“Thank you all for coming today,” Drelik said, his voice taking over the room. “I hope you haven’t been waiting long, and that you’ve enjoyed both the refreshments and the company.”

  There was a murmur of approval that went through the crowd, and Trevor raised his glass. The elderly dwarf smiled.

  “Good, good,” he said before clearing his throat. “All of you are here because you’ve helped me and my late wife, Cindal, over the years. Whether it was through donations to the gallery, helping to find rare and colorful supplies, or simply providing aid to my beloved after a particularly bad night, you have all been very kind to us. Some of you knew her quite well, but she has been gone for twenty years now, and memories have been known to fade.”

  He took a deep breath. “As an Otherworld Dreamer, Cindal saw things that most of us could never conceive of. Pillars of lava so tall that they reached the sky before splashing back down, strange machines meant to turn wind into lightning, creatures whose next stage of life comes after shedding their mortal skin. If you can imagine it, then she has likely dreamed of it over her long life.

  “It took its toll on her, as it does all Dreamers. There was no getting around that. The mortal mind is simply not made to see across whatever barriers are in place,” he explained before putting on a sad, though proud, smile. “But that never got to my Cindal. No, she was as passionate about recording her dreams from the day I first knew her all the way to the end. Nothing stopped her once she got started, as some of you may remember.”

  Trevor noticed some of the longer lived guests nodding at that statement. Corrin and Thimbleden were included, but a few of the nobles as well, including a human woman who had streaks of gray through her hair. He felt some of Drelik’s pride for his wife’s legacy.

  “She started with painting, and remade many of her earlier works once she improved,” he continued. “But, sometimes, that wasn’t enough for her. She branched out. Watercolor, oils, charcoal. Then, she began to sculpt, and the things she saw took on a completely new dimension.

  “They weren’t all happy dreams. There were many mornings where I had to comfort her as the visions she had wracked her body,” his voice lowered as he suppressed a shudder. “One of her most detailed works, The Seven-legged, came from a particularly dark nightmare, and yet she was compelled to do it justice. Cindal didn’t have it in her to do anything less than her best on each project she started. Tonight, you will see some of her hidden works amongst the old ones, but I’m proud to announce that her favorite piece is finally going on display.”

  Drelik looked at Trevor, and the man gave him an encouraging smile. The dwarf returned it. “The back garden had long been off-limits to gallery visitors, because that is where her final work resides. It was her most favorite piece, calling it her greatest achievement, and the only one where the subject didn’t come to her in a dream.”

  He paused, smiling with all the love and passion he had for his wife. “I’m proud to announce that her final piece has become a collaboration between her and I, finally finished after two decades worth of practice. After you have perused the gallery or, if you would like to see it right away, I invite you to the pavilion out back to see the work we are most proud of.”

  Turning around, Drelik opened the doors to the gallery. “And, once again, thank you all for coming. I hope you enjoy my wife’s work.”

  “We’ll leave you to your date,” Thimbleden said as he and Corrin walked off, but not before giving the man a quick wink. “You two have fun now.”

  The shopkeepers joined the guests as they lined up to enter the gallery, but Trevor gently held Adabelle back. She gave him a look before smiling. “Sure, we can wait to see if you can monopolize the host,” she whispered.

  “Not monopolize him, just congratulate him,” the man corrected. “This is a big moment.”

  “You’re right, I was only teasing,” she said, wrapping her tail around his wrist. “You’ve been here a lot since you were summoned. When we get in, I want you to show me your favorite pieces, okay?”

  “I’m definitely not an art connoisseur by any meaning of the title, but I’d love to show you the ones I like first,” he answered with a smile before gesturing towards her. “First, a piece from outside of the gallery. A noblewoman from Halvsar, Adabelle Ramansa—”

  “No,” she laughed, shaking her head. There was a slight blush to her cheeks that he absolutely relished. “You know what I meant.”

  “I do, I do,” he chuckled, leaning in to kiss her cheek.

  She ducked it before playfully swatting at him. “You’re an incorrigible flatterer, you know that?”

  “Ah, you’ve finally found something I won’t be apologizing for!” Trevor announced, though he kept his voice low enough not to disturb the other guests waiting to leave the lounge. Bringing her hand up, he kissed the back of it.

  “Come on,” she said, interlacing her fingers with his. “The crowd’s going to leave us behind at this rate.”

  Adabelle led Trevor to the back of the line of people filtering into the gallery. Drelik was still by the door, thanking everyone for coming. He exchanged a short conversation with some, only a few words with others, but the line kept moving until only the couple remained.

  “Bless your beard, I’m so glad you could make it, Trevor,” Drelik said with a big grin as he pulled the man into a hug.

