For two days, Zach went about his life in two worlds, unaware that one of the most powerful people in New Albion was trying to get in contact with him.
He'd heard a rumor from the local merchants that the Princess had finally taken interest in a man, but he never thought for a moment that the man involved could be him. Rumors like that popped up from time to time, but the gossiping townsfolk considered this new one more reliable than average, since it had originated with palace staff.
The gossip reminded Zach of the existence of the commemorative 'Evy' coin that featured Princess Evelyn's portrait. He still wanted to know more about the mysterious Princess, in case she was the one from his mostly forgotten dreams, so he planned to trade for one of the special coins as part of a larger deal at some point.
The opportunity arose in the eastern market while he was shopping for a way to carry his ever-growing number of possessions. While browsing a stand selling leather goods, he asked the vendor if she had an Evy on hand.
The leatherworker said, "I do. I received one from a previous sale. Why do you ask?"
"I'd like to own one for myself, now that I can afford it," Zach said.
The woman shrugged. "I don't have much use for such a large denomination coin. I can trade it to you, if you buy something too."
"That works for me. I wanted to buy a bag from you anyway." Zach picked out a large bag that had two flat straps that could be worn over the shoulders, then paid for it and the Evy with three Crowns and 2 Harts. $60 for a real leather backpack seems fair. Considering that and the price of my shoes, I guess leather is pretty cheap here.
The woman pulled him close and surreptitiously pressed the heavy gold coin into his hand. She whispered, "Be careful with that. Fifty Harts would be a lot to lose to a pickpocket. Those Evys may be enchanted to prevent forgery or damage, but they ain't traceable."
The woman smelled of warm leather and a faint sourness, likely from some part of the tanning process. Zach vastly preferred it over the scent of horses and manure that dominated some areas of the city.
He nodded, then slipped the coin into his new bag's innermost pocket and fastened it closed. He slung the bag onto his back and was pleased with how it felt on his shoulders. It reminded him of his schoolbag in a very bittersweet way. "Thank you for the advice, and the wonderful backpack."
"Back… pack?" the woman said, trying the unfamiliar phrase out. "Ah, you mean the haversack?"
He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that's what I meant. It's a bag to pack things in, that I wear on my back, so… backpack."
"I like it," she replied. "I think I'll try calling that style of bag 'backpacks' for a while. It certainly flows off the tongue better than haversack."
"Happy to help," Zach said, offering his hand for a wrist-shake. "My name's Zach, by the way."
She grabbed his wrist, smiled, and said, "Eleanor. Come back if you ever need a custom order. I can do a lot more than 'backpacks', and my leather's sourced straight from my cousin's ranch, so I know it's top quality."
"Will do," Zach said, then he started back towards his interim home, the Hard Fought Rest. He'd grown rather attached to the place, and he'd gotten to know all the staff and most of the other regulars. In some ways, it felt more like home than his apartment in Denver, where he woke up every alternate day.
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Zach sat in his inn room, digesting a hearty lunch from downstairs and fretting about how to make more money. He had dropped down to under $1800 worth of New Albion currency, and he had no way to make more. $250 of it was invested in a single coin worth 50 Harts. The hefty gold coin depicted the Princess Evelyn on both sides, one as a child, and one as she looked after her recent and miraculous return.
He flipped the Evy coin in his fingers, thinking, Some of my purchases have been long-term necessities, like my clothes and that backpack, so my expense trajectory isn't as bad as it looks, but…
He paused with the coin adult-side-up in his hand. The Princess really was beautiful, if the detailed image was to be believed. Even at the small scale, Zach could see that she had gorgeous flowing hair framing a delicate face with high cheekbones and intense eyes. Unfortunately, the sight didn't jog any memories of his dreams.
But a business needs to spend money to make money. If I set aside enough money for a month's living expenses, that leaves only 250 Harts. Is that enough for a meaningful investment? Am I going to need to get a day jo—
Zach was startled from his thoughts by a knock at the door. He scrambled to hide his money safely inside his backpack, then called out, "On my way!"
