I woke up from my nightmare, but I kept my eyes closed. I could still smell the strange smoke stench, and feel the awkward lumps of the couch, but that was surely just the lingering effects of the dream. Any moment now, I would hear my mother call out to me, telling me that I needed to come downstairs for dinner.

My heart started racing faster as the stench stubbornly refused to leave my nostrils. But I wasn’t going to accept this dream. I could not be trapped in another world, an entire dimension away from everything I knew. I would not tolerate being alone, after living my entire life knowing that some of the most powerful spellcasters in the world would always be there to rescue me if things went wrong.

I most definitely was going to be annoyed by my brothers this very afternoon.

My denial started cracking, but I clung to it foolishly, desperately, as tears started dripping again. Fear and uncertainty gripped me, and I tried to stave them off as best as I could.

Alone. Afraid. Lost. Hopeless.

“No…” I whispered as I broke beneath the weight of my reality.

I don’t know how long I lay there, curled up in a ball on the couch. Hunger and thirst are compelling in the end, so I found myself forced by my biology to move.

Collapsing wasn’t going to solve my problem. The long term ramifications of my problem were so far beyond me that I started to panic at the mere thought of it. So I wouldn’t think of it. I’d focus on solving my short term problems, one at a time. I wouldn’t think about the long term issues until I had absolutely no choice.

I nodded, pleased at what I believed to be wisdom. The feeling of there being something I could do soothed my fears, tucking them away into distant corners of my heart, where I didn’t have to deal with them. I felt almost okay.

My first issue was establishing myself in this world. I had a few allies, who might be considered friends in time. There was apparently reason for me to be afraid, which I had no understanding of, but I was always taught to have great respect for power that I don’t understand. So I would submit to their beliefs, for now. I would remain in hiding.

I couldn’t lose these allies. And more, I couldn’t stand the idea of being indebted to someone. I had to repay them, many times over. I had to, merely in order to feel safe with them.

Which made my first step clear.

After drinking some water, I got to work. Alice was gone, and so I didn’t need to worry about my methods. It was surprisingly cathartic. I’d never let things get so filthy before, so seeing the yellow stains emerging from the walls, revealing the lovely beige color beneath was satisfying. So, too, was smoothing out the paint, removing the scuffs in the wooden floor, and patching the little tears and weakened fabrics in the various furniture. I may have gotten a bit carried away, but I couldn’t stop until it was perfect.

I’d worked on it almost half an hour. I was quite pleased with myself. With the exception of my training, which could be intensive for days at a stretch, I’d almost never worked longer than a minute or two at a time in my life. I was even a little fatigued!

Having completed my labor, I found myself confused again. I wasn’t sure what to do next. After being bored for a few minutes, I decided to head outside.

The door had a locking mechanism, which I could easily operate from inside, but I wasn’t sure how it was supposed to be accessed from outside. So I used a bit of magic through the door to lock it behind me.

Once outside, I took a deep breath. The air was nicer outside, even with all the strange additions. I decided to sit in a little patch of grass next to the door. There were a handful of plants there, and I might as well examine their biology.

It was a rather strange overlap, after all. As far as I could tell, though I hadn’t examined too closely, the others here were biologically human. Naturally, there were some variations in things like skin tone, hair texture, face shape, and so forth. The distinctions were significant enough that I was certain the crossover between our people were unlikely to be more recent than hundreds of years, or perhaps even thousands. But surely, it couldn’t have been tens of thousands.

I’d have to see if there were mammals here. If not, that would be conclusive proof that my world was the origin. If so, then more questions would have to be asked.

I nodded, pleased with my long term, but not-emotionally-entangled task. In the meantime, I’d examine the similarity between the biologies of this world’s plants with my own.

“Oh, Aera,” a surprised voice said, startling me out of my examination. I looked up to see Slick smiling at me, and I returned the smile. I quickly cast the language spell, now that I had someone to cast it on.

