Brittany spent the next few months in preparation for her quest. It was a difficult decision, but she came to the conclusion that she would have to go alone - if she took companions on her quest, and they discovered the nature of the Keystone, might they not betray her and take it for themselves?
It was a frightening prospect, but she could do it. She had to. Even forbidden to use magic, she was capable of looking after herself - not like the wives of the land's kings, holed up in fortresses and gossiping among themselves. That was part of her training as a priestess. She knew enough to survive in the wilderness if she had to - and she probably would.
For she could hardly take the stone anywhere in the known world; if she travelled south to Rome, or to Africa, it might easily be taken by a thief and all would be lost. Nor did she feel she could go to the east - she had heard stories that the empire of the Greeks had once stretched that far, so there must be cities just as large in that end of the world. It seemed that the only choice that remained was to go west, over the sea.
And that was what she did. In the spring of that year, Brittany set sail in a little ship she had had built, small enough that she could manage it by herself. She went northwest, first to a pleasant island where men had not yet settled, and then to the great frozen land of Thule, near the far north of the world. She spent the winter there, dreaming of warmer lands.
Though she lived by herself, she saw some of the people there, who lived by hunting seals out on the ice. She herself was happier to find that the deer in this land were giants, easily the size of a horse, and she ate quite well off the occasional hunt. She had to use caution, though, for the bears here were just as enormous, and colored white so that they blended in with the ice and snow.
She had much time over the winter to reflect on what Merlin had said. The decline of the gods, the loss of magic...he had foreseen it, and yet he did not seemed overly distressed by it - men, he said, would be the keepers of their own destiny. Was that possible? Even the Romans had gods to whom they credited their success...but then, she'd heard stories that some of their emperors were already claiming themselves to be gods.
Was that what would happen? Would men themselves take the place of the gods? Merlin had said that the gods themselves were once men...but if they had attained their stature by magic, how would men replace them if magic was disappearing? Perhaps the other avenues of learning would take its place...
Brittany didn't know how she felt about this, herself. She knew that Merlin was wise beyond even his many years, and he was confident that this was the right course, that magic should be allowed to vanish, at least for a time. Perhaps it was as he said. Maybe the gods were leaving because they would no longer be needed - perhaps their aid in mortal affairs was like a mother holding her child's hand while they learn to walk...
But...all the same, she wished it were not so. The Britain that she loved, the green and pleasant land in which she'd spent her life until now...how could it ever be the same once magic was gone? If it became ruled by an empire like Rome...would it not change the very character of the land? Would she ever again see it as it was when she left it?
She didn't know. Maybe not - maybe the country that had seemed unchanging throughout her life was transitory nonetheless, like the tales she'd heard of a land that sank beneath the sea...maybe that was the fate of everything in the life of mortals. But...she hoped dearly that she could live to see magic return.
When the spring came and the ice cleared enough for her to sail again, she repaired her boat as best as she could and pressed on, coming at last to a land far in the west. She knew, though, that even this was not far enough - it had taken her a mere year and a half to reach this place. She had to bring it farther still...
After some thought, she turned to the south, following the coast. She followed it a long ways, down from the frozen north into temperate country not so very different from her own homeland. She found that this land was inhabited by people who didn't even build houses, instead making camps of large tents...how strange!
Farther still she traveled, into warm lands where her sturdy, warm clothes became uncomfortably hot. Winter came again, but even winter in this place was as warm as summer in Britain. She packed away her kirtle and dress on the boat and made some lighter garments for herself...she didn't much care for their appearance, but they would have to do.
She had reached a narrow strip of land, scarcely more than fifty miles across, that separated the ocean from what appeared to be another ocean on the other side, when her boat was no longer usable. It was a good ship, and it had served her well, but she was no shipbuilder, and it had already been patched up as much as it would take. With fondness and regret, she removed her things from the ship and set it off to sea to find its rest.
Brittany continued on foot for some ways longer - the land here was very strange, hot and humid with great dense forests of trees she'd never seen before, with birds of fascinating color and...insects of alarming size. She pushed southward into this great forest, feeling lonely and intensely weary and wishing that her quest could be at an end.
Finally, she came to a stone ruin, the remains of what seemed to be a great temple. She made camp there, giving long thought towards what to do next. Was this far enough from the empires of man? She hadn't encountered a single soul since just before she'd left her ship behind, though in a forest this dense that was hardly surprising. Could this be the final resting place for the Keystone, until its new keeper arose?
At last she decided that this was the place. She would leave the stone here, and...and then what? For how long had she been on this quest? This was now well into the third year since she'd left Britain, and she was without a ship - how could she return? Even if she could build a ship seaworthy enough to take her home...that might be seven or eight years since she'd left - she would be...what, twenty-one?
