Link shot upright, as someone knocked at his door. What time was it? Actually, how did anyone tell the time in the tower? There weren't very many windows, at least in his part of the building.

Link got out of bed and then said,"Come in."

The door was launched to the side, unintentionally, based on his face, and Adolin walked in.

"I hope you don't mind. It's noon, and I figured you might be hungry. Do you want to get something to eat? Shallan and I always grab lunch at this little tavern in the marketplace," he said.

"Sure."

While the two walked down (Shallan was going to meet them there) Adolin told Link about Urithiru. It was all very fascinating, but Link could barely understand every other word. Adolin tried to explain some things about the tower and the war going on at the moment, but eventually gave up. When he tried to get Link to talk about his personal life, Link didn't know what to say. He knew about Hyrule, the people and history, and he could almost remember that he had a role in it. He was a hero or something? Link couldn't remember much more than that, like his favorite color or if he had a girlfriend back home. Adolin was making an effort to understand Link, but Link barely understood himself.

The marketplace was busy, and unlike anything Link could remember seeing. Hyrule didn't have much like it. While there were vendors, there were also a lot of permanent shop fronts, some even called "restaurants", according to Adolin. The number of people throughout the marketplace was astounding. And all of them looked like humans. There were no Zora, Rito, or Gorons. It made Link miss home even more.

Adolin and Link walked into the tavern and were immediately guided to a table in the back. Shallan was already waiting there, and for some reason there were a lot of crude etchings on the table. He wondered who had done that. Neither Adolin nor Shallan looked like the type. Link and Adolin sat down, and a waitress came over. Link didn't know anything about their food, so he just asked to have whatever Shallan was having since it sounded good. The waitress looked a bit scandalized and Adolin whispered something to her. She shrugged and walked away.

Adolin said,"Don't feel bad but part of Vorinism, the main religion around here, is that males and females have different food. I told the waitress just to bring two of what I ordered. Is that okay?"

Link shrugged. There was no way to keep up with the culture around here. He didn't like to offend people, but Vorinsim didn't make it easy to avoid. But he figured that Adolin or Shallan wouldn't be much different on his world, and chose to forgive.

"I know that you don't remember much but I can't help but wonder, what's Hyrule like? I'd love to go off world once. And Shadesmar doesn't count," Shallan spoke up. She shot Adolin a look before he could comment about whatever Shadesmar was.

Link chose to ignore them and instead offered,"It's wonderful. I think I've seen most of the place, and it's filled with all sorts of people. There's a race of beings called Zora who can swim up waterfalls, beings who can fly, and rock people. I'll admit that we do have problems though. We don't have frequent storms-"

Adolin interrupted,"Highstorms"

"But I remember something about a demon causing problems. And prophecies. I might have been mentioned in one, but I don't really remember."

"That's nice, Link," Shallan said. She looked kind of uncomfortable at the thought of prophecies. Adolin did as well. It must have been another cultural thing Link didn't get.

The food arrived, and Link dug in. He was starving. Adolin and him had some sort of spicy soup. Shallan was picking at chicken and tubers. Link finished quickly, and sat around for a few minutes while the other two ate. When Adolin finished, Shallan had barely touched her dish.

Adolin paid for the meal with round little balls with glowing gemstones inside. They looked sort of like rupees surrounded by glass.

Shallan said,"I hate to run, but the Lightweavers are supposed to do reconnaissance for Kaladin's search party. Jude still struggles with the weaving, and I think I ended up in charge of the search somehow anyway. I'll see you tonight?"

"Of course. Besides, I promised Kaladin that I would help train the Windrunners on Shardblades. I've heard that a few are close to earning their swords. I'd better get going." Adolin said to him,"Would you like to come with me, Link?"

Link didn't know what a shardblade was, but the word swords seemed to remind him of something. Maybe he had wielded a sword once?

"Sure."