Chapter Thirty: Coming Competition

Chapter Thirty: Coming Competition

Tuesday proceeded much as Monday had, Johannes leading Lachina and Phoebe on a tour of the gardens and then showing them the new bere field. Lachina had decided to stay for the garden tour that morning and go into Aberdeen in the afternoon to spend a few hours working in the shop. Malcolm joined them all for a while, but then left for the afternoon, Apparating to the McGonagall Cliffs to fetch his bodhran and to have lunch with his parents. Lachina and Phoebe were having lunch at the lodge with the McGonagalls, so they Disapparated from the bere field directly to the lodge. Johannes, however, decided to walk a while before Apparating to the main house.

He had seen Siofre only briefly at breakfast, when she ate a bowl of porridge and drank a few cups of tea before leaving for the morning. He'd had the impression that she would return at midday but would likely still need to work the entire afternoon. Johannes wished that he could lend her a hand with her work, but he knew almost nothing about British wizarding law, and he had the sense that he probably did not want to know too much about what Siofre was doing to get Drusus arrested and sent away to Azkaban. He trusted her and her judgment, and he believed that she would never manufacture evidence outright...she had said, after all, that if Drusus had changed his ways, then she would be unable to send him to prison...but he knew that even she was uneasy with the idea of meddling so thoroughly in someone else's life. Likely Siofre felt freer to do so because of the Prince connection to the Tyree family, as well as out of concern for young Eileen. It would be good for the girl if she could escape the influence of her overbearing father for at least a time, particularly now at the start of her new life as an adult witch with a fiancé and plans to marry him soon.

The best way he could help Siofre, Johannes decided, was to continue to look after things at the estate for her, and to give garden tours to her various kin when they were interested. Of course, Johannes had the distinct impression that Siofre was also trying to avoid him...not avoid him, precisely, but to encourage him to socialise more with the guests and less with her. After what Lydia had told him in their private chat in the kitchen a few days before, he also imagined that Siofre hoped to have him find one of her young relatives attractive enough to draw him away from her. Or perhaps she wasn't hoping for it to happen, but only wished to see it happened if it made him happy. Johannes certainly hoped that Siofre didn't wish to be rid of him, and it seemed unlikely that she did.

No doubt that Lachina was a witty and attractive witch, and much like Siofre in some ways, but she was not Siofre, and Johannes was quite certain that he would meet no witch whose charms could cause him to cease feeling the pull toward Siofre. The force that drew him to Siofre was elemental; it was more than a mere sexual attraction or intellectual interest. It was not the sort of interest that could be easily distracted by some witty, attractive young witch...it would not be distracted at all, as far Johannes was concerned, let alone easily.

If Siofre's feelings for him did not reflect his own for her, if her affection were simply the warmth of a sister or an aunt ... then he would find a way to cope with that position in her life. But he did not believe that her feelings for him were of that sort. She did react to him as a woman interested in something more than friendship with him, and for a witch who was as reserved as she normally was, even toward those whom she loved deeply, the fact that she touched him as she did, and as often as she did, was very telling. He still felt his pulse quicken as he remembered the sensation of her hand slipping down his chest from his shoulder, coming to rest over his heart. The mere memory of it caused him almost to forget to breathe.

He would be polite and friendly toward all of Siofre's relatives and friends, witches and wizards alike, but he would return always to her. She would surely come to see that his affection for her was not some short-lived infatuation. And when she did, then he would offer to court her. She was a traditional witch in many ways, and she would respond to courtship, he thought. As for his position in the household as the "gardener," he doubted that would be an obstacle...at least, he doubted that it would matter at all to Siofre. And he would not forget that although he had not the property or station that Siofre possessed, he was an Herbology master and a respected academic. What others might think of it ... Johannes shrugged to himself. He would not concern himself with that. What others thought could hardly affect them there on the estate.

