Luag knew he was lying on the floor in Katherine’s room at the inn, asleep and dreaming, but that didn't lessen the horror. He was back on Islay as a child, almost a man. Donald and the other warriors were preparing to attack his favorite cousin Angus's household. Angus was old enough to be fighting in the conflict, though Luag wasn't, not quite.

Luag ran up to Uncle Donald and pleaded with him. "Let me gae along, Uncle. I'm ready. Ye said yerself I was ready for battle."

Annoyed but trying not to show it, Donald turned to the other warriors and gave them a look that said leave us.

They all did, knowing better than to mumble among themselves about it.

Donald put his hand on Luag's shoulder. From a distance, it probably looked like a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

Luag knew otherwise. This was Donald asserting his authority over Luag by showing how much taller and broader he was. Luag's arms looked scrawny next to Donald's arms, and he knew if he challenged his uncle, he would be crushed to the ground and possibly killed.

When Donald spoke, his voice was stern. There was no pretension of sympathy or reassurance. "Ye are too soft, Luag. I ken why ye want tae go. Ye want tae warn Angus. I will na let ye. Someday, ye wull see the wisdom in this, but for now, ye wull bide home and help tae protect the lasses. I ken I hae been clear. I ken ye will obey."

As all the other warriors left for battle, Luag shed his last tears. Whether his uncle realized it or not, that conversation with him had made Luag a man. Right then and there, Luag had decided he was leaving. He would rush ahead and warn his cousin, and then he would never return to the MacDonald clan.

He told only his mother, who hugged him and cried.

With a start, Luag snapped awake. He needed to leave right away, before everyone else awakened. He would just get dressed and go. He had provisions in his soldiering bag for a ten-day trip, and they'd only been on the road for two days.

He jumped up and grabbed his bag, but it wasn't to be. Katherine wasn't in the room.

Slamming his fists against the door, Luag cursed. And then he rushed to join the others downstairs, where he could smell parritch and, now that he was paying attention, hear talk and laughter. If he couldn't get a head start, he might as well break his fast before he left.

Jessica was the first to greet him when he joined them at their table in the downstairs tavern. "Wull good morrow, sleepyhead. Katherine says ye were snoring sae loudly she didna hae the heart tae wake ye. She already prepared ye some food ta take away." She indicated a bundle in the middle of the table with a twinkle in her eye and a wrinkle in her nose, then relaxed at Leif's side.

Luag pulled the bundle of bread and cheese over to him and nodded to Katherine. "I thank ye. That was considerate.” Rather than eat the store of provisions, he put them into his soldiering bag, which he had carried down with him.

Katherine noticed. "We are na leaving. I was gaun'ae bring that up tae the room for ye when the rest o’ us finished eating. But ye dinna hae tae eat that now. Hae some hot parritch. 'Tis good. Murag! Bring Luag here some parritch, please. Thank ye." She sounded like she meant it, when she said the parritch was good.

This amused Luag, given her bent for the finer things in life and parritch being such peasant fare. It was on the tip of his tongue to tease her about it.

But he didn't. If he even looked at her, this would be too difficult. She was too beautiful, and her smiles were too rewarding. And she was being too kind to him… lately. "Wull I am leaving. Just as soon as I finish breaking my fast."

Everyone put their food down.

Jessica was first to speak. "Ye dinna hae tae leave, Luag. Bide with us."

Taran spoke up next. "Aye, if anyone has a problem with ye biding, we wull show them the way."

Lauren nodded her assent. "I hae some ideas aboot ways we might defend oorselves, should the need arise."

Katherine spoke at last. "Where will ye go? And why?"

Before he could stop himself, he looked at her. It was as big a mistake as he had known it would be. Never mind that her face was beautiful. Her eyes held concern for him, such concern as he hadn't seen since that night he left his mother fifteen years before.

Like him, Katherine had donned once more her Scottish clothing, no doubt stuffing the English outfit so dearly bought into her new leather satchel, which she had with her as always.

