After a short pause, Karan finally spoke.
"Elara is a woman from your realm who came to Narval. She stayed in Narval for a long time before returning here.
As for why I'm looking for her—there are people I need to save in there, and I can't do it without something Elara brought back with her when she returned to this world."
"Do you know this woman? I mean… Do you two actually know each other? Like, is she expecting you?"
"In the realm I come from, everyone knows Elara," Karan replied. "She's a great sage — she taught the people of Narval many things. I met her when I was a child, though I only remember bits and pieces.
She and my sage, Erdun, walked the same path. They shared a purpose — and stood side by side through much of their journey.
She's not expecting me, but I'm almost certain she'll remember who I am once I tell her." "This is good," Chiaya said. At least when they found her, they might get a reunion with an old friend instead of a restraining order.
Then again—wait. Was Elara Vardal even the name of a real person?
When the food arrived, Chiaya quickly began serving things onto her plate. Karan watched her for a moment, then copied what she did.
In Narval, it was considered rude not to eat according to the customs of the house that hosted you.
He had gone hungry more than once on his travels, simply because he couldn't figure out how to use the eating tools he was given.
"Can I ask you some questions about this realm?"
"Of course."
"When I asked before, I didn't quite understand your answer. So I'm asking again—soul power doesn't work here?"
"What do you mean by soul power?"
"Mmm, Karan, try this—it's amazing," she said, scooping something onto his plate.
"I mean the inner strength a person has. The power used to hold things, to create soul-objects, to cast spells."
"Oh. No, we just use our hands. And to be honest, I can't believe magic is real—oh my god, how did they make this omelet? Do you think it'd be rude to ask for the recipe? It probably would be."
She added more food to Karan's plate.
Chiaya didn't look like she was eating—more like she was fighting her plate.
It was the kind of thing she only did when she was home alone and absolutely starving.
She had no idea what had gotten into her, but she felt oddly at ease."Oh, but Lavine does believe in magic. I don't think we'll be able to get out of tomorrow night's meetup—and chances are, you're going to meet her. You can ask her then, if you want."
Chiaya had glanced at her phone briefly before the food arrived. There was a long string of messages listing all the creative ways they'd torture her if she didn't introduce them to the mysterious childhood friend Buse had seen—and eleven missed calls.
Karan nodded. Rushing ahead hadn't gotten him anywhere before. This time, he would move slowly but surely. Acting on incomplete information only led to wasted time. The people he'd tried to talk to before had gone out of their way to avoid helping him — but at least Chiaya was trying. Even just watching her go about her daily life was enough to teach him a lot."What kind of beings live in this realm?" Karan asked.
"Roughly speaking? Plants, animals, and humans. Though I do believe aliens live among us too."
"What is an alien?"
"You know, intelligent creatures from other worlds."
"Does that make me an alien?" Karan asked.
"No, no, of course not. You're human… i mean, you look like one. They probably look more… different."
"Have you ever seen one?"
"No, but there are tons of theories."
"So, you believe in something you've never seen — but not in magic?"
Chiaya was cornered. All she could say was, "That's different!"
And she stuffed her mouth with food just to avoid having to answer.
Humans generally couldn't use soul power. They didn't know where Narval was, and they didn't know Elara either. Although he didn't fully understand how things worked, he noticed they used metal boxes to get from place to place, wash and dry their clothes, and keep warm. For now, this was all the information Karan could gather.
Actually, now that he thought about it, their cooking was quite good.
Karan had stopped asking questions and started eating. After a while of silence, Chiaya, feeling full, finally managed to lift her head and look at him.
"Karan... do you have a family?"
"If you mean my mother and father, no. I was raised by Erdun the Sage, and I consider him my family. There were many orphans he took in, and they became my sisters and brothers."
Chiaya felt sorry for Karan, but she comforted herself because he spoke about it so nonchalantly.The awkward silence was broken by Karan's question.
"What do we give in exchange for the food we eat?"
"Money, of course."
"What is money? Is it some kind of stone?"
"Oh no. Remember the thing I gave you this morning, the one you wiped your forehead with? That's money. When you buy something, you give that in return. The person you give it to then uses it to buy other things."
"Where do you get money from?"
"We earn it by working. For example, I work as a translator for a foreign trade company. I get paid based on how much I work.
""We use Forstones for that." Karan said.
"You use what?"
"Forstone. Like this."
Karan pulled a few small stones of varying sizes out of his sack. They were transparent, with colorful veins running through them—truly beautiful stones.
Chiaya picked up one of the tall ones.
"Oh, pretty," she said, mesmerized.Karan smiled faintly at the look on her face. He didn't remember the first time he saw Forstones. He had never really thought about what they looked like, but he did remember the moment he saw the glowing veins that appeared when he cast his first spell.
"You can keep it if you want."
"Really?" Chiaya's face lit up.
"It would be amazing if I could make a necklace out of this. Thank you, Karan," she said with a smile.
When the waiter brought the bill, Chiaya handed her a credit card.
"You said we pay with money," Karan said.
"There is money inside this card" Chiaya replied.
Karan took the card from her and examined it.
"Isn't this magic?"
"It's not magic, Karan!" she shouted.
On the way back home, Chiaya asked, "How about some music?"
For a moment, Karan thought she was going to sing.
When Chiaya turned on the radio, the first song she heard started with,
"If there is some magic left in the sky..."
"Oh my God!" Chiaya shouted again and slammed the radio off with a punch.