He had reached the artist's cottage, which was to be Minerva's, before he decided to Apparate to the house lest he miss lunch or keep others waiting for it. First, though, he took a quick look at the cottage gardens. They would need a bit of tending that week, guests or no guests. That afternoon might be the best time for it.

Johannes glanced up at the quaint stone-and-timber house, now with fresh curtains in the windows, and wondered what Minerva would think of her gift. It was a fine present, no doubt, but when he had taught with her, it had seemed to him that Minerva preferred to distance herself somewhat from her Tyree heritage, though he didn't understand why. She was certainly as independent and strong-willed as any Tyree witch, and she had a deep love of the Highlands and her own home. Johannes shrugged. Perhaps he was wrong, and she would welcome having a home here on the estate of Raven's Ring...Johannes had given up trying to pronounce the word for "raven" in Gaelic, though Lydia had repeated it for him a few times. To his ears, it sounded more like something a raven would croak than an actual word.

He Apparated to the drive in front of the house out of habit, and he smiled to see Siofre emerging from the opening in the hedgerow that led to the pond and the new water gardens he had created. She wasn't alone, though. A short, grey-haired wizard with a stubbly beard, wearing a kilt and white blouse, a plaid slung over his shoulder, was speaking intently to her, gesturing slightly, drawing a thread in the air, it appeared, then reaching over his head as if to grasp at some hanging fruit, but all the while, his gaze on Siofre's face. Johannes wondered whether this man were the Sorley Mackintosh whom he'd heard about. Not a very prepossessing-looking wizard, but looks could be deceiving, as he was well aware.

Siofre saw Johannes, and she smiled, nodding. The other wizard's attention was drawn to him, and a friendly smile crossed his face, making him look much younger, an open warmth in his bright blue eyes. Johannes could not help but smile more broadly in return.

"Johannes, come meet my cousin Jacob," Siofre called. As Johannes approached, Siofre said, "This is Johannes Birnbaum, our estate Herbologist."

"Aye, Pr'fess'r Birnbaum!" Jacob greeted him. "We're hearing much about you." The older man held out his hand.

Johannes shook hands, noting the man's strength and the callouses on his palm...the man did not shirk from manual labour despite being a wizard, and Johannes immediately approved of the man. "How do you do, Mr Tyree."

Jacob laughed at that. "No 'mister,' lad! And 'deed, not once there are more Tyrees around...you'll have every man turnin' his head t' see an yer wantin' him!"

"Or not," Siofre said with a cackle. "Doubt many are used to such an address."

Jacob nodded. "I be 'Young Jacob,' and me great-uncle, he's 'Big Jacob.' His gran'son, he's 'Jacob, Maire's boy.'"

"No need for you to remember any of that, though, Honnie," Siofre said, slipping her hand round his elbow as they walked up the drive to the front door. "It just helps keep the family sorted a bit when there's many named alike."

"Besides," Jacob added, "they'll likely not be usein' English, neither."

"It is like Sorley Mòr," Johannes said. "Malcolm told me that 'Mòr' just means that someone's older, or perhaps larger, than another one of the same name. I had thought it was a middle name."

The two Tyrees chuckled slightly at that, but Jacob nodded, "I'm glad yer interested in our language."

"I shall never master it, but I hope to remedy some of my ignorance of it," Johannes said, "and to learn at least some common words. It has a strength and beauty to it, though it seems sometimes impenetrable in its unfamiliarity."

Siofre gave his elbow a gentle, warm squeeze, and he looked down and smiled at her.

"Eh, does this mean that Sorley will be here this week?" Jacob asked.

"Aye," Siofre responded. "Lydia said he will arrive for the bonfire and stay through for young Murdoch's birthday."

"Hmm ... hmm." Jacob seemed to give Siofre an appraising glance, but said nothing more.

"Come," Siofre said briskly as they reached the front doors, "we must freshen up for lunch and not keep Lydia and Zoe waiting!"

"After lunch, P'rfess'r, an you have the time, I'd like to take a look at that corn you planted."

