"It's been three days since she's woken up already. She hasn't spoken a word?"

"Not one. Not a single word. How long did it take for her to wake up?"

"Almost a week. She was found unconscious in the forest. Her injuries were pretty bad."

"Something attacked her, huh? Another one of those shadow pokemon?"

"More than one by the looks of it. She was lucky to survive, honestly."

"Do you know who it was who found her?"

"Who do you think? He almost never leaves her alone. Couldn't blame him considering who the doctor is. Apparently he fought off all of those pokemon entirely on his own. When did he get so strong?"

"Does it matter? He saved the kid's life. We are sure it's a kid, right? I've never seen a human before."

"I think so. I've read some of the books in the library. There aren't many mentions of humans, but one will pop up every now and then. I think it's a kid; a female human child. Yea I'm sure of it. Too short to be an adult and females usually have long hair like that."

The two pokemon standing outside of the human child's room turned to the east end of the hall. Sounds echoed through the castle corridors so when someone was approaching it was usually easy to tell. They had become accustomed to a certain Pokémon's footsteps; the very one who had apparently saved the human from the Withered Woods area. They weren't entirely sure how he would react to seeing them sneaking around since he acted so protective of her. He was usually nice, but they weren't about to take the chance. The two pokemon standing near the doorway hurried off quickly and quietly around the nearest corner.

Of course, this pokemon had sensed them there. His abilities were greater than anyone in this castle knew, even the ruler of this castle. She was the last one who could ever know. While he had sensed the two of them there, he didn't particularly care. They had been quiet enough, hadn't entered, and they weren't the pokemon in charge of taking care of her, so as far as he was concerned they were no one dangerous.

He walked into the room, which was dimly lit by a candle that was almost entirely melted. As usual the kid he had rescued was lying in bed with the covers up to her chin and her arms tightly wrapped around a Banette doll. She was staring transfixed at the music box on the table. Both the music box and the doll had appeared with her and were the only items in the beat up old bag that she had brought with her.

He walked up to the bed and knelt down next to her. "Are you feeling any better today?"

As usual she didn't answer, just kept staring at the music box on the table with those startling blue eyes of hers. It was becoming a serious problem. They tried to get her to eat, but she hardly ever did. They would have to leave the room for hours and eventually at some point in that time she would get hungry enough to eat a few bites, but she would go right back to that same position when she was done. If he didn't get her to walk around soon, she would start to have problems with her muscles. Normally he might not be so concerned, but he was the one who brought her into this situation. He knew that she was an Aura Reader. He had only seen a few others aside from her, but her silver and gold aura was a dead giveaway and he hadn't been the only one to see it.

"I went out to the forest again today. I looked around but didn't find anything else that might have belonged to you. Is this really all you had with you? A doll and a music box? You must have traveled pretty far; I've never seen a human before I saw you. Why didn't you take more supplies? Were they just not necessary? Is it not as dangerous where you come from? I'd like to hear about it." He waited for a minute, but she didn't reply, not that he had expected her to. He stood up and started to walk towards the door. "I'll check back in a few hours. Just… shout if you need anything."

"Daisy."

He stopped just as he was about to exit the room and turned back towards the hoarse-sounding voice. "Did you… say something?"

The human wrapped her arms tighter around her doll. "She's not just a doll, her name is Daisy." She coughed a few times, probably because she hadn't spoken in such a long time.

"I'll remember that. So, your doll's name is Daisy, but what's your name?"

The human turned towards him just enough for her to be able to make eye contact. "Stop treating me like a child, Lucario. I'm the same age as you."

Lucario stared at her, partially surprised by the fact that she was speaking so much but also by the fact that she knew his name and his exact age somehow, even though he had never told her either. Even if she had heard his name from somewhere else, what reason would anyone have to mention his age? Was that really the full ability of an Aura Reader?

"Alright, but you still didn't answer my question. What's your name?" Lucario asked again.

He waited for a good amount of time, but she had gone silent again, staring back at her music box and never taking her arms away from Daisy. Lucario sighed, left the room and headed to the dining room for dinner. There were a lot of people there already, making up a wide variety of pokemon. Lucario went to his usual seat next to the person in charge of the castle. Mismagius had been there for many years now, before Lucario was even born. She had raised him since the time he was a hatchling, possibly only hours old and abandoned near the castle. It had taken Lucario years to uncover the truth about his family, a truth that Mismagius would hopefully never know.

