'Is that possible?' Derae asked.
The woman spread her hands. 'I do not know. But if you have doubts, then do not attempt it. There is no need for you to do this for me. Parmenion will soon be here, and your lives together will be rich and fulfilled.'
Derae looked at her twin and reached out her hand. 'Let us try,' she said.
The woman looked surprised. 'Why? Why would you do this?'
'Would you not do it for me?'
The woman smiled. 'Yes, I would.' Their hands met and the light faded.
Derae found herself sitting once more in the moonlight in the shadows of the Gateway. There were no ghosts and no voices, and the stars were bright above her. Taking a deep breath, she summoned her memories.
For a time she sat unmoving. The corridors of the past were branched now and there were two histories to scan. She remembered her life as a child in the Sparta of the Enchantment, and also as a young woman in the world of Parmenion. The years spiralled on, from youth to the first grey hairs, and she recalled with a shiver her arthritic joints, felt again the constant pains of old age, the fading of her powers. Her powers? I had no powers, she thought.
Of course I did, she reminded herself. They were developed by Tamis when first I came to the Temple. But I had to give my sight to acquire them.
I have never been blind! An edge of panic touched her, but the memories flowed on, filling her mind, covering her like the warm blankets of childhood.
'Which one am I?' she asked aloud, but there was no answer. The memories were all hers — and identity was based, she knew, on memory.
It was not just the years of healing at the Temple that she could recall, but all the emotions and yearnings that had accompanied those years. Yet, similarly, she could remember vividly her time as Sparta's Queen with the first Parmenion, and her childhood with Leonidas.
'Which one?' she asked again.
Glancing down she saw a small white flower with fading petals, its time finished, its beauty disappearing. Reaching out, she held her hand above it; the petals swelled with new life. All confusion left her then.
'We are One,' she whispered. 'We are Derae.'
The panic faded, to be replaced by a quiet longing. Her gaze swung to the hill above her and the twin columns of stone.
The Gateway shimmered with golden light and a tall young man stepped out on to the hillside.
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