Liam sat at the kitchen table, cradling his head in his hands. Unless someone from the other end brought Nathan back, there was nothing he could do to rescue the pup. In theory, he could pass through the toilet himself, but the risk was too great he’d get stranded there.

Honestly, what would happen if a dog jumped through the portal? Would guards at the other end perceive it as a threat and then attack it? A young dachshund wasn’t exactly a threat to a warrior, especially not a calm dog like Nathan, but in a moment of surprise anything could happen. Liam started piecing excuses together in his mind like that the dog escaped out the back door or that he hadn’t even noticed it was missing. It physically hurt his chest when he imagined trying to explain something like that to Vince.

His phone beeped. Vince had texted: We can go back in the dorm. I’ll pick up Nathan in a few minutes. Thanks!

Oh crap.

A bell chimed from across the house.

“Wha!?” Liam then recalled the bell he installed on the toilet seat cover so he could detect people passing through. Someone was emerging from the toilet. Hopefully, they were here to return Nathan.

On the other hand, there was no guarantee the visitor was friendly. The situation warranted caution. Liam approached the master bedroom quietly, tiptoeing down the hallway. He heard a couple of footsteps, but nothing else. Pausing at the threshold, he strained his ears listening for any signs of who had arrived. He thought he could hear panting, like from Nathan, but he wasn’t sure.

“Um, excuse me?” A female voice he didn’t recognize called out. She sounded young, or at least younger than him.

“Can I help you!?” Liam asked from outside the suite. It was an utterly surreal situation.

“Yes! I’m here to return this dog! At least, I think it’s a dog…”

“Arf!”

Liam threw caution to the wind and ran into the bathroom. “Nathan!” He hardly noticed the young woman holding the dog.

She extended her arms and held out the dog toward Liam, but he ignored her.

“Hold on.” He grabbed a compact electric space heater that was sitting in the corner of the room, pulled down the toilet seat cover, and placed the space heater on top to dog-proof it. He sighed in relief. “Okay!” He turned and accepted the dog, placing it gently on to the floor. “Sorry about that! I’m Liam.”

“Oh.” The girl appeared flustered by all the commotion and momentarily delayed reciprocating. “I’m Beth, apprentice magus.”

“Beth? Uh, I guess we should go to another room to talk?”

Before she could reply, Nathan barked again and tottered out of the room, so Liam chased after him, leaving the young magus behind, blinking.

“Vince will be here soon. I’m not taking any chances.” Liam caught up to Nathan, scooped the dog up, and placed him in the guest bathroom. He shut the door, locking the dog inside.

“Um!” Beth called from down the hallway. “Should I…?”

“Oh, follow me.” Liam poked his head in the bedroom, gestured for Beth to follow, and then walked into the kitchen.

Beth looked around nervously as she trudged after Liam. “This place is so…”

As she arrived in the kitchen, Liam gestured for her to have a seat at the kitchen table. “This is where Lyria sat. Do you know her?”

“Yes! She’s quite famous.” Beth sat down.

“Thank you for bringing back N—“ Someone banged on the door.

“Yo, Liam!” Vince’s muffled voice penetrated the door.

“So quick…” Liam muttered. He held up a finger to his mouth, cautioning Beth to keep quiet. Liam gestured toward the closet in the kitchen.

Beth nodded and walked toward the closet, quietly opening the door. She turned, raising a hand partway as though she was going to gesture to get Liam’s attention, but she gave up halfway and shut the door behind her, leaving it open just a crack.

Meanwhile, Liam jogged over to the guest bathroom, collected Nathan, and returned to the front door. “Coming!” He opened the door.

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“Hey man, you saw my text this time, right?”

“Yeah, I’m glad you can go back. Here’s Nathan.” Liam handed the pup over.

“How’d he behave? Take a dump anywhere he shouldn’t have?”

Those words cut deep for Liam, but he pretended everything was fine. “No problems.”

Vince leaned in close. “You got a girl over?” He raised his eyebrows twice.

“Huh? No. Oh, I was just watching something.”

Vince narrowed his eyes for a second but dropped the matter. “Aight dude, I’m gettin’ out of here. Thanks again!” Vince turned on his heel and trotted away, continuing to carry Nathan like a baby.

“Arf!”

Liam shut the door and returned to the kitchen. “Okay, you can come out now.”

Beth pushed the door open, slowly. She plodded over to the kitchen table and sat back down.

“What’s wrong?” Liam noticed she seemed a bit off.

“Oh, nothing. I’m sorry. The dog was not yours? Nathan, was it?”

“Yeah. I was just watching him for a friend. So what happened?” Liam sat across from Beth.

“Nathan came through the invisible door and startled all of us. The guards looked like they were going to do something foolish so I protected the dog.”

“Th–Thank you so much!” Liam was truly appreciative. Given the unusual circumstances with his magic toilet, he could not afford to have anyone investigating about where a friend’s missing pet went. Not to mention, he’d feel terrible if he got his friend’s pet killed.

