24 December, 2164

Tom's Flat, Edinburgh, Scotland

MAEVIS POV

Maevis knocked quietly on the door, then a little bit louder when there was no answer. The door was then answered by the bubbly Gemma, who seemed all too happy to see Maevis again. "Hello, darling! Oh, I'm so glad you could join us!" Gemma exclaimed, embracing Maevis, but Maevis didn't return it.

"It's… nice to be here," Maevis replied awkwardly.

"Hello, sweetheart," came Tom's voice from inside the apartment, and Maevis glanced up to see him stand up from the living room. "Thank you for coming. Gemma's still finishing up dinner, so that gives us a few minutes to discuss what I've found."

"Oh, yes! I should check on the roast. Should I take the mince pies out of the freezer?" Gemma asked, and Tom let out a sigh.

"You should have taken them out hours ago, but sure, take them out now. Given the heat of this flat, I'm sure they'll defrost quickly," Tom told her, and then Gemma rushed off.

"You seemed to move on quickly from Mama," Maevis said to him, trying not to sound bitter.

"Your mother and I haven't lived together for over a decade as husband and wife," said Tom. "And now, with her gone, and legally dead, I believe that means our marriage has ended." He led her into a separate office, closing the door behind him.

"Till death do us part, no?" Maevis asked him.

"Tell that to your mother. She could never love me as her husband, and she told me so. I was the one that chose not to listen," Tom replied, sitting down at a desk and opening a laptop.

"No, you gave her child away instead," Maevis replied, and Tom let out a sigh.

"It's the holidays, Maevis. Can we not let up on the judgement just for one day?" Tom asked her.

"I've never spent one holiday with my brother because you put him up for adoption, so no," Maevis told him. "Did you find anything on him?"

"Yes, I did, as a matter of fact," Tom replied as he opened a folder on the computer and opened a document. "Elton Thomas McGinty was adopted by Mark and Lauren McGinty. At the time, they lived in Aberdalgie, but it was in the Hot Zone after the Glasgow bombing and they were relocated to Inverness. They've since moved back and have rebuilt their home, according to some of these documents. The address is 313 Evergreen Lane in Aberdalgie."

"That's it?" Maevis asked him.

"I know he didn't go to university and he joined his father's business when he left school. It's a farmers' market called McGinty's Market," Tom told her. "What else do you want to know?"

"I don't know, more about him! He's my brother," Maevis said with a soft huff.

"Those are the kinds of things you need to talk to him about," Tom told her. "Do you want to see a picture of him?" Quietly, Maevis nodded, and Tom pulled up a picture from Elton McGinty's I.D., and Maevis leaned in closer to the screen to see his face better. He was red-haired, just like her, and he had bright blue eyes. He looked a little bit like her, but more than anything, he looked like his own individual - or rather, like their father, most likely. Maevis had no idea what Jamie Fraser looked like, but looking at Elton, she had to guess that he looked something like that. Like Maevis, his blue eyes were a little slanted, and he had a broad, sharp nose, cheekbones and chin, and broad features in general. His hair had a slight wave to it and wasn't nearly as curly as Mama's, but it wasn't straight like Maevis's either. Did their father have curly hair or straight? "I think you'd like to see this, as well. I did a bit of research and came across paintings done at Kisimul Castle in the eighteenth century around the time your mother claimed to live there. Or maybe after, I don't know. It's the 1750s and 1760s. Here, I put them on a PowerPoint for you."

He opened up the PowerPoint in question and presented it, and the first slide had a portrait of a man wearing a Fowlis of Barra kilt, identical to the one that Mama had given Maevis with her uncle's name stitched into it. He had red curly hair, silvery eyes just like her mother, and he seemed like a very commanding type. "Who is that?" Maevis asked Tom.

"Eairdsidh Ruadh Fowlis, the seventh Laird of Kisimul," Tom told her. "He was Laird from 1694 to 1759. Your mother mentioned him a few times. I was doing research on him and he was quite an admirable man. A bit mischievous in his youth, but he was responsible for the introduction of the kilt in the English court when he met Queen Anne in 1704."

"Wow, that's… That's really cool, actually," said Maevis. "I guess he was related?"

"Your mother said he was her grandfather," Tom told her, and then he moved to the next slide, which was a portrait of a younger man - or a teenager - with dark hair, silvery eyes and also wearing the Fowlis of Barra kilt. Next to it was a picture of her grandfather, Archie Fowlis, from when he was in the first rebellion - Maevis was shocked to see how similar the two of them were. "This man here in the portrait was Archie Fowlis, son of Eairdsidh Ruadh and meant to be Laird after him. He disappeared in 1725 when he was eighteen years old, though, so he was never Laird. And you know who this is - your grandfather, also called Archie Fowlis."

"Yes, of course," said Maevis. "They… They look so similar."

"They do," Tom told her. "When your mother told me about Eairdsidh Ruadh and I did some research, I thought it was a bit strange that Eairdsidh Ruadh's son had the same name as her father, so when I looked into him, I found out that there is no evidence that Archie Fowlis, your grandfather, existed before he was eighteen years old." Maevis looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "And Archie Fowlis, son of Eairdsidh Ruadh, disappeared when he was eighteen, never to be seen or heard from again."

