A/N: This chapter just went on and on and I couldn't figure out where to stop it. Soooooo, happy meet cute day!

Who can it be knocking at my door?

Go 'way, don't come 'round here no more

Can't you see that it's late at night?

I'm very tired, and I'm not feeling right

Who Can it Be Now? - Men Work

"Ahhh!"

I heard a feminine exclamation of surprise emanate from the space in front of me. Though I tried, my head was not able to turn quickly enough to identify the source, and this stranger and myself collided with considerable force. I heard two other startled squeaks follow this event:

"Aghh!"

My own, and:

"POI!?"

That of the little blue blob on my shoulder. The little guy flew off into the distance, following the path which inertia had laid out for it. I wasn't worried, for two reasons. One, the gelatin constitution of my new friend is quite likely to simply rebound. Two, I was far more concerned with my own health and well-being after hammering into a metal object. My momentum carried me past the armoured stranger, and my combat training took over as I tucked into a roll. From the outside, this course of action looked fine.

Unfortunately, I had not done these sorts of rolls outside of powered armour for quite some time, leading to technique which cared more about performance than physical stress. I landed hard on my left hand, a spear of pain shooting through it. This deflected my trajectory, sending me careening into another tree. The loud thwack of me hitting the tree was followed first by the louder protests of the areas which had been hit, and then by the loud clattering of metal falling on other metal. I groaned, shaking myself. That sucked.

After a few seconds, my wonder once again overcomes my pain, and I stand with a wince. I look through the tree canopy at the sunlight filtering almost unimpeded past clouds and leaves alike.

"This place is beautiful." I say to no one in particular. Then I turn to the person still sprawled upon the ground. "What commissariat is this? I've heard of such preserves, but never seen one, and I never imagined that they could make the sky so clean."

A little to my left, I see an archaic metal helm, which I proceed to scoop up, and toss it up and down once. It is surprisingly light for its build, and I wonder how much protection it can actually provide. My attention is then drawn to the woman in front of me. Her blonde hair is splayed about her head as though it is radiating outwards, and her eyes are still squeezed shut. Not particularly unusual, as she fell only a few seconds ago. That cannot be a pleasant experience.

She shifts a little, then opens her eyes and looks about. Eventually, her blue eyes land on me, and I am suddenly reminded by this that I just crashed into her, causing this mess. Panic flashes into me as I hasten to make an apology.

"I am so sorry! I should have been watching where I was going! A-are you hurt?"

The stutter was a very irritating, but context brought me back down to Earth. This was a dream. As such, this person is basically another fixture of the landscape, and as I am lucid, I am in control. But a failure state could exist, so I should quickly decide what I want out of her.

A second's perusal brought me my answer: I wanted someone to talk to.

I offer her my hand, noting that standing up while wearing what appeared to be unpowered heavy armour would be a major challenge at best. She hesitantly takes it, and I help pull her to her feet. Once standing, she takes a moment to dust herself off, and then answers me.

"I'm a little sore, but otherwise I'm fine. Are you hurt?"

"I'll be fine," I respond. And I will be, in about thirty minutes. "Again, I'm really sorry. I should've been paying more attention to where I was going."

"It was partially my fault. I was distracted."

Something about the way she moved clued me in finally, and I took her in. Even through the heavy armour she wore, it was clear that she was well-shaped. Her eyes were a phenomenal crystal blue, set within a face worthy of such gems. Her hair, despite recently being covered by a helmet, flowed neatly down the back of her head, with only a few unruly strands obstructing her face. At the same time, however, I notice little imperfections, placed there by someone who knew that the human form should not be flawless.

The woman shifts under my gaze.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, working quickly to clarify, "I was simply admiring your creator's handiwork."

She blinks, as if not expecting that response. I continue.

"You can tell a lot about a person like yourself from their appearance."

She narrows her eyes, skeptical. "Like what?" There was a challenging tone in her voice.

