The Lady of the Lake

Self Preservation? What's that?

It was like time and space had been folded up all neatly and the door had just enabled us to stab through it. Viciously.

"Oow," I moaned, clutching my head. "That packs a punch."

Xan staggered to his feet beside me, the green specks in his eyes flaring with his rage. "What did you do Arika?! Why would you pull us through that door?"

I squinted at him, annoyed at my increasingly sore head. "I don't know. I just felt like I needed to."

Xan ran his fingers through his hair. "Felt like it? You just felt like stranding us in the human world?"

"Stranded? We're not stranded. The doors right the-" I trailed off. 

The door was gone. 

"No no no!" I exclaimed, rushing over to where it had previously stood. "It was right there! Why would it leave?"

"I don't know," Xaniphe said grumpily. "Why should I? It's a halfway sentient magic door. Probably gets up to all kinds of stuff. But that's not important! What's important is that you just got both of us stuck here."

I frowned at him, halfway furious with myself for dragging him along with me. The other part, however, was selfishly not so furious... "I don't know, okay?!" I snapped at him. "I just... I don't know."

Xan shook his head. "Well, it wouldn't be the first time one of your schemes landed us in trouble. We will work it out."

Smirking at his use of "we", I turned around and looked at the bustling human world in front of me. "I certainly hope so. But it ain't going to be easy."

There were big moving metal things that speeded along the unnaturally smooth black ground and the air was thick and stank like Kelpie dung. There were strangely constructed caves of wood and hard clay and glass. Roaring noises echoed through the land and people walked around in strange outfits made of thick, stifling material. I crinkled my nose at them.

Xan and I were standing at the edge of a woods looking down at the alien scene —not our woods of course. Our woods were where the shadows danced and the winds whispered and life and mystery stirred in every corner. Here, it seemed almost flat and empty, almost like it was missing something that had been so fundamental in my childhood, in my life and everything that I was: magic. 

The human realm. 

"That's it." Xan said flatly. "This is easily the worst thing you ever done and I am just so, so, so mad, Arika. The human world! Can't you feel how wrong it is?"

I tilted my head, considering his words. "I don't know about wrong at all. Look at how different it all is! And so strange..." I murmured, entrance by flickering blue and red lights in the distance. 

"Arika! You can't seriously be happy about the situation we're in?"

I shrugged. Now, if I could just go down and touch that weird shiny thing...

Xan muttered something very unprincely. "Of all the stubborn, infuriating folk I could've been dragged here with it had to be the one with no sense of self-preservation. Of course, if that hadn't been an issue then we wouldn't even be here in the first place."

I turned around. "I just want to explore a bit. Then we can work out how to get home."

"Absolutely not." Xan crossed his arms.

"Please? Just one day." I pleaded up at him with my silver eyes. "I promise not to die."

Xan eyed the world behind us and then looked back at me. Despite him trying to hide it, I could still see a flicker of curiosity in his eyes.

I grinned knowingly. I had won and he knew it. 

He might be trying to act all tough and boring now, but I knew he never could resist an adventure. It's why we were such great friends. 

With no further warning than a flick of my hair, I turned and raced straight towards the world of the humans. 

He cursed loudly behind me and I beamed.

Now.... where did that shiny thing go?