I was a bit taken aback by the request. I thought she would have wanted some time alone. "Are you sure? I don't want to be a bother." I said. Karla screwed her face up and looked at me with pleading eyes. I should learn to just shut up some times. "Ok, I'll stay." I responded. She walked in and stopped in front of her bed. "You can have the bed if you want. I can sleep on the floor." Karla said. "What? No. I don't want you sleeping on the floor. You take the bed, I'll figure something out." I said. "I'm the one that asked you to stay. I can't oblige you to sleep on the floor." Karla responded.

"Maybe you don't have to. Stay put, I'll be back in five minutes." I said smiling broadly. Karla tried to object but I was already out of the door. Down the stairs I went and straight to the reception desk of the inn. "Hello, what can I do for you?" the NPC behind the counter asked. A window popped up in front of me. I made my selection and paid for the transaction. I rushed back up the stairs to Karla's room and knocked on her door. Karla opened it, "Come, follow me." I commanded.

I went a couple of rooms down the corridor and opened the door, and let Karla enter first. She walked in to the room and looked around. It was larger than the inn rooms we were used to. "See? Two beds! Now neither of us has to sleep on the floor. We can share in comfort." I said satisfied with myself. Karla smiled as she sat on one of the beds. I sat on the other bed facing her.

I opened my menus and proceeded to remove my armor and put away my battle axe. Karla started to do the same. She fumble with her menus, still shaken from the previous events. She dropped her katana while trying to store it in her inventory. I picked it up and gave it to her. She grabbed it rather roughly, and huffed a little. I pretended to ignore it. "Get some rest. I'll do the same." I suggested and laid in bed on my back staring at the ceiling. I heard Karla do the same thing.

"Wolf?" Karla said

-"Hmm?" I acknowledged.

-" Talk to me?"

-"About what?"

-"I doesn't matter, just talk about stuff."

-"Could you be a little more specific. Is there anything you want me to talk about."

-"You."

-"Me?"

-"Yeah. What's with the blond hair? You dye it or something?"

-"Oh that. Um, it's a long story."

-"I don't mean to pry, you can talk about something else if you prefer."

-"No, I don't mind. It's my natural hair."

-"Really? How? The game wasn't released anywhere else."

-"Hmm, I think I've told this story a thousand times."

"How does someone get blond hair and blue eyes in a country where most people have dark hair and brown eyes? I credit my grandfather for that. He's originally from England but was working for an American company who was trying to set up production in Japan. So when a position in Tokyo opened, so he jumped at the opportunity. He liked Japan and decided to settle there permanently. He moved his wife and five year old daughter to come and live with him.."

"His daughter, my mom, adapted to the move as any child would, and as much as any child can. But she was different than her classmates in school, and got teased a lot. She had slightly wavy blond hair, very pale skin and bright blue eyes. Some were fascinated by her, some were jealous, and most saw her as an outsider. That influenced some of her choices, one of which was to study abroad."

"She met a young man during her last year of studies. They went out for a while and things were progressing smoothly. But the relationship broke down when she mentioned about going back to Japan. He decided he would not follow her and broke the relationship off shortly after their graduation. He cut off all communications and took off to the states."

"My mom headed back to Japan with a broken heart and a little something her ex-boyfriend had left her. She was pregnant with me. My mom once said to me that I was a gift she almost missed. Now that I think about it, mom must have struggled with what to do. Grandfather told me, not so long ago, that it had been a difficult time for mom. I'm glad she let nature take it's course."

"So here I am. Born and raised in Japan, immersed in the culture and having lived here all my life, with a body that originates halfway around the world, complete with the blond hair and blue eyes. It's strangely a piece of my reality that followed me into this game. My original avatar had black hair. It was a shock to see my real face in the mirror on the first day."

"So that's it." I concluded. I turned my head toward Karla to see what she thought about my story. She appeared to have fallen asleep. I couldn't tell if the story had been comforting or boring. In any case it had the desired effect. I laid on my back staring at the ceiling and whispered "I hope you'll tell me your story when you're ready."

I woke up to a poke on the cheek. I opened my eyes slowly. Karla was leaning over me. "You awake?" she asked "I am now. What's up?" I said as I shook off the sleepiness and stretched a little. "Nothing. I've been awake for an hour, and kind of wanted some breakfast. I was hoping you would join me?" she stated and asked at the same time. Breakfast sounded good.

We headed down to the inn's common room, sat ourselves down at a table and ordered a meal of eggs, sausage, toast, and of course a cup of tea. "I could really use a coffee right now" Karla said. I chuckled at this. I guess I wasn't the only one that missed the infamous morning beverage. Maybe a player would eventually figure out a coffee like recipe, whoever did that would instantly become very rich.

Karla looked away, "Wolf? Thank you for staying with me last night." I looked up from my tea and looked down again. "No problem. I hope I didn't bore you with my origins story." I chuckled nervously. Karla turned towards me "I appreciate your openness. I need someone right now that can root me in reality, and you tend to do that to me. Thank you. I just hope I won't be a burden for you." Karla confessed

"I know I promised to go hunting with you today, but I really don't feel up to it. You can go if you like, I'll just hang around here and wait for you." Karla said apologetically . "To tell you the truth, I'd rather stay in town with you than go hunting alone. We could wander through town a little, you know, walk around and look for something to do." I suggested. "Like what?" she asked.

"Crafting!".