Tala tried to hold in her nervous excitement as she waited in Mistress Holly’s waiting room.

It was as well appointed and clean as always, with sparse decorations just slightly shifting the ambience from being strictly utilitarian toward comfortable.

The attendant behind the counter gave her a nervous glance every so often, offering more coffee every second or third glance.

It was good coffee, well brewed for drinking black, so Tala took him up on the refill almost every time… It hadn’t been that long, but she’d still drunk too much coffee.

-You think?-

What? I’m nervous, coffee calms me down.

Alat gave a derisive snort within Tala’s head. -Sure it does.-

It had been almost an hour, and Mistress Holly had warned that it could take anywhere from half an hour to three, depending on several unforeseeable variables.

-Nothing we can do will change the outcome, Tala. It’s better to just—- Alat cut off abruptly, causing Tala to hitch mid-sip and sit up straighter.

Alat?

-Wait.-

What’s happening?

-I… got a message from Rane’s alternate interface. We are establishing a contact protocol. Stop interrupting me, or this will take a lot longer. I have a bit more speed than he does, but I don’t have the space for even this explanation.- Alat cursed. -Now I’m behind. Hush!-

Tala almost projected more questions at her alternate interface, but she could feel Alat’s concentration drawing more power through her gate to increase their combined mental capacities.

Alat was claiming all the expanded ability for herself too, leaving Tala with no one to talk to and nothing to do.

Well, almost nothing to do.

She got another cup of coffee.

Then another.

She was drinking her umpteenth cup when Rane’s voice sounded within her head, “HEY! TALA!”

Tala practically choked, coughing up a bit of coffee before swallowing to clear her throat. Alat? What’s going on?

-He’s talking to you.-

Can he hear me now?

-Not unless you want him to.-

How do I respond then?

-…by wanting to. I’ll do the rest.-

Right. Tala took a deep breath, even if she didn’t need breath to respond. “Rane?”

“Not quite! I am, and I am not at the same time. Neat, huh? I mean, you have experience with this because of Alat, but for me? This is crazy. I see nothing and everything at the same time. Wait, Alat is telling me that I’m not actually seeing everything. I’m just experiencing information echoes based on my ability to recall perfectly how everything looked when Rane last saw it. Hmmm… what’s the difference? Oh! Because it’s not in real time. That makes sense. Yes! So, isn’t this crazy? We can talk anytime now and—”

Tala felt Alat cut the connection before the alternate interface sent the impression of a clearing throat. -Well… I think I might have a bit more sympathy for Terry, now…-

A moment later, Terry squawked without opening his eyes from where he was still curled up on one of the chairs .

-He forgives me, and I promised to not connect Rane’s alternate interface through to him any time in the near future. We’re in a good place, now.-

Tala was still feeling a bit overwhelmed from the storm of words basically being dumped into her head. Why is he so exuberant?

-…Really? You can’t imagine why Rane’s unfiltered, inner voice is so exuberant?-

…Right. Tala took a deep breath and felt a smile steal over her face. Is he still talking with you?

-…Yes, but I’m slowly reining him in.-

Are you sure that it isn’t you who is being ‘Raned’ in?

-…That’s a bad pun, and you should feel bad.-

Maybe, but I don’t.

Alat sighed. -Rane should be out shortly. Apparently, he’s getting ranted at as well, and they’re trying to figure out an operating agreement. Mistress Holly is trying to kick him out.-

Tala could just imagine the fiery woman shooing the giant man from her workshop.

In fact, she didn’t have to imagine it. Her threefold perception was able to see that far, and she could see Mistress Holly’s irritation with the big man.

Is he getting any better? The fact that she was referencing Rane’s alternate interface was obvious to Alat, so Tala didn’t bother to clarify.

-I think so. He wasn’t based upon a fundamental function like I was. So he’s really just a copy of Rane’s consciousness running in parallel.-

And you are? Tala teased lightly.

-A copy of your consciousness that has run in parallel after being based upon, and melded with, a system designed to monitored your body and magic, and revive you in the case of unconsciousness.-

Fine, ruin the joke. Tala still projected amusement toward Alat all the same.

A minute later, Rane and Mistress Holly came into the waiting room. The Inscriptionist had an exasperated look on her face, but Tala could see mirth in her eyes.

Rane seemed a bit dazed, his eyes slightly unfocused, but he was moving alright.

Tala took pity on them both and came forward, taking Rane by the arm and leading him away.

Mistress Holly gave a shallow bow. “Thank you, Mistress Tala. Always a pleasure to see you.”

Tala returned the bow. “I am happy to assist. Thank you for taking such good care of him.”

“But of course.” The Inscriptionist gave a strained smile.

Together, Tala and Rane departed Mistress Holly’s building. As they did so, Terry flickered to her shoulder before squawking once.

-Terry would like to go into your sanctuary, but he doesn’t want to just abandon you two.-

That’s kind of him to check. Tala had no issue with that. She almost opened a small portal into the space which used to be the atrium to Walden’s cell, but when she went to do so, there was already one in existence, and Terry had already flickered through.

She knew what Terry really wanted, and sure enough, before she could fully register his movements, Terry was in Walden’s forest, looking for Walden in order to negotiate with the being for the terms to hunt within the immortal elk’s ecosystem.

