Chapter 14
Revelations Large And Small
Raistlin wasn't sure if he was 'alright', in any fashion. He had no idea what to think of the revelation that had hit him. No idea how to ask again the question he had already asked her. How to ask for some confirmation on his conclusion. How to try to contemplate that his life, himself, were somehow, and to some unknown extent, written about in story books within another world.
Ria's expression became even more worried as he continued not to answer her.
"Raistlin?" Ria's voice was most definitely filled with concern. "What's wrong?" Her gaze was darting all over his face and form, looking for some sign of explanation for the change that had come over him. "You're really pale and trembling a bit. Gods above! Your hands are shaking like you're having a seizure!" Ria's silvery-grey gaze went back to his face, expression beginning to border on panicked. "What's wrong? Why aren't you answering? Are you having some sort of aftershock of the situation hitting you? Are you feeling physically sick?"
When Ria reached out to check his forehead as she had on the balcony, one of Raistlin's shaking hands shot up, almost of its own accord, and grabbed her by the wrist to stop her. The young woman froze in surprise, neither trying to pull her hand away to herself nor continue trying to check him for signs of what was the cause of his visible ailment.
"Raistlin?" Ria asked warily, glancing down at her captured wrist and then back up at him. "What's wrong? You really don't look so well right now. I was only going to see if you're feverish and check your pulse to see if you were having some sort of heart attack or on the verge of fainting. I wasn't making some attempt to cause you harm."
"Why?" Raistlin asked quietly, hearing his own voice shaking. He continued, though, gaze not leaving the young woman, with absolute determination to have the answer. "Why are you trying to help me?"
"Because you look about ready to keel over!" Ria replied immediately in consternation.
"That's not what I meant, Ria," Raistlin clarified immovably, voice growing less shaky. "Why have you been so willing to help me from the beginning of this situation?"
That conflicted and wary expression automatically returned to her face and the muscles in her wrist beneath his grasp tensed.
It was a silent but undeniable confirmation to his conclusions.
"You've read about me in those books based on my world," Raistlin stated definitively, not leaving room for her to take it as a question she could avoid again. "You recognized me from those books somehow."
Ria's eyes widened, clearly shocked he had come to those conclusions on his own and not knowing how to respond.
Raistlin was now the one refusing to let a line of questioning pass, however. If he had to wait the next hour, she was going to answer him on this critical point of the matter.
Whether it was his statement, his tone of voice, his expression, or his hold on her wrist, something apparently made the young woman realize Raistlin wasn't going to accept any more evasive answers, regardless of potential consequences to know the answer.
Ria took a tremulous swallow, clearing her throat, and then nodded once. She admitted hesitantly, "Yes, you are spoken of in the books."
"And that is why you didn't allow me to be arrested," Raistlin stated again, trying to prompt her to explain, or at least confirm his conclusions. "You recognized my mage's robes, and something in what I was saying made you realize who I was."
Ria nodded slowly, appearing more disconcerted. "Yes, I recognized your robes and things you were saying and thought you might be you."
"And that is why you questioned me as you did, to try to confirm my identity."
"Yes," Ria's voice was tremulous now, barely above a whisper.
"Why?" Raistlin asked, his gaze still not leaving her. "Why would you help me when you couldn't even know for certain that I was who I said I was? Why are you helping me now? What was written in those books to make you behave as you have?"
Ria didn't answer, her face paling noticeably and arm beginning to tremble.
"Why are you helping me, Ria?" Raistlin pressed her. "Why are you trusting me in your home? What do you hope to gain by helping me?"
Ria's expression shifted to one of being upset at that last question. "I don't hope to gain anything!"
"No?" Raistlin persisted, forcing his tone to remain sharp, trying to back her into giving some semblance of a proper answer. "A mage from Krynn shows up in your sitting room, in your world where magic is lacking in comparison to my world, in your presence when you have a desire to discover magic, and you hope to gain nothing by helping me?"
"I am not trying to gain anything for myself!"
Ria tried to yank her wrist away, tried to retreat away from him, but there was only just so much room allowed for such on the day bed and she couldn't go far. Raistlin kept his grip on her wrist tight enough to ensure she couldn't pull free, his other hand wrapping around her inner elbow to enforce the hold and keep her arm pulled straight, her wrist remaining close to himself so she couldn't easily try to lunge off the day bed to break free. His long fingers easily wrapped around her slender wrist and almost around her arm, and despite that he was not some brawny fighter like his brother, he was still a full grown man and possessed enough strength to keep the smaller young woman from pulling free as she was continuing to attempt to do.
