“Did he ever tell you how he came to be here?” she curiously asked.
With a slight smile, he said, “Yes. The best way to share it is to tell the story as he told it to me. It all began a little over seventy years ago. My grandparents owned a small restaurant outside of Yachats. One morning, he set off before sunrise in his fishing trawler, hoping to catch enough to support the coming week’s menu. Aiko said the ocean was as calm as a lake, not a ripple marred the surface. He had thrown the last line out when the water beneath the boat swirled with color. He said the ocean opened up, and before he knew what was happening, he and the trawler were sliding through a dark hole. Aiko clung to the trawler, terrified at first, then fascinated as the trawler slid through a funnel of water. All around him, he could see the marine life going about their business as if nothing was amiss. But the water began to change the farther he went until…”
“Until… what?” Nali demanded, leaning forward in her seat.
“Until his trawler popped out the other end of the funnel like a bobber at the end of a fishing line, and he found himself near a cove in another world,” he said with a smile.
Nali smiled too and waited to hear what happened next.
“Aiko said he waited three days and three nights, hoping the funnel would return. He was afraid to leave his trawler, worried it would disappear,” he explained.
“What did he do after the three days?” she asked.
“On the fourth day, driven by thirst, he anchored the trawler, dove over the side, and swam to shore. As he emerged from the surf, a beautiful young witch stepped out of the woods. Her name was LaDonna Fae, and she was looking for a way to sneak off the Isle. She promised she would help my grandfather if he would help her,” he said.
“Why would LaDonna need help?” Nali asked with a frown.
Asahi chuckled. “I asked my grandfather that same question. He said she was betrothed to a much older wizard and wanted to live a little before she settled down. So they set sail that very evening—traveling far and wide for years across the Seven Kingdoms,” he said.
“This must have been centuries before the Great War and the aliens,” Nali reflected. “Did he tell you about their adventures?”
“Yes. He wrote them down in his journal,” he replied.
Asahi retrieved his grandfather’s journal from his bag. Over the next hour, he shared the adventures of Aiko and LaDonna. With her dinner pouch empty and her stomach full, she placed the dinner accoutrements aside and listened with rapt attention. Several times, Nali wiped away a few tears that escaped from her eyes.
By the end, she was crying for the little boy and her heart was breaking for the old man plunged into an era he didn’t understand. Yet, she was thankful for the turn of events that had allowed Aiko to return to his own world so he could be there for Asahi. Listening to Asahi’s story made her think of Ashure’s magic mirror—the engraving on the back of it—and her own life.
“I buried him next to my Baba and father. That day, I promised him I would find a way to the Seven Kingdoms no matter how long it took,” he finished.
“And you kept your promise,” she said with a smile.
He gave her a small smile in return. Then his expression shifted to show his resolve. “I’ve decided I won’t be returning to my world,” he stated.
Nali took a breath to respond, but before she could, Ashure sleepily commented, “Like she would have let you go back after a story like that—not to mention after you two….” He poked his head out from his hammock to waggle his eyebrows suggestively, sending them a devilish smile that paired well with his wildly mussed hair.
“Shut up, Ashure,” Nali and Asahi growled at the same time.
Ashure’s snort of laughter as he disappeared inside the hammock again made Nali shake her head. She didn’t know how Tonya put up with him. Well, she did, because she knew Tonya loved him. It was impossible not to love Ashure—spirits and all.
Nali bit her lip and smiled at Asahi, sending him a heated look. They both rose from their seats at the same time. Breathing deeply, Nali checked out his physique as she remembered the previous night. One night would never be enough with him. When he touched her, she came alive.
“I’ll make our bed while you clean up. You can put all the trash in the fire. The magic will absorb it and convert it to energy,” she said.
“I have a thermal blanket in my bag if we need it,” he offered.
She shook her head. “I’ve got this,” she reassured him.
Nali tried to keep her focus on what she was doing and not on Asahi. It was difficult. Every movement he made was pure grace, power, and discipline. He was meticulous in everything he did.
She forced her attention away from him and to the wide, long bed. She suspected this hut had once belonged to a huntsman. They were slightly smaller than trolls, each had the same grouchy personality as the goblins, and loved the forest as much as the fairies. While their name made it sound like they were hunters, they were a gentle, solitary race of herbivores who preferred staying out in the woods instead of indoors.
With the whisper of a few simple spells, she created a moss mattress, goose-down feather pillows, colorful silken sheets, and a thick duvet. She looked up when Asahi stopped and admired her handiwork. She quietly laughed at his perplexed expression.
“A few enlargement spells on items already here or those we brought can go a long way. There were pieces of moss from the old bedding. After multiplying and expanding them, we
