Alexia smiled at the two men, but there was very little warmth in the expression. She looked tired in a fundamental way that sleep alone couldn't fix. "I need to go check on something else. I'll let Zach explain the specifics of his ability." Then she left, closing the door softly behind herself.

Zach took the furthest seat at the long table that occupied the center of the study. He crossed his arms on his chest and sat up tall in his chair. He was willing to give Milo a chance, but he planned to stick up for himself if the mage started acting like an ass again.

Milo remained standing near the other end of the table. He kept his hands hidden in the pockets of his red robe. "So, you're from another world?"

"That's right. Well, it's the same planet with a bunch of differences."

Milo's face was unreadable. "Like what?"

"My world has no magic, for one. And no kobolds or elves or any intelligent non-humans whatsoever."

"Uh-huh…" Milo said, doubtful.

"But we have technology far more advanced than what the kobolds can make. Flying vehicles faster than the speed of sound, spaceships to fly to the moon and beyond, and buildings over 100 stories tall. And a lot of that technology is available to regular people." Zach paused in thought for a second, then said, "For example, the anodized titanium in your wand, my dad used metals like that every day to make bicycles for children to ride." Zach thought about mentioning cell phones and the convenience of having the entire internet in your pocket, but there was no way Milo would understand just how impressive that was.

It wasn't immediately apparent whether Milo even believed what Zach had said. He pulled a chair out from the table, flipped it around, and sat down with his arms crossed on the back. "Enough about your weird world. What good is your ability to us? Can you bring things over?"

Zach shook his head. "No. I can't bring anything at all, not even clothes." He blushed a little at the memory of waking up naked in the countryside and having to steal clothes to get by. "But I can bring information, and I happen to have a very good memory."

Milo didn't seem impressed. "So what information have you brought over, and what have you accomplished with it?"

"I needed to raise money, so I sold coffee at the equinox festival, using a recipe from my world to make it approachable to regular folks. And then I researched where people had mined gold in my world and invested all my Harts into gold mining."

"What a waste," Milo spat.

"Huh?"

"You're wasting your ability! You could be changing the world and you're selling coffee?!"

Zach flinched back. He had not expected Milo to care so much, or at all. Feeling defensive, he said, "I only sold coffee to get enough money to make a big investment. My gold mining venture is the real deal. My claim contains over 200 tons of refined gold, and New Albion is going to pay me for everything they dig up. I can change the world with that money" He rubbed his chin and mused, "Back home, that much gold would make me a multi-billionaire, one of the 100 or so wealthiest people in the world."

Milo went stiff, his eyes laser focused on Zach's face, looking for any sign he was lying. "200 tons? As in 400,000 pounds of pure gold?"

"That's right. 24 karat gold bullion, or whatever your terms are for pure gold," Zach answered.

Milo didn't know the exact value of pure gold in New Albion because the government had a monopoly on it, but he was still confident that Zach would be among the wealthiest individuals in this world as well. That is, if New Albion actually kept to their agreement. But given how cozy Zach seemed to be with the Princess, that was more likely than not.

And if Zach was destined to be that wealthy and if he had access to even more information that powerful, Milo wanted in. He had been curious before, but he was excited now. "Alright, I want to research this ability of yours—"

Zach cut in, "We call it flipping. Like flipping a page of a book."

"Sure, whatever. I want to study your ability. Can you demonstrate it?"

Zach smiled awkwardly. "Well, it happens whenever I sleep at night, unless I'm connected to another person, which is why I need to sleep tied to someone."

"Like that maid who got hurt and wouldn't stop screaming until I knocked her out," Milo said dismissively.

Zach winced as he remembered Riley's injury and his own part in it. He couldn't stop himself from responding, "You know her name is Riley. Give her some respect." Milo didn't reply or escalate things, so Zach continued, "But my ability stopped working. Ever since our trip to visit the kobolds, I can't flip. That's what you're here to help with."

Milo scoffed. "So I need to research an ability you can't even demonstrate?"

"I guess? Fern and the professor that Riley recommended both seemed to think you could do it. And once we figure it out and get it working again, you can study it in action."

At Fern's name, Milo perked up. Then one of the doors opened. Zach and Milo turned toward the sound.

"I heard my name," said a familiar voice, feminine and energetic, "so I figured it was time for my entrance. Did you tell Milo that I'm going to be helping out?"

It was Fern, bouncing on her toes as she approached the table. She wore a sleeveless and knee-length green dress in the human style, but she was barefoot and had a kobold-made necklace of polished beads, mostly vivid blue. Milo could guess the beads contained cobalt, the blue metal that kobolds loved so much. New Albion was happy to sell any cobalt they found to the kobolds, since trying to smelt it released poisonous fumes and it wasn't even particularly useful.

