The Way of the Warrior-Wizard
Chapter 20: Return to the Present

Duncan sat up slowly, with the help of Yvonne and Kyra. Davy broke protocol by partially jumping up onto the couch to lick his young master’s face. Duncan ran his hand up and down the dog’s neck, happy to be back in his own life-time.

“How are you doing, kiddo?” Yvonne asked, rubbing his back, “You stopped talking to me after Gaius went to the Inter-Life, and so you had us a little bit concerned. Before I brought you back to your past, I asked for a team of angels to surround you to help you through the tough spots. But then, after you went to the “Between-Lives” place, you went into a very deep trance and you stopped reporting what you were seeing.”

“It’s okay, Mum...Yvonne,” Duncan reassured them, noting the anxious look on Kyra’s face, “I was with Herald of the Inter-Life. He said to say ‘hi’ to you, Yvonne.”

“Herald...that would be my Grandpa Harrold!” she exclaimed, “He’s Luanne’s Grandpa as well. I’d had messages from him intermittently; and I had the sense that he’d had one more life-time as an American comedian before graduating from the Earth plane. I had a dream about him finally being awarded an important Heavenly Post, but I didn’t know what it was. So he’s guiding people through the Inter-Life now...great promotion, since his escape to freedom through the Underground Railroad.”

“Are you all right, Duncan?” Kyra asked as she embraced her son, “I was worried when you went through that violent Roman life and then stopped talking altogether. I don’t think I’m going to permit any more of these regressions, Yvonne...at least not for the kids.”

“I can’t say I blame you,” Yvonne replied, “These sessions can be very intense, which is why I put many safe-guards in place. Duncan was with a very special guardian, and he was well looked after while he was there...I must say, though, it doesn’t usually go like that. I’ve never had someone stay so long in the Heavenly realms.”

“How long was I ‘gone’?” Duncan asked, dismayed.

“Only a few minutes,” Yvonne replied, “but they were very anxious minutes for your Mum. I knew you would be fine, but I definitely understand your concern, Kyra. We won’t do any more, I assure you.”

Kyra nodded, regarding her son fondly.

“I had an experience which seemed to be pointing towards the union of my heart and mind—not just mine, but all of us here on the Earth as well.”

“I could have told you all about that,” Kyra replied, “you didn’t have to ascend to the Heavens in order to learn about the union of heart and mind.”

“Yes, but Mum, it was important for me to learn about my past connections. I realize now that I’ve had lives with all of you, and Yvonne and Jack as well...Yvonne was my mother in an African life...and I was a young girl in a concentration camp! Herald—your Grandfather Harrold, Yvonne—showed me many scenes from past lives. They weren’t all violent. In one of them I was a young apprentice of my father’s and I was learning about elixirs of youth and how to transform base metals into gold.”

“That somehow doesn’t seem very real to me,” Kyra commented, ever the practical person, “It sounds like one of your father’s imaginative tales, Duncan.”

Duncan did not pursue the matter any further, for he had inherited his practical, logical side from his mother and he knew that she had only ever tolerated the MacGregor family’s magical beliefs. She did not believe in it herself, and she no doubt thought of the “past-life regressions” as being very vivid, meditative dreams. Duncan would have thought so himself until he had actually experienced the life as Gaius. It had certainly felt more real than any dream he had ever had, but perhaps the mind was capable of great imaginary feats that had been as yet untapped by the general population.

His thinking was interrupted by the din of the children returning from their hike with Luanne and Jack. Suddenly, they heard an explosion of excited greetings.

“Hello, Uncle Cal!” the children shouted.

Duncan opened the door of the study and saw a man very like his own father, except for the fact that he was slightly slimmer. He knew immediately that this was Hamish’s twin brother, Calvin.

Cal was busy embracing the multitude of kids, and so Duncan held back for a few minutes. Caleb introduced their friends, Luanne, Jack, and Yvonne, as Calvin gave them all a gentlemanly bow. He then opened his arms and walked over to Duncan, embracing him.

“Duncan, it’s good to be seeing ye,” he greeted him, “Congratulations on your new position—although were I your father, you’d not be working at your tender wee age.”

“I very much enjoy my job, Uncle Calvin,” Duncan replied, “although it has been difficult with my father feeling so poorly.”

“Aye,” Calvin replied, “That is the reason why I have come. I think that it’s high time Hamish and I made peace...before one or both of us are dead.”