"It would be my pleasure to show you the bere field, and you might have some advice for me. And you must call me 'Johannes' if I am to call you 'Jacob,'" Johannes added.

Perhaps Jacob could tell him more of this Sorley Mòr than Malcolm had. Even the night before when he'd asked his friend more about the man, he'd heard little of value...though he had the distinct impression that Siofre had chosen her quiet, retiring Herbert McKenna over Sorley Mòr, to Malcolm's puzzlement. Malcolm apparently thought him a fine fellow and was looking forward to seeing him.

Johannes hadn't been able to tell at all what Siofre felt for the man. She had seemed ... not surprised precisely that Sorley was coming that week, but she hadn't anticipated it, and despite what Lachina had said about Sorley being often on Tiree when she was there, Siofre had not said whether or not she had seen much of him recently. She didn't appear to dislike him, however...Johannes doubted that she would have laughed at Lydia's joke about him being a sobering influence on the Mackenzie boys if she disliked the wizard.

He wished he knew precisely what Siofre's relationship with Sorley Mackintosh was, and how she felt about him. Given Malcolm's affection for his grandmother, Johannes couldn't imagine him being so enthusiastic about seeing Sorley if his grandmother disliked him...at least not so openly enthusiastic right there in front of her, simply out of respect for her feelings. It could be that he didn't have much insight into his grandmother's relationship with Sorley; after all, he'd been just a boy when Siofre had married Herbert, and he'd know Sorley as a mentor, the man who had taught him the old songs and helped him make his first bodhran.

Lydia probably knew the state of affairs better. She and Siofre were close, and Siofre had spent much time at the Tyree estate both before and after her marriage to Herbert. Lydia could probably tell him something of their history. Whether she had any more insight into Siofre's current feelings for the man was another matter. She had, however, announced his attendance as though it would have some meaning for Siofre, and despite the fact that the man was a fairly close relative, and one of the older ones, as well, he was being housed in the gatehouse rather than in the main house. Perhaps that was simply a matter of organisation; that may have been the only place with a comfortable bed for the older wizard by the time he had told Lydia he was coming. Johannes had noted that there had been no mention of a wife, either.

Johannes was looking forward to meeting this Sorley Mackintosh almost more than he was to meeting Lydia's son and daughter-in-law, though his anticipation of meeting the wizard was less pleasurable. If the wizard had once been a suitor, he might think that now that Herbert had been decently buried and mourned, he could take up his cause with Siofre again. It seemed slightly absurd on the surface to think that a man may have carried a torch for Siofre for four decades, but given his own feelings for Siofre, Johannes could easily imagine such a thing. He would certainly never fall out of love with Siofre no matter how much time passed.

Yes, he would have to learn more of Mackintosh, and something beyond him being a singer of the old songs. It would be awkward to ask Lydia any direct questions, though, and she was astute enough to know why he was asking them, and that might colour her responses to him. Jacob, though he was younger than Siofre and Lydia, likely knew more of the man, and from his laconic response to the news of Sorley's attendance at the bonfire, Johannes believed he also had some knowledge of Siofre's relationship with him. He would be one to ask a few casual questions of, perhaps as they surveyed the corn field. Johannes nodded to himself. He would be prepared for the arrival of this man.

~*~*~*~

Johannes found Jacob a canny wizard with an excellent feel for the soil and for the bere. Jacob recommended planting peas and beans on one-third of the field every three years, rotating which portion of the field was planted each year. If the estate began farming in earnest, Jacob thought that the fields could easily be six or seven times the size of the one small experimental plot that Johannes had begun.

"Ye'll be sellin' to Muggles then, too, no doubt," Jacob said. "'Tis a bit trickier dealing with them, but if yer wanting any help, the Tiree council has good markets for fish, corn, cheese, an' wool. For a share, we'll use our connections to sell it for you."

"I would need to consult Siofre," Johannes said. "And although I do not know her long-term plans for the future of the bere field or for the estate, I believe she wishes to have the estate more self-sufficient than it has recently been."

