When Ivar meets a girl with flaming red hair and eyes that cannot see, he begins to wonder how a sightless girl can see so much beauty in the world... And in him.
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The day was like any other. After helping her mother with tasks around the house and cooking for her siblings, Ailbe found little time for herself. Her father had died when she was still quite young and her mother had never fully recovered. Being the oldest, and the caring soul she was, Ailbe took it upon herself to care for her family. Who would've thought that the blind girl had it in her?
Despite her condition, Ailbe remained as capable as anyone else. And, though it was a thankless job, she took joy in knowing that she was keeping her younger sisters safe and secure.
When the young girl finally caught a moment to herself, she would always spend it up on the hillside. It was like her own secret sanctuary, hidden away from everyone else. No one came up here, no one bothered her with their judgement or pity. Here she could be herself, without the constant reminder that she was like no one else.
Ailbe had never seen the sun or the sky. She'd never watched the tides or looked over a spring meadow. And yet, she loved all of these things.
She loved the scent of the flowers and the feel of the sun. She listened to the waves and tasted the salty air. To her, sight did not define beauty and it never would. She found beauty from every inch of something, even the things that no one else found beauty in.
More importantly, she found goodness in everything. Especially the things that no one else found goodness in.
The hillside was silent when they came. She sat with the breeze in her hair and a daisy in her grip. Her lips curved upwards as the sunset kissed her skin in that way it does during summertime. She always loved summer.
She loved picking strawberries and staying out late to lie in the long grass. She loved hearing children playing on the beach.
But when she listened out that evening, it seemed that the village was asleep. She was left alone with her thoughts and feelings, alone upon the vast greenery of the hillside.
It'd been a long time since it had been this quiet, perhaps the last time the Saxons came to subdue everyone. But Ailbe hadn't seen a Saxon in many years now, not since they began being attacked by northmen every year. So, she supposed the must be grateful to these Vikings. Though she'd heard of other Celtic settlements being pillaged by the northmen too.
As if on cue, her keen ears were alerted to as strange sound. It was like a huge thud of wood against wood followed by a yell. Soon, she heard the splashing of water, people jumping in?
With her heart racing, Ailbe listened closer. The sound seemed to come from way out in the distance, and yet still she felt the urge to run home. With her father dead, her mother ran their clan. Surely she would wish to know of all that her daughter had heard way out on the hillside.
She stopped almost as soon as she began to run, the adrenaline draining from her body as her heart sunk. Would her mother really want to know what she'd heard? Would she really take council from a blind girl who never actually saw people coming ashore so could never be totally certain. She was certain... But no one would listen until it was too late. No one ever did. What did she know? She couldn't see.
Ailbe slumped to the ground, sniffling back sorrowful tears as she thought about her issues. If only she was normal. Perhaps then she could be in line to lead instead of her little brother. He was the youngest and least experienced. Ailbe didn't wish such a burden on him. She didn't even wish it on herself, but she always wondered why she was picked last. The truth was, it wasn't even her gender or lack of friends; it was her eyes. It was always her eyes.
Even so, she couldn't just leave these people on the beach and hope for the best. Maybe they were in danger and needed help, or worse still they may have come to bring danger with them.
With this though, Ailbe jolted up. She had to do something. And if no one would believe her then she'd find out what these people wanted for her self.
I got to hold a lung today in Science and I yelled "blood eagle" and threw it at my group of friends... Because I'm to only one who's not squeamish... Actually I kinda like blood🤷
