A man woke up from an uneasy sleep and went to reread his own name: Naiouyubi. He found it strange that he was capable of reading it. I forgot how to use mana but remembered how to read. The two things were different in many ways, but he couldn’t figure out which difference had made reading stick.

  “Oh good, you’re up.”

  The voice came from the doctor Sailokyuzu, who was approaching from down the hall. Yubi suddenly had the strange sensation of recognizing an old acquaintance for what felt like the first time. When she was an apprentice healer she’d worn her brown hair short like the girl from yesterday. When she was a military healer under his command, she’d grown it out. Now she wore it in a tight bun at the back of her head.

  That makes her about Toi’s age… early 30s maybe?

  Yubi waved. “What’s up?”

  Kyuzu stopped, confused. She looked at the ceiling but there wasn’t anything there.

  “Uh- ne- nevermind,” he said and went back into the room.

  The man in the mirror matched Yubi’s memory, but something felt off. He turned his head from side to side, opened and closed his mouth, contorted his features in this way and that, and no matter what he did the face didn’t feel like his somehow.

  When the doctor entered he said “The body I took in the other world was a woman’s. Do you think that could have affected my mind somehow?”

  “I suppose it’s possible,” she answered. “In my experience, men and women think differently. It’s also possible that the people of the other world think differently from us as well.”

  “Hmm… more time passed over there than it did here. How can that be?”

  “That was part of your… plan. You picked a world where exactly one year would pass for every day which passes here.”

  “To give myself time, I see.” He sighed and sat on the bed. “I think I’ll need to take the dream powder again. There are too many holes in my memory. Rather, it’s more holes than not.”

  Kyuzu put her hand up and made a patting motion in the air. “At the active dose it’s only safe to take once a day.” She pulled out a leather pouch and showed the pills inside. “I had these pressed yesterday. Be gentle with the bag, they break easily. If you get low, come see me before you run out. Remember at most one pill a day. Try to take them while using the diagram the Librarian gave you, it’ll be better for lining up the two memory sources.”

  Yubi took the pouch. “So… do I eat them?”

  “Yes, I’d suggest after a meal.”

  “After a meal and once a day… say, what day is it?”

  “The 29th day of the 3rd month. So in two days… Do you remember the day of prayer?”

  He remembered it took place every ten days, but that was about it. “Vaguely but… Oh!” He got up. “Excuse me, I should go talk to Rio.”

  She stopped him.

  “What, he’s just down the hall, right?”

  “How do you know that?” Her piercing stare locked him in place.

  “I- I spoke to him yest-”

  “What did he say to you?”

  “Uh… he told me… my name?” He searched her face trying to figure out what was happening. “He also said a lot has happened. That’s all.”

  She relaxed, slumped back into the chair, and pressed a palm to her forehead. “That’s all…”

  “In a memory I saw that we were friends.”

  She made the patting motion again. It was as though she nodded with her hand instead of her head. “You two were like brothers in faith.” She sighed, “He’s not in that room at the moment.”

  “...where is he?”

  “He’s… he’ll be back.” She looked up at him. “I think you should attend the royal court today.”

  “Wha- um… okay? Do you think that would be wise to do without all my memories?”

  “Your mind was opened twice yesterday. Some memories should come back naturally. Today is… important.”

  “Alright… where should I go?”

  She got up. “Come, I’ll show you the way.”

  Yubi followed Kyuzu down the hallway. Passing Rio’s room, he noted a closed door. She’s acting strange, is it possible she has some reason to lie? Breaking from the previous night’s instinct, they turned left at the end of the hall. There was a spiral staircase almost immediately in that direction.

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  “Wow, so close,” he said. “I’ll remember that.”

  “Don’t bother.”

  He grew more tense. Something was strange here but he wasn’t sure what.

  They climbed up to the surface, walked over a ways to another stone hut, and entered it. As he thought, this one had its own staircase inside. This one went further down than the one they’d started on. The room they entered was still well lit, though. Circles on the ceiling seemed to glow with daylight, flickering occasionally.

  The room had a prominent, closed door on the side opposite the staircase. Its inhabitants were Yubi, Kyuzu, and a pair of wood armored strongmen at the sides of the door who watched them with neutral expressions.

  “There,” she said. “The royal court is in session. You don’t need to participate, just observe and wait for memories to return. Now, I have patients to attend to.”

  “You’re not coming in?”

  She looked at him sadly. “Did you not remember my name?”

  “Sailokyuzu?”

  “Yes, and I don’t have an invitation.” She turned away, wished him luck, and left.

  Do… do I need an invitation? Is that the trap?

  He walked toward the doors, looking at the guards for any sign of hostility. They watched him back and showed no signs of stopping him. He tried to unlatch the door as quietly as he could. Inside, someone was giving some long winded speech with a mild echo.