"Let me go, Raistlin!" Ria's expression was now furious, and a touch scared, as she glared at him. He noted that, despite her attempts to pull free, she wasn't resorting to more violent means, such as kicking at him or scratching at his hand, to break free. As much as she wanted him to let go, she apparently didn't want to hurt him or escalate the situation further. Which meant he had a good chance of forcing her to answering if he was persistent enough.
"Not until you answer my questions truthfully," Raistlin stated immovably, pulling her closer by a few inches and keeping his gaze pinned on her. "What do you hope to gain by aiding me, Ria?"
Ria stopped trying to pull free. Her glare didn't disappear, though, as she met his gaze. That glare was as sharp as a dagger with her silvery-grey eyes shaded as they were. Eyes that were noticeably even more shaded to silver with her anger and fear.
Raistlin kept his own expression as stoic as he could manage, but he felt an uncomfortable twist in his stomach to see the young woman who had been trying to help him have a shift in her attitude from friendliness and concern to being upset, bordering truly frightened. He tried to reassure himself that Ria was upset about the situation, afraid of possible consequences of speaking, but he couldn't know that for sure. He didn't know if it was himself she was now frightened of because of his actions just now. It unsettled Raistlin to see her looking at him with such an expression. But gaining answers in this disturbing situation, that was progressively beginning to show just how much of a magnitude it could have on his own life, was far more important to him than her personal comforts.
"Release me, Raistlin. Right now," Ria demanded quietly.
"If you want me to you release you, Ria, you will first answer my questions properly," Raistlin ordered just as quietly and resolutely. "Don't give me more "Butterfly Effect" theories and evasive answers. At this juncture, I don't give a damn about theoretical repercussions. I've been ripped from my world and tossed into another. Into your world, in point of fact, and into your home. I have the right to receive wholly truthful answers to my legitimate questions from you if you have those answers. What is written in those books about myself? Why didn't you turn me over to the guards? Why are you willing to try helping me? To trust me and be concerned about my wellbeing? Why did you become so suddenly certain that my magic could work in your world when you said before that you had no idea if it could?"
Ria remained quiet for several long seconds.
Raistlin refused to budge in the slightest.
The young woman sighed in frustration, gaze lowering and turning her face away, some of the tension leaving her body, as she silently conceded defeat on the matter.
The world-lost mage continued to watch her silently, still keeping her from retreating, waiting for the answers he had demanded.
Ria let out another sigh, this one sounding weary. Silvery eyes finally looked back up and met Raistlin's gaze again. "The books about your world have been my favorite fantasy books to read ever since I read the very first one," she explained quietly, tone and expression still bordering fearful. "I've read them countless times and drawn out pictures of your world as it's described in the stories, trying to imagine and capture some small glimpse of what sort of world someplace like Krynn might be like. My friends all know the series is my favorite, they all like it too, and so the party they threw for me last night to celebrate my 18th birthday was done in a theme to reflect aspects of your world. We had it at Maggie's book store and they decorated the shop with, what is easiest explained as, statues fashioned to look like mythical creatures from your world. Life sized paintings of characters from the books were placed in silly places around the creatures or the room. That sort of thing…"
Raistlin waited silently for her to continue speaking, though he did wonder if his portrait had been among them. He'd ask if she didn't finish explaining in some fashion that answered what her party had to do with the current situation.
Ria looked away again with a sigh, gaze going to the floor where the book she had offered him had fallen during their scuffle.
"We were in the middle of eating dinner when someone walked into the shop that wasn't one of our friends. An old man who thought it was a combination of a book shop and café because we were all eating and started complaining how crowded the shop was with the decorations everywhere. He acted kind of senile, but he was also kind of funny, so we corrected him on what the book store was and tried to tell him the shop was closed for the private party, trying to be nice about getting him to go on his way… When he heard it was my birthday party taking place, he asked a few questions like my name and how old I was turning. The usual questions someone would ask someone else on their birthday. He also rambled quite a bit and I was in a full giggle fit at that point. He was rambling about the decorations, at some point he chastised 'Geny and Ivan for rudely sitting on the counter like kids, ended up bantering a little with a couple of my friends. Then he noticed the stack of presents in one corner and it seemed to jog his memory that he stepped in on someone's birthday party…"
Ria trailed off with another sigh and didn't continue speaking immediately.
