“That’s gross,” Hana remarked, nose scrunched up in disgust.

“No, I’m telling you, this is super normal for us back on Earth. Raisins in yogurt is like a really nice breakfast food if you’re a middle-class white woman. Of course, they usually add nuts-”

I was promptly slapped upside the head for God knows what.

“Ow.” I rubbed the back of my head.

“Well, it looks gross to me. Anyway, raisins are a delicacy. There isn’t much land here that’s good for vineyards.”

That made sense. Most of the fruit I had seen had been weird freaky colored stuff, with shells as tough as a clam and seeds that smelled funky. I mean, it could also have just been the fact that I had never ever seen food like this before because, obviously, none of this stuff was native to Earth.

A silence settled over us as we resumed eating in the empty cafe. Neither of us had brought up what happened yesterday, preferring to keep it a distantly disturbing memory. To give voice to it, to articulate it, would be to force us to reckon with it and we were both in silent agreement that we’d rather not.

Even with that said, it appeared that Hana was too uncomfortable with silence to keep it going long enough.

“You snore at night,” she said with the energy of a child that was about to burst.

“So do you,” I retorted.

Another slap to the back of my head.

“Honestly, though, if we’re focusing on you, we need to change… that,” she gestured to me generally. I looked down at my clothes. They were pretty dirty at this point, given that I hadn’t changed them in a few days. Plus they were colors I wouldn’t have ever worn back at home. Blacks, grays, and dark greens were my comfort colors, not these sharp whites and rustic browns.

“What do you mean?” I asked, and, lamentably, triggered something absolutely demonic in Hana. A fire lit her eyes as if the world’s greatest idea had descended on her.

“Shopping.”

♠

So they didn’t have shops for clothes. Instead, the upper classes relied on tailors to design their clothes for them which, apparently, took an eternity of measurements. Hana was currently talking rapidly with the tailor that was measuring me.

“He needs subdued colors. Grays, blacks, darks. That sort of hair stands out too much,” she said.

I turned and gave her a look. “Hey, that’s-”

The tailor and Hana proceeded to slap the back of my head. I grumbled and tried to stop moving, which was actually surprisingly hard.

“I’ll order only the best fabrics from the silk traders around, Miss Hana,” the tailor said respectfully.

Hana nodded at that, pleased with herself.

After a moment, she sent me a quizzical look. “You really don’t like being the center of attention, do you? Look at you. You squirm everytime someone even looks in your general direction.”

I honestly had never noticed that but the fact that I did notice myself squirming after she pointed it out meant that it must have been true.

“You didn’t have to point it out…” I responded awkwardly, the tailor below me measuring around my crotch which only intensified the awkwardness.

“Sorry, can’t help it. You just do it too much.”

The tailor moved to my shoulders. He was a short man with an expression that made it seem like everything was irksome. Multiple pins shuffled around in his mouth but, somehow, he was able to talk effortlessly.

“You have thin arms, boy.”

I didn’t really know how to respond to that so I didn’t say anything, instead pursing my lips. Hana giggled.

“Make sure to give him extra padding then, Dijo.”

“Of course, of course,” he said with a wave of his hand. “I’m the best in the business, aren’t I?”

“Most definitely,” Hana responded with a smile.

I cut in. “Well, your plot to make me as uncomfortable as possible is working. I feel like a dressed up turkey.”

Both of them looked at me oddly, Dijo for only half a second.

“What’s a turkey?” Hana asked, looking as puzzled as ever.

Honestly, it was surprisingly hard to describe what a turkey looks like to someone if they don’t know what chickens or peacocks look like either. I eventually settled on saying that “it’s a bird certain countries eat on holidays.” Not exactly a perfect explanation but it's the best one I could do without having a book of birds next to me that described all the species here on this planet. I made a mental note to find a book on animals and plants at some point, just so I could have a reference.

“What land do you come from?” the tailor asked, looking a bit perturbed.

“Uh, you know, one of the cities close by…”

Hana rescued me. “He’s from Travsea. Just a dorky cousin of mine that’s come to visit.”

“Your father still doing well?” The tailor asked.

