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What, like werewolves with their fated mates? That sounded...kinda creepy, but also kind of hot. Maybe she really was going mad.
"Well, if I know Alethia, and he asked her to find Carline, she would have done just that. I love history, and bringing it to people's attention, but Alethia's focus is on finding things, digging them up. That's why she studied archaeology. So if he's with Alethia, he probably already knows." Octavia wrapped her arms around herself. Oh, the heartbreak the guy must be feeling. She could scarcely bear it, and she'd never been in love. But it wasn't Carline, or Stan she wanted to know more about right now. She was supposed to be searching for... "Sean Bell. What do you know about him? He was on the ship with you, right?"
Harlow shook his head slowly. "I do not recall anyone of that name aboard theHooghly, or in Hooghly Town after. My first thought is that he was aboard theGilmoreand he died before we arrived, but you say he married one of your ancestors in 1835, so that does not seem possible. Unless he arrived on theRockinghaminstead. That ship was wrecked in another bay further south, and they set up camp there, instead of with us." He spread his hands wide. "Forgive me, but I do not know this Sean Bell at all. I cannot help you."
"Maybe he went by another name, or came on another ship, but something happened, so he had to fudge the details, or there would have been trouble. I will...try again later. I guess we're at a dead end with him, for the moment." She pulled up the three pictures she had, and set them side by side. "Did you ever see the mill at Point Belches? We call it the Old Mill now, but I imagine it must have been new then. I have three pictures: Garling in 1827, Wittenoom in 1839 and Blundell in 1843. The only problem is that the current one, the one in the two later pictures, wasn't built until 1835 but apparently it was robbed in 1834. So either there was an earlier mill on the site, or this one was in use a year before it was officially opened, while they were still building it, or...I don't know." She wrung her hands. "I know you mostly lived down past Woodman Point, but is there any chance you remember the mill?"
A sad smile stole across his face, and her heart sank.
"You don't, do you?" she asked.
"Oh, I remember the mill very well. It's probably my last, clearest memory from that time. But I am a farmer, Octavia. Pictures are all good and well, but to truly show you what I remember, I need to have my feet on the ground. If you take me there, I will tell you everything I know, and then you will know how the mill was robbed in 1834."
Octavia grabbed her keys, then thought for a moment and seized her camera bag and phone, too. "Let's go."
They drove in silence for most of the way, until the river came into view.
Harlow's breath hissed out. "This is the Swan River of your time?"
It would have all been dark then, in his time. Two million people, electricity, and two centuries later...she couldn't imagine how unrecognisable it would be to his eyes.
"That's Melville Water. All along the edges, all the way from Darling Scarp to the sea, south to Mandurah and north to...actually, I'm not sure how far north the city goes now, but definitely up to Alkimos...it's all the suburbs of the city of Perth. Two million people live here, with another million scattered around the state." She reached for his hand and squeezed it. "All this made possible by the people who arrived here a couple hundred years ago and saw the Swan River for its possibilities. People like you, and my ancestors."
Harlow just shook his head. "None of us ever envisioned anything like this. This city would rival London..."
Octavia hid a smile. "London in your time, definitely. Less than two million people lived there then. Now, I think it's seven or eight million."
More headshaking. "The biggest city I ever saw was Glasgow."
"I think that's about the same size as Perth. Maybe a little smaller. I'd have to look that up."
"And the bridges over the river," he breathed. "With trains!"
The Perth to Mandurah line did look pretty, all lit up like that, as the train raced along the freeway.
He still hadn't let go of her hand. Luckily, her car wasn't a manual, so she could drive one-handed just fine.
"And there's the Old Mill," she said softly, as the well-lit white tower came into view, dwarfed by the enormous pine tree beside it. "There are coloured lights on the tree, but they only turn them on around Christmas. Then it becomes the biggest Christmas tree in the whole city."
She took the exit, and coasted beneath the Narrows Bridge.
"The city...the towers!"
Even her breath caught in her throat as she saw the illuminated CBD reflected in the river at night. "On a still night, you can get the most amazing photos here. All along the South Perth shoreline, actually. Sometimes even with dolphins." She'd seen the dolphins once or twice, but never managed to actually photograph them. Wildlife photography wasn't really her thing. People and places, sure, but anything that moved fast and didn't do what it was told...yeah, she had no chance of getting a picture of it.
"You would have seen them that night in the cemetery, up close," she said slowly.
Harlow nodded. "Yes, but it's different from the air. They're down below and you're trying to come to terms with your wings and being alive and the pull to protect...I did not have time to stare at the city then, as I do now."
Seeing things from the air before the ground...and knowing so much about the past, then waking in this far-flung future as a completely different creature...it was weird enough just thinking about it. Octavia couldn't imagine how much harder it must be for Harlow.
"We can park the car here, if you want, just so you can take it in. Or we could walk up to the top of the bridge, to give you a better view." It wasn't like she needed him to remember everything about the mill right this moment. They had all night.
"Here...is good."
So she parked the car under the bridge, nodding to the fishermen camped out along the edge, and led Harlow up the steps to the pedestrian path on the side of the Narrows Bridge. He stared around, still not saying anything, trying to orient himself.
Octavia pulled out her phone, and found a compass app. "That way's north." She pointed. "That's the way we came, with Melville Water over there, and if you keep following the river, that's the way back to Fremantle. That's Mount Eliza, which we call Kings Park. Perth City, of course, and Perth Water all the way up to Heirisson Island, where there's now a causeway bridge across the river, too. This one's the Narrows Bridge, between Perth City and South Perth, which is all along the shore here." She wasn't sure what else to point out.