"Aye. Though for it to be 'self-sufficient,' it will need work, an' hard work, but you seem equal to it. Get a few more Tyree families to move here, and you'll be in good shape, if they're of the farming and fishing sort and not like the McGonagalls with their printing presses and potions, or Shennachie like young Malcolm. House-elves are fine for the work, but 'tain't the same, is it? Don't know house-elves meself, but seems to me that they serve well but don't have much foresight or ... or what's it ... enterprise," Jacob said with a nod. "Aye, you'll get the estate in shape, laddie."

"I do not know how long I will be here, although I will be glad to continue to oversee the gardens, at least, as long as Siofre wishes."

"You dinna know ..." Jacob looked puzzled. "Siofre speaks in terms of years when she talks of the gardens, the coppices, the corn. I thought you were staying on a while."

"As long as she will have me."

"An' yer a Tyree now, I hear," Jacob said, seeming to ignore Johannes's statement, "so you'll always have ties to us, and to Siofre 'specially. You may be called 'pon e'en an you leave the estate."

"I will always return if I must leave. If I may stay, I will not leave."

"Aye, you love the land, too, I can see it. And the estate needs you. Dinna look further for work. 'Tis here for you." Jacob shrugged. "O' course, I canna tell you what to do. But the only place better than this is me ain farm, smaller though it be, but 'tis on Tiree, and the island's mine as much as our farm is, and I'd not leave Tiree. You oughtn't leave here, not when yer needed and you love it. Why seek aught else?" Jacob asked, gesturing broadly at the surrounding fields, hills, and sea. "What more could you want?"

"Nothing more than what is here," Johannes said softly. "You are right."

"See how things go with the crops," Jacob said, beginning to walk down from the field toward the skirt of the shore, where the land met the sea. "If you think you'd like more families livin' here as they once did, up north of here on the shore there, speak t' Siofre. She can let word out that there's homes to be had here. There are still some as would prefer t' live on Tyree land than live amongst Muggles, e'en over in Meath. There's only so much land on the island, yet there's aye a family wantin' t' return home to live an' raise their childer. A smidge trickier here than on the island, with that Ministry o' the English, but Siofre knows how t' deal with them, an' how to let our childer be raised up independent of them."

"Siofre attended Hogwarts," Johannes said.

"Aye, an' she learned enough of the English to be a good shield for us an' all, as did her father and grandfather before her. Her mother, too, was a Hogwarts student for some few years, I think. Lovely woman. Did you ever know Brigid? Nay? A pity. She was a beautiful, gentle woman to her dyin' day. Part English herself, somewhere. Her gran'daddy, I think."

"I believe Lydia's grandson's family lives among Muggles happily, and they live in England, as well," Johannes said, wondering what Jacob's thoughts were on that.

"Oh, aye, but Elisabeth's parents are both Muggles and live nearby," Jacob said. "'Tis only right to respect her parents and have Liam come to know them, too. Someday, the lad will return here, though, and he'll marry and have childer, himself, and they'll know and love this place and all that is Tyree. There will be a strong new generation here. Come back in fifty years...nay, stay here and watch...and you'll see. You can help to prepare for it, lad. Yer doin' fine now. We Tyree are lucky you joined us."

"Even though I am foreign?" Johannes asked with a smile and a twinkle in his eye.

Jacob laughed. "Aye, you just bring us some new ideas, an' that's not aye a bad thing. But you're Tyree now, whether you'll ever be Scottish, it doesn't matter. You're Tyree and becomin' a Highlander an' all. An' if any try to tell you aught else"...Jacob shook his head..."they be the fools, man, and better that Siofre doesn't hear it!"

Johannes laughed. "And what of this Sorley Mackintosh?" he asked. "Will he dispute whether I am truly Tyree?"

"Nay, never! Not when 'twas Siofre herself who brought you into our clan. He may sometimes be a bit contrary, Sorley Mòr might be, but he is no fool. An Siofre joined you to the clan, he'll honour it and be friendly to you on her account." Jacob quirked a grin and winked. "Even an she be not as friendly toward him as he would like."