"What happened next?" Raistlin asked quietly, having an unsettling feeling that it was something significant to the situation after all.
Ria looked back up and met his gaze, expression attempting to be guarded. Her emotions were easily read, however, and Raistlin could see she was still wary and upset.
"One of the full sized paintings of characters from the books was of you," Ria admitted, voice barely louder than a whisper. "My friends had jokingly set it up next to the presents to be an honor guard to protect my birthday gifts from the other painted or sculpted inhabitants of Krynn. The old man noticed both the presents and your picture, made some confused comment about your picture appearing familiar. We asked him if he had read the books, and he said he hadn't. 'Geny thought perhaps the rambling had gone on long enough and suggested the old man should leave. The old man chastised 'Geny for being rude to his elders and threatened to whack him with his cane. 'Geny wasn't worried about the threat, but he decided not to argue with someone who was his elder.
"Then the old man walked over to the presents, pulled one of his own out from beneath his jacket, and placed it with the others, saying he had been carrying it around for a while and hadn't found cause to use it or pass it on, but perhaps I might. He wished me a 'Happy Birthday' and turned to leave again. Before he left, he pointed at your picture with his cane and told it that if it was any sort of proper mage, it would guard my presents from wandering hands. He also muttered about kids these days having no respect, and told your picture to perhaps keep watch over the birthday girl as well, as she might be subjected to the same thieving tendencies. He wandered back out of the shop muttering to himself, and we all had a laugh over the incident because most of us thought he was senile."
Raistlin glanced down at the blank red book. "That was the birthday present he left, wasn't it?"
Ria nodded hesitantly.
"You didn't think there was anything odd about that?" Raistlin asked sharply, mind trying to contemplate everything she told him about the incident.
Ria flinched at the edge in his voice. She said defensively, though her voice remained quiet, "Odd, sure; but like I said, most of my friends just thought the old man was crazy and brushed it off when I mentioned the similarities cuz your world isn't supposed to be real. Ivan and 'Geny checked the book, and they said it was just a book. And it is just a blank book. There's no magic in it. One of us would have felt some sign of it, especially Ivan and 'Geny. Or you would have when you picked it up."
Raistlin couldn't argue that the book was just a book currently; he couldn't sense any magic in it. If Ria or her mentors hadn't sensed magic in it while inspecting it for such, if nothing had happened upon first opening and inspecting the book, then that likely meant the blank book had always been just a blank book. A blank book that would be useful for an out of his world mage without his own spell book, though.
"And the rest of the night went by without incident," Ria was continuing to explain, shifting her seating on the day bed, clearly becoming uncomfortable as her arm was still being held captive. "Which made it seem even more just like a coincidence. We cleaned up the shop, most of my friends left for their own homes, and Maggie brought me home because I had too many presents to try to carry home on my own. She helped me bring them upstairs and said goodnight. I let Gabby in from being outside, fed her, put most of my presents away, and then went to bed. Next thing I knew, I heard Gabby hissing and found you sitting in my living room. You know the story from there."
"So you stopped the guards from taking me because I reminded you of a character you read about in the book and because of the incident with the old man?" Raistlin asked bluntly. "That was a rather risky decision."
Ria shrugged, pink tingeing her cheeks again. "It seemed too coincidental to not be related when you started saying things the Raistlin in the books would know or say, and your appearance was the same as described..."
"And you didn't think to mention all this sooner?"
Ria's cheeks turned a brighter pink, and her tone became more defensive and a normal volume again. "I was trying to figure out how to tell you without possibly making some catastrophic worlds-changing screw up! Even with the incident with the old man, I didn't realize the book was meant for you. I thought it was meant for me. It wasn't until the subject of you possibly casting magic in this world came up that it clicked in my head that I was supposed to pass it on so you'd have a spell book. Please excuse me if it's taking me awhile to make all the connections in my head because I'm just as surprised you are here as you are to be here! Dream come true as it may be, it's not like I have my favorite character from my favorite series dropping into my living room every night! How am I supposed…"
Ria's mouth shut as quickly as it had opened, expression transforming into one of mortification as she realized what she had said and saw Raistlin's own expression become surprised. His grip on her arm also loosened with his surprise and she jerked it free.
