Chapter Two

I was apparently accurate in my analyzation of the timeline, as several hours later I sat eating breakfast with Kratos, Raine, and Colette, having arrived in the middle of the night. That could only mean the journey of regeneration had just begun. And surprisingly, despite my normal apathy towards Colette's character, I found her quite pleasant to talk to, though it may have just been in relief to not be glared at constantly by someone. Having "learned" their names by this point, I was now chatting animatedly with her about small furry animals. Always a decent fallback plan, that.

In the middle of my explanation of the guinea pig, Raine finally spoke up, having previously been content to sit and stare at me. "This...world of yours. What is it like?"

I could only stare, having no good way to answer this question. "Uhh, world-like?"

She chuckled, somewhat nervously if I was any judge. And I wasn't. "I'm sorry, I know that's a somewhat broad question. But is it anything at all like ours?"

I blinked. Maybe? "Well, do you know what a computer is?" Here I found myself glancing surreptitiously at Kratos, as if he would nod and do the explaining for me. And then I realized, oh crud, he probably noticed me glancing at him and is wondering why I'm connecting him with computers and if I know anything about him and if he'll have to kill me. The man is paranoid, I tell you.

At Raine's somewhat confused look, I continued, "I guess not. Um, they're like information storage systems that can keep track of a lot of stuff and you can access it really quickly without searching through shelves of books. And you can play games on them and use them to talk to people on the other side of the world." There was an awkward pause, and I felt the need to fill it. "So, um, if you don't have computers, it's gonna be pretty different."

It turned out that the pause was caused by Raine going into shock, as she had by now recovered and asked me rapid-fire questions that I had no way of answering -- I had no idea of how computers worked, except for a vague idea that electricity was involved somehow. Surprisingly enough, Kratos came to my defense, saying, "Leave the girl be. She must be confused enough as is."

I nodded emphatically, then internally bristled at his label of "girl." Well, I kind of did look like a fifteen-year-old, and my speaking abilities left much to be desired. Right, note to self: use the worlds "totally," "like," and "stuff" less often.

"Don't mind the Professor, she's interested in this sort of thing," added Colette.

I looked at Raine in mock surprise. "Professor? You're a professor?" At her nod, I continued, "That's awesome. What are you a professor of?"

Raine looked somewhat embarrassed. "Actually, I'm a teacher at a local school, so I'm not a professor of anything in particular. But I am currently working on my thesis about how the Balacruf dynasty -- " She broke off. "I'm sorry, you wouldn't know about that."

"No, no, go on," I protested, waving a hand. "What's the Balacruf dynasty? Besides, you know, a dynasty."

After that we got into a discussion about how Cleo II's decision to move the capital affected the geopolitical status of the surrounding region -- well more like I listened and she lectured. If I ever got around to actually writing that ToS prequel it could be very useful.

It occurred to me suddenly that I had a man directly involved in that prequel sitting right next to me. If I was feeling particularly brave, I could actually ask him, and I would get the real story instead of my fevered imaginings. Presuming, of course, that he wouldn't chop my head off first.

Abruptly Raine broke off, seemingly having noticed my pensive look. "What's wrong?"

I looked down at my plate and pushed some crumbs around. I didn't want her to think I wasn't interested -- I was, really -- but I couldn't tell her the truth, so I spoke up about something that had been on my mind for awhile. "It's just that, hearing you talk about all this, it made me realize that all the knowledge I have is moot now. Nobody needs to know the military tactics of the ancient Romans, and nobody here speaks Japanese, right?"

I couldn't see Kratos's expression, considering he was sitting right next to me, but Raine and Colette looked sympathetic. The emotionless, analytical part of my brain that I hated thought to itself, Good, now I have Raine's trust as well. Colette's was no trouble at all -- she trusts anyone anyway, and the small fuzzy animal discussion hadn't hurt any either.

"Knowledge like that isn't everything," said Raine soothingly, though she had a look on her face that said she didn't quite believe it herself.

I shook my head. "No, no, I mean in my own world it was the only thing I had going for me. I have no useful skills whatsoever. I can't even make a sandwich without messing it up somehow. So back then -- " I paused. That made it sound like it was more than just a few hours ago. "I mean, my only hope was to become a translator or a professor, because otherwise I would have no way to make a living. Now I can't even do that."