"That… Wow," said Maevis, looking at the screen again, and then Tom switched to the next slide, which featured a painting of a man who looked similar to Archie Fowlis, son of the Laird, next to a picture of a man that looked identical to him with brown curly hair and silvery eyes - or rather, a young guy who looked to be about Maevis's age. "Who's that?"

"This is your uncle, Cailean Fowlis," said Tom, referring to the picture. "He disappeared at the Siege of Berwick in 2136. He was eighteen at the time. And this," he said, referring to the painting, "is Cailean Fowlis, the eighth Laird of Kisimul, claimed to be the son of Archie Fowlis and the grandson of Eairdsidh Ruadh Fowlis."

"They… They do look remarkably similar," said Maevis, staring into the eyes of her uncle. "How old was he in the painting?"

"Hard to say, his birth year is questionable," said Tom. "You see, what's strange is this man came out of nowhere claiming to be the son of Eairdsidh Ruadh's son, but his age didn't seem like it lined up. I looked into it a bit and it was estimated that he was about thirty-six or so when he became the Laird, so it's estimated that he would have been born in 1723 - but , if he was Archie Fowlis's son, Archie Fowlis would have been sixteen when he was born."

"How old was my grandfather when my uncle was born?" Maevis asked him.

"Thirty-eight, supposedly," Tom told him. "He was in prison for fifteen years before your mother was born for his participation in the first rebellion."

"That sounds terrible," said Maevis.

"I imagine it was," said Tom, and then he moved to the next slide, which featured a portrait of a young boy who looked like he could have been Eairdsidh Ruadh as a teenager.

"Who's that?" Maevis asked Tom.

" That , Maevis… is a lad by the name of Archie," said Tom. "It was painted in 1757, according to the date, by a 'B. Fraser'."

"A 'B. Fraser'?" asked Maevis. "Who was he?"

" She was this girl," said Tom, moving to the next slide to show a red-haired girl with blue eyes similar to Maevis. The woman was standing in front of an easel and it looked like she was painting a self-portrait from her reflection. "At least, historians think that it was her."

"What's her name? What does the 'B' stand for?" Maevis asked him.

"Hard to say," Tom told her. "There was a Beitiris MacNeil in the cemetery, but she died in 1753, so unless this B. Fraser married some man named MacNeil, it probably wasn't her." Maevis thought back to the letter and how her mother said she had a sister named 'Pretty Fraser', but Maevis had typed it up and put it into a translator. What if 'Pretty' was the English translation of her sister's name? She pulled out the letter from her purse and unfolded it, working her way down until she got to the part that mentioned her siblings.

"Brèagha…" Maevis said quietly, and then she looked up at the portrait again. "I think… her name is Brèagha."

"That sounds familiar," Tom replied. "So Archie was her brother, then. They do look similar, like siblings. Archie Fraser… I'll have to add that name to the list of things to look into."

"And Brèagha Fraser as well," said Maevis, pulling out her cellphone to write both names down in her notes - underneath Jamie Fraser. She also added 'Cailean Fowlis' and 'Eairdsidh Ruadh Fowlis' to that list as well. "Is there anyone else?"

"That had names that sounded familiar? Not really," Tom told her, flipping to the next slide and sitting back. In it was a portrait of a woman wearing a Fowlis of Barra tartan and brandishing a bow and arrow. Behind her was a man in a red tartan gazing up in awe at this red-haired woman, who looked like a goddess. Maevis narrowed her eyes a little to try to make out the face, but it looked like some classical-style painting and the features weren't really recognisable.

"Who's that?" Maevis asked.

"That is supposed to be Catherine Fowlis," said Tom, and Maevis's eyes widened a little. "This is hanging up at Kisimul Castle and according to the plaque, she was born in 1721. She was said to be called 'the Red Witch', became a French saint called St. Catherine the White Lady that we here in Scotland know as St. Catherine the Red, and was said to be the sister of a man called Cailean Dubh Fowlis - he became the eighth Laird of Kisimul."

"The man who looks like my uncle," said Maevis, still staring at the face of the woman in the portrait. It looked nothing like her mother, save for the red hair and the Fowlis of Barra tartan.

"Yup, and remember, he was believed to be born in 1723 - two years after her. There was a two year age gap between your mother and your uncle, too, almost to the day. He was born on the thirtieth of January, she was the first of February," said Tom. "I did some research on St. Catherine the Red as well and she's often associated with St. Bridget, whose feast day is the first of February."

"Wow… All of this is just… wow…" said Maevis, in awe of everything she had just learned. "So all of this is real . This isn't just some… hallucination or delusion or anything, this is real. These were real people."

"They were real people," said Tom. "Now, we already know that the body buried in the cemetery was Faith Fraser - further evidence of Frasers at Kisimul Castle - is in fact the biological child of your mother and your full biological sibling. If you want - and I won't do this unless you allow me to - we can have the body of Eairdsidh Ruadh Fowlis exhumed and tested to see if he is biologically related to you." Maevis shook her head.

