by Difar, Amy
“Nora, may I point something out? We don’t even know if they can send me back. They said they couldn’t before. It’s just that they’re continuing to open portals and I thought maybe I could try to use one to travel back as they opened it.”
“And if that works? You’ll just be gone. Just like that. Forever?”
Forever?
“I’m afraid so.”
“Aye, well I’ve lost those I love before and I survived. I can do it again.” A single tear slipped down her cheek.
Me too, the cat said mournfully.
At the sight of that teardrop, Darakin felt his heart break. He rushed to her side and embraced her. “I’m so, so sorry, Nora. I know about what happened to your family.”
“Ach, that Sean has a big mouth.”
“Actually, Mrowley figured out that something had happened. I only asked Sean about it after Mrowley told me.”
“Really? He is one perceptive kitty.” She reached over and gave the cat’s head a rub.
Mrowley closed his eyes and lifted his head, looking proud.
Though he still wanted to return home, he couldn’t bear the hurt expression on her face. Against his better judgment, he heard himself say, “Nora, never mind what I said. I’ll stay. I love you and I want to be with you. My realm wouldn’t feel like home without you anyway.”
And me, right?
“Right.” Darakin reached over and gave the cat a pet.
Nora angrily wiped the tear away. “Really? I don’t want you to stay because of a silly tear. That’s not a basis for a relationship.”
“No, but love is. And I do love you.”
“And I love you. Are you sure? I don’t want you to stay if you have any doubts.”
He looked at her hopeful expression. “I’m sure,” he lied.
They turned to one another and kissed. Though he was consumed with desire for her, he was content to hold her in a long embrace. He felt her relax against him. I think I can stay here, after all, he thought. As long as I’m with her.
After what seemed to Mrowley like hours, but was in fact just a few minutes, they separated and got ready for work.
“If you’re really going to stay, we should think about using Sean’s connection to get you some papers. We’d have to save a bit of money because I know they’re expensive, but it’d be worth it.”
“If you say so.”
“I do.”
The couple dressed and headed off to work.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The next morning, Darakin awakened to find the bed empty. Alarmed, he jumped out of bed and went in search of Nora and Mrowley. He found them coming out of the bathroom. Nora saw him and smiled. She wiped her hand across her mouth and gave him a kiss.
“I’m minty fresh,” she said.
“Indeed.”
I like mint. I mean, I prefer catmint but this mint makes her mouth smell better than it did before.
“Before what?” Darakin asked the cat.
Before she put the mint in after she had the hairball …
“My goodness that cat is talkative this morning.” Nora bent to pet the cat.
“He says you had a hairball?”
Nora laughed nervously. “What? That’s ridiculous. Oh, I know! I swallowed the wrong way and I coughed a bit, that must be what he means.”
But I was just trying to tell you that –
“Now, Mrowley. Humans don’t have hairballs. You’re being rude. Let it be.”
Mrowley stormed off in a huff.
“Anyway, I like this dental hygiene thing. It beats using a stick.”
“Is that what you did at home? Just one more reason not to go there,” she laughed as she went to the kitchen.
Darakin was a bit hurt by her insults about his home realm. It may not be the technological wonderland that this realm was, but it was his home and he felt a little protective of it. Rather than argue with her, he said nothing. He had a scrying spell to cast and a demon to hunt.
Nora made breakfast while Darakin gathered his spell supplies.
“Eat before you do your spell.” Nora guided Darakin to the table and put a plate of waffles in front of him.
He stared at the waffles, confused by the little square indentations in them. “What are these?”
“Waffles.” She reached over him and slathered butter on them. “Now put some syrup on and try them.”
“What are these little indentations for?”
“To hold the syrup and butter.”
Darakin cut a piece of the waffle off and popped it in his mouth. “Mm.” Remembering Nora’s admonitions to not speak while chewing, he swallowed before saying, “That’s good.”
“Mm hmm. Breakfast has always been one of my favorite meals.”
“I think it’s my favorite, too. Except for the sundae we had that time at the restaurant. That was really good.”
She laughed. “Yes, but desserts are really fattening and no good for you, so you have to eat them in moderation.”
When breakfast was finished, Darakin took his supplies to the living room. Nora followed with a pad and pencil so he could draw whatever he saw. He repeated the steps he had done the last time, casting a circle, lighting the incense and holding it near the water’s surface. Once satisfied, he put some of the slime into the water. It swirled around for a few minutes before coming to rest in a pattern.
