Today's Earth date: March 9, 1992

Our squires won't come to the Earth Temple with us. In fact, they won't even be in the city when we get back. They got assigned to some kind of secret mission and can't tell us where they're going.

It's starting to seem like a pattern. We get all this love and attention right up until the Temple run, then everyone disappears.

As always, Horcus has an opinion about that. He says it's typical quest structure. Once NPCs do their part to move us forward, that's it. They're gone because their purpose has been served.

Is it weird that kind of makes sense? I can't keep looking back. I'm a Hero. I need to press forward.

-The Journal of Laszlo the Paladin

"Armond," Wayne said via Voice. "Why didn't you warn me?"

"It's my day off, boss, and I figured Fergus would get a kick out of it."

"Oh, I am," Fergus added.

Sheeri stood to give Wayne a hug. She wore a thin maxi dress that was pink with white flowers. Wrapping his arms around her again gave him a deep sense of comfort that disappeared as soon as she withdrew.

"I heard I missed a good show at the arena," Sheeri said.

Wayne shrugged but couldn't think of what to say.

"And then you rescued Miss Kryss in the Cuts? How fortunate you were nearby."

"I've been trying to steal his research," Kryss admitted with a devious smile. "Seems we had the same ideas about what was worth investigating."

"It was a lucky coincidence, for sure," Wayne said, accepting a glass of something strong and brown from a butler. "It looks like you got to meet Sammy and Vanilli. I'm not sure they were ever with us when we crossed paths in Cuan."

"I have, thank you."

Sheeri seemed to avoid looking directly at Vanilli. If Vanilli could sense demons nearby, it stood to reason that Sheeri could as well, which also meant she could sense the demon material on Kryss's arm. Wayne hadn't considered how a demon in disguise might react to encountering another demon in disguise. Turns out, it's awkward as fuck.

"Have you heard the rumors?" Billium asked. "They say Laszlo the Paladin was spotted in Iomallach this morning. Can you believe that?"

"Think it's true?" Wayne asked.

"Apparently he already did some hero work in the Cuts. Seems unlikely to me that he'd come out of hiding after all this time, but who knows what motivates someone like that."

"Indeed," Fergus said. "Who can know?"

The group bantered a bit longer about Sheeri's journey to Iomallach–she arrived in Bata by boat and traveled to the interior of the continent from there–and they talked about the Salt of the Earth Festival and the legal dispute with Master Sanders. Sheeri had never met him but knew of his unsavory reputation.

When Wayne saw his glass was empty, he made a decision.

"Want to walk the gardens with me?" Wayne asked Sheeri. "There's a gazebo down the way that overlooks the Cuts."

"That sounds lovely."

Margo and Sammy tried to hide their grins behind their glasses when Wayne stood. Hector and Fergus didn't bother trying to disguise theirs.

The path to the gazebo was a series of stone pavers sunk into the dirt so the lush green grass of the garden could grow all around them. The paths were bordered by perfectly shaped hedges and grand flowering bushes. Feeling a breeze was rare, but when it did come, it brought with it the scent of a dozen different types of flowers in bloom.

"Thank you for the basilisk egg," Sheeri said. "That was thoughtful."

"I don't know anything about them, so I'm sorry if it wasn't the right type or whatever."

"It was an excellent specimen." Sheeri smiled.

"I got your letter as well. That was a nice surprise."

"Oh, that's good."

The small talk was so unbelievably forced that Wayne debated hitting Board on his system menu and hiding on the train.

"I don't mean to be awkward," Wayne said. "I am happy to see you, but I do want to talk to you about something."

"I do too. Can I go first?"

Wayne gestured for her to go ahead.

"I'm not sure how to say this, and it's not really my place, but be cautious around Kryss and Vanilli."

"Why's that?"

"I get the sense that Vanilli isn't who he says he is and that he's closer to Kryss than it looks. I'm not saying they mean you harm, but I do care about your safety and wanted to tell you."

Wayne listened to his feet gently crushing short grass while he considered his reply. "Vanilli is a demon and Kryss had an arm replaced with demon parts."

Sheeri stopped. "What did you say?"

"I know he's a demon, and I played a small part in helping Kryss. They both would very much like those things to be their secrets to share, but I don't think you would tell anyone."

The elf started walking again, catching up with Wayne. They finished the walk to the gazebo in silence. This late in the day, the mist had burned off of the canopy of the Cuts, but dark clouds moved in. The birds seemed aware of this and were more active than ever, as if they rushed to finish their errands before the rains arrived.

Looking back to see Sheeri's reaction to the view, Wayne instead found her with her head down and looking slightly pale.

"Wayne… I…"

"It's okay," he said and meant it. "And look, I know."

"You do?"

"Yes."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Sheeri thought, searching every detail of Wayne's face for more clues as to how he felt. "What now?"

"I don't know. I was upset about you hiding it from me at first, but once I thought about it… I get why you wouldn't share."

"Who else knows?"

Wayne cringed. "The way I figured it out meant that the whole party was around. I should have thought about your privacy, but that didn't come to me until after. The shock got me."

"Sammy and Vanilli too?"

"Yes."

"I wondered how he was so calm."

"How often do you run into other demons?" Wayne asked.

"Every fifty years or so."

The conversation lulled until Sheeri spoke again.

"I understand if you don't want to see me," she said.

"I was going to ask you to dinner."

"I'd like that."

"Wayne…"

"Yes, Fergus?"

"Did I just hear you come in?"

"...Yes."

Wayne heard the knob of his door twist and Fergus bounce off the deadbolt. "Why the hells is it locked?" he shouted through the door.

A moment later, Wayne cracked the door and let Fergus do the rest.

"Well?" Fergus had his hands on his hips.

"It's like three in the morning."

