Today's Earth date: November 13, 1991

We talked about hiking out right away, but none of us have the energy.

I didn't want to spend another minute in here, but now that we're in our bedrolls and can hear only water… It's beautiful and a little tragic at the same time. This place is so beautiful with the demons gone, but only six humans see inside every 100 years.

That's it. This could be the least traveled place I've ever visited.

Did the humans who built this know how cut off it would be? If they did, why did they put so much detail into this place that no one from this world would ever see?

Damn. I might not even get to tell my family.

This experience is so unique that it's kind of lonely.

-The Journal of Laszlo the Paladin

Fergus had learned of a number of Earth traditions and practices that confused or stunned him in his time being friends with Wayne.

Gender reveal parties in general were odd to Fergus, but he was really flummoxed when Wayne explained their connection to forest fires and a number of other highly preventable accidents. Explaining the escalation of the gender reveal shenanigans was more challenging than Wayne expected, and he regretted making Earth look that bad.

Fergus was deeply offended by the idea of breast implants. Wayne wished he hadn't raised the topic because it led to several hours of Fergus discussing the merits of every breast size. Mentioning calf implants got Fergus off track, thankfully, and he was beside himself trying to understand calf-envy.

Punxsutawney Phil was a source of much entertainment. A weather predicting rodent was oddly the easiest part to explain. The old scholar struggled when Wayne detailed the enduring tradition around the groundhog seeing his shadow and how someone was dedicated to speak on the ground hog's behalf–despite not having the power to speak ground hog.

Fergus outright refused to believe that presidential turkey pardons were a real practice.

Of all the Earth customs Wayne shared, Fergus had a clear favorite: Pre-gaming.

An hour from now, they had a dinner reservation. At some point, the evening transformed from a pleasant meal with colleagues–Wayne, Fergus, and Sheeri–into a double date. The group now included Lady Grinroot. Wayne had no idea his friend was sweet on the herbalist or that he talked to her outside of their business dealings. While Wayne was happy for Fergus, he was unhappy about the change of format for the evening.

Wayne didn't know it was a double date until the pre-gaming began, and Sheeri wouldn't know until she arrived for dinner–a gesture originally offered to her under completely different pre-tenses.

"It's only a date if you two think it is," Fergus said. "Otherwise, it's just a group dinner where the other two happen to be on a date."

"I don't think that's how she would read the situation." Or how anyone would read it, for that matter.

"You're looking at this the wrong way. She meets all of your criteria: she's intelligent, she's self-sufficient and confident, she is well read and curious by nature, she's beautiful and… I'm missing one." Fergus paused to think. "Yes! And she's older than you."

"Very funny."

"You've only ever told me about restrictions about how young a woman is. Never how much older."

"That's not what I'm arguing with you about."

"See! You agree."

Wayne sighed and tipped his glass back.

"Tell you what," Fergus began, "if this is anywhere near the disaster you say it will be, I'll sit on the sword. I'll go to Sheeri and explain that it was my doing and you had no knowledge of the evening's plans."

"Fine. But before we go…"

Wayne pulled Page of Power 26 from Goods Storage and sat down to unlock Centurion and LHX Chopper with Christmas List.

He learned the following from Centurion:

Charisma – As a leader, the general inspires his troops and increases their courage.

And from LHX Chopper:

Altimeter - This gauge displays altitude in feet.

The benefit of Charisma wasn't immediately clear, but the description seemed similar to his Morale ability from Pirates!, the kill-streak activated party buff. Altimeter was a new Display option, adding a gauge to his HUD to track altitude. That would be handy for Blitz and Brake maneuvers.

"Okay, I suppose I'm ready," Wayne said.

"Wonderful! Shall we summon Outlawson and be on our way?"

An odd question came to mind: Was Wayne sober enough to drive Outlawson to Cuan? That felt irresponsible, and the night was already filled with more risks than Wayne wanted.

"Let's get a carriage," Wayne said.

Lady Grinroot wore a tasteful black evening gown that trailed behind her just enough to make her walking look like floating, like her dress was pulled back by the wind. She had a necklace of wooden beads painted or bleached to the color of pearls and sanded shiny smooth. She was as big as Wayne remembered, but he had first seen her in work clothes, which hid her figure.

Wayne and Fergus met her at the restaurant, a surprisingly small venue with only four tables, all significantly spread apart and divided from one another with eye-level partitions. According to Fergus, all the ultra-high-end restaurants were like this, likening the experience to an evening with a private chef and an attentive server.

Theirs was the only table with more than two people seated at it, but they still had an empty chair.

Sheeri was late.

"Punctual elves are a rarity," Grinroot said. "When you have nothing but time, why hurry?"

