“But change was always rather slow,” he told me. “I liked the progress, actually. My first house had rats, lice, and fleas. No running water, no toilets, and no coffee. People didn’t live long and often died in gruesome manners.
“In the small villages that Andrew and I lived in, there was often suspicion of newcomers. About the time we were accepted, it was time to move on, since we’d both attained our adulthood and then stopped growing physically. We had numerous relationships with women. I won’t hide that from you, but none were like what I feel for you. I never gave any of them a pooka bite. NO children were ever born from such associations, by the way, so I never left a mate with a brood of children, nor did Andrew.
“When the Anglo Normans entered our lands, we learned French, or at least the language they were speaking then. We lived in manors and castles for a while and learned to fight like knights.
“When we left the islands, we journeyed across the channel and sampled bits of countries that, of course, weren’t countries as we know them today, but, for Andrew and me, our travel was a desperate search for meaning and for a place to belong. We probably lived in France, Belgium, Germany, and Italy. Markers were not clear.
“Languages varied. Andrew and I became fluent in the early versions of German, Italian, and Rumanian, as well as Gallic, Irish, and English with sprinklings of old Norse from the frequent raids of the Vikings. We dabbled with some of the early Scandinavian and Russian tongues, but never became proficient. I’d be afraid to use most of what we learned then. The words would be outdated, like reading Chaucer if your primary tongue is English.
“When Queen Elizabeth came to the throne, Andrew and I returned to England, but London had become foul with sewage in the streets and rats everywhere. We fled to the countryside, this time with a pile of gold we’d earned over our travels. We traded that for pounds and sovereigns. Working in the queen’s court earned us an estate, where we settled for a bit. But there was always the problem of not ageing like everyone else. We solved that by selling everything and paying our way on a ship to America.
“The queen had granted each of us a deed to an estate in the new lands. I believe our plantation was in what they now call Virginia. Not a suitable place for a black man, I’m afraid, and, of course, we were still plagued with the other problem. Constancy to one place provoked potential questions.
“That’s why Andrew and I became explorers of this new world. We journeyed up into the Canadian territory and as far west as here in California. We mined for gold and silver, doubled our riches and settled in various places, lasting no longer than ten or fifteen years. And so, we made our way to your time period, one which I find extremely comfortable and enjoyable, especially now that I’ve found you.”