The food supply was dwindling. Pokemon in Atra didn't usually resort to eating meat, since it would mean hunting other pokemon, which the majority of them were above doing, but if things kept going the way they were, there wouldn't be a choice. Once, though this world was always devoid of a sun, life had found a way. Plants grew everywhere as one might expect. The world was dying though and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. Lucario could feel it, see it even, the life force of the world itself slipping away, only still close to normal levels in certain areas. Some pokemon capable of emitting light, especially those who knew Sunny Day, had started to raise plants in desolate areas, though it didn't do much for the withering nutrients in the soil. The castle had its own supply grown the same way, but even these meager food supplies were starting to wither and die.

He could tell that he wasn't the only one who noticed, but everyone else chose to hide their worries behind jokes and false smiles. Maybe people thought they needed a little hope, Lucario wondered if there was any left. Hope was dying, just like everything else.

Since the human spoke, Lucario had been conflicted about whether or not to tell Mismagius. That sort of information was precious, but at the same time he needed confirmation that it wasn't just a fluke, that someone hadn't just said something. "I got her to speak today."

"Did you?" Mismagius placed her food back down on the plate. "It's good to know she's starting to feel better. What exactly did she say?"

"Her doll's name is Daisy." Lucario replied nonchalantly while taking another bite of his own dinner.

"Daisy. What an interesting name."

Lucario stopped eating and turned to look at Mismagius. "What makes you say that? Does it mean anything?"

"A Daisy is a type of flower. I haven't seen one anywhere in this world in a long time. It was a theory I've been working on, but I don't think she's from this world at all. There are stories of entire worlds inhabited by humans while humans haven't been seen in this one in thousands of years. I can't think of any other reason she would know what a Daisy was. Have you ever seen one?"

Lucario shook his head. "I might have at that lake we go to sometimes, but I can't say I have. I've never taken much notice.

"Did she say anything else?"

"She knew my name and my age. Can you think of any way she would know those things?" Lucario asked.

"She is an Aura Reader, after all." Mismagius went back to eating. "Things are about to get interesting around here."

A few more days passed after the human first spoke. She hadn't said a word since, but Lucario had caught her sitting up in bed and eating a few times. It looked like she was eating a little more too. It didn't seem right though. Everyone in Atra always acted so happy, but she acted more like he did, as if all the hope in the world had died already. She never smiled, she never joked, she never laughed… it almost looked to him like she was purposely trying to make it so she never recovered. Had she lost something precious to her? That was all he could really think of. What else could cause such an intense sadness?

Lucario started to form a habit where he would sit on the bed next to her while she ate and just talked. It would have been great if she replied, although she never did. He would tell her about things that had happened during the day, like how he had helped to pull a cart off of a Pidgey who had been trying to steal from it or how he had rescued a child drowning in the river.

"It storms a lot here, so the rivers have been overflowing. There aren't any plants to hold the soil in place, so the ground around rivers crumbles away easily. That kid had been searching for food all day and stopped by what looked like a calm stream to get a drink. When he was bending over to reach the water, the ground under his feet crumbled and he fell in. He was swept far downstream by a strong undercurrent. I had just finished restoring the peace between the Pidgey and the pokemon she had tried to steal from when someone came into the town saying that someone was in the river." Lucario shook his head. "Nothing is safe these days, not even getting a drink of water. He was unconscious for a long time, but eventually he woke up. He wasn't unconscious as long as you were, of course." He waited but as usual she didn't reply. "I know you can speak. Why don't you ever say anything?"

"I like to listen." She said without meeting his eyes. "Could you leave me alone now? I don't think your stories make you sound like anything special. They're not very interesting anymore."

Lucario was taken aback by her bluntness. He had worried for her because of the condition he had found her in, but he still didn't know anything about her. Maybe she was just that kind of person. "I wasn't trying to sound important." Lucario stood up and walked back towards the door. Just as he was about to exit, Mismagius and Honchkrow, the pokemon assigned to take care of the human, both walked in.

Normally Lucario would have kept walking if not for Honchkrow. He was sure that Mismagius wouldn't do anything to hurt her, but Honchkrow was another story. He earned the nickname "The Good Doctor" more out of spite than for any other reason. His technology was years ahead of theirs and nothing that anyone in the world had seen before he came along, but his poor demeanor made him disliked by just about everyone. Stories of the things he had done varied between pokemon, but he almost seemed to enjoy causing some unnecessary pain to his patients.

