(Continued from part 1)

The next day, I tried to tell myself that all I’d needed was to sleep it off.

Felda’s voice woke me up again, and though I didn’t feel groggy or tired like I’d lost a whole hour of sleep to wandering the docks, the memories of the night before were still there to greet me as I sat up in bed. The shame, the anxiety, the confusion, all rushing back into the forefront of my mind while Felda spoke softly above me.

“Are you sure I can’t convince you to skip today’s lesson?” Felda asked, while I changed into a fresh set of clothes. Damn, I wondered when Dani would have the first of my custom clothes ready, I was already tired of the not-quite-right feel of the cheap clothes I’d bought yesterday.

“I can’t,” I said, sighing while I worked my tail through the hole in the back of my pants. “If I skip today, then I’ll find it harder to get back into it tomorrow, and even harder the day after that.”

Felda capitulated at that, but I kind of got the feeling that she would wind up being right in the end anyway. I felt like utter crap, and not even a heaping plate of eggs with lobster, a side of bacon, and a cup of coffee could do anything to change that.

While I sat and poked at my food, Felda pulled Bart aside, and I don’t remember if she even offered an excuse. I simply swiveled my ears and strained my hearing while they whispered inside the kitchen.

“Try to be delicate with her today, please,” Felda said, which had me wrinkling my nose. I didn’t know which part I hated more, that she thought I needed that or that I thought she might be right.

“Why? What happened?” Bart asked, quick to pick up that this was not just Felda asking out of her usual concern.

“I still don’t know for sure,” Felda said, and I heard her rubbing her hand against her forehead. “After she came home from shopping with the girls, Mel gave me a brush, said Sam wanted to buy it but seemed scared to. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but later I offered to brush her hair for her before bed.”

I stabbed my fork through a strip of bacon and folded it over, cramming it into my mouth and chewing, in hopes that the sound of crunching would block out the conversation.

“It started out fine, she seemed a little tense but I thought it was just her usual skittishness, but then her breathing got heavy. Before I could ask what was wrong, she just… collapsed in on herself and started sobbing like I’d never seen before. It was some kind of attack; I wasn’t sure at the time but I’m certain of it now.”

“You don’t mean…”

“Not like yours, no. I don’t think that poor girl has ever seen a battlefield, thank all the gods that are and ever were, but something set her off, something about her hair. She wouldn’t stop clutching at it, and I was worried she would…”

This… was not helping me feel better. Quite the contrary, even. It wasn’t like it was even Bart or Felda’s fault, they didn’t know they needed to go even further away whenever they wanted to discuss my issues, and I couldn’t just tell them now, not without making everything a thousand times worse. I dropped my fork onto my plate, only half eaten, and slid off my stool and made my way to the door, where mine and Bart’s fishing gear waited. Slinging the case with my rod over my shoulder, I wrenched the door open and stepped out into the cold, pre-dawn gloom of the docks.

Bart didn’t say anything when he eventually stepped out to join me, loaded down with the rest of the gear. He didn’t say anything as we made our way to the bait shop, where I waited outside rather than go in. He didn’t say anything when he handed off the bait bucket to me and we continued on our way.

It took until we were more than halfway through the hike out to the river before Bart did finally speak.

“Sam,” he began, clearing his throat. I didn’t turn my head to look at him. “I think we’re going to take it easy today. No new techniques just yet, you just practice what we went over yesterday, and catch whatever you can.”

“Fine,” I said flatly. It wasn’t like I could argue against that, I doubted I had the brain capacity to absorb a bunch of new facts about knots and bait and different types of fish at the moment.

Silence followed us the rest of the way to the pond beside the tree. Once there, I unslung my rod and removed it from its case, and bent down over the bait bucket. Lifting the lid, I saw the minnows inside, swimming in circles. It might have been my imagination, but were there… more of them in there today than yesterday?

I glanced at Bart, who was once again filling the icebox with ice through the use of a magic spell. Was this his way of trying to make me feel better, buying extra minnows so I could snack on them?

On any other day I might have been touched, but today I just felt sorry that he’d wasted more money on me. I fished out a minnow and held it up to the hook in front of me, and had to actually focus on my hands in order to stop them from trembling long enough to feed the minnow onto the hook. Finally, I stood up and approached the edge of the pond. The cast I made was lazy and off target, but I still got it in the water. Bart offered me the ice chest to sit on, and I did so with a mumbled “Thanks.”

For the next hour, I succeeded only in frustrating myself further and putting in the worst fishing performance anyone ever had. My casts were all over the place, and my attention was shot. I’d often only notice I was in the middle of a bite when Bart pointed it out, and no matter what I tried I could not get my hook to set. At some point, I just fell into the pattern of casting, then zoning out while staring at the slowly brightening sky, until I eventually reeled in an empty hook, then just grabbed another minnow to start the process over again.

“You know, if you just want to feed the local fish population, there are easier ways to go about it,” Bart eventually said, while I struggled to properly bait my book for maybe the tenth time. I glanced sidelong at him, and he cleared his throat. “Ahem, sorry, I thought a joke might help. You… like jokes, I’ve noticed.”

I snorted at that, then sighed, tossing the minnow I’d been ineffectually poking back into the bucket. Was that the best he had? I liked jokes? He was like my grandpa on my mom's side, who thought I still liked trains because I’d said it once when I was seven, and only ever got me train gifts for my birthday.

No, no, no he’s not, that’s not fair, I chided myself. He’s trying his best, damnit.

“Nah, I’m sorry,” I said, resting my rod across my lap. “I’m just… in a bad mood today. Probably should have listened to Felda.”

“Perhaps.”

“Did she tell you what happened last night?” I asked, knowing full well the answer.

“She did,” Bart said, letting out a gruff, rumbling sigh from deep in his chest, and settling onto the ground beside me. Even perched on the icebox, our heads were about level.

“I can understand, perhaps better than she can, why you might not want to talk about it, especially to me,” Bart said after taking a moment to collect his thoughts. “I know there's probably little overlap with… what you've been through and my own experiences, but… sometimes just talking can help. And I urge you to trust me when I tell you that closing yourself off will definitely not help.”

“Mmh,” I grunted, noncommittally. Was that what I was doing?

“You’re right,” I said, reaching down beside me into the bait bucket and snatching up another minnow. I stared at it wriggling between my fingers for a moment, contemplating, before tossing it into my mouth. “I don’t really want to talk about it with you,” I said as I chewed, sighing through my nose. “What happened last night was as much of a surprise to me as it was to Felda, but I’m not stupid. I know I can’t just make this go away by moping around by myself.”

It was kind of funny, in a way. Learning that I could probably use a visit or two to a therapist only after landing myself in a magical fantasy world where I doubted they had anything like a robust mental health care system. Then again, I’d been wrong before.

“It’s just been… a very long and confusing two days, Bart,” I said, reaching into the bucket again. This time, I reached for the end of my rod, guiding the hook towards me and slowly, clumsily, baiting it with the minnow. “I’d love it if I could just sit out here and fish and fish and fish until I feel better but I doubt that’d work, so…” I stood up, making an actual effort to raise my arms and take aim, keeping my elbows straight like Bart had taught me. I wound up and let fly, and my hook landed more or less where I’d wanted it to.

“So, I’ll try talking about it,” I finished, easing myself back onto the ice chest. I still didn’t feel like standing in place at the moment but, hey, progress.

“Not now, though, not to you,” I said over my shoulder, smirking. “No offense, really, but it’s… embarrassing and complicated, and I’d rather not have the walk back to the village be even more awkward. I made plans to visit Elle and Mel today, so, I’ll try talking to them, if they’re okay with me offloading like that.”

Bart chuckled, giving me a tight lipped smile. “None taken, I understand. I’m just your crusty old fishing mentor.” I snorted and snickered, bringing a free hand to my mouth. “I have a feeling those two will be more than okay with that, and I’m sure it’ll do you some good.”

I nodded, and did my best to focus on only fishing for the rest of the morning. In the end, I only managed to pull in five yellow perch, one of which I had to throw back for being too small, before my troubled night’s sleep and my half-finished breakfast began to catch up with me. Though I snacked on minnows, I eventually became too hungry, tired, and grumpy to focus any longer, and Bart and I decided to call the outing early.

