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“What is done is done, Jacques. We will tell Mother and Father together,” Kit said. She led me out of the place that had become home to my greatest shame.

???

Pal, Mera, Inka, and Ami waited outside a cave back in Egypt.

Mera took one look at the children, and a hand lifted to her mouth. Pal stared, too, before he turned to me in anger.

Pal moved so fast that I never saw the punch coming.

I flew backwards to land in some trees. Then Pal was at my throat and was strangling me for all he was worth.

“Wait! Jacques had to!” Nathan yelled, rushing forward.

Inka tripped Nathan and sent him sprawling. Betrayed once more by my own wife. She who should’ve known me best.

Ami reached past Inka and grabbed Pal by the hair and pulled him backwards. Pal slowly loosened his grip, and I rubbed my throat.

“The children were dying. Ramedes had already begun the ritual. Jaq would have brought two corpses out, if he had not have acted!” Nathan yelled.

I stood up as they shut me out.

Inka turned her back, and Pal and Mera followed suit.

That was my answer. They would not even acknowledge my existence. There was no thanks for chasing the children, injured as I was. Just a simple, ‘Jacques’s been an asshole again’.

Then so be it. Aggrieved, I ran from everyone.

Nathan screamed for me to stop, and his voice rose in anger. I didn’t care. Kit yelled at Pal and Mera, and she began to follow.

In answer, I moved faster and was transported farther away. Greece and Egypt had become my nightmare, and I wouldn’t stay trapped in it.

That night was the beginning of the end for Inka and I. Inka’s betrayals came too frequently, and it was obvious Inka knew me very little indeed.

Rahmon left the following evening with Ami. A big argument had broken out, as Pal and Mera wanted to protect him, but Rahmon would not have any of it.

Nathan corrected their idea of what had happened, but their forgiveness was not required. All of them had betrayed me with their baseless assumptions. Even my so-called wife, Inka. Although I had expected anger, I had banked on a chance to explain. One which I was denied.

Rahmon still runs with Ami, and they are tighter than ever. I am glad for them, for Ami seems to have lost a great deal of her spite and Rahmon really does love her. Ami will never hurtRahmon, and he does not deserve that. But I believe and always will that everyone has one great love. Rahmon and Ami had found theirs.

???

The arrogance Rahmon displayed towards me, Ami knocked out of him, and he is much more respectful again. Rahmon is at peace, and his whole world is Ami. For many years, Rahmon shunned Pal and Mera, as they refused to acknowledge Ami as his lover. During that time, Rahmon grew in spirit and realised what he’d done to me was wrong. Rahmon desired to be a man but acted furtively, resembling a schoolboy. Enough time had passed that I could accept his heartfelt apology.

But a thousand years elapsed before peace was made between Pal and Mera, Rahmon and Ami. And it was Ami who forced it in the end.

As for Kit, she is an entirely different matter.

Kit found me; she would do. Kit, too, argued with Pal and Mera and left. She had tried to calm them down and finally lost her temper and accused them of wanting her dead.

Kit turned the tables on Pal and Mera when they naturally denied that, stating that would have been the case if I had not changed her.

That made them wonder, and Mera called to me years later, but I ignored her. To this day, I have not faced Mera. The pain that I caused was not intentional, but I was its cause.

Kit and I ran together for six hundred years. We stirred up no end of mischief, and we enjoyed ourselves fully. The flighty girl left me in the end for Nathan, but I hold no bitterness.

Kit is young and must enjoy herself. When she has lived as long as me, then maybe we’ll talk. Imagine what stories Kit will tell!

Kit once asked if I remembered when she asked what she should do if she was in love with someone that was already taken. I told her yes, and Kit stared from under her eyelashes, and I guessed she had meant me. But Kit remained the child of people who were once friends, so we never became lovers despite our six hundred years.