Another day came and went. I was still sore, but now I found that my body was actually starting to get used to it.

It was after dinner. We were both sitting by the fire in Saoirse’s cottage, where I was watching her mend a tear in her overdress. As tense as I was about the ticking time-bomb that was my hormone stash, tonight felt kinda nice and relaxing.

But Saoirse kept glancing over at me, as if expecting me to say something.

“Did you want to talk about something?” I asked. Saoirse took a sharp inhale.

“Father Padraig asked me who you are. I said you’re a traveler from distant lands.”

“That’s not completely wrong though,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “You didn’t lie to the Father.”

“I’m okay with telling lies to Father Padraig,” she said, frowning. “I do it often. But… what is the truth?”

I was getting nervous. Is it time?

“Er… the truth…?”

“Yes, the truth. You appeared in town in those strange clothes. You speak the tongue of the English, but not at all like them. Your hair is soft, and your teeth are pearl-white. You feel too much pain from doing farm work. You are a woman who can read and write, and you know the world.”

I was speechless. Saoirse got up, put away her now mended overdress, then sat back down.

“Are all people in India like this?”

My heart was racing. I didn’t realize she was this observant. I also didn’t realize just how much her English had improved in only three days.

“N-no.”

“Okay, then what is the truth?”

I hesitated. Saoirse turned away.

“Who are you?”

I took a deep breath. It was time. And besides, I needed her help to get home anyway.

“My full, real name is Radha Ishwar. I was born in India, in a city, that is, a big town, called Bangalore. That much is true. But what I didn’t tell you, is… well…”

I felt my throat getting stuck. I wondered if it was nerves, or the fish stew from dinner.

“What didn’t you tell me?” asked Saoirse. Her eyes were wide open. I could tell she was angry, but still incredibly curious.

I cleared my throat.

“I… I moved to another city far away from Bangalore after growing up. A city called San Francisco.”

“Is that in Spain?” asked Saoirse. My heart was pounding.

“No… it’s in… America. Or at least… it will be.”

“I don’t understand.”

I looked at her. Her anger was gone, but it was now seemingly replaced with confusion.

“You come from the New World? There are towns and cities there?”

“I think there should be by now, yes, but San Francisco definitely… doesn’t exist… yet.”

Now Saoirse was really confused.

“But… how can you be from a city that doesn’t exist? Unless she really is a fae…”

“I’m not a fae, Saoirse,” I said, standing up. “What I’m trying to say is… well… I’m…”

“Yes…?”

“Okay,” I said. I sat back down, and took another deep breath.

“Remember I told you what year it is now?”

Saoirse nodded.

“1637.”

“Okay, the truth is that I was born… in the year… 1990.”

Saoirse blinked.

“Nin-teen… ninety…?”

“Yes. Or more accurately, I will be born in the year 1990. 353 years from now.”

“What…?”

“That’s right, Saoirse.”

I stood up again.

“I’m from the future.”

Saoirse didn’t say anything for the next five minutes or so. I just stood there, waiting for her to react.

And then, she did.

“I don’t believe you.”

I nodded.

“Well, I don’t blame you.”

“Then why did you come to Cill Rois?” asked Saoirse. “Why would you come here?”

“It was an accident,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “I was trying to go somewhere else.”

Saoirse turned away again.

“I still don’t believe you.”

“Okay.”

I headed over to the loft bed and took out my handbag. I can’t believe I’m doing this…

“Okay,” I said, sitting down. “I’m gonna prove to you that I’m from the future.”

Saoirse watched carefully as I opened up my handbag, and slowly pulled out my phone. She stared at it with utter confusion, but also a little fear and intrigue. In that moment I realized just how alien this black, reflective rectangle must look to her.

“What is that…” she whispered. I smiled.

“This is called a smartphone. Most people have one in my time, in the future.”

“What is it for?”

“Oh, all sorts of things. Taking pictures, playing games, listening to music… but mainly it’s for communication. In my time we can use these to talk to each other, even from across the sea.”

Saoirse tried to touch it, but backed out at the last minute.

“This little object…?”

“Yes. Here, let me show you.”