The silence that accompanied us back to the village was comfortable, rather than awkward. It gave me time to think, and also time to doubt. I had said I would try talking things out with Elle and Mel later, but where the hell was I even going to start? Trying to describe any one of my problems would require explaining even more, and I wound myself around in circles trying to decide which bombshell to drop first before eventually deciding to forget about it until I was there in front of them, and then just wing it.

Back at the tavern, Felda once again bought my catch, paying for three of the fish and taking the fourth to cook up right away, gently admonishing me for not finishing my breakfast in the first place. She cooked the perch fast and simple, frying it in a pan and serving it with lemon and butter. As crummy as I was feeling, I couldn’t stay mad while eating fish. Afterwards, just as expected, I was nearly dead on my feet. I mumbled my goodbyes to Bart and Felda and trudged back up to the bedroom, kicking off my sandals and flopping face first into Felda’s bed.

■

When I awoke, I felt rested, refreshed and… still pretty crummy. But at least I wouldn’t be having trouble keeping my eyes open.

Sitting up on the bed, I jolted slightly when I realized I wasn’t alone. Felda was seated at her desk across the room, and looked over at the sound of my movement.

“Welcome back, Sam,” she said, smiling.

“Tha—anks,” I yawned. Scooting off the bed, I slipped my sandals back on.

“Heading out now?” Felda asked, turning back to the book she had laid out in front of her.

“Uh huh,” I said, standing up and moving around the room, collecting my satchel and checking myself in the mirror. The image I presented was not the best, and I noticed with some displeasure that my hair already looked like it could stand to be brushed out again. That would be… a problem for later.

Before I left, I made one last stop. Crossing the room, I stepped up beside Felda, and she turned in her seat to smile at me. I didn’t have to say what I wanted, and Felda didn’t offer anything either, just looped one arm around my shoulders and squeezed, patting the back of my head.

Then, I was off.

“Okay, let’s see if I can find this place,” I said as I fished out the scrap of paper that Elle had written her directions on. I passed by the row of bakeries, lingering for only a moment to stare at one wooden sign that resembled a rabbit’s head. I reached the corner where the public toilets were, then turned and headed “up,” the direction I was choosing to think of as north, until I found, and crossed, the bustling main road that curved through the center of the village. I continued until I spotted the trees that marked the park where the three of us had taken a break the day before, and turned left.

As promised, I found the residential district pretty easily. After passing another short stretch of shops and businesses, I found myself staring at a winding, curving street that was flanked on both sides by a series of separate square plots, enclosed by short, ivy covered stone walls, with a little arched gateway leading into each one from which hung a little wooden sign with a number on it. Peeking through the archways as I passed, I saw each plot had a spacious, open courtyard with a circular garden in the center, and four squat, rectangular, flat roofed buildings, two on either side of the arch and two side by side opposite it. Each home was similar but slightly different from the next, but all had a wide wrap around porch with an awning to provide shade. I could see people as I passed, mostly children, but some elderly folks as well, sitting on their porches or tending to the garden in the center. A few that noticed me passing stopped to wave.

“Huh…” I said, stopping and leaning against one of the outer walls to mentally catch my breath. This was not what I had been expecting. These homes looked nice, this whole area reminded me of when my family would go down to Florida to visit my mother’s parents in their little condo communities, except here people actually seemed to get along with their neighbors. And it wasn’t just limited to the people who shared a court, I noticed, as a woman who just left one of the plots passed me by with two children in tow, carrying a small basket in her arm which was giving off the unmistakable aroma of an apple pie, destined for another court a few streets ahead.

It was so utterly… heartwarming, and the sight of such a quaint and close-knit community should have been a good thing, but at the moment, it just made me feel worse, and I couldn’t even put my finger on why.

“Uuuuugh…” I groaned, pressing my face into my hands. I just wanted to go home, I couldn’t show up at Elle and Mel’s cute little bungalow like this, all moody and grouchy. I hated to lose my nerve ten steps from my destination, but it was for the best. Standing up, I turned back towards the way I’d come.

And walked face first into Mel.

“Woah!” Mel said, stumbling back, one hand outstretched towards me, catching me by the arm before I could fall. “Hey, Sam, I thought that was you.”

“H-hey,” I said, clutching my chest and trying to settle my nerves.

“You alright?” Mel smiled, and pulled me back upright, using her one hand to gently brush me off. Her other hand was cradling a tan burlap sack, containing what I assumed were groceries.

“Yeah, I’m… fine,” I said, meeting her deep purple eyes for a moment before looking away.

“You’re a little bit earlier than we expected, but I know Elle’s going to be thrilled, c’mon,” Mel said, motioning with her hand for me to follow.

I sighed, ran a hand through my hair, and followed.

Stepping through the archway with the little number three hanging over it, I saw that it was similar to the other two I’d passed. Four wide, single-story houses surrounding an open communal space, this one filled to bursting with flower and berry bushes, and wooden benches like those in the park. The houses were numbered, one through four, and Mel led me to the first house to the right of the arch, house number four. A few of their neighbors were out and about, and I made a weak attempt to return their waves.

Stepping onto the porch, I found more flowers in dozens of scattered pots, as well as a few sets of wooden chairs and tables, and even a little wind chime made from thin dried stalks of what looked like bamboo.

Ugh, it’s so… perfect!

“C’mon in,” Mel said, opening the door and ushering me inside. Just inside the doorway was a little sunken area before the house proper, with a squat little bench up against one wall, which Mel dropped down onto and began unlacing her boots. “You can just tuck your sandals under the bench here.”

“Oh, okay,” I said, settling down beside her and kicking off my sandals. I slid them under the bench then stepped up onto the wooden floor of the entry hallway while Mel finished.

“Mel? Is that you—ah!”

Elle’s head appeared around one of the open doorways, and she gasped when she spotted me, stepping out to greet me with a suffocating hug.

“Hey, Sammie, you’re early!” Elle laughed, stepping back, both hands still on my shoulders. “Thank you so much for coming, this is going to be so… uh, what’s wrong?”

“What?” I asked, then winced as I noticed where her eyes were fixed. On my ears, which stubbornly refused to stand upright unless I focused on them. I scratched at one and forced them back into position, but I knew it wouldn’t hold. There went my plan to just pretend everything was fine until I was ready to talk about it. “Well, I… I’m not exactly feeling great today.”

“Oh no, what happened?!” Elle asked, suddenly overcome with concern, but Mel appeared at her side, patting one of her shoulders.

“Whatever it is, it can wait until Sam gets a chance to sit down at least, hmm?” Mel said, and Elle’s cheeks flushed green. She nodded and released my shoulders, clasping her hands together in front of her instead.

“R-right, sorry Sammie,” Elle said, turning and nodding through the door opposite the one she’d come through. “The sitting room is just through there. I’ll, uh, get us some snacks.”

Elle disappeared back into what I assumed to be the kitchen, and Mel threw me a nod and an amused smirk before following after her. I turned and headed through the other doorway, finding myself in a brightly lit living room, the sun pouring in through a large square skylight. There were three soft-looking armchairs against one wall and a couch against another, with a little knee high coffee table in front of it. One wall was taken up by a fireplace, complete with a mantle that held a row of books and a few odd trinkets. There were also even more potted plants, resting on shelves or, in the case of one especially large bush with long, trailing tendrils, hanging suspended from the ceiling by a large hook and a series of ropes.

I took a deep breath through my nose, and the scent of an entire florist’s shop greeted me.

It was all so bright and cheery, exactly the kind of place I expected Elle to live, and it clashed terribly with my sour mood. Sighing, I dropped onto the couch, sliding halfway off of it and resting an arm across my face. I was aware of Elle and Mel talking across the hall in the kitchen, but with my ears flattened and pressed down against the couch cushions with the rest of me, I thankfully couldn’t make any of it out.

Eventually, I heard the pair approaching from the hall and quickly sat upright.