Spurred by her concern, he answered more completely than he had intended. "History must be preserved. It lost its way in part because o’ me. I was the one Roland grabbed hold o’—"

Katherine shook her head no and rushed to say, "It wasna ye. 'Twas because I was there. I was the one he was following tae the future." Those last three words had been signed rather than spoken, but judging by the look on her face, it had been a near thing. The red embarrassed tone in her cheeks made her even lovelier.

He drank her in, knowing full well he would never see her again —oh, mayhap he would, when she came to visit Jessica or Lauren for brief periods. ‘Twould make it even worse, seeing her only briefly and then having her taken away from him again. He forced his eyes away.

Meanwhile, Jessica and Lauren were signing as well. "We are the ones who traveled back in time and fed the druids’ plan tae ken the future. ‘Tis our kind tae blame, us time travelers, not ye."

"'Tis all my fault," signed Lauren with the saddest face ever. “I wanted tae coome back in time sae much. I hae brought Scotland tae the brink o’ ruin.”

Luag's parritch came, and he tore into it, using it as an excuse to gather his thoughts before he spoke this time. As he ate, he made a real effort to enjoy the food. Hot parritch was far better than the hardtack he'd be living on during his journey. Too soon, it was all gone and he had no excuse to postpone telling them. Why hadn't he woken up in time to leave while they yet slept?

Looking into the lasses’ worried faces made him glum. "History must be preserved sae that Scotland remains natural and beautiful. I am na just doing this in defense o' ye lasses, ye ken."

Lauren raised up her hands in frustration. "Tell us what ye are doing, already."

Not looking at them for fear of catching something in their eyes that would take his courage away —not just Katherine's eyes, mind— Luag signed, "I am gaun'ae play the prodigal son, wull nephew. I wull return tae Uncle Donald, look at his war machine from the inside, and bring it doon." Without looking to see their reactions, he got up, grabbed his soldiering bag, and headed out to the stable.

Katherine took but one second to look into Jessica and Lauren's eyes and panic. She was reassured in what she saw from them. They both smiled their encouragement, nodding and subtly and signing, "We'll keep in touch through Kelsey's dreams.”

Bolstered by their support and not caring what the men had to say, Katherine got up, put her leather backpack and plaid on, and ran out the door to catch up with Luag. He needed someone with him who was in touch with what was really going on.

She understood why Leif and Taran didn't dare go. As a laird, Leif's description at least was known all over the kingdom, if not beyond. And Taran was Leif's brother, the one who had left the practice field suspiciously. Jessica and Lauren were going to stay with their men of course. This only left Katherine to go and be Luag's connection to Kelsey and the help she had to offer. Katherine had to go.

She kept telling herself this as she watched Luag tack up his horse and mount, then ride out as himself, free from the plaid over his head to disguise him as an old woman.

True, he was going away from the gate where he had been recognized, but still.

Anger flared up in her. That man was so stubborn. Without consulting anyone, he had struck out on his own, following his own plan. When she did catch up to him, she was going to give him a piece of her mind, that was for sure.

Panic struck her, and she hurried after him. No time to tack up her own horse. She couldn’t lose sight of Luag before he got too far out of the city and could go faster than a walk. He could change direction and she might never find him. But she couldn't catch up with him too soon, or he'd just turn around and march her right back to their friends.

Her legs felt the journey not at all, and she smiled, adding daily workouts of at least three hours to her lengthy ‘to do’ list . No sense wasting all the conditioning she'd done over the past year, albeit quite involuntarily. This was the best shape she'd ever been in, bar never. She felt awesome.

All in all, it was quite a pleasant walk, and her mind wandered a bit as she stayed close enough to keep her eyes on Luag but not so close that he would notice her following.

What was her angle, for selling these new leather backpacks? With her new physique, she could add to her repertoire being an expert at exploration in rugged places like the Highlands. This bag meant you could pack light but still have everything you needed built in, convenient and impossible to forget.

It was tempting to get her phone and take pictures of herself amid all these people, wearing her backpack — or possibly, getting one of them to take a picture! But she didn't dare. If they stole her phone, the implications were too mind numbing to consider. Still, just a selfie shot of herself on that cliff over there with the ancient city of Aberdeen in the background would give her so much credibility…

She passed several hours this way before the crowds thinned, the road opened up, and she was forced to catch up with him.