Andromeda and her elderly patron walked through the city for an hour, speaking of things they had each seen in their lives, and about their homes. When she was first summoned here, Andromeda was told to not speak of her old world. It would be taken very poorly by anyone who heard her say she was from another world. So she elected to give the old man a slightly altered view of her history. Mostly just replacing the parts in space with parts at sea. The analogies aligned well enough to make sense.

However, not long after they finally arrived in the dead of night to the place he intended for her to stay. She opened the door to see dozens of men and woman, all surrounding tables throughout the room. All drinking or playing games, some arguing in the corner, there was even a couple in the corner exchanging more than just friendly words.

“Welcome to my guild hall.” The old man said.

His voice heard, the crowd erupted into cheers and chants. In almost the same breath nearly every single person locked eyes on the young red haired girl standing next to him. What was even more amazing was the shirt she was wearing, emblazoned with the monogram of the royal family.

In moments she and he were surrounded, she had to hold her breath at the smell of alcohol dripping from the mouths of all the dazed patrons. She batted away the hands of several people who were trying to grab her shirt, and one man even tried to grab her pants, to which another man brought his fist down on the small of that man’s back.

She was swamped with questions, who was she? Where did she come from? What was her name? So on and so forth. Even if she were not emotionally fragile at the moment, the sheer amount of attention she was getting was barring down on her mind.

“Everybody back off.” The old man said. “The young miss has had a harsh night. I expect you will give her space.”

His words on the surface sounded just as calm and collected as any other he spoke. There was a sliver of authority in his last word that resounded off the walls, as if he commanded the very air around them all to carry his message as clearly as possible.

There was no fear in the patrons of the hall, but they knew that their guild master was speaking on authority. To them, this girl was now sacred, and would not be messed with.

“Thank you.” Andromeda said.

“Think nothing of it.” He said. “Speaking of…”

He turned to her and extended a hand.

“I don’t think we have properly introduced ourselves this night.” He said.

“Oh, you're right.” She said.

“My name is Cain Bolis.” Cain said.

“I am Andromeda Noel.” She said.

“An-dro-Medea?” Cain asked.

“No, An-dro-me-da.” She enunciated.

“Ah, you must be from far away. I’ve never heard such a name.” Cain said.

“Aha… You have no idea.” She said. Staring out of the corner of her eye at nothing in particular.

A few minute passed and the atmosphere of the room calmed somewhat, those who drunk themselves stupid eventually fell asleep and were promptly thrown in the gutter, while others licked their lips and downed water, as if to avoid the beast called “Hangover” they were to do battle with the next day. Once the rest had cleared and the only a few were left. That was when Andromeda was called over.

Sitting at the large, now cleaned, table were four people. Cain, two other men, and a woman.

“Come, sit, my friends would like to speak with you.” Cain said.

Andromeda sat down and looked over the new people brought to her attention. Ignoring Cain who was sitting to her Immediate right, the first to her left was the first man.

He was a clean shaven man with short, curly blond hair. He had a perennial smile on his face. He wore a simple plain cloth shirt, but on his arms were two leather bracers that were loosely fastened with what looked like lengths of hempen rope. He was the only one of the three who wasn’t nursing a mug, but was jovial nonetheless.

Next to him was the second man, a taller man with a short beard, his hair all together was black. Though he was not as forward with his joyous expression as the man to his left, he still gave off the feeling of being a gentle soul. He wore a faded black coat over a matching cloth shirt to the man on his right.

Beside him was the woman. She looked to be the oldest of the three and sported a single faint scar on her neck. Her hair long and brown and instead of the same clothe shirt as to the men to her right she was wearing a green shirt of finer make, along with a brown vest. Just below the edge of the table, barely peaking out over it was a small side mounted quiver that was empty on her belt.

The blond man raised his hand first and introduced himself.

“Hey there little lady, names Martin Blue. I’m the only one here who can swing a sword and hold my lunch down.” He said. The man next to him with the beard smacked Martin in the arm and cleared his throat.

“I’m Oren Sendor, If anybody could take a hit here, it would be me.” He said.

The woman on his left waited for a moment then sighed.

“Ah, I hoped he would say more… Nonetheless, I am Circe Fora. I’m the only one who can aim between the three of us.” She said.