“Here we are,” Elle said, entering with a wide tray held between both hands. “I, uh, I know I promised lunch, but, with what you said, I figured you might not have much of an appetite so—”

“She made a platter,” Mel interrupted, placing a hand on Elle’s back and urging her to actually finish entering the room, since she’d stopped to give her explanation. Elle approached, setting the tray down, and I saw she had arranged quite an impressive looking spread. There were three different kinds of cheeses, all sliced into little cubes, a small pile of olives, a mixed assortment of berries and several thin slices of some kind of cured meat, what looked like half of an entire loaf of bread and, finally, sitting in the center of it all, a pile of pearlescent pink strips of… something. Whatever it was, it was giving off a smoky, unmistakably fishy scent that had caught my attention immediately, so much so that the other snacks seemed more like afterthoughts.

“What is that?” I asked, pointing.

Elle seemed almost embarrassed as she answered, fidgeting with her hands again. “Smoked… shellback salmon,” she said, like she was admitting a shameful secret, biting her lip and averting her eyes.

“That sounds… expensive,” I said, furrowing my brow.

Mel snorted, setting down her own tray, which held three glasses of the ubiquitous lemonade everyone in this village seemed to love. “Oh, it was, shellback salmon is a Torgard specialty. I tried to tell her it was too much, but, y’know, after she heard about—”

“Shh!” Elle forcibly shushed Mel, pressing a hand to her mouth, then continuing, with her voice taking on that curious effect as she, apparently, switched to Elven. “I told you, not now, not when she’s so upset!”

Mel rolled her eyes, reaching up and gently prying Elle’s hand from her face.

“Alright, alright, but I still think you should get it over with sooner rather than later,” Mel said, in the same tone, then glanced my way and smiled casually. “Sorry, she’s just a little embarrassed about how much she spent.”

“It’s… fine,” I said, shrugging. Maybe I should move that up the list of things I needed to tell people, but how do you even explain that you can just magically understand other languages?

With their momentary disruption out of the way, Elle and Mel rounded the coffee table and settled onto the couch with me, one on either side like on the bench, when they’d taken turns petting my head.

Maybe you should beg them to do it again, huh?

I suppressed a wince as the voice that wasn’t quite mine but wasn’t quite my father’s berated me like it had the night before. I shook my head and clenched my jaw. I was not going to have another episode here.

“We should… probably eat first,” I said, glancing to either side of me.

“Go right ahead,” Mel said, motioning at the tray with her hand. “You’re the guest here.”

“Right, right,” I said, leaning forward and, of course, reaching out to peel one of the thin strips of salmon from the pile. It was soft, and oily, and I couldn’t help but glance at Elle as I lifted it towards my mouth. She was watching me intently, up until she realized I was watching her back, at which point she flushed green again and turned away.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d suspect they were trying to poison me or something.

Shrugging, I tossed the salmon into my mouth. As soon as it landed on my tongue, I felt my eyes go wide and my jaw go so slack it was almost difficult to chew, not that the tender, silky flesh needed much chewing. If I thought the smell was enticing, the flavor was unlike any of the other dishes I’d sampled since coming to this world, even Felda’s best. It was salty, smoky, and melted in my mouth, and even after I swallowed I could still taste it, lingering on my tongue like a delicious ghost. My tastebuds tingled like they’d been electrified, and somehow, despite the objectively awful, terrible time I’d been having since last night, I felt peace wash over me for a few fleeting moments.

“It’s… really good…” I finally managed to say, pressing the back of my hand to my mouth and squeezing my eyes shut. “It’s really fuckin’ good, holy shit…”

To my right, Mel snorted into one of her hands, patting my back with the other.

“I-I’m glad you like it!” Elle gasped, sounding like she’d been holding her breath while waiting for my verdict.

“I do,” I said, leaning back into the couch and staring up at the ceiling. “I really do, but you two need to eat some too, because if you don’t, I’m about to eat all of it and then I’ll feel like total shit.”

Elle giggled, leaning forward to snag a strip for herself, Mel following suit. I heard them both let out appreciative groans as they savored the treat, then felt Elle nudge me with her elbow. I tilted my head and found Elle holding another strip of salmon between her fingers.

“Say ‘ahh,’ Sammie,” she said, smiling mischievously.

“Seriously?” I asked, arching an eyebrow. “Did you forget I’m not an actual cat?”

“O-of course not!” Elle said, frowning and pulling back slightly. “I just… thought it would be cute!”

“Well…” I sighed. “You’re not wrong.”

I couldn’t say no to Elle’s hopeful expression, so, I leaned forward and opened my mouth, hoping that my cheeks weren’t as red as they felt. Elle beamed and gently lowered the strip of smoked salmon in, and I snapped my mouth shut and let out a satisfied “Mmmhm…” of my own.

“Hey, mind if I have a turn?” Mel asked while I was still savoring the aftertaste of another mouthful of heaven. I assumed she meant for Elle to do the same thing to her, but instead I found her holding another strip of salmon and giving me a sly grin.

“I have hands, you know!” I protested, even though I knew I didn’t mean it. By now, I was sure that I was blushing furiously, but that didn’t stop Mel from depositing the salmon into my mouth when I opened it.

“Okay!” I mumbled, pressing a hand to my mouth again while I chewed and swallowed. “That’s the last one, seriously, you’re both… ridiculous!”

Elle and Mel burst out laughing at that, and, I was surprised to find that I could laugh along with them, easily. I had been waiting, dreading, for the bad mood I’d arrived with to come crashing back, but it felt like it was being held at bay.

Over the course of the next half hour or so, me and Elle and Mel worked our way through the tray, sampling everything in turns, and I found as many ways as I could to mix and match the various fruits, meats, and cheeses with strips of salmon and bits torn from the loaf of bread. There was little conversation, nothing lengthy or in depth, just comfortable quiet and the occasional comment about how good the snacks were. I was sorry when we finally polished the platter clean, sinking into the back of the couch again and letting out a long, satisfied sigh.

“Thank you,” I said, rolling my head to the side and giving Elle a small smile. “I really needed this, I think.”

“Good!” Elle said cheerfully, looking as satisfied as I felt. “And I’m glad you’re feeling better! A-and you’re welcome to stop by again anytime you want!”

Ah, sure enough. My ears no longer felt like they were in danger of drooping. Coming here really had done the trick, and I hadn’t even had to talk about what happened yet. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to now, with how much better I was feeling. Did I really want to bring everyone down again, myself most of all? I still didn’t even know what the heck to tell them!

“Hey.”

Mel’s voice pulled me back out of my thoughts and I turned to face her. She nudged me with her shoulder. “Got a lot on your mind still, huh?”

“You have no idea,” I said, sighing and bringing a hand to my forehead.

“Tell me about it,” Mel said, then chuckled lightly. “I mean that, actually. Elle and I didn’t just invite you over for lunch and pleasantries. I know there’s gona be some stuff you can’t, or won’t, or don’t want to talk about, but anything you do feel comfortable telling us, we’ll listen to.” Her smile grew a little wider, the half of it I could see past her long dark hair anyway. “That’s what friends are for, right?”

On my opposite side, I felt Elle shift in her seat, and when I looked I found her pressing a hand against her face. I wasn’t sure what exactly that was about, but it seemed like she’d told Mel about what I’d said last night. I didn’t blame her, it was a pretty cheesy line. And to think I thought I could get away with calling Duke sappy when I was going around saying stuff like that.

Still, despite all her smirking, Mel sounded pretty serious, and of the two she was the one I trusted the most to be serious.

“I… appreciate you saying that, really,” I said, finally digging myself out of the couch cushions and sitting forward. “It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just that it’s a lot, what I’m dealing with. It’s not just one thing, but several, and they’re all so confusing and interconnected and I’m worried you won’t even believe half of it if I tell you the whole story, not to mention…” I stalled, realizing I was already picking up steam without even intending to. If I was going to do this, I couldn’t be sandwiched between them. Pushing myself to my feet, I rounded the coffee table and stood before them, clearing my throat and continuing. “Not to mention, when you learn the truth, you… might not want to be my friend anymore. I wouldn’t blame you.”

“Oh, gods…” I heard Elle mutter in elvish, her face stricken with worry while Mel’s remained neutral.

