I place [b]1[/b] point of magic in [color=red]Crops[/color]

[hr]

Dunlad eyed the bickering couple, a wry glint in his eye. 

[i]A gaggle of squawking geese, that lot[/i]. He suppressed his urge to guffaw, knowing his fellow councilors would perhaps take it unkindly. Not that they wouldn't frown at him one way or another, no matter what came out of his mouth. He felt more than a little out of his element here, and the effect was only amplified by the newfangled clan hall. 

Although it shone with a coat of fresh paint, it lacked something, still, fundamentally; a fire blazed furiously in the hearth, warming the place up to the rafters to waylay the Rain season bite, but the heat did not reach their hearts, still hoary from the snows of Harlaus' betrayal and the bitter waters of their hard migration. Although flowers erupted into blossom atop the Valley's knolls, they seemed preoccupied yet with the Moon season's pangs. Clan Aonghus now sprouted callow leaves, but even as the snows receded, the cold was a silent thing, and returned like a cattle thief in the night to snap the necks of sleeping saplings. 

Regarding the tempest being brought down on their heads, Aifric grasping for the blade which had been dashed to the boards in the melee, Dunlad slowly rose, his right leg trembling. This quarrel, it seemed to him, was merely a test; a test to set the tone of what would come to pass. Should the ancestral rites be broken in the interest of a new beginning? 

He raised his hand for silence, eyeing his fellows warily. Finally, he cleared his throat, and began, in a coarse voice, "It seems to me, a simple man, that the gods have not blessed your love. And they won't get to it any time soon." 

"If, Aifric, Fintan has lain with another woman, let it be past; and Fintan, if Aifric has lain with other man, let this likewise be past," he continued, leaning weightily on his walking stick, "I say let it be done. Divorce them, and let not they come within fifty paces of one another. The gods have cast their judgement already; we have lost much, and we need not any more bad blood. There are seeds to sow, horses to foal, children to be tutored. I say let it be done."