Page 11 (1/2)

Granuaile was yanking goodies out of her pack with increasing force and tossing, then throwing, the; the whistle on the old pressure cooker was about to go off

"Fire ahenever you’re ready," I said quietly

She did not appear to hear She still had a few more items to yank out and sla should never be interrupted or unfinished

"Those weren’t gods!" she finally exploded

"I beg your pardon?"

"Iwas fine But I expected so a bit nobler froa at them morbidly before they die Why should I pray to them?"

"That’s an excellent question You don’t have to"

Her expression, full of challenge, morphed into confusion "I don’t?"

"No, of course not"

"I thought all the Druids worshipped the Tuatha Dé Danann"

"They do" I sht now"

"No, I meant … in history When there were more of you around"

"It varied a bit The Druids on the continent tended to like Cernunnos, for example, more than those of us who caer on the mainland too There was no central doctrine for all the Celts"

"So I can worship who I want? Or not at all?"

"Of course Gaia doesn’t give a damn who you worship; when the Tuatha Dé Danann became the first Druids, you can bet they didn’t worship the to be bound to the earth, Granuaile, not to a religion You can dress like a pirate on Fridays and worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster if you want Gaia won’t care as long as you protect her"

"Oh" Granuaile settled back on her haunches but then gave that up and carefully arranged her legs in the lotus position She rested her hands lightly on her knees, kept her back straight, and fixed her eyes on ue with me

"Please explain why you continue to worship the Tuatha Dé Danann when you have no need to do so and you are clearly aware they are flawed beings"

I settled

"Your question assuods must necessarily be perfect That is a prejudice of ods that reflect hurant you the prejudice, but the question remains If you are not required to worship theardless of your faith or lack thereof--why do you persist?"

"I’m in it for the afterlife, sa soer at me?"

"Catch!"

"Thpppt"

"Don’t be so dis Mell, or even in Tír na nÓg? Both are beautiful places"

"So are e you to believe what you wish The heaven of the Pastafarians is supposed to have beer volcanoes, which sounds like a fantastic idea to ht be all-you-can-eat hot wings"

Granuaile’s tone turned accusatory "You’ve been trainingthe Tuatha Dé Danann was bound up with being a Druid"

"For ize for the omission"

"They were once merely Druids, you say The Tuatha Dé Danann"

"Yes But they were skilled in their own ods? What powers did they accrue when they did?"

"They becaods once people worshipped the forks for our yearnings, keepers of our hopes and prayers And the powers they gained were those assigned to them by worshippers Manannan Mac Lir was not a psychopoht he was; he was only a Druid with some extra powers in the sea"

"So why don’t cult leaders achieve godhood?"

"Because they’re aloht? And let’s not forget that there was certainly no shortage of douchebaggery in Tír na nÓg today I’ seriously Some cult leaders inspire fervent devotion in their followers Shouldn’t they gain godlike powers?"

"No, because they all die in thirty to fifty years and their cult dies with theenerations and requires the concerted belief of a large number of people"

"How does your belief in Manannan Mac Lir as a psychopo that out is one of the reasons I’ht yield so about particle physics now?"

"Yep They’re slowly discovering e have more matter than antiet sie very quickly"