"That you are a person of taste. The flow of your cheekbones doesn't match any standard templates, which indicates that you didn't use a form template, instead carving out your own way to beauty. Whether it was made as a reflection of who you are or simply as your personal pursuit of artistic expression is immaterial, as the person who designed your shell did a marvelous job. Normally the protocol is to admire such a work of art, but if you feel uncomfortable with me staring, I understand."

She nods, looking somewhat flustered, and I refocus on her eyes.

"You are a SOL, are you not?"

She looks confused.

"I… don't know what that is."

"Well, maybe you just don't know about that acronym for Synthetic Organo-patterned Lifeform."

She shook her head, still not recognizing the term.

"Synthetic? Robot? ...Construct?"

The lack of knowledge of terms turned into abject terror.

"No! Of course not! I have a talent… well, it isn't one you can see, but Constructs can't use manipulators!"

She presented her gauntleted hand before her. It had a symbol of some kind on it, and a blue crystal on the back. I raised my hands and tried to de-escalate the situation.

"Whoa, calm down. I was only asking. It isn't bad to be a SOL."

She still looked rather nervous, but fortunately the situation was saved by the arrival of a smaller fellow.

"Poi?"

The small blue creature was back at my feet again.

"Really? After all that insanity, you're still here?" I asked, incredulous. I had been the cause of this thing flying multiple times. Why would it insist on hanging around someone who makes trouble?

The woman, however, looks in surprise at my feet. Then she breaks into a wide smile.

"A pango!" She exclaims, seemingly excited about the little blue blob resting near me.

I raise an eyebrow. "'Pango?'" I ask simply. What an odd name for a creature.

The woman looks up at me, but then the 'pango' lets loose one of its squeaking "pois", calling her attention back to it. It bobs up and down, nuzzling against my leg.

"Aw, he's a cute one." She said, clearly entranced by the pango's pet-like charm.

"Well," I said matter-of-factly, "thank you for determining that it was male."

She looked back at me, confused.

"Why? It's common knowledge that you can tell from the shape of their eyes."

"Using 'it' was getting cumbersome. Besides," I explained, "now I know that it is called a pango."

"Well…" she trailed off, confused. "I think he wants you to hold him."

I see no problem with that, having done it earlier.

"Well, little guy, I know you tried to eat me." I lowered myself to the ground, opening my arms. "Go ahead. I'm sorry I sent you flying those times."

The woman chuckled slightly.

"He isn't trying to eat you. He's harmless."

"I figured that, but it was fairly startling." The pango leapt into my arms, and I stand up, using my forearms as a platform for him to stand on.

"Well, that's alright. May I?" She gestured towards the blue blob of cuteness in my arms.

"Go ahead." I said, moving my arms forward as far as they would be stable.

She reached out to take him from me, but the pango shies away, hopping onto my shoulder. She laughs.

"You'll probably like this hand better," she states, using instead the hand which has a large blue crystal on the back. The spherical object glows softly as she moves it forward. The pango looks at it for a moment, but it seems as though the gauntlet drew too close for his liking, as he leaps off of my shoulder and hides behind my leg. The woman looked shocked.

"Poi."

"A pango that refuses magical energy...?" She then turns towards me. "Wait a minute! Are you a mage?"

"Well," I began with a perfect sarcastic grin, "despite the fact that I'm still an undergrad, I consider myself a wizard of science."

She looks uncertain of where I am headed.

My voice and expression returned to seriousness. "But unless you are referring to a role I have in some sort of game, there is no such position."

It was her turn to raise an eyebrow.

"You keep saying such strange things. Of course there are mages, human society couldn't function without them."

"There are a number of professions which hold humanity up. Farmer, soldier, engineer. 'Mage' is not in that set, ma'am."

She rolls her eyes, clearly exasperated, muttering something about "having to check myself". She holds up the hand with a crystal on the reverse, a faint, pale light emanating from it. It pulses rhythmically. As she moves it closer to me, the pulse quickens until it appears to merely be a dim version of the initial illumination.

