The next morning, Erin was lying on her back across her bed with her left leg in the air when there was a soft knock on the open door. She turned her head and saw Kirchel entering the room.

“How does it feel by now?” Kirchel asked, watching Erin bending and unbending her knee.

“I still can’t bend it all the way, but otherwise it feels mostly back to normal.”

Erin did a few more of her knee exercises and then lowered her leg and sat up.

“Well, what did she say?” she asked gloomily. “Are they coming on the next flight here to cart me off to a mental institution?”

Kirchel shook her head and walked across the room to sit on the window seat. “No, they’re not. Or at least not yet. Your father may need to see some solid evidence before he’ll really believe our story. But I can tell your mother, being her usual sweet self, would much rather believe us than think we’re both lying or insane.

"She said she wasn’t sure what to think after your call last night, but it seemed to help a lot that I backed up your story and offered to give them proof if they wanted it.” Kirchel sighed. “Still...she said that your father was seriously concerned by what you told him and is beginning to think it would be better to have you come home. They’re going to call back tonight after they’ve talked things over.”

“So they still might decide to make me go back? It would be better for me to stay, though, wouldn't it? I mean, we still haven’t got Wraith figured out, and I’d feel a lot better having you close by if he shows up again.”

“Yes, I brought him up when I was talking to your mother,” Kirchel said. “I think you would be better off staying here for now, too. But it’s up to your parents to decide.”

Erin looked down at her knees and didn’t say anything.

It wasn’t really that she didn’t want to go home. She missed her family and didn’t want to stay away from them forever.

But Kirchel was her family, too, and right now Erin felt more of a need to stay with her. Besides Wraith, there were still so many things about magic and the other world that she wanted to learn. And she didn’t want to go off and abandon Kirchel when she was still feeling low because of having to separate from Arturyn.

“Well, I’d better get over to the shop,” Kirchel said, standing up with a sigh. “I called there after I finished talking to your mother, and things are in a state of minor chaos. There were three more weddings scheduled while I was gone. And a funeral the day after tomorrow.” She ran a hand over her face, looking miserable. “I hate weddings….”

“Do you want me to come with you and help?” Erin asked, sliding off the bed and looking around for her shoes.

“If you want to. I wouldn’t mind having someone there to distract Sarah when she tries to start teasing me about the weddings.” Kirchel grimaced. “I’m really not in the mood for that right now….”

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“Are there any more of those dark red carnations? I need to make one more bouquet.”

Kirchel looked up from the wreath she was working on. “How many do you need?” she asked tiredly.

Erin consulted the list on the table next to her. “Four. There’s one left here, and it says five for this bouquet.”

Kirchel reached over and pulled four white carnations out of one of the plastic buckets on the table. With a slight gesture, she made them turn a deep burgundy and then passed them across the table to Erin.

“That’s handy,” Erin said with a grin, taking the flowers.

Kirchel merely nodded and went back to her wreath. Erin watched her for a moment before she started trimming the stems of the carnations and putting them into the glass vase in front of her.

Ever since they had gotten back from Isil-Gal four days ago, Kirchel had had that same deadened, withdrawn look she was wearing now. It worried Erin, although she understood the reasons behind it.

The last few days hadn’t been happy ones.

On top of their disappointing trip to Raylmiyr and having to leave Arturyn again, Kirchel had a lot to handle with her shop right now. The funeral had been the day before, and now there were three weddings to plan, order, and prepare flowers for, plus a large, last minute order for flowers for a conference at one of the local hotels tomorrow morning. Not to mention the usual steady demand for birthday, anniversary, and thank you bouquets....

Kirchel had spent most of the last four days here in the back room of the shop, trying to get caught up on the huge workload.

And then there were Erin’s parents. They had decided to let her stay with Kirchel for the time being but had done so rather reluctantly.

