'We can't hide here forever.' Kran said, getting right to the point.

'But we can't change K'haren within a heartbeat either.' Tarlequin replied.

'It's not within a heartbeat, we've been on this for a long time already.' Raf's voice was calm and steady but Mersha still felt like he was upset about something.

For a while, Mersha only watched and listened to their arguments. Most of them were reasonable and thought-through. Yet it didn't bring them anywhere. At some point, he started wondering how much longer it would take for them to ask the question he'd been expecting all evening. But when they finally did ask, it still caught him off-guard for he hadn't been listening.

'Can't you go to the future, come back and tell us how we did it?' It was Nume who asked which surprised him. Even if it sounded somewhat like a joke, he still saw that she wanted and answer. Mersha would have expected her to know better.

'No, I can't. That would mess things up... You never know what happens if you put the wrong kind of information in the wrong places.' He calmly explained while everybody's eyes rested on him.

'So theoretically, you could help us, but you don't want to?' Kran asked.

'Correct. It's not worth the risk. Also, I believe you'll figure it out yourself. If not, there also wouldn't be a future I could go to and steal the answer from...' The last sentence sounded more pessimistic than Mersha had intended. 'However, I can still help you without cheating. I'm here, I'm old, I've seen quite some things in my life.'

'Then why didn't you say anything all evening?' Tarlequin asked, tiredly rubbing his eyes.

'Nobody asked for my opinion.' For that comment, Mersha earned quite some angry glares.

'Well then, what do you suggest we do?' Raf asked. Mersha knew he would have reacted angrily to anybody else behaving this way and enjoyed his somewhat privileged position.

'I suggest you rethink everything. At the moment, you're only focusing on recent events and speculations about the future. Shouldn't you go back to where this whole thing started?' Mersha finally answered, feeling wise and old.

'You mean Sethara.' Tarlequin stated, looking sad. But then, something in his expression changed and he scratched his beard. 'No, you don't, you mean way back...'

'Exactly.' There was silence for a while until Tarlequin started humming the melody of the prophecy again and Mersha smiled.

'In the song...' Raf said. 'So that's why you taught me then?'

'Well, that and the fact that you had to be struck by the curse...' Mersha admitted. 'When I realised nobody had told you about the prophecy, I knew I had to do it myself.'

'But how did you know about it? I was there when it was first told, but that was way before I first met you...' Tarlequin said.

'Oh well, I didn't need to be there for that. I came from the future, thus the curse couldn't affect me. Any magic has trouble finding me, actually. Well, not anymore now that I'm back... Still, in the past, the curse couldn't harm me.' Mersha explained slowly.

'But couldn't you have warned everybody then?' Nume asked. 'You could have prevented all of this before it even happened.'

'She's right, you could also have saved Raf's parents, that's what started it all, isn't it?' Kran added.

'Don't be silly. Yes, I could have, but no, I couldn't have. It would have created a paradox, haven't you got that yet? I cannot change the world in a way that changes the future to something that wasn't my past. That would change me, too and thus I'd no longer change it in the past... Paradox, you see?' Mersha earned only confused looks. In the end, Raf shook his head.

'I know he couldn't have saved them, he's explained it many times to me. Some things just have to remain the way they are.' The half-dretho said, looking slightly sad.

'Anyway.' Tarlequin ended the topic. 'You want us to listen to the prophecy, so let's do that.' Then he started singing.

When the peace bringer returns

And the outcast finally learns

'What do these lines mean? I never understood them.' Nume admitted.

'The peace bringer, that's me.' Raf said. 'And I've returned from the army of the night, is that what it's about?' Mersha nodded slowly with a smile on his lips.

'But what do we need to learn?' Kran asked.

'Finally! Shouldn't you have wondered about that from the beginning?' Mersha said with a sigh.

'Well, I always thought it referred to us hearing the prophecy...' Nume suggested.

'No, it's referring to you learning about who you really are. Because, you know, that day in the forest, Sethara lied to you.'

'But does it change anything if they know?' Tarlequin interrupted Mersha. The two men looked at each other in silence for a moment.

'It will change the way they look at themselves. I mean, look at them, they are in doubt. They don't really believe in their ability to change the world. Let's give them something they can believe in.' Mersha finally said.

'But there was a reason why they wanted to forget. So they could live freely and without that burden of being... who they were.' Tarlequin said. Raf, Nume and Kran kept looking back and forth between the two men as they discussed something they couldn't keep up with.

'Oh I'm sure they wanted that. But denying who you are doesn't change it. I'll admit that they've done pretty well so far, but if they really want to change, they need to believe in themselves so others can believe in them as well. Look at them-' Mersha pointed back at the city that shone in the distance, lightening up the night. 'Half of K'haren is there, waiting for them to change the world for the better. They believe in our outcast, but for how much longer? If we keep waiting, it might all fall apart.'