Darakin copied the pattern he saw in the water onto the pad Nora had brought over. When he was done, he dismissed the circle and sat back to stare at his drawing.
“This look familiar to you?” he asked, holding it up for Nora to see.
“Sure, it looks like a cave.”
“That’s what I thought, too. Do you know where it is?”
She laughed. “That particular cave? Are you kidding? I don’t even think there are any caves in the city limits. There are some hills north of the city; maybe it’s there. But there would be hundreds of caves there.”
“That’s not good. We need to find this cave.”
“What’s that in front of it?” Nora asked, pointing to a spot on the drawing.
“I just drew what I saw, but it looks like some kind of a box on a pole to me.”
“Hmm, maybe it’s a sign.”
“Of what?”
“I don’t know. Why would a cave have a sign in front of it?”
“You’re asking me? Your society calls boxes bags and rides through the ground on mechanical dragons. How would I know why you’d put a sign in front of a cave?”
“Touché.”
“What?”
“Tou … oh, it’s another word from a different language, like shtick, remember? Touché means well played, sort of, like that was a good point you made.”
“Oh. How are we going to figure out where this exact cave is?”
“I suppose we could search the park. I honestly don’t know if there are any caves there, but I think there are some rock formations, so maybe there are some small caves there.”
“When can we do that?”
“Tomorrow, okay? There’s no time to get up there today before work.”
“About tomorrow? I don’t want to make you mad or anything, but tomorrow night is when …”
“Is when those idiots will be opening another portal? Is that what you were going to say?”
“Well, yes. I’m not looking to go through the portal, but I have to stop them from bringing more demons to this realm. Maybe they don’t know what they’re doing.”
“We’re supposed to be working tomorrow night.”
“Do you think Sean would give us the night off?”
“Maybe. I guess I could ask Sarah to cover for me.”
“Please? I have to stop them from summoning more demons.”
“Fine, I’ll ask Sean if it’s okay.”
“Thank you, Nora.” Darakin leaned over and gave her a kiss. “If he gives us the night off, we’ll have plenty of time to look for the cave, too.”
“Hmm, maybe I’
ll pack a picnic lunch for us to take up there. It’s supposed to be great weather tomorrow.”
“Mm, a picnic sounds good.”
“Have you ever gone on one?”
“Not exactly. But I was once hired to provide a gentle breeze to a young man who took a girl he was courting on a picnic.”
“That sounds kind of frivolous.”
“Don’t those with money engage in frivolous activities here?”
“Most definitely.” She laughed, thinking of the latest gossip paper headline she’d seen about a young socialite who’d just purchased a mansion for her toy poodle.
“How much does someone pay for something like that?”
“My payment was my own portion of the picnic lunch – to be eaten at a respectable distance, of course.”
“So how did the courtship work out?”
“I have no idea. Things got a little, um, personal between them and I left, per my agreement with the young man.”
“So you possibly let a young man … how would you say it – deflower a young woman? Wouldn’t that cause her shame or something?”
“No, why? Where do you get these ridiculous ideas from?”
“I don’t know. Romance novels, I guess.”
“Well, it doesn’t sound very romantic if having relations would cause one partner shame.”
“So, a woman doesn’t need to be a virgin when she marries in your realm?”
Darakin took Nora’s hands. “Nora, if I thought that, do you think I’d have been intimate with you when we weren’t married? I would never risk your respectability.”
“I guess I just keep thinking about how you look like someone from the cover of one of those books and then I assume that your world is the way it is in those novels.”
“In my realm, women and men are social equals. Intimacy is a gift from the gods, not something that would cause one shame. Men are considered better suited to heavy physical labor and most combat, except for combat magic, but women are considered superior in many of the intellectual fields.”
“Hmm.” Nora made a face that may have indicated begrudging respect. “Well, we’d best be on our way if we’re to get to work on time.”
When they arrived at the pub, Nora sought Sean out right away. “Sean, I’ve a favor to ask of you.”
“And what might that be, lass?”
“Darakin and I were hoping to take tomorrow evening off. I’ll get Sarah to cover for me.”
“Well, I suppose as long as you get Sarah to fill in, it’d be okay. Would you satisfy an old man’s curiosity and tell me what you’ll be doing?”
“You’re hardly old, Sean. As for us, we’ll be um, well there’s some sort of holiday custom in his realm … culture that he needs to go up to the park for. Since he’s likely to get lost and never be heard from again if he tries to go alone, I’d like to go with him.”