Colette reached across the table, as if to pat my hand reassuringly, but pulled back at the last second and ended up patting the table instead. "I'm sure you can work something out."

I smiled weakly. "Thanks." I looked back down at my plate. That brought up another problem. Living in Sylvarant and meeting the heroes was an awesome concept and all, but would I ever get back home?

The plate disappeared from view as someone took it out from under my nose. An elderly priestess was taking our plates back to the kitchen, a building separate from the rest of the House. The Houses of Salvation -- or this one, anyway -- were considerably bigger than were shown in the game. Besides the prayer area and the bedroom upstairs for travelers, there was also living quarters for the priests, priestesses and other staff, the separate kitchen mentioned earlier, an eating area off of the bedroom, a laundry room, stables, and presumably an outhouse somewhere. Just more evidence of what was going on was the real deal.

Kratos abruptly stood up and followed after the priestess. We three girls left behind looked at each other and shrugged. We sat about in an awkward silence until Kratos returned.

He crooked a finger at me. "Come with me."

I got up wordlessly and followed him. Despite my awe at meeting my favorite characters come to life, Raine and Colette were pretty easy to talk to, but Kratos was just intimidating. I mean, here was this guy I had obsessed over for a couple months, in the flesh -- okay, thinking dirty thoughts now, stop that. Combine that with his personality and his extreme age that at this point only I knew about, and my generally deference to anyone above 27, and you get me following Kratos around like a little lost puppy.

And if you would, please stop staring at his butt. Yes, thank you.

As I came back to myself, I found that a priest was talking to me about who-knows-what and that I was nodding dumbly. I rewound a bit in my head -- yes, this is the girl I was talking about, a quiet thing isn't she? we do need a new scullery maid, room and board -- I'll pay for her first few days' basic expenses -- no, that's fine -- can you provide her with suitable...

Eh? I was going to work at the House of Salvation?

Only a moment or two had passed. "...and your duties will include general cleaning, dusting and mopping and such, along with laundry and dishwashing," the priest was saying. Ugh, he looked kinda like that creepy guy on the bus who was always trying to talk to me. No, stop staring at his mustache... "...And Sister Holly will show you to your room."

There was another women in the room now, and where was Kratos? Had he left already? I dimly remembered him dropping out of the conversation and quietly going back through the door. What was wrong with me? A really weird form of jet lag?

And did that mean I wouldn't get to tag along on their adventures? I would be a maid for the rest of my life?

This is a dream, I reminded myself again. I'm the one in control here. I silently willed myself to grow wings -- the feathery kind, not the glow-in-the-dark butterfly kind -- but only succeeded in eliciting a weird look from Sister Holly. Eh, I was always bad at lucid dreaming. Lucid, that would be an awesome name for a character...

Stop drifting off, my annoying little internal voice ordered me, and I forced myself to pay attention to what she was saying. Turned out it was mostly gossip about the other Sisters and Brothers, interspersed with the occasional remark that this just happened to be the kitchen -- gee thanks, the pots and pans didn't really tip me off -- and as soon as we arrived at what I judged to be the living quarters, I interrupted, "Excuse me, but could I go get my stuff? I need to..." No, stop stressing, she's just looking at you. "...I want to settle in."

She nodded and waved me off, and as soon as she was out of earshot I sighed in relief in being free from her endless prattling. Note to self: avoid Sister Holly.

But no, I probably wouldn't be seeing her again -- I would be adventuring with Lloyd and the gang. Right?

Except on my detour to the room they were staying in, they were gone. Kratos's sword-polishing kit, Raine's books, Colette's hairbrush -- all conspicuously absent. The only one in the room was a woman making up the beds.

"Um." I was barely squeaking now, in fear of abandonment. "The people who were here earlier..."

"Oh, they left a little bit ago," she said helpfully, pointing out a window. Indeed, I could just barely see a glint of silver as the light reflected off of Raine's retreating head. "The cute guy said something about an early start."

She went on, but everything she said was blocked out as a single thought was left in my mind:

Craaaaap.

A/N: I don't know how far I'm going to go with this. Not that you care. But just in case you do. So don't get your hopes up. Not that they are up. Bah.