'So what do you suggest we do? Even if we tell them, tell everybody, it will just become another religion, how does that solve our problem?' Tarlequin demanded to know.

'Don't underestimate the strength of believing. It's happening already, some of the dwarfs recognised them...' Mersha paused before saying: 'We have to get this whole city moving. Kran is right, we can't hide forever. The best way to get K'haren to change is by confronting them with reality instead of hiding it away.'

'Moving? Moving where?' Raf interrupted them.

'Back to their homes. We can keep the communication net the harpys form up and send everybody home. That way, if anybody should feel threatened or mistreated, everybody else would know and could help.'

'But wouldn't such an invasion like behaviour provoke an attack from those who are still intolerant and ignorant?' Tarlequin said.

'It's either that or waiting here until the other half of K'haren joins us voluntarily.' Mersha replied. For a while, nobody said anything. In the end, Nume was the one to disturb the sound of silence.

'Sethara lied to me when she said she'd chosen me just because I was there. I know that, I've been told before... It was one of the last things Sethara ever said.' Nume's voice faded away and Mersha could feel the sadness emitting from all of them.

'Yes, she told you, but you didn't fully understand her.' Tarlequin finally managed to say after clearing his throat. 'She said she'd looked into your heart, and she had indeed. When she did, she recognised you...'

'Come on now, don't torture us, spit it out already!' Kran urged him when the faun fell silent again.

'He's trying to tell you that you're actually ancient gods who keep being reborn over and over again.' Mersha said with pure joy in his eyes. 'All of you, actually. Though there should be six, who's the sixth?' Mersha asked Tarlequin.

'Sethara was.'

'No, I've counted her already...'

'Oh, then you must mean Feyn.'

'The harpy? Ah, right, I should have known.' The two kept chatting about the topic, not minding Nume and Kran's shocked expressions.

'Guys...' Raf finally interrupted them. 'I think we still owe them somewhat of an explanation...' He said, pointing at Nume and Kran who looked desperately lost.

'What, you knew, too?' Nume managed to ask.

'Of course I did. Doesn't change anything if you ask me. You still are the people you were born as. Especially since you cannot remember. That, however, is something you should probably not let everybody know.' Raf brushed it off.

'You must be kidding.' Kran said determinedly.

'Oh great, let's start the doubting, that's always fun. I can't wait for their millennium to be over...' Tarlequin said, earning approving nods from Raf and Mersha.

'What are you even talking about?' Nume nearly yelled.

'We have to do this way too often. In nearly every life, actually. You put a spell on yourself, binding it to your very souls. Thus you cannot remember, even when we tell you, until a millennium on Zhwern is over.'

'Zhwern?' Kran asked.

'That's the planet we were on when you cast the spell.' Raf explained and Mersha listened, his eyes wide open with fascination.

'What's a planet?' He interrupted them. Tarlequin sighed.

'Jump a few more centuries into the future and you will find somebody who can answer that question for you. Though they'll probably call it something else, I don't know the word for it in this language for it doesn't exist yet.' Raf explained.

'Oh great, so I should go to the future and look for a word I don't even know. That's not helping.' Mersha said.

'None of this is helping! Seriously, we came here to figure out what to do. I've had enough of you all, you're insane. I agree with Mersha on one thing, we can either move back into K'haren and claim the land that is also ours or we can wait and I'm fed up with waiting. No matter what you guys are talking about, I don't need to understand any of it to know what I'll do next.' Nume shouted angrily.

'And what will you do next if I my ask?' Kran said shyly.

'Go to sleep.' She spun around on her heels and walked away into the night. Kran got up, following her moments later.

'Now that is her indeed. I like it when she's angry.' Raf said with a smile.

'You'd better be happy she doesn't remember all the times you've made her angry before. If she did, she'd truly be furious...' Tarlequin said, getting up and leaving as well.

'Stop pretending, it's not as if you were any better!' Raf shouted after him, remaining alone with Mersha in the dark. 'So, tell me, when did you find out about us?' He finally asked his old friend.

'On my journeys before I first met you in the past. I've been to some lovely statues in dwarven halls not too far away from here. Thinking back, I now know that I'm the one who had them installed in the first place. Or well, who's going to get it all organised. Yes, I will have to go back to the past, even further this time. You know, there were scars on Kran that made it hard for me to recognise him, but now I know they're the ones he got from his family gathering...' Mersha explained.

'So you will leave me again?' Raf asked.

'Unfortunately, yes. I cannot take you with me unless I take the queen of the night as well. But the Gods know what would happen if she ended up in the past...'

'Actually, we don't know that.' Raf said with a smirk.

// So, I know, I know, lots of new stuff in this chapter. I hope it wasn't too confusing... Be sure to let me know in the comments below what you think about it all. Thanks for voting etc. as always :)