Negotiation

A few days after the Witch Hunter raid, I sat in the library as Arnya and her dogwoman companion entered the door. As usual, there was no one else in the library besides the librarian in the back room. Arnya seemed to enjoy reading and I wanted to avoid Kyn as much as possible these days lest he discover my lack of knowledge, so we had both ended up in the library like this a few times before.

Aryna sat at the table across from me while her companion lounged against a bookshelf reading. “As usual, a lovely coincidence to see you, Rei,” she said in her tone that always struck the balance between politeness and friendliness.

“You said it,” I replied, although in truth, I had come to the library today intentionally hoping to see her to make a request. I needed to learn to actually do alchemy to protect Kyn, and that would require outside help.

We sat in silence for a few minutes while I worked up the nerve to ask her. “Um, Arnya...can I ask for a favor?”

She set down her book—a history of warfare, judging by the hand-embossed title—and met my eyes, looking surprised. “Certainly, Rei, if I can grant it. I must say, though, this is new. I don’t believe you’ve ever asked me for anything at all before.”

I laughed nervously. “Well, technically, it’s more of a request for Gaz.” I nodded at her, who also set aside her book to look quizzically at me. I continued “I need someone trustworthy and discreet who can retrieve something outside the castle.”

Gaz growled something in her language. I had picked up enough of the dogmen language to be pretty confident that she had said “what is it.”

“I need a textbook on the basics of alchemy.”

Shock registered on both their faces, the book falling out of Gaz’s hands. Arnya recovered first. “Rei, that’s...first, why would you need something like that? You’re perhaps the most accomplished living alchemist in the land. What could a textbook on the basics offer you?”

“I can’t answer that. I’m sorry.” More and more, I was beginning to hate this farce, but I was in it too deep to stop. If I confessed my lack of knowledge now, well, at the very least I’d be turned out of the castle. That meant either abandoning Kyn, who I had sworn to protect, or bringing him outside, where the Witch Hunters would get him. I had to keep up the charade. “Please, you just have to trust me,” I said. “It’s important.”

Gaz barked something too complicated for me to understand. Arnya said “Gaz is right. There’s precious few of those remaining in the kingdom, and whatever copies the Witch Hunters haven’t burned must be closely guarded.”

“I know it’s hard. That’s why it’s a big favor. Please, is it at least possible?”

After a moment’s consideration, Gaz woofed an affirmative. Before I could feel happy, Arnya gestured at her. “I won’t allow you to throw away your life for no reason, Gaz!” she said. “I’m sorry Rei, but I can’t allow you to use my servant for this.” She put a tone of authority in her statement. That sound made it clear: we might be acquaintances, or even friends, but Arnya was still the princess and still outranked me.

I mentally groaned in frustration. I had one more card to play, but I hadn’t wanted to use it against her. It felt like manipulation. No, I wasn’t going to kid myself. This was manipulative, through and through, but I could see no other option.

“Arnya. I’ve been thinking of an....invention,” I said.

“Of alchemy?”

“Not at all." I gestured to the library filled with books. This being more or less the middle ages, the books all were handwritten. I wasn’t a huge history student, but I knew that was one of the reasons books had been so valuable back in those days. “Why aren’t books more common? Because it takes a great deal of time and effort to copy them down, right?”

“That’s right. Rei, where are you going with this?”

“What if I could tell you of a way to make books as common as clothing? So easy to make that the only limitations are your supplies of paper and ink? So cheap that the common people could afford them?”

Her eyes went wide. “That could revolutionize the world! Is this really true?”

“It is. I'm positive.” The printing press had changed my world, after all.

“Then what is it?” she said impatiently.

“I’ll tell you. After Gaz gets me the book.”

She blinked. So did Gaz. “What?” Arnya said as Gaz gave an inquisitive woof.

I repeated myself.

Arnya said “You’re...you’re withholding something that would improve the lives of everyone in this kingdom just to get your stupid book?!”

“Yes.”

Out of nowhere, she slapped me so hard I fell out of my chair. “You...you...” she was struggling to come up with words. As I pulled myself back into the chair, groaning, she spoke again in a voice so ice-cold I thought I felt frost forming. “Very well. Gaz, you will retrieve this introductory book on alchemy for the Court Alchemist.” She stood up, her green hair cascading around her. “I must say, I had thought you had changed, alchemist. I thought you were beginning to think about something other than yourself. But no, I see you are really just the same greedy, arrogant man you always were.”

“Arnya...”

“I am the princess of this land, and you shall address me by a title befitting my station, alchemist. Good day.” She swept out, followed by Gaz.

I sat at the table, watching the door she had exited. That trick wouldn’t have worked on anyone else. But Arnya was just too nice of a girl. She had talked about how her greatest desire was to help her people, so she trained as a warrior. Of course she would do nearly anything for something as revolutionary as the printing press.

Shortly after I realized I was in this world for good, I had made plans to tell them about the printing press and a few other inventions from my world that would improve life. It just seemed like the right thing to do, and it’s not like it cost me anything. So what was the harm in waiting a few more days if it got me what I needed?

No matter how much I told myself that, my conscience was not soothed.

The next few days were lonelier than I would have expected. As predicted, Arnya had reverted to her hostile state. That meant our little conversations were completely out of the question, never mind things like sword training. It wasn’t until I was deprived of them that I realized how much I missed talking to her.

I tried talking to Kyn more often, but he had looked more and more haggard lately, and every time we talked for more than a few sentences he turned the conversation to alchemy, asking for hints on the Potion of Youth. Since I couldn’t give him any hints, our conversations naturally died there. But even the little bit we didn’t talk wasn’t the same.

I realized it one night as I lay in bed. At this point, all I wanted was to spend time with the kind, intelligent, witty, beautiful... Aw, shoot. Was I falling for her?

No. No way. That couldn’t be happening for a number of reasons. No, no, I needed focus on what was important: protecting myself and Kyn. And to do that, I needed to be well-rested. I rolled over and after a few more minutes of deliberately not thinking about how nice Arnya’s smile was, I fell asleep.

I sat at my desk at my station in the Paratheoretical Science Research Lab feverishly writing calculations into a notebook. “What kind of me would not even try to take notes?!” said an irate voice that a moment later I recognized as my own. I glanced down at the calculations. They were for the machine that had brought me to Arnya’s world, but in a moment I noticed they were subtly wrong. I tried to correct them only to realize that I couldn’t move my hand according to my will. Now that I noticed, it registered that I couldn’t move at all. It was like I was a passive observer in my own body. Ah, I’m dreaming, I thought, being unable to control my mouth to form the words audibly. Of course. I wasn’t in the lab, I was in the other world in the castle. Yet this felt more real than any dream I could remember.

I remained a helpless passenger as my body put the finishing incorrect touches on the calculations. It swiveled around in the chair to reveal the machine behind me. The machine was already running, displaying calculations on the computer screen that were slightly different from the ones just written in the notebook: slightly more correct, but still wrong. Helpless, I watched my body input the new, even more wrong calculations into the machine, then press a button-

I awoke, panting for breath, sweat trickling down my torso. That was no normal dream. But before I had time to think more about it, someone knocked on my door. I answered, still in my night clothes, to see Gaz. She silently handed me a thin, well-worn book with a handwritten cover that said An Introductory Guide to the Principles and Practice of Alchemy.