The lady blinks in surprise, then it appears that her eyes unfocus and then refocus on me. She shakes her head, as if not believing something she is seeing, then looks at me again. In her eyes, a baleful light appears to be dancing, like when one stares into a fire. I turn around, searching for what she could be looking at, but find nothing.

She then blinks again, the light gone.

"Wait…" she asks, "this heightened energy… I've been investigating surges in this area for hours. It's you?"

She again checks the gauntlet, a look of disbelief upon her face.

"I don't see a discharger on you."

She rests her chin in one hand, a position I am somewhat familiar with.

"So then, how is it possible for you to have such a high magical energy reading? Maybe… are you carrying crystals?"

A handful of examples popped into my head. I select the most reasonable.

"Perhaps you mean silicon crystals, the ones found in computational devices?"

"Sil-I-Con…" She said, carefully sounding out each syllable of the foreign word. "No, I don't think so."

She looks me over again.

"Nevermind. It doesn't look like you're carrying crystals… or much of anything, for that matter."

"You know what," I voiced my thoughts audibly, "I have no idea what is going on. Everything seems internally consistent, but this is the most confusing thing I've had to deal with. It isn't even related to what I was studying back at the library!"

"Oh!" She exclaimed, leaping at a potential lead. "Are you from the Mage Academy?"

"The… I'm sorry, what?"

"Mage Academy."

I rub my temples. This dream has devolved into each of the internet debates I've had. We're trying to communicate different things, and thus the position of the other person is utterly aberrant. This is no longer a break by any stretch.

"You know, I think I've been asleep for long enough. I'm lucid, so that means I set the tone." In the ringing dramatic voice of someone predicting the future, I exclaimed: "I am going to wake up now."

I squeeze my eyes shut. Then I open them. The picturesque forest and strange lady remain.

She blinks in confusion.

"You are awake." She states matter-of-factly.

"No, this is a dream. Things seem consistent, but this is utterly incompatible with reality."

She frowns.

"I can assure you that this is not a dream."

"We aren't going to get anywhere if one of us doesn't start presenting evidence really quickly. I'll start." I take a deep breath. "Firstly, the only possible location for an environment such as this in reality would be within a government preserve. It would need to be domed over otherwise the skies would be blackened by soot twenty-four hours a day. I have heard of no such project, and you failed to answer my question regarding which commissariat we are in."

She doesn't seem convinced. I continued.

"Second, there is this little guy." I pointed at the pango. "He is a translucent azure slime bubbling with happiness, and could not exist in reality. Without a digestive tract his kind should never have mouths to begin with, and that is just the start of how a creature like him could not possibly fit into a planetary ecology."

I looked down at him. He jumps up and down, squealing with glee.

"Poi, poooi!"

"What does he even eat?"

"Pangos consume magic-"

I swept my hand to the side, indicating that I was not yet done. The woman quieted.

"And finally, there is you."

She looks shocked. "What's so unbelievable about me?"

"You walk in wearing some kind of cosplay," I notice her annoyed expression, but continue, "talking about magic, and being in precisely the right place for me to literally run into you. Not to mention you denied being a SOL."

She raises a skeptical eyebrow.

"In reality, there are only a few ways to look as good as you do. You could've been a SOL, a shell for some lucky person who left behind biological existence to pursue superhuman abilities and lifespan, along with ever more stringent standards of beauty. But you specifically said you were not, which doesn't leave you with much. A Gen-2 designer child might've fit the bill, but the oldest of those would be about twelve or thirteen. I should know: I'm a Gen-1 myself. I know not to guess a woman's age, but I think I can safely say that you are no child."

She nods cautiously.

"Your features might be the product of intensive cosmetic engineering, if anyone did that anymore. The rich who did that perished during the Great War, along with the culture which encouraged it. So that leaves us with two options: You are natural, a monumentally unlikely thing, or you are a dream, which is far more reasonable."

She looks torn between utter confusion and a desire to strike at me.

"Go ahead," I offer, "a shot of pain usually goes a long way towards waking someone."

