***Author's Note***
This story is a companion piece to my earlier story "A Time-Traveler's Lust" and any stories in the "A Time-Traveler" series.
You don't have to read those to understand this story. They are all meant to make sense individually, as well as together.
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It was years ago now. Both a handful of years ago and thousands of years ago.
The time of a younger Bahiti Lee, where her dark curls were ivory-pinned, her caramel body was just a bit slimmer and covered with a flowing dress, and her eyes were the same, deep chocolate, just beneath a caked heavy blue and intricate winged liner.
She rested by a darker, elderly woman. Their backs upon the sand and gaze upon the stars.
"...and they leave food for the dead, they have these lights they keep out, fires they burn through the night, and they dress up as animals and monsters to scare away malevolent beings from the Otherworld!"
"Well, when I'm dead, you better leave food out more often!" the old woman laughed,
"I... I don't want you to die."
Lee started tearing up.
"Everyone dies, child. I embrace life every single day, and I always will. And when I die, I'll have plenty in the afterlife too, because you're certainly going to make sure I have what I need," she laughed. "You will live on, and you will live well."
Lee sniffled and wiped at her tears, and the old woman held her.
"It's all right, Mekhare. I'll always be with you, living or dead."
"It's... Bahiti."
"Bahiti? Bahiti's only a little girl," the woman laughed.
"No, grandmother. I'm Bahiti. I'm not my mother."
"Bahiti..." the old woman trailed off. "Bahiti? Of course, of course. But what other wondrous things happened in this 'Samhain'?"
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One week earlier...
Samhain.
Lee knew a little of it, but she'd met Celts and travelers who'd experienced it themselves.
Mystical. Beautiful. A way to accept the harvest, their new year, a way to honor the dead. A way to celebrate life.
The time gun was to be used for official purposes only, that was a given.
And Lee officially wanted to experience Samhain...
Long cornrows surrounded her bare face, a simple peach nightgown upon her caramel skin.
She set the time gun and fired, leaping into the portal, a chaotic blast of galaxies, piercing lights and looming shadows, scents sweet to saccharine to smoky and wood.
Lee shot out onto the wet Autumn grass of a crescent-mooned Celtic night.
The time gun was set to mimic the general style of the region, just as soon as she could actually see the people.
It didn't take long.
Lee was soon styled in dark robes and boots, costumed as a beast of some sort, hair and face covered by a hood and ancient mask.
Laughter. Music. The light of fires. The crisp air upon her.
The eating and sacrificing of animals...
Historical cultures were drastically different and very much the same.
She eased into a crowd of people, automatic translator prepared, as always.
And by the fire light, a short woman of freckled face and skin light rose, and robes dark, came into view. She munched on what looked like an apple.
Lee strolled toward her, but stopped abruptly as the woman was joined by a man, dressed as some sort of horned creature and carrying what seemed to be a lit, hollowed-out turnip.
Yes, of course. Protect the souls from those thieving demons, or what have you.
The freckled woman turned directly to Lee, and looked around herself before she tossed the apple and ambled to the traveler.
The man followed.
Well, shit.
"You..." the woman smiled. "Do I know you?"
"No, no." Lee managed an uncomfortable chuckle.
"Could I see you?"
Lee could certainly escape before being daggered or speared, couldn't she?
Certainly. Most likely.
Hopefully...
Fuck it.
Many Celts were nearby, but surely wouldn't see her if she just took the mask off for a moment in the shadowed light.
And she did.
The freckled woman's brows raised.
"You're from elsewhere?"
"Yes..." Lee forced a smile. "Yes, I am."
"Intriguing..." the woman's tone was softer. Silky. "And who are you?"
"My name is Lee. Who... are you?"
"I'm Meadhbh. And this," she threw an arm around the man, "this is my husband, Fionn."
Finally, the man spoke. "You should join us for the feast, foreigner."
Meadhbh gave a soft chuckle. "You should! You should!" she whispered-shouted, and latched onto Lee's arm, playfully guiding her to what Lee would soon discover was a home of straw and mud, with sets of wooden tables and a roaring fire in the center.
The woman smiled and shut the door, while the man took off his face-covering headpiece.
He was much older than Lee expected. Maybe somewhere in his forties to even early sixties, while Meadhbh looked to be no more than thirty or so and likely under twenty-five, though admittedly people age in varying ways.
In the dim light, his eyes shone a pale chocolate, skin apricot and kissed by a few wrinkles, with grey-speckled auburn waves that reached just past the neck.
Meadhbh turned to Lee, her own round crystal eyes now fully in view of Lee's much darker, more slender ones. Meadhbh's hair uncovered to reveal copper braids wrapped around her head.
The freckled woman slid fingertips down the traveler's arm.
"We should return to the feast soon," Meadhbh smiled. "But we could wait here for a bit, what with it being warmer... If you want, of course."
They were a nose distance away. Lee glanced at Fionn, who suddenly decided the floor was in desperate need of his gaze.
She looked back at Meadhbh and at the man again.