He opened the door to see someone he had met once before. He said, "Hello. You're Alexia, right?"
Alexia nodded stiffly. Quite unlike her peasant attire the last time he saw her, she now wore a sleek purple dress with silver trim at the shoulders and waist. It seemed more suited for a noble's mansion than a run-of-the-mill inn. She fixed Zach with her gaze and said, "The Princess has requested your presence. Put your best clothes on."
Zach stood there in stunned silence for a moment, then stammered, "Oh! Really? Wow, okay, sure." He wasn't actually sure he wanted to meet with royalty, but it wasn't like he could just turn down such a request.
When Zach failed to actually move, Alexia said, "Be quick about it," then she closed the door to wait outside.
Zach scrambled to get into his jacket and shoes, then paused in thought. I probably shouldn't bring my new backpack to the castle. It makes me look like a lowly traveler. He plucked a few Harts from it, then stuffed the whole bag under the bed. Then he emerged from the room with a forced smile on his face, trying to hide his nervousness.
Alexia didn't bother to fake a smile. She had a tense air about her that was very different from the bubbly persona he'd seen the other day. In silence, she lead him to the castle on foot. He could see it towering in the distance, what looked to be about half a mile away, but Zach had never actually gone to that part of the city.
With every block traveled, the surrounding buildings got more and more extravagant, until even the cobblestones under his feet felt expensive. All the inns and storefronts dropped away, replaced by luxurious townhomes and mansions with perfectly tended gardens that were safely secured behind ornate wrought-iron fences.
On the way, Zach tried to strike up a conversation, if only to break the awkward silence. "So I guess your report about me reached the Princess? That's pretty cool. I imagine it could be good for your career in the guard."
Alexia ignored him, other than his use of the word cool to refer to something other than temperature. "What do you mean when you say 'cool'?" she asked.
Oops, Zach thought. Even if I'm not trying to blend in, I should probably dial back on slang before it causes a troublesome misunderstanding. Though it would be pretty fun if it caught on… Forcing himself back to the issue at hand, Zach answered truthfully, "Where I'm from, cool can mean good or stylish or interesting. It's a very multipurpose word."
"Uh-huh," Alexia said, sounding quite skeptical. She was silent again until she suddenly turned down a narrow alleyway between two unmarked buildings. "This way. From here forward, it would be simpler if you don't speak."
The alley ended at a large metal door with an armored guard on each side. The guards visibly tensed when they saw two people approaching, then relaxed when they saw Alexia's face. Zach was expecting Alexia to show them a sealed letter or at least say something, but the guards just opened the heavy door and waved them through.
Once they were inside the stone corridor, which was lit by some sort of magical torches every ten feet or so, Zach said, "Oh, they recognize you? Are you stationed in the castle too?"
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"Something like that," she answered cryptically. "And please don't speak until we reach the Princess."
It became apparent as they winded their way through the castle that these corridors were meant for staff use only. The halls were wide but utilitarian, with occasional plain doors and few windows. They passed some staff, all dressed in crisp black and white outfits and moving with grace and purpose as they carried baskets of laundry or plates of food.
As Alexia lead him higher and higher, Zach saw fewer male staff passing by until there were only women around, all dressed like maids. He didn't dwell on it, but the gender imbalance did stand out compared to what he'd seen elsewhere in the kingdom.
They stepped through a simple door into a far more elegant hallway. The white walls were decorated with paintings and tapestries, and rich maroon carpet was plush underfoot. Zach was worried that he might have tracked dirt inside and ruined the expensive material, until he realized that they probably had magical ways to clean the carpets.
They climbed one final staircase which spiraled tightly around a tall tower. At the top, Alexia stopped before a beautiful red-stained wood door. She pocketed something slim and shiny and silver, then gave the door two sharp knocks.
A voice immediately called out, "Please enter, Alexia."
They knew her by her knock alone? And was that a dagger she just pocketed? Zach was starting to suspect that Alexia wasn't just a regular guard, but before he could think much more about it, Alexia opened the door and pulled him into the room.
