We know that our friend Gabrielle is in trouble but we don’t know what for, or whom with. Strangely, I feel that the reason must be related to her interest in the old town, my town, the place where Melissa and I had lived. I don’t know why this comes to my mind, but the clue must be there. 

Why was Gabrielle interested in that small place, out of thousands of much more glamorous towns and cities? Why that spot? Was it really because of her interest in history, in that land wounded by so many battlefields? Yes, she is a historian. I ponder. What does history mean for a being who lives for millennia? What perspective does she have on our history? 

The small town grew from a medieval marketplace to a garrison town on the eastern marches of the kingdom, and on to an industrial town in the nineteenth century. I look for something unusual, something that may have attracted Gabrielle’s attention. From time to time, clear memories of buildings and churches reveal themselves to me. I look at old pictures, and an irrepressible nostalgia overcomes me. I see the small river flowing past our house, the trees reflecting in the water and the kingfisher my mother so loved… 

I want to talk to Melissa about all this, but she seems more interested in gossiping with my wife and sister, or am I being very unfair? 

Then, the town was still full of older houses, some of them going back to the fifteenth century or perhaps earlier. Once – I must have been still very young – we stayed in a very old house where the walls were thick but hollow. At night we could hear the rats running along the walls. There was a water fountain in the paved courtyard, flowing into a heavy stone basin that was very ancient. 

I look further at the history, a famous general was born there, who made his name in North Africa in the last century. The presumed inventor of a precursor of the helicopter was born there, too…  Perhaps I have to go back further, to Roman times, to the reign of Aurelian, and the great battle that took place nearby, that sealed the fate of the Gaules? The town became Christian under Constantine and the religious peace that followed was the hallmark of his reign. After that, the town bishops became very powerful, holding their own against their rivals and even the King. The town hosted the knights Templar… 

Images and memories cross my mind, the town was on the main the road to Burgundy, and on the invasion routes from the East. 

Gabrielle has never told me what the origin of her interest in the region was: how far back does that interest reach? I need to ask Melissa who, of all people, must know something of Gabrielle’s studies.

I look again at the long list of famous people who were born, lived, or died in the town: artists, soldiers, writers, engineers… The town still hosts one of the top engineering schools in the country. But what about its surroundings? Farming is the main industry in the region, and, on the hills, the vineyards that gave them their name.

All this is very far from the fantastic perspective that Gabrielle opened for us. And yet she was, still is there, looking, scanning vast archives…. What is she looking for? 

Then I remember Melissa’s page: the pictures of the old churches. As I open the laptop, and log on, suddenly I see it: the old cloister, the stern ascetic face of the saint. I have no recollection of Melissa’s interest in medieval art, but here is the proof. Is that a clue? Is there something hidden in those old stones?

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