"No. It's bad enough you did it to Faith, you're not doing it to him, too," said Maevis firmly. "This is all just… wow…" She paused for a moment, then let out a sigh. "I want to meet Elton. Can you make that happen?"

"I can't force him to meet with you but we can go to his house together. Would you like that?" Tom asked her, but Maevis shook her head.

"You want to meet him now? You gave him up, you shouldn't have the right," she told him sharply.

"Suppose you're right. If you meet him then, tell him I'm sorry. It wasn't personal," Tom replied, but Maevis scoffed.

"No, but it was selfish," she told him. "Well, thanks for showing me all of this. Do you have this on a flash drive?"

"I can email it all to you," Tom told her. "Will you stay for dinner?"

"I… don't think I can," said Maevis. Rory and Morgan, who had met their mother, were having Christmas dinner with her, leaving Maevis to either dine with Tom or spend Christmas Eve alone in her hotel room. Frankly, she'd rather not spend it with Tom, so lonely hotel room it was.

"I see," said Tom. "Gemma will be disappointed, but I'm sure you have plans already with your friends, no?"

"They wanted me to join them and I already said yes," Maevis replied, lying, and Tom likely knew it, too.

"Still, it was nice to see you again, Maevis. You… you've grown up so much. It's almost a shock to see you so grown, but I suppose it… shouldn't be too much, should it?" Tom asked her.

"A lot of time has passed," she replied. "Thanks, Tom. I appreciate all of this, really." With that said, she bid him goodbye, then left his apartment. With a lot on her mind, she decided to go downtown, where the Christmas spirit was all around her. It was hard to believe that only a few hundred years ago, Christmas was essentially banned in Scotland, hence the birth of Hogmanay. Maevis wasn't entirely sure what Hogmanay was, but it seemed like a general celebration of the holiday season. The twinkling Christmas lights were beautiful, the carollers sang like angels, and the overcast clouds up above were slowly sprinkling snow down onto the ground.

Towering over everything was the Order of St. Catherine the Red Cathedral, which had miraculously escaped the bombing of Edinburgh with only a few chips off of the bricks. Maevis went inside of the church, which was having a Christmas service, and sat down in the back. She looked up at the altar, which of course featured Jesus Christ on the cross, but on either side of him were two female figures. One of them was Mary, Jesus's mother, and the other was a red-haired woman with her hands crossed across her chest, and at her feet on the pedestal that she stood on was a caduceus, the symbol associated with medicine. St. Catherine the Red was said to be a healer, so it was no surprise that she bore the symbol of medicine. Maevis wasn't Catholic, and in fact celebrated Pagan festivals like her mother had, but still, she bowed her head to pray to this St. Catherine the Red - Catrìona Fowlis, her mother.

Mama… I'll find him. I swear I will, and I'll tell him all about you. I'll find you, too, someday. I don't know if that means I'll see you again, but I will find you, even if you're long gone by the time I do. If you are where I think you are, take care of my brother and sister, and my father as well. I can't imagine what it must have felt like being forced to leave them. I don't know what made you leave them, but I'm glad you did, for a time, because then you had me, and Elton as well. I'm sorry for everything you've had to endure… I'll do what I can to make it worthwhile.


25 December, 2164

Maidie's Flat, Edinburgh, Scotland

"Are you sure she'll even like me?" Maevis asked Rory when they stepped into the elevator, and he scoffed.

"Are ye kidding? All she asked us was 'how's Maevis? Did she become a doctor?'" Rory told her.

"She'll be very excited to see you," Morgan chimed in.

"She was very close te yer mother," Rory told her. "She was devastated when she disappeared, so I think it'll be good fer her to see ye again. I'll bet she could tell ye more about her."

"Maybe," said Maevis as the elevator stopped on the correct floor, and then the three of them got off, Rory knocking on a door. The door was soon answered by a fair-haired woman in her forties, who smiled when she saw Maevis standing there.

"Gosh… You weren't kidding when you said she looks like her mother," said Maidie Mackenzie to Rory, smiling a little.

"I said so!" Rory exclaimed, going into the apartment with Morgan behind him.

"Wow… Look at you, Duckie… Remember I used to call you that?" Maidie asked her, crossing her arms across her chest.

"A little," said Maevis, nodding subtly. "I… I don't remember much from when I was little, unfortunately."

"I imagine you don't. It was a… trying time for a lot of us," said Maidie, and then she smiled again. "Still, I'm really glad you've come. And Happy Christmas to you! Come inside?" Maevis nodded, following Maidie inside of the apartment. Rory and Morgan were already settled in the living area watching the television.

"Mam, did ye see this?" Rory called suddenly. "King Alexander's been found guilty of plotting to kill Scottish leaders."

"Has he really?" Maidie asked with surprise, going into the living area to look at the television. "Well, I'll be damned…"

"King Alexander was the one who bombed Glasgow, right?" Maevis asked as she approached the television.

