S is for Sidhe

Sidhe- The aes sídhe are a supernatural race in Irish and Scottish mythology comparable to the fairies or elves. They are said to live underground in the fairy mounds, across the western sea, or in an invisible world that coexists with the world of humans. This world is described in the Book of Invasions as a parallel universe in which the aos sí walk amongst the living. In the Irish language, aos sí means "people of the mounds" (the mounds are known in Irish as "the sídhe"). In Irish literature the people of the mounds are also called daoine sídhe ; in Scottish Gaelic literature they are daoine sìth. They are variously said to be the ancestors, the spirits of nature, or goddesses and gods. (Source Wikipedia).

The night was heavy and damp.  A foggy mist swirled about the ground, white in the light of the full moon.  The moor was quiet as dark shapes began to appear near the burial mounds.  Maura crouched on the forest floor, pressing herself closer to the ground as she gazed out at the moors.  No sane person should be able to see the Sidhe, and yet here she was watching with wide eyes as a procession of beautiful, silver-haired beings appeared in the night.  

I shouldn't have come.  She thought fervently.  What had possessed her to venture out here in the night?  Maura, still mourning her father's untimely death, had come to the mounds to re-connect with her ancestors.  But the spirits in front of her eyes were not the ones she had been seeking.  Her muscles ached with the strain of staying absolutely still.  She held her breath, hoping the creatures would soon be away.  The old stories had painted the Sidhe as mercurial creatures with a penchant toward evil when they thought they had been betrayed.  What would they do to a human who had violated their realm?

The last of the figures had emerged from the mound, and they were all disappearing over a dip in the path.  Maura let out her held breath in a small sigh of relief and hastily stood, meaning to make her way back home.  Just then, a tall, bare-chested warrior emerged from the mound, trailing a bit behind the rest.  His glowing eyes immediately found hers in the darkness, and she sucked in her breath with a hiss. 

(Nicole Cadet fantasy art at: http://www.nicolecadet.com/projects/silver-dragon-sidhe)