She looks hurt, then recovers and answers. There is a trace of metal in her voice. She is lecturing.

“Old relics are clues to how the present has evolved. They tell us things about why we are the way we are. That’s why I’m interested in archeology. There can’t be a present without a past that formed it, not for civilizations and not for people. Old relics have a place.”

She leaves it there and I am grateful and rebuked. Of course I know why it has been important to her to find me: she has discovered mysteries in herself, and thinks I am the root of them. I can understand the reasoning; I also understand its futility. I want to tell her that, but who am I, after a night of past-flashes, even unconnected and unanalyzed, to say?

I sit and watch her, trying to see what the connection is that I feel, but there is nothing to see. She is a young woman sipping tea and eating cake, a very beautiful, graceful young woman, but a stranger to me.

The silence has become intolerable. She is waiting for something and I have nothing to give, yet.

“I wish you wouldn’t,” I say in desperation, knowing it is useless but feeling something must be said. Yesterday silence was my friend, and today I cannot bear it — what is happening to me?

“Wouldn’t what?” she asks curiously, looking at me, eyebrows lifted.

“I wish you wouldn’t depend on me for what you want. I can’t tell you, I don’t have any answers. I wish you could see that I didn’t come here because of you, or your brother or your father either. I’m just here, and I don’t have any answers for you. I can’t help you. I truly can’t.” I would like to weep, as she did yesterday.

She looks at me solemnly for a moment, then apparently comes to a decision, sighs and shrugs. “If that’s what you want, then. We don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to talk about. I just wanted to meet you, and I’ve done that. I won’t keep you from whatever you do. Is it all right if I stay, though? Do you mind if I just hang around for a while? I don’t want to make you tired of me, but I’d like to be with you for a while. We could maybe just get to know each other.”

I am touched that she is so willing to let go of what she wants. She is giving me time, and it is at some sacrifice to her and what she has come for.