Mismagius floated over to her and bent down so she was at her eye level. "How are you feeling today, dear?" The human mumbled something, but Lucario couldn't hear exactly what it was. "Well you're improving at the very least. Listen, there are other people who might get hurt and we need to free up this room as quickly as possible. Do you live alone? Or with someone we can try to find to let them know where you are?" the human went quiet again and shook her head. "You're not lost, are you?"

"I have no idea where I am…" she said. "But I'm not going home. What's this place called?"

"Both this world and the kingdom you're in are called Atra." Mismagius said. She seemed to calm down slightly after hearing this. If she really did come from another world though, how did she know about Atra? "Well, Honchkrow? Would she be able to move to another room?"

"You're letting her stay? Always picking up strays…" Honchkrow gave a nasty glance to Lucario. "None of my business I suppose. I just need a blood test to check once more for infections." He took out a needle from a bag he used to carry medical supplies and walked over to her. Her disposition changed almost instantly. Her eyes widened at the sight of the needle and she started to shake. "Afraid of a needle… This is going to be a pain. Lucario, hold her still will you?"

"Do you really need to take another blood test? Would anything really have changed?" Lucario asked.

"You can't be too cautious. Just do it."

He knew there was no way this human would ever start to like him after this, but what else could he do? At least if he did this he would be able to help her get away from Honchkrow so it wouldn't have to happen again. He walked up to her and held her still. She fought back, of course, and was surprisingly strong too considering she had been unconscious for a week, but he managed to keep her still for a while. Judging by how badly she flinched when Honchkrow stuck the needle in, he wasn't exactly being careful about how much pain he was causing. After he was done, Honchkrow walked back out without even looking back.

Lucario let go of her and whispered "I'm sorry" under his breath, but he wasn't sure if she heard it or if she was ignoring him altogether.

A few hours later she was moved into another room which was bigger than the one she had before and would be hers for as long as she stayed there. It previously belonged to a smaller pokemon who, like so many others, had gone missing with the rising number of Shadow Pokemon. That pokemon's bed was still in the room, though a larger one had been moved in for the human to use. There was a fireplace against the wall opposite the beds and a large window that took up most of the wall opposite the door they entered from. Near the window was a large piano that had gone unused since the room's previous resident vanished.

The human walked to the window and stared down at the town surrounding the castle. It was dark and cloudy as ever. The torches in the streets were unlit to signify that it was time to sleep, though there was no distinction between day and night in most places.

"Why is it so dark here?" she asked.

"It's been this way for a long time." Mismagius said. "This world once had a sun that kept it alive, but it hasn't been seen in years. These clouds keep the world covered in eternal darkness. Nearly everything has died, and no one knows why."

Things were looking bad. She obviously hated Lucario and she had started to speak to Mismagius. It could be devastating if an Aura Reader willingly started to work for her. Lucario thought back to her blunt response to him from a while earlier. What if she was the sort who would ally with Mismagius? His well-intended rescue of her may have just brought Mismagius a powerful ally.

"Lots of people have tried, but no one has been able to figure out why things have happened the way they did." Mismagius continued. "It would be strange if an outsider like you were able to figure it out without much effort."

"Are you suggesting I could?" she asked. "I have no idea why this world is the way it is. I'm tired now, can I go to bed?"

Mismagius sighed and disappeared through the floor. Lucario stayed for a while longer than Mismagius did, but the human girl avoided his gaze most of the time and didn't speak. When she finally did look up at him, it was obvious she wanted him to get out. He turned to leave and as he shut the door and began walking down the hall, heard the sound of piano music coming from her room.

As long as Honchkrow left her alone, things would be okay for now. Lucario had other things to do. Pretending to go to bed as he normally did, Lucario went up to his room. As soon as his door was closed and locked, he snuck out through the window. He had done it so many times that the jump from the fourth floor of the castle to the ground below wasn't even a big deal to him anymore.

He ran off in the direction of the forest. The place he was headed to was far past it through mountains and a series of tunnels. Most other pokemon would have difficulty traveling this far in one night without anyone noticing. He only slowed down when he was deep inside the main tunnel. There was a faint glow up ahead. He felt like he was finally able to breathe for the first time since he had last been here.

