"In almost every way, what we're seeing in the daily life and habits of the people of Troy matches up to that of the European team's report. The only incontinence comes when we reach the matter of imports and exports, which was predicted and fortunately fell along the lines of that which we expected." I tapped the board behind me, a chart roughly drawn on a clay tablet. After all, this was 1247 BC, and History would find a creative way to eliminate us completely if we gave the time natives any hint that we weren't your everyday, easygoing Greek olive farmers. Unfortunately, due to our Asian backgrounds, an incredible amount of holographic skin had to be caked on every week or so (another expense we had to take on to be able to perform this mission).

Taehyung nodded from the back of our handmade-hut. He had caught onto the routine quickly enough, and had even started to peddle our olives to and from town, which earned us the money we needed to live, and to buy Taehyung's birthday cake. He thought we'd forgotten, since we had ignored our own, but I sure as hell wasn't going to let his 22rd birthday pass without some celebration.

It was normal for Researchers and a Time-gifted to live like this: I was four years older than my birth certificate claimed, having done investigations like this before; however, this was the longest yet. Though it was only a year, that was a lengthy period to spend living another life. I was glad Taehyung handled the shock of not going home after the first month well.

After all, it had been an entire year since we left 2017. He had insisted on dancing and singing when no Time Natives were around, and I admired his dedication. The muscles required for making marketable olives kept all us fit, so nothing to worry about there...

"Are you ok?" Seo Hyo laughed, poking me with his olive-branch pointer.

"Just thinking..." I murmured.

Taehyung broke the silence, his Greek as soft as birdsong.

"When do we go back?"

An everyday question. Homesick. He, of course, had friends. A family. A life.

It was easy to forget when you work beside someone who seems comfortable that all they want to do is leave.

"Well, I've got to be off. Hecuba'll need someone early this morning."

Max nodded, "We've got a shipment of olives we need to cart to the southern sector. Meet back here by... twenty-one hours?"

"Actually, I'll be back earlier than that. I'll have peeta and 'sweet' wine too; there's another feast tonight and Hecuba letting me keep what's not used."

Everyone grimaced, and that was understandable- Greek wine was not as fine as the stuff they were used to.

A certain deadly peace hung in the air as I made my way up past the shrine of Athena, the kind that comes from the absence of sound, specifically the sounds of war we had become so familiar with. A line of young women dressed in their best chitons, clean and white, waited outside the shrine, carrying baskets of fruit, oils, milk- one even had a goat on a rope. Sacrifices in the hopes that the goddess of wisdom and war would grant them aid.

I loved it.

The feast took longer than I expected, however, and I watched as Hecuba made off with King Praim. One would think thirteen kids was enough, but then again... she would have nineteen by the time this war was over.

I slipped away, quietly taking with me one of the large platters of cheese and bread, tucking a small bottle of wine under my tunic. This would certainly improve everyone's mood, hopefully enough that I could give them the nasty news.

The boys were waiting for me, playing checkers in the dust with oddly shaped pebbles. As far as I could tell, Taehyung had beaten everyone soundly.

He hadn't played me yet though, and checkers was a favorite of mine.

I set the polished platter down on the ground then joined it, watching the game in comfortable silence as Max's face grew red. According to the tallies, he'd lost fifteen and won one. Our stack of clay tablets towered in both corners, a history of everything we'd learned here. We'd transcribe them and sell them to our partner universities, our source of funding. 

Max groaned as Taehyung began to bounce his white pebble over Max's greenish-brown ones, until every brown pebble had been moved off their scratched out board.

Max swore in Greek, turning away, then, "I think you could beat even Lex!" He grinned.

"I don't," I smirked.

"It's on."

I pulled the wine from beneath my tunic and pulled the platter of food closer, the smoke from our lanterns oiling the air like a canvas.

Eventually the score lay eleven to eleven, while Max and Seo Hyo lay flat on their backs, asleep. The wine had been too bitter for them, so they had watched Taehyung and I face off until they fell asleep.

"Lex..."

It was the first time in months that we had had enough energy to stay up late, and I was almost nervous. Seo Hyo and Max were practically family, but they both slept like the dead, and wouldn't be any help if... Stop. This is Taehyung. He would never come close.

"Lex? W- Do we go back?"

I tilted my head to the side, pretending to study the board. The same question he'd asked every morning and night for 379 days.

