He sweated. He worked. He clenched his fist at frustration at faulty equipment. He added the perfect spices, seasonings, and salts. He stirred the damn thing till his arms hurt. He rushed the finished product to the judges table just as the announement sounded.

All chili heads put down your spoons and head all entries to the judges table immediately. The cooking is done, the battle is over! The awards ceremony will take place in one hour at the main events tent. Thank you and enjoy the rest of the festival.

Chili heads, and Gregory says I'm a geek. Dominic stuck his hands in his jacket and walked into the crowd once again. He had to find that man, he couldn't pass up the opportunity to see what that book said. Squeezing his way through the clowns blowing balloons, jugglers, people wearing giant cheese hats, and music so bad that his ears hurt, he finally spotted the young man sitting down towards the corner of a building, in a foldup chair, reading that book.

What is the best way to approach this? I can't just stand there and stare at him. I have to get him to put down that book. "Hey." Dominic waved shyly.

"Oh, hello. Tough battle for you?"

"Tough battle?"

"Yeah. It feels like we get less and less time each year. It can be frustrating if you are like me, who loves to spend a long amount of time making sure things are perfect." The man always had a sweet smile on his face, but seldom did his eyes leave the book.

"What are you reading?" Dominic pulled up a chair and sat on it backwards, resting his arms against the top of it.

"My recipe book."

"The cooking is over, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but if you are a chili head like me, you wanna memorize every recipe. There are other competitions I have to prepare for too. Hey, you mind watching this while I run to the bathroom? Sipped a few too many sodas during competition."

Thank you moron! "Sure. "

The young man nodded and got up from his seat, setting his chair on the book. Before he left, however, he took a small rope with a lock on the end of it out of his pocket. He strapped the thing around his book and locked it, and with a friendly wave, disappeared into the crowd.

Dominic immediately picked up the book and started to fiddle with the lock. It would be so easy to break with one of his spells, but he already knew that resource wasn't available to him. "I hope the bathrooms are on the other side of the fairgrounds" he mumbled as he tugged at it.

Five minutes passed. Then six. Then seven. Dominic didn't want to spend too much time on opening this thing, because the guy was only on a bathroom trip. He was hoping he could simply open the thing, read what he needed to read, and set it back like it had never been tampered with, but with each passing moment that became less possible.

"I need a knife to just cut this stupid rope. " Dominic looked over his shoulder at the crowd when an idea hit him. "I could just go back to my station and use one of my cooking knives. Its now or never.." He stood up and walked off just as the man was returning.

"Hey! Where are you going with my recipe book!" Dominic heard him yell. His eyes widened and he pushed his way through the crowd quickly. A few glances showed him that the guy was in hot pursuit, this thing was important to him and he wasn't about to let some rookie steal it.

He knows where my tent is. I have to find another knife to cut it with. Dominic searched the area frantically and saw a pair of scissors over at the face painting booth. Perfect. He more than shoved a couple kids out of the way, grabbed the scissors and smiled at the surprised face painting clown. "Gotta use these real quick, thank you, bye.." He reached for the book which he had stashed in the inside pocket of his jacket just to find out it wasn't there.

"You've got to be kidding me! I lost it!!" He scanned the crowd for any sign of it, retracing his steps without being seen by the book's owner. "C'mon..where is it? I-" He spotted it back over where balloon animals were being made. A young girl with blonde pigtails was about to reach it, but Dominic beat her too it. "Thank you so much hun for finding my book.." He nodded to her and with the scissors tightly clenched in his hand, found a quiet spot out of the crowds to open the book at.

Carefully, he cut the rope and opened the booklet. He started reading:

'Basic Information on Gateways and Passageways. A guide to the various theories and facts dealing with and involving ancient and modern designs and technologies.'

He stopped short when the writing faded due to what looked like rain damage. He kept turning frantically, but most of the pages were so old and saturated he could barely read a word. "I can't believe this..." Dominic growled, but the growl faded when he finally found some legible writing. It was in the same language that Lina showed her, and from what he could tell from the pictures drawn beside it, a recipe.

