Page 44 of Promises to Keep

“Nae, but I grew up here, I remember the dark hallways verra well.” He took my hand in his and led me confidently to the stairs. We climbed up, and then out to the walls.

“Ooh, I forgot how awesome it is up here.”

“I was a wee bit disappointed they dinna need me tae stand guard, I do love the feel of the stone and the night air, the silence and the comfortin’ stillness.”

I watched him as his eyes swept around, then he greeted and spoke to the guardsmen, and then I followed him to the wooden steps leading up to the high walls. I climbed first, steep as a ladder, he put his hand under my arse and hefted me as I climbed.

I laughed. “Thank you for the lift, it’s not an easy climb in all these skirts.”

“Nae an easy climb in my skirts either.” We both laughed.

He spread out a blanket and lay down and patted for me to lie down next to him, my head on his shoulder. We looked up at the sky, diamond-encrusted with stars flung across the expanse of deep black.

“Wow.”

“Aye, tis a braw night.”

“Did you know, Magnus, that there are billions of stars up there? And do you know what a billion is?”

“Is this a trick question?”

“Yes, because a billion is so much more than we think, if you woke up every morning and counted, every second of every day, all year long, without taking a break… it would take your whole lifetime to count to one billion. But it’s too late to try, because you’re too old, if you started now you’d only get halfway there, if you were lucky.”

“Och nae, another regret.”

"Ha! I think you have much better things to do with your time.”

He kissed the top of my head.

“Whatdoyou regret, my love?”

He exhaled as he considered. “I think in a man’s life he will always regret some things — I regret leavin’ ye after we lost our first child.”

“But then we might not be here — it’s impossible to look back on our past and think about changing one thing, because every little change might changeeverything. We’re time travelers, we know that lesson more than anyone else on earth.”

“True, and ye ken the other thing I regret, though I daena want tae say it aloud.”

“I’m glad you don’t, please don’t, we don’t want to spoil this vibe. Let’s not talk about regrets anymore, my love, let’s enjoy the stars.”

Then I asked, “Did you know we’re trying to go to Mars?”

“Who’s we? I truly hope tis nae the royal we.”

“Oh, not me… This royal we means humankind, the United States, a rich billionaire at the helm.”

He chuckled. “Tae visit the small red planet? I think it would be an easy trip. A man will just get on a ship and go.”

I raised up on an elbow and looked down on him, “No, Magnus, it’s sooo far. Really far. It would take about seven months to get there, a three month wait, and seven months back.”

“Och, tis a verra long time. The two months on the ship crossin’ the Atlantic with Fraoch was too long — he almost died. They will need lemons.”

I lay back down and looked up at the stars. “I would never do it, not at all brave enough, but it’s pretty thrilling that someone will.”

“Och nae, ye hae the bravery tae explore new worlds, mo reul-iuil, ye are doin’ it almost every day.”

“I guess that’s kind of true. Do you think the vessels and the other tech were brought here by aliens?”

“Ye mean someone from another planet?”

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