Chapter 4: Show and Tell

I wasn't sure what to do with her doe eyes. I put the basket next to the other one. "Where do you want to start?" Was all I could think to say. Anja pondered for a moment. 

"Men have always been uncomfortable. They are unnerving. Not in a creepy way, but in a sense of danger. You've probably heard the saying, 'A man is only as good as his skill with weapon.' Which, while I apricated from a keep the monsters at bay sense. Always worried me as it seemed men were more often than not the monsters that needed to be kept at bay." Anja trailed off, her face hinting at a painful set of memories.  "You are comfortable. Like a warm blanket, or a teddy bear. Maybe that's because you saved me from a monster, got in a gunfight and well." Trailing off again staring at my left shoulder. "Anyway," she shook that memory out of her head, "you are the first man who is comfy, and I don't want to lose you." She said with a degree of finality. 

My face clearly conveyed my confusion. She gave me a thoughtful look, "I must sound crazy." She rubbed her face. "I know Americans are all hunters. I know you are all much more combative than we are in Europe. It helped with the monsters." she trailed off, my confusion growing. "Do you not have any monsters?" she asked confused. 

I shook my head. "There are some people I'd call monsters and some dangerous wildlife but nothing I'd call a monster." 

Anja's face revealed how alien that concept was. "No slimes, vampires, or goblins?" 

"No, unless Florida Man counts as a goblin." I quipped. 

Anja laughed, "No." she said though laughs. "Although I've heard stories." 

"I'd bet, although it seems we aren't from the same Earth." My comment got a thoughtful look out of Anja.

"If we do leave, can I come back to your Earth?" She said breaking the thoughtful silence. "It sounds better than the one I came from." 

I pondered the nightmare of figuring how that would work. Assuming she just showed up at the chalet, how would she exist, could she exist? What if we ended up in a world that neither of us were from? There weren't any easy answers. "Sure I guess?" I said rubbing my temples. I wasn't expecting the tight hug Anja responded with. She than mumbled something into my chest. "What was that? I couldn't make it out."

"Thank you." She said looking up at me. "I don't want to go back home. It's to dark, too sad." I returned her hug with that not knowing what else I could do. 

"Should I read the shower for you so we can get out and learn magic?" I suggested. Anja nodded. To my surprise the shower was labeled rather clearly and self explanatory. Shower solved I left Anja to her shower and went back out into the main room. Barry hadn't moved from his spot. "Barry is it possible that Anja and I aren't from the same Earth?" 

Barry turned and looked at me, "I apologize Master Williamson I don't know enough about Earth, Magic or the differences between your homes." Which was reasonably unhelpful.  

"Do you know anyone who might know anything?" I asked stretching.  

"I do not Master Williamson." Barry responded. Barry was fairly unhelpful, but apt. While I waited I paced trying to wrap my head around what all had happened. I wasn't in Colorado anymore. I had an Austrian girl who seemingly was interested in me. Not to mention the aliens and magic. At least it seemed we had gathered up with people who weren't hostile at least. And there was Barry. What would I do with Barry? I was broken out of my stewing by Anja.

"Barry do you have a hair dryer?" Anja said emerging from the bathroom in a button down shirt. 

"Is that my shirt?" I asked, looking at the oversized button up shirt she was wearing as a dress.

Anja shot me an impish grin, "or some way to dry my hair?" 

"No Ms. Buhl, I don't know how to dry hair." Barry responded.

Anja responded with a disappointed 'hmm' I took that queue to take my shower. My shower thoughts took another run at the questions I was pacing to. While I found a few new uses for Barry, even if they would require a fair bit of property. I was pulled from my thoughts by the sound of an opening door. "I'm just getting a proper dress." Anja announced as footsteps entered the bathroom. I welcomed the announcement, if nothing else so I knew she was there. What started to concern me was when she didn't leave. I had finished my shower yet something was telling me Anja was still in the bathroom, somewhere. "Bryan?" She said confirming my suspicion. 

"Ye-Yes?" I stuttered trying to project where she is going with this.

"Are you..." She started before changing her opening, "I love you." She confessed with a confidence I wouldn't expect from a girl as mild mannered as she seemed to be, especially with us knowing each other for so little time. "I know it's probably irrational. I know it's unexpected. But I can't think of any other word for what I am feeling. It's not just compassion, not just gratitude, certainly not lust." Her voices fades out as the words hung in the air before she hurried out of the bathroom, slamming the door on her way out. I shook my head in disbelief. With that I got dressed and emerged into our little studio. 

