The exit portal opened a few feet above a turnip field in the garden hub of Nenkyo village. Nadia dropped from the portal with Darrell in her arms. They fell against her bike, which had landed on Josh. Darrell fell on top of the pile. His palm pressed Nadia’s bosom. He rolled off her quickly. She pushed herself off the bike and dusted her clothes. Meanwhile, Luthial helped to pull the bike upright so Josh could stand.

Once the purple iridescence of the portal remains failed, a full moon illuminated the fields. The circle of wood buildings gave pale yellow lights from their windows. Dew recognized Darrell in the moonlight, scrutinizing him as electricity pulsed through his eyes.

“Why is he here? What possible use do we have for this knave?”

Darrell confronted him until they were close enough to rub noses, “Watch who you call a knave, knave.”

Nadia pushed them apart, “This doesn’t serve any purpose.”

“She’s right, we don’t even know where we are,” Darrell said.

“Speak for yourself, knave. This is my ancestral village.”

“I’m not a knave. Your home?” Darrell turned to Nadia, “One minute I’m planning to ask you to a movie, and the next minute, I’m being pulled into a wormhole. What’s going on here?”

Josh laughed.

A light shone from one of the buildings. Awlena appeared in white robes and with her dark hair tied behind her back. Her smile could be seen via moonlight as she embraced Dew warmly. A long hug held between the siblings.

“Brother! You finally returned. I feared you were never going to come home. Is Nadia with you?”

“Yep, I’m here.”

“Nadia!”

Awlena rushed into her with an enthusiastically firm hug that pressed them together before she finally pulled back and took Nadia’s hands, “Then this means we are sisters?”

“Sisters?”

“Of course, you are one flesh with my brother, so we are sisters!”

Dew shook his head, widened his eyes, and made a slicing motion across his neck with his index finger but Awlena pretended not to notice.

“One flesh?!” exclaimed Darrell and Nadia.

“One flesh!” Josh bent over slightly as he laughed and slapped his thigh.

“You’re making a mistake. That’s not the case!” Delia almost shouted.

Awlena’s smile became a sharp downcast gaze, her mouth pursed slightly, but she kept holding Nadia hands and even gave them tender squeezes, “Well, it’s late and you must have had a long journey, why don’t we go inside?”

A pot of steaming eggplant soup with thin noodles cooked on a small stove in the center of a cozy room. Awlena poured the soup into bowls which were passed around. Dew and the three warriors drank the broth directly from the bowl and slurped the noodles. Nadia followed suit, drinking the noodles with the broth but avoiding the sliced eggplant. Josh waited for the others to eat, then sucked his down greedily. Darrell sat the bowl on his lap and stared.

“When you’re all finished, Dew will take the men to their quarters for the night. The women can stay here. You do intend to stay the night at the very least?”

Dew nodded his approval, so Awlena stepped gently down to the garden path and walked quietly away.

“Where are we?” Darrell asked.

“Do you have ears? This is the village of Nenkyo, the home of my family. I would advise you to treat it with respect.”

“I wasn’t asking you. Where are we Nadia, and what are we doing here?”

Nadia sighed, “What he said. Believe it or not, this is not earth. I’m here to search for something I lost; that guy’s here because he’s possessed by a fear demon; you’re here because you can’t mind your own business; and everyone else is here because they belong here. Does that answer your question?”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Darrell squinted. Then laughed nervously, “You’re kidding me.”

“No, welcome to Pozalm. The only way to return home is through a portal, and I haven’t mastered the ability to create them.”

“So, I’m stuck here. In this place? Amazing, I wonder what my parents are going to think. They’ll probably think I was kidnapped.”

“Don’t complain. You didn’t have to play hero when you didn’t understand what was happening.”

“Forgive me for trying to help.”

“I like the other realm,” Luthial said, “There are so many wonders I have never seen there.”

Josh pulled her close and pointed at himself with his thumb, “And I’m one of ‘em baby.”

Luthial pushed him away. Not knowing her own strength, she sent him sliding against the wall at the other side of the room. The whole building shook as he hit and thumped to the floor.”

“Sorry, I’m not good around men.”

“No problem,” he said as he peeled himself off the floor and crawled to his place, “So what the heck are you searching for Nadia, not that I don’t already have an idea?”

“I know, you’ve seen my nightmares.”

“Yeah, still sorry about that whole affair.”