“We’d be happy to see more of you, Cal,” Kyra told him, “Come with me and I’ll bring you to Hamish’s room.”

“Ye’d best warn him I’m here, Kyra,” Calvin told her, “He may take a heart attack if I walk straight into his room, just.”

“May I come as well, Mum?” Duncan asked, “I’d like to speak to Father about my...er...recent experience.”

“Wait a minute, Duncan,” Kyra called as she went up the stairs towards her husband’s room, “Your Uncle will likely need some time alone with him.”

“Of course the laddie can come in wi’ me,” Calvin replied, following his sister-in-law up the steps, “I’ll be needing him there, if Hamish is as stubborn and argumentative as he was the last time the pair of us met.”

Davy followed his young master upstairs as Duncan bounded up after his uncle. Calvin waited outside the room, and Kyra rapped softly on the door before opening it. Duncan entered the room with his mother to replace Hamish sleeping in a rocking chair, a crossword and pen resting on his lap.

“Hamish,” Kyra said softly, giving his shoulder a gentle nudge, “I’m sorry to wake you, but you have a visitor.”

Hamish opened his eyes, blinking slightly.

“Where...what...?” he murmured in Gaelic, “Kyra...and Duncan, Laddie! Did you journey...to the past yet?”

“Yes, indeed, Father, and I’ll tell you about it after you have seen your...er...visitor.”

“Who’s the visitor?” Hamish queried, looking at his wife curiously.

Kyra took a deep breath before replying.

“Hamish...I know it’s been a while, but your brother Calvin is here to see you.”

Hamish’s visage clouded over for a moment.

“Calvin...ah, yes. The old rogue has no doubt heard that I’m faring poorly and is here to gloat over me before I die.”

“Hamish MacGregor!” Kyra scolded him, “Calvin has come to make peace with you, before one or the other of you dies! Your illness may have prodded him to come before it was too late, but he is nonetheless here. You should think the best of your brother and not immediately assign him malevolent intentions. After all, you haven’t seen him for...how many years?”

“Other than those one or two times that he came with his own sons to visit our children, it’s been about fifty years,” Hamish replied, “Fifty years since the two of us engaged in that silly brawl.”

Calvin entered the room slowly.

“Hamish,” he said.

“Calvin,” Hamish replied.

There was an uncomfortable silence. Kyra pulled Duncan out of the room so that the two men could talk.

“Let’s give them some time, Duncan,” she finally told him, after a few minutes had passed, “you can speak with Father later, but your Uncle is no doubt here for only a short visit.”

Duncan nodded, disappointed; but before he and Davy could go back downstairs, Hamish called out.

“Kyra! Send the laddie in, would you? We need to speak wi’ him.”

Duncan hurried back into the bedroom while his mother went downstairs for a while to talk with Yvonne, Luanne, and Jack.

“Duncan,” Hamish said, “Your Uncle and I have decided to make peace. It took two minutes to do so, and we’re that ashamed for not having done it earlier...you and the others could have come to know your wee cousins and your Aunt Marta.”

“There’s still time,” Calvin added, “Marta and I have recently moved to Nova Scotia with the two lads. Angus and Garreth are fifteen years old now...about your own age, Duncan.”

“I’d be very happy to see them again,” Duncan replied, “now that you’ve made your peace with each other. May I ask what it was that the pair of you had fought over for so long?”

Hamish and Calvin looked at each other sheepishly.

“It was because of a wee cow,” Calvin explained, “the last one that belonged to our Aunt Morag. She left it to us when she passed on, but did not specify which of us would keep it. Hamish and I had a disagreement about whose field she should graze upon.”

“Aye, but there was more to it than that,” Hamish told his son, his face red with embarrassment, “Your Uncle was also angry at me about my drinking troubles, even though I’d stopped The Drink by then.”

“You had not, Hamish,” Calvin interrupted.

“I had so, Calvin!” Hamish replied sharply.

“Uh...would you like to hear about my past-life regression?” Duncan blurted out, hoping to distract his elders from a possible argument.

Hamish glanced at Calvin worriedly.

“Perhaps after your Uncle has departed, aye,” he replied.

“No, Hamish, I would hear what the laddie has to say,” Calvin interjected, “What’s this about past lives, Duncan? Surely you’re not a believer in such irrational ideas?”

