One Last Loose End Before We're Committed for the Duartion

“This… ain’t a cosplay, is it?”

Nessa stood in the kitchen staring at Lucy-Kignora, half-orc adventurer from another world. The human looked more than a little dumbfounded

“Oh? Do they not have otherworldly travelers in this realm?” Lucy asked. “You act as if you’ve never seen an orc before.”

“That’s, ah, because she hasn’t.” Skott rubbed the back of his neck. “Um, Nessa, this is Lucy. My daughter. She’s, okay, don’t panic…”

“Hail, friendly local.” Lucy held a fist up in an Aeirunian salute. “I am Lucy, daughter of Lamora, born into Clan Kignora. What clan do you hail from?”

“Uh… gram-gram was from Mississippi?” Nessa tilted her head as if getting a different angle would help her make sense of this strange visitor.

“I’ve never heard of this realm. Is it adjacent to Clan Omaha’s lands?” Lucy asked, already moving to the fridge to appropriate more soda for the return to her world.

Pure flustered befuddlement left Nessa belting out a most un-Bostonly accent. “I… never… never seen anything like this.”

“Okay. Don’t panic.” Skott crossed his hands in a universal symbol of ‘time out.’ “Ness,uh, it’s as you see here: my daughter is… not from around here. Not from Europe. That’s just the alibi I’ve used for where I disappeared to for nearly a year around age nineteen. She’s… green, yes.”

“Sadly not as green as my mother.” Lucy downed a soda before continuing.” Ah! Alas, I get much of my complexion from father’s side.”

“Yes.” Skott nodded slowly. “She’s closest by fantasy parlance to what you’d call an orc. They’re… a lot different than in that one trilogy though. They’re pretty nice to be honest.”

“Hehe. Your paramour definitely thought my mother was nice in their younger days, Nessa of Mississippi,” Lucy began.

Skott sushed her.

Nessa went searching for the kitchen stool and collapsed into it, nearly slumping down to the floor. “Was somethin’ in that coffee?”

Skott took her gently by the hand to ensure she remained balanced.

“This… is going to take a bit of explaining, yes.”

+++

Skott, with all due assistance from Lucy, slowly explained the circumstances of his Aeirunian adventures to Nessa.

“This does explain your strange obsession with Army of Darkness,” Nessa said with a shrug. “Didn’t you used to brag about watching that every Halloween?”

“Ahem. Enough about that.” Skott equivocated. “So, yeah, I’m so sorry for lying to you about Europe. It’s just been… what I’ve been telling everyone.”

Nessa let out a ‘pshaw’ and mimed waving him away. “Don’t blame you. I mean if you started talking about other worlds and the like, you’d be put away.”

The pair chuckled. Lucy, meanwhile, chugged down another soda.

“Y’know, you’re taking all this quite well,” Skott told Nessa after a time.

“Well, I wouldn’t believe it were it not for…” Nessa gestured vaguely at Lucy. “Kinda hard to deny what’s in front of your face, though.”

That was exactly the feeling Skott had when he’d first traveled to Aeirun. Portals, alternate dimensions… he would have never believed it. Once he’d gotten into that situation, though, he accepted it implicitly.

“So this other world is, what, a medieval European fantasy world?” Nessa asked.

“Uh… more like the Reconstruction Era, oddly enough. They have primitive firearms at least. Long story short I’m kind of a folk hero there? Helped lead a slave rebellion, kind of? Lamora did most of the work. That—that’s the, well, kid’s mother.”

Nessa gave Lucy another glance, then nodded, but said nothing.

“You can keep a secret, right?” Skotta sked with a nervous chuckle.

Nessa shrugged. “Sure thing. You go be with your orc babymomma. Nobody will believe me if I said I met an orc lady.”

“Hehehe. Babymomma.” Lucy chuckled. “A funny word. My mother has indeed momma’d many babies. For I am but one of five.”

“F-five?” Nessa stammered. “You said you were only there for a year.”

Skott put a finger up to his lips, urging quiet.

“It’s… they give birth in litters.”

Nessa nodded understandingly, but Skott suspected she did not, in fact, understand.

“Enough about orcish mating habits,” Lucy said with a cheery grin. “We must head back and prepare for storm relief.”

Skott recalled the sounds of a heavy storm through the portal earlier. He wondered how bad an Aeirunian hurricane could get… Boston rarely got any kind of tropical storm. Nebraska did get tornados, though, instilling Skott with a lifelong wariness of Mother Nature.

“Come. The portal will only stay open for so long.” Lucy grabbed Skott’s hand and urged him towards the back door.

“One moment.” Skott turned to Nessa. “You can keep using the house until I return, no problem.”

“Sure thing. Have fun out there,” Nessa said. “Oh, once you’re back, though, I, ah… might have a special favor to ask.”

Nessa sealed this with a wink. Skott had just enough time to grab his travel packs before he was whisked out the door. He couldn’t help but notice that sixteen-year-old Lucy was strong enough to drag a grown human man around.

+++

The portal awaited, larger this time. Subtle clockwise swirling defined the wispy border of this tear between worlds.

“Grog should be minding the portal,” Lucy said.

“What’s happening back at the college?”

“A big storm! We made it into the safety of the college walls just before the rain started. Mother’s relieved her body double and resumed prime ministerial activity. Mostly, we’re just stuck in the college grounds until this storm blows over.”

A ‘laboratory’ – a picture-perfect recreation of an alchemist’s lab from some fantasy movie awaited beyond the portal. Aeirun magic continued to blur the lines between fantasy and science. 

“Is there anything else you need to do in this world?” Lucy asked, with one foot hovering near the portal.

“Actually, everything cleared itself up quite well,” Skot said, taking one last look back at his house. “Job isn’t a problem. Nessa was surprisingly understanding. Just need to come back once a month to pay the ol’ mortgage. Will need a paycheck eventually, but for now I’m good.”

“Very well.” Lucy put a foot through the portal. She passed through quickly, adhering to portal-safety protocols. “With Grog’s upgraded portal machine, we shall surely be able to return so you can monitor Mort’s Cage.”

“That’s not… not what it’s called,” Skott said, barely avoiding a chuckle.

Lucy’s toothy grin turned wider. “And you say you’ve handled your romantic interlude? Hehe.”

“Lamora and I will… have a talk,” Skott promised Lucy. “Just… don’t try to go so hard on the matchmaker thing, kid. It could inadvertently wind up causing problems through wacky hijinks.”

The portal awaited. Skott looked through, ensured it wasn’t about to close on him, and did a quick hop through.

A thunderclap sounded outside the window. Winds howled.

“Welcome back,” said Grognar.

The scholarly orc stood next to a larger engraved ring with a deep red gem at a jeweler’s table.

“We’ll have to keep this ring on college grounds; it’s an essential to further research. But you should have a confirmed portal to your home world now.”

“You made it back,” said a voice from the back of the room.

It was Lamora.

“Hey,” Skott said with a smile. “Did you wait here for me to return?”

“She didn’t sleep,” Lucy answered for her mom.

“I’m glad you’re back.” Lamora ignored her. “Did you finish your personal business?”

Another gust of wind howled from outside the windows. Back in Boston, it had been perfectly sunny.

“More or less.” Skott filled his pack. “Ah, these are always so expensive at the airport. But I brought…”

Skott pulled out a thick book from a zippered pouch. He revealed a hefty tome on government and politics—one of several he’d bought while awaiting his flight.

“Figured you would require some governmental reforms to keep the coalition functional,” Skott said. “Earth has gotten some more advanced scholarship since I showed you that high school history book.”