“Hi,” I said, my voice betraying my nervousness. Now that he was back, I wasn’t sure what was happening next.

“Lou and I have an idea,” he said. “You said you can fix things up, right?”

“Yes.”

He nodded. “Lou sometimes dives for some extra cash. Figure, maybe you could come along and help. That’d be something that could make some good money, that nobody’d notice.”

He grinned, seeming proud of himself, as he reached his hand out to me to help me up.

I didn’t need the help, but I thought it was less awkward to accept than decline.

As we were about to leave, he tried to lock up, and was briefly confused when the door was already locked. For my part, I was fascinated by the key. It was a complicated mundane locking mechanism, and its function was brilliant and simple.

I wanted to ask if I could play with the key and lock, but I couldn’t possibly bring myself to voice a personal request. Instead, I simply followed along after him.

Slick was in a far better mood than the day before. He’d hum little songs, or talk about random things, seemingly perfectly at ease with my nervous silence.

It was Friday, and he hadn’t gone to work. I was curious about what he did. He worked at the docks, breaking open wooden boxes of cargo. Apparently, his work was on a first come, first serve basis, with a seemingly infinite stretch of people willing to do backbreaking labor all day for barely enough to survive on. He typically got in because he’d focused on his technique, rather than trying to simply outperform by brute strength, and his skill made him more valuable. Which was fortunate, because hundreds were turned away every day.

They were calling it “the Great Depression.” The entire nation was in economic turmoil. Finding a way to put my skills to use, with little risk, and for pay, was something for them to be extremely proud of, apparently.

And there was an implication that was unnerving for me, as well - work was critical for the survival of his family. Taking a day off work to help me was no small gift.

We arrived outside of Lou’s school. She was going to be skipping the rest of her classes for the day, so that she could come with. Slick had dropped out of school years before to support their family, since their father didn’t make much. When I asked what their mother did for work, I was advised that mothers always stayed home to keep up the house.

Lou was dressed in exactly the same clothes as the day before, and had an exceptionally large backpack. More of a sack attached to a harness, in my opinion. At the moment, it only had a small box of tools.

I cast the language spell again, adding in Lou’s vocabulary. She had some useful words relating to magic that Slick lacked, so I made note of them. As we walked, I asked her about it. It turned out that she enjoyed reading, and had read some stories involving magic before.

We walked another long distance, to a strangely metallic field. Slowly, as we reached a fence, I realized what I was looking at. Apparently, when this civilization had waste that could not be repaired easily, they just… dumped it. In a pile. A massive pile.

I couldn’t help but stare in astonishment at the sheer quantity of resources. My stomach growled, reminding me that I’d not eaten today, when I looked at the number of organic discards. While not as good as fine dining, I wasn’t exactly in a position to be picky. Besides, the wood-candy was delicious.

“So, what are we going to be doing?” I asked, nervous again, as Lou greeted the man who owned the junkyard. He let us in.

“Going to see if we can get anything you can fix, and we can sell,” Lou said.

“Us both being here is good, too,” Slick said, with a slight edge in his voice. “We keep telling Lou not to come out here on her own, but…”

“But it’s money,” Lou said. “And I’ve learned about radios, and how to fix ‘em. That’s real good money.”

Radio… a word that didn’t translate. Some connection to music, to pleasure? Didn’t seem worth asking about at the moment.

As we walked along, Lou looking for something or other in the various piles, I grabbed a bit of wood to modify and munch on, as well as some water from the air to drink.

“Do you get tired from that?” Slick asked.

“From anything that requires more than trivial amounts of power, yes,” I said. “Spells like this are easy, partially because I’ve done them so often. I enjoy spending time in forests, which is where I’ve cast these spells the most.”

“Plenty of woods round the city,” Slick said. “Not too far a walk, either.”

I laughed a little. I wondered what these two would consider a long walk. Getting one of those cars seemed like a good idea.

“Hey, here’s something,” Lou said, picking up the strange looking wooden box she’d been tinkering with, and handed it to me. “Can you fix this?”