Anja was doing some pacing of her own, had I not known better I would file her as the definition of 'Woman who doesn't know how to confess to her crush.' although I was still conflicted on if she was or wasn't accurate with her assessment. Still the display brought a warm smile to my face. "Ready? Or do you want to do a few more laps?" I teased. Anja turned and saw me now wearing the shirt she had borrowed and her entire upper body tuned an embarrassed red. She manages an adorable, embarrassed squeak and a nod. I couldn't hold back a chuckle. "Barry where are we headed?" 

"Follow me, Ms. Buhl, Master Williamson." Barry said leading us out of what I was now thinking of as an apartment. Out of habit I grabbed the rifle and slung it over my shoulder. Anja gave me a concerned look, "What? I'd rather not let it get away from me." I attempted to defuse her concerns. She gave me an unconvinced look but didn't say anything. We left the apartment and followed our inorganic guide though the temple. Which seemed to be waking up, more people were in the hallways the quiet din of hundreds of quiet conversations. It felt much more alive then when we last traveled the halls. We still had the make way bubble seemingly granted by the rifle although we were getting some disapproving looks.

Anja dealt with the looks by grabbing my arm, trapping it in her bosom. I attempted to figure out why it was she decided on that course of action. I didn't think it was fear nothing here seemed all that hostile or threatening; likewise she was holding my arm too tightly to be a display of affection. I pondered if it could be jealousy as it seemed the Temple of Life was almost entirely female, or creatures that read as female to my eyes. As I figured out what I was going to say we rounded a corner and were both blown away.

We were looking into the center of the Temple. It was huge. The center of the area was forested with strange trees, some of them were clearly bioluminescent even from this distance. Then we both spotted the river. That hit fairly hard, and lead to a scanning of the rest of the atrium.  Barry than realized we had stopped and were leaning over the railing. "Please come along, it would be rude to keep Dr. Minh waiting." Barry said as he approached us. 

"Give us a minute. This is something else." I said taking everything in.

"No this is the main atrium, not something else."  Barry responded in his matter of fact way. 

"Atriums aren't this big, nor do they have rivers." Anja mumbled.

"The main atrium is about four fifths of a mile long on each side, enclosing fifteen acres. Now we can come back and explore after your meeting with Dr. Minh." Barry said starting to lead us away. Anja's puppy dog eyes weren't affective on the robot, so begrudgingly we followed Barry back into the network of hallways. Anja was grumbling the entire time. 

We arrived at a lab, Doctor Minh was scurrying around as Theribus shook her head. "Doctor hey were probably very tired once they finished the physical. Couple that with the condition they were in I wouldn't expect Barry to show up and tell us they decided to sleep for the rest of this cycle."

"I know Thebie but with that much magic you can't blame a girl for wanting to see what they are capable of. That male might have capacities beyond all but the heroes." Doctor Minh said as Barry entered, "Oh Barry, I take it you bring news?" She said looking at us, "No you bring the patients, please if you two would come take a seat over here I'll start with the tests and then we will get to see what you can do." She continued cutting Barry off as he tried to answer her. We followed her gesture and sat down on the couch she had on one side of her lab. "So from what you said earlier, and from what Thebie has said you two have never seen magic before. Which implies you haven't had any sort of magic lessons, which when coupled with your impossible amount of power could be quite disastrous. With a large amount of mana you could do almost anything, if not everything. So I am going to run a few tests to see what your capacity is and how much control you have over it." Doctor Minh said pacing back and forth in front of the couch. 

"I don't know what you mean by magic, or mana." Anja said as if she read my mind. "Sure there was magic back home but humanity couldn't use it. The monsters could, and would." 

"I didn't have monsters nor does home have magic so I'm even farther out." I followed Anja's description of home. 

Doctor Minh gave us a thoughtful nod. "That doesn't matter as you have magic here, and I am going to attempt to show you how to use it." She emphasized the last word with a snap of the fingers on her paw as a dozen orbs bounced into existence and started orbiting the room. "That way you will be able to use the power you have before someone more nefarious decides to take advantage of you."