Tarvish stared at his plate, looking both confused and concerned. “I have no clue what to think now. If I’m not a demon, what am I? I can’t call myself a thought-form. That feels like I’m not real. Maybe I’m not real, though?”
It occurred to me that Tarvish was, in essence, Frankenstein’s monster but unlike the movie version, with a brain and heart that worked. He had been created, but he was alive, nonetheless. Though she hadn’t said it aloud, I knew that Rowan was thinking that to send him back would be murder. How could we do that?
“What about it? Do you think you could learn to live here? There are no orcs to fight, and you won’t go adventuring. But we can help you make a home in Moonshadow Bay, and find you work.” I reached out and put my hand on his. He held very still, staring at my fingers.
“It seems that’s the only choice I have, other than if I choose to…cease to exist, as Rowan so delicately put it.” He glanced around. “It’s going to take some study for me. I’ve picked up a few things watching your television—which reminds me very much of what the group called ‘holo tales,’ though I never saw any of those.” He played with his food, cutting another piece of waffle. “Do I actually get the choice? You aren’t going to force me either way?”
“We won’t force you,” Killian spoke up. “I apologize. I’ve been rude and suspicious, but I’ve been looking out for my friends and my girlfriend. I guess I wasn’t thinking about the fact that you don’t fit the definition of demon.”
“Thank you, I accept your apology.” Tarvish paused again, then finally looked up from his plate. “I think I’ll choose to stay here and integrate into your society. Should I pick a different name? If I am…generated by someone else’s thoughts, it seems that I should perhaps break away from my past.” He leaned back in his chair, contemplating his plate.
“I think you’re very astute,” Rowan said. “I will say this. Whoever created you gave you a brain, that’s for certain. They may have meant to make you funny, given your love of all things domestic, but they didn’t play the oaf card.”
“I’ll think on the name idea for a while,” Tarvish said. “Meanwhile, if I’m to join your world, where will I stay? And how do I go about learning the ropes?”
A smile spread across Rowan’s face. “I have a guest cottage in my backyard. You can stay there, and you can help around the place while you get your bearings and we can find you some real work. I’ll take you home with me after breakfast and you can get settled. We’ll buy you some better clothes, and some essentials.”
“At least they had you speak English,” I said. “That’s been a huge help. That’s the language you’re speaking, by the way—English.”
“I thought it was Common-Speak. That’s what we spoke in our adven—” Tarvish suddenly paused. “None of those things ever really happened. Not truly, did they? Everything I remember is a lie.”
“Not a lie,” I said. “In a way they happened. They happened inside the game, and you were real inside the game. So they did occur, in a different world. Keep the memories, and consider them real, because for you, they were.”
He sighed. “I have a lot to sort out.”
“I have a friend you can talk to,” Rowan said. “He’s good at listening. That’s what his job is. He’s called a therapist, and he can help you sort out the confusion. We’ll talk to him in a day or two.”
I glanced at the clock. “Meanwhile, I have to get ready to leave. Ari’s coming by at eleven, and we’re going to check out Majikoil—” I paused as Rowan’s phone rang.
She glanced at the screen, frowning. “What the hell does she want? I’ll be right back.” She slipped into the living room to take the call.
“Anybody still hungry?” I asked.
We had finished every speck of bacon, waffles, and eggs, and I had downed my mocha. Killian and Tarvish shook their heads.
Killian stood and stretched. “I’d better get a move on. If I want to widen the gate between your house and mine, I need to get started.” He picked up his plate and the waffle platter and carried them to the kitchen.
Tarvish jumped up to help. “If you need muscle, I’m available.” They returned to finish clearing the table.
Killian eyed him for a moment. “What the hell. Sure, come on. Tell Rowan where Tarvish is when she wants to leave.”
The two of them headed out the kitchen door and down the steps. I watched at the window as they crossed the backyard to the gate and stopped to discuss it. As I rinsed the dishes and stacked them in the dishwasher, I was very grateful that we had come to some resolution, and that Tarvish would be out of my house. But I also was beginning to realize that I actually liked him, and there was a part of me who was very glad he was going to be sticking around town.
Rowan stomped back in the kitchen. “That was Marnie from the Witches Guild. She did not take kindly to your message.”
I glanced at my grandmother, expecting to be scolded. “I didn’t volunteer, I was drafted. I don’t have the time, I’m dealing with this demon—though at least now we know what’s going on—and frankly, with my laptop in the shop, there’s nothing I can do. Why can’t we make up our own ritual instead of relying on the past?”
Rowan regarded me, then said, “Why didn’t you tell her what you told me instead of promising to do it last night, then sneaking around to call her to back out? I know you shouldn’t have to explain yourself, but since you didn’t say no at the meeting, you came off sounding like a coward. Never let Marnie put you in that position.”
I was still irritated. “I told her last night in the meeting what had happened. She steamrolled over me and changed the date.”
“I see, and did you agree to the change in plans?”
“Well…I didn’t say no.” I paused. “She kind of scares me.”
“That’s precisely what you should never let her know. She’s a harpy at heart. Call her back, explain calmly and firmly why you’re backing out. Tell her you didn’t have time to really think about it at the meeting. Not only do you look like a pushover, but it also makes you sound unreliable. That’s one of the things about your family lineage you must be aware of. Our family—at least through me—keeps our word. Which is why we seldom make promises to begin with.”
I didn’t like having Rowan ticked at me, and now I felt like crap. But I could also see her point. Flopping around like a fish out of water made me look scattered and brainless. Regardless of whether Marnie was a steamroller, if I didn’t erect strong boundaries in the beginning, I shouldn’t be surprised when people tried to take advantage of me.
“All right, I’ll call her. Though I don’t want to. Do you have her personal number?”
Rowan texted it to me and I called her.
“January, hello. What can I do for you?” Marnie sounded aloof and distant, like she was doing me a favor by talking to me.
“I want to apologize for how abrupt my message was. I should have said no in the beginning, but I didn’t think it through thoroughly.”