A bit more.

FIVE


Cristy spent the rest of the day alone, walking around the estate and sitting in thought. Everyone had been through the same thing and respected her privacy. After dinner she sat quietly in the study and went to bed early.
She awoke before dawn and dressed silently without waking Ann and Amy. After sitting by the pool for about five minutes she was startled by George.
"Care for some company? he asked, making her jump in fright. George could, like everyone else, move like a ghost.
"I'm sorry" he said and handed her a cup of coffee.
"I've been all over the world" she said quietly in Gaelic, “and my favorite place to watch the sunrise is here in the Scottish Highlands. It's the most beautiful place I've ever been. I bought a small place here not long after I faked my death and when I needed to get away from everything I'd go and often spend several years there at a time."
" I grew up here and returned often during the centuries I've lived" George softly said. "After Joan and I met she lived here for nearly two centuries. Seeing her find peace made me weep."
George then choked on his coffee when he realized she had made her reply in flawless Gaelic and he had answered likewise without thinking.
"That's what you get for scaring me" she laughed while handing him a napkin.
"You speak it as if you were born here" he told her.
"I picked it up easily" Cristy replied "
Hearing the love in her voice for his native land moved George and touched the depths of his soul. Looking at her he saw it had touched her the same way and there was a special bond formed between them.
"Tell me some of your story" she continued in Gaelic.
"I was born sometime around 1060 in a small village here in the highlands. Outliving everyone and not getting old made me wonder if something was wrong with me. After everyone I knew had died I spent nearly a century traveling around Scotland, England and Ireland. I got an education in a monastery where I stayed for several years. I spent many of my centuries traveling about Europe as a merchant and often served in the armies of different countries. I would return here several times a century to get away by myself. I've fought in almost all the battles that have happened here in Scotland since the eleven hundreds. Meeting Joan was the most surprising encounter of my life. When she got up unharmed I almost fainted."
"She told me about it yesterday and I'm still smiling to myself" Cristy told him.
Cristy poured more coffee and George continued his story.
"Joan met Earl in 1710 and brought him to the village where we were living. I was almost as surprised to meet him as I had Joan. Five minutes after meeting we were family."
"I met Samantha in Boston in 1823" George went on." I was in a tavern and she was tending the bar. A fight broke out and someone pulled a pistol and it went off. The ball hit her in the chest. She dropped behind the bar and then stood up as though it had missed her. I was the only witness and after everyone had left for the night I introduced myself."
Samantha had joined them and then spoke for the first time.
"I was born in 1701 in Virginia and by that time I knew I had stopped aging and my injuries healed quickly. Meeting George and seeing he was the same made me realize that there wasn't something wrong with me. He told me about Joan and Earl, and I was able to meet Joan five years later. Earl was somewhere in the Orient and I finally met him in 1868" Samantha said.
Over breakfast Joan explained to Cristy that they all lived on the estate and invited her to join them.
"Thank you, I will" she replied softly.
"We've all got homes here and there's plenty of room for more" Kate told her with a smile.
"It gets a little crazy at times but don't let these lunatics scare you" Joan jokingly told Cristy.
"Look who's talking!" laughed Amy. "You're the one that's been seeing things!"
"I rest my case" Joan said in mock resignation.
After things settled down everyone noticed there was a brightness in Cristy's eye's that hadn't been there before.
A week later Cristy accompanied George and Samantha as they attended a living history demonstration at Dublin University. Joan was demonstrating the medieval longbow and her mastery had every one attending in awe. Her bow was made from yew, six feet from tip to tip and had a 90 lb. draw weight. She was shooting armor piercing arrows, nearly 3 feet in length, and as thick as a mans thumb to demonstrate their lethality.
"I've been hit with a lot of those and believe me, they really rock your world on impact" George told Cristy quietly. “I’ve seen bowmen open fire at over 200 yards, firing 10-12 shots a minute and taking out some one with every shot, without a miss. At the battle of Westbay in 1582 I saw 150 archers kill or wound nearly 1200 men in thirty minutes. I later learned that one of those archers was Joan."
She was taking a sip of juice and his comment caused her to choke. George laughed and slapped her on the back.
"We're not in Kansas anymore Toto" she quipped dazedly to the merriment of all.
Joan’s classes and lectures on Medieval History were immensely popular with the students and faculty. Her expertise and demonstrations kept them packed.

SIX

A month after Cristy had been reunited with Ann and Amy, and had met the others like herself she was sitting with Joan in her study.
Meeting people centuries and in Georges case over a millennium, older than herself had awakened a deep interest for history in her. She had started attending Joan’s lectures and also sat in on the ones given by Ann, Amy and George. She was still coming to terms with their being Professors of Medieval history.
"Take a look at this manuscript and tell me what you see" Joan told her. "I found it in 1920 in the archives at Oxford."
" Let's see, it's English in origin, written in 1150 on vellum with iron gall ink and the monks name was George Malcolm" said Cristy after studying it.
"You're missing something" Joan smiled.
"I still don't see what I'm supposed to be missing" replied Cristy.
"It's a simple case of not seeing the forest because of the trees " Joan smiled.
Cristy carefully reexamined the manuscript and then the light dawned in her head.
"The name! It's the same as Georges" she exclaimed.
"Exactly. I had him look at it after I discovered it and he confirmed he wrote it while living in Whitehall Abbey." Joan told her.
Holding a eleven hundred year old manuscript, written by a man she had breakfast with that morning shook her deeply and it was a while before she could speak.
"Just when I think I'm comfortable having you as friends something comes along and makes me look at all of you in a different light." she finally replied.
"Both your sisters still have the same reaction at times" Joan told her. “Artifacts like this drive home just how old we are."
"Check this one out" Joan continued. "It's one I wrote in 1514."
Cristy examined it and saw it was a tax record, written by a scribe named Charles Montclair.
"That’s amazing" she said in wonder. "Why did you use a mans name?"
"In those days tax collectors were hated because many of them collected and extorted more than was due. Using an alias was done to keep ones self safe."
Joan returned the papers to her vault and returned to her seat beside Cristy.
"I've got a request for you" she asked Joan.
"Go ahead and ask" she replied.
"Will you teach me how to shoot a longbow?" Cristy asked.
"Gladly" Joan told her. "Come on, we'll start now."
Outside she gave Cristy a rundown on the bows parts and showed her how to string it.
" This doesn't seem too hard" she told Joan.
"That’s because its only a thirty pound draw weight" she told her. "All the medieval bows had a 85- 120lb. draw. Archers started when they were young in order to master them. I thought I'd start you out small and let you work your way up. My bow for example has a 90 lb. draw weight and I can hold it at full draw for nearly five minutes."
Joan nocked an arrow on her bow and had Cristy try to draw it. She was amazed when she not only did so with ease but held it at full draw without a tremble.
"Wise guy eh? Ease off on it and hand it here. I'll show you how to aim and release" Joan told her.
They practiced for an hour and Joan was awed at how fast and easily she learned.
"I've never seen anyone learn as fast as this" Joan told her.
"Before I made my first movie I mastered Krav Magda and later all types of firearms with the same ease." Cristy told her.
"Lets go get lunch" Joan replied. "I think I've finally got the best competitor I've seen for nearly five hundred years."
"I just realized that while I was examining those manuscripts this morning you referred to Ann and Amy as my sisters." Cristy told Joan over lunch.
"That's because the bond I see between the three of you is only found between sisters and twins" she replied.
"You're right. We are like sisters, we grew up and lived our lives together. Leaving them to think I was dead was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I felt like I was leaving part of myself behind."

Hopefully one more post will be enough.
Cheers, Jesse Ward