Andromeda took pause to assess their introductions, then readied herself to speak.

“Hello… my name is Andromeda Noel. I hope we can get along…” She said, her voice quietly petered out as she went on, but all the words she intended to came out. Which was a big win for her.

“Oh dear lords, can we keep her?” Circe said. Cain shot her a look and she shrunk down in her seat.

“There’s no need to pay her much mind, she has a soft spot for littuns’ like yourself.” Martin said.

“Hey now, don’t make me sound like some sort of criminal here.” Circe said.

“Then don’t sound like one.” Martin said, tongue stuck out.

“You two, behave.” Oren said. The two glared at each other then broke eye contact.

“I’m curious about you, er, An-dro-Medea? Are you a healer?” Oren continued.

“Its ‘An-dro-me-da’, and I just so happen to be. Why do you ask?” She said, slightly annoyed at the proximity her name has to her title.

“’me-da’, got it. So your a healer then. What kind, I’m assuming medical?” Oren asked.

“I believe so.” She said.

“Believe so? Do you not know.” Oren asked.

“Oren.” Cain said. He didn’t say anything further, but he and Oren communicated something that she could not interpret, then they looked back to her.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.” Oren said.

“Its… Fine…” She said. “Where I can from, I never learned if I was or wasn’t.” She said.

“I see, but you are sure that you are a healer?” Oren asked.

“Yes, mostly sure.” Andromeda said.

“I got it, we can test this.” Martin said suddenly. Then he pulled a small knife from his back pocket and held it on the flat of his arm. He moved it ever so slightly and a small line appeared on his arm. A trickle of blood dripping down.

“Martin, you crazy fool!” Circe yelled at him, less concerned, and more deeply annoyed.

“Quit your belly aching. If she’s a Medea then its fine, if she isn’t then the cut will heal just fine on its own.” Martin said.

“We could have tried literally anything else, you crazy bastard.” She said. Then they turned back to Andromeda.

“Its as I said, put your hand on my arm, trying to avoid the blood of course, and try to heal me. If it doesn’t work then your another kind of healer.” He said.

“Oooookay…” Andromeda said. She was a little taken aback by Martin’s casual approach to self mutilation, but she recovered quickly enough to do as he asked.

Next came a feeling that was entirely unfamiliar to her.

She blinked, and found herself alone in a dark void. It wasn’t even accurate to say it was dark, darkness implies the absence of light, where as this just felt like… Nothing. Not even darkness. Just pure nothing.

Then the void around her began to rouse with the sights and sounds of, well, something. The void whipped itself into shapes like people, and animals, trees, and water. Hundreds of misty shadows passed by her at every angle, some even passing through her. All the while sounds that felt like distant memories of the past filled her ears.

In one of the shadows she could see the figure of a woman, with white hair, sitting under the covers of a bed. She looked pale and weak, but she was smiling.

Then, it appeared, in the void was a single distinct entity, A red orb floating in the middle of it all. She walked over to it, though it was more like she willed herself near it, and placed her hand upon it. The moment her hand made contact with the surface of the ball, it exploded into green light. Then it was gone.

She blinked again and she was back in the room, sitting at the table in front of the three. Her hand was still on his arm, but he pulled back and wiped off the slightly dried blood, then examined the now clean area.

“I’d say she’s a Medea.” Martin said.

“Ah, good to have confirmation. You have a good talent there.” Oren said.

They talked among themselves for a bit while Andromeda stared quietly at the table.

Ironically, the first to notice was Cain.

“Is something wrong, Andromeda?” He asked. The question was as much a question as it was an alert to the rest at the table. Who all then noticed her vacant expression.

“Martin?” She said quietly.

“Yes little lady?” He asked in turn.

“Who is the woman with white hair.” She said, even quieter.

Martin’s face drained of color and his eternal smile finally dropped.

“Wh-What?” He asked her. Barely able to speak clearly.

“Martin?” Oren asked, placing a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“How did you know?” He asked. Looking as if he had seen a ghost.

“I saw it, when I healed you.” Andromeda said.

“Excuse you?” Circe said.

“That shouldn’t be possible.” Oren said.

“What shouldn’t? Did I do something wrong?” Andromeda said. All the panic from before began flooding back at once and she felt tears rising once again.