“I think you should give us, and yourself, a little more credit,” Mel said, leaning across the gap that I’d left and placing one of her hands on top of Elle’s. “We’ve only heard rumors about how bad things have gotten in high society, of course, but—”

“I’m not from high society,” I blurted out, causing Mel to stop in her tracks and look at me curiously. “Everyone’s been saying that since I got here, and I’ve just been going along with it because it’s easier than… than explaining the actual truth.”

“Oh…” Elle said, blinking, seeming taken aback. “But I thought… well, where are you from then?”

I sighed, crossing my arms and starting to pace in front of the table. The more I thought about it, there really was no good way to talk about any of my problems without first going to the very tip top and telling them who and what I really was. Mel seemed confident that she and Elle could handle anything I threw at them, and I guessed it was time to put that to the test.

“What would you say if I told you I was… not from this world at all?”

I was studying both of their faces carefully as I spoke, but neither of them gave me the reaction I'd been expecting. Instead of abject shock, they both exchanged simple, confused glances with each other.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Are you… trying to say you're an Outsider?” Mel asked, far too calmly for what should be a world-shattering revelation.

I froze in the middle of my pacing, looking from Mel to Elle and back again before asking, “A what?”

“An Outsider,” Mel repeated, raising an eyebrow.

“You have a word for it?” I spat out, staring intensely, suddenly feeling like I was the most confused one in the room. “You mean this is a thing? This has happened before? To other people?”

“Well… maybe?” Elle said timidly, holding a palm out. “It's not something you'll just hear people talking about every day, but if you go digging deep enough through the histories, you'll find a lot of influential figures who either made the claim themselves, or their friends did, after they died.”

I was stunned. I felt like the room was spinning around me, and it was all I could do to stumble backwards into one of the softly padded armchairs, holding my head in my hands.

I'd been agonizing over how exactly I would go about trying to explain my situation to anyone, and whether or not anyone would believe me, and here I was instead learning that I'd become living proof of some kind of recurring ancient myth of this world. The latest in a long line of people who, presumably, fell ass first into this fantasy world and…

“Wait,” I said, jerking my head upright suddenly. “You said ‘after they died?’ Aren't there any stories about these people, these ‘Outsiders’ finding a way back?”

“I… I don't know?” Elle said, frowning and fidgeting on her end of the couch, visibly squeezing the hand that Mel had offered her like a stress ball. “So, are you… is that really what you're saying happened to you? You're an Outsider?”

“Yeah, I am…” I said, sighing and slumping back into the chair, massaging my forehead. “I came from a planet called Earth, and I can’t even begin to explain all the ways it's different from this place. There’s no magic, for one, and there’s no elves or dwarves or weird cat people, just humans. I can’t really prove any of this of course, so, I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t believe—”

“I do,” Mel said, straight away, and looked at her, incredulous, but she just shrugged and glanced over at Elle. “I can’t speak for Elle, I haven't read as much as she has, but the way I see it, that would be such a wildly stupid thing to try and lie about, and I can’t imagine what you’d stand to gain from it. Plus, it would explain why you’re so, y’know… strange, no offense. A lot of it I just wrote off as you being a sheltered catkin stepping out of high society for the first time, but you didn’t even know what elves were when you met me and Elle. Even if you were born up there and never left, there’s no way that’s possible.”

“I-I-I believe you too!” Elle piped up, leaning forward in her seat. “I’m just… really surprised, that is not at all like what I was expecting you to say.”

“What were you expecting me to say?” I asked, curious and glad for the distraction. “It’s actually been driving me a little crazy, wondering what you and everybody else must think my actual circumstances are while not being able to say anything.”

“O-oh, well, nothing in particular, really…” Elle stammered, shrinking back slightly, but Mel grinned, leaning over and throwing an arm around her shoulder.

“She thought you were going to say you killed your adopted noble family and fled down here to go into hiding,” Mel said, and Elle’s cheeks first went completely pale, then flushed so green they nearly matched her hair.

“S-shut up! I never said that!” Elle protested, swatting at Mel’s shoulder while I just stared and blinked at the two of them.

“You what?” I asked, dumbfounded. This was supposed to be a serious conversation, but it had gone so far off the rails already.

Elle groaned, briefly dropping her face into her hands, mumbling through them.

“Well, I mean… you seemed so sad and broody all the time, and then yesterday, when I asked if your family would be able to find you if you used your real name, and the way you said ‘nobody’s looking for me…’” Elle explained, apparently unable to look me in the eye as she did so. “I didn’t think you’d killed all of them, exactly, but I was pretty sure you did something to ensure you wouldn’t be followed, but now this, I…”

She trailed off, and I took a moment to just unpack all that. For some reason, Mel seemed unable to stop grinning, but I’d given up on understanding what made her tick.

“Wow,” I said, shaking my head. “That’s so… But, I’m like, five foot nothing, how would I even… Wait a minute! You thought I was maybe a murderer, and you still invited me to your home?”

Mel broke into a fit of muffled giggles at that while Elle just tried to sink deeper into the couch. I waited for either of them to provide me with an actual answer, but Mel just shook her head.

“Hey, don’t look at me, this was her plan,” Mel said, and I furrowed my brow.

Plan? What plan? Did Elle have some kind of ulterior motives for inviting me over? Well, whatever her plan had been, I’d clearly thrown it well off track now, so that made two of us. She didn’t seem willing to clarify, so I just sighed and stood back up.

That was one major issue out in the open, but I was just getting started.

“Well, fine, you took that better than expected, but like I said, there’s more. I told you there’s only humans back where I came from, and, up until I woke up here two… no, three days ago now, I was a human.”

“Well, yeah, I did kinda figure that,” Mel said, smirking. Elle had also managed to uncurl from her ball of shame and was looking at me curiously, bringing a finger to her lips and tapping them.

“So, you were… changed into a catkin when you arrived?” Elle asked, staring at me intently.

“Yup,” I said, reaching up and running a hand through my hair. “Not just that, I look… way different than I used to. My hair was brown, and I was a lot taller before I came here, like, almost as tall as Bart.”

“Wow,” Mel said, tilting her head as she eyed me. “A world where there’s only humans I can believe, but I can’t even imagine you as tall.”

I chose to ignore that.

“Huh…” Elle muttered thoughtfully. “There was… something I remember reading about that. A personal account from a priest of The Goddess of Reap and Sow, claiming to have spoken to an Outsider. He was a birdkin, a famous explorer who tracked down a ton of previously unencountered islands. He said something like… in his old life, he was always sickly growing up, and then as an adult he was stuck indoors for most of his life, so coming here and suddenly being free, being able to fly anywhere he wanted, was like a dream come true for him. The passage called it a ‘blessing from the gods,’ but it didn’t say if those were his words or the priests’.”

I stared back at Elle for a long while after she finished, feeling like the floor might drop out from under me at any moment. I replayed her words over and over again in my mind, trying to process them, feeling my cheeks start to grow hot and my hands start to clench at my sides.

“What?!” I exploded, taking a step forward while Elle and Mel both reeled backwards. “A blessing?! Are your gods stupid or something? In what way is this a dream come true for me?” I was raving now, pacing rapidly back and forth and gesticulating angrily. “Why would I wish for this?! Why would I wish to be unable to reach high shelves, why would I wish to be some weird little cat person that nobody takes seriously, why would I wish to be a g—... a g—”

I broke off, my angry rant crashing to a halt like a train slamming on its brakes too fast and going tumbling off the tracks. Right, I still had to tell them the worst of it. Turning so my back was to the couch, I crossed my arms and huffed.

“Right, so… that’s the last thing you need to know,” I said, my eyes drifting as I did. Most of the far wall was taken up by a wide rectangular window with a little ledge beneath it, with more potted flowers resting on it. Outside the window, I caught glimpses of Elle and Mel’s neighbors going about their days.

“I wasn’t just a human before I came here,” I said, determined to just get it out as fast as I could. “I was a human guy.”

As the words left my mouth, I crossed my arms tighter, my shoulders hunching up while I waited for their reactions. I couldn’t see them but I imagined they shared expressions of shock and horror. Any second I expected one of both of them to begin shouting questions; what was wrong with me, why hadn’t I said anything sooner, or maybe just demand I leave their home and never come back.