Duncan realized that it had been a mistake to talk about his journey into the past while his uncle was present. He had embarked upon the adventure on the advice of his father, and it was something that should have been left between father and son. He supposed that one of the children would have excitedly told Uncle Cal anyways, since he was hopefully to play a bigger role in their lives now that he had made peace with Hamish.

“I’m sorry, Uncle, I should not have mentioned it,” Duncan stammered, “I had a past-life regression with Yvonne so that I could...take a tour my own personal history.”

“No, you were right to mention it to me, laddie,” Calvin answered before Hamish could reply, “this is the sort of rubbish in which your father has always indulged...”

“I would caution you, Calvin,” Hamish warned him, “we have made peace, just. Let us no’ engage in childish fights over our beliefs.”

“You’re the one to speak of childishness, Hamish,” Calvin retorted, “I’ve told you that the business of wizards and warlocks and witches needed to stop, for the sake of your children. It’s wickedness, pure and simple...I can well remember when you maligned our own dear mother and Aunt Morag by calling them ‘witches’! It’s all stuff and nonsense.”

“Witches and warlocks are no’ wicked, Calvin,” Hamish argued, “Why do you think that you and I are still living? It is because Mother spilled a potion o’ youth o’er us as wee ones. Our Auntie Morag was the one who told it to me.”

“Potion o’ youth, my eye!” Calvin snorted, “Mother spilled water on us when she was preparing the pot to boil potatoes. And as for our dear Aunt, she would never tell such a tale...she was a good, solid Presbyterian.”

Duncan was beginning to understand that the many differences of opinion that his Father and Uncle had been fighting over for years had little to do with the “wee cow” that Great Aunt Morag had willed to the two men. Instead, it was a clash of belief systems, the kind that were not easily resolved by a two-minute peace-making deal.

“It is the kind of thing that has started wars,” Duncan thought to himself as his father and uncle bantered back and forth.

He thought back to the “Life scenes” that Herald the Wise-Guy had shown him. In one life with “Hamish”, he was the apprentice of a magician whose task it was to create an elixir of perpetual youth; and in another one with “Calvin” he was the acolyte of a priest whose task was service and devotion to The Divine. One was dedicated to the art of “magic” and the other to the structured belief system of a religion.

“Perhaps the two are not as different as we have been indoctrinated to believe,” Duncan thought, “as they both seek to connect with The Eternal.”

A knock at the door brought Duncan back to the present, as he realized that the argument between the two older men was beginning to escalate.

“Hamish, ye’re a liar!” Calvin was telling his brother in a raised voice, “since ye promised me that I would be the one tae keep Aunt Morag’s cow! Ye broke your word, man!”

“I didna’ break my word!” Hamish shouted back, “I kept it. I said as much as I might let ye keep her!”

Duncan was becoming increasingly worried about the strain this argument could be having on his father’s heart, but had been taught by Hamish not to interrupt his elders while they were speaking. There was a louder rap on the door, and Duncan went to answer it. Luanne was there, along with Kyra.

Kyra stalked in, and Duncan could tell she was not going to let the ages of the men prevent her from speaking her mind.

“Hamish MacGregor!” she commanded in a stout voice, “Stop this row immediately! You know very well you shouldn’t be getting into an argument in your condition. As for you, Cal, I’m going to chase you out of here with a witch’s broomstick if you don’t calm down! I thought you came here to make peace with Hamish before one of you died? Well, at this rate you’re both going to keel over, and it would serve you right if you did!”

Calvin lowered his gaze, embarrassed, while Hamish looked up in guilt at his wife.

“Och, I know ye’re right, Kyra,” he murmured, “and we didna’ intend to bandy words. I’ll apologize to ye, Cal. Let us no’ burden our families wi’ our silly disputes about the past.”

Calvin nodded.

“I think it best that I leave now,” the weary twin conceded, “I am sorry and I’m ashamed, Kyra. Marta will doubtless have words wi’ me when I return. Hamish and I are like a pair o’ auld jackasses treading the same worn path o’er and o’er.”

“Well, I won’t stop you, Cal,” Kyra agreed, “If Hamish wasn’t ill, I’d pester you to stay for supper...but as it is, I don’t want his heart strained. Give my love to Marta, and I hope we can try this again after Hamish has his operation.”

Calvin nodded and turned to leave. Before he could go, however, Luanne stopped him.