With that encouragement, her face settles into a devilish grin, and her gauntleted hand smites my elbow into another galaxy.

Well, it wasn't that bad, but it hurt, okay?

"Ow!" I shout, not really expecting all that much from a phantasm.

"Still think this is a dream?" She asks. I rub at the sore spot on my arm.

"I'll be honest, dreams don't usually cause pain for me. Once I was devoured by a wolf monster. The sense of touch generally doesn't work. But if it isn't a dream…" I trail off. What else could explain this odd series of events?

"In any case, you hit like I'd imagine you should."

I quickly back up as she advances, a totally innocent smile on her face.

"What was that?" She asked a little too sweetly.

"The last person to hit me like that was Alice. Some CQC training." I brushed the hair out from in front of my face nervously. "Captain Desdemona is one of the best soldiers I know."

She relaxes, seemingly satisfied with my answer.

"And where is this Alice? I might like to meet her."

Where is Alice… that simple question sparks a whole new train of thought. Something is very strange about where I am, and learning that it isn't a dream only complicates things.

I think I have an idea about what's going on, but I'll need a few tests to be certain.

"Right, so if this is not a dream, then where are we?"

"We're in Meadowhill." The lady answered cheerfully.

"Meadowhill, huh? Where's that?"

"It's a part of the kingdom of Havengarde, of course."

These generic names are not helping me believe that this is real, but the pain throbbing in my arm reminds me that it is.

"Havengarde?" I am still quite confused, but I feel as though I'm on the right track.

She gives me a now-familiar look, the one reserved for looking at crazy people.

"It's the largest of the three kingdoms…"

"Well," I say, "geopolitics has never been my strongest suit."

I might still be wrong, but if I am right, I cannot afford to let her write me off and leave. I need to plead ignorance until I have hard evidence of-

Of COURSE.

"Actually…" She begins, "where are you from?"

"Vancouver, capital of the West North-American Commissariat."

"Van-cou-ver?" She carefully enunciated. "You said something about commons-areas before…"

"Yeah: mine is the sixth administrative division of the Sol Coalition," I said with pride. "It is also one of the most loyal political sectors."

"The what Coalition?" She asked, then shook her head. "Nevermind that for now."

She looked pensive. Good, we were both trying to put together what was going on. That gave a higher chance of us meeting in the middle eventually.

"If you aren't carrying crystals and don't have a discharger…" she wondered aloud, "have you casted recently?

I shake my head. I think that she is referring to the magic thing from earlier, but I certainly haven't been doing anything which could be described as 'casting'.

She looks disheartened.

"The amount of energy around you just doesn't add up, then."

She rests her head in her hands as she thinks. As reality begins to set in, I notice something: I need more time.

I look up at the sky as a breeze shuffles the grass at my feet. It seems to be around noon. My stomach growls, having slept through dinner.

"Perhaps a visit to my point of entry will help clear things up?" I offer. "In any case, I should gather whatever is useful."

"Alright…" she says, still deep in thought.

"Any ideas?" I inquire on the way there.

She shakes her head.

"Maybe the Academy will provide answers."

Suddenly, she stops.

"That…" she says, "is a very strange chair. What is it doing out here?"

"Oh, it's just the chair I was sitting in when I fell asleep. What I need to find is… here!"

My gaze landed upon a moderately-sized backpack, which would contain mostly university supplies, but perhaps some things of interest. I began to rummage through it. First up was my tablet, already lying on the ground. Checking it revealed that the battery was dead.

"Feel free to sit. Anyway, this Mage Academy of yours sounds like my best bet." I withdrew the uniform from earlier today, laying it out on the grass. "How do I get there?"

"Oh, it's at the centre of Illumia."

Great. More place names.

"Uh, where?"