He stepped into the larger cavern that the tunnel led to. The cavern was, as usual, lit by hundreds of glowing orange flowers. What caused them to grow the way they did was a complete mystery, but they only grew in places like this where the energy of the world was still close to normal levels.

In a few minutes, he had reached his destination; a large city carved out of the cavern. In the center of the city was a lake where the majority of the orange flowers grew along with a variety of other plants. He wondered briefly if there were any Daisy's growing there, though he didn't know what they looked like. An ally of his was there as usual, dozing off in the light of the flowers.

Lucario walked up to her and shook her shoulder to wake her up. "Meganium. Come on, we have work to do."

Meganium lifted her head off of the ground and yawned. "That time already? The Solar Flowers are still lit."

"I want to get started early. The sooner we start, the more pokemon we can rescue." Lucario walked towards one of the buildings, which he had used as his own. He walked inside and came back out a few seconds later with a dark colored garment slung over one arm. "Where is he?"

"That guy? I have no idea where he runs off to. Probably sleeping in one of the other tunnels. He seems like a decent pokemon at least. Pretty eager to help actually, but he just sort of keeps to himself. You haven't been back here since rescuing him. Actually you seem a little different from when I last saw you… Did something happen?"

Lucario sighed and turned away. "We have a problem. On my way home the last time, I found a human Aura Reader."

"A human?" Meganium asked. "And an Aura Reader too? Where is she? Mismagius doesn't know, does she?"

Lucario nodded. "She knows. Normally I would have taken her back here for you to treat her, but we were too far away and she needed help desperately. She hasn't talked much since she regained consciousness, but from what I can tell she might be getting close to Mismagius and she doesn't exactly like me. This is the worst possible situation. To think that everything can be ruined by some human kid from an entirely different world who has no idea what's even going on."

Meganium placed one of her vines on Lucario's shoulder. "Well, just take the night to calm down, alright? If she's a decent person, human or not, she'll come around eventually. Don't worry about it."

"I'm not even sure if she is a decent person. I haven't been able to tell yet." Lucario shook out the garment to get the wrinkles out of it and started to walk back towards the entrance. "I won't let it distract me though. If what you say is true, then I shouldn't have to worry about her. If she does side with Mismagius, it's just one more enemy we'll have to face eventually."

Meganium smiled and nodded. "That's the spirit. I'll stay here as usual in case you bring anyone back with you."

Lucario returned to the castle as usual by the next morning. Mismagius had managed to convince the human to come down and eat with everyone else during breakfast, but she didn't look happy to be there. Lucario wasn't exactly happy about the seating arrangements either, with her sitting on one side of Mismagius and him sitting on the other. When she did something like that, it was hard to tell whether she had done it on purpose or not. As irritating as it was though, he hardly had the energy to pay too much attention to it.

"Not sleeping well?" Mismagius asked. "You've been having trouble sleeping for a while now, haven't you?

Lucario glanced over at Mismagius, but found that he wasn't the only one who had. Mismagius was staring straight ahead, so it was hard to tell who she was talking to, but judging by the dark circles under her eyes, the human had been having as much difficulty sleeping as Lucario had been pretending to have.

Lucario turned away and went back to eating, not wanting her to think he had been staring at her on purpose. He decided that he would try to talk to her after breakfast to make sure that she was alright.

After they had finished eating, Lucario was about to stop the human before she went back up to her room, but Mismagius spoke to him first.

"There's something I need to talk to you about. Follow me."

Lucario wasn't too nervous. There was always that chance that she had figured out what he was trying to do, but she had done things like this enough that he didn't worry too much about it. She didn't speak again until they had gotten far enough away from anyone else who might have been able to overhear them.

"About our next trip. I know it was supposed to be tomorrow, but I think we should postpone it due to the recent circumstances." She glanced up at the ceiling, indicating the human who was probably sitting in her room by now several floors above them.

"I don't mind. I do think it's weird that she showed up here like she did. An Aura Reader, no less, showing up right when we've been searching for one. I would like to look into it if I could. I mean, where she came from and why she came here."

