Chapter 4 cont.

While Joan had been speaking Amy had joined them and sat listening.
"Thinking about what you, George and Earl have seen and done still fills me with a sense of wonder" she said.
"It's been interesting so far" Joan replied, "and I can't wait to see what’s ahead."
"George" Joan continued, "is over 300 years older than me, he's really been there and done that. He was the first person I met with our gift."
"How'd you meet him?" asked Cristy.
"Would you believe the first time we met he cut off my head?" Joan told an astonished Cristy.
"Go ahead and tell the story" said Amy. "I still get a chuckle from it."
"It was in 1612, I believe" Joan said. "I was an archer in the English army. About fifty of us were in an outpost on the border with Scotland when one of the clans raided the town. We confronted them and they attacked us head on. They charged our line and I dropped over two dozen of them before they reached us. One of them I saw had at least three arrows in him and I put another in him as they reached our line. As I reached down for my sword, his sword hit me in the neck and I fell with my head hanging by the skin on the back of my neck. It almost instantly healed and I got up and finished drawing it. By then all my companions were dead and I was surrounded by close to a hundred heavily armed Scotsmen. The one who had wounded me stepped out of the crowd with a look of astonishment on his face. He stared at me for a long moment and silently pulled a knife from his belt and sliced into his arm which healed instantly. I immediately pulled my own knife and sliced myself in answer. Neither of us had seen another person like us before and the surprise was mutual. We've been friends ever since."
"And I thought my life was eventful" Cristy smiled.
"Would you believe she speaks 12 languages and has a History Doctorate from Oxford?" Amy said.
"I learned to read while in the monastery in England and time has given me a love of history" Joan said.
"And to further embarrass her I'll also let you know she has multiple Doctorates in Mathematics, Physics, History and Astronomy. She's also a professor of Medieval History at Glasgow University." Amy added with a smile.
"You and Ann both have Doctorates in History also so there" Joan said with a grin.
Joan went inside and Amy and Cristy were alone.
"After she met George she accompanied him to Scotland. She lived for nearly 200 years in the highlands. Joan told me that was the longest she had been in one place up to then and there she found the peace she needed." Amy said quietly
"During those years" Amy went on, " She spent her time teaching people to read, write and do basic math. She also filled her time recording Scottish history and culture plus learn to play the pipes."
"Three days ago I woke up feeling alone and slightly depressed" Cristy said. "After lunch I went for a walk and met George. Finding out I wasn't alone came as a surprise."
"When you walked in I almost fainted" Amy told her with a smile. “Seeing you again was a bigger shock to me and Ann than learning about our abilities."
Ann joined them and she and Amy spent time explaining how they had learned they were different.
"If either of you try to apologize for not telling me I will personally kick both your butts. I would have done the exact same thing." Cristy told them.
"We feel the same towards you" they told her with a smile.
George had joined them and had been listening quietly.
" Finding Ann and Amy, two people who had grown up together and both having our gift was a surprise" he said. "Then your appearing really surprised me."
"Do you think are many more like us out there? Cristy asked him.
"Definitely, and I think there are quiet a few far older than me. Being able to change ones DNA profile and fingerprints makes a person impossible to track down. We've got time, we'll keep looking."
"How long have you been playing the pipes?" Cristy asked Joan as she walked up to them carrying a set of bagpipes.
" Joan has been playing since the mid 1600's and is a master piper" George told them.
"Any requests?" she asked them.
"How about playing far, far away" George said with a laugh.
Joan stuck her tongue out at him and moved to the far side of the pool. She played for an hour and everyone was moved by the beauty of the music.
"I first heard her in the early 1700's" said Earl. "She played nonstop for nearly four hours."
After lunch Earl and Cristy sat together and he told her about his self.
" I was born near London some time around 1620, I'm not sure of the year." Earl told her. "My father was a merchantman and ships captain. By my mid twenties I was master of my own ship and had been all around the coasts of Europe and the Mediterranean sea. I knew I was different when I was around sixty and appeared to be around forty. Seeing my injuries heal almost instantly frightened me. I traveled around England and Europe in the late sixteen and early seventeen hundreds, never settling down in one place. It was in Glasgow Scotland in 1710 that I met Joan. I had been in a tavern brawl the night before and unbeknownst to me Joan had been there. She had noticed the way my injuries disappeared. I was listening to a piper the next day and when she finished playing the crowd left. I was alone and was surprised when the piper walked up to me and cut her hand with a knife. It healed instantly, the way I did. After I got over my surprise she introduced herself and we spent the rest of the day together sharing our stories. We then traveled to a small town in the central highlands where I meet George."
"Don't worry, it took Amy and I several years to get used to being around people who are centuries older than us." Ann told her, noticing she looked a little tired.
"You're doing fine" Earl smiled. "A fair amount of culture shock is par for the course."

More to come.
Cheers, Jesse Ward.