"Aye, he was very resentful of the Scottish people for gaining their independence. He called his father weak for letting us go, but Edward was an old man. He was tired of fighting with Scotland. I can't say that I or anyone in Scotland was shocked that Alexander started another war when he died, but… how he went about it was appalling," Maidie said to her.

"They should have taken that fucking bastard's crown when he nuked an entire city and killed hundreds of thousands of people," Rory said, and Maidie lightly smacked him.

"Watch what you say in front of your sister!" she scolded him.

"Mom, I'm thirteen!" Morgan told her.

"I don't care if you're thirteen or thirty! He still shouldn't be speaking like that," Maidie replied.

"And now, Her Majesty Queen Charlotte has an announcement for the people of Great Britain and Scotland," said the newscaster, and the screen changed to a beautiful, elegant-looking woman with beautiful shiny brown hair and a pretty face.

"Good morning and a happy Christmas to my loyal subjects, and to my friends in Scotland," said Queen Charlotte on the screen. "I must apologise first for the behaviour of my brother. I want it to be known that I have never condoned his actions towards our neighbours and will be glad to continue the amicable relationship that we have formed. My brother has been asked to step down, and I will take his place as Queen of this great domain."

"Good, no more Alexander," said Rory.

"Catrìona would be glad," said Maidie, and then she looked at Maevis and gave her a soft smile. "Rory was telling me everything you've achieved. She'd be so proud of you, you know."

"Would she?" Maevis asked, smiling a little. "Did she… ever tell you about…"

"The stones? Oh, yes," Maidie replied. "Here, come with me." Maevis followed Maidie into the bedroom and she bent down and pulled out a box from underneath the bed, setting it down on top of the mattress. "When your mother disappeared, Tom took over ownership of her house as her husband and ultimately decided to sell it. We had no idea you'd be coming back or we'd have saved it for you. We sold all of the furniture, but I kept a lot of the personal things, in case… in case you ever came back." She pulled the lid off of the box, showing Maevis the pictures inside. Maidie pulled out a sketch pad first, then opened it to reveal the face of a man with red hair, a bit of red stubble on his face and blue, slanted eyes, drawn in coloured pencil. It was easy to see where Brèagha got her artistry skills from. "She told me… this was Jamie."

"Jamie?" Maevis asked, taking the sketch pad to look at the drawing. Those eyes were her eyes, all right, and save for the red hair, she didn't share any other features with her father. "Can… Can I keep this?"

"Of course, you can keep everything if you'd like," Maidie replied. "Turn the page, and I think that'll be your brother, Archie." Maevis turned the page, seeing the face of a child with red hair, slanted silvery eyes and features that looked a little similar to her own. So far, she had seen a painting of Archie as a teenager and now a drawing of him as a child.

"He… He looks like me," said Maevis, smiling a little. "And Mama… He must have been so young when she left."

"She said he was seven, I think," Maidie replied. "The next one's your sister."

"Brèagha," said Maevis, turning the page to see the face of a little girl with slanted blue eyes that looked so much like Jamie - like their father.

"She was five years old when your mother saw her last," said Maidie. "She said she went back to the year 1743. I believe she mentioned having Archie within a year, so he would have been born in probably 1744, and she said Brèagha was born after the battle of Culloden, which happened in 1746."

"She told you all of this?" Maevis asked. "And you believed her?"

"At first, I didn't because to be honest, it sounded daft. But when she mentioned hearing the stones, I… I visited a stone circle once, when I was a girl, and I could hear them, too," Maidie told her, and Maevis looked up at her.

"They make a sound?" Maevis asked.

"If you can travel through them, yes," Maidie replied. "A long time ago, she told me she met someone else who travelled through the stones as well. A woman named Geillis Duncan. She was burned as a witch but she was also pregnant. That child was given away to a family - a Mackenzie family. I did some research after the war ended because that still stuck in my mind, and I appear to be a descendant of a Mackenzie child born in 1743."

"You think… it's hers?" Maevis asked her, but Maidie shrugged.

"I don't know if I'll ever know, but it's fascinating to think, isn't it?" Maidie replied.

"Did… Did you know she… had another son?" Maevis asked her suddenly. "That… I had a twin?" Maidie's face changed slowly as this news registered on her ears, and it wasn't a look Maevis was expecting - she seemed shocked, surprised, and then angry.

"You… You had a twin?" she asked. "Had as in… died or…"

"No, he's alive," said Maevis, and she pulled out her phone, went on Meta and typed in his name in the search bar to pull up his profile. She had found it the previous night and was tempted to add him, but ultimately settled with looking through his photographs. He seemed to be an adamant soccer player, and very popular as well judging by the amount of friends he had. Maevis picked out a picture and showed it to Maidie, who lightly gasped. "His name's Elton McGinty."

"Elton McGinty… He… He looks like that drawing of Jamie," said Maidie as she looked at the picture. "And… a little bit like Cat, too - your mother. How… How did you find out about him? How… Where was he? Cat never mentioned having another…"

"That's because she didn't know," said Maevis a bit bitterly. "Tom put him up for adoption because he couldn't stand to look at him in case he looked like my father. And I guess he did, so perhaps Tom was right."

