The midday sun shone brightly over the village green in the center of Riverbend. All around, the most authentic renaissance fair Alex had ever seen bubbled with activity. On the southern edge of the clearing, older teenages danced and twirled with colorful ribbons under a large oak tree, only lightly supervised by a few stern-faced adults.

Skill games like the axe toss, wrestling, and some kind of dice game he’d been assured wasn’t all about luck attracted the bigger crowds, though the rows of pastry tables that filled the air with the smell butter and cinnamon on the center of the green had their own constant stream of attendants.

And closer by, burly men and one particularly stout woman—who Alex had been told was the undisputed champion seven years in a row—took turns downing bucket-sized cups of ale and small beer in drinking competitions, while simultaneously competing on how loud they could burp.

Through all the tumult and the noise, Alex didn’t hear Diana approaching until she stood right next to him by the peddler’s wagon.

“You look like shit,” she said after one look at his face.

“Nice of you to mention, thanks,” he snarked, crossing his arms.

Diana only raised an eyebrow at his tone, then she shrugged and turned to inspect the goods on display. On the side of the wagon facing the green, the peddler couple had arranged all their products over shelves attached to the wagon. There, small trinkets of intricately carved wood shared space with woven-grass baskets and scented oils in tiny flasks; simple clay vases rested over treated leather, and iron pots of all shapes and sizes hung from a cord running along the wagon’s length, clanging against each other when the breeze picked up. And that didn’t account for what they had inside.

Seeing that Diana wouldn’t bother him again, Alex turned inward. In reality, he could hardly blame his fellow mage for the comment. He hadn’t bothered looking into a mirror, but he could feel the swelling under his eyes, and the sense of fatigue that permeated his entire body down to his bones.

He had barely slept all night. And when he did, his dreams were filled with flashes of terror, screams, and fire. Not that it could have been any different. After going up to his bedroom, Alex had spent more than a few hours sitting on his bed going over what had happened in the common room, stewing in his own thoughts. His dreams only reflected his conclusions.

Whatever being the Second meant, it was decidedly not a good thing.

People feared the very idea of it. He’s not going to jump out of the shadows, Kavi had said. Like a boogeyman. Alex could only imagine it had some sort of religious connotation too, as being the Second implied being the second coming of the much exalted and glorified First. And nice folk like Valerian and the innkeeper clearly hated it more than they feared it.

He had thought he’d simply have to hide how his powers worked and the huge advantage they gave him until he was strong enough to reveal himself as the Second—who surely was supposed to be a celebrated figure given all he’d heard and seen about the First. But now it seemed the very thing he’d been, according to that blinking screen he woke up next to, selected to be in this world, was more curse than blessing.

I’m not even the only fucking one. Someone out there, some ‘old man’, already claimed the title of Second. And he had a whole goddamned kingdom behind him, apparently, even if people around here feared him and his name like the plague. What in the world was Alex supposed to do about that?

A creak of wood brought him back to reality. Alex looked up just in time to see the brightly dressed peddler emerge from behind the bead curtain that gave way into the inside of her car-sized, canvas-covered wagon. She was an older woman, with streaks of white running along her curly brown hair, which she kept tied messily behind her head.

“Something like this, young chaser?” She held up a long coat with both hands, a sturdy navy blue piece that had clearly seen better days, but that had been cleaned and patched enough that it looked presentable. “It’s a cheap one, but serviceable. Bought it myself from a seamstress friend. Trust her word too.”

Giving the coat a final searching glance, he nodded. “That looks about right. And I’m not a chaser, like I said.”

“Sure dear.” The woman smiled. “It’ll be six marks, if you will.”

“Six?!”

“Copper marks, Alex,” Diana said from the side. She was looking at him with a strange look on her face.

He blinked. “Oh. Uhm, yeah, of course,” he said. “Copper marks, right.” Because he totally knew the price of things. Reaching into his pocket, he fished out a single silver mark, one of the five he had with him. “Do you also have any coin purses, by any chance? A cheap one, if possible.”

The woman paused for a second, then her customer-service smile went back one. “Of course, dear. I have just the right thing.” She stepped back inside the wagon, the beads of the curtain cracking melodically against each other. “That’ll come to seven marks total,” she called from within. “Seven copper marks.”

Alex tried not to grumble at the remark.

The peddler woman came back a few seconds later with his new purse and his five copper marks of change. After paying, Alex slipped the change and the coins he had in his pocket into the purse, but he stopped before he put the long coat on.

“One more thing.” Shrugging out his black jacket, Alex held it up so the peddler could inspect it. “I suppose I won’t be needing this now, so I wonder how much you could give me for it.”

The woman frowned, squinted in a way that made her face resemble a raisin, then extended a hand. “Let me see this.” Her voice sounded less sweet now. More businesslike.

From his periphery, Alex noticed that Diana perked up—almost defensively, at the tone of the peddler.

That made him hesitate, but just for a moment, before he passed her the jacket. She wouldn’t just steal it here and now, in front of hundreds of people, and more particularly in front of two that could likely kill her in a moment’s notice.

The woman gasped when she touched the jacket. “By the first,” she whispered, running her fingers through the fabric. “Where… where did you get this?” She looked up at him with stunned eyes.

Ah fuck. Alex cursed himself for being an idiot. Of course a backwater merchant would be stupefied by feeling the materials of a modern jacket. He barely even knew what it was actually made of—some kind of polyester-nylon blend, maybe—though he knew it had also been sold to him as waterproof.