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For being at the top of a tower, the circular room was more spacious than Zach had expected. A massive bed occupied the west side of the room, and bookshelves and cabinets lined the walls between wide windows that faced every cardinal direction except east. There was a closed door in that direction, which Zach assumed lead to a bathroom. Two maids stood on that side of the room, unobtrusive and out of the way.
In the center of the room was a small table. Seated next to it in an ornately carved chair was a beautiful woman. Zach recognized her from the Evy coin, but he would have known that she was royalty regardless; her regal outfit made Alexia's fancy dress look like a burlap sack in comparison. Princess Evelyn wore a dark red dress of velvet and silk, with gold embroidery, gemstone accents, and a square cut neckline that showed a distracting amount of cleavage.
Zach bowed as deeply as he could manage while still standing, just in case, and said, "Uh, it's a great honor to meet you, Your Highness."
"Please rise and take a seat," the Princess said, surprisingly casually. "I've never been very keen on the idea of bowing and groveling."
Zach sat down across from the Princess and was suddenly very self-conscious about his clothes. He was wearing the nicest clothes he owned, but he still felt criminally underdressed. Then he began to stress about whether he should or shouldn't look the Princess in the eye. In the end, he decided it would be less rude to make eye contact.
He took a deep breath and met the Princess's striking blue eyes, then said, "I apologize for my ignorance, but I'm not exactly sure why I'm here."
Princess Evelyn cast a quick and possibly annoyed glance at Alexia, then answered, "I just have some questions for you, Zach. You've drawn some attention since you arrived in the city, and captured my curiosity."
"O-oh, okay. I'll do my best to answer all your questions," Zach said, but his thoughts were racing in another direction. So should I be more or less nervous than if I was meeting the Queen of England? The Queen is just a figurehead, but maybe so is this Princess, but this Princess might be magical, so—
"First," the Princess began, "where are you from?"
Good, she started simple. I already told Alexia the truth, so no sense lying now. Zach answered, "The city of Denver in the state of Colorado, though I grew up in small town outside Denver."
The two maids by the bathroom each raised an eyebrow at the strange place they had never heard of. Behind Zach, Alexia shifted slightly; he hadn't mentioned Colorado by name before.
The Princess went completely silent, showing nothing on her face at all for several seconds. Then she continued with follow up questions about the population of Denver and Colorado, and eventually the United States, once Zach had mentioned its existence. Zach didn't know the exact amounts, so he gave his best guesses and admitted they could be off.
Princess Evelyn didn't bat an eye at Zach's 300 million estimate of the US population, but Alexia coughed in surprise. The Princess ignored the disruption and started a new line of questioning, "Are you or any of your immediate family proficient at invocation?"
Zach wavered, then said, "Um, I guess the answer would be no."
Alexia cut in, asking, "Why did you answer like that? It's a very straightforward question. Either your family uses invocation magic or they don't."
"I'm sorry, but I don't really know what that is. I could make a guess based on the name, but I'm afraid it would be a waste of your time. I had never encountered magic before arriving in New Albion and I haven't had a chance to learn anything about it."
The Princess leaned forward. Once again, Zach found himself distracted by the cleavage-baring cut of her dress, but perhaps that was the point.
She asked, "Oh? Not even in your youth? I've heard that young children in remote regions are often visited by Fae."
"No. I also don't know what 'fae' means, though I'm guessing from context that they're some sort of magical creatures?"
Alexia was beyond irritated now. She interrupted with, "Princess Evelyn! You cannot possibly believe this man's lies! There is no country with three hundred million people and there's no way someone could have reached his age without encountering magic. Even in the Old Kingdom where they've tried to purge it, magic is nearly everywhere!"
Princess Evelyn shifted her attention from Zach to Alexia. She looked her dead in the eyes and slowly said, "For once, Alexia, you don't understand the situation as well as you think. Be quiet and let the man speak."