"Giving up Catrìona's son was not right at all," Maidie replied as she continued looking at the picture. "He's lucky Cat's gone… She would kill him if she knew about this."

"Do you think she's gone?" Maevis asked her. "Like… gone gone or…"

"I think she went back, to be honest," said Maidie. "I don't know how or why, but I truly believe she went back. Where she went, though, I have no idea. She said it was 1751 when she left and when she came back, it was 2146. I have no idea if that time difference is the same or not."

"Maybe we can try to find her, figure out where and when she might be," Maevis suggested.

"It'll be a challenge. We'll have to look through four hundred years of history," Maidie replied.

"Well, we know she was there from 1743 to 1751 before. Surely, there's some way to find her?" Maevis asked.

"Perhaps," said Maidie. "We'll start after the New Year, aye, Duckie? Your mother always loved this time of year. Let's enjoy it for her." She smiled gently at Maevis, and Maevis returned the smile. Unlike Tom, it was evident that Maidie was her ally, and wanted to find Catrìona to help Maevis, not herself.


4 January, 2165

Aberdalgie, Scotland

The cab dropped Maevis off at McGinty's Market, and Maevis paid the driver and watched as he drove off. She glanced up next at the sign - McGinty's Market - and at the bustling activity of the market itself. It was an indoor market, and with it being January, Maevis imagined there weren't too many fruits and vegetables, but still, the shop was busy. It was one of the only markets in a span of several miles so that was likely why. Taking a deep breath, Maevis went inside and looked around at the shop, finding a long line of people at the meat counter being tended to by a middle-aged couple. The registers were being manned by two girls, and the bakery section was being manned by two middle aged women. So far, none of them looked like Elton McGinty, and she pulled up his photo on her phone just to remind herself of his face-

"Can I help ye wi' anythin', Miss?" said a voice behind her, and Maevis jumped and turned, finding herself face to face with the slanted blue eyes, bright red hair and charming smile of Elton McGinty himself. He was wearing an apron and had a broom in hand that he was leaning on, and he seemed friendly enough, but Maevis was struck by silence as she stared at him in awe. He raised an eyebrow curiously at her. "Er… Hello? Did ye hear me, Miss? I speak sign language." He began to sign out to her in what looked like British Sign Language - Maevis had taken American Sign Language in high school, but it was quite different from BSL.

"Uh… No, no, sorry, I… I can hear you," Maevis told him with a soft smile.

"Ah, and yer American? Wha's an American doin' in these parts?" Elton asked her as Maevis glanced up at the meat counter, noticing that the middle-aged couple were signing to each other as well.

"Um… Just… Just visiting," said Maevis, giving him an awkward smile.

"Oh, aye? Have ye family here, lass?" Elton asked her, and Maevis paused for a moment before nodding.

"Yes, I… I do," she said to him. "Um… I know you must be busy and you're working, but… do you… Do you mind if we speak outside for a moment?"

"Um… I'm not sure…" Elton replied, looking at the couple at the meat counter and signing something to the man. The man signed something back, and Elton replied and gave him a subtle smile. "Sure, I've got five minutes. Jus' follow me." Maevis followed Elton to the back room, where he laid the broom against the wall and signed something to another girl, who signed back to him, and then he went out the back door, Maevis following him.

"Are those your parents? The ones doing the meat?" Maevis asked once they were alone.

"Aye, I'm a CODA, ye see - child of a deaf adult, or rather, two deaf adults, in this case. I've go' two aulder sisters as well who are also deaf and I suppose I just didnae get the gene," said Elton, chuckling lightly. "Bein' the only hearin' one in my immediate family can be difficult, so I really must be gettin' back in. Ye said ye wanted te speak te me? Are ye some sort of official or somethin'? Ye look a bit young."

"No, I… I just…" Maevis began, and then she let out a sigh. "I… don't know if it's right for me to do this, but it also wasn't right for my father - or rather, my adoptive father - to do what he did, either…"

"Yer adopted?" Elton asked her, crossing his arms as he leaned against the doorframe. Both he and Maevis were quite tall, standing at close to six feet tall each. Elton was taller than she was by a good six inches.

"Yes and no," Maevis replied, glancing down at the ground. "I… was born to my mother, but my father wasn't actually my father, and… Well… Let me start with this. I was born here in Scotland, in Glasgow. I lived in the Hebrides for a while, on Barra specifically, but when Glasgow was bombed, I was sent away to America and… I guess… lost to the system. I was never reclaimed, like many other Scottish refugee children were."

"Sorry te hear," said Elton. "We were in the Hot Zone and were relocated. Ye cannae see now because I've go' a sweater on, but I've go' burn scars all up and down my arms, legs and chest."

"That must have been so painful. I was lucky to be far enough from the blast that I wasn't affected, but I could see it," Maevis replied, and then she let out a sigh. "Anyway, I came back to look for my family and my mother… First, my name is Maevis, by the way. Maevis Fowlis."

"Elton McGinty," said Elton, curious about what she was trying to tell him.