Hana’s body language closed up at the question but her voice made no noticeable change. “He’s fine. Pretty busy at the moment with work and all. He sends me letters about all the places he visits. He recently just went abroad to set up a new coalition with the spirit dwarves.”

“It was possible she had been in communication with him while I was at Kelia’s home but, at the same time, based on what she had told me in the past and the fact that I hadn’t seen a single piece of mail, I was inclined to believe she was fibbing for the sake of the tailor. There was a hint of sadness in it all too but it was quickly cleared up.

“Mr. Horkheimer is indeed the busiest man I’ve ever had the privilege to work for,” the tailor said, needles shifting haphazardly in his mouth as he talked.

They continued to chit chat as the tailor kept working on me. Eventually, I was released from the podium I was standing on and I, quick as a deer in danger, drew myself behind Hana, using her as a shield. Of course, she was the one to backstab me by bringing me here but currently she was my only defense against being subject to more torment.

She paid him in gold and we left. We started to make our way back to the hotel when a thought struck me. “Don’t you have a job to go to or something?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m considering applying for a research position but I’ve also been told that I would excel if I continued to work on combat magic. Potentially gain rank in the Imperial Army.” She emphasized the last words, as if thinking I would immediately understand how impressive that was.

“Were you a good student?” I asked idly while casually taking stock of all the passing pedestrians.

“I was the top illusionist in my class, rank two forty three,” she said haughtily. It brought back memories of the last time we talked about her school and how she had displayed exactly the same disposition.

“Did you have schools back on your planet?” she asked in return.

“Yeah, we did but, obviously, there wasn’t magic or anything. Instead, higher education was supposed to prepare you for work in the job market, although that sounds awfully neoliberal now that I say it outloud.”

“What’s neoliberal?”

“It’s a stage of capitalist development. You’ll get there soon enough.” Now that I was thinking about this, I hadn’t really considered what sorts of social differences there would be between our two worlds. “It’s a little weird how similar our societies are. I mean, there are important differences but still, things are almost eerily the same.”

Hana put a hand to her chin, thinking deeply on it. “It must just be human nature. Like all societies develop this way.”

I shook my head, starting at my feet as we walked, formulating my thoughts. “No, I don’t think so. There are certainly things we might generally point out as being emblematic of human nature like the need to sleep or that, generally, when humans are put in communication with each other, they will develop language but even that ends up with problems. Like some people don’t end up being able to develop language for a variety of reasons. Are they less human?”

“Damn, I didn’t know you were such a nerd.”

“I used to study this back home.”

“Ah,” she said knowingly. “That makes sense, but it doesn’t make you any less of a nerd.”

“Don’t worry, I'm definitely aware that I’m a nerd.”

We reached the hotel shortly after. Kelia was waiting outside for us, face twisted in some expression that I couldn’t piece together. She was leaning against the wall but as soon as she saw us, she made her way over to us.

“You,” She said, pointing to me. “We need to practice.”

“Practice? For what? Doing-”

“Magic. We’re going somewhere today and I need you to not be completely useless.”

“I’m not completely useless,” I protested weakly.

“Where are we going?” Hana asked.

Kelia answered both of us at once. “Yes, you are and somewhere. Come with me. We’ll practice in my room.”

Kelia spun around and started walking back to the hotel. I followed her, a little taken aback by how gruff she was being. Something was clearly upsetting her. Was it where we were going?

Hana ran up to Kelia and asked her another question. “What should I be doing?”

“See if you can upgrade the rune inscriptions for his amulet. We need the strongest illusion possible.”

Hana nodded emphatically, looking determined to help.

Kelia set off without another word and I trailed behind her, feeling rather uneasy about it all. It’s not that I didn’t trust her but that she seemed really tense and that wasn’t a particularly reassuring sign, given that she seemed to know more about the creepy stuff going on here than Hana or I did.

We trudged through the lobby and walked up the stairs until we hit our floor. Hana practically ran into her room, excited to be put to work. Kelia opened the door to her room and we walked inside. It was extremely clean, almost as if she wanted to avoid giving any indication that she was living here. The bed was made, the floor swept, and her bathroom didn’t contain anything that wasn’t provided by the hotel staff.

She immediately settled to the ground. “I suggest you join me here. There’s something I have to show you first.”