"You only need two hours of sleep, and these are exceptional circumstances."

Wayne slid on a pair of slippers. They were monogrammed for the Blackwell family and given to guests. Every time he felt the soft fleece on his toes he got a taste of what it was like to have an obnoxious amount of money, and it surprised him every time.

"Test train travel with me," Wayne said.

"I agree to your terms."

Wayne hit Board in his mind and went to the engine. Fergus followed and watched Wayne choose the only clickable town on their list, Mudsville. A timer appeared in the corner of Wayne's HUD, counting down from six hours. Fergus saw the same on his HUD, and they both could choose to close and open the timer again if they desired.

"Too bad it isn't instant," Wayne said, frowning.

Fergus slapped his arm. "You're riding a magic fucking train through another dimension and all you had to do was ask it nicely."

Wayne laughed. "Yeah, you're right."

They selected a cabin. Wayne sat on the edge of one bunk bottom while Fergus claimed the same on the opposite end. Fergus lay on his side and sat up on an elbow.

"Proceed," Fergus said with a grand gesture.

"Can you not prop your leg up like that? It's… aggressive."

Fergus rolled his eyes but lowered his leg.

"I don't know what you want to hear. We had dinner, stopped at a pub that had music, and I came home."

"The entire six hours distills down to a three item list?"

"There's not some wild tale to tell," Wayne said. "We went out. We had fun."

"Your enthusiasm is undeniable."

"Har har."

Fergus glared.

"Okay. She tried to warn me that Vanilli was a demon and that Kryss had demon parts, so I told her I knew. Flat out. I told her I was upset about it at first but realized I was fine with it."

"Then what?"

Wayne shrugged. "We didn't talk about it again. We talked about the auctions she attended on the Free Continent. We talked about the Cuts and the Dead Zone. We talked about where we each planned to go next when we left Iomallach. Before you ask, she's going west and is looping back to the Capital that way. That's about as opposite of Bata as you can get."

"You really didn't talk about it again?"

"Really."

"That was the only thing you absolutely had to do."

"What do you mean 'had' to?"

Fergus sighed. "That was the part that gave you weeks of anxiety. You liked everything else about her, and the likelihood that she was a demon from another world living here under a disguise with an elaborate backstory was the only thing that gave you pause."

"When I talked to her again, I decided I was fine with that," Wayne said.

"Really."

"Really. I'm another person inside of a different body, and of course she wasn't willing to risk her life being honest after one date with a guy she sold a magazine page to. So yeah, I'm fine with it."

"I don't understand," Fergus said. "Then why aren't you still with her?"

"I didn't want her to think I was only in it for her looks."

Fergus put both hands on his face. "That's what the first ninety-eight percent of the date was for!"

"It felt like the respectful thing to do."

"I knew we should have given you the +1 to intelligence potion."

"How long was I asleep?" Fergus asked, rubbing his eyes.

Wayne was still in his bunk and had a book open. "Little over two hours."

"I feel… amazing."

Wayne let the open book rest on his chest. "How amazing?"

"Like I have never slept so soundly in my life. Is that what your sleep buff feels like?"

"Yeah, that sounds right," Wayne said. He pulled up the ability description in the system:

Station Improvement, Maintenance Shop – Reduces the maintenance cost of trains that pass through its station in a fiscal period by 75%.

"Huh." Wayne nodded approvingly. "It does say the bonus applies to trains passing through its station. So now that we have access to train stations, can anyone benefit?"

"I will gladly donate sleep to science to test the hypothesis," Fergus said. "This changes my mind about living on the train permanently."

Wayne had proposed that previously only for Fergus to shoot it down immediately.

Smiling, Wayne said, "I didn't realize you had made your mind up about anything."

"A hotel accommodation or a Blackwell residency is better than a train car, and I say that with certainty as someone new to the very idea of trains."

Wayne bobbled his head. "Yeah, okay."

"Adding an extra forty-two hours to my week is ninety days a year. So much more time for living."

"Nine hours of sleep at night is your sweet spot?"

Fergus nodded vigorously. "Oh, yes. I find it far superior to eight hours of sleep."

"I can add a single cabin passenger car right now," Wayne said, holding the distant gaze of someone reading their system.

"Was it difficult to expand a train in motion on Earth?"

Wayne laughed. "They were never connected like that. They park to connect cars like reasonable people."

"Well?" Fergus swiveled and put his feet on the floor. "Let's take a look."

A few mental clicks later, Wayne chose to add the single cabin passenger car.

Like any commercial train, a narrow hallway ran along one side of the car so passengers could still walk between cars. The rest of the space was a single room cabin similar in dimensions to a single-wide trailer. The room was empty except for a single bed.

"Suppose it's up to us to decorate," Fergus said, looking around. "It's not large, but it's larger than I pictured."

"I like it."

"You have always been something of a minimalist."

"In this life, yes," Wayne replied. "I was a bit of a collector on Earth, and I had fun, but now all of that stuff is gone forever. Seems silly to do that again."

"I imagine that's a uniquely painful feeling of loss. Would make me afraid to lose it again."

"Which is silly. What are the chances I get reincarnated a third time?"

"Mourning your own death must be strange."

Wayne chuckled. "I don't think so. Plenty of people have to start over in their first lives, sometimes more than once."

"Is it truly starting over, though?"

"A war refugee loses everything. Literally. They get to safety with the clothes on their backs and end up in a completely new country. All they get to keep are their memories. The same is true for me too, but those people have it way harder and still keep going."

"Someone having it harder doesn't make it less hard for you, but I see your point." Fergus rubbed his stomach. "Before we make the trip back, can I pop into Blackwell's for some snacks?"

"I could ride back on my own if you wanted to enjoy the day."

"If you're going to put off speaking with Sheeri again, you're not going to do it alone."

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