“What is it?” I asked, confused.

“A radio,” she said. “I can fix up the inside, but the outside is wrecked.”

I examined the box. It had a bit of damage to it - likely from a hard fall. The wood was badly cracked and the cloth-like covering for its face was torn out of place. Repair was incredibly simple - I simply pushed the broken bits back together and merged the edges.

“There ain’t even a seam!” Lou exclaimed.

“A seam?” I asked, confused. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“You know, from putting the pieces together,” she said. “I figured we’d see where it joined, like a magic glue or something.”

“I could make that, if you wish…” I said, uncertain.

“No, no, this is good,” she said, starting to take it from me.

“But it’s not done!” I protested.

She just looked at me, confused, while I finished my work. That wasn’t the only damage. It had nicks, bumps, and scratches all over, as well as being filthy and full of dust. Once restored to a perfect shine, I handed it over.

“Now it is done,” I said.

She held it like a priceless treasure. Slick also gazed at it in admiration.

“It’s gorgeous,” she said.

I wasn’t entirely sure what the appeal was, so I just awkwardly smiled. Lou set down the radio with utmost care, and opened up its back. She pulled out the tools from her backpack and made a few tiny adjustments inside.

“Perfect,” she said. “Just got to plug it in, and it should work.”

The awkward smile came back, as I had no clue what she was talking about. She then grabbed a dress from the pile to wrap the radio in.

“Are dresses unsellable, then?” I said.

“Huh?” she said. “No, they’re expensive, too, but this one’s wrecked, it ain’t worth more than the cloth.”

“Lou, I told ya, she made her dress from canvas,” Slick said. “Makes sense that she can fix one, if she can make one.”

“Right,” Lou said, still looking at me skeptically, as she handed me the dress.

I wondered briefly why it was so hard to believe in what I could do.

Brushing aside the thought, I examined the tattered, filthy piece. Aside from the stains, dirt, and rips, the cloth was otherwise in excellent shape. I gently extended my will to make the cloth reject the dirt, then merged the torn edges together. Next, I coaxed the stains out, making the stained and damaged parts of the cloth match the undamaged parts, at the most fundamental level. Lastly, I smoothed out the pigments and structure, tidying up on a miniscule scale, so that the cloth was perfectly strong and had vibrancy to its color.

“There we are,” I said, pleased. “It’s quite pretty, isn’t it?”

They both gaped, yet again, still not used to my spellcasting.

“Is there anything you can’t do?” Lou asked, as she took the soft, flowing silk.

“Of course,” I said, surprised. “I’m really quite poor with magic, considering my upbringing. The only kind of magic I’m any good with is Aquas, though I’m familiar with all of the basics from every element.”

“Aquas?” Slick said.

“One of the six elements of magic,” I said. “It’s best translated as the element of water… though it doesn’t have anything to do with water itself.”

“Then why is it the element of water?” Lou asked.

“Er…” I hesitated, unsure of how to give a short answer.

The fundamentals of magic were nuanced, and were such a core part of my training that any words seemed to fall profoundly short of the true meaning.

“Um… in short,” I said, “It’s because water is the middle phase, in between ice and steam, with some properties of both. So it is the chosen name for the element of balance, of emotion, of transformation.”

They were looking at me like I’d dropped my language spell. I nervously swallowed. Yes, my explanation was lacking, but did they want a proper lesson in the elements in the middle of the junkyard?

“That’s enough for me,” Slick said. “Aera, you just do your thing.”

Lou nodded emphatically.

Rather than being lacking… it was too much of an explanation?

“So…” Lou said. “When it comes to fixing things… what can you do, exactly? What sort of things could you fix?”

“I can do simple physical changes with any material,” I said. “Bending, reshaping, merging, breaking, dissolving, and so forth. So I should be able to fix absolutely anything, as long as all the material is there, and if I know - or am guided - in how it must be put back together.”

“Literally anything,” Lou said.

I nodded meekly.