“And?”

Mel’s voice was as calm as ever. Insultingly calm. I turned, peering over my shoulder, finding neither of them looking particularly surprised or disturbed. I blinked.

“Is that it?” Mel asked, raising a single eyebrow and starting to smirk. “By the bough, Sam, I thought you were about to tell us you actually had killed someone.”

Even Elle seemed remarkably composed after spending so much of the previous discussion in various states of distress. She was just looking at me with a searching look in her eyes.

“Is that it?” I repeated, turning back around to face the couch. “Aren’t you… why aren’t you upset? Did you hear what I said? I’m a… a… a boy!”

“Are you sure?”

Mel posed the question calmly. Three simple words, one after the other, and yet they pierced through my chest like a bullet.

“W-what?” I sputtered, my brow furrowed angrily. “O-of course I am, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Just… a hunch,” Mel said, shrugging, then pushing herself up off of the couch. “I could be wrong, I don’t know anything about this ‘Earth’ place, but I’m guessing ‘Samantha’ is a name that comes from there, right?”

“Yeah…” I said warily, watching as Mel stepped out from around the coffee table. She didn’t approach me, just wandered to the other end of the room, folding her arms in front of her.

“Is it your… ‘real’ name? Is that what you were called before you came here?”

Another question that hit me like a physical blow.

“No…” I said, biting my lip. “No, Samantha is… a girl’s name… But! I only said it was mine because Felda asked me so suddenly, and I couldn’t tell her my real name because it… it’s…”

“It’s a boy’s name?” Mel finished, looking over her shoulder at me. She wasn’t smirking anymore, but rather just smiling. Softly, compassionately. I was feeling dizzy all over again. I may have nodded, or just imagined doing it.

“Well, now that me and Elle know, do you want to tell us?” Mel continued turning, and now she was approaching. “Do you want us to call you that name instead, and say ‘he’ instead of ‘she’ when we talk about you?”

I opened my mouth, but only air came out. My eyes were as wide as saucers as I stared up at Mel, and she stared back, and even though I knew she was not actually hundreds of years old, I felt like her single visible eye held a depth of wisdom that I couldn’t even begin to comprehend at that moment.

The thought of her and Elle doing either of those things made my blood curdle like milk.

“No…” I answered belatedly, whispering as though I didn’t want the universe to hear it. It was a revelation, one that was hitting me so strongly and suddenly that I couldn’t do anything to stop it. Mel’s face began to blur in my vision as the tears I’d avoided shedding for as long as I could began to flood my eyes. “I don’t want that… why don’t I want that?”

Mel took another step closer and I reached out. I couldn’t quite reach her shoulders so I grabbed onto her upper arms, using them to steady myself. I couldn’t meet her eyes because I could barely see out of mine. Mel didn’t have an answer for me, but I think she just recognized I was well past the point where it would do me any good. I felt hands on my shoulders now, and let myself be led, blindly, until I found myself back on the couch, with Elle to one side of me and Mel dropping into place on the other.

“Why?” I repeated, holding my head in my hands while two sets of arms appeared around me. “Why, why, why… what is wrong with me?!”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Sam,” Mel said, insistently, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

I dissolved into a sobbing mess, at first crying into my hands, until Elle gently pressed one of the throw pillows from the couch into my side. I latched onto it and buried my face as deeply into it as I could, and proceeded to let out much more than two days’ worth of built up emotions.

“Shhh…” Mel soothed in my ear, one of her hands stroking my head while one of Elle’s circled my back. “You're fine, you're here with us, just get it all out…”

I was going to do exactly that, whether I wanted to or not.

Time passed, what could have been minutes, or hours, until I could finally take in a breath without immediately letting it back out as a shuddering sob. I felt dizzy, and sick, and was immensely grateful for Elle’s accidental foresight of only serving a light snack instead of a full meal.

I lifted my face out of the pillow, cringing and immediately wiping my face on a cleaner section before taking stock of my surroundings. The sun was still shining outside, so it couldn't have been too long. I had been firmly sandwiched between Elle and Mel, both of their arms wrapped around me and each other as well. Elle had her head resting on my shoulder, while Mel’s was leaning softly against my own head, so she was the first to notice my return to coherence.

“Hey,” Mel whispered gingerly. “Welcome back.”

Opposite her, Elle jerked upright like she'd been dozing, her arms suddenly squeezing me tighter.

“S-Sammie!” she gasped loudly, before catching herself, speaking quietly but no less frantically. I couldn’t help but notice the wetness streaked down her cheeks as well. “Are you okay? Do you need anything? Should we get Felda?”

“Water,” I said hoarsely, feeling awash with déjà vu. At this rate, I was going to end up crying myself into a shriveled up raisin.

“Right here,” Mel said, leaning just enough to reach the coffee table, grabbing one of the empty glasses from earlier. I thought she was about to get up to go fill it, but instead she just held it out to Elle.

“O-oh, right,” Elle said, sniffling once and appearing to collect herself, before reaching out and cupping her palms around the top and bottom of the glass. “S-s-s…” Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat, flushing slightly. “Sorry, ahem. Summon Water.”

I watched, my overtaxed emotions still managing to be fascinated, as the glass began to fill itself from the bottom up with clear water, stopping as soon as Elle removed her hands. I reached up, accepting the glass from Mel with both hands, and brought it to my parched lips. The water was cool, and tasted ridiculously clean, and even left my tongue tingling as though it were carbonated or something. I drank the whole glass in one go, then slumped backwards with a satisfied groan.

“Magic is… so cool…” I muttered. On either side of me, Elle and Mel both made a sound halfway between a choke and a laugh, with Mel surprisingly being the first one to burst into all out giggling and snickering. I, of course, couldn’t help but start to chuckle at that, and soon I and Elle were laughing along with her, and I finally began to feel like a person again.

After our collective fit was over, I bit my lip and turned my head to look up at Mel.

“You know, I’m… I’m feeling okay now, you can let go of me if you want,” I said, wiggling my shoulders slightly. I had pulled my legs up onto the couch at some point, and was now just being held in my slightly scrunched position, which probably wouldn’t have been as comfortable if I wasn’t quite so short. I… wasn’t sure yet what to make of that, exactly.

“We know,” Mel said, smirking back at me, then tilting her head. “Do you want us to?”

“Uh…” I hadn’t expected the ball to be put right back into my court. I glanced over at Elle to see if she was just as willing to stay put as Mel seemed to be, but she had turned her head entirely away and was staring across the room at the fireplace.

“I… guess not?” I said hesitantly, turning back to Mel. “Is that okay?”

“It’s perfectly fine,” Mel said, nodding and moving one of her arms so she could plant her hand on the back of my head. I shivered and sat up slightly, but quickly relaxed once more and began to purr, deeply and loudly, for the first time I could recall since the incident with the brush.

I was still mentally restacking the building blocks of my whole outlook and perspective, but the recent… conclusion I’d been helpfully led to by Mel shed some new light on, well, a lot of things, but especially why I had been affected so hard by something so simple and innocuous.

“Sooo…” I said, biting my lip nervously. Mel slowed, but didn’t stop, her scratching at my scalp, and Elle seemed able to look my way again.

“So?” Mel asked, faintly amused.

“So… I’m a girl, huh?”

There, I said it out loud. That way I couldn’t take it back.

Mel snorted again and nodded. “Seems that way.”

“Did you… know?” I asked. It seemed ridiculous, but something about the questions Mel had asked me, or the way she’d asked them, made it seem like she knew what she was doing ahead of time.

“About you? Nope, not a clue, until you said you used to be a boy.”

Used to be.

I shivered at that, but not out of discomfort.

“Then… how did you know exactly what to ask?” I asked, hesitating a moment, then leaned my head against one of Mel’s shoulders. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you did it, but, it really seems like you knew what would happen.”