I switched it on. The very second the phone screen lit up Saoirse leapt back with a small yelp.

“It… there’s… there’s a fire inside…!”

I started laughing. Her eyes were wide with shock, and she was breathing heavily.

“You could say that. Around two million little fires, so small that we can’t even tell they’re fires.”

My phone finished starting up and now displayed the home screen. Saoirse watched my finger with fascination as I navigated over to the Photos app.

“The fires… they obey you… your finger… and so many colors…”

“Yeah, about sixteen million or so colors,” I said. I was relishing every moment of this. “But here, this is what I wanted to show you.”

Saoirse slowly, hesitantly, leaned in. On the phone screen was a selfie I took on Yerba Buena Island, with the Bay Bridge and skyline behind me. I was dressed pretty casual: sunglasses and a cute tanktop.

“Is that you…?” asked Saoirse, in complete disbelief of what she was seeing. I smirked.

“It is. Behind me is my city, San Francisco. In the year 2017.”

Saoirse’s jaw dropped, in the same way that Maebh’s did when she first saw me.

“And those… are castles…?”

“Castles! You could definitely say that, but no. They’re called skyscrapers, or towers. Very tall buildings built for very small land.”

“And… on your face…”

“Ah, those are sunglasses. They keep the sunlight out of your eyes.”

Now Saoirse was speechless. I swiped the screen, and the picture changed. It was now me standing in front of the Union Square Christmas tree, in winter wear and making “peace” signs with my hands.

“Is everything so big in your world?” asked Saoirse, quietly.

“Kinda,” I said. “Well, in America, yes. Here, you try.”

I showed her the phone. She, less hesitantly now, slowly reached out to touch the screen, and tried a swipe. The picture changed again, this time to me sitting in a cable car. She swiped again, to a picture I took at Pier 39. She kept swiping and cycling through my library of pictures before finally stopping and leaning back in her chair.

“Well?” I asked. “What do you think? Still don’t believe me?”

This time she didn’t have an answer. I decided to try one more thing.

“Here, check this out.”

I closed the Photos app and opened up the camera. I flipped it to the front-cam and then showed it to Saoirse, who got startled from seeing her own face on the screen.

“Th– th-that’s… me?!”

I laughed, then positioned the phone to take a selfie.

“Say ‘cheese’!”

I posed as one normally would, but Saoirse had the most hilariously awkward face ever. When I showed her the picture, she couldn’t believe it.

“Your people have… all this… in your hand…”

“Yeah… it’s actually pretty incredible when you think about it. Too bad most people in my time take it for granted.”

Saoirse remained silent for the next few minutes. I switched off the phone, realizing that this little demo cost me more battery than I would’ve liked.

Then, Saoirse spoke again. But this time, in a whisper.

“Then how… how did you come here?”

I knew this was coming. But I wasn’t scared anymore.

“I built a device that lets me travel through space and time. Here, look–”

I pulled out the time device from my handbag. Saoirse stared at it.

“But here’s the thing,” I began. “It actually broke while coming here. I need to fix it within the next month, or… well… something very bad will happen to me, let’s say.”

“How will you do that?” asked Saoirse. She really does know how to hit the nail on the head, this one.

“I was hoping you might have some ideas, actually. I need to figure out how to get parts, in a time when those parts don’t exist yet.”

“What are they made of?”

“Metals, mostly. Like copper and steel.”

Saoirse thought for a moment.

“There is a blacksmith in town, Aodh. We can have him make what you need.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“The town blacksmith? Are you sure…? He’s not gonna, you know… suspect anything?”

“He won’t ask questions,” said Saoirse. “We can lie to him if he does.”

Wow, I thought. She’s really crafty when she wants to be, huh!

“You’ve done this before, haven’t you…?”

Saoirse nodded.

“This was how I made the farm… con-trap-tion… with Tadhg.”

“Oh okay then.”

I smiled.

“Okay!”

I got up and walked around the cottage.

“I’ll be able to go home!”

Saoirse watched me do my celebratory walk, but I noticed she didn’t really seem all that happy. Almost as if the idea of me leaving made her sad.