The inspiration for this piece comes from Orkney in the very north of Scotland.

Lady Odivere was Norwegian and betrothed to Earl Odivere at the Odin Stone. He then spent much of their marriage away on religious campaigns, and was unfaithful numerous times to his beautiful wife. Lady O heard about his escapades through a stranger, the Selkie King, who she then fell in love with and bore a selkie son. The child was destined to return to the sea after seven years and his mother gave him her gold wedding chain before he left.

The Earl returned home soon after and went out hunting as he loved to do. He was bragging about his successful hunt to his wife and produced her son's chain, unaware of what he had done. They say that oaths made at the stone of Odin must never be broken. The piece is a courtship dance inspired by the Selkie King romance.

This was the first piece of harp music I composed back in 2011. A harp friend of mine was just about to give birth to her new baby and her harping friends from the Argyll Clàrsach Society in Scotland were all trying to think of a lovely gift we could buy.

I decided to try writing a tune! I didn't know what the title would be as we didn't know whether it was a girl or a boy. My composition techniques were also a bit rusty as I had written teaching resources for many years but not had time for my own creative outpourings. Fortunately, the melody took shape, and the harmonies came together quite quickly.

My friend had no idea what we were up to, and we rehearsed for months to be able to play this live for her.

She finally arranged a date to visit with her new baby girl. She thought she was coming for coffee and cake, but a small harp orchestra awaited her! The performance went well and she was quite emotional when she left.

We had the sheet music framed with a dedication and presented it to her as a keepsake. I haven't stopped writing tunes since!