Gage was instantly on his feet and climbing down into the hole. A moving figure was good. But someone who had collapsed? That was very bad. In this heat especially. Even the shade shelter only made the sand cool enough to sit on, but it was still dry and hot. He quickly grabbed two bottles of water from the freezer. One for himself and one for whoever was out there. He only had to keep them alive long enough to get to the house. Then they could worry about recovery.

Next, he went to the garage, barely noticing as Ma’tuk raced around a half foot from his head in a panic. Thankfully there had been a summer pastime that he had enjoyed before the Wanderer. Many in his town had, especially the tourists, had enjoyed white water rafting. This left him with two options to help him drag that person back here. The first was an inflatable raft, quite a large one too. It had been used to take out multiple people at a time as well as a good amount of gear. The down side was it would take too long to inflate, and while the raft would fit the person comfortably and slide along the sand pretty well, it was heavy in its own right.

The other possibility was a kayak. It would be light and easy to pull through the sand. However, he would probably have to strap the person to it in order to bring them back. He went for the kayak. Eshu, seeing him pulling it out and into the house, started running back and forth down the hall, dodging Gage’s feet as he worked to maneuver the kayak to the room with the hole in the roof. While it wasn’t easy, it had still been faster than hauling out the raft and trying to fill it up.

To get it up and out, he sat it along the ladder and shoved, pushing it up and out through the hole. Sunlight poured in and he cursed. “Damnit!” He had forgotten about the shade structure. He ran back into the house to grab a few more items. The two water bottles, a thin blanket, his hat, some straps he used for tying gear to the roof of his car when it hadn’t been buried under who knows how much sand, if it was even still there at all.

After a moment he grabbed a few more bottles of water. Overheating was pretty serious, and even if it meant costing him some water, he had to help. “Eshu stay! Ma’tuk you stay too and keep an eye on him. Do everything you can to keep him safe.”

“My Lord!” Ma’tuk raced over towards the kayak, but Gage waved him off as he pulled on the wide brimmed hat.

“I mean it. Keep him safe.” He shoved the items into the hollow of the kayak. Grabbing an extra strap, he tied it to the front handle and set off. His pants were already very light and airy. The thin material and billowy shape kept his legs somewhat cool. His shirt was a thicker quality, and he could already feel the sweat beading at the nape of his neck to trickle down his back.

He fixed his eyes on the collapsed form and strode forward with a steady pace. The sun beat down and he only paused briefly every now and then to take a sip of water. He was more used to having to measure out enough to last him for a hike, but now he had no way to replenish it. To make matters worse, he had no way of knowing how far out the individual had been. That made it even more dangerous. If he couldn’t reach the fallen form in a decent enough time... well, he might already be too late. Heat exhaustion was bad, but if it turned into heat stroke? Whoever it was might be fried from the inside out.

Slowly, steadily, the form of the collapsed person grew closer and closer. With the heat bearing down on him, he finally made it to the prone form. He dropped the lead he was carrying and moved over to the... child?

No. The person laying down in the sand, half twisted onto one side, was not a child but rather just short. Maybe about four and a half feet? If that? His, for as far as Gage could tell he was male, hair was such a pale blonde it bordered on white. It was clear to see that his clothing had not helped his situation. It seemed to be made of a heavier cloth. He wore a deep blue tunic, a pair of trousers that had some wraps around his legs below the knee, and fur lined boots. In the sand next to him was a bundle of what looked to be bits of leather armor, a shield, and some fur tied up in a cloak or some such. Strapped to his back was a simple, yet beautiful axe.

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His lips were so dry and cracked that the blood had dried out as well. His skin, which had been a pale tan at one point, was reddened severely. His hands, face and neck, even the points of his ears. His ears!

Gage had to pause for a moment and stare. There was no way. Ma’tuk had said something about other worlds being caught up in this new one, but he had not been expecting to see an actual elf, let alone one passed out before him. More importantly, the elf was still breathing. Quickly he shook it off and got to work. He took off the elf’s tunic and trousers. It was a struggle to get the leg wraps undone, but he was thankful to see the elf was wearing some loose linen breeches under the trousers.

Taking the thin blanket, he quickly spread it out and rolled the elf onto it. Taking two of the water bottles, he placed one under each arm of the elf, and a third between his legs before rolling him up with the blanket. Traveling through the desert, they had warmed a bit. No longer cold from the enchanted freezer, but still cooler than the desert air. Was it enchanted? He shoved the thought aside to ask Ma’tuk later. The water in the bottles should help keep him cool. Assuming the elf had a somewhat similar anatomy, the water would help cool the blood vessels that were close to the skin there. Too cold and it could send him into shock. Hopefully the bottles had warmed sufficiently to not cause any problems on the way back.

With some small effort, the elf was swaddled up, hefted onto the kayak, and bound in place. Taking the final water bottle he poured it carefully over the blanket. He tried to soak the torso the most but made sure to get some over the legs. The evaporating water should help cool the body as well. This was mostly quick triage, but if he could get the person back to the house, he might have a chance.

Grabbing hold of the strap once more, he began pulling the kayak back towards the house. He had only gotten a few feet when he remembered everything the elf had had with him. It was heavy! Hoisting it over his shoulder, he carried it and pulled the kayak with its unconscious passenger back home. The sun beating down.

He nearly collapsed into the shade of the shade structure once he finally made it, taking the time to catch his breath. The shade structure? Hadn’t he knocked it down before he had left? Yet here it was, above him.

“My Lord Kin! Oops! Gage’kin! You have returned! Thank the Kin you are safe.” Ma’tuk whizzed around him. His colors, which seemed to be permanently the new pinkish red, shifting with joy. “And you brought the person! Oh!” It stopped short, hovering near the unconscious head. “He is one of them! I was not expecting that!”

“Ma’tuk, how did the structure get put back up?” Gage spoke as he stood, going over to the kayak.

It did a bob, dancing around under the cloth. “Do you like it? I was getting worried and needed a distraction, so I put it back up.”

“Yes, but,” He grunted and decided to focus on his task. He untied the elf from the kayak and was trying to gently lower him into the hole along the ladder. It took some time, and asking Ma’tuk to keep Eshu back, but he managed to get the bundled-up elf down and inside. Several minutes later he was deep in the house, unwrapped and laid out on the cool kitchen tile. Gage sat next to him, taking cold bottles of water from the freezer so they could warm a bit before he swapped them out with the ones already cooling the elf. The elf gasped weakly, which he took as a good sign before laying a fresh, dry blanket over him.

A few feet away, Eshu was laying down and staring back and forth between Gage and the elf. Ma’tuk hovered near the hound’s head, a rosy hue. “Okay Ma’tuk, I think he might be out of the danger zone? He is cooling down at least. If he wakes up, I can give him some water, but he should be in the clear then.” Turning to face the orb. “So, an elf?”

The orb did its slow twisting tilt. “Yes!... And no. The term ‘elf’ from your people is probably the closest thing you would have for his kind but, like humans, he would probably name himself by his people. Like how you would inherently call yourself an American. You are both in a world now, however, where such specie-al distinctions matter.”

“Species-al? Specie-al?” He shook his head before continuing. “Right, well, I don’t speak Elvish. If he wakes, how am I going to talk to him?”

Ma’tuk lit up at that. “I can help with that! Until you learn it for yourself, I can translate most basic words between the two of you. To you he would be speaking English, and to him you would be speaking... Vanr. The means to do so would draw from your power, but the draw would be less than the worship you are getting already.”

Gage opened his mouth, “Worship?!” The shock in his voice quite clear. Before he could say more, the body next to him moaned and began to stir.