“Psh.” Mel scoffed, glancing away with a small smile. “Trust me, I had no clue what was going to happen there, I didn’t expect them to hit you so hard. I am really sorry for that, by the way, but it kinda seems like you should’ve been asked those questions a lot sooner.” She began to frown a little as she explained. “As for how I knew what to ask, well, like I said, I don’t know a lot about humans, let alone humans from another world, but for elves, we get asked fairly often while we’re growing up if we’re comfortable with what we’re called, or if we want to switch to something else.”

I stared up at Mel as she finished, once again feeling my jaw go slack.

“R-really?” I stammered out. “‘Switch?’ So when you’re young you can just… decide to stop being a boy, just like that, whenever you want?”

“Yeah?” Mel asked, seemingly confused by my confusion. “S’what I did. And it’s not just when we’re young, it can happen anytime.”

I, thankfully, managed to keep from dropping my jaw a third time, but I did stare, wide eyed at Mel, who just smirked in return.

“Y-you mean… you w-were… you are… like me?” I finally managed to piece together my sentence from stops and starts, and Mel, smiling wider, nodded. And here I thought I was done getting my mind blown for the day. “I-is that an elf thing?”

“What?” Mel asked with a laugh. “No, of course not. Everyone changes over time, sometimes that means changing the way you wear your hair or the kinds of clothes you wear, and sometimes that means changing what people call you. Is it not that simple on Earth?”

“No…” I said. “Not at all. I mean, I’ve heard of people on Earth who… wait a minute…”

I trailed off, having begun to wrack my brain for anything I’d ever heard about people who wanted to change genders, when another memory, more recent and seemingly completely innocent, was shoved loose from my brain like a vase being knocked off a shelf.

Are you sure you don’t want to come to one of the meetings with me sometime? Morgan had asked. After that… incident with Mandy, she had started attending the school’s regular LGBT support group meetings.

No? Why would I? I had asked in return.

I… just think you might find it interesting? had been Morgan’s answer at the time. I had been pretty sure you actually needed to fit the description to go to the meetings, and I…

“Oh my goooood…” I groaned into my hands, almost feeling like I might start crying all over again. “She knew! Oh, I am such a dumbass!”

“What?” Mel asked, startled by my sudden outburst. “Who? Knew what?”

“My… my friend from Earth, Morgan!” I said, sighing and slumping forward over my knees. “I… I think she knew, but she must not have known how to bring it up to me, uuugh… she always was the smarter one between the two of us. Was always looking out for me, too, I can’t believe it…”

“Huh,” Mel said as I trailed off, gently patting my head. “She sounds nice.”

“She was,” I said, and sighed, unconsciously pulling in tighter to the both of them. “Well, still is, it's not like she's dead, but, y'know.” I let out a sudden, slightly bitter chuckle as something else occurred to me. “I've… never told anyone this, but I actually used to have a crush on her, when we were younger.”

“Oh?” Mel asked, seeming a little too amused. Her eyes flicked over my head to Elle, who seemed like she had pulled as far away as she could without actually leaving our little group huddle, and was pointedly avoiding Mel’s eyes.

“Uh, yeah,” I said, ignoring… whatever was going on there. “She was so nice, and really smart, and she didn't really have many friends either so we kinda gravitated towards each other. We were friends for most of our childhood, and I almost told her I liked her so many times, but it never felt right, and then… and then she confided in me that she liked girls. She hadn't even told her parents, just me.” I paused to take a breath, and make sure I wasn't about to stay crying again. “Anyway, after that I just… well, I tried to move on, but I think there was always still a little part of me that held on, even if I knew I never had a shot…” I half-laughed, half-scoffed, and let my head rest against Elle. “Joke's on me, I guess.”

An awkward silence descended after that, and I began to feel a bit bad for bringing the mood down again, when Mel once again leaned slightly over my head and began to whisper to Elle.

“Elle, come on, what’re you waiting for?” Mel asked, and I sucked in my breath. Right, there was one major thing I still needed to tell them.

“Are you crazy?!” Elle hissed back. “I can't do it after all that! She'll think I'm a creep!”

“Weeell, if you don't, I will,” Mel said with an audible smirk.

“Um!” I cut in, clearing my throat. “So, there's one more thing I think I should tell you, and I'm really sorry for not bringing it up sooner, but I… can still understand you when you're speaking Elven.”

Both Elle and Mel stared down at me, Mel looking simply surprised, while Elle suddenly looked mortified, and even fully untangled herself from me and Mel, scooting to the other end of the couch.

“Oh, rot take me!” Elle… swore? I think that's what that was meant to be.

“You can speak Elven?” Mel asked.

“Uh, no, I… is she okay?” I asked Mel, pointing to Elle, who looked like she was trying to find a way to squeeze between the gaps in the couch cushions.

“She just needs a minute,” Mel said. I wasn’t so sure about that, but she knew Elle better than I did.

“Okay, well, no, I can’t speak Elven,” I said, looking up at the ceiling and furrowing my brow. “I don’t really know how it works, but whenever someone speaks another language around me, my brain just automatically translates it to English.”

“What’s English?” Mel asked. In English.

I blinked.

“The… language we’re speaking right now?” I said, suddenly unsure.

“No it isn’t,” Mel said, tilting her head. “I’ve never heard of that language, we’re speaking Common. Technically, Western Trade Common, but some people call it Torgardian Common too.”

“Huh…” I said. Did that mean that I was never hearing what anyone was actually saying, but just a magical translation?

“Anyway, that clinches it then, you are an Outsider,” Mel said, bringing me back on track.

“Uh, huh? How?” I asked.

“Because that is a blessing,” Mel said, reaching down and tapping one finger against my forehead. “The ability to speak and be understood by all, or something like that. You hear about it cropping up in a lot of old stories, like, ancient history-old, of people being granted that power by certain gods so they could spread their word anywhere they went, but it hasn’t happened in a loooong time.”

“Oh, I… I see,” I said, rubbing my forehead where she had tapped it. I hadn’t really thought much about the existence of religion in this world. I’d heard several people swear on them or to them, but if Elle and Mel were right, one or more of them could actually be responsible for my ending up here. If that were true, could I just… pray for one of them to send me home?

“Anyway, back to the task at hand,” Mel said, before I could fall down a philosophical rabbit hole, motioning across the couch. “As you might have heard, Elle has something she needs to tell you. It’s actually the reason she invited you over in the first place.”

Over in her corner of the couch, Elle finally sat up straight with a gasp.

“Melody Moonglow, not another word!” Elle said, jumping to her feet and jabbing a finger at Mel.

Mel laughed and held her hands up. “Alright, alright, I promised you could go first.”

Mel proceeded to scoot several paces back, leaving me in the center of the couch and, for the first time in what felt like a while, not physically in contact with either of them. I had grown used to it surprisingly fast.

I had noticed that there did seem to be something up with Elle, she’d been really quiet since I’d come out of my fit, other than casting the spell for the water she hadn’t said basically anything. I couldn’t imagine what this could be about, it didn’t seem like a bad thing but for some reason it had Elle incredibly nervous and agitated.

Elle, having sufficiently admonished Mel, dropped her arm and let out a whistling sigh. “Hoo, okay… okay Elle, you can do this…” she muttered to herself, running her hands through her green hair and scrubbing at her cheeks with her palms before suddenly rounding on me, making me jump. “S-Sam, there’s… something I want to tell you.”

“I gathered,” I said, trying to smile to ease some of Elle’s nerves.

“Right, and, well, I was going to wait a little longer, because I didn’t think it’d be right to rush you into anything when you’ve only been down here for two days, but now you say you’ve only been here for two days, and you’re also from an entirely different world so I don’t even know if I should do this anymore but—”

“Elle,” Mel said, rising to her feet and moving to Elle’s side, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her into an embrace. Elle, who had only begun to grow more nervous as the pace of her rambling picked up, cut herself off and returned the gesture, squeezing Mel just as tightly as she’d been squeezing me a few minutes ago. They remained that way for a short while, parting slightly so Elle could press her forehead to Mel’s, her eyes closed.

“You got this,” Mel whispered, and delivered a quick peck to Elle’s lips. If there had been any last, lingering doubt in my mind that the two of them were dating, that obliterated it in an instant. It didn’t make the last several minutes of mutual snuggling any less confusing though.

Breaking apart, Mel took a step back and Elle turned back to me, her cheeks flushed green but her expression determined.

