In and around the turquoise eyes he did see hauntedness. What more has she witnessed since last we said good-bye? he thought. What have I been spared? “I understand. Yeah, better than I like to. You had ten people’s work loaded on you. I should have stayed and helped.”
She shook her head. “No. I realized it then, and I still do. Once the crisis was resolved, the outfit had much better uses for you, the Unattached agent. You had authority to assign yourself to the remainder of the mission, but a higher claim on your lifespan.” Again she smiled. “Old dutiful Manse.”
Whereas you, the Specialist who really knows the milieu, must see the job through. With whatever assistance you got from your fellow researchers and from auxiliaries newly trained for the purpose—not much, huh?—you must watch over events; make certain they continued on the Tacitus One course; no doubt intervene, most carefully, now and then, here and there: till at last they were out of the unstable space-time zone and could safely be left to themselves.
Oh, you have earned your holiday, all right.
“How long were you in the field?” he asked.
“From 70 to 95 A.D. Of course, I skipped about, so on my world line it totalled . . . somewhat over a year. You, Manse? What have you been busy with?”
“Frankly, nothing except recuperation,” he admitted. “I knew you’d return to this week because of your parents, as well as your public persona, so I went directly to it, allowed us a few days’ rest, then wrote you.”
Was that fair? I’ve bounced back. For one thing, I’m less sensitive than you; what happens in history racks me less savagely. For another, you’ve endured those added months yonder.
It was as if her gaze sought behind his face. “You’re sweet.” Hastily laughing, she seized his hands. “But why do we stand here? Come, let us be comfortable.”
They proceeded to the room of pictures and books. She had set the low table with coffee, canapés, miscellaneous accessories, the Scotch she knew he liked—yes, the very Glenlivet, which he couldn’t even recall ever mentioning specifically to her. Side by side they took the sofa. She leaned back and beamed. “Comfort?” she purred. “No, luxury. Once again I am learning to appreciate my birth era.”
Is she really relaxing, or is that a pretense? I sure can’t. Everard sat on the edge of his cushion. He poured coffee for them both and a neat whisky for himself. When he cast her a glance, she gestured no and took her cup. “This is early for me,” she said.
“Hey, I wasn’t proposing to tie one on,” he assured her. “We’ll take it easy, and talk, and go out to dinner, I hope. How about that delightful little Caribbean place? Or I can wreak havoc on a rijstaffel, if you prefer.”
“And afterward?” she asked quietly.
“Well, uh—” He felt the blood in his cheeks.
“You see why I need to keep my head clear.”
“Janne! Do you think I—”
“No, certainly not. You are an honorable man. More honorable than is quite good for you, I believe.” She laid a hand on his knee. “We will, as you suggest, talk.”
The hand lifted before he could throw an arm around her. Through an open window drifted the mildness of spring. Traffic sounded like distant surf.
“It is no use playing merry,” she said after a while.
“I guess not. We may as well go straight to the serious.” Oddly, that eased him a trifle. He sat back, glass in hand. You inhaled this delicate smokiness as much as you sipped it.
“What will you do next, Manse?”
“Who knows? We never have a dearth of problems.” He turned to look at her. “I want to hear about your doings. You succeeded, obviously. I’d have been informed if there were any anomalies.”
“Such as more copies of Tacitus Two?”
“None. That single manuscript exists, and whatever transcriptions the Patrol made of it, but now it’s just a curiosity.”
He felt her slight shiver. “An object uncaused, formed out of nothing for no reason. What a terrifying universe. It was easier being ignorant about variable reality. Sometimes I regret I was recruited.”
“And also when you are present at certain episodes. I know.” He wanted to kiss the unhappiness off her lips. Should I try? Could I?
“Yes.” The bright head lifted, the voice throbbed. “But then I think of the exploring, the discovering, the helping, and I am glad again.”
“Good lass. Well, tell me about your adventures.” A slow lead-up to the real question. “I haven’t retrieved your report yet, because I wanted to hear it from you personally.”
Her spirit flagged. “You had better get the report if you are interested,” she said, looking across the room to the picture of the Veil Nebula.
“What? . . . Oh. Tough for you to talk about.”
“Yes.”
“But you did succeed. You did get history secured, and in the right pattern, with peace and justice.”
“A measure of peace and justice. For a time.”
“That’s the best human beings can ever expect, Janne.”
“I know.”
“We’ll skip the details.” Were they really that gory? My impression was that reconstruction went pretty smoothly, and the Low Countries did rather well in the Empire till it started coming apart. “But can’t you tell me a few things? What about the people we met? Burhmund?”
Floris’s tone lightened a bit. “He received amnesty, like everyone else. His wife and sister were restored to him unharmed. He retired to his lands in Batavia, where he ended his days modestly prosperous, a kind of elder statesman. The Romans, too, respected and often consulted him.
“Cerialis became governor of Britain, where he conquered the Brigantes. Tacitus’s father-in-law Agricola served under him, and you may recall that the historian rates him well.
“Classicus—”
“Never mind for now,” Everard interrupted. “Veleda-Edh?”
“Ah, yes. After bringing about that meeting at the river, she disappears from the chronicle.” The complete chronicle, retrieved by time travelers.
“I remember. How come? Did she die?”
“Not for another twenty years. A ripe old age in that era.” Floris frowned. Did dread touch her anew? “I wondered. You would think her fate would interest Tacitus enough for him to mention it.”
“Not if she went into obscurity.”
“She didn’t, quite. Could it be that I was making my own change in the past? When I reported my doubts, I was ordered to proceed and told that in fact this was a proper part of history.”
“Okay, then it was. Don’t worry. It could be a trivial glitch in causality. If so, it doesn’t matter. That kind happens a lot, and has no consequences of any importance. Or it could straightforwardly be due to Tacitus not knowing or caring what became of Veleda after she ceased to be a political force. She did, didn’t she?”
“In a way. Although—The program I thought of and suggested, and that the Patrol approved, it occurred to me because of what I knew, what I had seen, before I had any idea the Patrol exists. I heartened Edh, foretold what she would and must do, saw to the necessary arrangements, watched over her, appeared to her whenever she seemed to need her goddess—” Again Everard saw Floris troubled. “The future was creating the past. I hope I will escape any more such experiences. Not that this was horrible. No, it was worthwhile, I felt that it justified my life. But—” Her voice faded away.
“Eerie,” Everard supplied. “I know.”
“Yes,” she said softly, “you have your own secrets, don’t you?”
“Not from the Patrol.”
“From those you care about. Things that would hurt you too much to speak of, or would hurt them too much to hear.”
This is cutting near the bone. “Okay, what about Edh? I trust you made her as happy as possible.” Everard paused. “I’m sure you did.”
“Were you ever on the island of Walcheren?” Floris asked.