Eric sat back, letting out a low whistle as Megan finished her story. He’d listened patiently and without much of a reaction as she told him about the very important goal Samuel had mentioned to her. Now he sat in silence, his eyes slightly widened, appearing to be deep in thought about it all. She simply sat there, watching his face closely. He seemed more believing than she’d been at first. Maybe he was helped by some lost fragment of memory, she thought.

  “Well,” he said, after several long minutes of silence. “I don’t know what I expected, but that makes about as much sense as anything else.”

  She nodded without saying anything. She didn’t feel like there was anything she could add to the subject herself. She’d been expecting him to ask her to prove the claim in some way, maybe to cast a spell in front of him. Not that she could have, she thought. Something told her that, outside of Ahya, the magic wouldn’t work. Earth had its fairy tales and legends of those who could perform magic, of course, but she knew them to be fiction.

  “I noticed something was off the second I saw Ehran,” he said. “Nobody else seemed to notice that he existed, despite how rambunctious he can be.”

  “Who?” She queried, and he gestured at the wolf pup that was snoozing contentedly in front of the fire. “Oh, right.”

  “He showed up the day after I had that strange daydream,” Eric explained further. “At first I thought he might belong to one of my neighbors. But when I went door to door, looking for its owner the next day, everyone looked at me like I was crazy.”

  He let out a low chuckle at the memory, and she smiled faintly. Even after only half an hour in his company, she could see why Samuel would have taken a liking to him. There was an inherent sense of honesty about Eric. He seemed to think it a waste of his time to beat around the bush. His line of questioning had shown his direct, uncompromising nature. He could also seem to pick the truth out of a statement, though she wasn’t sure she was just giving him more credit than he was due on that count.

  “So,” she said, after another poignant pause. “That’s more or less the score. Samuel told me that my introduction to Ahya was more gradual than yours. I still can’t remember everything about how he approached me, though.”

  “I wonder why that is,” Eric thought aloud, rubbing his chin. “You’d think that you could easily remember your time from Earth. Do you feel like you’re more Ahyan or more Earthling?”

  She let out a single laugh at the way he said ‘Earthling’. “That makes me sound like an alien. I’m not sure. If I had to put a finger on it, I’d say that I feel more like an Ahyan. Whenever I remember my time on Earth, I feel weird about it all. My time in Ahya feels much more natural.”

  Eric nodded his understanding of the strange comment. It was a unique concept that he alone knew of, a secret shared experience between the two, even if he couldn’t remember the details of it all. She continued to watch his face closely, noticing a deep sadness flash across his face. When she asked about it, he could only shrug.

  “I don’t know what it is,” he admitted. “I feel like there’s something important that I lost during my time in Ahya. Or someone I grew close with. Either way, any time I try to remember something from that world, I feel this strange loss.”

  “Maybe you met a cute girl or something,” she replied, shrugging. He seemed the type. “Or maybe you’re just thinking of Samuel.”

  He shook his head. “No, when you mention Samuel, I feel a small flare of irritation, if anything.”

  “Irritation?” She queried. “You’re more stubborn than I am if you could feel that way about Samuel.”

  “Well, how’d you react?” He asked. “When he told you, I mean?”

  “I…. kinda attacked him,” she said, grimacing slightly.

  “You attacked a mage strong enough to bring two people in from another world?”

  He was staring at her as if she were slightly mad. She couldn’t blame him, once she thought about it. Clearly, it had been a dumb move. If Samuel had been even a little less kindly, she could have been badly injured. The Archmage would have been justified in the retaliation, too. But luckily for them both, their patron to the world of Ahya was more stubborn than they and determined to help where he could.

  “Hold that thought,” he said, getting up suddenly. “I can hear the water boiling.”

  She looked around in surprise, having momentarily forgotten that there was a meal planned in her immediate future. The pot had to be thirty feet away, she thought. How could he possibly hear the water boiling from so far away? She wondered if his sharp senses were from his time in Ahya or just a natural byproduct of living in a quiet city like Fairbanks.

  Properly warm after their long conversation in front of the fire, she decided to follow him. She leaned on the bar as she watched him flit around the kitchen, dumping pasta into the boiling water and lowering the heat a little. He’d put some mushrooms on his cutting board, as well as some chunks of white cheese. The latter went into a smaller pot with some milk, and he quickly turned the ingredients into a thick cheese sauce. Her nose tingled at the smell that came from it, and she felt her stomach starting to rumble. Even in this dream-like visit, she felt an insatiable desire to eat whatever that was.