"Wait a second..." He scanned the rest of the page, then the ones following. "Chili recipes?!? This is a stupid cookbook!" He closed the book and smacked himself in the head with it, but then turned back to the first page. "Basic Information on Gateways and Passageways...how could I be so stupid? The fact that I could read and understand that shows that this once contained the information I needed. But what do I do now?" He sighed deeply and ripped that page out. "Ive got one angry chili chef on my tail.''

Nervously, Dominic came out of hiding and set the book down on the chair where the man had left it. He bound it with new ribbon, in attempts of an apology, and went back to his own table.

"Why would I have a vision if this was the only thing I got from it? This isn't going to get me home." Dominic slumped down depressed at his own station, resting his head on the table. Poor guy didn't even have any time to sulk before Lina came in.

"Its almost time for judging!" She yanked Dominic's seat from under him and pulled him towards the main tent. Im beginning to wonder if she is really Rachel in disguise. Nah, she is actually wearing clothing..

"Okay, Okay..." Dominic managed a smile as he and Lina made their way to the tent and took a seat towards the middle. Lina shut her eyes and looked down, twiddling her thumbs nervously and letting out obviously depressed sighs.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked her.

"I'm beginning to wonder why I even came.."

Am I talking to the same Lina? "Don't you love this event?"

"Yeah, I do, and each year I fool myself into thinking I have a chance. And each year I'm proven terribly wrong. I don't know, do you think I should just give up?"

"Wait a second. One of the contestants I talked to said you placed a few times. Thats quite an accomplishment, You should be proud of yourself."

Lina shook her head, "That is all fine and good, but what is the point if you never advance. If you are stuck at one spot, and never rise to another, you will never really know where you are capable of. In life, you should never just settle. You have to learn, you have to practice..you have to keep going."

He smirked and put an arm around her, "You should listen to your own advice."

"I'm trying, but I'm not succeeding at it." She licked her lips across her teeth, and Dominic noticed something he hadn't earlier.

"What are those things on your teeth? " He moved in closer to her for a better look.

Somewhat startled, Lina got out a pocket mirror and checked her teeth for any food particles. " I have food in there somewhere?"

"No, I mean those bands on your teeth."

"My braces? I've had them for years.. I had some real dental problems when I was little. Two of my bottom teeth were extended past my lip, they looked like elephant tusks or something. It was really embarrassing"

Tusks. Luna. His expression softened thinking of his girfriend back home. "You shouldn't have to change for anyone, Lina. You were fine just the way you were, you didn't need any sort of alteration."

"I looked like a freak, Dominic. I was pretty ugly, still am really, but at least now I don't look like some sort of a monster."

"Hey, she is NOT a monster!" He snapped at her angrily.

"She?"

"Er..." Dominic cringed, trying to think of a way out of this, "My friend had a similar problem. Im sensitive about anyone calling her names. Sorry if I yelled."

Lina smiled again and leaned back in her chair. "No problem. I hope I didn't say anything to offend."

"No. But, you are fine the way you are, okay?"

Lina reached over and rubbed Dominic's shoulder. "I really appreciate you saying that. Thank you very much."

Finally, it was time to announce the winning chili heads. A burly man got up on stage with a list, and three younger women stood behind him holding trophies of various sizes. "I would like to thank you all for coming out and participating in this lovely festival today, " he stated as the crowd around him roared, "But Im gonna skip all the thank yous and get right to what you want to hear. Our honerable mentions have already been given out, so lets go straight to third place.For a cash award of 3,000 dollars, the third place trophy goes to ...tent 204, Mary Beth and Eliza Kendall!"

The mother and daughter team ran up to the stage, almost grabbing the trophy from the girl on the far right and then waving at the crowd. They stood there for pictures and soaked up the spotlight.