“Just a minute, Calvin,” she said, “and Hamish, you too. I have a message from both of you—from your Aunt Morag.”

“Luanne is a medium,” Duncan explained hastily, seeing the look of surprise on Uncle Calvin’s face.

“Ah...a soothsayer?” Cal queried, obviously dubious.

“No,” Luanne replied confidently, “Soothsayers tell the future...and as I always say, ’tomorrow never comes’. I’m a medium. I relay messages from departed souls...and boy, does Morag have some words for you two gentlemen.”

“Please, tell us, Luanne,” Kyra interjected, “I’d certainly like to hear what she has to say.”

Calvin restrained himself from saying whatever was on his mind by pursing his lips slightly. Hamish’s brother prided himself on his good manners, and so Duncan was fairly sure that he would not attempt to argue with Luanne...and he probably realized that he would be in for quite a tongue-lashing if he did.

“Morag says that she left the one Highland cow to you two as a means of teaching you to resolve your differences in a mature manner,” Luanne said on behalf of the elderly woman’s spirit, “and instead, you’ve used it as yet another excuse to battle each other. She wants you to stop doing that—now. I can’t put it any plainer, gents.”

Hamish appeared contrite and bowed his head, but Calvin evidently wanted to challenge Luanne.

“Begging your pardon, Madam, but how do we know it’s Morag who’s sending the message?” he asked pointedly.

“Morag is showing me a letter that she wrote to you, Cal,” Luanne responded, “It was written in Gaelic and it’s saying that she wanted you to refrain from putting Hamish down because of his belief in magic. She and your mother did practice a kind of herbal ‘magic’ as well as some tea leaf reading, but they tended not to talk about it around some of the more religious folk. Do you remember her letter to you? She says she wrote one to Hamish as well, telling him much the same thing.”

“Aye, I remember it well,” Hamish agreed, “Morag told me not to engage wi’ Calvin’s provocations, but to let them pass by like chattering birds.”

“I remember the letter,” Calvin admitted grudgingly, “but Hamish no doubt told you about the two letters, Mrs. Kingston.”

“No, I didna’,” Hamish retorted, “for I did nae ken that she’d written one to you. Ye never told me that she did, Calvin.”

“Aye, well,” Calvin muttered, “will that do, then?”

“No, there’s two more things,” Luanne informed them, “Number one, she’d like you to stop talking and stay to listen to your nephew’s past-life experience, Calvin. Even if you don’t particularly believe it...she says you’ll see things differently when you arrive where she is right now. Number two, she’d like me to tell you the other half of my phrase.”

“Phrase?” Calvin reiterated, confused.

“Yes,” Luanne told him, “My own little phrase: ‘Tomorrow never comes; and yesterday is never here.’ It reminds me to keep in the here and now. If I spend time fretting over the future, it’s a waste of now-space, since by the time tomorrow comes, it’s already today. And there’s no point fretting or arguing over the past, because it’s dead and gone. All we have is right now.”

“I see,” Calvin replied, “but then what is the point of a...so-called past-life experience, then?”

“I’ll let Duncan answer that,” said Luanne as she strode out the door, followed by Kyra.

“No more fighting, guys,” Kyra commanded them as she left, “or the broomstick is coming out.”

Duncan tried his best to relate the story of his adventures in the “Other-World” to his father and his dubious uncle. He felt somewhat self-conscious while telling it, but he persevered through the tragic Roman story of Gaius/Duncan and Avulus/Hamish, together with Jack Kingston as the brave nephew and Professor Donaldson as the ruthless Centurion. He told them as well about Herald the Wise-Guy and the life-scenes from the Inter-Life, especially the one with Uncle Cal as a priest and the other with Hamish as a magician. In both these lives, he explained, they were his mentors.

He tried to give them a sense of the positive vision for the future that he had received, but he found himself at a loss for words as he attempted to describe what he had seen. He felt a bit embarrassed speaking about all of this in front of Uncle Cal, for he was certain that he would see it as just a silly dream.

“I believe that I had a very close relationship with both of you,” Duncan concluded, “and so I very much hope, Uncle Cal, that you and Aunt Marta can come to visit us more often with my cousins; but in order to do that, you and Father have to agree to ‘bury the hatchet’ as Professor Donaldson’s wife would say.”

Calvin nodded.

“I dinna ken if these ‘experiences’ ye had were real or imagined, Duncan,” he said softly, “but they certainly seemed to have had an effect upon you...perhaps they were vivid dreams or visions.”