“Sam,” Elle said, meeting my gaze while her hands fidgeted in front of her. “I think… that I have become mildly… e-enamored with you…” She squeezed her eyes shut as she finally managed to force the words out, and I could hear her suck in her breath and hold it.

I blinked.

“Become what?” I asked. “What does that mean?”

Behind Elle, I could see Mel double over, pressing her fist against her mouth to stifle her laughter. Elle opened her eyes again and looked at me, furrowing her brow.

“Ah, uh… you know, like… i-i-infatuated?”

Okay that sounded a little more familiar, but there was no way that’s what she meant to say… my brain must be getting the translation wrong.

“By the bough, Elle, what are you gona say next, that you wish to court her?” Mel said, having recovered from her almost-laughing fit. She stepped back up to Elle, who had gone as green as… well, a lime, and looked me dead in the eye. “She’s trying to say she likes you.”

Oh. Well. There’s no getting that translation wrong. But just because the words were correct didn’t mean they actually made sense.

“What?” I asked, frowning and looking back and forth between the two of them. Elle, predictably, pressed her hands to her face and groaned.

“I tooooold you it wasn’t a good time!” Elle’s voice was muffled but perfectly understandable.

“Hey, c’mon, she’s only said one word,” Mel said, throwing one arm around Elle’s shoulder and squeezing her gently, then looking at me with a strained smile. “Sorry, this isn’t at all how either of us wanted this to go either, if you really do need more time to sort yourself out we’d totally understand.”

None of what they were saying was helping stop my brain from short circuiting.

“Okay, wait, stop!” I said, holding up both hands and waving them. “I’m… I’m just really fuckin’ confused.” I turned my head, staring Elle down as best I could from my seat on the couch. “You really do mean that you like me? Like, like-like me?”

Elle bit her lip for a moment before nodding sheepishly. I swiveled my head to look at Mel, pointing back and forth between them

“But… aren’t you two already together?” I asked. “I mean I just saw you kiss!”

Now it was Elle and Mel’s turns to look confused. They exchanged glances with one another, and Mel raised her eyebrow at me. “Yeah? Me and Elle are partners, what does that have to do with it?”

“So she… she just… she said she’s got a crush on me!” I said, growing slightly frantic. “Shouldn’t you be jealous or something?”

Mel continued to stare at me, eyebrow raised, for several seconds, before answering.

“...No? Why would I be?” Mel said, sounding one hundred percent serious. “And it’s not like it’s just her, I like you too, she just wanted to be the one to tell you first.”

“What?!” I shouted, then, remembering that Elle and Mel had neighbors, I grabbed a fresh pillow from the couch and stuffed my face into it, letting out a muffled scream of frustrated confusion.

When I pulled my face back out, Elle and Mel were still looking just as baffled as I felt. I took several deep breaths to try and calm myself, and tried to take things from the top.

“So… you both like me?” I asked plainly. They both nodded. “Then, do you both want to… date me?”

Again, they both nodded, though Elle did so with significantly more blushing and fidgeting.

“So, you’re telling me you both want to cheat on each other… with me?”

“Cheat?” Mel asked, blinking. “Like at gambling?”

Ugh. So much for universal translation!

“No, not like that, it means, like, when two people are in a relationship, or they’re married, and one of them goes and… gets with someone else without telling their partner,” I said, not sure if I felt more like I was having a conversation with children or aliens.

“Oh, well, yeah, that would be wrong,” Elle said, frowning. “But that would mean a lot of sneaking around and lying, I don’t know who would go to that much trouble when they could just say something? Besides, that’s not what me and Mel are doing at all, right?”

I felt one of my eyes twitch. Before my head could explode, Mel snapped her fingers.

“Oh!” she said, smacking a hand against her forehead. “Okay, no, I see what’s happening here. I already forgot you’re literally not from this world, so you wouldn’t know how elven relationships work.”

“How do they work then?” I asked, still not quite convinced this wasn’t going to turn out to be the world's worst and most elaborate prank.

“Well, for starters, they’re not limited to just two people, maximum,” Mel said, shrugging. “That’s more of a human thing, because it only takes two of them pairing up to… well, you know. Elves work differently, especially where relationships and families are concerned. A relationship between elves can be as few as three or four people or as many as a dozen, or even more.”

“And… all of them… dating each other?” I asked, starting to piece together a very… interesting picture of the elves of this world.

“Of course,” Mel said, smiling. “So, are you starting to get it?”

Unfortunately, I was. Before, confusion had fully blocked out any other emotion from getting through, but now that I was starting to understand that both Elle and Mel had just confessed to me, in their own roundabout ways, I felt my cheeks begin to heat up. Apparently, Elle and Mel could both see that I was getting it as well, because Mel’s smile grew, and Elle finally stopped looking like she wanted to go run and hide.

“Y-yeah,” I said, swallowing. “Yeah, I… I still have a lot of questions, obviously, but I understand what you meant now. You’re saying you want me to… turn your duo into a trio?”

“Pfhah!” Mel burst out laughing at that, while Elle much more politely held a hand to her mouth and giggled into it. Exasperated, I crossed my arms and waited for them to get ahold of themselves, and once they did, Mel beamed at me and nodded.

“Sure, that’s one way to put it,” Mel said. “In elven terms, what we’re doing is called… oh, I don’t even have to try and translate it.” Mel laughed and grinned. “This is already working out, see? Anyway, it’s extending a branch. It means we’re inviting you to join our orchard, though it isn’t much of one with only two of us.”

“But only if you want to!” Elle said, holding a hand up. “I don’t want you to feel like we’ve pushed you into anything, or taken advantage of your emotions or anything!”

Well, now that there was no mistaking their intentions, I had to actually think about my response. And maybe get some of my questions answered too.

“Well, I guess my first question is… why me? I mean, is it just because you think I’m cute?” I asked, reaching up and poking at one of my ears, which flicked of its own accord. “Not that I don’t agree, I’m not blind, but this body still doesn’t a hundred percent feel like mine, so…”

“Oh, no, not at all!” Elle jumped in when I began to trail off. “Don’t get me wrong, Sam, you are adorable, but that’s far from the only reason I like you. You’re also clever, and kind, and brave! I heard about the way you stood up to Bentley in the bakery, and seeing you confront him in the tavern too, it was amazing!”

“Oh… wow, that’s… more than I was expecting,” I said, looking away from Elle’s intense expression and squirming a bit. “I don’t know how ‘brave’ that really was, more like dumb and lucky. The first time I didn’t even know he was the son of the mayor, and the second time… well, okay, maybe a little.”

I glanced up at Mel, wondering if she had her own reasons. Unlike Elle she hadn’t seemed as taken with my appearance, and until today less quick to lavish me with physical attention, but that may have just been her being the more reserved of the two. Catching my eye, she smirked.

“Well, I pretty much agree with all that, but what I think I like most about you is your tenacity,” Mel said, letting out a chuckle. “I mean, it’s a little different now, before I thought you’d just had to break yourself out of a very sheltered life at the hands of some unscrupulous nobles, but now, knowing you’re not even from this world? I can’t imagine how confused and scared and alone you must have felt, but you’ve kept going.”

“Barely…” I muttered at the floor. Mel moved, stepping in front of me and kneeling, putting a hand on my shoulder, and I raised my head to look at her.

“Sam, you’ve had something happen to you that I can’t even imagine going through, and you haven’t been able to talk to anyone about it, of course you’re having a hard time handling it all on your own,” Mel said, her tone equal parts serious and concerned. “Not to mention, and, no offense, but it sounds like your world kind of sucks. I’m sure there’s more you could tell us about it, but it seems like you’ve been dealing with more than you should have been, before you even came here.”

Geez, and now I was tearing up again. How did Mel always seem to know how to say exactly what I needed to hear? Her face softened again and she reached up, using her thumb to gently wipe away a tear that had stared down my cheek.

