The merchandise, at least as far as the cloth and other supplies, was easy. The people were harder to find than Soral had expected. He tried the Belleas Guild first, but most of them were guild members because they did not want to work for a specific shop. This was not going to be a project that only lasted a day.

He would need time to convince people, time to finish setting up his shopfront, and most importantly, time to finally start on the faerutil orchard. He needed that to quench his endless hunger. Soral could always wait on the shop and focus on the orchard instead, but that would put him behind on earning money for the Alodan Warriors, and for anything else they might need. Especially since the shop would take a lot of time to set up on its own.

Soral’s thoughts drifted back to his earlier idea of being in two places at once. That would also take a lot of time to create, but if he succeeded… He decided to make that his nightly project so it did not dig into his daily productivity.

Once he got the idea in his head, Soral was relentless, but testing felt a little dangerous, so Soral set himself some rules. Since this magic involved bending time, he could never meet himself. Just in case, because accidents could happen, one of him should always be in disguise. Luckily he still had the Mr. Dehd Lee outfit. That would do for now.

He tried portals and time magic first, but that didn’t seem quite right, so Soral upgraded to teleportation. Once he finally got to a point where he felt comfortable testing, Soral donned his disguise and sent himself back a single hour in The Oasis. He had said he would visit, so he would be testing while being productive in other ways.

“Soral?” Lala greeted almost immediately, “Why are you wearing your disguise?”

“For fun?” he offered, not sure exactly how to answer the question.

Luckily, Lala accepted that answer without hesitation. “How long are you staying?” she asked.

“About an hour,” he replied. He did need to find out what happened if he didn’t return by the time he traveled back, but he didn’t want to go too far over in case anyone panicked about his sudden disappearance in the middle of the night.

Actually, now that he thought of it, it was the middle of the night in The Oasis too. Why was Lala just awake and waiting for him in the red house common area?

“I’ll wake the others,” she said happily, not noticing his confusion.

Soral waited there as she ran off top wake everyone. Whyever she was awake and waiting, it was too late to turn back now. He also noticed a few moments late that he had accidentally brought Jazz with him this time. The kitica had been with him so constantly he almost didn’t notice his presence half the time. Again, Lala hadn’t said anything about his fluffy companion.

While he waited, Soral absentmindedly stroked Jazz’s soft fur. The sunglasses made the already dim room a bit dark, but he didn’t want to remove them. Part of this test was staying in disguise. As his eyes adjusted, Lala returned with Sloth and Scythe, along with a couple others Soral recognized but couldn’t remember the names of.

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“Are we doing a secret mission?” Scythe asked.

“No. I just came to visit,” Soral told them.

None of them seemed to believe him, so it looked like he was going to have to explain the real reason for his visit.

“I am testing a spell that allows me to be in two places at once,” he admitted, “This was the first place I thought of to test it.”

“So you are here with us, but also somewhere else?” Lala asked, her eyebrows crinkled as she thought hard about what that meant, “Can I do that too?”

“Probably not a good idea,” Soral told her, “It's dangerous to meet yourself, and you can’t leave The Oasis.”

“Not yet,” she told him, “Show me later when I can, kay?”

“Maybe,” Soral told her, reluctant to make promises after what happened in Belleas.

“People are bound to notice,” Scythe pointed out, and Sloth gave a slight nod in agreement, “What are you going to do when they find out?”

Soral thought about it. “What if I tell them I was visiting Mr. Dehd Lee?”

“Who is Mr. Dehd Lee, then?” Sloth asked, opening his eyes lazily.

That was a good question. Soral wouldn’t visit some random person, and aside from those who he was close to, no one should know he was Mr. Dehd Lee too. “How about my cousin?” he offered, a bit hesitantly, “Cause in our hearts we are the same?”

Scythe stared at him incredulously, glancing at his assassin buddies before looking back. “Are you serious?”

“What’s wrong with it?” Soral demanded, a bit defensively.

“Nothing… Its just, isn’t that basically giving it away?”

“Not if I don’t tell them the whole thing,” Soral replied.

Scythe shook his head, but gave up on trying to argue with Soral about this. “So what did you want to do with this hour?”

“I don’t know. Just hang out, I guess?” They seemed a little disappointed, so Soral quickly changed his answer. “Or you could help me plan my major projects?”

This caught their interest more, so Soral explained about the Disguise Clothing Shoppe, and about his plan to make an orchard with magical trees by cultivating other magical trees in a poisoned land.

“I wish we could join you,” Lala said, a bit wistfully.

The Oasis had emptied out a lot since Soral had left. Only the criminals and those with nowhere else to go had remained. Soral understood. Those who had been criminals could live somewhat normal lives here in The Oasis, but in the outside world their past would have them shunned at best. Assassins would likely never be able to see the light of day again.

“Maybe one day I can create a place you can visit freely,” Soral told her.

Lala blinked a few times before she realized what he was offering, then her face bloomed into a smile. “I look forward to it!”

Soral spent the rest of the hour chatting comfortably with them, and introduced Jazz. The kitten in question reminded him when the hour was up, and he prepared to return and conclude his experiment.

“I’ll be back,” he promised, “Maybe during the day next time.”

There was one more thing Soral was worried about as he prepared to return, and it was just as he feared. The moment Soral returned to his room, the point of his time bending test, he found a very displeased old man and his phoenix.

“I don’t suppose you happened to accidentally consume something you shouldn’t have again,” he accused, “What possessed you to mess with time?”

“I was careful,” Soral replied, “Soral did not go back in time. Mr. Dehd Lee did. Did the world almost break this time?”

Densooth scowled. “No. We were extremely lucky.”

“It’s fine. I will never go further back than a single day. Insanity said that time magic doesn’t get dangerous until you go back a week.”

“Insanity?” Densooth asked.

Soral paused as he tried to think of a way to describe her. “An ancient being who is like my mother and mentor?”

‘My sweet child, there is no need to cater to this pup,’ Insanity whispered in his mind, ‘Your time magic was perfect, and your safety steps are more than enough.’

While he agreed with her, Soral doubted Densooth would approve. Luckily, help came from an unexpected source.

“If Insanity believes it is harmless, let it be,” Zarius told Densooth, “She is more ancient than even I. A being that reigned long before the Endless War.”

Densooth seemed to hate everything about this, but reluctantly gave in. “I will allow you this, but know that I will be watching closely. Should the slightest crack appear in the core of the world due to your antics, I will see to it they can never happen again.”