By the suggestion of Henrietta, they went up to the hill the two had arrived in. There, they built a campfire and sat in a circle around it. "It's to build the mood," so said Henrietta. What she had in mind was the mood of a traveling bard playing for a party of adventurers, a party of mere two in this case, but a party nonetheless.

"Somehow, this is making me nervous," said Elaine, her softly trembling hands holding her father's lute close. "Like I said, I haven't played for a long time and I can't quite remember how the song goes either."

"Bah! Just make it up as you go!" Henrietta hollered. "Don't mind the details and have some fun!"

"Besides, I'm sure no one here is picky about their music," Auguste added. "Heck, I probably wouldn't know what good music is supposed to be if it hit me in the face."

"Ya see, we're just a couple of uncultured buffoons over here, so go ahead and play however yer like," Henrietta went ahead and added, earning herself a look from Auguste. She looked back, her eyes telling him to play along, a message that he somehow received and silently complied to.

"Well now, there's no need to go that far," said Elaine, smiling wryly. "You've gone through the trouble of setting everything up for me. One way or another, I'm going to give it my best shot. Let's just hope that's good enough."

"That's the spirit!" said Auguste.

"Yeah, let's just have some fun," said Henrietta, popping open a bottle of wine she found somewhere in the house. She took it without permission, but since this was but a 'dream', she figured that it'd be fine.

With some amount of nervousness in her heart, Elaine slid her fingers across the strings of the lute, trying to remember how it felt playing the instrument so long ago. Lightly, she began strumming them, trying to get the right sounds. Auguste and Henrietta watched on in silence, waiting for Elaine to get ready.

As she strummed on the strings, a smile slowly surfaced upon Elaine's face. She was slowly remembering, the good old days, the days of her learning to play the instrument from her father. As Elaine got into the mood, she began playing.

There was some truth to what Auguste had said about not knowing good music even if it hit him in the face. He couldn't be sure if Elaine's performance could be considered good or not. Some parts sounded good and some parts sounded strange. There were parts that flowed smoothly together and there were parts that sounded disruptively abrupt. Still, there was something to be enjoyed about this, even if it's just the atmosphere and mood. Just sitting around the campfire with friends, listening to music being played, and sipping down some wine, Auguste found all this very enjoyable.

"Hey, that was pretty good!" Henrietta complemented. "Maybe yer should consider becoming a bard for real."

While Auguste did not doubt her sincerity, somehow, Henrietta's words came out sounding like lip service. That being said, there appeared to be no distaste in Elaine's expression, though perhaps that was because she simply did not show it.

"Thank you but, I'm far from being good enough."

"Bah, all yer need is some more practice. Hey, here's an idea, why don't we pitch in and buy you a lute? Can't be all that expensive, right?"

"Oh no, I can't possibly accept that," said Elaine. "Besides, it'll need to be maintained regularly and it'll take up space and add to the baggage. It's simply too much trouble for such a little thing."

"It's fine, it's fine. If yer need time to do maintenance, just get Auguste to help out with yer chores. Not to mention that there's usually nothing to do around camp after dinner other than drinking. I'd like some fine music to go with my drinks from time to time, yer know."

"So in the end, it's all about yourself, huh?" Auguste voiced his contempt. "And who gave you permission to volunteer my help?"

"So what!? It's fine, right? Elaine gets something, I get something. It's a win-win."

"Hold up, I didn't get anything."

"Yer get some good music, don't you? Or are ya sayin' that Elaine's music ain't good enough for the likes of yer?"

"I did not say that!" Auguste looked towards Elaine, who was watching the two with a wry smile on her face. "I... I enjoyed it! I was having a good time!"

Auguste's denied the allegations with an anxious fervor, so much so that even his voice started cracking. It was the first time Elaine had heard Auguste sounding like this. She tried stifling it, but in the end, she could not help but burst out laughing.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, but I've never heard you sound like that before," Elaine squeezed out an apology as she tried desperately to control her laughter.

"Pffffff!!!" At the other end, Henrietta was not doing as good a job trying to hide her ridicule as her spit flew across the air in a cloud of mist. "'I enjoyed it!' he said. What the heck was that!?"

Soon Henrietta began rolling on the ground and in her uncontrollable outburst, began to run out of breath.

"Finally, I was able to enter once more!"

As they were having a good time, all but Auguste that is, a voice speaking an unfamiliar dialect could be heard from behind them. As the three collectively turned their sights towards the source of the voice, there, appearing out of thin air before them, was a cylindrical body with a rounded top.

"Oi, ain't that the Administrator!? Where have yer been?"

As Henrietta wasn't speaking the Alvan dialect, the Administrator could not understand what was said, but they could more or less make an educated guess going by the tone.

"Apologies, this space, this world had completely shut me out. I wasn't able to find my way back in till some moments ago. I still do not understand the principles, but the path has opened once more, let us return while it remains so."

"What is it saying?" Elaine asked.

"A whole bunch of mumbo-jumbo I can't understand, but I think at the last part it said that we should go," Henrietta replied, her answer less than satisfactory.

"In that case, we better hurry before we get stuck in here again," said Auguste. "Everybody ready to go?"

"No problem here," Henrietta answered before turning towards Elain. "How about you Elaine? Ready?"

"Um-hmm, I'm ready," said Elaine as she laid down her father's lute by a nearby tree and took a moment to look over the horizon, over to the ranch, to the town, to the forest. It was dark, but somehow, she could see all of it with clarity that would not be possible in the real world.

While this world did not exactly have everything she would have wanted, it was, in a sense, her ideal of the future, a tranquil future where everyone lived peacefully and happily, free of the daily dangers and worry they currently have. However, no matter how ideal, this was but a 'dream'. Auguste and Henrietta are waiting for her. She can't stay here and leave them behind.

"Let's go," said Elaine as she turned from the landscape. "Lead the way."

***

End of Chapter 82