And you were very wise to have a warrior to look out for you. He seems a little young for a warrior but he carries the weapons of a warrior.” Harlou...had come down from the wall and Outher had seen him appear out of the darkness with his bow and arrows.“Yes Outher I have a very good warrior son. He may be small now, but soon he will be big and strong. A good warrior is trained early so he is strong and sneaky as well. Outher meet my son Harlou, Harlou this is Outher my new messenger.”“Yes father. Then he made me promise not to make a noise, or else he’d gag me. Once I promised to be quiet, he put me in the cage, and I heard the click of the padlock, and knew I was stuck there until he chose to let me out. When I heard Master Steven come back into the bedroom, my heart leaped out of my throat, I was so nervous. He unlocked the cage and told me to crawl out. Then he took off the blindfold, and he held up something I didn’t recognize. He told me, ?I’m going to attach this to your. It was her mother, Teresa realized. And the young man with her, who looked like Alexis but with darker hair, was her father. He was wearing what looked like Army khakis from the Viet Nam era, the era that defined him, but he was happy… a happiness that Teresa had never seen. He seemed to be peering at her. ‘All is forgiven here.’ said Alexis, reading Teresa’s thoughts. ‘Here there is no pain, no regrets. Only love and peace. Are you ready to cross the bridge and be with us?’ Teresa knew the. " Tom whispered. I smiled, for he had just confirmed my thoughts about him."What's so funny?" he asked me. "I'm gay too." I told him.Once again he stared at me. "You?!" I reached forward and kissed him on his lips, before he could pull away. "Yes," I whispered.Tom blushed again, finally with someone to make his dreams a reality. He slowly wrapped his arms around me and hesitatingly kissed me back, while my hand caressed the front of his jeans."I had a suspicion that you were gay." I confessed.