Poppy’s Long Passage Through Lives

Poppy’s remembered lives and inherited craft explain her wealth, her private world, and the history that shapes her choices with Evan and Samas.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Pueblo Beginning

The Pueblo Beginning A life far from the present Poppy says she first lived in a small pueblo village in what is now Arizona. She remembers returning to that community in later lives, finding that both people and place had changed. Family across time Her account treats the earlier community as a real family rather than a symbolic past. The memory of belonging and return remains part of how she understands her long life. A history still forming The first life begins a sequence that will include many identities, settings, and kinds of work. Poppy’s later confidence comes from accumulated experience, but each return also brings the knowledge of loss.

The Murano Craftsman

The Murano Craftsman Mastery of glass As Marco Parcalus, Poppy grows up among glassmakers on Murano and becomes exceptionally skilled. The island’s craft offers a clear purpose, but its rules also bind workers to the place. An escape planned Marco prepares exceptional glass pieces and uses a guard’s admiration to arrange a small boat. Leaving requires patience, secrecy, and a willingness to abandon a life that others expect him to continue. A skill that lasts The escape fails to guarantee safety: an assassin kills Marco in Prague. Yet glassmaking remains a defining ability that Poppy can carry forward and eventually turn into a source of wealth.

An Inherited Estate

An Inherited Estate A home passed onward Poppy inherits the old church residence and substantial wealth from Graciela Cruz, whose life continues within her. The inheritance links personal identity to the Cognomina’s practice of preserving property across incarnations. A skilled artisan Poppy maintains her glassmaking ability and earns income by restoring traditional stained glass. Her craft keeps a former life active in the present while making the inherited estate sustainable. A refuge behind old doors The church becomes both home and controlled sanctuary. Its beauty welcomes Evan, but the bolted doors and private routines also reveal how carefully Poppy manages access to her life.

A Watch for New Members

A Watch for New Members A practiced recognition Poppy identifies signs of Evan’s past-life memories in his remark about returning and his familiarity with the old Lendts slogan. Her long experience allows her to recognize a newcomer before he understands the society. Shelter and introduction She treats his wound, tests what he remembers, and takes him to the vault. She then sponsors him for the Ascension rather than leaving him to face the discovery alone. A duty with personal stakes Poppy acts from the Cognomina’s obligation to find and introduce new members, but her bond with Evan becomes intimate. The responsibilities of advocacy and desire begin to overlap, eventually complicating both.

Vengeance Reconsidered

Vengeance Reconsidered A past injury returns Poppy intervenes in Evan’s theft because she wants to confront Samas over the history of Latsei. The portrait gives her leverage in a dispute she has carried across lives. Power used as pressure She threatens to destroy the work until Samas raises his offer to twenty million dollars. Her confidence changes the balance of a transaction in which Evan had little power on his own. A complicated alliance Poppy ensures Evan shares the payment and invites him to visit her again. The act helps him materially, yet their relationship remains unsettled by the mixture of care, secrecy, resentment, and control.

Poppy’s earliest remembered incarnation

During Poppy’s fourth trip in the seventeenth century

After Graciela Cruz’s death in 1977

When Poppy finds Evan in Los Angeles

After Evan steals The Rendezvous