"If she doesn't show, I'll leave you two to enjoy the night."

"Oh nonsense," Grinroot responded with Fergus' agreement. "I value your friendship as much as I value his romance. Break bread, enjoy the evening."

"Any recommendations, my Lady?" Fergus said, studying the menu.

Without looking at the menu herself, she replied, "You should try the scallops with a glass of Taluprom white."

"I'm usually not one for chardonnay, but that pairing does sound lovely, much like my companion." Fergus looked into Grinroot's eyes, and she returned the gaze.

Kill me, Wayne thought.

The server approached their table and, with a bow and a flourish, said, "I am pleased to inform you Miss Sheeri has arrived."

She entered the room in a ruby red dress, its form tighter than Grinroot's. As she allowed the server to get her chair, a small twist of her hips revealed the dress to be backless and cut low. Between her red dress, her red hair, and her elven beauty, she seemed like a living flame to Wayne, beautiful, yet untouchable.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Huh. The uncanny valley feeling wasn't there when he looked at her. That would make this night much easier.

"My apologies, I was delayed," Sheeri said, whispering a wine order to the waiter. "I was also not expecting such excellent company. It's good to see you, Lady Grinroot."

"Likewise."

"You two know each other?" Wayne asked.

"Is that so surprising?" Sheeri asked.

"I wouldn't have guessed herbalism and art dealing to overlap is all."

Grinroot smiled. "I have a weakness for sculpture, and many of Sheeri's clients have a weakness for rare flowers."

"She has an impressive art collection," Sheeri added. "And I've contributed only a few pieces."

"It has been a hobby for some time."

Fergus asked her what her favorite sculpture was, and the conversation shifted from being table-wide to being just the scholar and the herbalist playfully bantering. For a moment, Wayne was tempted to cast Hrglut on Fergus to get back at him for setting the ambush and then abandoning him to conversate on his own.

"I'm told your fighting display was dazzling," Sheeri said, happily accepting the wine that appeared on the table before her. "What a tragic day, for men and for monsters. That must have been scary."

"I was plenty scared," Wayne admitted. "Fergus is the one who figured out she was a banshee. He's really what shifted the battle."

"You seem uncomfortable talking about yourself."

Oh God, she was direct. "Probably because I am."

"Why?"

Wayne picked up his glass to buy himself time. "I don't like the attention, and I guess I was raised to believe seeking or wallowing in attention was a sign of bad character."

"Guess?"

"I never thought about it until you asked. I had to figure it out just now."

Sheeri smiled and put a hand on his knee. "I hope you don't find my attention uncomfortable."

Wayne heard his own voice in his mind say, live this life differently. Enjoy the evening without being so hard on yourself. "Not at all," he said aloud.

Fergus and Grinroot rejoined talking with the table not long after that, to Wayne's relief.

As the night wore on, they covered many topics. They talked at length about the art world and why it seemed to attract elves in particular. According to Sheeri, it was one of the rare parts of the world that had any sense of permanence to her. A true masterpiece endured across generations, and she felt comfort in that. She couldn't say what Perris' motivation was, but they had interacted enough that she believed his interest was rooted in the same feelings.

Grinroot, meanwhile, argued that she found beauty in how fleeting the life of a plant or an animal could be, like a flower that blooms only once every ten years or a moth that lives for less than a day. That brevity meant that if she got to see that flower or watch that moth, she was a part of a small, rare moment. That exact flower and that exact moth would never exist again, making her memories uniquely hers, one-of-a-kind treasures.

Fergus gaining access to the Diary of the Gods was a lengthy subject of discussion, and the old scholar loved every minute of the spotlight. Wayne was genuinely happy for him.

Until the fight with the banshee, only a few soldiers outside of Asplugha had any idea of what Wayne's party could do. Teleporting to the top of Cuan's battlements to single-handedly shift the tide of a battle made anonymity impossible. People saw the Zeroes–Fergus used that terminology in all of his conversations, hoping it would stick–and they had seen what they were capable of.

People knew the Zeroes accessed the system via Wayne, but Fergus had the foresight to be more discrete about the mechanics and rules around his connection to the system. Any time someone pressed, Fergus would insist he was saving those details for publication and change the subject.

Oddly enough, Grinroot was equally guarded about how she knew druids well enough to trade with them, and Sheeri was vague about her own origins. Despite Fergus insisting he was good with geography, Sheeri insisted right back that he had never heard of her village because it was gone long before his time and left it at that.

As dinner came to a close, Fergus and Grinroot folded their cloth napkins and invited Wayne and Sheeri to follow them to a second restaurant for dessert. Before Wayne could answer, Sheeri said, "No, thanks."