"Illumia. You follow the path going north until you hit a crossroads. Then you head…"

She trails off as she notices my expression. At the very least, I've sorted everything. One lunch, a BLT that I was supposed to eat earlier today but will still do fine. One change of clothes, in the form of a ceremonial uniform, missing its interface hoops. A dead tablet with no connection to an actual computer, with it a whole pile of textbooks, and a surprise deck of cards. And, of course, a small box of paranoia, capable of shielding its contents from a military-grade EMP. Within it is stored a batch of biomedical power cells, capable of charging by being stuck to someone's body, a pair of wireless earbuds, and an ancient MP3 player. I breathe a sigh of relief.

I only had one other thing on my person, a wallet containing ID, and a few spark chips. As I briefly wonder why the deck is present, the woman offers me a way out of learning the way to somewhere on the fly.

"I'm actually heading back there now. You can come along if you want."

As I contemplate her offer, I look her over again. Can I trust her?

Her posture is naturally straight and gives her an air of authority, something I've only seen to this degree in serving officers. She mentioned that she was here on some investigation, which adds credence to that assessment. And she seems friendly enough.

Besides, I think, if I'm right, I don't really have a choice. My chance of finding this Mage Academy without running into more unsavoury types is not high. All I'd create is a handful of bandits who are really confused when they find I am telling the truth about not having any money.

I can't risk that. This place, I'm certain I know what's going on here. This isn't Earth. And I need to get back there. Solve The Project, lend my fire to The Coalition. Return to my family and friends.

I nod.

"Thank you. You probably just saved my life. My name is Alasdair Shaw, by the way."

"I'm Leanna. Leanna Dawn."

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

I hold out my hand for her to shake, but she just stares at it. After a few seconds of keeping my hand extended, the situation begins to feel awkward. Her expression changes to curiosity as she gingerly takes my hand. I grin broadly as I shake her hand firmly.

She's a bit startled, but when our gaze meets, she matches my smile.

"It's nice to meet you too."

I look at her questioningly as she continues to shake my hand. As I begin to try and break away, she slips her gauntleted hand out and blushes.

"Shall we get going, then?" She asks.

"Actually…" I inquire, "have you had lunch yet?"

I'm still stalling for time a little bit. If I can keep her attention and continue to present things which cannot be explained, I'll be better able to convince Leanna of what is going on. She already knows that something more than me being crazy happened, so a little more will put me in a place that actually permits discussing what I think happened.

She responds promptly.

"No, but we ought to head for Meadowhill the village soon. We don't have time to make lunch."

"Luckily," I say, presenting the wrapped sandwich, "I brought some."

She regards the BLT encased in plastic, perhaps unsure whether the coating is meant to be eaten. I quickly remove the vacuum packaging that kept it fresh for so long. It was a simple affair, as the stuff was near failure anyways. I hand her one half.

"Here, have some. It wouldn't be right to make you wait while someone else eats."

She bites down on the sandwich, and takes a moment to savour the taste. Then five. Finally, she swallows. In that time, I took two bites.

"How did it stay so fresh? You had it in your bag."

"Vacuum seals are good at that. I had to eat this now though, as the thing keeping it good to eat was about to break. Enjoying it?"

"Yes." She takes another bite. After a little while, she speaks up again.

"Did you make this?"

I shake my head.

"No, I bought it a few weeks ago, intending to eat it then. I must plan really poorly, because it's here now. Good thing is, I did need it now."

I finished my half first, and placed the charging tablets in a neat row on my arm. Their suction cups engaged, and I felt the cold touch of metal on my skin. Leanna looked curious, but didn't say anything.

I placed the wrapping back in my bag, followed by everything else. No one had yet left trash which could not be broken down in short order here, and I wasn't about to be the first. By the time I finished packing everything back up, Leanna was done eating.

"Alright," she asked, "ready to go now?"

"Eminently."

She paused for a moment at my word choice, but noticed that I had slung my pack over my shoulders. The pango looks at me.

"Poi?"

"Yes, you can come too." I say, kneeling to pick him up. I choose to place him on the top of my pack. The pango, however, doesn't like that, and quickly hops onto my shoulder.

Leanna nods and we return to the path. Then she begins to walk in the direction of the village.