"Yes, I… I know who you are. That's why I've come here," Maevis told him, and then she took a deep breath and let it out. "When I came back, I asked for any living relatives I had left and… you came up."

"Me? How? I dinnae even ken ye. All we have in common is we were born in Glasgow and we have red hair," Elton said to her.

"And blue eyes," Maevis told him. "And… and we share a mother as well." Elton raised an eyebrow at her.

"My mother is inside there," Elton told her.

"Your adopted mother," Maevis replied. "I… I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but I had to see you for myself and I had to meet you. The man who was listed as our birth father gave you up for adoption when we were born-"

"Haud yer weesht a moment," Elton said to her somewhat firmly, holding out a hand to stop her. "Ye cannae just come here and tell me that I'm adopted and tha' yer my sister. Ye cannae just do that."

"Well, I already have, and it's the truth," Maevis told him. "Okay? I saw your parents and you look nothing like them, okay? And you're missing the deaf gene because you're not their biological child. And not only that, but you were born on June twenty-first in the year 2147. How do I know this? Because it's my birthday, too."

"I'm no' listenin' te this," Elton snapped, going back inside of the market with Maevis following him.

"Elton, please. This is very important-" Maevis said to him, but then he turned and cut her off.

"You need te leave," he said. "Yer no' welcome here. Please leave my father's shop."

"But-"

"Go," Elton said with finality, and Maevis let out a sigh.

"Fine, but I'm not leaving until I at least give you my contact information," Maevis told him, pulling out a notecard that she had prepared already. On it was her name on Meta, which was still Ellie Murray, and her phone number and email as well. "That's the name I was given when I was sent to America."

"I'm no' takin' that," Elton snapped at her.

"Then I'll pin it to your board," said Maevis, taking the notecard, going over to a cork board and pinning the card to it. "Your birth parents are Thomas Randall and Catrìona Fowlis - the war hero Catrìona Fowlis. Do with that information what you like. I've done my part. But please, Elton… At least think about it. I'm sorry I just came here out of the blue, I should have reached out some other way." She let out a final sigh, then she turned and left, fighting off the urge to cry. As she went back into the cold, she wiped the tears from her eyes before they froze, then pulled out her phone and dialled Tom's number, putting the phone to her ear. "Hey, it's me. Would you mind coming to Aberdalgie to pick me up?"


On the way back to Edinburgh, Maevis was silent in the car, her eyes on the passing countryside while Tom drove. He turned down the radio, then let out a soft sigh. "He didn't take it well, did he?" Tom asked her suddenly.

"No," Maevis replied after a moment. "And it's your fault he didn't."

"Maevis," Tom said, but Maevis was beyond pissed off at this point.

"No, it is your fault. This never would have even happened if you hadn't just given away my mother's child without any care of how that would affect her, me, or that child!" Maevis snapped at him. "How could you do that to us?"

"I realise now that it was a terrible mistake to make-"

"You realise this now? After the damage has already been done? After you have to face the consequences of what you've done?" Maevis demanded from him, and she scoffed, turning away from him and crossing her arms across her chest. "After we get back to Edinburgh, I never want to speak to you again."

"Maevis, don't you think that's a little harsh?" Tom asked her.

"Didn't you think taking away a child from my mother was a little harsh?" Maevis demanded from him, and Tom let out a sigh.

"At the time, it wasn't a completely selfish reason… It was before I realised she wasn't barmy about travelling back in time. I thought she couldn't handle a child, let alone two, but she was already pregnant so I couldn't give up both of you. So I just settled for one - and yes, I picked Elton for a selfish reason," he explained to her.

"You had no right," Maevis said to him rather harshly. "You had no right to take any of my mother's children away from her." She looked away from him again, unable to look him in the eye. Had Tom never given up Elton, she would have had her brother and he wouldn't hate her. Granted, Maevis went about telling him wrong, but she wouldn't have had to tell him at all if Tom hadn't initiated this by giving him away.


Back at Maidie's flat, where she, Rory and Morgan had agreed to stay, Maevis sat in the windowsill looking down at the cityscape. It was a beautiful city, but had changed so much due to all of the bombing that it had endured during the war. There was still evidence everywhere of the bombing, from buildings still being rebuilt to parts of streets still blocked off by rubble. Almost all of the historical buildings had been destroyed, and it was sad to see all of those buildings gone. She wondered if there were any buildings her mother had set foot in in the eighteenth century. Maybe the castle, which still stood save for some parts of it that had been destroyed, or Holyrood House. Holyrood House took significant damage during the war, but the Mary Queen of Scots tower still managed to survive. Maybe the South Bridge, where Mama had last been seen or heard from. Was it even around in the eighteenth century? Maevis had read up on it before when she first heard about her mother's disappearance and learned that the vaults weren't even built until the 1790s, so likely not. There were reports that the vaults had caved in, that there was no way that anyone could get out of there alive, and yet, her blood had been found on the scene, but she hadn't. Perhaps there was another portal down in those vaults after all?

"Hey, Duckie," said Maidie kindly, brushing a piece of hair out of Maevis's face. "Are you all right? You've gone so quiet."

