Iris smiled despite herself. She knew her strange arrival was a bother to this kind, if strange couple. She knew that she was going to take them away from their home, the place where they must have met each other, where they were raised, where everything they had ever known was.

Iris stopped herself. She had a mission to fulfill, she had to complete the ritual before the week was over, if she failed it would kill her and this unlucky couple like it had already killed her master. The smile returned to her face. Their self emptying chamber pot was, in a word, superb. Iris completed the washing ritual that River had told her to complete before returning to the main room of their home.

River’s husband was like the sun in the way he stood out to the strange sense of knowing the ritual had granted to Iris. In a way he seemed born to the role of Elvi’at’ha.

Disasters happen. This thought ran through Luke's mind several times since hearing Iris’s story. Fantasy had come to life and had decided that Luke alone wasn’t enough. It wanted to drag River into his story too.

Even if they had been together as roommates for as long as they had been, the pair were practically strangers. He met her when she was the then current girlfriend of his ex-girlfriend’s sister’s ex-boyfriend, who later proved to be a lying, cheating, bastard.

When Luke caught him cheating on River the guy tried to kick her out. The end result was the guy suddenly moving in with his second girl. Luke assured River that she could stay as long as she needed. For whatever reason she had yet to feel ready.

Luke pushed his guilt to the side. River seemed willing to accept what was happening so it was a waste of time to worry about it. Luke's energy would be better invested into getting ready for the end of Iris’s spell.

The strange knowing that came as a result of being part of the spell was convenient given the situation. First, Luke knew how long they had to finish their preparations as surely as if he had set a timer. The second advantage he had was that he knew what the hard limit of their preparations was, whatever they could bring into the apartment before the time limit was up. The third big advantage was more bitter; River and Luke had every reason to destroy themselves financially while making their preparations. When the time came to pay the bill they would be gone.

River began questioning Iris about what they could expect. The answers gave Luke the impression of a feudal society transitioning from a Bronze Age into an Iron Age. It was clear that Iris was shamefully uneducated by American standards and most of her answers were confused and unhelpfully matter of fact.

Part of the problem was that Luke knew enough to not make assumptions about this other world they would soon be living in. Technology isn’t some inevitable march of progress, you can have basic computers without electricity.

Luke divided his preparations to four areas; devices, comfort, valuables, and knowledge.

The devices category was simple enough, it would mostly be the kind of gear required for an off grid home.

Luke selected an array of woodworking tools that he could be certain would arrive before their deadline. He knew that there would be some wasted money here but it was worth it to have the tool available even if the only tools that would matter ended up being the power tools.

The second major set of gadgets Luke would need to acquire would be a power system. While solar was convenient Luke felt the money would be better spent on a generator that could be run on ethanol and on a hydroelectric generator. He also picked up a charge controller and a number of batteries for a power bank as well as the wires, tools and components that people generally don’t think about, such as wall sockets.

He also picked up a couple water hand pumps and a few electric motors for good measure.

The issue of comfort items could be covered by three things; cloth, paper, and entertainment. River bought a whole new wardrobe for herself and for Luke. Luke also entertained the idea that Iris bought every bra that fit her or Iris that she could find. She also bought extra pillows, sheets, and blankets to take with them.

The paper products included all the notebooks Luke could find and all the toilet paper they could make space for.

River and Luke both downloaded movies, TV shows, music, and games. Luke even bought extra hard drives to fill. They also made a small library of their favorite books and board games.

Most of the valuables were selected by Iris. These were mostly hard liquor, aluminum foil, bolts of cloth, and seeds. Plants like potatoes, garlic and other common herbs, fruits, and vegetables would be exotic rarities in their near future. Once Iris had made this clear to River she had begun making arrangements to buy some chickens, rabbits, honey bees, and she even managed to get her hands on a small number of marijuana plants almost an hour before they left.

The most valuable thing they would bring with them was knowledge. Luke bought a collection of textbooks, technical manuals, how to books and downloaded as much of the internet diy portion of the internet ashe could.

When the time came Luke sat in the apartment with River and Iris. He reminded himself that disasters happen as he stood up and walked to the door. He opened it and stepped into a new world.