  “You know I wouldn’t miss it for the world, Mr. Drelik,” he replied, returning the gesture. Now that he was speaking with the dwarf, Trevor was sure he was fine. Nostalgic, missing his wife of course, but content with the state of things.

  “Aye, but quests are quests and I would have understood. Also, I told you that you don’t have to call me mister any more. It’s far too impersonal.” The dwarf let go and turned to Adabelle, bowing. “And it’s especially good seeing you, Lady Adabelle. Having you here tonight is a real treat. I keep telling Trevor that he can bring you around whenever he likes.”

  “It’s an honor to be here, Drelik. I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ve done with the gallery,” she told him honestly as she bowed in return. “Not coming around is mostly my fault, however. My life is, unfortunately, very hectic.”

  “It’s not a worry at all,” he replied. “I think you’ve been doing a fine job as mayor since Jackson left us, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.”

  Adabelle smiled. “Well, I appreciate your words. It’s nice to hear that coming from someone who’s lived in Tosa for so long.”

  “Have some of the others been giving you trouble?” he asked, stroking his beard in thought.

  “Not too many, but there’s always some people who will never be pleased,” she sighed, and she received a knowing look and smile back from the elderly dwarf.

  “I’m sure you have plenty of confidants, but if you ever need an ear, feel free to come visit the gallery,” Drelik offered. He glanced at Trevor before grinning and leaning towards Adabelle. His voice was lowered, but not by much. “If nothing else, I could tell you all about the time this young man here was trying to decide what to do about you in regards to his feelings. He was so smitten with you, and I’m glad to see that hasn’t changed. One time, he—”

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  “And I think it’s time to see the gallery now,” Trevor said quickly with a nervous laugh. “Drelik, I’m sure we’ll be seeing you a few times over the course of the night.”

  “Oh, so now I’m just Drelik, am I?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.

  “You just asked me not to call you mister,” the man replied, pouting.

  “Yes, I suppose you are right about that,” Drelik conceded, sending a covert wink Adabelle’s way. She giggled at the interaction as she allowed herself to be pulled into the next room. The dwarf laughed to himself as they went.

  Adabelle looked like she was about to keep teasing Trevor, but she kept a coy smile and simply took in the gallery. He appreciated her silence on the matter. Banter was nice and all, but he was a little flustered. It wasn’t that he was ashamed of asking Drelik for relationship advice before he had even asked the woman out, he just wasn’t expecting the dwarf to bring it up to tease him.

  The entire gallery was lit with magical lights not only on the ceiling, but over each piece of art. Paintings of various styles, sizes, and subjects hung on each of the four walls. The middle of the room had several partitions put up so that there were more places to show off Cindal’s work. None of her sculptures were here, so Trevor assumed they were outside on the path to the Floatstone pieces.

  The pair walked and took in the ambiance, listening to the music that played throughout the gallery by an unseen band. Plenty caught their eyes, including the photo-quality painting of three Lamborghinis. That was the first one to grab Trevor’s attention back when he came to drop off the Floatstone, and he pointed it out to Adabelle specifically.

  “These are vehicles from my world,” he whispered to her, not wanting to speak too loudly lest he disturbed the other guests. “Lamborghinis, specifically. They were top of the line cars that could go way faster than any wracor I’ve seen.”

  “Wayne has mentioned cars before,” Adabelle replied, squeezing his hand. “It seems so weird to think about a wagon made of metal like that. I mean, Summoned have replicated them here before, but they’re so expensive that most people don’t actually drive them. They just become collector pieces.”

  “There’s not really a lot of infrastructure for them, either,” Trevor added with a shrug. “I just wanted to show off something from my world. Well, probably not my world specifically, but an Earth at least. I know there’s a lot of them out there.”

  The demonkin nodded. “More than any other, if Jackson is to be believed.”

  “Speaking of other worlds, are you going to start summoning soon?” he asked as soon as he thought about it. “I’m not sure what kind of criteria you need to meet or anything before you can, or need to.”

  Adabelle thought it over. “Probably not until after the Feywood’s Winter Ball,” she answered. “I could now, if I wanted to, but I’m still going over Jackson’s notes during my down time. It’s very precise, and I want to make sure I’m completely prepared before I bring anyone else into this world. So, I’m taking my time.”

  Nodding, Trevor put his arm around the demonkin and set his hand on her waist. “Very fair, I think. You’ll do great,” he said, sharing a smile with her. Another piece of art caught his eye, and he pointed towards it. “This one and another are tied for my favorite paintings.”

  Turning, Adabelle allowed herself to be guided towards Trevor’s next stop. A six-winged figure with fine white feathers, bronze skin, and a halo above fiery hair wore clothes clearly too big for them with holes opened for their extra appendages. They were turned away from the viewer, gazing upon a golden room that seemed far too big for just one person, and a black rectangle hung in front of them like a screen from the Quest Master.