She looked staggered, and Slick just shook his head disbelievingly.

“Yeah, I think this is going to work,” Lou said. “Let’s get a decent little haul, and head off to Kito’s.”

An hour or so later, Lou’s bag was full of a variety of objects, and despite her objections, Slick was carrying it.

We once again walked at a brisk pace all the way back into the city proper. If it weren’t for my ability to use healing magic to ease the aches in my legs and feet, I would have been miserable.

We finally made it to “Kito’s,” which was a store simply named “Pawn Shop.” We entered in, and saw a variety of seemingly random items displayed.

“Hey, Kito,” Lou said to the middle aged man behind the counter.

“Lou,” he said, sounded honestly glad to see her.

He glanced at Slick, greeting him less warmly, and then noticed me behind Slick’s tall figure. His eyes widened for a moment, and then his grin grew.

“My, my, who is your new friend?” Kito asked Lou.

“Cut it out,” Lou said sharply, and Kito sighed. “I got some stuff for you.”

“Let’s see it, then,” Kito said, his eyes still fixed on me.

Slick held out the bag, and Lou carefully pulled out the radio first. Kito’s eyes narrowed.

“Where’d you get this?” he asked.

“Same as usual,” she said.

“The junkyard?” he asked skeptically. “That thing’s in perfect condition.”

She shrugged. “Maybe some rich idiot threw it out when it broke. I fixed it. Should work. How much are you gonna give me for it?”

“Let’s see if it works,” Kito said.

He reached to the back of the radio and pulled a rubbery looking cord of some kind, with a pair of metal bits at the end. Those metal bits were inserted into tiny holes in the wall. Then, he pushed a circular thing on the front of the radio.

“What is that?!” I yelped in shock, as some strange hissing noise erupted from the box.

“Aera,” Lou said, giving me a look, “Chill.”

I gulped and quietly stared at the bizarre abomination.

Kito gave me a strange look, then disregarded it and started twisting circular things.

To my amazement, after a brief period of shifting warbles in the hiss, music emerged. My jaw hung open as I listened in wonder.

They all acted like this was entirely normal. Kito kept turning the little circle. The hissing sound returned… only this time, it was followed by the sound of people talking.

At first, I wondered why the voices were in a different language, before I realized my language spell had slipped. I smiled and stepped behind Slick so that Kito couldn’t see me recast it.

He continued to twist the circle until some little moving indicator had gone all the way to the right, then reversed the twist, till the indicator moved to the far left.

“Since it works, I’ll give you five dollars,” Kito said.

Interesting. Slick made only one and three quarters of a dollar each day. This offer was equal to half a week’s work.

“These ones sell for fifty,” Lou said, surprising me again. A full month’s work.

“You got it from a junkyard,” Kito said. “And they sell for fifty, new.”

“You can’t tell it’s not new,” Lou said. “I’ll take fifteen for it.”

“Not happening, kid,” Kito said. “I’ll throw in two extra dollars because I like you. Seven.”

“Nice knowing you, Kito,” Lou said, and went to take the radio.

Kito sighed.

“Eight dollars,” he said, putting his hand on top of the radio.

“Keep going,” she said, with a sharp looking smile.

He sighed again.

“Let’s see the rest of what you have to offer,” Kito said. “Let’s not get too tangled on this one piece.”

She chuckled and showed him the first dress, that she’d wrapped the radio in.

“You can’t tell me this was from a junkyard,” Kito said flatly. “I don’t deal in stolen goods, Lou.”

“It ain’t stolen,” she said. “I won’t stoop to that.”

“Then how the hell did you get this?” he asked, holding out the silk like it was evidence of a crime.

Lou looked at me, and said, “She’s good at fixing stuff. She took it, cleaned it up, mended it all, made it gorgeous again. It’s like magic.”

Slick grinned hugely at this, and I wondered why she’d said that. Wouldn’t Kito suspect the truth?

He gave me an interested look.

“Aera’s your name?” he said, smiling.

