Title: Out of the forest I come with my flowers, singing, all alone
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Carol Ann Duffy
Warnings: angsty
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 175
Point of view: third
Prompt: author's choice, the errors of the past are the wisdom of the future
Duncan asks a thousand questions, not a single one he hasn't heard before.
why are we here? are the legends real? have you walked with gods? is there a purpose? what wisdom will you share, o ancient of a million lives?
He says what he's always said and does what he's always done, and the myth, as always, fades in light of reality.
Methos could share a thousand parables. Lessons he's learned over the eons, stories to warn today's children. Words for Joe to write, to record the wisdom of the ancient.
Duncan would listen. For awhile. Until what Methos has to say challenges what he's always known, and then Methos will be a liar.
Methos is ancient. He's done all this before. No one ever learns from the past except those who live to see it become the future, and so far, no one has managed that except Methos.
Maybe one day, Duncan will be old enough to listen and understand. Most days, Methos doubts it.
(He's lived long enough to know.)