  “This one is called The Forlorn Angel,” Trevor explained, gesturing towards a small plaque underneath it. “They’re a creature that comes from the most widespread religion on my planet. Though, given that they weren’t, like, flying around for real, I guess this couldn’t have come from my Earth. Not unless Cindal saw someone else’s painting and drew that.”

  Adabelle tilted her head as she perused the painting. “She’s anxious.”

  Blinking, Trevor glanced at his girlfriend in surprise before looking back. “She?”

  “Yes. Look at her shoulders, hips, and the way the clothes hang off of her,” the demonkin said, pointing as she spoke. “That’s how I look whenever I wear one of your shirts to bed, minus all the wings, obviously.”

  “Huh, good eye. I never picked that up before.”

  “Not only that, but she’s clearly pacing,” Adabelle continued, pointing towards a slightly raised bare foot. “Her legs are also in the right position for it, but Cindal drew her where she wasn’t mid-stride. Her left hand is somewhere around her chest, as you can barely see her elbow just under this wing, but her right hand is in a fist. I think whatever made her screen go black is making her anxious as she waits for it to correct itself.”

  “Wow, you got all that from one glance?” Trevor wondered, impressed.

  “No, not really,” the demonkin admitted, her tail drooping though it still held his wrist. “There’s a copy of this painting hanging up in one of the upstairs rooms of the mayor’s manor. I was going to take it down and replace it, but the more I looked at it the more I identified with the woman being portrayed. The golden halls, the anxious body language, the screen; it really resonated with me after Jackson rather abruptly left me with Tosa’s well being. I don’t know what she’s going through, not really, but I empathize.”

  “I knew you were stressed, but you could have told me if it was so bad,” he said with a worried smile, pulling her closer in a half hug.

  “It’s fine. I’ve gotten used to it now, and I didn’t want to worry you,” she explained.

  “You’re not letting me take care of you, though.”

  “Trust me, you took care of me plenty,” Adabelle replied with a sincere smile, and the worry on his face disappeared. “Shall we see your other favorite? Perhaps I haven’t seen it.”

  “Yeah, let’s go,” Trevor said, perking up.

  He looked around before leading her to another side of the modular walls. The moment he saw a few people around it, he hesitated. They were quick to move on, however, and he led her over.

  This portrait was of a fox, and only its head was visible. Its fur was jet black except for a skull shaped pattern going around its eyes and snout, turning its fur white. There was an intense look in the creature’s eyes as if it were ready for battle, and small wisps of light appeared around it.

  Oddly enough, there were two frames around this picture. The first was the one that held it to the wall, while the second was stylishly painted around the fox as part of the artwork. It reminded Trevor of some kind of trading card, though it didn’t have any numbers or letters to tell him how powerful it was.

  “Foxbond,” he named, squeezing her hand. “The Forlorn Angel only just came out of storage a few days ago so I haven’t had a chance to go into it in detail, but this one has been out for months. I talked to Drelik about it a few times, and he remembered Cindal being adamant that there was a frame around the fox. She couldn’t explain why, only that it had to be there.”

  “That is interesting,” Adabelle responded, bringing a hand up to tap her finger against her lip as she looked over the painting. “Clearly, this creature—this fox—is ready for something to happen. We’ll never know whether it’s attacking, being attacked, or simply trying to intimidate something, but it cuts a striking figure regardless, does it not?”

  “It does,” Trevor agreed.

  The demonkin turned slightly to regard him. Before she had a chance to say something, a new voice reached them.

  “My dear mayor,” a woman’s voice crooned. The two turned to see a woman standing in a crowd of others dressed in the latest fashion. Trevor recognized them all as nobles, and had even noticed this person earlier in the lounge. “I loathe to drag you away from your date, but would you mind terribly if we took up a minute or two of your time?”

  Adabelle smiled, but her tail around Trevor’s wrist tightened somewhat. “I would be happy to, Lady Drasdania. Please, give me a moment and I’ll be right there.”

  “Excellent.”

  “Duty calls?” Trevor asked, trying not to sound bummed.

  “Sadly. They probably think they were doing me a favor by waiting so long to speak with me,” she whispered, taking his hands in hers with a sigh.

  He gave her an easy smile.“Not long enough, huh?”

  “When it comes to my time with you? Never long enough,” Adabelle answered. “They’re not all bad, though. I just wanted tonight to be all about you and the gallery. Why don’t you go outside and brag about the Floatstone pieces to anyone out there and I’ll meet you when I’m done? If I don’t come out in twenty minutes, you can come back and rescue me from the clutches of these opportunistic creatures.”

  “I’ll give them ten,” he said, squeezing her hands.

  “My hero,” she replied, pretending to swoon before laughing with him.

  He gave her a winning smile before letting her go. The tail was the last to unwrap, and they turned to split off for the time being.