They still didn’t completely believe Erin’s and Kirchel’s story of traveling to another world. Erin’s father had even hinted that he thought some of Kirchel’s herbal concoctions might have caused them to hallucinate the whole thing, in spite of Erin repeatedly assuring him that her leg and hands really had been healed and telling him that he could come see everything for himself if he wanted to.

Erin finished adding greenery in around the carnations and went to put the vase in one of the refrigerators, which were already packed full of flower arrangements ready for the next morning.

“I think that’s everything you wrote down for me,” she said, getting back to the table and looking at her list. “Is there anything else you want me to help with?”

Kirchel shook her head. “I just need to finish this wreath, and then we can call it quits for the night.” She glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed. “About time, too. It’s after eleven. Why don’t you go ahead and clean up? I won’t be much longer.”

Erin swept the leftover leaves and bits of stems off her side of the table and into a wastebasket and put the flower buckets away. Then she washed her hands, which were now stained green and yellow from handling so many flowers, and hung her work apron up on the rack next to the sink.

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“I’ve been meaning to ask you about something,” she said as she sat back down at the work table. “What exactly is an ivareh?”

She couldn’t help glancing around the room as she said it, even though she knew they were alone. The shop was closed and locked, and Sarah and Anthony, who had been helping them earlier, had left a few hours ago to go see a movie together.

“The magical version of a telephone, basically,” Kirchel said, working a cream-colored carnation into the wreath. “It's actually more like a video phone, I guess, because it lets you see who you’re talking to.”

“And you’ve got one?”

Kirchel nodded. “Yes, I do. Why? Were you hoping to talk to Jechrin?” she added with a small, knowing smile.

“He asked me to call him before we left Katan Jyrat.”

“Well, I don’t see why you couldn’t. We’ll have to be careful of the time difference, though. It’s not easy to get through to talk to a member of Silmarith royalty at the best of times, and I’m sure their nayladi—that’s like a receptionist—won’t look kindly on us if we try to call in the middle of the night.” Kirchel frowned a little. “I’m not sure exactly how many hours Eloril is off from us. But I’ve got a chart back at the house. We can take a look at it tomorrow and work out when would be a good time to try calling.”

“Okay,” Erin said, happy at the prospect of being able to talk to Jechrin again. Then a sudden thought occurred to her and she frowned. “Do you think I’ll be able to talk to him through it, though? Or do I have to actually be near him for him to do that language projecting thing?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really understand how he does it, so I don’t know what kind of constraints there might be. But I’ll be there, so I can translate for you if you need me to. You might not enjoy the conversation as much that way, but it would be better than nothing.”

“It sounds a little awkward, but I guess it could work.” Erin hesitated a moment and then added, “And I guess you could maybe talk to Teral, too, while we’re at it.”

“Teral?” Kirchel looked up, her expression rather blank. “Oh…yes…Teral,” she said after a moment. “Yes…I suppose I could….” She turned back to the wreath, looking slightly bemused.

Erin stared at her. What was with that response? Kirchel and Teral had been almost inseparable while they were in Katan Jyrat, and now she was acting like she barely remembered him?

There was something very peculiar about their relationship. Erin didn’t understand what it was, but it made her uneasy.

Maybe she shouldn't have brought up the idea of calling after all....

She really did want to talk to Jechrin, though. Over the past few days, she'd frequently found herself wishing that he were there. She felt like it would be a lot easier to figure out how to deal with Kirchel and her parents if she could talk things over with him.

Erin didn't entirely understand her feelings toward Jechrin. Kirchel and Arturyn both seemed to think that she had a crush on him, but...that wasn't quite right. It wasn't like she had a lot of experience with that kind of thing, but she'd had the occasional passing crush on a celebrity or classmate, like most girls her age.

Jechrin was...different. She definitely felt a strong attachment to him, but it didn't exactly feel like romantic interest. It wasn't really the same as the attachment she felt toward her family members or friends, either.

She didn't know what to call it.

She wished she could talk it over with Kirchel. But she was pretty sure it was a bad idea to bring that sort of topic up right now....