Sean laughed. “You’re probably right about never seeing him again. Go and have a good time, lass.”
“Thank you, Sean.”
Nora found Sarah, who agreed to fill in the following evening.
She then found Darakin and told him they were all set for the next evening.
He put his arm around her waist and gave her a kiss. “Thank you, Nora.”
To his confusion, Nora struggled out of his embrace. ‘What’s wrong?”
“It’s just that most of my tips depend on the customers thinking there might be a chance for them with me. If they think I’m taken, I’ll lose money.”
“Wait, you complain that I do nothing to discourage women you claim are ‘ogling’ me, yet you’ll let strange men think you’re available? How is that fair?”
Nora’s face showed surprise. “But we’re talking about earnings here, Darakin. Not some floozy with flowers in her hair who wants you to take her on the nearest surface, be it floor, table or bed.”
Darakin shook his head. “It still doesn’t seem right to me.”
Nora saw one of her customers looking for her. “We’ll talk about this later, love. I’ve tables to wait.” She plastered a smile on her face and went to take their order.
Darakin sat there dazed. “I’ll just never understand women.”
Sean, who was walking back to the kitchen, put a comforting hand on the mage’s shoulder. “No man ever will, lad. The sooner you accept that, the happier you’ll be in this life.” He chuckled and continued on his way.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Bright and early the next day, Nora and Darakin picked up the basket of food she’d packed and headed to the door.
Hey! Where are you going with that basket?
“We’re going to be out for a long time, Mrowley. Tonight, we’re going to look for the men who summoned me here.”
Yeah, yeah, but what about that basket? It’s got foodies in it, doesn’t it? What about me? I haven’t eaten, he looked at the empty food dish on the floor that he’d finished moments before, in hours.
“Yes, you have, you just finished a little while ago. The food in the basket is for our lunch.” He turned to Nora. “We should leave him some food since we’ll be gone all day.”
“Okay.” She went to the cupboard and filled his dish with dry food.
Mrowley ran into the kitchen and rubbed against her legs. “Oh! Look at this. Isn’t he sweet?” Nora pulled out the cream from the refrigerator and poured some in a bowl.
Mm! Cream!
As the cat licked furiously at the cream in the bowl, Nora tiptoed out and grabbed Darakin’s arm. “Quick,” she whispered, “While he’s preoccupied.”
The couple made their way to the door and stealthily opened it and closed it behind them.
“Phew! I can’t believe we have to sneak out behind the cat’s back.”
Darakin took her hand and they stepped outside.
Nora smiled at the sunshine. “’Tis a beautiful day, isn’t it?”
“Indeed.”
They rode the subway up to the park. Darakin, though he still harbored an extreme distrust of the mechanical dragon, was much calmer on the train now that he had a few trips under his belt.
By the time they got to the park, it was already crowded with roller bladders, sunbathers, joggers and others enjoying the sun.
“This is nice,” Darakin said, looking at the crowd.
“Oh, that’s right! You’ve never been here during the day, have you?”
“No. I had no idea it would get so crowded.”
“When you live in a city, there are few places to get sun and recreation. Most everybody comes here at one time or another.”
They found a big rock that was flat enough to sit on and have their lunch. Nora spread the sandwiches and salads out on the rock and handed Darakin a paper plate.
“What’s this?” he asked, turning the plate over.
“A paper plate.”
“Stone and metal are much better materials for plates, Nora, like the ones you have at home.”
“Yes, but these are disposable. We’ll just throw them away. No need to do dishes or lug them all over town all day.”
“It seems to me that your society produces a lot of garbage.”
“That we do. We’re getting better, but I wasn’t about to bring my dishes out here so hush and use the plate. Just support it so it doesn’t spill.”
When the two had their lunches in front of them, Nora said, “Now, I’ve told you all about my childhood and Ireland. I want you to tell me a story from your homeland.”
“What kind of story?”
“Well, don’t you tell stories to the children? You know, fairytales.”
“Oh, you want a story of fairies? I’m afraid they’re mostly sad. Fairies are not very nice.”
“Jaysus, no, not a story about real fairies. We call children’s stories fairytales. You know made up ones that are about magic and princesses and stuff.”
“Stories about magic in my realm are rarely made up. However, I’ll tell you the story of the creation of Krigil’s Void.”
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br /> “Krigil’s Void?”
