightly bitter. ‘I was disowned by my father after he divorced my mother, who was his second wife.’
Fidelma was interested.
‘For what reason did he divorce her?’
‘Because she fled her marriage contract on becoming enamoured of a young man, so I was told. From fear of my father, she became a fugitive in the mountains. I was told that she perished there.’