"Home is where one starts from." –T. S. Eliot

'Where am I?' Lir mumbled. She didn't know how she got there, or where there was. Her memories from before she got 'there' were a bit hazy, so she couldn't answer either of those questions. She was standing in the middle of a market. 'Maybe I can ask someone for directions…' Just as she thought about it something, or rather someone hit her.

'Oof!' The smack was so hard that both Lir and the other person flew a few meters further. 'Natsu!' The pink haired dragon slayer jumped up. 'I'm fine, I can still fight!' At that Erza came closer and smacked him on the head. 'Not that! You hit a citizen! Are you alright?' Erza now asked, turning to Lir. 'Yeah, I'm fine. Air just smacked out of my lungs for a second.' She said standing up. 'As an apology; how about we invite you to a free drink in a guild?' 'Good idea! Let's make it a party!' Natsu yelled. 'Natsu…' Lucy sighed. 'Ehh…' Lir wanted to refuse, but Natsu had already grabbed her hand and started dragging her to their guild.

The other members seemed to be just as noisy as Natsu. They got all excited at the party. The guest of honour, Lir, was just sitting at a table, wondering what exactly happened just now, and she wasn't thinking about how she got to the market. Listening to the conversations of the people around her made her even more confused. They were talking about mages. For a second Lir considered she could be dreaming, but something told her that was impossible.

Natsu started a fight for no reason with a black haired guy who was walking around in his underwear. One second later they dragged so many people into their fight it turned into a brawl. More than once Lir had to jump aside because a table happened to be flying her way. It happened so often that she started considering if they were deliberately aiming at her.

Finally she found a good hiding place behind the bar. Not only her, but another girl was also hiding there. 'Hi, my name's Lucy. And yours?' The girl introduced herself. 'Lir. Is it always like this here?' 'Yeah, pretty much. This is Mirajane by the way.' Lucy said, gesturing to the woman with long, silver hair who was leaning on the counter with a smile.

'Sorry; first you get hit by a flying Natsu, and now your in the middle of a brawl. But even though they are like this, this guild is a really fun place.' 'I can guess; it sort of reminds me of my home.'

After who knows how long (all the clocks in the room were destroyed somehow) they finally calmed down. Lucy and Lir peeked over the counter to see most of the fighters were either sleeping, or seriously drunk.' 'Geeze, those guys always make a big mess of things.' Lucy sighed. 'Oh well, I should take my leave.' Lir said, walking towards the door. 'Wait, can I go along?' 'Sure, Lucy.'

Outside of the guild it was extremely calm compared to the brawl inside earlier. Seemed like the citizens were used to it. 'Lucy, do you know if there's a library in this town?' 'Yes, do you want me to take you there?' 'It would be appreciated.'

'What do you want to do here anyway?' Lucy asked. 'I just wanted to check something… Found it!' Lir said, triumphantly holding up a map covered in dust. 'What do you need that for?' 'I want to check if a suspicion of mine is right or not. What's this town's name?' 'It's Magnolia, in the Fiore kingdom. How did you come here without even knowing that?' 'Magnolia…'

After looking at the map for a few seconds Lir slammed her head on the table. 'What's wrong?' 'Seems my suspicion was right.' 'What do you mean? What suspicion?' 'Well… Let's say I'm very far from my home, and I have no idea how to get back.'

What Lir had seen on the map was that her homeland wasn't even there. The only possibility she could think of was that she was in a different world. It actually sounded possible considering that the people there were apparently able to use magic. 'How did I get into this mess?' she mumbled.

'So you have no idea how you got here?' Erza asked. She, Lucy and Lir were sitting just outside the guild. 'Yeah; I don't even know how I should get home.' Lir had managed to leave out the part about how she couldn't find her home on the map. Erza and Lucy probably just thought she didn't have the means to get home. 'That could be troublesome. Is there anything we can do to help?' 'No, I'll find a way back home by myself; I don't want to trouble you guys.' 'At least stay at my place for the time being. You don't have any money to rent a room, right?' Lucy proposed. 'No I don't thanks.'

Now that she thought about it, those people were unusually kind. Without being suspicious they said Lir could stay with them. This made her feel pretty bad about not mentioning her home, but it would only be a bother if she did.