She must be seventeen now - a grown woman, who should have been married for a few years already...what life would await her if she could return? Of course she was a priestess still, but if magic was dwindling, what call would there be for them? Maybe she was never meant to return...
Yet she must finish her task, whatever her fate. She dug beneath the temple ruins, carving out a cavern, a resting-place. She left the stone there, said a few words over it, and then...
Brittany snapped back to the present with a gasp, as the lightning flickered out and a great clap of thunder followed it. This...this was her story, the truth behind her nature, then. Not a girl of this present time sent back into the past, but a woman of the distant past brought forward into a strange and unfamiliar future...
She looked down at herself. She was just as she had been, a maiden at seventeen years, sturdy and hale. She smiled as she realized she was wearing her own clothes again, for this place was much cooler than those steaming southern lands she had travelled to.
At that, it occured to her to wonder why she was here. This could not be the place where she'd left the stone - the climate was all wrong, and the landscape was not quite so alien. Yet it could not be a changed Britain, either - the teacher had spoken of her homeland as if it were another country. How had she come to be here, in another country in another time? Had the changed sun somehow pulled her forward in time? Yet if that were true, how was it that she was unchanged?
It dawned on her that perhaps this was the result of Merlin's last wish, the last spell she had seen cast with the mighty Keystone...perhaps she was here because the new keeper of the stone was here, and she was to aid him! But she would have to find him (or perhaps her?) first...
But how could she do that, when she couldn't even leave the school?
Steven was still shaky from that...that hallucination. Had it really only been him? She'd looked perfectly real...yet she was coming straight through the wall! And nobody else had noticed anything amiss...was he going crazy?
Maybe it was stress...maybe he was losing it from the stress of keeping...keeping his secret. That, after all, was why he was hiding in an empty classroom instead of going to gym right now - he couldn't use the locker room, they'd all see...
Why had this happened? He'd made it for more than three weeks without being caught by the sunlight, but one slip-up and it was too late...how could that be fair? And to change so seemingly imperceptibly, yet so significantly...it wasn't even one of the cool changes like some people got! He couldn't fly or breathe fire or anything like that, he was just...
He couldn't bear to think of revealing what had happened to him, to think how people would treat him when they learned how he'd changed...so he'd hidden it. It hadn't been hard, he didn't look so very different now...but did that say more about how he looked now, or how he'd looked before?
And...on top of everything, he had to go to the bathroom now. Looking around to make sure the hall was clear, he walked quickly over to the men's room, hoping not to be noticed and sent to gym. Inside, he caught sight of himself in the mirror. He sighed as he looked at the sweatshirt and sweatpants he was wearing...it was still a little warm for these kinds of clothes, but it helped keep his secret, even if it made him a little sweaty.
He walked over towards the urinals, then paused, sighed in frustration, and went into one of the toilet stalls.
Adora sighed. "But...even if I do have other skills, people are just going to see me as...I don't want to be just a sex object!" She thought for a moment about the emphasis, but it wasn't really wrong - she was perfectly happy with being perceived sexually, but people would assume she was just some kind of cheap slut... "Besides, I thought you'd be mad about...well, that."
The tree-man smiled. "Child...the Lord never made a mistake...when he made man and woman as they are. I understand that you do not want others to...mistake that one aspect for your whole person, but...that does not mean that it's something to be ashamed of."
She frowned. "Well, yeah, but all those religious types that get mad about...I dunno, anything about sex...I guess I just figured..." She trailed off. Maybe she was the one making the sweeping assumptions here.
He sighed. "That is...sadly true. But...there is no sin in sexuality, child. The only wrong is in...people's selfish abuse of it."
"...huh," she said. "You, uh, you mean free love is how it's supposed to go then?" She wasn't expecting to hear that from a pastor.
"Hmmm...how to put this...what I'm speaking of is the motive. It was created as...a mutual expression of love...yet there are many people who...want only their own satisfaction....and care nothing for their partner. That is what I mean..."
"Oh." This was...not what she had expected, at all.
"I do believe it was meant as...the most intimate connection, between two people," he said. "But...if you want to know the truth, seek God's counsel, not man's...even I am not completely infallible..." There was a gentle self-mockery in that last line, and Adora found herself smiling.
That said, it was kind of bizarre to be talking with an older man who was a tree about sex, even in an abstract, theoretical way. Even with her easy-going approach to the subject, Adora found herself getting a little weirded out. "Um, anyway," she said, "I...I guess I ought to be getting home..."
"I suppose you should..." the tree-priest said. "Please...don't hesitate to come see me...if you wish to talk again. I will pray that you find...your new place in life, and know yourself fully..."
"Thanks," she said. "Um, have a good night..."
"I will. Thank you...Adora."
She smiled. "My real name...my real name's Rachel."