“There, I think that does it,” Kirchel said, lifting the wreath off the table. “Help me put away the rest of these flowers, will you? Then we can go home and get to bed.”

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“Where do these ones go?” Erin asked, gesturing to two large flower arrangements sitting on top of the cart she had just pushed into the hotel conference room.

“On the buffet table,” Sarah said, pointing. “Put them on either side of that fruit. You can move some of the dishes out of the way if you need to.”

“Got it.”

Erin pushed the cart over to the left side of the room, where a long table was half covered with food. In the center was a large display of cut fruit on tiered plastic trays. She shifted two bowls of salad and a tray of tiny cakes out of the way and set the flower arrangements near the fruit. Then she pushed the cart back out of the room, dodging around tables and several members of the catering staff, who were still bringing in trays of food and putting silverware and glasses out on the tables.

Sarah was standing near the door, consulting a list on a clipboard. “Is that everything?” she asked, looking around the room.

“It had better be,” Anthony said, pulling a second empty cart over to them. “We’re all out of flowers.”

“Well, it looks like we got everything on the list, so I guess I’ll declare us finished,” Sarah said with a sigh. “Let’s pack up. If we hurry, maybe we can get back to the shop in time to save Kirchel from going insane over the wedding orders.”

The three of them took the carts out to the parking lot and loaded them back into the van. It was a bright, clear morning and was already getting hot. Glancing at her watch, Erin saw that it was just past ten-thirty.

“Well, I’m glad that’s done with.” Sarah pulled off her dark green work apron and threw it and her clipboard into the back of the van along with the carts. “I hate having to do big jobs on short notice.”

“I just hate having to wear these aprons,” Anthony replied, grimacing as he struggled to undo the ties on his own apron.

“How do you always manage to get them tied in knots like that?” Sarah asked, laughing. “Here, let me do it.”

She stepped over and began untangling the ties for him. Anthony flushed slightly but looked pleased at the same time.

He and Sarah had gone on a date together for the first time the previous week. Anthony had admitted to Erin that he had liked Sarah for a long time but had been unable to work up the courage to ask her out before now. This came as startling news to Erin, who had a hard time believing that the debonair Anthony she knew could be that shy.

Kirchel, though, hadn’t seemed surprised by the development at all and only said she thought it was about time he got a move on.

Erin watched Sarah’s and Anthony’s playful banter for a minute or two with an amused smile. Then she pulled off her own apron and folded it up, taking a moment to run her fingers over the white embroidered logo on the front, her smile and amusement both fading.

She knew now what the dragon and roses really represented, and she felt an aching sympathy for Kirchel and Arturyn as she thought about them. If things had only gone differently in Raylmiyr, they might be enjoying each other’s company now, too, like Anthony and Sarah, instead of being alone and unhappy in two different worlds.

With a sigh, Erin placed her apron in the van next to Sarah’s and turned back to the other two.

“There you go,” Sarah was saying, finally pulling Anthony’s apron ties apart. “Next time just tie them in a bow, will you?”

“I did tie a bow,” Anthony protested, pulling the apron off over his head and tossing it unceremoniously into the van. “It just never stays in a bow. Either it comes undone, or it knots itself up. It’s not my fault. Those aprons just hate me.”

Sarah rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling. “Maybe you could ask Kirchel to order you some with buttons instead,” she said teasingly. “Unless you think the buttons would all pop off as soon as they saw you. You probably—”

She broke off abruptly. Her smile had vanished, and she looked frozen on the spot.

“Sar?” Anthony said, looking puzzled and slightly concerned. “Are you okay?”

Sarah seemed to come to life again. “We need to get back to the shop—quickly,” she said, swinging the van’s rear door closed. Her expression was suddenly very serious, and there was a note of urgency in her voice.

“Why?” Anthony looked startled. “What’s wrong?”

“I’ll explain later,” Sarah said, pulling the van keys out of her pocket and striding rapidly toward the driver’s side door. “Just get in.”