The garden was full of blossoms Maia did not recognize, but weird flowers were the least of her concerns at this point. Giant fluffy blue petals that put you in mind of storm clouds, complete with small arcs of lightning, seemed almost mundane to Maia as she stared up into a sky that looked to be a perpetual sunrise. Maia could not see anything immediately in the distance except a forest beyond the vine covered stone garden wall, but beyond the forest spires of crystal rose behind the trees. It was literally breathtaking and Maia had to suck in a breath as she remembered she was a being who needed oxygen to survive.

“Maia, come join me!” Clara called from her right, sitting at a table and benches made from a curling living tree. A fountain lay behind her, ornate and bronze like the bathroom fixtures, offering a spray of rainbows from its multiple tiers. Maia wasn't sure how she envisioned paradise, but this garden would certainly at least be a small section of it. Trelli zipped through the air over to her companion, chittering happily.

“What is this place?” Maia said with wide eyes, gesturing to her surroundings.

“Sit and eat, child.” Clara said firmly and as Maia complied, she added, “I guess you could call this a waystation of sorts, or an inn for travelers who happen into the between. Not everyone is so lucky as to arrive here, but for some reason this place seems to attract the most visitors. But as I said before, we haven’t had a guest in a very long time. “

“At one point, humans regularly appeared. Though there are those who now monitor the comings-and-goings as there were one to many authors going back and writing about their time here, which would have been fine if several of them weren’t such awful people. I remember this one fellow Carroll.. An absolute creep. He was lucky he went back alive. Now I think the only author they regularly allow is someone called.. What was it? Gaiman, I think.”

“Anyways, this is a place for dreamers, outcasts, and lost ones as well as magical beings and creatures. In order to arrive, you must have either a reason or a guide. The reason could be anything, a child who gets lost in the woods or a writer looking for inspiration. Sometimes, it is just a person who needs a friend.” Clara said softly, petting Trelli’s small head.

“But to get back, they must have that reason met, which has taken some only hours and others, years.”

Maia, who had been carefully applying jam to a flaky pastry, looked up in horror, “Years?”

“Indeed, though some of us decide not to leave at all,” Clara said with a small smile. Maia looked around her at the sky, the flowers, and even at the pastry in her hand. She could see why someone might decide to stay. If she didn’t have responsibilities waiting for her, if someone could take care of Marshmallow for her.. Maybe. She pushed the thought away. She couldn’t stay here, she would stand out like a sore thumb. She was just.. Average. If anything, Maia believed that she was below average: she wasn’t very smart, very pretty, very funny.. She just was.

Maia had fallen into the kind of despair that she did not even realize was despair. She truly believed that she could make this place less magical with just her existence in it, which somehow was both egotistical and backwards in a way only humans can manage. Maia, like many people, looked at herself and saw someone who did not deserve such a magical experience such as this. In your world’s terms, she saw herself as a side character or an NPC. Yes, even mysterious narrators know about video games.

At some point during her life, Maia, like many children, was told she was too much or too strange, and so had pushed down the part of herself that spoke confidently, who asked grown-ups why when they told her to obey. Maia had slowly quieter and more doubtful of herself. People who squash that light in children deserve a good slap and then some therapy, but they rarely get either.

After a moment, Maia pulled herself out of her quiet reflection and asked, “But what if you didn’t have a reason? What if.. And I can’t believe I’m saying this.. What if your cat sent you here by yourself?”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Well then, you can try petitioning the Portal Parliament, though I’m not sure they even meet any more.”

“The Portal Parliament? Someone wasn’t very creative with their name, were they?” Maia sighed.

“They tried to change it many times, but no one could ever agree. Anyways, they are the only ones who can send you home without a reason or a guide. Afterall, a guide needs to be someone very close to you, and it doesn’t seem like you want to spend the time it might take to develop a deep bond with anyone.”

“I mean, could you take me?” Maia asked hopefully.

Clara smiled, “We’ve only known each other for a night, my dear, and I must tend to the way station in case anyone else arrives.” Maia knew she was right, but she had felt a kinship with the strange woman. No one had listened to her as intently as Clara had last night in a very long time. In fact, the last time someone had listened to Maia for so long and so attentively was her best friend, Kristi, in the 5th grade during a late night phone call. When someone really listens, a warmth spreads through your heart that cannot be achieved in any other way. Being seen and understood by someone who truly cares about you is a gift, one which Maia had not often received. Clara seemed to sense Maia’s growing worry that she had shared too much with the other woman last night and reached out to pat her hand.

“I would love to spend more time with you. You are an excellent and very humorous drinking partner.” Clara said with a sparkle in her eye. “Trelli is a very excitable drunk, so we don’t often drink together anymore. I can only be affectionately bitten so many times in an evening.”

Maia laughed, “I have never seen anything like her. You called her an Elix-something?”

“An Elixie, typically they are companions to herbalists, witches, and the like. Anyone who dabbles in potions. Trelli here, well, she isn’t quite like her kin. She is really only good at making poisons. She can throw together a quick poison in less than a minute as long as there is a wooded area nearby. She really doesn’t like doing it unless she feels it is justified though. Mostly I catch her making and slipping laxatives into rude guests’ tea. I can’t always blame her for it either,” Clara chuckled. Trelli seemed to give a mischievous smile to Maia, who looked down at her glass hoping she hadn’t done anything to offend the Elixie.

“I will remember to stay on your good side,” Maia said to Trelli. She and Clara laughed and began eating their breakfast in earnest. Afterwards, they took a walk in the garden and began to discuss Maia’s journey to petition the Parliament.

“I have something that might help you on your journey, and I think that it will feel a bit familiar to you in a way.” Clara said cheerily.

“Oh, what is it?” Maia asked.

“Follow me!” She replied, taking off with an excited stride of a woman half her age. They went through the halls and Maia realized she did not really know how big the building was, nor had she paid any attention to its exterior when she was in the courtyard. Indeed, the Waystation was massive, and if she had noticed, she would have seen a large stone manor with aspects that could have been both Greek and Asian in nature. It was doubtful even Clara knew all the secrets of the Waystation as it was an ancient place, as old as their two worlds.

After passing through halls full of portraits of strange creatures and beings, which Maia would have loved to stop and ponder if she hadn’t been trying to keep pace with Clara, they passed into a room with paper sliding doors with an elaborately painted mountain range.

Maia followed Clara full of curiosity into a room, filled to the brim with shelves of scrolls and hung with tapestries of landscapes. Clara took a scroll from a nearby shelf and sat in the center of the room at a short wooden table surrounded by colorful seat cushions. Maia took a seat next to her as Clara unrolled a map on the table in front of them. Maia was unfamiliar with the topography illustrated, but saw that the Waystation was clearly marked with a red star. In the corner of the map was a large compass rose which Clara traced with a finger fondly. Then without warning, Clara bit her thumb until a bead of blood swelled to the surface and pressed it gently against the compass rose. The map appeared to absorb the blood, which was quite unsettling to watch as the blood seemed to flow into the ink and bring a new luster to the colors of the geography. It is one thing to see something like this happen in a movie or read about it in a book and quite another to see it happen before your eyes, and despite all that she had already seen Maia gave a small gasp. Thinking she was prepared for the map to do almost anything, she still nearly fell backwards when she suddenly heard a man’s gruff, sleepy voice.

“This had better be good, Clara. I was finally getting some good sleep.”