That confused Wayne. He had the feeling this night was going well, but "No thanks" felt like another door slam. Wayne became even more confused when Sheeri added, "but I don't want to waste my glass of wine. Go on ahead, enjoy your evenings."

Before Wayne knew it, he and Sheeri were alone at the table.

"He's sweet," she said.

Wayne nodded. "He has a big heart, and he isn't shy about enjoying an interest. There was one month where all he talked about was kites, for instance."

Sheeri laughed. "He's bold too. When he told me this dinner was a double date, he said it as though I should be thanking him, but in a polite way."

"You knew this was a double date?"

Sheeri said she did.

"He led me to believe you didn't know."

"Why would he do that?"

"Pushing each other into uncomfortable things is kind of a cornerstone of our friendship, but we don't miss a chance to harass each other either. He'll talk about how funny this night was for weeks."

The elf's hand returned to Wayne's knee. "I'm glad this happened. Care for a walk on the beach? I wouldn't mind our conversation continuing."

That hint was obvious enough for Wayne. He learned that Fergus had already settled the bill, so Wayne left arm in arm with Sheeri.

The night sky in this world always looked like a view of a distant galaxy, the kind of image people on Earth put on posters and in science books but never saw with their own eyes. He always heard stars had similar beauty when seen from Earth, but he never got far enough from light pollution to see them that way.

"Are you settling in Cuan?" Sheeri asked, a warm sea breeze rippling her dress.

Wayne shook his head. "We haven't decided when, but eventually we'll go inland to Iomallach. That's where the Chosen Heroes went next. Have you been there before?"

"I have. The Cuts are quite a sight."

The Forest of 10,000 Cuts was its full name, but all of the locals shortened the name to the Cuts.

Iomallach, Wayne read, was in a deep and vast valley that was once ocean, though that was well before the recorded history that scholars studied. In addition to fossils of aquatic creatures and an abandoned dwarven lighthouse, the region had a countless number of coral trees mixed into its rainforest.

Wayne had trouble grasping the coral part at first. Fergus had to explain it was literal coral, like the kind in the ocean but on land and as tall as oak trees. The coral colonies in the Iomallach valley adapted to what was believed to be a sudden draining of the ocean, drawing water from the humid air instead of needing to be submerged. The result was a landscape of thick green that had pops of purple and yellow and blue or the bone white skeleton of a coral corpse.

Bushwacking through a jungle with coral hidden beneath its overgrowth was especially dangerous. A bad step could drop someone face first into the razor edge of an above-ground colony.

The Earth Temple wasn't near Iomallach in any sense of convenience, but Iomallach was the closest city, so the Heroes spent a good bit of time there.

"What are the people like?" Wayne asked.

"Pretty insular, so you won't see the variety of foods and culture there like you do here in Cuan. A city like this is built around people coming in from the outside where Iomallach looks inward. I think you'll like it, but only if you're open to seeing things their way while you're there."

"Can you give me an example?"

Sheeri thought. "In Cuan, an exciting event will be the arrival of a notable bard. They'll be the talk of the town, leave, and another arrives not long after. In Iomallach, the talk of the town would be the next wrestling match or some other such sport."

Wayne knew Sheeri meant wrestling as in singlets and headgear, not the wrestling with pyrotechnics and pay-per-views, but he thought of the latter first. Picturing a grudge match in a fantasy town was a funny image, though.

"The Heroes spent a lot of time drinking mead and going on hunts when they were there," Wayne said.

"Plenty of that to be had. Finding an art gallery, however, is a challenge."

"How about you?" Wayne asked. "Are you in Cuan for long?"

"I'll be going back to Teagaisg for business, and then to the Capital. I'm always traveling between those three cities, it seems."

"Do you get lonely?"

"Yes, but I've embraced it. This world is built for humans, not elves. When it felt like all I was doing was going to funerals, I knew I needed a change. Traveling keeps things fun but temporary."

"That sounds really hard," Wayne said.

"All great art is lonely," Sheeri said. "The most valuable paintings get their own walls or even their own rooms. I don't mean to say I am a masterpiece, but I am a rare oddity."

"I think you're a masterpiece." In his mind, Wayne kicked himself in the balls for being so lame. He couldn't believe he just said that.

Sheeri smiled with moonlight dancing in her eyes. "You're sweet." She stopped walking. "Thank you for walking me home."

"I'm sorry?"

"This is me." Sheeri pointed to one of the fancy seaside condos Wayne had ogled on earlier walks through the city. Her home had a spacious second floor deck with potted hedges bordering each side for privacy.

"I had a wonderful night," Wayne said.

"Had? I'm enjoying your company as well. Would you like to come inside and talk a bit longer?"

"Yes."

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