The Presence Of Innocence

"Everard was not given to self-analysis. The realization jolted him that what he needed to regain inner peace was not another love affair but a few more times in the presence of innocence. Like a thirsty man finding a spring to drink from, high on a mountainside -" (The Shield Of Time, pp. 6-7)

OK. So Everard has lost his innocence but innocence still exists, in this case represented by the new Time Patrol recruit, Wanda Tamberly. Everard thinks:

" - Afterward, let him get on with his life, and she with her new one in the Patrol." (p. 7)

- which is what they do until, after a while, she asks him for help... Does Wanda lose her "innocence" in Beringia? It will be necessary to reread a few passages in that chapter.

Meanwhile, however, Everard, intent on pursuit of the Exaltationists, realizes:

"...that what he needed was not surcease but the completion of the hunt." (p. 8)

Not innocence but completion of the task at hand.