Raistlin didn't attempt to stop her, watching in unparalleled bafflement as she pulled her knees up to her chest, set her arms on her knees, and dropped her head to her arms, hiding her face.
"Gods above, please just drop me into the Abyss right now," the young woman muttered fervently. "I swear the Dark Queen herself couldn't come up with a more embarrassing scenario."
Raistlin wasn't sure how to react to Ria's explanation of her Day of Life Gift party, the information about the old man and his gift, her last comment, nor her current behavior. He had been trying to contemplate just how much of a part this strange old man clearly had played in his appearance in this world, wondering if there were others aiding the old man in sending him here, and trying to discern what their reasoning might be. He had continued pressing Ria for information to make certain she was now giving him the entire story to try considering. He hadn't expected her last comment to be a part of the answers.
Raistlin had guessed he was mentioned in the books, and that she was helping him because of that. Perhaps in additional part to her interest in magic and because he was a student mage. But her favorite character from the stories?
Raistlin wasn't sure if he should feel flattered by the sentiment; or feel far more concerned than he already was, as it all indicated that this situation wasn't an accident. The young mage decided he could be both, but concentrated on the latter.
Whomever was behind this, whoever the old man was, and any possible conspirators he had- he or they had known the young woman enjoyed the books based on his world and had known that her favorite "character" was himself. That must have factored into their decision to single her out, out of whomever might else have read the series of books, and make this residence the location where he had arrived in her world. Other factors they had discussed in why her residence might have been chosen likely also played a part, but those hadn't greatly narrowed down why he had been sent here specifically.
How could he or they have known any of that? How much did they actually know about this young woman? They must have been somehow spying on her for some period of time to decide she would make a proper choice of someone to send him to while he was in this world. Which meant that this was in fact no accident and he wasn't the only one being intentionally manipulated in this matter.
"How popular are the books based on my world?" Raistlin asked, trying to keep his voice neutral and not directly commenting on her admission to further embarrass her.
"Extremely popular," Ria muttered.
"That isn't descriptive."
"Over twelve million copies of the first trilogy sold in the last 30 years. Millions of others sold for each of the other installments or singular volumes."
"Millions?" Raistlin asked in shock.
"Yes, millions," Ria replied sarcastically. "Your world has a pretty huge base of admirers in this world. So do you, if you're really wanting that much of an ego stroking."
Raistlin raised an eyebrow at that snappish response.
Was Ria really that embarrassed by her accidental confession?
Clearly, she was.
Raistlin had confidence in a number of things- his growing skills with magic, even if it took too long for his liking to gain them, his other areas of academics, his skills with herbs and plants and the aspects of healing that he had been learning from Meggin, with handling small animals, and with performing sleight of hand tricks that seemed magical to everyone else. His appeal to the opposite gender, however, or his abilities in dealing with them, were not things he had much confidence in. The only female who had shown interest in him thus far had turned out to simply have an interest in anything that was male. Which had done little in helping his confidence or views in such matters.
Such aside, Raistlin had seen the behavior of young women when they took an actual fancy to other men. Some of Ria's confusing behavior in conversation was now coming into a new light. Unless he was very much mistaken, and it was admittedly possible he was, it seemed Ria had taken a fancy to him as more than an admirable mage. Or, more accurately, the him that was the character in the books she had read.
That was a curious little revelation.
Not that he would take advantage of that revelation. Raistlin highly doubted he had been dragged from his own world to have a tryst. Nor was he the sort of man to have a tryst. Nor was he the sort to prey upon a young woman's fascination with what she had thought was only a book character, and especially not knowing just how accurate those books where about himself to even know if she had any sort of accurate view of him fueling that fascination.
But it was a decidedly curious and explanatory revelation none the less.
"I wasn't attempting to have my ego stroked." Raistlin was unable to hide his amused smirk, but her face was still buried in her arms, so it wasn't as though she could see it. "I wanted to know how widespread these books were to discover just how much your liking of them played a part in why the old man gave you the blank book and why I appeared here. And I've never heard of millions of copies of any single book being made, never mind many volumes of books being made in such numbers. Such a thing is not done in my world, so you surprised me with that information. If that is the case, however, then it doesn't exactly narrow down why you were picked to be my intermediary to surviving in this world for whatever purpose I was brought here for."
"Oh…" was the chagrined response to his explanation.
"Anything else you haven't told me of the present situation that might be useful to know?"