“Y-yes, sir,” I said.

“Do you just fix up dresses, or all clothes?”

“Er, I’m from another country, so I’m not very good with local fashion, but I can do repair work on anything,” I said.

He laughed, “I could tell you were from somewhere else with that accent. That’s alright, though. Anyone who washes up on America’s shores is welcome. Especially with your talents.”

“Speaking of, Kito,” Lou said, slyly, “I was wondering about something.”

“Yeah?”

“Poor Aera,” Lou said, with an exaggerated sigh, “She’s just washed up here, and doesn’t have a home or a job. I’ve invited her to risk herself going k-balling with me in the junkyard, but you see how frail she is.”

“Uh huh,” Kito said, giving her a look.

Then he shook his head with a little laugh.

“You’re asking for a job,” he said to me.

Money was apparently something I needed, so I awkwardly nodded.

“And a place to stay,” Lou added. “So she’d need a starting bonus, to get a place.”

“That’s ridiculous, Lou,” Kito said.

“Would you have her live on the streets till she earns enough?” Lou said. “Look at her… could she even survive a night out there?”

I wasn’t sure what about my appearance made me look so weak to them. True, my muscles weren’t very developed - not nearly as much as Lou’s, even with her being underweight. Nor did I have scars of any kind. Were these the things that gave this impression?

But of course I couldn’t ask.

“I’ve got a room upstairs…” Kito began.

“She ain’t staying in your bed,” Lou interrupted with a glare.

He rolled his eyes and Slick tried not to laugh out loud. I wasn’t sure how to react, so I went with my usual awkward smile.

“It’s a storage room,” he said. “Well, it was, before my mother needed to visit, so it’s still set up with the little bed I got.”

“She’ll need privacy,” Lou said. “If she gets the room, you don’t go in there.”

“It’s my house,” Kito said, sounding annoyed.

“Her room.”

He gave her a look, then glanced down at the dress. There was a greedy look in his eyes.

“Let me see what else is in the bag,” he said abruptly.

Slick raised an eyebrow and handed it over. A few more articles of clothing came out, as well as some bits of decoration.

“Here’s the deal,” Kito said. “I hold everything you brought. She works here and stays here for one week. If it doesn’t work out, she gets no pay for the week - just the room, not owing any rent, and I keep these to cover it. If it does work out, I’ll negotiate a price for this set of goods for you. She’ll be paid a cut for everything she makes or fixes up.”

“How much of a cut?” Lou asked.

“Five percent,” he said.

“That’s a load of crap,” Lou said.

“She’s not the one paying the bills,” Kito said.

“Ten percent, plus she never pays you rent, or any charges at all,” Lou countered.

Kito frowned.

“Ten percent, but only on the things of hers that sell, not everything she makes,” Kito said.

“Plus no rent, and at least a dollar a day, no matter what does or doesn’t sell,” Lou said.

“Fine, except not daily,” he said. “I’ll guarantee five dollars a week.”

Lou grinned. “Deal. And if you cheat her, I’ll have to ask again about your policy on guns.”

She pulled out the gun again, but in a playful way. Still, the implied threat was there. Which didn’t make sense, because why would a metal club in the hands of a teenaged girl threaten anyone?

Kito rolled his eyes again.

“Put that thing away, Lou,” he said. “You aren’t even strong enough to pull the trigger.”

Lou just laughed. Slick had a half admiring, half annoyed look on his face.

“So, Aera,” Kito said, looking at me, while Lou and Slick started packing all the things into one of Kito’s boxes.

“Yes, sir?” I asked.

He smiled warmly.

“Let’s show you your room upstairs,” he said.

I glanced at Lou and Slick, and was met with an encouraging smile. I followed Kito, and he led me behind the counter, to a set of stairs that wasn’t visible from within the customer part of the shop.

At the top, we went down a little hallway, with a few rooms attached.

“There’s the kitchen,” he said, gesturing to the first room. “You can feel free to use it, plus the bathroom over here.”