In a huff, Alexia retreated to the door at the northeast corner of the room with her face red and her jaw set. She glared daggers at Zach, and he felt justifiably worried about it, considering the actual dagger in her pocket. She seemed convinced that he was the cause of her rebuke, and hated him for it.
The Princess returned her attention to Zach and said, "So how did you travel to New Albion? I'm assuming a bridge from the coast?"
Zach blinked at that. A bridge from the coast? That doesn't make any sense. Whatever. I guess I'll keep being honest, even if they won't believe me.
He sighed, then said, "I don't actually know. One day I just went to sleep in Denver and woke up on a hill outside the east side of the Gwendolyn Wall." Zach decided it would be safest to not mention that he returned to Denver every other day. He didn't want to end up on a dissection table, or whatever the magical equivalent was.
The Princess considered that in silence for a long moment, then she said, "Let's stop here for the day, Zach. At 10am the day after tomorrow, meet at the staff entrance you used today. If you aren't there, I will send guards to find you and you won't like the result."
Zach nodded slowly, thankful that she picked two days out, since he wouldn't be in this world in one. "Sure thing."
The Princess turned toward the two other maids and said, "Bethany, you'll be the one meeting Zach at the staff entrance."
The maid on the left, who had strawberry blonde hair in a short ponytail, stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Yes, Princess Evelyn."
The Princess continued, "And I'd like you to escort him to the staff exit now."
Zach stood and followed Bethany to the door, feeling Alexia's seething gaze on him until the door was fully closed behind him.
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At the bottom of the spiral staircase, Bethany broke the silence. "Sorry about Alexia. She's used to being in charge of things, and she hates being wrong."
"So she's not just a regular guard then?" he asked as he followed Bethany through the maze of staff corridors.
Bethany stifled a laugh, then said, "She does love to use that cover story. No, she's head maid to the Princess."
Then Zach asked, "Does 'maid' mean something different around here? Back home, it meant someone who cleans, not a secret agent with cover stories."
"Most maids here fit your definition, but the Princess's maids are different. Even I'm trained for combat, so if you try anything, I'll have to gut you."
Zach stumbled a bit and looked up at Bethany with a hint of fear in his eyes. After seeing how pissed off Alexia had been, being gutted was a legitimate concern of his.
Bethany laughed again, less restrained this time. "I'm just kidding. I can gut a fish, but only because I lend a hand in the castle kitchens from time to time. I'm actually the only one of Princess Evelyn's maids who worked here back before she returned. You'd think my experience would make me the head maid, but like I said, things work differently now."
For reasons Zach didn't understand, Bethany had decided to open up to him. He figured he might as well make use of it. "Um, on a different topic, the Princess mentioned some terms I don't understand, like 'invocation magic' and 'fae'. Can you explain what those are?"
"Riley's the mage in training around here, but I can tell you a bit. Invocation is one of the three branches of magic. Augmentation and connection are the others. Invocation is the one that conjures fire and light, while augmentation is what Riders use on their horses and what healers use to heal people."
Bethany paused in her explanation, looking unsure, then she said, "I don't know much about connection magic, or about fae for that matter. All I know is they're creatures made of mana that like to prank people. They avoid cities though, so I've never actually seen one."
Before he knew it, they were at the big metal door. Zach stopped and said, "Thank you for the conversation, and for answering my questions."
Bethany smiled and her green eyes sparkled in the magical torchlight. "You're welcome. It's nice having someone to vent about Alexia with. In case it wasn't obvious, she and I don't get along."
Then she opened the door and walked with Zach past the guards. When they reached the opening into the street, she asked, "Do you know your way back from here?"
"Yeah, though I was hoping you could give me directions to that Grand Library I've heard about? I'd like to be a little less, uh, clueless."
She happily gave him directions to the library, then she said, "Meet me here at 10am in two days." Smiling, she added, "Or else."
"Of course. See you then," Zach said with a wave. The whole ordeal had taken about three hours, leaving plenty of time to go check out the library before dark. After all that stress, some calm and quiet studying should be good for me, he thought.