He was taking her back to his apartment. The walk following behind Desmond was long, but this time there were less people to dodge or weave in and out of which made it more peaceful. After a while, Desmond had slowed his steps to let Airya catch up to him and then walked beside her. He was explaining how he lived on his own for now, since he only had a couple more months until he graduated, but his plan was to go to the campus in LA and work on becoming an anthropologist. He apparently loved people and cultures and wanted to study them and learn all he could.

He pointed to the building that he started walking toward in the distance. It was where he lived. It was odd being at the bottom of the building that she remembered months ago being on top of in the night. Airya continued to follow him, looking up at the tall buildings around them. She wondered how many people were inside each one. He waved to many people as they walked by them. They waved back briefly, smiled, and then hurried away. A few of the people stopped and talked to him and Airya stood back not wanting to be involved with their conversation even though some of them were pointing at her and Hethei. Desmond laughed at them and told them something she couldn't hear leaving them nodding their heads in understanding and waving at her as they walked by.

"What are you telling them and why do they keep looking at me weird?" she whispered, already embarrassed by how she treated him.

"They are wondering who you are. Almost everyone here knows me. I have made time to try to get to know just about everyone because people are just so amazing, you know. They see you following me and are just curious and asked about you, but don't worry. I’m not telling them about your portals and where you’re from. I’ve been telling them that you are my cousin who is a bird trainer that loves to cos-play and came here to visit."

"Cos-play?"

"Dress up really cool basically."

She nodded and stroked Hethei's head.

"You have been to lots of worlds, right?" he asked her.

She nodded.

"So, you have gotten to meet a lot of people and learn about how different everyone is?”

She shook her head, "No. I normally stay away from people. There have only been a few that I have talked to or really got to know," her mind shot back to Nokia.

"But why? You have an amazing opportunity to study people and really, I mean really, figure people out. Even on the most basic levels with all they have in common or not, based on their surroundings and what makes people, people, or creatures, creatures."

"Because most people or creatures are scared of something or someone new and then they attack. One time I was chased through a town like they wanted to rid me from any world completely."

He shook his head this time, "I don't understand why people don't want to learn from others and why they don't see the value in the different. It would really fix the world, you know? Well, in your case the universe. That's why I try to make myself known to all. I honestly think that if everyone thought like that, then everyone would be more accepting and loving and we would have less pain and anger in the world. People just need to learn how to live without that," he pointed to a building across the way, "I can’t just feed you ice cream while you are here, so do you want to grab dinner over that way before I show you where I live?”

“Sure.”

“Awesome! It’s one of my favorite places. It’s called a bakery. Ever heard of one of those?"

She shook her head, watching his hopeful eyes searching deep into hers, waiting for the spark of happiness he was so desperate for. She could tell there was something he was clinging too and that he didn’t want her to go just yet.

"Bakeries are the absolute best. My uncle who raised me was a baker. Would always make me the best bread soup bowls and cakes to cheer me up. Bakeries have pastry sweets and even sour tasting bread or breads that taste close to nothing and feels like you are biting into a cloud. They can make so many things in all different shapes, tastes, and sizes. The special thing with bakeries and making bread, dough, or batter is what it teaches you. Which is that we all need each other. If people don't work together then all would be lost. Just like when you bake, if one ingredient is missing then it won't work at all. In order to make a masterpiece, you need all the ingredients and all the types of people in this world represent all the ingredients to life. "

Airya couldn't help but to break out in a grin over his pitch.

He cowered a little into his shoulders, realizing that he went a little overboard with his speech. She nodded not just because she wanted to see him happy with her decision, but because she was really curious. Food that you had to add multiple different things into and if you forget something or messed up it doesn't work? She tried to incorporate the lesson that his uncle had taught him into life. She guessed she could see how it was true. If in Nokia one of the many people with their many different types of jobs were missing then the kingdom would possibly fall apart.

