While Sophie followed Acacia back to the bakery, she also kept an eye out for strange mana wisps like she had seen the last time she was in Caulis. Other than a few more stray cats here and there, however, she didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.

She was starting to think that it had been some sort of fluke after all. Maybe she had too much Magewort tea, or it could have had something to do with Elowen nearly draining her earlier that day. Then, there was also the issue with little wyvern giving her mana. Unfortunately, there were too many variables to know what could have caused it. She hadn’t seen anything like it since then, at least. She almost brought it up to Acacia, but before she knew it they were back at the bakery, and Acacia was pushing open the front door.

“We’re back!” Acacia announced, but Hollis was nowhere in sight.

Hollis poked his head in from the hallway that led to the kitchen. “Any luck?”

He made his way back up into the front, brushing his hands off onto his apron, leaving traces of flour on the material.

Sophie shook her head. “Not really –” she began, but before she could continue, Acacia cut in.

“Ryland gave us a bunch of books to look at,” she explained. “We’re going to look through them now for ideas.”

“We are?” Sophie asked, not realizing that was Acacia’s plan all along.

“Yep.” Acacia grinned at her, heading towards the stairs that led to her apartment, not waiting for Sophie to follow.

Sophie hesitated, feeling a bit like she was keeping Acacia from her duties, but Hollis waved her on. “Go on ahead,” he reassured her. “It’s been a slow day today anyway, and she really doesn’t usually take breaks. It’s no trouble at all.”

“Alright,” Sophie agreed and made her way up the sturdy wooden stairs as Hollis disappeared back into the kitchen. Acacia already had the door open at the top of the landing, and by the time Sophie made it into the apartment, Acacia was making a beeline towards her own huge chill box.

“I’m just starving,” Acacia announced as she flung open the door to the faintly glowing interior. “Do you want lunch?“ She was already pulling out some ingredients as Sophie glanced around the well-furnished space.

“Isn’t it early?” Sophie asked. Her eyes landed on the clock, and it wasn’t yet noon, but Acacia shrugged.

“I might as well eat now, if you don’t mind. Then after we finish up here, I can let Hollis go for the day if it’s really as slow as it seems.”

“Alright,” Sophie agreed. “I’d like that, then.” She wasn’t about to turn down more of Acacia’s cooking. Especially if she didn’t even have to participate in said cooking.

Acacia closed the door of the chill box, setting a brown-paper wrapped block of something, a small jar of some brown condiment, and a few large frilly leaves – probably a variety of lettuce – down on the counter. She pulled out a loaf of what could only be her own homemade bread from a cabinet, grabbing a long knife to cut it into slices.

Sophie sat down on the couch in Acacia’s open living space and pulled the books from Ryland out of her Tailored bag. She set them down on the low living room table in front of the couch, but didn’t open them yet. Instead, she wistfully glanced around the room.

It had been over a week since Sophie had been at Acacia’s apartment last, and she was once again starkly aware of the contrast between Acacia’s place and her own meager accommodations at the shrine. This felt more like a real living space. It even had running water, Sophie remembered, almost forlornly. She so missed running water. But there was no way she’d be able to afford indoor plumbing at the shrine anytime soon.

That settled it. She was more determined than ever to figure out the festival thing and start getting some coin coming in. After one last wistful glance around Acacia’s apartment, she grabbed the top volume off of the stack of books on the table and got to work.

It was the one on Midsummer. Sophie began to flip through it, mostly glancing at the sketches at first. Judging by the numerous depictions of people circling around large bonfires, Sophie imagined that must be part of the tradition, but Sophie didn’t really have the space for that sort of thing at the shrine. There were also tons of flowers – wooden archways laced with them and people wearing flower crowns. It looked like a joyous occasion, but nothing like anything Sophie had ever attended before.

She set that book aside and picked up the next one, opening it to the first page – A History of Shrines in Duille. She frowned down at the title. Surely this held some info on her own shrine.

She thought back to Ryland’s comments and remembered how distracted the historian had seemed during their visit. “Was Ryland feeling okay today?” she asked.

Acacia looked up from where she was currently slicing pieces of cheese off of the large white block. “Seemed like it. What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. Wasn’t he a little quiet? Or, distracted maybe? I don’t know him at all, but compared to the last time I saw him at least.”

Acacia shrugged, setting her knife to the side. “He’s probably just obsessing over something. Ice caves, by the look of that book he was reading. He gets a little weird when Linden is gone for too long.” She opened the small jar and dug around in a drawer for a spreading knife. “I don’t think it’s good for someone like him to live by himself, but Linden will snap him out of it once he gets back.”

“When will Linden be back?” Sophie asked. It felt like ages since she had gone to the Adventurer’s Guild to ask about the Earth Mage. Even though the Magewood seemed to be her best course of action towards fixing the issue with the shrine now, she still wanted to follow up with Linden about the possibility of rerouting mana.

Acacia frowned down at the food she was preparing and then glanced up again at Sophie. “I don’t know. Maybe in a week or so?”

Sophie thought about that answer for a moment and tried to make sense of all of the information given, but she still felt like she was missing a vital piece. “Wait, is Linden dating Ryland?”

Acacia spluttered, her face turning redder than Sophie had ever seen it. “What? No! They’re just roommates. Well, sort of roommates.”