Nadia nodded, “You couldn’t help it, and I have to be honest with everyone here. I believe you are all my friends, so I owe everyone an honest explanation. Dew, have you ever heard of the curse of the Tramen Fohar, or the transformation of Ambrosia?”

“Vaguely.”

Delia spoke up, “I heard the story of the Tramen Fohar. They were trading partners with my kingdom before they diminished to nothing. They valued their warriors so highly that they killed their patron of fertility thinking it would make them breed fewer women and stronger men. They got what they wished for; no women were born. In desperation, they preserved the remains of the goddess they murdered and kept the pieces in books so they could be used to create women. Even though the change was perfect, there were never enough woman to keep their numbers from plummeting. The entire nation disintegrated into a small tribe, then withered away. How would you know of them?”

Nadia froze before taking a deep breath, her body stiffened. She didn't think she'd have to say this in front of Darrell.

“Because I wasn’t born a girl, one of Ambrosia’s books changed me a little more than a month ago. I used to be Nathan. I’m barely even able to say that name anymore.”

Darrell dropped his left hand into his soup, pulled it up, shook it off, and left it over the bowl so the remaining broth wouldn’t drip over his pants.

“I’m here to find a way to change back. Dew, I hope this doesn’t come as too much of a shock, but I really meant it when I tried to tell you I was a boy. If you don’t want to help me now, you don’t have to. I’ll understand.”

Dew clutched his forehead as he stood, “I can’t believe it. I won’t. You’re telling me that what I saw with my own eyes wasn’t real?”

Nadia stared into her empty bowl, “It’s not the way I was born. It’s not who I spent the first sixteen years of my life as. I don’t want to deceive anyone. No one should help me under false pretenses. I don’t plan to remain a woman.”

“You are not a boy,” Dew said with a nervous laugh, “We’ve been through this before. There’s no way you are a boy. It’s impossible!”

“Of course she’s not a boy now, but she was a boy once if she’s telling the truth,” Delia said. “And I for one, can’t see the harm in her seeking to return to her original identity. There’s no sense in remaining something you’re not.”

“She is a girl, but she was a boy?” Dew questioned, “How can you be certain she’s not a girl trying to say she is a boy. What if she always was a girl and is trying to become a boy?”

“Does that even matter?” Nefri asked, “How would that really change the situation?”

“Why would a girl want to do that?” Luthial asked.

“Right, it would obviously be a curse,” Dew said.

“She’s actually Nathan the monster fencer? You’re all asking me to believe a bit much,” Darrell interjected as he got on his hands and knees and stared at Nadia like she was a science exhibit, "So you've been faking the whole time?"

Nadia sunk into herself, “Strange as it is. I’m telling the truth.”

“Geez, I suspected some dark secret when I saw your nightmares, but not that. You’re in one heck of a pickle. Even if it’s a cute one.”

“Just for the record, I don’t date guys,” Darrell added defensively.

“Like I’d date you even if I was a real girl,” Nadia stuck out her tongue, but then held her knees as her head sunk behind them, “I didn’t ask for this; Dead-leaf attacked me with that book thing. Though I think I lost track of the book along the way.”

“He’s the wizard who sent me after her. Small world, or worlds,” Josh looked around the room with a smirk, but no one laughed.

“Maybe you’d find peace of mind if you stayed a woman,” Luthial suggested. “Make peace with yourself.”

“You heard them. This is not myself! I’d just be a fake,” Nadia folded her arms into her chest, made two fists, sunk her head between her knees, and looked toward her feet shuffling over the smooth wood.

“I don’t want people to think I’m a fake,” she whispered.

“Not to mention you came on to me,” Darrell said, “Under false pretenses if any of this is even real.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think I was hurting anyone.”

Darrell rolled his eyes, “Pfffht.”

Nadia bit her lip and tightened into her ball form.

“How can this be?” Dew said, “If this is your true goal, then the winds of my future are a foul stench growing from the lowest pit of despair. Tell me otherwise.”

Nadia wanted to hide, she wanted to crawl under the floor and curl up into a ball that would compress into the earth and get buried.

“If I did, I’d be lying. I'm a fake. I tried to tell you before.”

“Well let me tell you this. You are no fake! You are very real and fine as you are now. No matter what happens or what you have decided, I never want to hear those words befoul such beautiful lips,” Dew glared at Darrell, “I think I’ll take a walk. If I stay here any longer I might regret my actions.”

“I’ll go with you,” Delia offered.

“I’d prefer solitude.”