She smelled the bakery before she saw it. The air was full and taken over by an invisible force that overtook her nostrils filling them with a feeling of homeliness and wholeness. She took a deep breath desperate to take it all in and for the smell to fill her stomach. Ahead, she saw a small white building in a line with others with more tables and chairs outside than the ice cream place had and there was shade covering each one of them.

He rushed her over to a seat and sat her down. Hethei took off and perched on top of the building not exactly liking being a passenger on Airya who was being yanked around. As soon as Desmond sat down across from her, an older lady with long black hair came out with a small like spear on her ear. She was carrying what looked like a thin large book.

"Good afternoon, Desmond." She smiled at him not recoiled at all by his scars, "Nice to see you brought a friend today."

"Good morning, Lacy! This is Airya!”

The lady turned and smiled at Airya only a brief moment of shock flickering over her brown eyes when they met Airya's.

"There is no need for a menu. A bread bowl of creamy chicken gnocchi soup with green onions on top for her and bunny chow for me with green onions. Also, two sprites."

"Brought out with the food as usual?" she smiled at him.

"Yes, please! Thank you for your time as always Lacy!"

She rubbed his head, laughed, and walked back into the building.

"She has always been really nice. As you can see, I come here a lot. It’s the closest place I can find to the things my uncle used to make me. Oh, by the way, bunny chow is not made out of bunnies if you know what those are. It’s just curry in a bread bowl."

"I don't know what those are."

"They are a little ball of fur with big long ears that hop around. They are actually very cute. I'll have to show you one sometime!"

She smiled. It did sound cute, but his words threw her off. Did he expect them to be friends and her to visit him again? Or did he mean he was going to show her after they ate. "What do you mean sometime?"

He looked confused like he didn’t realize what he had said, "I'm sorry. I guess in the back of my mind I feel like there is so much for you to learn of our world, that I can’t imagine you just coming this one time. Maybe it’s the future anthropologist in me, but there are more things I would love to learn about you too.”

She looked around at so many of the buildings and things around her that she had no idea about. To have someone from another world to be able to show her things and teach her things who wasn't afraid of her and didn't expect anything from her except maybe her telling him about her world or her life. Wouldn’t that be a friend? To gain knowledge in return of knowledge of his life and his world? That thought made her feel like she could reach a wholeness in her life at some point and not be completely alone while trying to bring her people back. But she had that before. Recently in fact and it tore her up. The difference with him though is that he was not royalty and he didn’t expect anything out of her, except her company. Which was something that she was finding was a need in her heart for too. Since everything, she was too lonely to not have someone to talk to without her falling into a dark place. "Would you like to see more than just your world one day?"

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

He sat up straighter. It made her worry that what had happened that last time she took him somewhere was playing through his head, but then he leaned in toward her, his bright green eyes digging into hers, "You said that you got better at traveling to places than the last time?"

She nodded trying not to grimace.

"Frek. I would actually love that. I could do for an escape."

His smile was contagious, not just to her, but also to the woman he called Lacy when she walked back out with a tray full of their food and drinks.

Airya looked down at her food as it was set in front of her. It was a big round fluff with a crater in it filled with a not so clear liquid that let off smoke. Another spoon was set beside it and green circles floated on top of the liquid.

"Don't eat it until you blow on it. It’s hot," Desmond warned kindly, "And right after you take your first bite, take a sip from your cup," he pointed to the cup with his spoon. "It’s sprite. It really brings out the onions and gives you that spark you need of life!"

A food that gives you a spark of life that you need? How interesting that sounded. She slowly picked up the spoon and dipped it into the thick liquid and brought it up to her mouth. She blew on it a couple of times, the smoke running along into her nostrils filling them with a warm and kind aroma that was strong. After a few more blows, she put it into her mouth. The leftover heat on the bottom of the silver spoon warmed her tongue as the liquid ran off it and onto her taste buds. It was creamy and earthy with chunks of meat that she bit down on releasing their flavor along with the green circles that she imagined were the onions. She picked up the cup of drink in front of her that bubbled in the sunlight and took a sip. Her mouth sprang alive as the bubbles bounced all around her mouth and down her throat intensifying the flavor. She set it down and looked to Desmond in horror.