"Hmm." Mismagius tilted her head slightly. "I think it would be a while before we get any information like that from her, but it doesn't really matter. Still, it seems like too great of a coincidence for her to show up right when you happened to be out on a walk through the forest and with those shadow pokemon chasing her too. I'm sure Shade has something to do with it. That's why I think it would be a good idea to try to get her on our side as soon as possible. I want you to help me convince her."

This was bad. Lucario needed to do something to get out of this situation. Then again, if that human did join Mismagius and later Lucario got her to join him… Having someone else aside from himself close to Mismagius could prove to be useful.

"She doesn't exactly like me, does she?" Lucario said, not wanting to just jump into agreeing with Mismagius's plan.

"Nor me." Mismagius said sadly. "That's why I think we should just tell her the truth from the start. If we just tell her what we want right away, I think at the very least she'll have more time to warm up to the idea, even if she rejects it at first."

Having no other option, Lucario followed Mismagius up to the upper floors of the castle to the human's room. Wanting to be polite and not startle her by just walking in, Lucario knocked first. When they opened the door, she acted like she hadn't noticed them at all. She was sitting in a chair by the window holding Daisy with her music box on the floor next to her.

"Are we interrupting you?" Mismagius asked and, unsurprisingly, the human didn't answer. "There's something that we really should talk about if you're going to be staying here. This might sound like a lot to ask, but we could really use your help."

When she still didn't respond, Mismagius glided over to her and hovered near her chair. "Do you know how the ruler of this world is chosen?"

She kept staring out of the window, not even acknowledging that they were there. It looked like a storm was coming. "It's not here tonight…"

"What isn't?" Mismagius asked.

"That cloaked person who was in town last night. I saw him out the window. I wonder who it was…"

"You don't mean—" before Lucario could say more, Mismagius glanced back at him to get him to stop.

"Don't you know who it was?" Mismagius asked.

"Shade…"

Mismagius tried to hide it, but Lucario could see her disappointment. For a second she really believed by some complete fluke she was about to find out Shade's identity. "That's what he identifies himself as, yes, but don't you wonder who's really under that hood?"

The human stayed quiet for a while before replying with "Don't test me, Mismagius."

"Maybe we should come back tomorrow." Lucario said partially to each of them.

"She should at least know why we're here." Mismagius moved a little closer to the human, acting more like a mother comforting a child than anything else. "Dear child, do you even know what you are? Do you ever wonder how the information you have tends to just come to you out of nowhere? It's an ability few are blessed with. Those few are referred to as Aura Readers." When she didn't respond, Mismagius kept going. "In this world, there were once many who possessed these abilities and the crown was always given to the one with the most fine-tuned of them. They were seen as the wisest, strongest, and most capable of running not only the country, but this entire world. However, a tragedy recently struck. Starting around twenty years ago, Aura Readers started to vanish. A little more than ten years after the incident started, the king who was believed to be the last of them went missing. In the event that a capable Aura Reader isn't found to take the king's place, the title would normally be passed to an heir, but unfortunately he had no children. As his advisor I took over temporarily and have been waiting ever since for an Aura Reader to come to us to take his place."

Still, she said nothing. How could anyone be so uninterested in the possibility of becoming a king? Unless she already knew all of this. Just how advanced were her abilities?

"Don't you think it's strange?" Mismagius asked. "A human from another world, one who possesses the abilities which we have been searching for, who just happened to cross paths with my friend here one night while being chased by the minions of our enemy. I have no idea how you got here and your unwillingness to speak about it makes me think that you might not know either. I just can't help but think that you must have come here for a reason, as if guided by destiny, if you will."

After so many nights of trying to get some type of reaction out of her, Mismagius had finally managed to do it. The change was almost instant. In one movement, the human girl stood up from the chair, placed Daisy on top of the chair, and closed the lid on the music box, plunging the room into silence.

Considering she had hardly spoken at all since she regained consciousness, she was able to shout surprisingly loudly. "And what right do you think you have telling me all of this!? Did it ever once cross your mind that I would want no part in whatever it is that you might have been planning for me since the second he found me out in that forest." She pointed accusingly at Lucario, actually managing to make him jump in surprise. "Did it ever once cross either of your minds that I might actually have my own reason to be here?! Well maybe I do or maybe I don't but one thing I'm sure about is that I don't need some sassy ghost pokemon telling me what's what!"

