The God of calamity’s wife: Mistletoe’s Origin

The next morning Lugh rushed through his chores. He chuckled at the thought that his life's work, the one thing he always wished his father would take him to do, now felt like chores. 

He set out his fishing lines and hurried to the fish market to help Ronan prepare his barrels of ice that he displayed them on. 

Ronan noticed this change in him and smiled. "It seems like you had a good evening with that girl." 

Lugh let down a bit of his usual composure and feigned innocence. "I won't deny it. It was the afternoon though."

Ronan laughed. "Love finds everyone eventually I guess." 

"So are you going to give her your coat then? Are you going to bring you to the island?" 

"I'm going to see where the current guides me. I'm her boyfriend for now." 

Ronan looked at him in shock. "Being a boyfriend isn't the way of a selkie. I didn't even think you knew what that was, you being all noble and godly and old fashioned like you are." 

Lugh gave him a sheepish glance. "I don't actually know what it is, but she seemed happy about it." He admitted.

Ronan burst out laughing. "A boyfriend is like she wants to go on dates with you, buy her gifts and hold her hand when you take her places." 

"Really?" Lugh asked. "Like a companion?" 

Ronan continued laughing, "you've been in solitude too long my friend." 

Lugh smiled, "I like that idea." He got up to leave, thinking about seeking her out but Ronan stopped him. "Hey don't forget about my fish." He motioned to the empty ice and Lugh laughed. "Sorry!" 

He boarded the wavesweeper and went to draw in the lines. 

As soon as he returned, he hastily dumped out the nets and Ronan began cleaning the fish. Lugh brought out his knife and did so as well when suddenly Maeve was seen leaving the wolf compound and began walking towards the fomoire town. He looked up at her from his work and set his knife down. "Surely you can finish this?" He asked pleadingly with hope in his eyes. "I can let you have all of the earnings." He added. 

Ronan looked at the girl who was getting away and sighed, "go ahead, it's not like I have a choice." 

Lugh smiled and ran after her. 

He came alongside her and excitedly calmed his nerves. "Good morning Maeve, how are you today? Do you have plans today?" 

She startled as he suddenly appeared, but quickly smiled back at him. "Oh Lugh, I'm doing good. I'm just going to find Vali and Narfi. Why?"

He smiled nervously and picked her a flower and said, "Well as your companion, I wanted to take you on a date and buy you gifts."

Ronan, who could hear pretty well as a selkie heard this and did a face palm. 

However Maeve didn't think it was wierd. She blushed. "Yeah ok." She answered. 

He offered her his arm and she took ahold of it. He looked over at Ronan who was still watching. Ronan gave him a thumbs up and he happily led her away.

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Vali and Narfi sat on the couch watching television for a while waiting for Maeve to come. 

"She's not going to come today." Vali said frustrated. "I bet she's with that boy." 

"Are you really going to fight Sirius for her?" Narfi asked after a while. 

Vali folded his arms. "Well I was going to, but now it seems like Lugh's going to be a problem and I can't fight him in the water, so I don't know what I'm going to do. Assuming he will even come back, I'm not sure how he could find us here." 

"Dad could find us." Narfi said. 

Vali sighed, "maybe he thinks we jumped into the right timeline because he hasn't tried to stop us." 

Narfi shrugged. "Perhaps whatever timeline we are on, it's the only one we truely exist on. In that case, there isn't really another thing we would choose to do. It's like if a tree falls in the forest, they say if no one hears it, does it make a sound?" 

"Of course it does."

"Yeah but we can never know."

"Well I'm going to go find her." Vali insisted.

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Lugh and Maeve held hands as they walked into the fomoire town and he struggled to decide what to do next. What should he do on a date? 

"Do you want to eat some breakfast?" Maeve asked him as if she read his mind.

Yeah that would be a good idea he thought, "sure!" He said, "what do you eat if you're a plant spirit?" He asked. 

"I normally get energy from sunlight." She said, "but it's not like I can't eat other stuff too. How about we go somewhere you like to eat." 

"Ok!" He said, "I like fish, but I bet you knew that." He chuckled. 

His laugh was so cute to Maeve, he was mysterious and sometimes his power radiated off of him in a way that would worry anyone about his intentions. Vali thought he would take her in the sea, but when he laughed like this, she decided she would let him if he tried. 

In fact, that seemed to be what he was about to do. First he stopped at a small grocery store and got a few ingredients and then he walked her straight out of the town and down towards a beach she hadn't been to yet. "Where are we going? I thought we were going to eat?" She questioned. 

"Just wait here." He said and he sat her down on a rock before diving into the water. 

A few moments later, he came back smiling with a few crabs in his hands. 

Then he gathered some driftwood and pulled out a lighter from his pocket. "It's waterproof." He said. Then he ignited some small pieces of wood and slowly coaxed the fire until it blazed enough to cook the crabs. 

He summoned some water from the sea and suspended it there as if it were in a pot. He pulled out a pocket knife and began cutting some onions and celery and dropped it into his "pot."

He halved some lemons, dropped a bay leaf in, some cayenne, and peppercorns. 

He added a few more ingredients until he had made a stock to cook the crab in. The aroma was amazing to Maeve. 

He dropped the crabs in and after a bit they began to turn red. Then separating the bubble of water into two groups, he set the cooked crab aside to keep soaking in the stock as he used the remaining stock to cook some potatoes and corn. Once he finished, he pulled out a plate from the grocery bag and removed the crab and vegetables from the water, placing them on a plate for Maeve and another for himself. 

"Wow!" I didn't know you could cook like that!" She exclaimed. 

"Of course!" He said, "why wouldn't I know how to cook?" 

Maeve shook her head, "I mean you cooked with magic!"

He laughed his sweet laugh again. "Yeah well I guess I did." 

They continued eating as the sun rose higher in the sky. Then they splashed around a bit in the shallow waves. 

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