After a short while, I notice that the both of us have been silent. I wonder if I should say something…

Well, since this is real, I need to know how pangos work. They clearly do not follow normal scientific principles.

"Well, the pango hasn't left for greener pastures yet."

Leanna looks at the little blue guy on my shoulder and grins.

"That isn't too surprising."

"How so?" I am quite curious, as I feel close to an explanation.

"Pangos are attracted to magical energy. That's why it was so strange when it showed no interest in my manipulator." She had assumed an explanatory tone.

"It is still here though… wait, you said something about me being covered with magic. Does that have anything to do with it?"

She spoke with a smile, clearly amused. "Yes, he's following you. My readings showed you're full of magical energy, which was later confirmed by my talent. As far as the pango is concerned, you are a buffet."

"Huh. It feels so nice to be wanted because I am literally food. I told you he tried to eat me."

I look over at the pango on my shoulder. This time he looks right back at me and his eyes crinkle as he splits into a huge grin.

"Poi poi!"

He leaps from my left shoulder over to the other one. I stumble, causing him to miss his target, but he looks back up again, smiling like nothing happened. Leanna giggles.

"Don't worry about it, little guy." I say as I reach down to pick him up again. He heads for the original target shoulder, carefully balancing there. But right afterward, he hops up onto my head.

"Poi!" He says, using my height as a platform to view the world.

I feel a cold wiggle in my hair as the little blob settles in. Leanna laughs again.

"Is he doing anything I should be worried about?" I ask.

"Nothing. He's just so happy!"

She reaches out a finger to stroke the pango, who chirrups contentedly. Leanna's smile broadens, but then she clears her throat and attempts to assume a more serious expression. Her steps quicken as she resumes walking.

I accelerate to catch up, not wanting to be left behind. There is a small gap in conversation before she speaks again.

"If you don't mind me asking, what were those things you put on your arm?"

"Oh, the biocaps?" I display the offending arm, gesturing to the patches attached to it. She nods.

"Yeah, those."

"Well, they draw from my ambient biological processes to generate energy. You know that humans are typically warmer than the environment, right?"

She nods affirmation.

"Well these patches absorb that extra heat and turn it into something I can use."

"Oh, so they're like reusable crystals!" She exclaims. "What are they used for? You said you weren't a mage."

"This." I say, withdrawing the MP3 player from my pack. "It plays music. There are other things I could do with the power they gather if I was at home, but I don't have any of those things with me, other than this."

I tapped on the transparent tablet.

"And it is broken."

She returns her gaze forwards. I guess it is up to me to keep things moving.

"Not that I'm complaining, but what exactly were you doing in that forest?"

"The forest?" She seemed caught off guard by my non-sequitur.

"Where you found me."

"Oh. There were some rumours of high energy readings around Meadowhill, so I was sent to investigate. I had already checked most of the surrounding area, but there had been no clear source for that excess energy - at least until today."

"When you met me." I surmised, linking her account of the past into mine. She nods.

"I hadn't exactly been in the field for very long when you found me, though."

"Hmm, you might've been a byproduct of whatever created the energy spike."

Yes! That was getting places. I did my best not to look triumphant.

"What do you think that was?" I asked, still trying to gather more information.

"I'm not sure. I haven't seen reading of that level before. At least, not in the wild. You'd need a team of experienced mages just to approach such power levels."

She shrugged.

"The Mage Academy should be able to help explain."

All this talk of mages, magic, and such made me curious.

"Besides magic, what does the Mage Academy teach?"

It seemed as though I had hit a subject on which Leanna was experienced.

"Oh, all the basics: how to use a manipulator, how to control your energy, the many usages and differences of crystals and spheres…"

"You keep talking about crystals, and I get the feeling that they aren't just semiprecious stones."

She looked at me.

"What is with all this crystal stuff you keep mentioning?" I ask directly.

"You mean the difference between crystals and crystal spheres? Well, when we refer to crystals we mean raw crystals whereas spheres are the usable, refined state."

"Well," I began, "that is helpful, but I meant crystals in general."

