Supplement Scene 2: (Karsh and Ileana's First Kinda Sorta Date Disaster)

"What in Coventry made me do it?" Karsh was talking to himself again. A few steps, a turn, and then the few steps back to where he'd begun. He landed on the exact same spot. Admitting that he was pacing would have put him into a mental state that he did not need to be in right now.

The clock was ticking. He had exactly 2 minutes to appear before Ileana would be calling and forcing him into the conversation he was avoiding right now.

"Why?" He ran his hands through his hair and looked down at his shoes. Catching his reflection in the mirror, he contemplated his life as he stared at his own features.

Four years ago on this day, he'd watched his king die and put himself into self-imposed exile like some common dissenter. He laughed a bit, thinking of how many renegades he'd banished to other worlds. If they could only see him now, "Thank the Gods none of them are in this dimension."

With the exception of Ileana and the twins, he hadn't seen a soul from his own world. A few times, out of the corner of his eye, he thought that he glimpsed a familiar face. Once, he'd caught sight of a man watching him, a man who resembled an old palace servant. Every now and then, a warlock or witch fell in love and left their own dimension to be with that person, so it was entirely possible that all those eyes were just like his. Karsh was never quite sure about that setup; it bred children with half strength magic and many questions without answers.

He wondered why that last thought had popped into his mind, but he had little time to consider it. With a snap of his fingers, he found himself in the entryway to a restaurant. It was some cheesy family eatery, complete with balloons, screaming children, and actors in big fluffy costumes.

Karsh was appropriately tackled by a bouncy Ileana, "Isn't this place great? We can go here on Halloween and no one will think we're weird!"

"Are you sure about that?" He was still looking around. She grabbed his hand and dragged him through the crowd,

"Our table's over here, and they have these things, I think they're called chicken wings? You're going to love them!"

"Uh huh?" Karsh was still too shocked at his frivolous surroundings to pay attention. He knew he was suddenly in a chair and that there was food in front of him.

Ileana was talking to him, and finally, she snapped her fingers in front of his nose. When he came back to a very irritated reality at her actions, she grabbed his chin and moved his face to be looking at the main area.

There was little Apolla, sitting upon her adopted mother's lap, clapping her hands and laughing as a group of parents and kids sang her a happy birthday.

"Isn't she adorable? I can't wait to see what she looks like when she's all grown up!"

Karsh was still gazing on the scene.

"I'm surprised you showed up for this." Commented Ileana offhand, taking a bite of her food.

"I wanted to see you and Apolla."

She stopped short, "You wanted to see me? Don't I give you a headache?"

He sighed, "Look, you're like me, I don't know how else to explain it."

"I'm like you?" She took a bite.

"You're from Coventry."

Ileana waved her hand, appropriately holding those much hyped chicken wings, around them, "There are some others from Coventry. You know, just yesterday, I saw this girl, I think she was from the village next to the one where I grew up and – "

"But they're all with the magic-less humans." Karsh didn't realize that his body had tensed up on the word, 'magic-less.' Something like that, as flighty as she was, didn't get by her.

"Those magic-less humans are raising our future princesses you know."

"I know, I just don't think I could ever be with a magic-less human. It would be too weird."

"Hmm…" She murmured, putting a drink to her lips.

"It's not like you're dating any magic-less guy, are you?"

"Single and loving it." Giggling, albeit nervously, she took another sip.

Karsh looked down at his hands, "That's what I meant. You're kinda like me and that's why I like you."

"You like me?"

"Well, because you're like me."

"Like you how?"

"Well because you're not dating any magic-less guy just to date someone."

"So, the only reason you like me is because I'm the only single witch in this dimension?" There was a hurt expression on her countenance that couldn't be described.

"Yes," Then, upon seeing her face, he stuttered, "No, what I meant is that you have standards."

"Standards? Karsh, I've been waiting four years for you to ask me out and now you say that you only like me because I've got magic? I might have to go out with magic-less guys now."

Now it was Karsh that looked hurt and she tilted her head, "I'm sorry Karsh. Maybe you should go back to Artemis now."

He got up, "I didn't want to offend you like this."

She gave him that half-smile he knew so well, "I'll get over it. Tell you what, you go back and spend the next year completely with Artemis and her family. No popping back and forth between Artemis and Apolla. I bet you'll learn more about the magic-less in this next year than you have in the last four."

"You don't want to talk for an entire year?"

"I want you to really get into the life in this dimension; I think you'll love it."

"We're from Coventry, and we're going back to Coventry."

"Yes, but not for another 17 years. Are you going to spend all of them thinking about how strange the customs are?" She held her hands up, fingers curled like monster claws. He rolled his eyes at her and she scoffed.

"If you do it, I promise I'll give you a kiss next Halloween."

Luckily, he was able to conceal how much he perked up at her statement.

"But you have to learn something too! Not just live in your little house reading for 12 months."

He grinned at her, "Alright, it's a deal."

She took his hand and shook it, "Deal."

Karsh snapped his fingers and his form dissolved into light. Ileana stared down at the table and then over at Apolla, "Karsh, what do I see that you don't?"

Taking a final sip of her drink, she settled in to watch the festivities. Her mind wandered though, and despite all that had happened, she couldn't help but really want for him to learn something in the next twelve months.