"I'm finding your sarcastic wit far less amusing in person and being directed at me than when I was reading about it or it was directed at others," Ria replied, still hiding her face and sounding more abashed. "You were baiting me into slipping up on something. I realize that now, so don't you dare deny it, Raistlin, and you should know I don't appreciate it. You should also know you're now in perilous danger of losing your status as my favorite character in the series for being such a manipulative, pain in the ass mage."
Raistlin chuckled in amusement because the young woman's tone in no way lent any veracity to that reprimand and threat. "What I meant was, if the books are so wide spread as you say, do you have any further thoughts on anything that might indicate why I arrived at this location? Clearly it was planned by this old man you mentioned. Possibly others as well. Such magic would be complex and draining for even accomplished mages and he'd likely need aid. And as he or they chose someone who enjoyed the books based on my world, and who had a favorable opinion of what they thought was only a character, it may indicate that whoever sent me here meant it for some beneficial purpose. Otherwise they could have chosen a far more hostile location, or one where I was entirely unknown and would be at a complete loss. It also raises questions to how widespread and thorough whatever screening was done to choose said intermediary, how long this had been planned for in advance of my arrival."
"How in the Abyss should I know what is going on in someone else's mind, how long they were planning this for, and what they thought might make a good host for you in this world?" Ria asked moodily. "I only just had any sign something strange might be happening last night when the old man showed up! For all I know, they wrote down the names of all the Raistlin fans in this world on slips of paper, tossed them in a gigantic pot, stirred them up, pulled one out, and I was the lucky girl to end up with the legendary sarcastic mage as a houseguest."
"Legendary?" Raistlin asked. The aspiring mage was instantly intrigued. "Just what do the books say about my life? With you asking how old I am, I am going to guess that perhaps they talk about future deeds past the age of twenty? If they were turned into stories, they must have some import."
"Gods above!" Ria exclaimed, finally lifting her head and glaring at the mage in exasperation. "Not all the stories of Krynn were about you! You're one of many characters! People! Ugh, whichever! Now stop asking me questions! 'Butterfly Effect', remember?!"
"What if I was sent here so I could learn such things?" Raistlin countered, still smirking.
"And what if that is entirely not the purpose?" Ria retorted, appearing extremely distraught now. "As much as I personally wouldn't mind answering all your questions as you think them up, I also don't want to send the entire world of Krynn somehow crashing into oblivion because I told someone from that world things they shouldn't know and screwed up their life and possibly others! Do you realize just how catastrophic knowing things about your own future can end up, Raistlin?! Let me give you a few ideas from situations, not related to you, by the way, that we debated in class. These all involve a mage as the example because magic-users are the most likely to somehow mess with time or dimensional or world travel. But all these scenarios involved a mage going to another world, or future time, or any other incident where he somehow gains information he shouldn't have about his own future."
Ria lifted one finger. "Situation A, and least likely to ever happen. Mage finds out his life is going to be a perfect life of happiness and joy, with nary a problem, or at least no situation he can't easily overcome with a flick of his wrist, and so he is content with that knowledge and the time line continues without any sort of disruption."
Second finger. "Situation B, same look at the future. Except, mage got cocky about knowing he'd live a long, happy, easy life. Instead of easily overcoming any sort of obstacle because he was properly wary of the unknown, he drops his guard cuz he thinks he knows he'll always survive, or he tries to do more than he previously would have and ends up in new situations, and ends up dead before his time in one fashion or other. Any future good he would have done is now gone, any lives he may have effected are no longer going to be effected, et cetera."
Third finger lifted. "Situation C. Mage sees future, and it is more of a balanced mix someone would expect to find in their future of ups and down. He accepts that, and acts as usual, neither pushing the good times nor trying to avoid the bad, and all continues on its proper path."
Fourth finger. "Situation D, same future as C. Mage decides to try to avoid the bad. The scenario in our debate for that one was a war in which he was killed during one battle. One way it can play out that was posed was he sat the battle out entirely, lived, but others who would have been saved by his presence aiding the battle were killed. Which means everything they were supposed to do will never be done, and spreads out from there. Also, the entire battle could be lost, theoretically, because he wanted to sit it out and live. That battle could have been critical to the war, sets off a chain reaction of losses, and causes his side to lose the whole damned thing when they would have previously won. If that side was the good side, the loss of the war could mean the whole world going to the dogs with slavery and corruption and other bad."
