The next day, Lorenzo begged off of our walk to do some professional development with our newest intern. She didn't know it yet, but she would get the full Lorenzo. It was quite an experience and as he was the senior guy, I had experienced his passionate lectures. I wanted her to experience everything that lead me on my path. Or at least, the highlights. I once had dreams of adding Rachel or Courtney to my practice, but for too many reasons, my daughters wouldn't be able to do so.

When they split, I made a beeline for Egiya. A messenger had told me she had something that I had requested, and I was eager to find out what.

The 'cultivators ink pot' had the same perfect setup that I had grown to accept as the outward expression of Kang Egiyas inner turmoil.

The place was immaculate. But also there was no way that I would ever say that aloud. And so it was the same way that she presented herself. Every single hair was in the correct place. Her makeup was on point. Her work uniform was the most formal thing I had ever seen outside of a wedding that still looked like it could be worn daily. And still when I walked indoors, she raged.

"About time you arrived," she said, " I have several important deliveries for you and oh you're not from the courier's guild. Hello and welcome to the cultivator's ink pot. How can we help you today?"

"I heard a tale of a special delivery and I made on my way over post- haste. The messenger didn't tell or specify what the special delivery was and exactly why it did rate being sent with them. So I hope this is something good."

"Oh, it is. You know how my father is abroad doing work for the emperor?"

"You may have mentioned it once or twice, but I'm not too keen on particulars."

She grabbed a plain wrapped brown package. The size of a comprehensive book, it couldn't have been anything else except there were no books here. I had searched. Everything was in scrolls. It was quite inconvenient.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"I don't really know, but open it. His letter seems to indicate that this was something that was kept unwraps extensively. He said the format alone gave him pause, and it was only because I had deployed and look for something like a book that he actually understood and got this."

I opened the package. Inside, the first book I had seen since I arrived was, I shit you not exactly the thing I was looking for. The volume was roughly titled 'A practical guide to summoning heroes from the beyond.' I was ready to laugh at the title on it's merits alone, but I was intrigued by what she had thought this could do for me. I held it up, trying to affect the dadliest of wisdom to my adopted daughter. From her father to me, I wondered if I could thank the elder Kang in time for such a gift.

"You see, this is a book. This is how people from my world read, at least when they're not doing it on a device. It's slightly faster than using scrolls to read, but you need to use a printing press-or oh, this was written long hand. This is a bother. The writing is a bit-"

"The prose is flowery and the person writing it seems to know a lot about other worlds, so yeah, I understand the significance. What I learned from the binding has had me ordering several items made from string. I wouldn't put it past my father to have sent this item just so that I would turn popular scrolls into books."

I turned it over, trying to decipher the script. If someone had a loose idea of what writing was had married someone who only ever wrote in cursive, their child would have written like this. That or they were mad. I might become mad if I read it myself.

"Are you able to make this into a more readable form-no I mean stop giggling- just because the content of a book is gibberish doesn't make the format any less useful? I think I can make out every third or fourth word with confidence."

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

I returned the book to her open arms. She pressed the book against her chest like it was a prize cat.

"Please allow me," she said,"In order to summon a hero, you must be at bare minimum a cultivator of the fifth realm able to tap into an elder core as well as delve into your own soul space. This next page is a warning about how it can backfire, but then there is this part here-it says that people summoned this way are generally granted abilities that let them survive quicker? The next few pages are what you would call fluff and then it explains some of the observed abilities that those summoned have appeared with. Did you come with some sort of ability?"

I pressed my palms against my mouth as I sat across from her.

"I didn't want to say this," I said, grabbing her hands, "But being summoned here took me from 'Dad' to 'Daddy'."

"The way you can say that with a straight face just lets me know that I'm going to never take you seriously ever again."

In the background, I swear I could head Min giggling.

"What? It's a legitimate change, and I did not have these abs when I came here let me show you-"

"I DON'T NEED A DEMONSTRATION, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" she said from behind her hands, though she wasn't actually blocking her eyes, just pretending to.

I didn't actually strip to my waist then since it would mostly just show my bandages instead of the manly cut that I had gone through. But I did embarrass her enough to see her blush clearly through two layers of ivory ivy makeup. If I couldn't make a joke with my friends here, then I didn't know what else I could do. Dad jokes gave me a little pep in my step every time one landed well.

We paused for a second when someone passed through with a slate for her to sign. She did so unceremoniously, glaring at me all the while. Just as fast as they arrived, they left and I only got a hint of their green robes on the back end.

"Anyway."

"ANYWAY? You just drop that 'Daddy' business on me like this without preamble after I find out that your ex wife is here in this world and oh yeah, you also told me you had an ex wife? Do you understand how weird that is? People don't just leave a spouse here. Or if they do, it's not like the way you and she split up."

"Well maybe they should? I doubt you would want you parents to stay together if they were fighting all the time."

"That is somehow true and infuriating. There's just no way to do it."

"Two people can't just agree to separate? Or would having to talk out their issues cause too many problems because they are tied to an ideal, and what would the clan think!"

I folded my hands. She really was gorgeous when she got mad. Not that this was intentional, but I liked a good debate.

"I mean, I guess they could. Or one could die, but aside from edge cases like that, I have never heard of anyone not being married to someone that I had been married to. It's so unheard of that when you said ex wife, I thought you said 'X wife' like she had some mysterious 'X' power over you."

"And you were worried about me?"

"Of course!"

I hadn't thought about how that would have felt to her. She was probably disturbed by me having an ex wife, and I did not wat to examine that at all, nope. I wanted to make sure that we didn't have any miscommunication though, as she had helped me out a lot and her knowledge of formations had helped me out several times. Her extensive knowledge base did not cover people voluntarily leaving a relationship, and the concept was hurting her brain.

"Egiya, a week before I was summoned here, I broke up with my then girlfriend Lauren. We had been dating for two years. It was a fun thing and I saw us going far, then I got a diagnosis of brainstem cancer and I-I didn't want her to see me. The disease was terminal. I only had six months to live. Coming here, this world cured me. I don't have any of the symptoms anymore and now that I can feel my energy, I know that it's gone. I did a lot of stupid stuff, but when Maxine and I broke up, it was for a very good reason."

"That reason being?"

"She wanted different things. She wanted to travel and go on adventures. The things that she can do here easily and I'll bet that she was super pleased until she was that I was here too. Our children are still back there and without either of us... they will be fine, but I never wanted to leave them with only one parent. Even if hate Maxine's guts, that we agreed to do the best we could for the kids, really..."

"No one is back there to watch over them and make terrible jokes," she said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "No parent should have to go through that."

"They are pretty terrible," I said in between tears.

We sat there for a minute.