“Roommates?” Sophie asked, confused even further. “It didn’t look like there was any room for Ryland to have a roommate.”

Acacia laughed at that assessment. “That’s what I said sort of roommates. Linden is just gone all the time,” she explained. “He has a room there, but he doesn’t use it much. Anyway, his room is downstairs actually. He lives with Garrick on the first floor.”

Garrick? That bard again. Sophie shook her head, not even bothering to follow the strange arrangement. She really had stumbled into some sort of fantasyland soap opera, apparently. She’d probably figure it out eventually, but there was something she just had to ask, now that she finally had Acacia alone again.

“So, what’s the deal with Linden, then? Are you dating him?”

Acacia had just finished putting together what looked like two sandwiches and immediately froze with the plates in her hand, her eyes wide. “Um, no,” she replied.

“But you want to be dating him?” Sophie pressed.

Acacia brought the two plates over, placing them on the table in front of the couch next to the pile of books. She sat down next to Sophie with a huge sigh. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “We just grew up together. It’s complicated.”

“It seems like it,” Sophie agreed. “Does Linden know you like him?”

Acacia glared at her for a short moment, not answering, before pushing one of the plates towards Sophie. “Just eat your sandwich.”

And then Acacia picked up the other plate and took a large bite of her own sandwich, chewing on it with purpose, obviously not planning on answering any further questions.

“Okay, okay.” Sophie laughed. “I can take a hint. But, hey, if you ever want to talk about it...”

Acacia looked away, her face still awfully red. “Thanks,” she said after a long moment.

Sophie picked up her own plate, taking a careful bite of the sandwich. She found that she really enjoyed gossiping with Acacia, even if she didn’t follow half of it. Even back in Seattle, Sophie hadn’t quite yet found a friend like Acacia. She had a few coworkers she would chat with more casually, but nothing like some of the friends she’d had in high school…

She pushed the memories aside and focused on her sandwich instead, taking another bite. Acacia had made it with thick slices of bread, a sharp tasting cheese, some veggies, and maybe a hint of some sort of spicy mustard. There wasn’t even any meat or cold cuts on it, so it was almost like eating a cold grilled cheese, but somehow still delicious.

“Hey, I can make something like this!” Sophie realized suddenly.

Acacia blinked at her, uncomprehending as she took another bite of her own sandwich.

“Sandwiches!” Sophie replied, holding her own up victoriously. “I forgot about sandwiches.”

Acacia laughed, then, relaxing a bit from their earlier conversation. “You haven’t even tried making sandwiches yet?” she teased.

Sophie thought it was a little unfair, but she nodded, her face heating. “Not since I got here,” she admitted.

She took a few more bites of her sandwich, pleased with herself at the realization. She would have to stop by the market on her way back to the shrine – to pick up all of the things she needed to make sandwiches. And then maybe she would be a little more careful with her coin – perhaps, for example, she wouldn’t spend so much on kebabs and other things. The sandwiches were much easier to make than the soup, after all, and she would have less of an excuse to get takeout.

“I have to admit I’m excited about the idea of a festival,” Acacia said after a moment, stuffing the last few bites of her own sandwich in her mouth. She chewed for a bit before adding, “Although we probably can’t do a big one on such a short notice.”

Sophie nodded, setting her plate to the side for a second to pick up the book on Midsummer she had been looking at earlier. She flipped open to one of the sketches to show Acacia. “From what little I’ve seen in the books so far, it looks like there used to be bonfires,” she explained as Acacia peered down at the pages. “But I don’t even have space for a bonfire at the shrine.”

Acacia made a thoughtful noise and sat back. “Hmm, maybe they held it elsewhere in town?”

Sophie shook her head. “I don’t think so. I imagine the forest grew in around the shrine. Perhaps there used to be space for it decades ago…”

“Well there’s always next year,” Acacia said cheerfully as she hopped up and carried her empty plate back to the kitchen area.

Sophie’s head snapped up as Acacia’s words sunk into her. “Next year?”

Acacia nodded absentmindedly as she began cleaning up the kitchen. “Sure, we can always do something bigger next year,” she said as she wiped down the smooth wooden countertop. “I think people will be glad to have anything for this year. It will be such a novelty! And I’m sure there are plenty of people who have been waiting to get a class.”

Sophie stared back down at the last bite of her sandwich, still sitting on the plate next to the books, and her stomach turned over on itself. She would probably still be here next year, wouldn’t she? And probably the year after that. In fact, for the foreseeable future. Unless somehow the portal did take her back to her previous world when it was up and running again. She wasn’t sure how she felt about any of it – the idea of being here indefinitely, the idea of the portal taking her back.

“You done with that?”

Sophie glanced back up to see Acacia was standing in front of her, gesturing at her plate. Sophie shook her head, but she grabbed the last bite of the sandwich off of it and handed the plate over to Acacia. “Thanks,” she said softly. “I suppose we could do a bigger festival next year, couldn’t we?”

Acacia nodded and headed back to the kitchen with Sophie’s plate to finish cleaning up. Sophie finally ate the last bite of her sandwich, chewing thoughtfully as Acacia began describing some ideas on what they could do on short notice.

Next year, huh?

Sophie had an awful lot to think about.