She stares at me, her eyes narrow as if she trying to judge if I am serious.

"They're the power source for… well everything!"

I look at her, interested.

"...You don't use crystals where you come from?" She asks hesitantly.

"No..."

Her mouth falls open and she looks at me with an expression of bewilderment.

"With no crystals, what do you use to power things?" She inquires.

"It really depends on location and availability, but a few good bets are wind, nuclear fission and fusion, water, remaining fossil fuels like coal or oil…"

Her eyes widen with each item I list. She's about to speak, but I'm not finished.

"Geothermal, tidal, hydrogen, space-based solar-"

"Okay, okay!" She stops me, shaking her head incredulously.

After a second or so, she speaks again.

"You have your own methods of gathering energy… many, many methods."

Leanna's eyes sparkle as she falls into a pensive silence. A small smile plays at her lips as she considers what I've said. Despite the fact that I may (MAY) have overwhelmed her, she seems interested in Earth's methods of generating energy.

However, I remain as interested in her methods. Surreptitiously, I attempt to get a better look at her gauntlet, the one on her left hand. It had a crystal which seemed ornamental at first, but I now suspected it had something to do with harnessing energy, though for what purpose I had not yet determined.

Leanna notices me staring and shifts uncomfortably.

"Are you okay?" She asks.

"Yeah, I was just curious about the gauntlet you have. What did you call it…" I tried to recover the memory, but drew a blank. Fortunately, Leanna caught on and filled the gap.

"Oh, you mean my Manipulator?"

"Yeah, that was the word."

"All mages have a manipulator." She explained. "It is how we use magical energy to interact with the elements around us."

"Wait, so you can use it to cast spells?"

This was progress. I was finally making it into the mechanics of magic. I had a feeling it would be quite enlightening.

"I suppose that's one way to phrase it." She responded.

Now this was genuinely exciting. My need to know more intensified.

"Woah! Can you provide an example?"

She appear startled by my sudden request.

"Uhh, like what?"

I could make a specific request, but my lack of magical knowledge could be my undoing here. I don't know the limits of magic, or at least Leanna's capacity to perform it, so anything I would think of might just be refused.

"I defer to you! Just… do something visible. Please."

"Hmm…"

Leanna pauses, deep in thought. Then, her face brightened.

She lifts her gauntlet, pointing her open palm towards the pango resting on my head. He levitates in the air, much to his surprise.

"Poi?!"

As he hovers in the air, he looks in awe around him and opens his mouth, trying to eat the air. Despite herself, Leanna giggles and returns him to his place on my forehead.

"That," I said, "was amazing! Did you accomplish that by nullifying gravity, or providing an upward force?"

Leanna smiles shyly as she brushes a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

"It was nothing. And to answer your question, it was the latter. I moved the winds to pick him up."

I did feel a slight updraft around my head when she did that. So that was what it was.

"Well, what else can you do?" I asked. As a scientist who was just shown magic, there was no stopping my curiosity now.

"There's a lot more my manipulator can do, but I think it's best if I conserve that energy for now."

"That makes sense. Where's the block? The manipulator, or you?"

"A little bit of both." She responded. "Too much energy at once can shatter the crystal, and too much casting in general will exhaust me."

I nodded. While I still wanted to learn, I felt that pressing more now wouldn't get me to a place that I wanted to be in. Instead, I started to listen. The lapse in conversation raised up the sounds of wildlife. A chorus of birds I'd never heard before drifted along in the wind. With it the faint woosh of flapping wings, both of the birds and insects. A four-winged needle darted by, and it was only after a second that I remembered where I had seen it before. A dragonfly, a picture of an animal extinct on Earth. Yet here it was.

Occasionally, there's a rustle amidst the trees, and smaller insects fly at my face, asking to be swatted. That last is familiar. Even They couldn't kill fruit flies.

This place is so alien, but it also feels alive. I visited the park in the centre of Vancouver before, and you can feel it, like the place is on life support. The complex is under a dome, but you can see the real sky. Those trees got humanity's best approximation of sunlight, these had the real thing. They were vibrant, moving in the wind as if they loved life.