“And that’s also why I want to extend a branch to you. It’s not just about being in a relationship, a branch also provides shade,” Mel said, and I sniffed and furrowed my brow, confused if she was still talking in some extended elven metaphor. She chuckled and shook her head. “Sorry, I know it’s hard to get if you didn’t grow up with it. What I mean is, I want to help you too. For us, being a part of a relationship, joining an orchard, means having people who look out for you, who support you when you need it, and by the bough do you need it, Sam. And I don’t just mean helping you grow your roots, I mean we’ll be here if you have questions about this world too, things you can’t ask just anyone, regardless of what your decision winds up being.”

“I… I see,” I said, sniffing again and wiping my eyes clear. I obviously still didn’t quite get the whole picture, but it already sounded much nicer than the admittedly limited view of relationships I’d gotten so far. I had never been able to conceive of anyone wanting to date me back on Earth, but I had watched so many of my peers take their first stumbling steps into romance and come out of it worse off.

“I have another question,” I said, clearing my throat. Mel, gave my shoulder one more squeeze and nodded, standing back up and rejoining Elle.

“Go ahead,” Mel said.

“This all sounds… really nice but really intense, and I’m just wondering how much of a commitment I’d be making,” I said, scratching at the back of my neck. “I’ve never been in any kind of relationship before, ever, but I’ve seen a lot of them going on around me with the other kids at school, and I’ve seen a lot of messy breakups, er, that is, when a couple splits up, and I’m just wondering, what happens if things don’t work out? Er, not that I think they won’t, I mean, I haven’t even said yes yet, I just mean—”

“It’s alright, Sam,” Mel cut in and I halted my rambling. “I get that it can sound like a lot, so it’s good to bring this up now. You wouldn’t be making a life-long choice to stay with us forever.”

“Right,” Elle said, piping up again after letting Mel take the lead for a while. “If for any reason you decide it’s not working out for you, nothing terrible will happen. We’ll both understand, and we wouldn’t want to stop helping you or being your friends, we just wouldn’t be together anymore. Does that help?”

“Y-yeah,” I said, once again looking back and forth between the two of them. “Yeah that helps a lot, actually…”

Elle and Mel exchanged another quick glance, both smiling, then continued to look at me expectantly. Either for me to ask another question, or for me to give my answer to their proposition. With all that I had learned over the past however long I’d been sitting in their living room, it was a lot easier to come to a decision.

I had left my home planet behind and been dropped on my ass into a strange, fantastic world, where magic existed and I saw elves and dwarves who knows what else on an everyday basis. I had been made into a half-human, half-cat, which meant I now craved fish more than anything in the world, I had to take frequent naps to recharge my batteries, and I liked to climb up to high places and had the acrobatics to pull it off, and those were just the features I’d discovered so far. I had been turned into a girl, or, from a certain perspective, I had been a girl for a long time and now I just looked like one too, courtesy of unknowable deities who may or may not be responsible for my being here in the first place.

I had left behind the only friends I had, and a family that I had felt like a stranger to for longer than I was ready to admit.

So, when two very nice, very pretty elf girls said they liked me, said they wanted me to be their girlfriend, and help me make my way in this new world no matter what, I didn’t actually have to think very hard at all.

“Okay,” I said, smiling sheepishly up at the pair. “Yeah, let’s… give it a shot?”

The pair had different but equally joyful reactions. Elle let out an actual cheer and thrust her fists into the air, grinning so brightly I was almost blinded, while Mel’s own smile was much less broad, but still wider than anything I’d ever seen from her before. I half expected them to turn and give each other high fives, but instead they shared a quick embrace and a quiet word, before descending on me like a flock of seagulls after a discarded french fry.

I let out a startled yelp as I was once again sandwiched between the pair, getting a double dose of head pats with a side of snug, warm hugs, and I was purring so loud I worried their neighbors might hear.

“Are you okay?” Mel asked, and it actually took me a moment to form the words in my brain and push them out of my mouth.

“Y-y-yup!” I said, utterly unable to stop grinning no matter how hard I tried. My cheeks burned, and my heart felt like it might explode at any second. “J-just… a lot, very fast. I can’t remember the last time I felt this happy.”

“Aww, noooo…” Elle crooned, her hold around my midsection tightening, pressing her cheek into the side of my head. “Well we’re going to make sure you can keep being this happy if it’s the last thing we do!”

“O-o-okay…” I stammered, doing my best to hug her back. I didn’t have enough arms for Elle, but remembering my trick with the door the day before, I brought my tail up and looped it around one of Mel’s upper arms, and heard her let out a soft gasp beside me.

We stayed like that for a while, just basking in each other’s presence and, for my part, trying to fully digest everything that had just happened. At some point, Elle and Mel had another one of those conversations carried out entirely through looks and glances. I realized, with a thrill, that one day I might know them both well enough to be a part of one.

Mel nudged me. “Sam,” she said, and I turned my head to look up at her. “We know you must be feeling a lot right now, so please, feel free to say no, but, is it okay if we kiss you?”

I didn’t think it was possible for my face to get any redder. I gaped at Mel, then glanced to my other side and saw Elle, thankfully looking just as flustered as me, and bit my lip.

“I’ve… never really had a real… romantic kiss before, ever,” I said, fidgeting as much as I could without nudging either of them loose. I had already taken so many huge leaps today, and I wasn’t sure my heart could handle another, so I gently shook my head. “Not just yet, I think, I need more time to be ready for that, but… maybe, just on the cheeks for now? Is that okay?”

Elle and Mel’s eyes met over my head, and I practically saw the spark that passed between them. I’d expected them to quickly decide who would get to go first, maybe with a game of turtle, eel, crab, but instead they both leaned down at once and, together, pecked both of my cheeks at once.

My face felt like it was on fire as they pulled away, and my tongue felt like it weighed a hundred pounds, but I managed to splutter out a, “W-w-wow!” I simply couldn’t hold the amount of happiness I was feeling inside me and sit still at the same time, and soon found myself squirming in place, my tail thrashing about behind me.

Determined not to let them get the better of me, I screwed up my courage and sat up enough to reach Elle’s face, planting a very clumsy kiss right on her grinning cheek.

I watched as her expression grew shocked, and at first I worried I had somehow done it wrong, but then her cheeks went through several shades of green while I pulled back?

“D-did I… do it right?” I asked, and Elle’s eyes widened even further before she clenched them shut, pressing a fist to her mouth to muffle a shrill squeal.

“Oooooh, Sammie, how are you this cute?!” Elle asked, fawning over me even more enthusiastically and, very unhelpfully, not answering my question.

“W-well, did I?” I asked again, huffing slightly.

“Hmm, I wasn’t really paying attention that time,” Mel said from my other side, leaning down over me and turning her head, presenting her cheek to me. It was obvious she was just teasing me, but I wasn’t going to pass up the chance. Putting on my most confident grin, I leaned up to meet her.

I planted my lips right on Mel’s proffered cheek, keeping my eyes on her the whole time. I still had no idea if I was doing it right, if I’d aimed for the right spot, if my mouth was in the right shape. If I was having this much trouble already, how was I ever going to handle my first actual kiss?

Pulling away, I studied Mel’s face for any kind of reaction that might hint at her assessment of my kissing abilities, but she was giving nothing away.

“Well?” I said, hopefully.

“Mmh, not bad,” Mel answered thoughtfully as she sat up again, looking at me appraisingly with a small smile. “Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of time to practice.”

Her… promise? Threat? Whatever it was, it was enough to yank the rug right out from under my brain, and I spent several seconds just sputtering and blushing before I accepted the fact that I simply couldn’t form the words I’d need to respond, let alone the thoughts to put those words in the right order. I just let myself sit and bask while I rebooted.

Later, when I could form coherent thoughts again, I had my head resting against Elle’s shoulder, taking in her light, lemony scent, and realized now that they knew I was from another world, I could ask them so many of the questions that had been burning away in the back of my mind, starting with one of the most puzzling ones of all.

“Hey, so, can I ask another question about elves?” I asked, and both Elle and Mel nodded for me to go on. “I’m sorry if this is actually a crazy rude thing to ask, but it’s been bugging me for days, why do you smell like fruit?”

“Oh,” Elle giggled, shrugging the shoulder that I wasn’t leaning on. “That’s an easy one, and it’s not rude at all. It’s actually really simple; we are fruits.”