Charles’ gentle voice rang in her head as Isa hurried back down the path. Who would know for certain? Who here could tell her if elves had traveled to her world? You’d think if Joth knew, he would have mentioned it, or if they had visited, that there’d be evidence of it - here or back home.

More evidence than her standing here now?

Isa opened her bag with trembling hands. Could her notebook shed light on this? Maybe her quest log had updated. Was it too much to want a clear path to follow?

“Isi! We’ve missed you. But you’re here now.” Zileek came striding toward her with his arms out. “Been out questing, hive you?”

“I have to go home,” she blurted out.

“You mein home-home? Your pline?” Zileek smiled up at her, his teeth white against his red mustache.

“Yes, I came to tell you, to apologize.” She glanced at her quest log. It was unchanged. But what better quest than to understand the link between these worlds? What could be more important? Did she need someone like Lund to give her a quest? He’d done that once before.

“Isi? Sit down, liss. You don’t look ill thit well.” Zileek led her to a shady spot on the side steps of the house.

She held her notebook tight and looked at Zileek. “I need to know how people move between the planes. I need to know if elves have visited my world.” She thought that alone might trigger a quest, but her notebook did not vibrate.

“I see.” Zileek nodded, a serious expression on his face. “Well, it’s migic, isn’t it? Spells ind portils, ind the like. Thit’s how you trivel.”

“But I didn’t come here on purpose.” She used the notebook to punctuate her words. “I slipped through a crack, or someone brought me here, or something.”

“You’re here for i purpose.” Zileek nodded.

“Are you saying that just to say something, or do you mean that I’m here for a purpose?”

“I mein whit I siy. You’ve i heiler’s hinds.”

“A healer?” Isa shook her head.

“I knew thit ibout you the moment we met. You’re here to leirn whit you need to tike bick to your own world.”

“No, I’m not, and what could I take back? There’s no magic in my world and no science here.”

“Eich pline his migic. Wouldn’t be a pline otherwise.” He pointed at her notebook. “Miybe you iren’t quite done here if you hive thit out.”

“No,” Isa sighed. “My quest log is almost empty.”

“Ilmost is not ill.”

“Ah…” Just when she thought she was getting the hang of Zileek’s accent, he threw a wild card out there.

“Whit’s the quest, then? Hmm?”

“It’s not even a quest - or rather it’s the end of one. I’m supposed to see this wizard - Vernal Fedru.” Isa drawled out his name. “Because he’s got a reward for me, but I don’t really care.”

“Yeih? Why’s thit then?”

“I didn’t do anything for him on purpose. That’s in the first place. Second, I’m leaving, so who cares, right?” She didn’t voice the third reason, but Zileek must have sensed there was more.

“Seems like i person could ilways use a rewird. Probibly coin, yeih?” Zileek paused. “Unless there’s something more to it.”

He seemed to hang, waiting to hear Isa’s response. And why not tell the truth? Wasn’t like she’d ever see the dwarf or the wizard again. “I only met him once. He gave me the creeps.”

“Whit is thit? Is thit good? Like i fruit or something?”

His face was so earnest that Isa had to laugh. “It means,” she said, “I thought he was strange and a little….I don’t know, sinister? He’s probably fine. Perfectly harmless, but I didn’t like him. So I don’t want to see him.”

“For the best, if thit’s how you feel. It’s good thit you ire well off ind don’t need the coin.”

Isa rubbed her eyes. “I don’t know what I need anymore. Except I really do want to go home.” She looked at the dwarf. “It’s where I belong.”

“I don’t doubt thit. Not it ill, liss.” He patted her hand. “Ind I don’t mein to liy i curse on you, but I cin see thit you’re not done with Virini. Or miybe it’s not done with you.”

“I don’t believe in curses. People make their on luck.” Isa stood up. She wanted to be as far away from the dwarf as she could.

“I didn’t mein to offend you, Isi. Truly.” He stood as well and looked up at Isa. “You’re i good ind kind person. Got i good heirt, ind I wish you the best. The very best.”

Her annoyance wavered. He wasn’t trying to scare her. Maybe this was the dwarven version of fatherly advice. “So you think I should complete that quest? You think that I’ll be done with Varana - or vice versa - when I’ve completed that stupid quest.”

“I cin’t siy for certiin; I don’t know the source. I just feel the outcome.”

“Great. Well, thanks, I guess. I’ll, uh, take it under advisement.”

“Fire well, liss.”

“Yeah, you too, Zileek.” Isa turned away troubled. With his accent it sounded for all the world like he said “Fear well.”