  “That smells amazing,” she said, once she’d opened her eyes. “How did you learn to cook?”

  “My father taught me almost everything I know,” Eric said. “I’ve learned a little since then, and I make my own experiments.”

  “I’ve never seen someone make a cheese sauce from scratch,” she commented. “Usually they just use a bottle of pasta sauce from the store.”

  “I used to,” he replied, lowering the heat further on the cheese sauce. “But now that I can afford to, I like to make everything myself.”

  He went to the kitchen and pulled out a Tupperware container of cold cooked chicken. Even cold, it let out a lemony-peppery scent that set her mouth watering. He chopped this into smaller pieces as she watched, then dumped it into a pan with some oil, reheating it on low. All he needed then was some vegetables, which turned out to be some broccoli that he started boiling. It, like his other ingredients, did not come from a can or sealed bag.

  After about another half hour of cooking, he filled two plates with the food and set hers down on the bar before her. She eagerly tucked into it at once, grunting in pleasure as she tasted it. He grinned easily at her reaction and filled his own fork. They ate in silence for several minutes, before he spoke again.

  “It’s nice to have someone to cook for,” he admitted finally. “I get bored easily in this house. I can only spend so much of my time typing and playing games.”

  She nodded her understanding. “What do you do to pass the time?”

  “At first, I just practiced cooking, typing, and gaming. But eventually, the extra free time started to drive me mad, so I went back to work.”

  “You’re still working?” She asked, incredulous. “Even though you have this house and all the money Samuel gave you?”

  He half-shrugged. “Gotta stay busy. “

  “Fair enough.”

  As she came close to finishing her meal, she felt a sense of drowsiness start to come over her, and knew, somehow, that this visit with Eric was coming to an end. She was surprised it had lasted so long. No dream of hers had ever done so. She looked up at him, wondering if she’d get the chance to see him again. In normal circumstances, they’d likely never meet, but considering this great secret they had in common, she felt a certain camaraderie with him.

  He noticed her look and guessed the reason behind it. “You’re leaving soon, I take it?”

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  She nodded without saying anything, and he let out a quiet sigh. “I figured as much. Everything you told me makes me think you’re not really here, but still in Ahya. Well, if you get the chance, come back for another visit. I’ll cook you another meal.”

  She smiled. “If I can manage it, I’ll definitely take you up on that deal.”

  He picked up her empty plate, an odd smile twisting his mouth. “Well, it was nice to meet you…”

  He tailed off as he realized that, despite their long conversation, she’d never mentioned her name. She realized it too and laughed. “Sorry. My name is Megan. Megan Richards.”

  “Nice to meet you, Megan,” he said, extending a hand. “It’s nice to hear an explanation for the strange dream, even if you couldn’t account for all of it.”

  She smiled back and shook his hand. It was small for a man, she noticed. Well, he was rather short, only about 5’10”, an inch shorter than her. “Nice to meet you too, Eric. I promise I’ll try to be back soon.”

  The next thing she knew, her eyes were opening, and she was lying on her bed in the College of Milagre, her arm outstretched for the handshake. She put it down, feeling a strong sense of disorientation. Her brief time in Fairbanks felt like a strange dream to her spinning mind, but she had the vague sense that she’d actually been there. She wondered if Samuel had accounted for something like that happening, or if it was something new that even he couldn’t account for.

  Later that day, Samuel summoned her back to his tower. She came as quickly as she could, eager to hear what he had to say. It turned out that his plans included, not a lesson, but a change in gear. A new style of robes, more heavily enchanted than her original set. The shoulders and back also bore his own personal crest, a flying hawk. The symbol was on his robes in silver, but on hers, it was more gold. It gave her a strong sense of belonging to slip the robe on.

  He watched her closely, taking careful note of how it fit on her frame and nodded his satisfaction. “It’s not the best enchanting job I’ve done, as I was limited by both time and material.”

  “It’s fine,” she replied. “Better than fine, in fact.”

  “Good,” he commented. “Here’s the rest.”

  These were a wand enchanted with passive healing, a ring that made her feel more agile, and a necklace bearing the unlidded eye of Arcana. She put it all on and gripped the wand, enjoying the feeling of extra strength running through her body. She stood there, getting used to it, watching Samuel study her from all angles. Then she gave a little jump of surprise, as words started to appear in front of her. They were accompanied by a small ding, and dominated her field of vision.

  [Combat Information]

  [Skills]

  (1 Base, 7 Intelligence/4, 4 Level/5)

  (13)