Joe poured drinks all around, then said with feigned casualness, "Okay, Connor, you've had time to think. Any ideas about your resurrection? They won't go beyond this room." Connor took a long swig. Then he said, "An idea, yes." His voice dropped to a near-whisper. "I didn't expect it. Didn't...*want* it." He stared into the depths of his drink. "But I think I know...what must have been involved... "Duncan!" His head shot up again, and he now wore such a bright smile that the man addressed feared a change not only of mood, but of subject. "My first student. Remember when I tried to convince you that you could breathe under water?" Duncan made a face. "I remember, all right. A nasty trick to play on a newbie. I almost drowned." "My apologies. Heh heh...better late than never, right?" Connor leaned forward intently, and looked around the table to make sure he had everyone's attention. "I wasn't completely honest with you, Duncan. I let you think that was a practical joke, because I didn't want to scare you--maybe make you feel inferior. "It was really a test. The only way I could *find out* whether you could breathe under water. "You see...*I actually can*." His listeners gaped at him, dumbstruck. Then, as if a dam had burst, they all began talking at once. Connor held up a hand for silence. "It's true," he said. "And there's more. Until you beheaded me, Duncan, I had never had a 'first death'!" "Wha-at?" Duncan was almost sputtering. "That's impossible!" "No, it's not," Connor said in his most reasonable voice. "I'll explain it as Ramirez did to me. There are two kinds of Immortals--I suppose they'd be called subspecies today. "You and Richie belong to the group that's much more numerous. You can 'die,' temporarily, in any number of ways. After the 'first death' you stop aging, and all your injuries heal super-quickly. You can only be killed permanently by beheading. "I belong to the other subspecies--so did Ramirez and the Kurgan. We *can't* 'die,' even short-term, by any means other than beheading. For example, we can't drown. "And there's no distinction between pre-Immortals and full Immortals. We become aware of our Immortality the first time we come extremely close to death--and recover as if by magic. "We never actually stop aging. But we age very slowly. Slowly enough to permit living for thousands of years, so it's not a problem." Joe whistled softly. "That explains something that's always puzzled me. According to our Chronicles, you had your first death at eighteen. Not that you haven't always looked great, but--eighteen? No way." Connor acknowledged that with a fleeting grin. "Ramirez had learned before he approached me that we were the same," he continued. "But I wasn't sure about you, Duncan. The accounts that had come out of Glenfinnan were too vague. "Maybe I should have told you more. If I'd been older myself at the time, I might have had a clearer idea what to do. But like I said, I thought it might upset you-- and there didn't seem to be a need for it. Ramirez only told me because he knew I'd meet way more of *you* than of *us*." Duncan shook his head in disbelief. "Wh-why didn't I learn anything about this from your Quickening?" "Because it's something I took for granted, like the color of my hair," Connor said gently. "I hadn't thought about it in years." Then his face clouded. "In practice, it's never made a real difference. Until now."