Bathroom… once the room’s purpose translated, I smiled, but then frowned again as I glanced inside. Apparently I’d still have to keep using my magic for internal cleaning until I asked Lou how to operate the device I saw within.

“And here’s your room,” he said. “Right next to mine. If you have any trouble, you can let me know right away.”

“Yes, sir,” I said, looking into the small space. “Um, sir, as Lou mentioned, I like privacy. Is it acceptable if I place a curtain or something along those lines, so that the majority of the room cannot be seen from the door?”

“Please, call me Kito,” he said. “And you can do whatever you like in there, as long as nothing’s permanent.”

“Thank you, si… I mean, Kito,” I said.

“You’re quite welcome, Aera,” he said, his voice warm. “I very much hope this works out. I get the feeling you’ll be a wonderful addition to the household.”

The phrasing made me wonder about possible additional meanings, but I disregarded it. My language spell was imperfect, after all.

So I simply smiled.

“I’ll get a key made for you,” he said, making me a bit excited at the idea of having a chance to play with it at some point. “But for now, you’ll have to just ring the bell to get in when I’m closed.”

“I understand,” I said. “I think I should say farewell to my friends, and then I should perhaps get some clothing to work with.”

“I’ve got plenty,” he said ruefully. “There’s a number of things out on the floor right now that would sell for a lot more if it were in better shape.”

“On the floor?” I asked.

He laughed.

“The sales floor,” he said, “That open area where the customers can look at what they might want to buy.”

“I see,” I said. “Well, then, I wish to prove my worth quickly. Shall we acquire them?”

“Sure,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Won’t you need some tools?”

“Um… yes, sir,” I said. “I mean, Kito. But Lou has everything I need. I’ll just… grab the things. Please excuse me.”

With that I tried to walk hastily back down to where Lou and Slick were, with Kito following behind. I wasn’t very good at lying.

I went downstairs and told the pair what I’d told Kito.

“Here’s the bag,” Lou said with a smile. “You can pretend it isn’t empty.”

“Um… yes,” I said. “I’ll do that.”

“Also, Aera,” Lou said warningly, leading me a little away from the curious pawn shop owner. “You can’t fix things too quickly.”

“Which would be how fast, exactly?” I asked.

“Maybe one to three items a day?” Lou suggested.

“Surely you jest!” I said. “So little?”

“That’s the problem,” Lou said. “Don’t do too much, or he’ll get suspicious.”

“Very well, then,” I said. “I will be cautious.”

“We’ll come check on you,” Slick said. “Don’t let him get too friendly, either.”

“Too friendly?” I asked, confused.

They shared an uncomfortable glance, which made me more nervous again.

“You don’t owe him anything but the clothes you’ll be working on,” Slick said.

“I am aware,” I said.

“Just don’t let him push you into anything you’re not comfortable with,” Lou said. “Kito’s got a bit of a reputation with women.”

“I… see,” I said, though I was still confused. “I can assure you that he won’t be able to push me into anything.”

“Good,” Slick said. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thank you for all of your help,” I said.

“Our pleasure, Aera,” Slick said. “Tomorrow, we’ll talk a bit about how to get you home, now that you’ve got a roof over your head.”

I nodded, and with that, they headed out.

Kito was putting a number of items into a box to bring upstairs.

“Don’t worry about how many things I’m grabbing,” Kito said, noticing my gaze. “I’m not sure which of these you can improve at all, so I thought I’d just grab all the damaged ones for you to look over.”

“I appreciate it,” I said, clutching the empty bag, filling it with some pressure so it looked like it had items. “Let me get settled into my room, and I will begin.”

He nodded, and I headed upstairs.

For the first time in my life, I had a job. I had someone in charge who wasn’t a parent. Plus, with the money I’d make, I could get various alien things from the city. I wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with money - it was just a non issue for my family. And there were things like that radio…

This could even be fun.

As Kito brought me the box of items, I settled in, thinking about the future with a bit of hope.