Istvan was a man of multiple facets: jester, sacked royal advisor, lutenist, philanderer, occasional poet and expert archer. Yet the part he most valued was being a courier. The roads were unsafe, the work dangerous and hence well paid. The corpulent Count Benthius consigned to him an urgent message for his second-favourite mistress, Louise de Burguinone, who lived with her husband 50 leagues away, in Quertin sur Loire. Istvan set off in the early morning on his rapid black steed, called Illona.Whoosh! An arrow from a cross-bow whizzed past his left ear. Istvan immediately made his mare turn sharply and gallop into the bushes, where there was a rough and muddy track. Unharmed, he continued down the rugged path through the broadleaf forest. He was lost, as he did not want to go back the same way. The bandits could still be there, waiting for him or for another traveller to ambush. An hour later, he caught sight of a glint of metal. It was a shiny metal box hanging from a branch. It contained a book with a soft brown cover of a strange sort of leather. Later, at dusk, when he emerged from the forest, there was a small stone inn with a welcoming fire, so he put up there. The next morning, he started to read the journal.
Session #6
"Good morning, Claudia."
"Hi".
"First of all, you're too young to know your sexuality. You're only 18. Many people your age are confused, especially with LGBTQ being all the rage in the media and such. You'll grow out of it and you'll be like me, a normal woman."
"I know who I am and what attracts me. I have nothing against men, but I am drawn only to women. I am happy to be a lesbian. What I want to know is why am I like this."
"You have fallen in with the wrong crowd, who have dragged you along with them."
"I have gay friends, but that is beside the point."
"Teenagers conform to their peers, you should know that."
"I feel I am gay in my bones. I cannot be otherwise."
"Being gay is a choice."
"No, it bloody-well isn't! Have you ever heard a gay person say they chose to be that way?"
"They aren't aware they have made the choice, which they did by keeping company with a gay crowd. It becomes a lifestyle."
"Bugger you! You're totally clueless!"
"Your parents would not like to hear you swearing."
"Who cares? They are Bible-bashing fuddy-duddies. They think I'll be a virgin till I marry some hairy peasant air-freighted from the old country."
"You need to show some respect for your elders."
"You think you are older and wiser, don't you? You're hardly older than me. Have you got a driver's licence yet?"
"Let's get on with our session, time is running out."
"You might as well accept I am gay."
"We shall see about that, young lady. I want to put you into hypnosis, to see what is really going on in your head. But you have to cooperate."
"Yes, I will cooperate, even though you and I are at cross-purposes. I know what you're up to. My parents hired you to convert me. Well, it's not going to happen!"
Istvan stopped reading the journal, which made no sense to him. What was a lesbian? However, it made him think of the Claudia he knew. Was she in danger? Was this book somehow a coded message about her?
The Claudia whom he loved was not beautiful, yet her looks were striking, even electrifying, so much so that she possessed a galaxy of admirers. Picturing her in his mind stirred his passions. Istvan immediately wrote her a love sonnet with humorous touches. He planned to serenade her with it, accompanied with his lute. Could that fail?
After a breakfast of rough black bread, he set off on his errand with renewed urgency, his mind racing ahead to the return journey and his beloved.
Session #7
"What do you see?"
"It's all dark."
"Go on."
"There is a man. He is on a horse."
"What does he look like, what is he wearing?"
"He's very indistinct. Although the image is unclear, I know what he feels."
"Go on."
"He is deeply in love with a dark woman."
"Yes?"
"That's all. It's gone blank."
"Time is up. We'll have another go next week."
Session #8
"Let's get back to the man on his horse."
"I've got it!"
"Got what?"
"It's all clear now."
"Tell me."
"That man is me in a past life."
"That's just New Age mumbo-jumbo. You're old enough to know better."
"I know it for certain."
"What is it you think you know?"
"The reason why I want to be with a woman in this life. It's because of the passionate love I had as a man for woman in that life."
"I suppose you married her in this fantasy?"
(Sobbing) "No, she rejected me, and I never got over it. I was killed in another ambush a few months later."
"So you want to believe that an unrequited love in a supposed past life determines your life in the present?"
"The one thing I know is this is something I have to complete in this life."