"How so? They are well-acquainted, I have thought, and Malcolm calls him one of the cousins."

Jacob chuckled. "Oh, aye, he's a cousin, and he and his family were close to Siofre's when they were children. People thought they'd marry, I understand, but Siofre was away at that school, and Sorley was here...on the island...and they never did. I was just a bairn when Siofre's husband died...Collum McGonagall...but me brother's older, and he says that Sorley tried again then, but Siofre had a wee one, herself, me cousin Merwyn, and dinna want to marry again yet."

"Malcolm spoke as though Siofre married Herbert in preference to Sorley when she did remarry."

"Did he say that ... P'raps 'twould seem so to a boy. Aye. But I think Malcolm would have preferred her to marry Sorley, himself, rather than Herbert, if she had to marry. Malcolm was attached to his gran, and he had little in common with Herbert, and Sorley was the sort of man a lad would look up to, especially an active, adventurous lad like Malcolm. But Siofre knew what she wanted from her life."

"And she wanted Herbert."

"Mmmm ... I oughtn't say more, but ... nay, I'd never have said that she wanted Herbert. She wanted a life with Herbert, and Herbert loved her. And she got her daughter with him. P'raps 'twasn't a love match as the stories tell of, but 'twas, I think, a good life for them both."

"It was a pragmatic match?" Johannes asked, a peculiar feeling coming over him.

"Dinna think, lad, that Siofre was cold toward Herbert. She repaid his devotion with her own, and more she received from him than she would have ... than she would have from some who might be more eager but less constant. She may have sacrificed some in her marriage, but she gained from it, too."

"And this Sorley Mòr, he was more eager but less constant?"

Jacob smiled. "The bere will do well here, and yer wards and charms are good ones. There's none I'd add. But an you could show me that bird ward, I would like to learn it."

"Aye, you will learn it before you leave, then," Johannes said, accepting the change in topic, sensing that Jacob had already said more than he had thought he should, and not wanting himself to press or to seem unduly interested in sordid gossip.

"Good, cousin," Jacob replied. "An' I may teach it to me brother?"

"Of course! To anyone, but especially to any Tyree," Johannes said, still distracted by the thought that Sorley may have some thought of wooing Siofre a third time...and three times is the charm, they say. Perhaps Sorley hoped for success this time; once he courted her as a youth, then as a young man, and now as an older one. He would be more constant with age, though perhaps no less ardent. The thought of Sorley courting Siofre with passion and gallantry made Johannes go cold. He looked over at Jacob. "If there is any knowledge I may share with you, I will be happy to do so."

Jacob smiled. "Siofre did find us a good Tyree. Thank you. We might find ways to take advantage of that...you taught at Hogwarts. Could you teach some of our young witches and wizards some of the charms you taught at the school?"

"I taught only a few charms, more knowledge of different magical plants. Much memorisation and some practical work with the plants. Only the older students, the ones who took the advanced examinations, learned many charms. But yes, I can teach the children on Tyree some things, if there is anything of value that I have to teach. No doubt your children are already well taught."

"Aye, I'd not say yer wrong there, Johannes, but there's aye new things to learn, and good for us to add them. Siofre may have ideas. She's a great one for teaching when she comes to stay on Tyree, or even visiting just to take them for a day."

"I will speak with her about it, then." And, Johannes thought, he would also speak to Lydia about Sorley Mòr Mackintosh and find out whether he needed to worry about the man or not. He would not wish Siofre unhappiness, nor another marriage such as the one with Herbert, however comfortable it had been...he did not want her to take him out of some sort of pragmatism simply because he was good for the estate...and yet he would not want to lose her to this Sorley Mòr, however eager the other wizard might be. No, he would be ardent and he would be constant, and he wished to win her. If Sorley Mòr wished to court Siofre, he would find it a contest, whether he knew it or not. And Johannes was ready.