Lady Macbeth

Gruadh confronts Bodhe and tells him she wants to learn how to fight. He resists, but she points out there’s a historical precedent for Scottish warrior princesses, including Scathach of Skye, a noblewoman and a fighter. When Bodhe remains unconvinced, Gruadh threatens to use the spellcrafts her mother, Ailsa, taught her.

In Bodhe’s mind, Gruadh’s “most important role” is being the direct descendant of several Picts and Irish kings. She is important because she “can make a future husband into a king.” He does not want her to risk her life on the battlefield.

Gruadh continues to insist. She argues that “men will always argue over me, and more deaths will occur on my account.” Bodhe eventually gives in, admitting that his daughter has a “warrior spirit.” He arranges for her to practice fighting with Fergus.

Gruadh’s mother, Ailsa, died from complications of childbirth when Gruadh was eleven. Gruadh’s little sister, Brigid, was baptized by the priest, blessed by the midwives, and given the name Brigid as protection, but she, like her mother, died within a few days. Gruadh wonders if the pair went to heaven or Tír na n’ Óg, “the paradise beyond Ireland in the misty realm, which our bard spoke about.”

In the days after Ailsa’s death, Gruadh’s aunt, Eva, gives her a bag of charms—crystals, Ailsa’s needles and embroidery, and a small doll for Brigid—to leave with the bodies. Father Anselm disapproves, and suggests that Ailsa may not go to heaven because “she practiced pagan arts and taught her daughter that same insolence against God.” However, Gruadh is not discouraged, and leaves the bag with her mother and sister, reciting an old chant over their bodies. Before she died, Ailsa told Gruadh to be strong, but the young woman cannot hold back tears as she says goodbye.

When her daughter was a baby, Ailsa gave Gruadh a Celtic tattoo, the triskele, or symbol of the goddess Brigid. It is a symbol of protection, which “holds blessings near, while keeping harm at bay.” Although such markings were banned by the church centuries earlier, Gruadh occasionally reworks the design herself with a needle and thread.