That line of thought faded as Milo took in the rest of Fern's appearance. Her light brown hair was glossy and smooth, and it framed her face wonderfully. The ears that poked out of the top were perky and alert. Milo guessed that meant she was in a good mood. He was in a good mood too.

Milo smiled and answered her question, "Alexia hinted that you'd be helping, and I'm happy to see it's true."

Zach blinked. He could hardly believe it; Milo was being pleasant.

"Thank you, Milo. It's nice to see you again as well. And Zach, of course." Fern pulled a chair out from the table, between Milo and Zach. She made sure to slip her tail through the opening in the chair back as she sat down. "The task at hand is to figure out why Zach can't flip anymore. So, where do we start? I never did get to see Zach's flipping in action, so I don't have much to contribute right now."

Milo looked at Zach. "You're the one with the special ability. Got any ideas?"

"Um, there's an approach I learned in school that could work well here. It's called brainstorming, and we all just spit out all our ideas as they occur to us, no matter how unlikely, and we write them down. Then we go back through the list and evaluate the possibilities."

Fern smiled broadly and the tip of her dog-like nose wiggled as she said, "Ooh, I like it. I'll start! Exposure to high altitude during the trip could have affected you in some way and disabled your ability to flip." Zach hurried to write down 'high altitude' in his notebook while Fern continued, "Or maybe it was your shoulder injury or the magic it was treated with."

Milo said, "Or something you ate or drank in Sunrise? Though I ate the same things as you and my magic wasn't affected at all."

"Still worth noting down," Zach said as he wrote. "No idea is too silly. Throw everything at me." Then he added his own idea, "Maybe it was that mana cave you showed me, Fern."

"Ah, good idea! Exposure to that much mana could certainly have an effect. Similarly, it could have been the Fey during the stampede. That was even more mana than the cave."

Milo nodded, then said, "Side-effect of the mana quake? Or the ritual that caused it."

"Ooh, good one," Fern said, causing Milo to blush a little. She pointed a paw at Zach. "Perhaps the ability was only temporary and it's been too long since your first flip. Or it needed to be refreshed occasionally and it's been too long since your last one."

Zach was not happy with either of those suggestions, since they implied he'd never get home, but he wrote them down just the same.

"He could have become magically attuned to this world," Milo said. "Though that's basically the same as Fern's suggestion."

Zach was inspired by that. "Or physically attuned, by consuming enough food here. After all, everyone's bodies are growing and cells are being replaced all the time. I'm no longer the same mass of cells that I was when I first arrived."

"Cells?" Fern asked. "What are those?"

Zach raised an eyebrow, concerned. "Oh, you haven't discovered cell theory yet? The idea that every living thing is made of billions of microscopic cells working together. Please tell me you have germ theory at least?"

Milo cleared his throat. He wasn't keen on getting a lesson from Zach about his otherworldly knowledge. "Let's stay on track. What else could have caused his ability to stop?"

"Emotional attachment," Zach guessed, "to this world and/or its people."

That gave Milo an idea. "How much do you two know about connection magic?"

Zach shook his head and Fern said, "Nothing."

"Do you know anyone who does have knowledge of it?"

Fern answer, "Not I. That Gatehouse organization keeps all their information locked down and us kobolds never cared too much about the specifics of their magic, so we just let it be. They don't even buy wands from us like mages do."

Zach raised one hand. "I know someone with some understanding, and the connections to get any information they don't already know."

Milo eyed him doubtfully. "You do, do you?"

Zach squinted back. "But why do you want to know?"

After a tense pause, Milo explained, "I think your ability might be a form of connection magic, but I need a lot more information to confirm it. So who's this person you know?"

"If you two are cleared to know my secret, I guess you're probably allowed to know this. It's Princess Evelyn. She trained under a Gatehouse member to use Farspeaking magic. Even the Gatehouse can't say no to royalty."

Fern grinned and started wiggling in her seat. "Ooh, exciting!"

Milo stared at her. "I thought you said you weren't interested in connection magic."

"I wasn't before, but I am now. And I like Princess Evelyn. She's a kind person and I'm sure working with her for this research would be fun."

Milo was stunned by how beautiful Fern was in that moment, cheerful and excited. But he tore his eyes from her and said, "So who wants to be the one to talk to Alexia about the Princess?"

Fern glanced between Zach and Milo. "She's in quite the foul mood lately, isn't she?"

Zach winced. "Yeah… I think I'll try going straight to Evelyn's room instead. Want me to do that now? You two can chat while I'm out."

Fern and Milo both stared at Zach with very different expressions on their faces. Fern looked like her typical happy self while Milo looked slightly terrified. It was obvious that he liked Fern, but being alone with her seemed to be a bit too much for him.

Good, Zach thought, I can torment him a bit, and if he grows closer to Fern maybe he'll stop being such an asshole.