Leanna clears her throat.

"So, you're from the 'Sole Coalition'?"

"Sol but, yeah."

"Which kingdom is that in?"

"Uhh…"

How to phrase this…

"You could say that it is the kingdom. It controls a place called Earth."

She frowns and scratches her neck.

"I'm a little ashamed to say that I'm not familiar with a place named for that element. Where is it?"

Now for the tricky part. Explaining what I think is going on to anyone would be a challenge. I hope I don't need to do this many times.

"...Earth kind of… is the place. There are locations beyond, but you cannot reach them by walking."

"I'm not sure I understand."

Brute force usually isn't the best approach when learning, anyway. Perhaps… metaphor.

"Let me see if I can explain." I begin. "Alright, could you tell me where we are right now?"

"We're in Meadowhill."

"And where is that?"

I really hope this works. I don't know what else I can do.

"In the Kingdom of Havengarde." She says proudly.

"And where is Havengarde?"

"In the land of Esaria."

Okay, that sounds like a continent. One more step.

"And what is that a part of?"

"Terra, of course!" She spoke the old Latin word for Earth. Exactly what I needed to know.

"Okay," I took a deep, baited breath, "Earth is to me as Terra is to you. The world I come from."

She pauses as my words sink in. Then, her footsteps grind to a halt and she gasps.

"Wait, so you're not from Terra?"

"Not in the slightest."

She looks concerned.

"How did you get here?" She asks.

"I've been wondering that myself. I dozed off, only to wake up in a bright void, which deposited me in the field, along with the chair I was sitting in and the bag I had with me. I'm hoping that the Mage Academy can tell me, so I can make it home."

Without Leanna's crazy-o-meter to worry about, the story gushed out of me.

"Right, but how did you come to Meadowhill specifically? Do you remember anything else from before you were in the field?"

I think back. My drowsy and flagging memory towards the end irritated me. There might've been something there, but I don't remember it!

"My life seems to all be in place. I don't feel like anything is missing. As I get closer to my departure things blur a little, but that is largely because I was sleepy."

Leanna ponders things for a moment.

"Well, at least we know you don't have amnesia."

I nod. She lapses back into silence, looking thoughtful. I have a lot to think about as well, restructuring my entire worldview to account for new knowledge.

Say, if magic is real in this world, but not in mine, the laws of physics would be different. Different laws of physics would mean that the way matter in my world works wouldn't be the same as here. Therefore, I shouldn't be able to exist. But I do. So that means magic would be possible on Earth. But then why haven't we discovered it?

Speaking of differences, I wonder how a world such as Terra, with different environmental pressures from Earth, would've produced both Earthlike flora and fauna, and at least some alien fauna. I'm proof of the fact that our worlds intermingle from time to time, but I do wonder how things might have occurred to produce both groups. Perhaps only a few species are truly from the same stock?

There is so much to learn here. But I need to return home. If I get back with the knowledge of how to traverse between worlds, then there will be time for study.

"Poi!"

The pango flips in front of my eyes and I carefully scoop him back into the place on my head. Concern creeps into my voice.

"Well, what happened there? Did you slip?"

"...poipoi."

Is it my imagination, or did that 'poipoi' sound a little sheepish?

Leanna looks over at him and grins.

"You were trying to get a good look at our friend here, weren't you?"

I feel movement on my head. Did he just… nod? Does he understand English?

"Looks like someone got a little adventurous and lost his footing!" Leanna seemed to find this incredibly amusing.

"...poi."

Not going to lie, I found it amusing as well. I let out a chuckle as Leanna does the same. Once the pango is secured, we continue walking.

A/N: As a person in real life, I happen to know that my relatively three-dimensional characterization devolves into 'person who likes cat' when in the presence of cats, therefore Leanna's reaction to pangos is entirely fine. Fight me.

My current plans are to post chapters every Thursday, so we'll see how well that pans out. Thank you for visiting!