"I didn't say anything," Gwen hastened to assure him. "It was apparent she knew very little, so I kept the conversation light. We talked about college and jobs mostly. Who else have you met in this century that we might send?"
"No one. It wouldn't work anyway. There are things you doona know."
"Such as?" Drustan probed.
"I'm no' the same man anymore. I suspect that even if someone went back and warned the past me, and the past me didn't break his oath, what I've become would still exist in the here and now."
"That's impossible," Gwen declared, with the firm conviction of a physicist having weighted her proofs both valid and true.
"Nay'tis not. I tried something very similar. Shortly after I broke my oath, I went back to a time before the fire, hoping to cancel myself out. To see if the past me might cause the dark me to cease to exist."
"The way things occurred when I took Gwen back into the past," Drustan said thoughtfully. "The future me ceased to exist because two identical selves couldn't coexist in the same moment in time."
"Aye. I even managed to carry a note to myself through the stones, so the past me would know to move you from the tower. But the canceling hinges on two identical selves."
"What are you saying?" Drustan demanded, hands clenching on the arms of his chair.
"When I went back, not only didn't the future me cease to exist, neither me did. I watched myself through a window for hours before fleeing again. He never disappeared. I might have strolled in and introduced myself."
" 'Tis wise you didn't. We must be ever wary of creating paradoxes," Drustan said uneasily.
Gwen gaped. "That's not possible. According to the laws of physics, one of you would have to cease to exist"
"You'd think after all she experienced with me, she wouldn't be so hasty labeling things possible or impossible," Drustan said dryly.
"How could it be possible?" Gwen demanded.
"Because I am no longer the same man I was. I'm different enough now with these ancient beings inside me, on some elemental level, that my past self did not conflict with who or what I've become."
"Oh, God," Gwen breathed. "So even if we sent someone back, and they changed the past…"
"I doubt it would have any effect on me at all. What I am now, seems to exist beyond the natural order of things. 'Tis possible it may cause some negative effect we can't even imagine. There's too much we doona understand here. I fear creating multiple moments in time for no good purpose. Nay, my only hope is the old lore."
Drustan and Gwen exchanged an uneasy look.
" 'Twas a clever idea," Dageus reassured them. "I can see why you considered it. But I've given this matter endless thought and my only hope is to discover how they were imprisoned in the first place, and reimprison them. 'Tis why I came. I need to use the Keltar library. I need to examine the ancient texts that deal with the Tuatha Dé Danaan."
Drustan sighed gustily and raked a hand through his hair.
"What?" Dageus's eyes narrowed.
"It's just that we were so certain our idea would work," Gwen said miserably.
"And?" Dageus pressed warily.
Drustan rose and began pacing. "Dageus, we no longer have those texts," he said in a low voice.
Dageus lunged to his feet so swiftly that the chair clattered to the floor. Nay—it couldn't be so! "What? What say you? How can we not have them?" he thundered.
"We doona know. But they're not here. After reading Da's letter, I decided to research the Tuatha Dé Danaan to discover aught I could about the mythic race, in hopes of discovering a way to cast them out. That's when Christopher and I found that we're missing a great many tomes."
"But surely some of the volumes I need are here." He began naming the ones he was specifically seeking, but at each tide, Drustan shook his head.
"That's inconceivable, Drustan!"
"Aye, and it nigh seems deliberate. Christopher and I suspect someone intentionally removed them, though we cannot discern how it might have been done."
"I need those texts, damn it!" He slammed his fist against the paneled wall.
There was a moment of silence, then Drustan said slowly, "There is a place—or should I say a time—they can be found. A time both you and I know our clan's library was fully extant."
Dageus smiled bitterly. Right. And just how was he going to explain that to Chloe? Ahem, lass, the tomes I needed aren't here, so we're going to have to go back in time and get them? He snorted. Would nothing be simple? It seemed she'd be learning more about him, whether he was ready to tell her or not.
"I could go for you," Drustan offered. "Just long enough to get what we need."