  Yubi stepped into the room. It was enormous, especially for something underground. It must have taken forever to hollow this out! The ceiling arched up ornately. Intricate columns stood along the middle. Between the columns was a long carpet with an intricate pattern of hands. The speaker stood midway between the pillars at the far side of the room from the door. Just past him was an elevated platform atop which sat a large throne. Distance made it hard to make out the figure on the throne.

  Still trying to be quiet, he turned and latched the door. The klacking of the latch into place echoed through the room. He turned back from the door. Standing to the sides of the carpet, past the columns, were two crowds of people. The edges of the crowds were staring at him. Yubi froze in place, unsure of what he was supposed to do. Then the crowd on his right shuffled about, seeming to make an opening. He scurried in.

  He was suddenly aware of his outfit. At the start of the day he’d changed from one plain, light blue outfit to another identical one which he’d found in a drawer in his room. This was not the style of the crowd he’d entered. The women mostly wore long, flowy velvet-like garments shaped vaguely like ponchos tied narrow with sashes which gave their figures some definition. The men wore simpler, more strictly fit tabards but with a lot more ornamentation pinned on. Compared to both, he felt like the only one in the room not trying to make an impression.

  Since he still couldn’t quite make out the speaker’s words, Yubi tried to move forward in the crowd. This turned out surprisingly easy: people seemed to step out of his way on their own.

  The man on the throne came into view. His platform was something like a pyramid, with a couple chairs at lower steps to his sides. On one side sat a rough looking man with a long beard, wood armor, and a number of brightly colored badges. On the other, at a level below the armored man, was Toinoioeo who listened to the man on the carpet’s speech with intensity.

  Yubi recognized the man on the throne as Aiyaloya. His tabard was wide with shoulder pads and embroidered with the most detail in the room. He wore a crown on his head. I guess that’s the royal of the court. Loya was a young man appearing in his late teens to early twenties. He had the look of someone who hadn’t yet fully mastered masking his own boredom.

  When the speech ended, Loya spoke. “So you’re saying the diagram to Kassia is fixed and we can expect their ambassador on the second?”

  The man on the carpet bowed. “That is right.”

  “Yes. Tell them we await our opportunity to welcome the new guest. Phrase it something like I just did, it seems the Kassians need to learn the value of brevity.”

  A few chuckles echoed from around the room.

  “Alright, who’s next…” Loya looked around the room. He locked eyes with Yubi. “Oh! You’re back! What’re you doing down there?”

  He wants to know what I’m doing here? “well, I was told the court today would be important and I wanted to hear what that man was saying and-”

  “What’re you mumbling about? Come, take a seat!” Loya gestured to a chair on his left.

  The last of the crowd stepped away from Yubi. He looked around and then stepped out of it. Then he stepped onto the carpet. Then up to the platform. He crept onto the bottom of the pyramid and then looked back and then up at Loya.

  “What’re you doing?” the man in the crown chuckled. “Make haste!”

  Yubi scurried up to the chair and planted himself in it. He looked down at Toi whose face showed abject horror.

  “Odd, that’s not like you,” Loya said. Then something seemed to occur to him. His face went darkly serious. He turned to the other crowd. “Bring out Rioshkaltis.”

  Yubi’s eyes widened as a pair of wood armored guards stepped forward, his old friend bound between them. Rio towered over the guards. The size of his arms alone justified his restraints despite his lack of struggle.

  “For those who have been away,” Loya said, “remind us of the charges.”

  One of the guards stepped forward. “Eight days ago, on the twenty-first, Rioshkaltis is accused of sabotaging the diagram to Kassia. He was sighted in the facility by diagram operator Kainolautis. Immediately after, an ambassador was to arrive from Kassia. However, the moving diagram was damaged. The recoil from the diagram killed three Kassian mana generators. Rioshkaltis is thus accused of sabotage and of causing the deaths.”

  “And the sentence?” Loya asked.

  “We have opened diplomatic talks with the nation of demons. Head judge Oataoesia suggested offering someone for possession by an ambassador. Rioshkaltis did not contest his charges and was given this sentence.”

  Loya turned to Yubi. “The sentencing took place two days ago. I was in Alzabatya at the time, so it has not been finalized yet. I’m sorry you had to return to this.” He turned back to Rio. “You still do not contest your accusation?”

  Rio’s eyes were locked on the ground. “I accept the punishment.”

  “So be it. Guards, take him away.”

  Yubi watched the two lead him out the door, petrified. Sabotage? How could you do this? Nothing felt real anymore. It was like when he first woke up. Of all people, why you?

  Then the gears of his mind turned. The day of prayer took place every ten days. The next one was in two days, on the first of the fourth month. So, the last one would have been eight days ago, on the day of the sabotage. He and Rio had never missed a day of prayer before Yubi went to the other world.

  Rio couldn’t have done it! He would’ve been at church!