Shae stretched so far; she almost touched the ceiling of her borrowed room. The Inn keeper Kyle and his with Pendra were beyond nice to her. It kind of made her nervous really. Nobody is that nice, unless they wanted something from you. ‘Well, I guess they do want repayment.’ That thought she hoped was the driving force. Though he seemed to mention a kind of favor instead. Well, whatever, she’d been fed real food and had a roof over her head last night. She hoped the favor wasn’t something dangerous, or worse sexual. There were certain stereotypes about the old world of earth. The days of yore when monarchs ruled the ands and men fought with swords. Women did not have it good. You never knew what lied beneath the visual surface before you. They both seemed very easy going though. Maybe she was putting the cart before the horse here. ‘Can only wait and see. Maybe they will get me to do the dishes.’ She chuckled to herself.

The stew and bread last night had been very good. She had not seen much for farm type animals about, so she had thought it to be hunted meat in the stew. Thing was, there was no gamey taste at all, and the gravy was too good for a place like this. ‘Was food always this good without msg?’ a side thought snuck in. The broth she drank instead of water or alcohol had just the right amount of salt and a spice she couldn’t place but was not pepper, but peppery. It gave the broth a bit of a spicey burn that felt like you were drinking a hot mug of cocoa on a cold winter night. She shivered.

She has used the laundry facilities they had had. It was a simple bucket of warm water and a bit of soup. Real fancy. Guess magic wasn’t for everything in the sticks. They were hung on a rope that was just off the wall across from her bed. The room was roughly three by three meters with a bed a window and a nightstand with an oil lamp. Where was all the magic. So far, she was a bit disappointed. But she had made some gains last night while she sat in her room working on the feel of the power loop. It was not very busy downstairs, or at least it was not very loud. She could hear some people down there, but everything was pretty muted. As if they had sound-proofed the bedrooms. It allowed her to concentrate and just enjoy the warmth of the flow. It felt thick almost tangible. If it was a thing outside of her, she would imagine it to be a very wide and warm, almost hot ray of sun defying a cloudy day that surrounded her. It didn’t burn, but it was warm, very comforting. Her uncle said she had true belief like he did. She never thought about it much. She wasn’t pious, or one of those door-to-door types. But she did believe whole heartedly that there was a creator. Now that she was proven true, it wasn’t much of a difference to her. It didn’t feel more tangible. Just an acknowledgement. Like someone telling you your name.

Now that she was awake, she looked inside and found the warmth still flowing through her, down into the world, and back up. It was easier to feel today, not that she had a clue what to do with it. How do you control, use, what she felt? How could she make it work for her? How could she use it to maybe make the world around her better? Not that she was aiming to be a saint or a hero or anything. But she wanted to at least make the small part of her world better for it. Was that selfish? Maybe, but if everyone made the small part of their world truly a better place to live, then the world at large would be fabulous. The downside? Not everyone thought the same. What was peaceful to one, was chaos to another. That was the reality of people. The masses kept their heads down and tried to live their lives the best they could, while the takers, and users pulled at small parts of your lives, fraying at the edges of your small piece of happiness. She had a boyfriend briefly in her old world. Not that it was serious or anything, since she was still in her teens. But he had been a taker, and not a giver. He always wanted something from her. Not much at first, but the demands kept growing. Then he’d got too handsy. Then he got a black eye after being told no and didn’t stop. That was what her uncle had given her. Strength to stand on her own two feet. An ability to survive the wilds of the world. Society had it’s little games behind the scenes, but if you didn’t play, you didn’t need to worry.

Having her thoughts run off at a rampant tangent she shook her head to clear it. ‘This was supposed to be a lesson in getting used to the power in me, not a life lesson.’ She mused half smiled at her ramblings.

Then she got down to business. Working on feel, trying to move it, trying to push it out of her in some sort of controlled fashion. She tried to gather it. She imagined gathering it up into her hands, as if it were a solid form. She tried to imagine it as if it was a flowing river, she could dip her mental hands into and pull some out. She lost herself for a time, trying to think of anything. People here used it; she knew. Heck even her uncle could control it back on earth, though muted since there was no longer a flow. He could only use what he brought with him, like he was a battery. Even that thought did not spark anything in her. She had no control over it at all. That did not put a damper on her mood though. It was real, she could feel it. She just needed to learn control or find someone to point her in the right direction. There had to be magic teachers out there, right? ‘I bet there are magnificent schools dedicated to magic.’ She thought, her imagination running wild, picturing large, buttressed buildings with people studying and practicing. Great places of learning, where you could ask anything, and receive an intelligent answer.

She again mentally shook her head.

“Just keep your head on straight girl. Don’t get too wacky about this. It’s enough I’m even here.” She whispered to herself.

Just the scale of that thought, that she was actually in another world… one with magic no less. It was almost sanity bending. She couldn’t delve into that box. It was a vortex just waiting to pull her sanity apart. That box needed a lot of time to slowly peek into. It would be folly to think she could put that lid off and just pretend things were normal. Heck she could even have been struck in the head when she was younger, and this was all a dream, a coma even.

“Put that lid right back on!” she grumbled at herself. Then slapped her own cheek. Trying to re-ground herself. ‘The power… just relax into and feel it. Slip into it’s embrace, let it warm you and carry your worries away on its journey away from you.’ She intoned. Trying to self-meditate.

And it was working damn well. It was as if the power scrubbed her clean. Like she was standing under a waterfall and dirt was pouring off her. It was a pure feeling of euphoria.

She drifted like that, just floating in the warmth of the imagined light. Letting the flow tear free her worries and pains. Just… be.

She came back to herself sometime later. The sun had almost hit its peak. Maybe an hour yet before mid-day. Although she had a watch and had set it based on guessed time of day by the sun’s movements, it was off. This sun did not follow the same time pattern. The days were longer. How much she couldn’t tell yet. But it was noticeable. She was just happy she wasn’t feeling any kind of jetlag. Her body felt well-adjusted to the difference. Besides, who couldn’t use more time in the day. There was never enough.

‘A slower axis turn. I wonder if the orbit is faster or slower. Maybe get a look at a calendar if they have made one. Surely, they have. If it’s noticeably slower, then I would be even younger by their standpoint. Ugh, I was just starting to reach toward the prophetic age of eighteen, when things opened up for you more. Well twenty-one if you were from the U.S. Though I wonder if age even matters here. Back home girls got married as young as thirteen in the old days.’

She had been sitting on the edge of the bed this whole time after stretching herself out. She had been lazy with her exercise routine the past couple of days. But getting thrown into a tree might do that.

She felt… pretty damn good now. Like she had been flushed clean and her body had healed to peak condition.

‘Speaking of flushed clean…’ she got dressed and went to the water closet, Kyle had called it. How old fashioned. It was a small closet like room, with a bench style open toilet to sit on. She had used it last night and had wondered at the black emptiness inside. But was not brave enough to stick her hand in. In case it was special magic. That had made her squeal a bit in glee. Now she didn’t care. She just needed to use it!

‘Then get my stuff together and see about work or someway to get on my feet.’