“No, that not- Martin, tell me, who is this person she spoke about?” Oren asked.

“Th-the only white haired person I know was my...” Martin started, shaken. He stopped speaking and stared into the middle distance.

Oren turned to Andromeda.

“Andromeda, I want you to try something.” Oren said.

He pulled a small dagger from his belt and placed it on the table in front of her. There was a small crack that ran down the flat of the blade from tip to tail, making it worthless as a weapon other than to hurt yourself with.

“Try mending this.” He said.

“Oren, she’s a Medea, she won’t be able to.” Circe said.

“Just try it.” Oren said.

Andromeda collected herself and picked up the knife. As if some unseen force was guiding her hand she traced the crack with her finger and green energy surged through the entire blade. Right before her eyes the crack mended itself, so clean was the mending that you wouldn’t even know it was broken to begin with.

“God’s breath.” Oren said.

“Wait, but… She just…” Circe was at a loss for words.

“Everyone, we need to calm down. As much as I think we would all like to investigate this further, Andromeda is long overdue for rest I’m sure. We can continue this in the morning.” Cain said.

As his words were spoken, all room for argument left. Though one was shocked beyond belief, the other was confused beyond words, and the last was endlessly curious, they all went their separate ways, leaving Andromeda and Cain alone as the last in the room.

Cain sighed briefly and put his hand to his brow.

“I’m sorry that you had to go through that.” Cain said.

“What happened?” She asked, still rattled.

“There are some things that we need to explain, and some questions we need answered, unfortunately no one here can provide all that we need.” He said.

“Have I done something wrong?” She asked.

“No, not at all, rather you have done something impossible. But that can all wait until tomorrow. We should get you to your room.” Cain said.

Cain stood from the table, and Andromeda followed after him. In the back of the hall near the rear wall was a staircase that lead to the second floor of the building. They walked a short distance down the hall until they came to a small common room surrounded on all sides by doors. Straight forward was another short hallway ended with a single door and a window, and to their left was a second hallway that lead to more rooms.

“We’ll have you in the room at the end. By the window.” He said. He pulled a spare key from his pocket and handed to her.

“Thank you.” She said.

“Don’t mention it, good deeds return good deeds.” He said.

She waved to him, but he stood still. Only then she remembered that he was actually still blind and she sheepishly unlocked her door. Once closed she heard his footsteps echo down the hall until they faded from her hearing.

The room she stepped into was very bare. The room was in the corner of the building so she had windows on the left wall and the forward wall. Beside that there was a single bed under the left window and on the right wall was a desk. Beside the desk was a closet, also empty.

Andromeda sat down on the bed. This was the first night she had spent where she wasn’t being catered to by dozens of people. Which all told wasn’t great when it was happening, but now that she was alone in this room she remembered how truly alone she really was.

Beside Cain, and now the others, she knew nobody in this world.

Sure, she knew of the king, but not his name. In fact none of the people in the castle actually told her their names. Just their titles. King, Queen, Head Chief, Chief Healer.

Starting tomorrow she had to fend for herself.

She wasn’t completely lost though, those who took care of her at the castle for those few days did tell her about this world. But not as much as she’d like.

First, she was definitely not on Earth, instead the world (as far as they understood) was called “Gein”. This country she was summoned by was a monarchy by the name of “Silzia”. The city she was in was the capital, simply called “Sil”.

She never got the whole explanation, presumably because they didn’t want her for anything, but she was under the impression that the king was looking to go to war over something, against someone she wasn’t sure about. This was the reason she was summoned, to be the leader of the army he planned to send against his enemies.

But seeing how things went, that was not to be her future. Though considering that she was now staying in the capital city of a country that was planning on going to war, that meant she probably should leave as soon as she was able to.

But that was all she really knew. It must not have occurred to anybody that the person they summoned might not understand things like “Magic”. So the one thing she had to her name, she barely understood.

Just going over her brief time here was enough to bring on headache.

She kicked off her shoes and laid down on the bed, a thin cloud of dust rose off it and garnered a sniffle from her nose.

There was something about the comfort of a dusty bed that hit her in the nostalgia. But for all she tried she could remember why. Only that it was a pleasant feeling. It reminded her of home.

Not long afterward, between the stress of the day, and her mind wandering through memories of her old life. She drifted off to sleep.