"Yeah, fine. Thanks," said Maevis, giving Maidie a soft smile.

"He didn't take it well, I'm assuming?" Maidie asked, sitting down near Maevis's feet on the windowsill, and Maevis shook her head.

"No," she replied. "I should have reached out on Meta or something first before telling him outright. Instead, I just stupidly showed up expecting him to be happy and excited to see me. I don't know what I was thinking. It was stupid."

"You were excited, annwyl . I think I would have done the same if I found out I had a brother I didn't know I had," Maidie told her. "I still can't believe Tom did that… How could he just take her child away from her like that? Poor thing… Perhaps if she'd allowed them to scan her, she would have known she was carrying twins, but… Oh, nothing to be done for it now. I hope, for your sake, that he comes around, Duckie. I'm sure he will."

"I hope so," Maevis replied a bit sadly. "I found out he's a CODA. It's a child of deaf adults. He can speak sign language very well."

"Oh, wow. That must be quite a challenge," Maidie replied. "My aunt was deaf, and my cousin found it difficult especially when her aunt was being noisy. She couldn't hear, so she had no idea, but my uncle could hear. I can't imagine having two deaf parents."

"I suppose he's used to it," Maevis replied, and then she let out a sigh. "Have you guys made any headway in finding Mama?"

"As a matter of fact, we have," said Maidie, glancing up to where Rory was in the kitchen. "Rory, why don't you come and explain to Maevis what we found today?"

"Oh, yer going te love this, Maevis," said Rory, pulling out his cellphone as he approached and sat on the arm of the couch. "So first, I found a book about Scottish saints. As we already know, we think that your mam was St. Catherine the Red, also called St. Catherine the White Lady. Well, I went to the library and found an old book from the early twentieth century about Scottish saints and I'm going to read you this passage I found about St. Catherine the Red." He cleared his throat, then began to read.

"St. Catherine the Red, also known as St. Catherine the White Lady, was born in Scotland in the early 1720s. She was exiled to Paris in the early 1740s, shortly before the Jacobite Uprising of 1745, along with her husband. St. Catherine was a healer, and she regularly volunteered her time at L'Hôpital des Anges, a charity hospital for the working class of Paris throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It was said that St. Catherine performed three miracles - the first was bringing back a man from the brink of death, the second was restoring a child's ability to walk after an ailment, and the third was restoring the eyesight of a widowed woman with five children to care for. It is said that she is synonymous with a historic figure with an importance to the Jacobite Uprising itself - Catherine Fowlis, called the 'Red Witch' by the British, and sister to the Black Fowlis, who would become Cailean Fowlis, the Eighth Laird of Kisimul. She was canonised in 1895."

"St. Catherine the Red was a symbol of hope for us all during the rebellion and the war because of that," said Maidie. "I remember her iconography was everywhere. Little did we know that St. Catherine the Red was fighting right there alongside us." She paused for a moment. "Wait, what did you say about a Cailean Fowlis?"

"'She was the sister to the Black Fowlis, who would become Cailean Fowlis, the Eighth Laird of Kisimul," Rory repeated.

"Can… Can we search him? I… I need to see him," Maidie replied, evidently a bit shaken up.

"Oh, here, I have a painting of him," Maevis replied, pulling up the PowerPoint file Tom had sent her and opening the slide with Cailean Fowlis the Laird and her uncle, Cailean Fowlis, then handed her phone to Maidie. Maidie put her reading glasses on and let out a gasp, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Oh, my… God. It's him! It really is him!" she exclaimed, and then she looked up at Maevis. "You… Your mother, she… When she came back, she had his tartan. His Fowlis of Barra tartan. I knew it was his because he'd asked me to stitch his name into it a long time ago, so I did, and I could still see it when I saw your mother again in 2146, when she came back."

"Tartans were banned in Scotland after Culloden, so I imagine he'd had it hidden away. But didn't Mama have her tartan with her when she disappeared the first time?" Maevis asked, and Maidie nodded.

"She did," Maidie replied. "But she came back with Cailean's… When did Cailean become the Laird of Kisimul?"

"Let me check," Rory replied, searching Cailean Fowlis on Wikipedia and pulling it up. "Says he became Laird in 1759 upon the death of his grandfather, Eairdsidh Ruadh Fowlis. Let me read his history here, hold on…" Rory cleared his throat.

"Cailean Dubh Fowlis, c. 1723 - 1792, was the son of Archie Fowlis, son of Eairdsidh Ruadh Fowlis, 7th Laird of Kisimul. He arrived in Barra in 1747 with his wife, said to be an Irish woman, after leaving Scotland following his participation in the Battle of Culloden. For several years, he lived in peace with his family in Kisimul Castle until he was arrested in 1751 and released on house arrest in 1752. Upon the death of Eairdsidh Ruadh Fowlis on March 3rd, 1759, Cailean ascended to the Lairdship after he was pardoned in August of 1759. He passed on his title to his son, Cillian Fowlis, 9th Laird of Kisimul, in 1773 and is rumoured to have moved to the American Colonies, possibly North Carolina."