“Na, Calvin,” Hamish chided him, “these were truthful and real. My son knows well the difference between dreams and reality. He’s very rational, as is his mother...if he believes these were true experiences, then so do I...and as for you and I, Calvin, we need to heed Duncan’s and Aunt Morag’s advice. I’m willing to ’bury the hatchet’ if you are.”

“Aye,” Calvin responded, “that was my purpose in seeing you, Hamish.”

Hamish held out his hand and Calvin took it firmly in his own. They shook each other’s hands vigorously before Calvin took his leave and went downstairs to say farewell to the rest of the family.

Hamish and Duncan sat in silence. He knew that at times like this he needed to let his father speak first.

“Duncan,” Hamish finally murmured, “I feel saddened that you and I had such barbaric lives together...I had always imagined you were fighting by my side.”

“There were a number of scenes in which I fought side by side with you, Father,” Duncan replied, “such as in the Battle of Culloden, for instance. But I am content to have had a life-time with you as your student of alchemy and magic elixirs of youth...which, by the by, may not have worked in that life-time; but it certainly did in this one! I hope I can live as long as you have.”

“You will live even longer, laddie,” Hamish said to him, “for Peace-Makers are always needed in this world. That is what you have been for me and Calvin a wee while ago. Thank you, my dear son. You and the others are a blessing to me and your mother.”

Duncan embraced his father, and as he did so he felt a tremendous outpouring of love from both of their hearts. Hamish’s eyes were moist as he returned the embrace.

“D’ye know, Duncan,” he said finally, after he had composed himself somewhat, “that as you were experiencing your past life as a Roman soldier and mine as a slave—that something occurred that I canna put into words, just. My heart felt within it such a deep sorrow; and then it was as if the pain of a thousand thorns was lifted.”

“Herald said the life was significant because it was the first time in many lives that one of us had discarded his weapon,” Duncan explained, “The man Gaius was going to kill Avulus for running off with his sister, but he relented when his nephew pleaded with him not to do the terrible deed. It was interpreted as weakness by the centurion, of course—but apparently my lives began to improve after that one small mercy.”

“And doubtless mine did as well,” Hamish added, “aye, laddie, I’m in better shape now than I was before. Perhaps I can endure that bloody heart operation after all.”

“I know you can, Father,” Duncan encouraged him, “I know you’ll survive and stay with us for as long as you can.”

The pair was interrupted by another knock at the door. It opened, and in walked Jack and Professor Donaldson, of all people.

“Professor!” Hamish explained, “Have ye come to see me off, then?”

“No, Hamish,” Donaldson admitted, “I’m here to tell you that I think you have a fine young son here, and I’d like you to know that I’m going to stop pestering him and start supporting him. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since I heard that you were ill, and I’ve decided to take my wife’s advice and speak with you...apologize to you, as it were, about my argumentativeness the night that you and Jack and your family came over to our house for dinner...”

“Aye, and with thanks to Jack ye were wearing strawberry mousse for a cap,” Hamish interjected with a chuckle, "but I will gratefully accept your apology, Jerome...although it seems that we're forever arguing with and apologizing to people and then re-offending again."

“Yes, indeed,” Donaldson conceded, “but the whole debacle at dinner was my fault entirely for provoking you and young Kingston; and I have since apologized to Jack as well. I’ve been speaking with Luanne and Yvonne, and they both suggested a compromise with regard to Jack’s thesis. He will continue with his comparison of modern-day society with the Roman Empire, and I will stick to the historical facts as we know them rather than letting my opinion override the entire project.”

“I’m almost finished my thesis,” Jack told them excitedly, “and Auntie Lu suggested a new project for you and me, Duncan: you and I could write a history book written from the perspective of all those who have been oppressed by conquerors, rather than from the conquerors’ viewpoints...not a textbook exactly, but a well-researched chronicle. We could begin with my Aunt’s library, as there are plenty of primary sources there by people who experienced slavery and the Underground Railroad first-hand. Plus, I figured that you’ve got a special inside view on that now that you’ve had your past-lives journey with Yvonne and Great-Grandpa Harrold...”

“I will refrain from expressing my opinion on Duncan’s past-lives meditation-fantasy,” Donaldson interrupted in a manner that seemed to run counter to what he was saying.

