Wat had been good to his word: Mery’s room at Cooper’s was warm and bright from the fire in the hearth. “Good lad,” Mery said as she rubbed her hands by the fire. “I’m a summer child. Always loved the heat. You’d like the summers here. All green grass, blooming flowers, thunderstorms, and long, long twilight.”

Isa sat on the edge of the bed. “How’d you know I like those things?”

“What brown-eyed girl doesn’t?” Mery grinned at Isa over her shoulder. “And now that you got me alone in my room, what’re your intentions, then?”

“What do your other brown-eyed girls do when they find themselves in such a situation?”

“Ah Isa, there is none like you.”

Isa threw her head back and laughed. “Does that line ever work? A+ for delivery, but….” Isa smiled.

“Ooo, you’ve a cold heart!” Mery grinned and walked slowly to the bed. “But perhaps it’s not too late ta save ya. Perhaps I know some magic that could melt it.” She pulled Isa to her feet. “But to make it work, I’ll need….”

Isa reached out and began to unbutton Mery’s shirt. “You need to take off your shirt; isn’t that right? To cast a spell this special, you can’t be constrained.” With the shirt unbuttoned Isa could run her hands down Mery’s sides. She let her fingers glide down Mery’s warm, smooth skin to her hips and then to the buttons of her pants.

“So true,” Mery murmured. “We don’t want anything to come between us.” She took off her shirt as Isa unbuttoned her pants. “But that means, lass, that you’re wearing entirely too many clothes yourself.”

Isa whipped her shirt over her head and pulled off her bra. Mery’s hands went to Isa’s pants, and she pulled the sideties free. She gripped the top of Isa’s pants and knelt, pulling the pants down with her. “Ah yes, that’s so much better.”

Isa felt Mery’s hands move up the backs of her thighs, and she shivered with pleasure. With her hands on Mery’s head Isa said, “The spell is working, I think.”

“But you need to be sure, don’t you?” Mery’s mouth went to one of Isa’s nipples. After a moment she said, “We can’t leave it to chance. That wouldn’t be right.”

Mery stepped out of her pants and guided Isa to lay down. They lay naked, side by side. “This,” said Mery, “is the proper way to cast a magic spell.”

***

When Isa woke, she saw Mery sitting in one of the fireside chairs. She had only her shirt on and one leg pulled up. She stared at the fire. Dawn’s light peeked through the shutters. Isa rolled on to her side and propped her head with one arm.

“I wish I was a poet,” Isa said. “Or a painter. I want to capture this moment. You, the fire, dawn breaking outside.” She smiled. “And if dawn is breaking that means we didn’t get 8 hours’ rest. But I feel great.”

“Oh aye,” said Mery. “sometimes it’s worth the dip in your spells….” She turned and rested her head on her knee. “.... to cast a different sorta magic.”

“The lack of rest has not dimmed your charm, Mery Braydon.” Isa sat up. “But then, that’s not magic; that’s you.”

“You are quite the spell yourself.” Mery stood up. “I don’t know when I’ve had a better time.”

Isa didn’t realize it, but she was shaking her head.

“No?” said Mery. “No to what then? I haven’t asked!”

“Not with your mouth. Or rather, not with words.”

Mery sat on the bed beside Isa. “Ah but the tongue, it’s mightier than the sword, so they say.”

Isa took Mery’s hand. “I’m glad I met you. I have so many amazing memories of Varana, but you, you top them all.”

“Nothing that says we can’t make more. You can cast that gate spell anytime, you know.”

Isa shook her head again. “This place - you - are very tempting. Things seem very simple here, and I don’t actually think that’s true. And I think that’s dangerous - that illusion. My life,” she waved her hand over her shoulder as if Portland, Celeste, dentistry school, work, family were all sitting right behind her. “My real life is pretty screwed up - or maybe not. I don’t know. No, I do know. My problems there can’t be solved with a sword or a spell. So they feel huge. And un-winable. But I have to go face them.”

Isa pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. “It’s not all bad, back home. It’s mostly good sometimes. But there’s the stuff outside myself, politics, culture. That’s stuff I can’t change.” She rested her chin on her knees. “I’m babbling.”

“You’re trying to untie a knot with your mind,” Mery replied. “No easy task, that. And once you have the solution, you still have to get hands-on with the damned rope! Because thinking don’t make a thing so.”

“I don’t have the solution, at all. But I’m ready to go home, all the same.” She turned to Mery and put a stray strand of hair back in place. “You understand?”

“Of course. I make no claim on your heart. You’ve the makings of a fine adventurer, though.” Mery stood and walked back to the fire. “And who knows what sort of quests you might find in your own lands, now that you know what you can do.”

Isa laughed. “I could walk down the street in Portland with a staff, and no one would blink. The sword…. That might get me noticed.”

“Staff’s a good weapon. You handled it well.”

“That wasn’t my point. But thank you.” Isa walked to the window and opened the shutter. The sun had fully risen, and Deney was waking up.

A tree stood right outside the window. A few orange leaves clung to the upper branches. “My first morning here I climbed down a tree kind of like this one.” She turned to look at Mery. “I can’t even tell you when that was - more than 2 weeks but less than a month, I think. Part of me feels like I’ve been here forever.”

Mery stood silent for a long moment. Finally she said, “You’ll live the life you must, wherever it is you go.” She shrugged. “There’s no help for it.”

“Meaning….?”

“Meaning you’ll be a fighter back in Portland. Maybe you won’t use a sword or a staff, but you’ll quest and strive and win through, all the same. And there’s more than fight in ya. We both know that.” She smiled. “Now, let’s get you back home with some gold to show for your troubles.”