"No mention of his sister?" Maevis asked him.

"It mentions briefly that he was the sister of Catherine Fowlis the Red Witch, but that only takes me to the page for St. Catherine the Red," Rory replied. "There's no other information about her."

"Why would he give up his title and move to America?" Maevis asked, standing up and pacing in the living area. "1751… 2146… Maidie, what year did Mama disappear again?"

"2138, during the Second Battle of Culloden," Maidie told her.

"And what year did she say she went to again? 1743, right?" Maidie nodded. "That's a difference of three hundred and ninety-five years both times…"

"So she disappeared again in 2161…" Maidie said.

"And probably went to the year 1766," Maevis finished.

"So now we have a time, but all of the information about her stops after Culloden," said Rory. "I mean, I did find some articles that briefly mentioned she was also living at Kisimul Castle, but I'd have to dig deeper to find out if there's actually any documentation putting her there."

"Then maybe it isn't just her we need to look into," Maevis replied. "My brother and sister, Archie and Brèagha Fraser. Brèagha apparently painted portraits under the name 'B. Fraser', we can look into her. I don't know anything about Archie except for the fact that he was living in the castle in 1757, when Brèagha painted a portrait of him."

"I can check the archives. I'll bet there's somethin' hidin' somewhere," Rory told her, writing down these names in his phone notes. "Any other names."

"Hmm… Jamie Fraser, maybe, in connection with Barra? There can't have been too many Frasers on Barra, right?" Maevis asked.

"Probably not, but he could have been using a different name," Maidie chimed in. "If both Catrìona and Cailean were wanted, I imagine he was, too. Maybe try James Fowlis?"

"That had to have been so common in the eighteenth century," Maevis said, mildly frustrated. "Maidie, did Mama ever mention where Jamie might've been from?"

"No, I don't think so, and if she did, I don't remember," said Maidie, and then Maevis sighed.

"All right, then. Guess we'd better start looking, then," she said, nodding slightly to Rory. Having the year 1766 as a potential start date could be helpful, as could having the names of her siblings - Brèagha couldn't have been too common of a name, could it? It was going to be difficult, but Maevis was ready to take on that challenge if it meant finding her mother, and it also kept her mind off of her brother's harsh feelings towards her.


Aberdalgie, Scotland

ELTON POV

Elton sat on the porch of his family's rebuilt farmhouse, his mobile phone in hand as he looked at the profile picture of Ellie Murray - or rather, Maevis Fowlis. She had red hair, same as he did, blue eyes, and she was remarkably tall for a woman. Elton's parents and sisters were all on the shorter side, while Elton towered over all of them. Could he really be adopted? Suddenly, he heard the door open rather loudly, startling him, and his father stepped out on the porch, signing 'I'm sorry' to him when he realised he'd frightened his son.

"It's okay, Dad," Elton replied back. He'd gotten used to his family being unusually loud and noisy, considering they couldn't hear themselves.

'What's the problem?' Dad signed to Elton as he leaned against the railing, and Elton let out a sigh.

"A lot," he signed back. "Dad… Am I adopted?"

'Why do you ask?' Dad signed back to him.

'Today, this girl came in and told me she was my sister,' Elton told him.

'The pretty ginger girl you were talking to?' Dad asked him, and Elton nodded. 'I knew this would come up someday… Yes, son. You are adopted.'

'But why? You and Mum had two daughters already.'

'We wanted a son, and Mum had cancer in her uterus. It had to be removed.' Elton nodded slightly, then stood up and showed the picture on his phone to his father.

"Tha's her," Elton said, signing as well as speaking. His father looked at the phone and slipped his reading glasses on, then made a pleased expression and sound.

'She's very pretty,' Dad signed to him. 'She looks like you. But how does she know she is your sister?'

'She said she was sent away during the war to America and she came back looking for her family and my name came up,' Elton signed back. 'Her name is Maevis Fowlis.'

'A pretty name for a pretty girl. You should reach out to her,' Dad signed out, and Elton sighed.

'I don't think I want to. I'm happy in the family I'm in. Why should I want to be a part of a family that gave me up? They didn't give her up,' Elton asked him.

'Did you ask her why?'

'No… But they still gave me up and not her.'

'You were just a bairn, son. She must have been, too. It's not her fault. She's your sister. Ask her.'

'That won't upset you and Mum?' Elton asked him, and Dad seemed to chuckle a little and shook his head.

'Of course not,' Dad signed back. 'We just want you to be happy, son. But if you're not ready, then there's nothing wrong with waiting until you are.' He patted his son on the back and gave him a smile. 'Come in soon. Dinner is ready.'

'I will, Dad. Thank you,' Elton signed back, watching as his father went back inside, and he let out a sigh. Accepting Maevis as his sister meant that everything as he knew it would change - his identity, his life, literally everything. It wouldn't have to if he just ignored her, but a small part of him didn't want to. He let out a small huff, then locked his phone screen and put it back in his pocket. He'd think about it, for sure, but right now, he simply wanted to be with his family - the one that actually wanted him.