He laughed taking another spoonful of his own soup, "What’s wrong?"

"I didn't know my mouth could do things like that?"

He laughed harder unable to stop for the longest time. Tears ran down his cheeks and the scars on his face reddened and purpled along with his one ear that he had. When he had finished laughing, he tore off a part of the fluff holding in the soup and dipped it into his and held it out to Airya.

"This is the bread dipped in my soup called curry. It’s pretty strong and spicy. You don't have to try it if you don't want to, but why not?"

She couldn't think of any reason not to. She didn't know what spicy meant and wanted to see. She stood up and leaned over to him, which seemed to take him by surprise. The sparkles on her dress she saw glittered off his skin and scars playing with the sunlight. When he realized that she wanted him to feed it to her, he stretched his arm out further so she didn't have too far to go and she wrapped her lips gently around the piece he was holding taking it into her mouth and then sat down again. She was too amazed by the different kind of burn it gave her compared to the ice cream to notice Desmond's wide eyes as she quickly chewed the piece and swallowed it and then took a sip of the drink to cool her mouth which only made it burn a little stronger. She held her tongue out and looked to him shocked that he didn't have the same reaction with any of the bites that he had taken.

He laughed again, her reaction taking him out of his own little daydream, "Tear off some of your bread or eat more of your soup and that will make the spiciness wane."

She did as he said. The fluffiness of the plain bread in her mouth picked up little bits of the heat and more of her soup seemed to calm it. She had never had such a fun experience eating before. In no time, they were done with all their food.

"Thank you for that," she said after he had given Lacy some green paper and they walked off again. Hethei landed back on her shoulder.

"It was my pleasure. Thank you for letting me experience it again for a first time with you," he smiled and then looked away. His scarred cheek was deepening to a purple and his other cheek was turning a dark red, “Let me show you where I live now in case you ever need to find me. Hethei will need to come through the window though. I think if anyone saw us bringing an owl inside, they would contact the landlord. Would he mind?”

Hethei puffed out his feathers.

"Does that mean he does mind?" Desmond laughed.

She laughed, "Yes, but he does that all the time for about anything."

Desmond nodded and continued to lead, "Is your world your favorite place to be?"

Airya's face fell. She was happy Desmond was looking at Hethei so he didn’t see, "No. Hethei and I actually have a favorite place that is calm and peaceful by a lake. We have gone there a few times. I found it when I was in my younger-aged body and first got my powers."

"Younger-aged body? Never heard it said like that before. How old are you really? It is a shock to see you how you are now, when months ago you were so much younger."

"I'm in an seventeen-year-old body now."

Desmond looked a little alarmed for a moment, like some idea had run across his mind, "Do you guys switch bodies or something?"

She laughed, "No. There is this spear that my parents used to age me and some of the other children whenever the parents were ready. I spent different amounts of time in different aged bodies."

"Oh, frek. That’s fascinating," he was staring at her wide eyed, "So it’s magick."

Airya shrugged, "I guess. It wasn't so great though. Going from a six-year-old body to a thirteen-year-old one was really frightening. When it’s happening, you don't know how different you will end up, especially after getting used to how you were for so long."

"Six to thirteen? That’s a big jump!"

"Yes, I know. My mom wanted to be able to teach me more. She was my teacher."

"Wow. She taught you well it seems."

"She did," she whispered.

They walked in silence the rest of the way. Airya figured from the way his face seemed to be calculating something that he was trying to take in and imagine the magic that she had just told him. His face brightened when they came up to a big sangria square building with many squared openings spaced evenly all about it, "This is my apartment building!"

"It’s so giant. Do you live here alone?"

"In the whole building, no." he said trying to cut back his laughter, "But in the apartment, I do, although I technically am not supposed to. The authorities think I live with a friend’s mom. She was nice enough to lie about it, so not many things had to change for me after my uncle passed."

A few people came out of the building and smiled at Desmond.

