Gods damned flying! These wretches were crazed. Sepha could not, however, deny the thrill of seeing the girl, revealed to be Keya of Ces, floating like the fairies of myth. Even the girl’s hair wafted weightless behind her as if underwater.

Sepha knew little of the Ces household, it was true, but she smelt a dead goblin in the family’s abrupt execution. More so than superstitious witch burnings already entailed.

Even for her icy deliberation, the scene evoked the fantastical sentiments of her child within.

Min voiced that child. “Aww! Aren’t they just so cute!”

Sepha’s hired higher-world help was extremely apposite, if not over eager. Min could talk endlessly over the practical mundanities of clothing or hygiene, and then offhandedly ascend to lofty intricacies surrounding Outworld Magic in the blink of an eye.

Whether Sepha was the manipulator or manipulated was a grey matter at this point. Initially, she thought Kelly made a critical blunder by assigning an aide with such loose lips.

Sepha had honeyed her tongue and prattled with the naive child, as girls often do, late into the evenings. Min would eventually spill all Outworlder secrets, and then Sepha would have the leverage and power to demand what she wanted.

The girl happily obliged as though it were her job. Quill and parchment in hand, Sepha attempted to scribe as pages and images were fed to her magical visor. Oh, how folly a notion that had been!

Betimes she could not see the room she sat in, so filled with knowledge it was. Movement, sound, and symbols, mostly in Common, were cascaded before her. Quill and parchment were useless! Like counting stars by hand.

What need was there of subterfuge if even earnest study might fail the brightest of minds. Her century of tutelage was like so many children’s books in comparison.

This ‘Science’ of theirs was inscrutable. There was no ‘mysticism’ or ‘trick’, only guilelessly accumulated knowledge describing the way things were and how they worked. And that was but a small portion. Philosophy, art and everything in between, there were thousands upon thousands, nay millions upon millions of pages of it.

Sepha was quickly overcome by the torrent of information flooding before her. She could stand an hour at the most per evening before her mind and eyes tired.

Worse still, she conceded a childhood moniker in trade, and now she could hardly take it back.

The blunder was entirely hers. Kelly never meant any machination, otherwise doing nothing would have sufficed. No, it was far more pitiful than that. He was trying to help them.

No methods could convince an outsider of how futile resistance would be. No words could do justice the weapons they used. Moving pictures played through her mind of entire cities, not turned to ashes, but air! Bodies burned so quickly their shadows remained. What if that was Elgelica? She lost many hours of sleep at the thought.

Forthwith the man sat there apologizing at the monumental progress he wrought in just a few weeks of magic study. Like he knew the black void she faced some nights, the terror of the unknown staring back at her. Maybe he did.

So, the jester stood before them with that infuriatingly impartial smile, hand outstretched. ‘Come, I will make you a powerful mage. Do you wish to illuminate your city in ways never before seen? Speak to Min; let us see what can be done. What knowledge do you crave? I will give it all, and an eager tutor to aid you. I will ask favours but never follow them up. Why do I do all this, you ask? Because I expect greatness from you, and nothing less.’

The voice moulded into her late father’s before she could deny the parallels. If she knew no better, she would say Kelly cared for them. The human cherishing elves, planting trees that would outlive him. He hid nothing because the arrogant would gaze upon the truth and think it a bluff.

Her dining room was quiet save for the heartfelt sobs of the floating elf; arms gripped about her Master.

“Kelly, I… we…” What could she say really? He spoke in actions, and so should she. “We will support you. For the sake of Elgelica, our children and their children, I will stand with you if you will stand with me. This, I, Sepha Shalen of the Elgelican Council, pledge upon the gods.”

The insignificant man looked to her while still in the embrace of his apprentice, eyes alight with mirthful mischief. “Sheit elf, that’s all you had to say!”

The beatific avatar responded next. Sepha avoided staring too long, or even directly for that matter; it could shatter her composure. Graciously Rilian van Ster-sena conferred with Kelly instead, “Do you practice those lines in front of the mirror?”

“There’s nothing else to do while you spend so damn long in the shower! Buy me a bigger pump if you’re gonna abuse the water pressure that much!”

Min giggled in her ear. “Oh Shay, thank you very much for the sentiment, but it was unnecessary. We would help you anyway. Your world is like a dream come true to us. People will pay a lot of money just to visit, and they’ll pay even more to stay. What did you think? We were invading?”

Sepha murmured under her breath. “The thought did cross my mind, yes.”

“Can I reply on loudspeaker? It’s better they understand your concerns.”

“Min would like to speak.”

That was all the permission she needed. “Shay my girl, you are more precious than the land you stand on. We’d have heard rumours of other worlds with elves and the like. If you’re not unique, you’re very rare. Your city is a brittle flower; many would gladly risk their lives to protect. And the magic of your world we have only recreated in fictive games and stories. Yours is an authentic experience. No invaders are coming; there are tourists, lots and lots of tourists. Do you think Ril came down out of the goodness of her heart? No, my dear Shay, even the gods want to play here.”

The avatar shrugged in guilty agreement.

It was farcical, but it made a kind of deranged sense that she had come to expect from these Outworlders. Despite the absurdity, it did allay her fears a fair bit. She decided to voice her next deliberation.

“So, if there is no threat from the Outworlders, what exactly is your part in all this, Kelly?”

Pausing with a finger to his mouth, still wearing a hovering elf around his neck, he said, “Normally, I would explain that, but we’re out of curry.” A squint of feigned resignation framed his features. “Bye!” All contrition disappeared.

With the rift abruptly activated to his otherworldly lair, the enigmatic human strolled on through. Ces-sun, clinging to him, was dragged in tow and she found ground as they passed, pulling away as her weight returned.

“Oh no, you don’t, Kelly!” Sepha shouted after the man. “I demand clear answers!”

The avatar laughed mellifluously “How did you put it? Ah yes, ‘why don’t you tell us’.” And she skipped off soon after.

“You are asking the right questions Shay, but the answers must be yours as well,” said the black sphere.

“Not another word, Min, not another word!”