On Samhain Night the Veil Thins, and the Stranger at the Bar Trades a Dance for Your Name
The last note of the fiddle fades away. He is still holding your hand and won't let go. The fire pops, and he lowers his head, his breath brushing your ear.
Thank you for your name. It's lovely. I'll keep it safe.
You look back for your friend, but she is watching you with a bewildered face, as if you were a stranger. He laughs softly, his fingertip trailing across the back of your hand.
Don't panic. Our rule is that what's borrowed must be returned, and we keep to it too. You gave me your name, so I owe you one.
He takes a red apple from inside his coat and places it in your palm.
Guess my true name before dawn and I'll give yours back. If you can't… come home with me.
What do you do?
Cillian laughs softly, the sound lost among the murmur of the bar.
“A joke? Your kind always calls the things they can’t understand a joke.”
He lifts the hand holding your apple and turns you toward the old mirror behind the bar. In it, the space beside him is empty. There’s no you there.
“Still think it’s funny now? ...Don’t be afraid. I told you, I’ll take good care of it.”
You stare at him. He doesn’t look away. Instead, he tilts his head slightly and brushes the black hair from his ear, letting you see the faint point of it.
“Have you seen enough?”
A hint of amusement rises in his silver-gray eyes, like lamplight glowing through mist.
“For a thousand years, plenty of people have stared at me. You’re the first who has dared to keep looking. ...Consider that a clue. A gift from me.”
He presses a hand to his chest. Beneath the dark green velvet, the thorn brooch flashes once.
“Right here. Against my heart. It’s warm.”
He leans in close, his voice low enough for only you to hear.
“If you want it back, you’ll have to reach in for it... Do you dare?”
What do you do?
He seems amused, his long fingers tapping on the bar in the rhythm of the dance tune from earlier.
“Fair? Your kind has never once dealt with us fairly.”
After a moment’s thought, he leans toward your ear, his voice like a line of poetry.
“Fine, I’ll give you one: my name holds a tree, a river, and a promise that has never once been kept... Generous enough for you?”
The apple is sweet, far sweeter than anything this season should yield. Cillian’s eyes darken at once.
“...Do you know what it means to eat something of ours?”
He lifts his hand to brush a drop of juice from the corner of your mouth, his fingertip resting on your lower lip for a long moment before he withdraws it.
“It’s all right. I won’t take advantage of you for this. I want you to come willingly, not because of a bite of apple.”
His smile fades a little. For the first time, he doesn’t answer you with a question.
“It means that from now on, only I will be able to say your name.”
He lifts your hand and presses it to his cheek. His skin is cool, like morning mist.
“My island has everything. It’s just that in a thousand years, not one person has ever called me home for dinner.”
The old clock behind the bar chimes once. It’s one in the morning. Outside, the fog thickens until it’s impenetrable, and the wind chime at the door begins to ring on its own.
“The veil grows thinner... Something else has caught the scent of your name, too.”
What do you do?
He looks down at the hand gripping his sleeve, as if he’s seeing something rare.
“You’re asking me for help.”
He spreads open his dark green coat and wraps you up inside it. The velvet smells of moss and rain.
“Good. This time it isn’t a bargain. It’s my own choice... But remember this: whoever we hide will always be found. Only I can find you.”
“My enemy? No.”
He turns his gaze to the fog outside, his voice going cold, cold enough that the fire in the bar seems to shrink.
“My brothers. They want a human name too... But your name already belongs to me.”
He turns and holds out a hand to you, palm up. “Stay close. From now on, don’t look back.”
He looks at you for a long time. Mist seeps in through the gap in the door and curls around his ankles, then is driven back by something about him.
“Protect you? We never do anything without a price.”
He takes your hand, presses it to his lips, and kisses the tip of your knuckle, very gently.
“So then, pay for it with the name you have to guess before dawn... If you guess it right, I’ll protect you for the rest of your life. If you guess it wrong, I’ll protect you for the rest of your life too.”
“On Samhain Night the Veil Thins, and the Stranger at the Bar Trades a Dance for Your Name” is an interactive AI story on HiWish. The lead character is Cillian: reply in your own words by typing or speaking, and Cillian answers in their own voice. Genres: Halloween, Fantasy, and Holidays. Available in 16 languages.
On Samhain night, a traditional session is playing in an old pub in Galway, and a stranger in a dark green velvet coat has been watching you across the crowd all evening. He asks you to dance, and you give him your name without thinking. When the tune ends, he murmurs in your ear, “Thank you for your name. I'll keep it safe.” You turn around and find your classmate already looking at you as if she has never met you.
Starring
Cillian looks twenty-eight and claims to come from a small island beyond Galway Bay.
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