Brother Kieran it was, whom first the Lord bespoke. A strange man was Brother Kieran, melancholy and drawn, slender and quick, with a mind as sharp as the bite of the viper the most blessed Saint Padraig drove from our fair isle, and a tongue as fearsome as the hounds of Cu'chulain. Brother Kieran, of the long lifeline and the wandering feet, who had spent years in every monastery in blessed Eire, and a fair few across the water as well. His legend followed him where'er he went, paced afore him through the gates. Blessed of God, he was, with eyes as clear as the seas beyond Iona and thoughts more tangled than the thorns that pierced our Saviour's skin. When God bespoke him, few thought to question.

And so it came to be that it was laid upon us by the Holy Father Abbot to journey far and journey long, that all might hear of our Lord and Saviour and thus be blessed in their life here upon the earth, and in the afterlife. We set out, six of us; sworn to the Lord Above and tasked with saving the souls of our brethren in a land far from all we had known.

Brothers Declan and Linus had been restless since childhood, and it was no surprise to anyone, least of all Brother Kieran and our blessed Father Abbot, that they were the first to volunteer to accompany their Brother on this long journey. The surprise, indeed, was that it took them so long--near a full day they spent ensconced within their cells, looking to the Lord and within themselves and each other, before coming forth with resolve solid in their hearts. What they found to hesitate over is unknown--the good Father Abbot thought perhaps their faith was unsure, faced with the reality of an uncertain expedition, and their mentor in the Order, Brother Lucas, thought perhaps 'twas not their faith they found uncertain, but their stomachs. Myself, I always suspected it was the presence of Brother Kieran--not a one to suffer fools lightly, and both Declan and Linus were still youthful and subject to the follies thereof. For themselves, they said not a word of what they discussed that day, only that they would go, and go gladly.

Brother Sebastian was the next to succomb. 'Twas a heady picture the three had painted, and for a lad yet new to the ways of the cloth, such worldly propositions were yet becoming. Twas with great reluctance he was allowed to undertake the journey; our Father Abbot looked upon the youngster much as a son of his heart, and had no desire to send him into such danger, despite the comfort provided by the Lord's blessing upon the undertaking. Brother Jonas surprised everyone by abandoning his beloved sheep and potions and joining in upon the quest.

As for myself, I daresay there were a few tongues wagged when old Brother Aidan stirred his tired bones to take upon this young man's task. However, I must follow where Brother Kieran will lead; this is the duty laid upon me from the moment I first laid eyes upon these blessed of God, with their gifts and their curses and their Game. The Lord, he speaks, and we do but obey.

I must confess, my son, that I was not half so reluctant to undertake this journeying as it might have appeared, should one have listened to the gossip that abounded within the monastery. I was accustomed to travel as a young monk in the service of the Lord and the Watchers, and Brother Kieran had led me a merry dance across much of fair Eire, from monastery to hall to campfire and back again. What he had found within this final lonely monastery, stationed at the ends of Ireland, caught on the edge between land and sea, 'twas indeed a mystery; but we had been there many years by then, and I had begun to think that, indeed, we were settled for awhile, and I would live out my last days with ink staining my fingers and books weighting my hands and bells calling us to prayer. And if I occasionally woke with the wind in my hair and a call in heart, well, I had my recollections to content me.

Or so I had thought. Ah, but 'twas not to be, and for that I thank the Lord and Brother Kieran equally. One last journeying was left in these old bones, and I took to it gladly and with merry heart. For, truth be told, the Lord did not make high stone walls with me in mind. There is a special truth in the wind upon your face and the sun upon your skin, my child. There are many ways to be close to our Lord, and who is to say one is better than another?

The day was bonny that we set out from the green shores of fair Eire, in a boat sturdy and honest, but the seas between were such that 'tis only with the Good Father's bounty we survived to reach the shores of this bountiful land. The Devil did his best to speed our journey to Heaven: and truth be told there were moments we would have wished him Godspeed in his task ourselves, the sea rose in waves so high about us and the sky thundered wind and water down upon our heads. But the Lord has a plan: and no one beats him at his game.

We waded through the foam early one morning with the sky clear above us and the sun's rays yet new upon the land. 'Twas a promising beginning tO Such an undertaking, and we rowed our boat upon the wide blue face of the sea, heading into the sky with the Lord as our Guide and a cask or water or ale or travel-bread beneath us wherever we perched: for the Lord may provide, but 'tis well known also that He helps those who help themselves. You can't change Fate, my son, but there is no harm in nudging it along a little, either.

The sea, how it sparkles. There's a look to the sea, my son, a feel and a taste and a smell, that gets inside your bones and pulls you ever onward. For days we rowed, while the sea remained calm about us and the sun warm upon our skin. Brother Kieran kept things lively amongst us, with a well-timed verbal thrust or a word of encouragement when muscles ached in legs that had not stretched in far too many hours. The young ones had the worst of the journey, I think: not accustomed to so many hours with nothing but prayer and thought to stir the minutes. Young Sebastian was notably glad when the sky at last began to cloud, and rain first fell upon our tiny boat, alone with God upon this stretch of sea, as far as eye could see beneath the sky.

Others of us knew better what that signalled, set about securing casks and men; it would not do to lose our lives to carelessness. 'Twould be an embarassing way to meet my Maker, to be sure.

Such a storm it was the Lord God sent upon us then. Ah, the winds they howled, the banshee wail of demons drawn from hell. The rain lashed our robes and our skin and the ropes cut deep into our waists as we held for our lives to the boat which threatened at any moment to unright itself and spill us all beneath the hungry ocean. Ah, 'tis a fine time in the remembering, my son. With the blood on fire through our veins, our knees shaking in terror and our hands clasped tight about anything we could grasp, while our voices cried out to our Father above. Exhiliration running wild through our bodies --such a storm is truly the gift of God, I tell you. 'Tis nothing will bring you closer to our Lord than the certainty that you are to meet Him face-to-face with the next gust of wind, the next pull of the current tugging swiftly against the wood beneath your feet.

The others did not take it so well, I fear. Ah, they were young--with the exception of Brother Kieran of course, who being not of man but of God does not measure such things as we mere mortals might measure them. This was not the last nor even the most fearsome of the storms we faced upon our journey. However, 'twas the one from which poor Brother Linus never did recover entirely; the majority of the trip he spent with his head o'er the backboard and a decidedly green tint to his features. Which was not a circumstance to please Brother Kieran, whose patience with such shenanigans quickly ran out, as the wine runs from a cask, and whose sharp tongue found no lack of places to cling upon Brother Declan's own oft-spoken prayers for Brother Linus' stomach to settle.

Ah, but the night grows late, my son, and the stars roll by. You don't wish to spend all night listening to some old Watcher as he passes on his tales. To bed with you; leave me the lantern, I am an old man, to my eternal astonishment, and I need little sleep. I will write some more, for the benefit of our Lord's History, and you, you sleep and dream of a young man's adventures. But do not forget the storms of life, body nor soul, and do not forget to trust in our Father to bring you through or gather you home, according to His Will. And do not forget the immortal words of God's blessed, Brother Kieran, and quit complaining Brother, no one lives forever. Not even those that may. God's Will guide your on your way, my son, and may your travels with Brother Kieran be as entertaining and wholesome as my own.