It felt great to be clean again, to have clean clothes, and a full tummy. By the time King Gilgamesh returned with the plant, the three of us pretty much looked like we did when we arrived in Sumer. King Gilgamesh bathed as well and was given clean clothes to put on since his were pretty much shreds by that time. He ate while we loaded food onto the raft for our return trip. When he gently carried the plant to the raft, we knew it was time for us to leave.

Utnapishtim and his wife, came out to see us off safely. "I have asked the gods to grant you a safe return home. Stay to the Euphrates River, the winds will send you up river," the old man told us.

"You mean we don't have to go back through Mount Mashu?" Tommy asked with a big grin on his face.

"You have been brave young ones. Your trip is almost over," his wife said, and now I was convinced she knew we were from farther away than Uruk.

"Thank you ma'am," Nicky said, and we each gave her a hug. I started to feel bad for her. How many thousands of years would she have to live here, never seeing her kids, or grandkids, or great, great, great, great, well you know what I mean.

As we set out for Uruk, I noticed that the king kept looking at the plant. "You know, living forever isn't really the same thing as never being forgotten," I told him.

"How can they not be," he asked me.

"Well, since we will be leaving soon, I guess it won't matter if I tell you something. Most people, at least the ones who go to school, are taught about Gilgamesh, you. That's why we're even here. Nicky and I had to do a report on you for school. We told you we are from the future. We're from thousands of years in the future."

"Thousands of years?" he asked, and I could tell he was finding that hard to believe.

"I'm not sure exactly what year this is. No one really knows for sure. We're told sometime between 2700 and 2500BC," I explained.

"BC?" he asked

"I can't get into the details of that. What I can tell you is that thousands of years from now, something huge is going to happen, something so big that people will base all time around it. This time, your time and all time before this event, will be counted down and called BC. All the time after this event will be counted up and call AD. We're from 2012AD. We're from more than 4500 years in the future, and while I've heard of you, I've never heard of Utnapishtim."

Gilgamesh didn't say anything for several minutes. "Am I remembered favorably?"

"Well," Tommy says now joining into the conversation, "Your reputation from before you met Enkidu isn't so great."

"Enkidu, he is remembered?" the king asked excitedly.

"Yeah," Nicky tells him. "I mean you were the demigod and the king, so the story is told of you, but yeah. The story tells about what the two of you did together and how he made you a better person."

The smile on the king's face was now that same brilliant smile we saw earlier in our journey.

"You'll still be a good king right, find a nice girl, settle down and have babies?" I asked with a grin.

"You sound like my mother now," he said with a laugh. "Yes I promise."

"Your walls," Nicky said, "around Uruk. Those are part of your legacy. People appreciate the lasting things. They won't always believe in the Bull of Heaven or Humbaba, but how you built a might city, that they will always believe."

"You said you had to complete a report, on me, will it be favorable?" Gilgamesh asked us.

"I have to admit," I started, "That when Nicky got us stuck with you as our topic that I was mad at him."

"I got us stuck," Nicky said giving me a dirty look.

"Anyway," I continued with a smile, "I am so glad we get to report on you. I'm glad we got to come here and meet you. I wish you had been given immortality, but I'll never forget you. I love you."

"Me too," Tommy said giving the king a hug.

"Yeah, me too," Nicky said with a smile.

"I shall never forget you, any of you. I have been blessed by the gods to have been saved twice. The first time was by Enkidu. He saved me from a miserable life, a life of being hated by my people, for valid reason. Then I was saved again by the three of you, for I would surely have died at the loss of my friend. You gave me this quest and helped me survive it," he said smiling at each of us.

"You would have done this anyway," I said, "We're just glad we got to come along."

"You should all get some rest," Gilgamesh tolds us as the sun was beginning to set.

I heard some sounds that woke me before dawn the next morning. I was surprised when I raised my head and saw the walls of Uruk ahead of us in the distance. I shoved Tommy and Nicky to wake them as well. "What is it?" Tommy asked rubbing his eyes.

"We're back at Uruk," I said, as the king was tossing some vine to a man on the shore.

"How'd we get back so fast," Nicky asked.

"Traveling on water is faster than climbing mountains," I told him.

"Oh yeah," he said with that duh look on his face.

"Watch your step," the king told us, as we reached the shore.

I climbed off the raft first, followed by Tommy, then Nicky and finally the king. "The people will be happy you have returned my king," the man told him.

"I am happy to have returned," Gilgamesh told him.

"Have you returned for good, my Lord," the man continued.

"Yes," King Gilgamesh said but looking at us, "I have learned all that I needed to know. I am now prepared to stay and lead my people."

"I think we should be getting back home now," I said even though I wanted to stay there and be his daughter just as much.

"You, brave Dani, you have been a wise counselor to me," Gilgamesh says giving me a hug.

"I'll miss you," I told him with tears running down my check.

"Nicky," the king now said taking Nicky into his arms. "You are strong and wise. You will protect Dani and Tommy when you return to your time."

"Yes my Lord," Nicky said, "Promise." I could tell he was trying really hard to hold back the tears.

"I don't want to go," Tommy now said breaking down in the king's arms.

"My most precious Tommy, what I would not give to have you be of my own flesh and keep you with me, but you have a mother. It is not my place to take you from her," Gilgamesh told him. He was now crying himself and that was all it took to get Nicky started. All four of us were sobbing on the edge of the Euphrates River outside of the walls of Uruk.

"I love you," Tommy said. "I'll always remember you."

"And I you, all of you," Gilgamesh said pulling us into his hug with Tommy. None of us made any attempt to stop the hug for what seemed like forever.

"My Lord," the man that greeted us finally interrupted. "You mother waits."

"As does yours," the king told us.