Once again the room was silent. During the time when the human had been shouting, Mismagius had actually backed away a little. Lucario doubted that it was really fear, that maybe it was just her being cautious or being surprised by the sudden outburst. One thing at least that was obvious was that she had no idea how to react to this. She looked shocked and appalled by the outburst, but that wasn't it. Maybe there was some fear to it, but it was hard to place.

Whatever it was, Lucario had never seen an expression like it on Mismagius's face. While he tried to resist at first, he just couldn't keep it in. After about half a minute of tense silence, that silence was suddenly broken by his laughter, which only intensified when Mismagius reacted to it, making her expression even more ridiculous.

He had to stop himself. He looked away from Mismagius, but when he did he noticed that the human was actually smiling while holding one hand to her mouth. Almost as soon as Lucario looked over at her, she started laughing too.

Mismagius looked between the two of them and sighed and shook her head. Over their laughter, Lucario managed to hear her mumble something about having two kids to look over now before sinking to the floor and phasing through it.

Their laughter died down a few seconds later. After Mismagius left, it became suddenly awkward to just be standing alone laughing about nothing in particular. Then again, had it ever not been awkward since they first started laughing? Or whenever Lucario was

ever in the same room as this human for that matter?

She turned back towards the window, but didn't sit back down. If she had Lucario would have taken it as a sign that she wanted to be left alone, but he didn't think it would be right just to leave after finally getting a reaction out of her that wasn't obvious hatred towards him or anyone else.

"Did you say you had a reason for being here?" he asked, but then hastily added, "If it's something you'd rather not talk about, you don't have to. I was just wondering."

She shook her head, not turning towards him. "Just forget it. It doesn't matter anymore."

What else could he say? She wasn't exactly easy to talk to with the little bit of conversation she actually provided.

"What's the real reason for why it's so dark here?" she asked.

"Those clouds have been shrouding the world in darkness since before I was born. Before both of us were born, I suppose, if you really are the same age as me like you said. Well some people say that the sun was blocked out by the clouds, and some say that there was never a sun to begin with. I don't really have any way of knowing which is true."

It was starting to rain outside, but not very heavily. Maybe the worst of the storm would miss them. The human put her hand against the window, making the cold glass fog up around where she touched it. "Everything's dead or dying, isn't it? I don't know what's going on, but I can still see it. It's horrible how everyone acts, pretending nothing's happening, hiding behind smiles and laughter. They do nothing about the problem and the whole time everything's dying, probably even their own hope."

"I don't like it either. It's frustrating when I think about how many are actually trying to do something. You can talk a lot when you want to, can't you?" She shrugged in reply but didn't say anything else. "We've all just been calling you 'the human' since you showed up. What's your name?"

She shook her head. "I'd rather not say it. I think I should go to bed soon."

Lucario was worried that he might have said something that had upset her, but she didn't sound mad, just tired. "It's not surprising. Talking and smiling in the same day, you must be exhausted." She gave a short laugh in reply, but it sounded almost forced. "I'll leave you alone then."

Just as Lucario turned and began walking back towards the door, the human turned back around towards him. "Lucario, wait!" He stopped and waited for her to say something, but she hesitated. It looked like she was worried about something. "Do you think tomorrow you could maybe show me around the castle…?"

Lucario smiled and nodded. "Sure. Was that all?"

Again, she hesitated. Apparently there was something else. "About what you said, about the number of people who actually try to do something to help this world… The stuff that Mismagius was saying earlier… You never said anything about it. What do you think I should do?"

"Whatever you think is right. If you want my honest opinion, I don't think you should have to do anything. You're not from this world and you certainly don't have any part in our politics, but at the same time we could use your help. Just do whatever you think is best." She nodded and Lucario turned back towards the door. "Go ahead and get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

Lucario left and headed back to his own room. He really meant what he said about her doing whatever she thought was best. He had had his doubts before. Or had he? He had been frustrated with her unwillingness to speak and that may have clouded his judgement somewhat. In spite of that, since he had first found her without knowing why, he had an odd sort of sense about this human, as if he could trust her with his life. There was a long-standing saying in their world that it was impossible for humans and pokemon to live without one another. That saying had endured even after thousands of years of the world being devoid of humans. Maybe there was some truth to that and his trust for this near stranger was some kind of instinctual response. It was a strange way to see someone after only having one real conversation with them, but it was a feeling that he just couldn't shake.