World 1.7

Say, Yuri begins as she takes a bite of soup, it only just now occurs to me- are there any prerequisites for interdimensional travel? Like, do I need to search for magic feathers or cards or kill the local priest or anything before we can leave this world?

She takes another bite as she waits for Andromeda to answer.

Those were weirdly specific, but no. No Waldo. No murder. At least not for us. For us, it's more of a waiting game, really.

How so?

Well...if it's just me, and I travel to world A, I'd need to wait one full day, relative to the flow of time in world A, before my power's recharged enough to go to world B. Make sense so far?

Yes, I think.

Good, Andromeda says, now, since there's two of us, that means we'll need to wait a total of two days. Well, one and a half now, since you were unconscious.

Oh. Okay. Only a day and a half, and assuming it's noon now, that means...

So either tomorrow night or the morning after, right?

Yup.

A day and a half should be easy in a magic fantasy world like this, right?

That's what I thought, but...

"The garden's clean," Kaoru says. She looks unbothered while Yuri is dripping sweat. "Now we need to start preparing for dinner."

After Yuri was done eating and she'd confirmed she was fine, Kaoru had asked if she had a place to stay, and, when Yuri said no, offered to let her stay at the temple- in exchange for helping with chores.

The sun's beginning to set now- and they'd only started working on the garden after Yuri had eaten. Put another way, between lunchtime and dinnertime (well, dinner prep time), they'd only cleaned ad tended to the garden.

"How good are you at cooking?" Kaoru asks.

Yuri shrugs. "I'm pretty average. I can at least follow a recipe."

Kaoru smiles. "Wonderful- in that case, would you mind helping cook dinner? The kitchen staff need all the help they can get."

"Sure, it's no problem. And the kitchen is...?"

"Just through that door there." Kaoru points to a wooden door situated between two dark blue shrubs. "I'll join you in a moment- I'm going to check on your clothes first."

"Ah. Thank you."

Once Kaoru walks out of her line of sight, Yuri allows her shoulders to sag. A garden so big required lots of maintenance, and her borrowed robes are cumbersome and inconvenient to work in.

I'm tired... she sighs. But complaining won't fix anything, so...

She walks to the kitchen door. It creaks open, and she peeks her head in. There are three people- one kneading dough, another chopping meat, and the third is stirring a pot on what could almost be called a stovetop if not for the glowing purple crystal affixed to its side and the matching fire beneath.

All three whip their heads up at the creaking door.

"Excuse me," Yuri begins with false confidence, inching her way into the room, "would it be okay if I helped you all cook tonight?"