“Yes, Professor, please do that,” Jack replied, obviously irritated by the older man’s intrusion, “so what do you think, Duncan?”

“I’d be very interested,” Duncan responded enthusiastically, “with a book, we could take our time and do it properly. We wouldn’t need to worry about following an institutional curriculum of any kind.”

Before long, the rest of the children had crowded into their father’s room along with all their guardian border collies. Kyra, Luanne and Yvonne soon followed them in as well. Professor Donaldson decided that it was time to bid them farewell at that point and took his leave.

“Good-bye, Professor,” Duncan called after him, “I’ll see you next week.”

He was anxious to get back to teaching—there were not many more months left before the course was complete.

“Take a bit longer if you need it, Duncan,” Donaldson told him, “Your students and I are getting along a bit better than we were at first.”

Duncan nodded his gratitude as his nemesis-turned-friend left.

“We’ve just heard from the doctor, Father!” Cara told him excitedly, “Your operation is going to go ahead...very soon!”

Of course, Duncan realized, he needed to make sure that his father had sufficiently recovered from his operation next week before he returned to class.

“Aye, well, lass...” Hamish soothed her, “that’s good news, certainly. Gie us a kiss, then.”

Cara ran over and threw her arms around her father, and soon the little ones were surrounding Hamish happily.

“Duncan,” Cara said to her brother, “I think your journey into the past must have put some things to rest. Everybody’s been making peace left, right, and centre!”

Duncan smiled at his younger sister and gave her and each of his siblings a hug. Caleb, his twin brother, clasped his arm.

“I think it’s going to be fine, Duncan,” he said reassuringly, “but you and I need to make sure that we don’t go down the path that Father and Uncle Cal did. We’ll be needing each other in the coming years.”

There was silence for a moment as the family contemplated what the future would bring.

“Aye, lads,” Hamish said to Duncan and Caleb, “Mind you don’t argue too much. I’ll be needing you both to help your mother, your two elder brothers, and the rest of our rather large clan.”

“And us, too!” Cara interjected on behalf of herself and her twin sister, Fiona, “we’re old enough to help.”

“Yes, you and Fiona too,” Kyra affirmed the twin sisters, “and I have no doubt that Mairi will help us as well.”

“Us too!” the younger children shouted in almost perfect unison.

“Aye, and ye’ll be loud enough to wake me from the dead!” Hamish said to them fondly.

“But we don’t want you to die, Father!” young Charlotte cried.

“Dinna worry, lass...I’ll simply be re-born into yet another life, no doubt.”

“But we won’t know who you are, Father!” Ruari interjected, “You may be someone half way around the world in your next life!”

“Och, laddie!” Hamish told him sternly, “Dinna leap ahead to my next life—I’m no’ deid yet! And if your mother and the doctor have their say, I’ll be here a while longer to order ye all about like toy soldiers.”

Duncan stared ahead, overwhelmed by the prospect of life without his father; but Luanne came and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“I’m told that he’ll be here for a few years more, Duncan,” she whispered, “Your journey helped to lift some weight from his heart. Don’t despair.”

He felt better upon hearing Luanne’s reassuring message, one that was no doubt from The Beyond.

Glenlachlan, his older brother, seemed to have overheard Luanne’s words. He grinned at Duncan and gave him a “thumbs up” sign.

“Way to go, Warrior-Wiz,” he said, “You’ve inspired me to take the journey as well. I’d like to replace out more about where I came from, and whether I’ve had any past lives with my birth-daughter, wee Angie.”

“But don’t tell her who she was if you do replace out, Glenlachlan,” Duncan warned him, “I’m not sure it’s a good idea to tell people who they were in a prior life-time—especially not the wee ones. They’re still forming their identities in this life.”

As if to demonstrate his agreement with Duncan’s statement, the youngest MacGregor child, Wee Hami, toddled over and took his older brother’s hand. Beside them, Davy the dog licked his other, free hand to let him know that he was always looking out for his master and the rest of the family.

At that moment, Duncan felt very grateful for his very large, if eccentric, family. It was as if the heart of magic and the mind of reason had stopped warring for the time being and had settled into a more peaceful co-existence. Perhaps Glenlachlan was right, and he had indeed traveled the Way of the Warrior-Wizard through this last tumultuous millennium.

Somehow, surrounded as he was by the love of his friends, family, and animal companions, he felt that he had found peace within his own mind and heart as well.