Tala blinked a few times, making sure she understood what he meant.

Rane saw her reaction and quickly clarified. “Him and Alat. Not you, Tala.”

“Oh, I figured that. I am just trying to remember if I had a similar issue with Alat.”

-Not that you remember, no.-

Tala frowned. That’s an oddly… suspicious answer.

-I suppose it is. I wish I could tell you something different, but as far as I can tell, we got along well. It wasn’t perfectly smooth, but it wasn’t quite like this. I came to be who I am gradually, and I think that helped us have time to adapt.-

Tala sighed. “What can we do to help?”

Rane sighed. “I think once he has a name, that will make things easier.”

She nodded, mentally buckling down to help them make a decision. “Alright, then. What does he want to be called, that isn’t Rane?”

Rane narrowed his eyes in concentration for a long moment.

“Enar… that seems to be the only name that he doesn’t have vehement objections to.”

Tala nodded. “Enar it is. Good to meet you, Enar.”

Rane looked up and to the left. “He says that it’s good to hear your voice through someone else’s ears.”

She sighed. “Yeah, that will pass soon. It seems that he got all your snark without any filters?”

He regarded her with a puzzled expression. “I have snark?”

She grinned in return. “Nope. At least not any more. He took it all.”

That made Rane chuckle. “I suppose so, yeah.”

With Rane and Enar on somewhat acceptable terms, he and Tala stood back up, continuing their walk toward Lyn’s house. “Oh, Lyn and Kannis are going to love him.”

Rane’s mouth quirked up on one side. “I bet they will.”

Fannas still didn’t like to come out when Terry was around, so they hadn’t seen as much of him of late, but he still made it a point to say hi whenever they came by.

Regardless, it would be a pretty standard visit all the same.

* * *

They were on their way out of Bandfast the next morning when Alat made a surprised sound within Tala’s head. -Oh, oh! Stop!-

Tala stepped off to the side of the street in order to be out of the path of the morning foot traffic, and not force any of the vehicles to divert around her.

Rane and Terry moved alongside her with looks of curiosity. She held up a finger, asking for them to wait. What is it, Alat?

-Lisa just reached out. He is asking if we are still in the city. Apparently, he just heard that Irondale was here, and he wanted to check in.-

What did you tell him? Tala felt a bit of excitement rise within her. She would love to give Lisa another option for housing, and once he was out from under his obligation to answer certain questions, she would be able to ask them without feeling like a terrible person.

-I just responded, letting him know we were on our way out of the city.-

So…

-He’s writing in our shared note.-

Can I know what he’s saying? She was practically bouncing with expectant excitement.

-You really want his thoughts as he composes them? You don’t want to give him the chance to think through and finalize? Are you some sort of monster?-

Tala growled internally. Just tell me the gist of it.

Alat chuckled. -He’s open to moving into Irondale, but he wants to see it for himself before he moves forward with the idea.-

Oh! Alright. I imagine he’ll want to negotiate with Artia as well, given they’re in similar businesses, now.

-Yeah, that’s likely.-

So… are we going to see him?

-Yes.-

Tala turned to Rane and Terry. Rane was watching her carefully, making sure nothing was going wrong, and Terry was watching the crowd, eyes peeled for any unattended treats.

His… proclivities were getting expensive, even if he had reined them in after a few talking-tos. He even seemed to have found some way of gaining money… Alat said it was perfectly legal, but she also said that Terry didn’t want her to know just yet.

Regardless, it wasn’t that important.

“We’re going to swing by and drop in on Lisa at his shop. He has asked to look around Irondale to gather more information about what it might mean to live there and help inform him as to whether or not he wants to immigrate to my little city.”

Rane frowned in thought before nodding. “Sure, that makes sense. I actually haven’t seen it in quite a while, it will be interesting to see how it’s grown.”

Terry let out a little huff, but he didn’t argue or protest.

Tala grinned. She hadn’t visited herself in a while either, but she could see everything that went on regardless, so it wasn’t like there would be any surprises for her. “Alright, then. Let’s go.”

They made their way through the city to the magic shop, finding the door unlocked for them this time. When they opened it, however, they found Lisa standing right inside, his impenetrable human illusion already in place.

He gave a vulpine smile as greeting before getting right to the point, “You’re here. Good, good.”

Before they could respond, he stepped out, spun around, locked his door, and then turned back toward them to regard Tala with expectant eyes.

When she didn’t immediately react, he gestured to her. “Well? I can see your town hanging there, ready to be investigated, but I can’t see any details. Additionally, I feel that it would be rude to breach my way in from here.”

Tala felt herself smiling even as she wordlessly opened a door into Irondale on the wall of his shop, having it match his own door perfectly. In fact, it was so perfect that it made it look like he simply had a double door instead of the single that had been there before.

The disguised fox sighed. “Well, that’s not confusing.”

“I think you mispronounced ‘convenient’.” Her smile had grown to match his.

He gave her a flat look.

She shrugged in return, maintaining the smile.

With a shake of his head and a huffed laugh, he walked forward and pushed open the door into the pocket-city. “Let’s see what madness awaits in this gateless paradise.”