“Oh, I’m just glad things… worked out.”

Liam thought it was a bit strange how Beth fumbled over her words at the end there, but it would be rude to say anything about it. “So they sent you to return him?”

“Yes, since the dog had taken a liking to me, the kingdom asked me to bring it to you and ask you if you need anything.”

Liam brought a hand to the bridge of his nose and squeezed it between two fingers. “I’m doing a lot better now than when Alaric’s group was here before. Do you have time for me to ask you a few questions?”

“Of course! There’s nothing more important than aiding the hero!”

“Actually, it’s wrong for me to ask you a bunch of questions but not answer any of yours. Do you want to take turns?”

“N–No, I couldn’t possibly demand anything like that when we’re the ones who used the summoning ritual to—“ Beth interrupted herself as though a thought suddenly occurred to her. “Actually, if it’s no trouble, I supposed I could ask a few questions… but of course I’ll stop as soon as you’ve had enough!”

Liam had a very important question to ask. It wasn’t at all the result of a childish whim. He took a moment to gather his thoughts and word his question while he took in Beth’s appearance. She seemed to be perhaps eighteen? She wore an outfit that screamed mage, not that Liam really knew what mages dressed like in the other world. Her robes covered up her figure pretty well, but what struck him was the stubby white hat that looked like somebody sat on a tiny Egyptian pyramid. She was cute, and her long dark hair was surprisingly luscious considering the world she was from, but she lacked the otherworldly beauty of those two elves from earlier.

“Uh, okay. First of all, I didn’t have much time to ask Lyria and the others, but what is magic like?”

“Uh…” Beth looked really confused.

“I mean!” Liam tried to correct himself but he wasn’t even sure how to start.

“Oh, you have no magic in this place, right?”

“Yes! Please! Explain it to me like I’m five!”

“Five?” Beth tilted her head.

“Can you fly with magic? Attack enemies from far away? Add enchantments to equipment? Tame monstrous beasts? Summon undead monsters? Heal people back to full health in an instant? Teleport to other places? Commune with the spirits?”

“Wha!?”

“Did I say something wrong?”

Beth narrowed her eyes at Liam. “You seem to know a lot for someone who knows nothing about magic…”

“Well… I’ve seen a lot of movies. Actually, here.” Liam took out his cell phone and started searching for videos.

“May I ask what that is?” Beth craned her neck to get a closer look.

“My phone. Ah, here!” Liam hopped up from his chair and stepped around to Beth’s side of the table. He pulled up a different chair to sit right next to her and held the phone so they could both see it.”

Her cheeks reddened slightly, but her curiosity won out and she glanced down at the object in front of her. “What are you showing me?”

“This is a scene involving magic. It’s the Battle of Hogwarts.”

“It is?”

Liam looked back down from her face to the screen and noticed an advertisement was playing. “Oh, dammit.” He eyed the countdown timer which said he needed to wait five more seconds before he could skip the commercial.

The narrator spoke, “These are the faces of erectile dysfunction.”

“What the hell!?” Liam complained. “That’s such an old commercial. Why now?"

“Um, Liam, what is erectile dysfunction?”

At that moment, the countdown timer reached zero, and Liam immediately clicked to skip the rest of the advertisement.

“Anyway! Here it is.” The scene played out on his phone’s small screen.

Beth was enraptured. Her eyes were glued to the video. At one point, she even covered her mouth with her hand to keep in a gasp.

Liam wasn’t sure if she was overcome by the representation of magic or just the presentation of a story in the form of a movie. As the clip came to an end, he looked down and noticed her hands were trembling as they lay on her lap. “How was it?”

“I… I don’t know what to say…”

Beth’s statement reminded Liam of a song from his favorite Broadway play, so he responded in kind. It was a bad habit of his.

“Then make no sound.”

“What?” Beth finished processing Liam’s statement and then pressed her lips shut.

“No! I’m just joking!” Liam protested. “Here, it’s a song. I’ll play it…” He fiddled with the phone again and brought up the song about a heart full of love.

This time, the visuals were not as exciting, so Beth closed her eyes and focused on the lyrics and beautiful melody. When the song finished, she wasn’t trembling this time.

“See? I was just quoting them. You don’t need to keep quiet or anything.”

“It was a beautiful song, like nothing I’ve ever heard,” said Beth.

“Yeah, it’s pretty nice,” Liam agreed.

“It is about how love forms between a couple, and a second woman learns her love will never be reciprocated?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess that’s true. I’d almost forgotten since I haven’t seen the show in a while. I’m impressed you figured that out just by listening once.”

“Liam, was there a deeper meaning to you… choosing that song to play for me?”

“Deeper meaning?” Liam tried to figure out what Beth was getting at, but he was a bit oblivious when it came to such things.