Fifth finger. "Or he might have taken part in the battle, but knew enough details of his future and the battle to live through when he was supposed to die and protect those he was supposed to protect, and the end result of the war was the same. Or he additionally kills more people on the opposite side and sets off a chain reaction of the opposite magnitude for good."
First finger of next hand. "But either way, running or surviving the battle, now he's alive when he wouldn't have been. Things could go decently for him, with a long happy life and lots of achievements. Or things could go horribly wrong. Maybe instead of an instant, painless death in that battle, the next one he gets called into he gets captured by the enemy, tortured for months on end, and then gets a bloody public execution to send a message to those who had hired him to be their war mage. Or it could be taking an arrow to the spine in that later battle and spending the rest of his life unable to walk or properly control his movements to cast his spells."
"Alright! You've made your point quite unmistakably, Ria," Raistlin interrupted soberly, hands raising in front of himself almost as though to ward him, as she went to list another example. His curiosity was quite effectively snuffed out with even those few examples and he was once more finding this whole situation deeply disconcerting as she listed off what sort of negative ways having a look into his own future could result in. "I apologize for trying to ask about my own future, if it is written in those books, for the sake of curiosity. But I did also wonder, in truth, if perhaps knowing such might be a reason I was sent to this world where my world and myself were known."
Ria sighed heavily and shrugged. "I understand. I'd be curious and asking questions if I was in your position. And I would really like to answer all your questions and assume it could only help you. But, just like you were warning me about something possibly happening to Gabby if your spell goes wrong in this world, you needed to realize why I'm so concerned about messing things up."
Raistlin nodded and gave a sigh of his own. After a minute of silence, he said with a return of his smirk, trying to lighten her still gloomy mood, "I appreciate that you're attempting to take such things into consideration so I don't end up with one of those countless horrible fates."
Ria gave a weary laugh and waved a hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, you're welcome, Raistlin. What are inter-world guides for? Just trying to do what's apparently my new job."
Raistlin chuckled and shook his head in amusement.
Ria said more seriously, "Just, please, stop trying to pry so much information out of me without giving me a chance to think? I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment and I'm trying to keep a handle on all this. I was going to tell you about the old man and where the book came from, I just didn't know how yet. And I likewise figured you'd need to know you were written about in the series. If you're here any length of time, or end up meeting my friends, or any other people who know about the series, and my friends or any of those people find out who you are, you'd find that out anyway. But I was trying to figure out how to tell you that as well without possible negative repercussions. I'm not going to hide anything that could possibly be important, but I do need to try to figure out what is important and what's not, and how to go about telling you if it is, as I really don't want to see anything bad happen in Krynn or to you."
"You're truly that concerned about such an outcome, aren't you?" Raistlin was surprised by her deep trepidation; one that he was certain she was genuine in feeling by the growing disconcerted tone and expression.
Ria nodded, then shrugged once more. "Like I said, out of all the characters from that series, you're my favorite. If I screw up whatever purpose you're here for and it ends in something bad happening to you, I'd never be able to forgive myself for it." Ria blushed again as she saw Raistlin raise an eyebrow. Obviously realizing how that sounded, she quickly added, "I'm going to get some more coffee now. You want another cup?"
"I'm fine for the time being," Raistlin replied, trying to keep a neutral expression. "I'm not accustomed to drinking large amounts of this brew so it's serving its purpose after one cup."
"Alrighty then," Ria grabbed his empty cup along with her own. "I'm going to get myself another cup of liquid awareness and then we can attempt more discussion if you'd like."
Raistlin couldn't help the confused, but also entertained, smirk as he watched Ria make a very quick retreat to the kitchen, blushing and refusing to look at him.
If there was any doubt about the young woman having developed a fancy for himself and/or how he was portrayed in those books, her last comment before becoming flustered erased those doubts. Raistlin decided to count himself fortunate that, whatever was the reason he was brought to this world for, he had been sent someplace that was at least receptive to his presence. Such was certainly easier to deal with than relentless yelling or screams, or being hauled off to jail by guards and whatever would follow that scenario, or having found himself in a hostile area where he was immediately attacked, possibly killed, for a sudden arrival there.
While Ria was in the kitchen, Raistlin spent the quiet time thinking on his presence in this world, the implications of what he knew thus far, and how to attempt to proceed from this point with the situation to solve this impossibly complicated predicament he had awoken to find himself dragged into.