"To the moon?" I asked with a laugh. "No. I'm happy here." I looked around me and felt the truth of those words to my core.
"Good." He appeared distracted or maybe troubled. "Moonbeam, may I tell you something in the strictest confidence?"
I stopped walking, not understanding what this man could possibly say that needed to remain a secret. "Yes," I said curiously and waited.
He faced me, hesitated, and then drew a breath. "Batu is very happy as well. He wishes for nothing more than to remain by your side forever."
I suppressed a smile. "Why do you say it like it's a bad thing?"
"Moonbeam, I know … I know who you are. What you are. Batu is of a similar mold. By deciding to remain here, permanently, he has angered his employers."
For a moment, I was held in such disbelief, I wasn't able to understand a word he said.
"I know you are both happy, and I know Batu much better than I do you. He deserves peace and love." The Persian's smile was genuine. "But … the people who are after you are not likely to care for the happiness of either of you."
The satchel slid from my hands. I didn't even feel it, barely registered the clinking of wood against wood as it hit the hard ground beside my feet. "What're you saying?" I managed.
"For reasons I cannot begin to understand, Carter has found you. It is not like him to pursue any of his agents so tenaciously. He normally lets them go when they wish it." The Persian shifted his weight between his feet, his features taking on a troubled expression. "I … I am not one of his, but he somehow located me and used me to find you, perhaps from some proverb I recorded about you when we met that survived history. I suspected who you were but had no reason to prove it or to pursue you. Sometimes, we cross paths with other travelers. Our missions and purposes are independent of one another, so we bow heads to one another and move on. Batu is a colleague, one I admire greatly and respect. I simply wish to warn you that the powers who seek you are close to finding you, and there is an inherent danger in that."
His eloquence ensnared me once more, managed to keep my shocked mind from processing the meaning behind his pretty words.
"You're saying …" I couldn't process the warning, not with the more incredible claim beating at my thoughts. "… Batu is a time traveler."
The Persian frowned as he studied me. "You didn't know."