Today, he'd cut himself off.

I sighed.

"One week."

His eyes widened in the flickering light.

"We've got all the information we could gather. Hecuba will be fine if her favorite handmaiden disappears, I promise."

"I wasn't concerned about your grandma," Taehyung teased, a snicker hidden behind his serious tone.

"She's not... like... Whatever. All I'm saying is, we've got everything we could possibly gather. It'll... but that's normal... we've stayed here for as long as we can. Plus, I'm sure it's not legal to -"

"If you mention my kidnapping one more time I'm going to scream." Taehyung rolled his eyes, seemingly exasperated, "Yeah, I miss just about everything in the 21st century, including my life itself. But, for the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me, this year has been-"

"No."

I shook my head, any previous frivolity fading.

"This may seem like a game to you, but it stopped when we celebrated your birthday two months ago. Look, we don't have families. None of us. You have a family, a job, friends, and you need a haircut."

Taehyung hung his head, hair falling across his face and shoulders in a smooth wave, "It's fashionable here. Besides, what if I don't want to go back?"

"Wha-"

"I like it here. It's quiet. You don't need to pay hundred of thousands in yen to see the night sky. It's peaceful and I don't have to worry about what the world will think about me. This year has been the least stressful I've know since I was sixteen. So, I don't want to go back. I'd rather be an olive farmer in 1247 BC without shampoo than to go back to 2017."

"Not an option." I'd stopped paying attention. "Have you forgotten Yoongi? Jimin? Jungkook?"

Silence. Taehyung stared blankly at me, searching for something.

"Um... that's.. who... the people I'm supposed to sing with?" HE stumbled across the words, his eyes glazing slightly with confusion.

The very air around us suddenly seemed to buzz. Pushing down the bile that was rising steadily in my throat, I stood, accidently scuffing the edge of our checkers board. Taehyung stood to match me, and he seemed to tower over me in the darkness, staring down at me with black eyes.

"I don't need them. I belong here."

"Taehyung." I straightened my back. I was the Historian here. I was in control. But damn, he was tall.

Deep breaths.

"Taehyung, you've got the madness. That's.. I'm sending you back tomorrow."

"What?"

"You've got a madness. A need to finish your life in a time it does not belong. You're a Time Native to the 21st century, you don't have freedom to move. You're susceptible to History and adaption. Be glad you're tied to the 21st century."

"But I'm not! I came here!"

"Ties are what era you belong to. Think of Seo Hyo and I like taxi drivers. You stay in your house unless we can ferry you back and forth. Stay in one place to long, you start living there with no memory that anything else ever existed. If you stay, your ties will adjust , adapt. You won't ever be able to go back. You'll forget everything you knew about the 21st century. The cuffs are helping slow that down, but your memory and values are slipping. And you're not worried. Your... citizenship has already started changing. So, I'll get Seo Hyo to take the tablets back. I'll show you the inevitable fate of Troy, then we can all go home happy." 

Taehyung sat down, burying his head in his hands, the edge of his himation slipping back, and the blue light from the cuffs spiking suddenly across the inside of the hut.

"You keep mentioning the cuffs, using them. What are they?"

"Dunno."

"What?"

"We don't know."

"Um, ok..."

"Anything else? This is your last night in peaceful Troy, after all." I waved a hand around our olive garden, the trees with their fingers clawing for nutrients, the slowest battle to the death I'd ever seen.

Taehyung fidgeted with the band on his right wrist, long fingers dancing with the odd blue light that wove itself so effortlessly into silver. "Alright, I do have another question."

"Fire away." I smirked.

"Where did you get these? Really. Be honest, please." He indicated the bracelets encasing both his wrists, eyes pleading.

A chill rippled through my veins at the question. Memories tugged at the edges of my conciseness, but I shoved them aside, desperate to maintain my happy appearance. "Min Su- I found them on a routine mission. Took them back for investigation."

Taehyung met my eyes, his own flickering with mistrust. "I asked you to be honest. Tell the truth."

"I don't think you want that." I broke his gaze to focus on the dirt, stirring it with my sandaled feet, the grime matching the sun-tanned color of the leather.

"I think that I can decide for myself."

I met his gaze once more, something cold and bitter rising in the back of my throat.

"Fine. But it's your psyche."