"I will find her, I know where she goes."
*
Stefan spotted her right where he suspected she would be, at the top of the hill watching the ocean waves. He cleared his throat to let her know he was there but he needn't have bothered. She heard him coming.
"I hate them, I hate them both. They lied to me. I am Macoran's daughter and they did not say."
On the path not far below, Macoran stopped to listen.
"I see, and this be how the daughter o' a laird behaves?"
"The daughter o' a laird, who has never once confessed me. I am bound by no good form to him and I will behave as I see fit."
"Think, Kannak, they did not marry and if he confessed ye, he would bring shame upon yer mother. As angry as ye are, I cannae believe ye would want that."
"Then I am never to know him? All my life I wanted a father who loved me and still I cannae have him?"
Stefan moved to stand beside her, put an arm around her waist and then pointed. "Do ye see that far rock?" He waited for her nod and then continued. "Beyond that, in the waters o' the sea, be where my father be buried. His name was Donar and he was the commander o' a whole fleet o' Viking ships. He died the day ye found me."
She turned to look into his eyes. "Ye never said a word."
"I could not speak o' it till now."
She put her head on his shoulder and welcomed his comfort. "Did he love ye?"
"Very much. The other Vikings came to kill and to steal, but my father only wanted us to run away and build a new life for ourselves here in Scotland."
"What happened?"
"We were running up this very hill when he took an arrow to the back and died. Do ye remember? I took yer horse and left that night."
"Aye."
He gently laid his head against the top of hers, "I came back to bury him but his body was gone. I stood where yer standing now and watched Macoran give him a Viking burial fitting my father's rank. It was a very good and honorable thing for him to do and I have always been grateful. My father be dead but yer's be still alive. For that ye must be grateful as well."
Kannak started to cry, as much to relieve her anger as for Stefan's loss.
"Do not cry, wee bairn. Yer father be a good man and he loves ye, I know he does. Perhaps someday he will manage to tell ye that."