Airya petted Hethei goodbye and pointed to the top of the building. He looked at her annoyed and then took off. Desmond took out a small rectangle and put it under a small part of the wall that protruded out making it light up green before there was a click and he pulled the door open. They walked into a hallway full of endless doors on each side. People came in and out of some of them. Some of the people were quiet while others were loud. They took a door that led to stairs and walked up three sets of them before exiting out into another hallway that looked identical to the last one. Finally, after walking past many sets of doors, he turned to one and inserted something into the door that made another click and it opened.

The room was small and crammed. There were two small couches to the side and a big black box in the middle. The floor was almost a faded yellow. There was also a big round seat that seemed to have no true form except as a round blob in front of the black box with devices on the floor and what looked like black worms connecting those to something under the black box.

Desmond opened the window to allow Hethei to fly in, moved the black blob in front of one of the couches, and then sat on the green couch. He motioned to her to sit down in it. “You don’t have to, but bean bags are something out of this world. It’s my favorite thing to game in.”

She went to it and sat down, not enjoying the way that the seat seemed to eat her. Hethei tried sitting on it too, but once it moved, he flew away and found something sturdier.

Airya was trying to understand how such a small space could be his home. The last places she had visited, there had been so much open space like her temple, except for the witch’s house. It was odd to her that so many people were crammed into small rooms in the big building. A thought of Atta and the Soloc dragging her around, throwing her into their small cramped homes, came to her mind and made her ankle twitch. She looked to the walls and saw a bunch of the same kinds of pictures incorporating music, "What are those?" she asked pointing.

He looked up at his posters, "Those are music festival posters. I love going to music festivals of all kinds. And luckily here in LA we have so many of endless types. It’s just amazing to me the different ways that different cultures or even different genres of music are expressed. You can learn so much about a group of people from listening to even just one song!"

Airya smiled remembering Aesha playing music with the kids, and when she was younger, her people by the mountains creating music themselves. It made her ache to see something like that again.

"I want to thank you, Airya.”

She looked to him.

“That day. I was lost after finding my uncle recently, but then you were there and when you had offered to take me somewhere else and did, it made me realize how much more there was out there. How much more I had to live for. It helped me not want to give up. It made me more than ever want to learn about people, cultures, and life in general,” he was squeezing one of his fingers with his other hand refusing to look directly at her. He was looking to the couch instead like there was something there he was missing. “And besides that, you are actually the only person that has ever hung around me this long besides my uncle. Usually, people are too busy or have others things to do, which is OK! I also imagine that it’s hard for them to look at me. But you don’t look at me that way."

"What about your friend with the mom taking care of you?" she asked quietly, not quite sure on how to take his compliment.

He gave a nervous and hurt laugh, “His mom is great, but sometimes people just grow out of you, you know?”

She slightly understood when it came to people aging and not being able to connect with you the same way any longer, but she didn’t think that was what he meant. "I appreciated the things you taught me today." She thought about how during brief periods of their time together he had managed to help her forget her pain, especially at the bakery, but she didn’t want to express that to him.

He gave her a small sad smile.

That smile made her realize that she wasn’t ready to leave him yet. She wasn’t ready to dive back into searching other worlds alone.

"You are unbelievable. In a great way," He shook his head and blinked hard. He looked to her with a fresh face to get rid of the tears in his eyes. He held out his hand to help her up and brought her to the door so that she could go. “Thank you again. I will be here if you need me. It is honestly ok if you portal in. I will either not be here or be alone.”

She appreciated how he didn’t seem to want to push her for her to stay. It felt freeing. It was respectful.

“Do you want me to take you to Hethei and my favorite place?”

Airya didn’t want to leave him alone by himself just as much as she wasn’t ready to be alone yet too. A part of her was ashamed to feel this way. Guilty in putting aside her own people once again in search for something else. But the nightmares, the loneliness, it scared her and she wanted to breathe.

He looked at with a tilt of his head, possibly confused at why she thought she even had to ask. “I would love that.”

She took his hand.