"For a cash award of 5,000 dollars...the second place trophy goes to an individual who has never entered the competition before yet wowed us all with his tasty concoction. Tent 103, Dominic Deegan."

"Whoah..." Lina stared at Dominic.

Dominic stared at the stage, and slowly got up amongst the thundering applause. The girl standing in the middle shook his hand and handed him the trophy, while the announcer handed him a huge check. Lina stood up and clapped longer than anyone else, and the most Dominic could utter for the next ten minutes was, well, nothing.

Back at Lina's home, Lina cooked up a huge dinner to celebrate. "I can't believe you man! How in the heck did you beat me in your first year! You are amazing!" she exclaimed. "I still can't believe Lizzie DeVon beat you, I've tasted her food and ants would turn it way, but still, I just don't know what to say."

"Me either." Dominic stretched out on the sofa. "You were right though, Lina, this competition is fun. "

"When you win, of course it is!" She brought in a steaming plate of steak and veggies to the couch. "I would've cooked you chili, but you deserve a break after cleaning up like that. Congratulations, Dominic."

Dominic ate slowly, trying his best to enjoy his meal. I have the first piece to what is probably going to be one complicated puzzle. I should be glad, but going through all that and finding so little tears at my nerves. I'm about to pull a Rachel and break something with my face.

Lina sat down beside him, crossing her legs and patting his back. "You look distracted?"

"Kinda. Its been a long day and I'm not really thinking straight."

"You miss home, don't you?

Dominic looked up into Lina's eyes. They showed the same care and concern that Luna had shown him every day at home. He pressed his lips together and nodded.

"I know what its like to be lost. I know this is going to sound silly, but once I was travelling with two of my friends on a mountain hike. Being the stupid little kid I was, I got seperated from them and hideously lost. To top it all off, a storm started, and I was drenched. There was no shelter around, no one around for miles and," a tear came to her eye as she continued, "I really and truly believed I was going to die out there. Eventually a ranger found me and I was taken home, but I couldn't sleep for weeks. Try not to worry too much. Its hard to find your way back when you don't know the right questions to ask or the right numbers to call. But just as I did back then, you will find you way back. Its just a matter of when. " She got up and left the room, leaving him to eat.

Dominic finished his meal in silence and got the blankets and covers from the closet to prepare his bed on the couch again. I will find my way back, she is right. This is nothing but a minor annoyance I have to get past. Luna, please don't worry about me, wherever you are. He grabbed his pillow and scooted himself under the covers.

After checking the house to make sure all doors were locked and all appliances were shut off, she stepped in the sitting room to check on Dominic. "Did you clean up okay?"

Dominic nodded sleepily.

"How about brush your teeth?''

"I rinsed my teeth out, yes."

"Ugh. Guys." she dragged him out of his cozy bed and into the bathroom. Getting a brand new toothbrush from its wrapper, she applied toothpaste and shoved it in his mouth. "Guys go way too often without brushing well enough. Your teeth are not going to rot out on my watch." She grabbed her own toothbrush and started to brush, and Dominic followed suit.

This stuff tastes kinda good. He brushed up, down and all around, and spit out after Lina did it. I should get some of this for Spark, I'm getting rather tired of his fish-breath. And Rachel with HER fish breath. He turned to leave the bathroom, but didn't make it one step before Lina pulled him back in front of the mirror.

"Floss. You have to floss." She gave him a thread of floss and proceeded on her own teeth.

Clean, isn't she? Dominic flossed his teeth as well as he could, and after a couple 'inspections' by Lina, got back to bed and curled up under the covers. In his jacket pocket rested the paper that he had grabbed from the recipe book earlier. Somehow he would use that information to find whatever else he needed to get home, and if he were lucky, his dreams would help him with that.

It was never easy for him to go to sleep without Luna by his side, not after he had become accustomed to it. He shut his eyes and thought about her, her smile, her laugh, and her brilliance in magical theories. These thoughts put him in a blissful state, and just before he went to sleep he uttered the words to his love so far away..

"Stay with me.."