“I assume you won’t be able to get it off my hands today, then?” he asked. The woman shook her head, still half-dazed. More quickly than would be considered polite, Alex reached over and took the jacket from her.

That seemed to break her stupor, and she cleared her throat. “Urr, no, mister chaser,” she said finally. “Not if I gave you every one of my wares, and the wagon too.”

At least she’s honest.

“Well then…” The awkward silence stretched for a moment, then Alex coughed into his hand and put up his best smile. “It was a pleasure doing business with you.”

Then he just turned and walked away, back toward the bridge and the inn. The day had barely started and he already had enough of it.

Jogging to catch up to him, Diana only managed to stay silent while they weaved past a small group of villagers who were carrying an old man over their shoulders in some form of celebration, before she spoke up.

“So… how long were you out in the bush again?” she asked, eyebrows raised.

He gave her a blank look. “We didn’t get many merchants where I’m from,” he lied. “So I’m not up to date on coat prices, sorry for the inconvenience.”

“It seemed you knew enough that she wouldn’t be able to pay you for that one,” she said, pointing at his black jacket.

Alex shrugged and kept walking. “I thought the crew had a don’t ask, don’t tell policy around these things.”

“It’s just interesting, that’s all,” she said in a very fake disinterested voice. Smart as Diana was, she wouldn’t make a day as an actress. “That you come from nowhere, but your clothes are clearly expensive, even if they were dirty when I first met you in the forest. And you don’t know the price of anything, almost like you’re not used to dealing with these kinds of things. And—”

Diana paused her spiel when Alex stopped abruptly at the foot of the bridge. From this vantage point, they could see all of the village green, and the near hundred villagers as they danced and played and laughed. A few feet away from the on the banks of the river, a group of some twelve children were sitting in front of makeshift stage where three villagers were putting on a puppet show with cloth dolls, and he thought he heard on of the puppets speak about the brave warriors on both sides of the Eternal Wars.

Tuning everything out, he turned to Diana with a scowl. “Look, if you have something to say, just go ahead and do it, alright? We don’t need to play these word games. Doesn’t mean I’ll answer, though.”

She huffed. “Fine,” she said, then took a breath, as if to gather courage. “Are you some kind of runaway lordling? The son of a rich merchant? Or a noble, maybe? And… and, maybe you wanted to be a chaser but your parents wouldn’t let you, so you left with just the clothes on your back, and you’ve been wandering around without a clue of what to do or where to go?”

Stunned for a moment, Alex almost laughed out loud. Almost. He opened his mouth to refute it, then quickly closed it.

Wait, this… It wasn’t a bad cover. It was a much more convenient lie than him being from a faraway village with nothing but two shacks against a ravine.

He put up a guarded expression. “Does it matter?” Don’t disagree, but never say it out right. Plausible deniability, baby.

“Are you or are you not?” she insisted, taking a step toward him. Her blue eyes shone with fervor. “Alex!”

“Woah, back off Diana,” he said with a chill to his voice. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” He backed away until his back hit the wooden rail of the bridge, and for the first time since he arrived in this world, he pulled upon the power ready to use against another person.

Alex would hate for it to come to it, but between him and, well, anyone else, it wasn’t even a question.

He saw the moment Diana realized the way she was coming across. Her eyes widened and she paused mid-stride. “I… by the First, I’m sorry Alex. I… I didn’t mean to ambush you or anything. It’s just… it’s important,” she said, her face red with embarrassment. “It’s important to me.”

Seeing her calming down, Alex let go of the power, and the breath he had been holding. “Look, why don’t you try again and use your words this time, eh?”

“Right, right,” she said, steadying herself. “Well, you know how I want to go to Runekast, right? The Academy for Mages in Versal?”

He nodded. “I heard you mentioning before, yeah. What’s that got to do with me, though?”

Before she could answer, a loud voice called from the other side of the bridge. “Hey Alex! Diana!” They turned in tandem. On the western side of the bridge, Daven was waving his arms above his head. “Come quick! They’re about to start the Selection!” Then he ran back toward the inn.

Diana bit her lip. “We should go,” she said, eyeing her brother. “But can we talk about this later?”

Alex felt truly out of his depth at that moment. Surely being the Second wasn’t like being Santa, where you had to go around granting people’s wishes as gifts, right? Seeing that she was expecting an answer, he managed a weak, “Uh, sure, if that’s so important to you.”

She nodded, a small smile on her face, and they started after Daven and the inn. The Selection sounded interesting enough to him, as it was supposed to be a big deal in the village and the world at large, and hopefully it would distract Diana enough that she would leave this topic for another day.

And then it wouldn’t come to it at all, for Alex had decided on something else the night before. Tonight was the last night he’d paid for at the Bedstone Inn, so he had no reason to stay any longer. He would buy up a few rations and take the road south toward Holdensfor first thing in the morning.

As easy as it had been to go around with the crew, it was past time he left on his own. It was no good to create attachment with these people when he knew nothing would come of it. Sure, he’d been wrong about Cedric; Daven was good for a joke, and Diana and Valerian were both solid people. But going around pretending to be friends and all just wasn’t his thing. Soon enough, something would happen to break the crew apart. A lie uncovered, a joke taken too far. Maybe Cedric would take a higher paying job where he couldn’t take a bunch of hopefuls, or Diana would go off to that academy of hers.

It was better to cut things off on his own terms before someone else did. Besides, he didn’t want to deal with Diana’s problems. Or anyone else’s, for that matter. He had enough of his own already.

Alex nodded to himself as they approached the inn. Yes, he decided, he was better off on his own. As he’d always been.